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[post_date] => 2013-09-16 07:01:30
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[post_content] => 
It's been a while since I've done this blog. Glad it's still here.
When I started it, I was hoping to be able to put features on some cool cars I run across here in Japan, but with a family of 5, two jobs and not a lot of time, that idea kinda went to the way-side. So, after some new developments in my life, I have a bit of time. I also became an admin of a Facebook fan page for R33 GT-Rs.
After a few days of hashing out some ideas with the other admin, I came up with an idea similar to what we used to do here at NICO. I was going to start a Featured Ride segment on that page, and I could use NICO as a medium, as well, to get even more exposure to the internet. So, I put the message out, posted up what information was required and let the members have at it. Well...here's what happened.
What happened was, when the submission deadline came, I received only three...count them three...1995 Midnight Purple GT-Rs and it hit me. Let's play with this whole theme. I mean, 3 submissions. 3 1995's. 3 Midnight Purple. I can't make this up.
I would like to thank everyone for their submissions.
So, without further hesitation, let's get down to what this is all about.
The Thunder Down Under
This car belongs to Darran Fischer of Australia.
1995 BCNR33 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec Midnight Purple
Darran says of his car, "Ever since I played the first Gran Turismo on Playstation, I had to have a Skyline GT-R. I bought the car around 4 years ago as a birthday present."
Some birthday present, eh?
He also went on to say, "When I had originally set out to purchase a GT-R I found myself being drawn toward the R33, and being a married man with children the extra cabin space sure comes in handy! Also to be honest a dark color was something I was determined to avoid as I have had dark colored cars in the past and was more than aware of the effort required to keep them presentable. However, when this particular vehicle presented itself it was to good of an opportunity to pass on. Plus let's face it, when you see a Midnight Purple R33 you just know it's Godzilla!"
"Having a few key modifications and a freshly forged bottom end was also an excellent bonus!"
(Pre-zenki facelift)
The car is nicely modified with multiple big name tuner company parts like HKS, Tomei, Sard and many more. It was also given a face lift to a Series 2 front bumper.
Modifications:
Forged / Honed Block
CP Pistons
Eagle Rods
ACL Race Conrod / Main Bearings
Nismo LeMans Turbos
Tomei Pon Cams 260 / 260 9.15 Lift
Tomei Adj Cam Gears
Tomei Oil Baffle
HKS Fuel Rail
Sard Injectors
Sard Fuel Pump
Power FC
Cusco Twin Plate Clutch
OS Giken Gear Set
Engine finished in Ford Blueprint Blue
As for engine work, he spent quite a bit of time getting things right after purchase.
"Once taking ownership of the vehicle it became evident there were problems on the tune / wiring side of things, and subsequently 3 days of re-tuning were spent with Matty Spry at PITS Garage. It was also at this point several other issues became apparent along with the discovery that several key components had been returned to standard. One such component was the fuel pump, which, if left unnoticed could have presented some very costly problems."
"Though after all was said and done the end resault was a much better power curve with less boost."
After initially thinking of a big single turbo conversion, he changed his mind and decided to keep the parallel twin setup, but went in a slightly different direction. Instead of going with big name turbos from HKS, APEXi or Garret, he went a more "conventional" route, choosing to keep Nissan snails on the bottom ends of the exhaust manifolds...Nissan LM turbos off the rare BCNR33 GT-R LM edition.
"The responsiveness of the twin LM turbos is awesome with boost arriving hard and on song from around 3,800RPM. Combine this with the beautiful Tomei pon-cams coming in and a straight through stainless exhaust with nothing more than a small hotdog and a cannon end barrel, and your left with a mechanical symphony of sound, though somewhat on the loud side!"
"And admittedly I've never taken the vehicle on boost beyond 3rd gear yet! Though in 3rd it does rocket to 200KP/H rather quickly.""At the end of the day i guess balance is the key for me an around 500hp is seemingly the sweet spot."
Inside the cockpit of this close to 500hp bruiser resides an Alpine head unit and amps for tunes on long drives, A-pillar gauge pod, and a few other electronic goodies under the lower dash panel.
One of those electronic goodies is a GReady boost controller which on low boost puts this RB26 at [email protected] and [email protected]
Suspension work is taken care of by Cusco coilovers which keep the 19 x 10.5 +15 Rota Grids and rubber on the street with 18 x 10 +18 Volk SE37k's for track use.
A stainless steel exhaust helps get the gasses out quickly to help the turbos get spinning and get boost on the table.
Darran says of his future plans with the car, "My future plans would be a brake upgrade perhaps to Project-Mu, and some CE28n's. Other than that I'm reasonably happy with the vehicle...well at least for now."
In closing, Darran wanted to say a few words to the people who helped him out along the way.
"I'd like to thank my beautiful wife for her understanding my passion and gifting me with car components, Matt Spry from PITS, the many photographers who always catch the right angles and the guys at Profinish for their help and panel work."
PHOTO CREDITS:
Blown BMW Images
DMax Photography
Sam Wakefield Photography
Claude & Lena Andrasescu Photography
Sneaky Soviet Photography
Alerenda Photography
The Scottish Slingshot
This wolf in sheeps clothing is owned by Alex Hamilton of Scotland.
1995 BCNR33 Nissan Skyline GT-R Midnight Purple.
"I have now owned the car for 6 years. I got it as a fresh import and the only mods on the old girl were a set of crap 3 spoke wheels and a exhaust from the cat back. Since then it has undergone some serious work!"
Alex isn't kidding, either. This single turbo'd RB26 got a good working over internally, as well.
"The engine! It has a fully built stroker kit stretching it to a 2.8L, crank, rods and pistons. There is a Tomei oil pump looking after the oil and a Trust sump extension kit to add a bit more capacity."
"It has a Greddy oil cooler kit to keep things cool and a plumbed back head drain into the old turbo return."
It's head has also been worked, but Alex says what was done is a secret. "It's got no issues revving to 9.5k and can flow gasses no problem. Anyone who knows engines knows this is where the power is made."
Other Engine Mods:
2 Bosch 044 fuel pumps
Six 1000cc injectors
Two 750cc injectors on the inter cooler piping.
Turbo Smart FPR
Haltech SP2000 ECU (mapped by Garth Wong from MGTracing)
Greddy alloy radiator
4" inch thick intercooler with 100mm piping
JUN intake plenum and single throttle body
6Boost exhaust manifold,
GT4094R turbo (modified too)
60mm Turbo Smart pro gate
60mm screemer pipe,
Custom built 4" turbo back exhaust with 6" inch tailpipe
Gizzmo MS-IBC boost [email protected] on 95ron and 2.2bar on c16.
Putting power to the ground on a beast like this is no easy task, so Alex put a set of APEXi dampers and springs at the corners and Ultralite Nur wheels in 10.5x18 and wrapped them in P-zero Rosso rubber. The car has polyurethane bushings but also has some alloy bushings to tighten things up a bit more. A Cusco differential resides in the rear end, but the front is stock.
The other major piece in getting the power to the ground is the bit that attaches to the back of the engine. The power is transferred through a Exedy hyper carbon-carbon triple plate clutch and a upgraded gearbox with OS 1,2,3 gears (soon to have a Quaffe 6sp sequential).
What this translate to..."Lets just say on a base map and 6k rev limit and 0.8 bar of boost it made 510awhp! Way way way more now!"
Alex's interior is pretty straight forward and simple. Not a lot of gauges cluttering up the top of the dash or A-pillar. Everything looks pretty normal sans the aftermarket shift knob and stereo head unit.
Alex also stated that the car has some carbon bits here and there, but mostly stock as Nissan made it.
Alex had this to say, also, "All my work was carried out by MGT Racing in Nuneaton. Mark Biggers is the builder and Garth Wong the mapper. I cannot thank those guys enough, the car is amazing and drives so well."
PHOTO CREDITS:
Alex Hamilton
Paul Wilkins of Ultimate Shine
The Midnight Godzilla
This passionately purple rocket comes courtesy of Ray Kelly of Ireland.
1995 BCNR33 Nissan Skyline GT-R Midnight Purple.
Ray had no intentions of buying a GT-R but in 2006 this particular car came up for sale.
"Bought it in 2006. It came up an I had to go see it. It was love at first sight!"
While the list of modifications is quite impressive, the internals and turbos are still factory original.
Ray told me, "A lot of mechanical work has been done since I bought it to get it back running as good as it is. One of the best running and cleanest 33-Rs in Ireland."
"It has been lightly modified since with nothing but the best. The main aim was to have it looking top class in every department as the GT-R comes more then ready with respect to performance."
And, he adds, "Daily driven and brought to as many shows as possible :)"
Modifications:
KOYORAD Large Core Aluminum Rad
ARC Intercooler
HKS Super Sequential Blow off valves
APEXi AVC-R boost controller
Custom oil catch can with stainless braided hosing
One off stainless steel strut brace
Jap-Speed full exhaust System
HKS hardpipe
HKS twin mushroom filters with custom piping
Samco hose kit
Various mirror finish compartment covers
Engine finished in gloss black with silver and old Sparkles
Mirror finish center plaque with "Midnight Godzilla" engraved
Aluminum slam panel
Tein bonnet (hood for Americans) dampers
The car has had numerous changes inside and out, to include a Nismo 400R front bumper and carbon rear wing blade on the exterior and a Momo steering wheel and Nismo gauges on the interior.
Interior:
Standard GTR bucket seats
Momo Chapion steering wheel
Nismo gear knob
Carbon Effect dash
Nismo clocks (gauges)
Pioneer radio/CD with 6 CD Changer
Centre strut-brace (very rare)
Rear standard strut-brace
Back and side windows 90% tinted
Exterior :
Standard side skirts and rear bumper
Nismo 400R front bumper
Carbon rear blade spoiler
Aluminum bonnet clips
Gold GTR badge on front grill
Brand new Meister R fully adjustable coilovers keep the 18 inch Amkread Works 3 piece wheels wrapped in Michelin 275/35/18 rubber sticking to the pavement. Brakes are standard GT-R Brembos with drilled and grooved discs.
When asked about his plans with the car in the future, he adds, "Performance wise, I wouldn't like to go much further maybe just shy of 500 BHP. Main plans are to just keep it as it is."
"All the anti-roll bars are currently being sand blasted and etched then being powder coated in Ferrari Red. I hope to buy 2 new front bucket seats also."
"Other than that im happy with what she is."
PHOTO CREDITS:
Ray Kelly
Corina Laur
Niall Keating
So, there you have it. Three beautiful Midnight Purple GT-Rs. Now, if only I had the money to do something more with mine! HAHAHA!!!
Stay tuned for another installment later this month or early next month!
For the previous blog entry click here: The Monster March
[post_title] => I've gone...Plum Crazy!!!
[post_excerpt] => Three Nissan Skyline GT-R's. All built in 1995. All Midnight Purple. All kinds of awesome. Let's check 'em out.
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[post_content] =>
It's been a while since I've done this blog. Glad it's still here.
When I started it, I was hoping to be able to put features on some cool cars I run across here in Japan, but with a family of 5, two jobs and not a lot of time, that idea kinda went to the way-side. So, after some new developments in my life, I have a bit of time. I also became an admin of a Facebook fan page for R33 GT-Rs.
After a few days of hashing out some ideas with the other admin, I came up with an idea similar to what we used to do here at NICO. I was going to start a Featured Ride segment on that page, and I could use NICO as a medium, as well, to get even more exposure to the internet. So, I put the message out, posted up what information was required and let the members have at it. Well...here's what happened.
What happened was, when the submission deadline came, I received only three...count them three...1995 Midnight Purple GT-Rs and it hit me. Let's play with this whole theme. I mean, 3 submissions. 3 1995's. 3 Midnight Purple. I can't make this up.
I would like to thank everyone for their submissions.
So, without further hesitation, let's get down to what this is all about.
The Thunder Down Under
This car belongs to Darran Fischer of Australia.
1995 BCNR33 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec Midnight Purple
Darran says of his car, "Ever since I played the first Gran Turismo on Playstation, I had to have a Skyline GT-R. I bought the car around 4 years ago as a birthday present."
Some birthday present, eh?
He also went on to say, "When I had originally set out to purchase a GT-R I found myself being drawn toward the R33, and being a married man with children the extra cabin space sure comes in handy! Also to be honest a dark color was something I was determined to avoid as I have had dark colored cars in the past and was more than aware of the effort required to keep them presentable. However, when this particular vehicle presented itself it was to good of an opportunity to pass on. Plus let's face it, when you see a Midnight Purple R33 you just know it's Godzilla!"
"Having a few key modifications and a freshly forged bottom end was also an excellent bonus!"
(Pre-zenki facelift)
The car is nicely modified with multiple big name tuner company parts like HKS, Tomei, Sard and many more. It was also given a face lift to a Series 2 front bumper.
Modifications:
Forged / Honed Block
CP Pistons
Eagle Rods
ACL Race Conrod / Main Bearings
Nismo LeMans Turbos
Tomei Pon Cams 260 / 260 9.15 Lift
Tomei Adj Cam Gears
Tomei Oil Baffle
HKS Fuel Rail
Sard Injectors
Sard Fuel Pump
Power FC
Cusco Twin Plate Clutch
OS Giken Gear Set
Engine finished in Ford Blueprint Blue
As for engine work, he spent quite a bit of time getting things right after purchase.
"Once taking ownership of the vehicle it became evident there were problems on the tune / wiring side of things, and subsequently 3 days of re-tuning were spent with Matty Spry at PITS Garage. It was also at this point several other issues became apparent along with the discovery that several key components had been returned to standard. One such component was the fuel pump, which, if left unnoticed could have presented some very costly problems."
"Though after all was said and done the end resault was a much better power curve with less boost."
After initially thinking of a big single turbo conversion, he changed his mind and decided to keep the parallel twin setup, but went in a slightly different direction. Instead of going with big name turbos from HKS, APEXi or Garret, he went a more "conventional" route, choosing to keep Nissan snails on the bottom ends of the exhaust manifolds...Nissan LM turbos off the rare BCNR33 GT-R LM edition.
"The responsiveness of the twin LM turbos is awesome with boost arriving hard and on song from around 3,800RPM. Combine this with the beautiful Tomei pon-cams coming in and a straight through stainless exhaust with nothing more than a small hotdog and a cannon end barrel, and your left with a mechanical symphony of sound, though somewhat on the loud side!"
"And admittedly I've never taken the vehicle on boost beyond 3rd gear yet! Though in 3rd it does rocket to 200KP/H rather quickly.""At the end of the day i guess balance is the key for me an around 500hp is seemingly the sweet spot."
Inside the cockpit of this close to 500hp bruiser resides an Alpine head unit and amps for tunes on long drives, A-pillar gauge pod, and a few other electronic goodies under the lower dash panel.
One of those electronic goodies is a GReady boost controller which on low boost puts this RB26 at [email protected] and [email protected]
Suspension work is taken care of by Cusco coilovers which keep the 19 x 10.5 +15 Rota Grids and rubber on the street with 18 x 10 +18 Volk SE37k's for track use.
A stainless steel exhaust helps get the gasses out quickly to help the turbos get spinning and get boost on the table.
Darran says of his future plans with the car, "My future plans would be a brake upgrade perhaps to Project-Mu, and some CE28n's. Other than that I'm reasonably happy with the vehicle...well at least for now."
In closing, Darran wanted to say a few words to the people who helped him out along the way.
"I'd like to thank my beautiful wife for her understanding my passion and gifting me with car components, Matt Spry from PITS, the many photographers who always catch the right angles and the guys at Profinish for their help and panel work."
PHOTO CREDITS:
Blown BMW Images
DMax Photography
Sam Wakefield Photography
Claude & Lena Andrasescu Photography
Sneaky Soviet Photography
Alerenda Photography
The Scottish Slingshot
This wolf in sheeps clothing is owned by Alex Hamilton of Scotland.
1995 BCNR33 Nissan Skyline GT-R Midnight Purple.
"I have now owned the car for 6 years. I got it as a fresh import and the only mods on the old girl were a set of crap 3 spoke wheels and a exhaust from the cat back. Since then it has undergone some serious work!"
Alex isn't kidding, either. This single turbo'd RB26 got a good working over internally, as well.
"The engine! It has a fully built stroker kit stretching it to a 2.8L, crank, rods and pistons. There is a Tomei oil pump looking after the oil and a Trust sump extension kit to add a bit more capacity."
"It has a Greddy oil cooler kit to keep things cool and a plumbed back head drain into the old turbo return."
It's head has also been worked, but Alex says what was done is a secret. "It's got no issues revving to 9.5k and can flow gasses no problem. Anyone who knows engines knows this is where the power is made."
Other Engine Mods:
2 Bosch 044 fuel pumps
Six 1000cc injectors
Two 750cc injectors on the inter cooler piping.
Turbo Smart FPR
Haltech SP2000 ECU (mapped by Garth Wong from MGTracing)
Greddy alloy radiator
4" inch thick intercooler with 100mm piping
JUN intake plenum and single throttle body
6Boost exhaust manifold,
GT4094R turbo (modified too)
60mm Turbo Smart pro gate
60mm screemer pipe,
Custom built 4" turbo back exhaust with 6" inch tailpipe
Gizzmo MS-IBC boost [email protected] on 95ron and 2.2bar on c16.
Putting power to the ground on a beast like this is no easy task, so Alex put a set of APEXi dampers and springs at the corners and Ultralite Nur wheels in 10.5x18 and wrapped them in P-zero Rosso rubber. The car has polyurethane bushings but also has some alloy bushings to tighten things up a bit more. A Cusco differential resides in the rear end, but the front is stock.
The other major piece in getting the power to the ground is the bit that attaches to the back of the engine. The power is transferred through a Exedy hyper carbon-carbon triple plate clutch and a upgraded gearbox with OS 1,2,3 gears (soon to have a Quaffe 6sp sequential).
What this translate to..."Lets just say on a base map and 6k rev limit and 0.8 bar of boost it made 510awhp! Way way way more now!"
Alex's interior is pretty straight forward and simple. Not a lot of gauges cluttering up the top of the dash or A-pillar. Everything looks pretty normal sans the aftermarket shift knob and stereo head unit.
Alex also stated that the car has some carbon bits here and there, but mostly stock as Nissan made it.
Alex had this to say, also, "All my work was carried out by MGT Racing in Nuneaton. Mark Biggers is the builder and Garth Wong the mapper. I cannot thank those guys enough, the car is amazing and drives so well."
PHOTO CREDITS:
Alex Hamilton
Paul Wilkins of Ultimate Shine
The Midnight Godzilla
This passionately purple rocket comes courtesy of Ray Kelly of Ireland.
1995 BCNR33 Nissan Skyline GT-R Midnight Purple.
Ray had no intentions of buying a GT-R but in 2006 this particular car came up for sale.
"Bought it in 2006. It came up an I had to go see it. It was love at first sight!"
While the list of modifications is quite impressive, the internals and turbos are still factory original.
Ray told me, "A lot of mechanical work has been done since I bought it to get it back running as good as it is. One of the best running and cleanest 33-Rs in Ireland."
"It has been lightly modified since with nothing but the best. The main aim was to have it looking top class in every department as the GT-R comes more then ready with respect to performance."
And, he adds, "Daily driven and brought to as many shows as possible :)"
Modifications:
KOYORAD Large Core Aluminum Rad
ARC Intercooler
HKS Super Sequential Blow off valves
APEXi AVC-R boost controller
Custom oil catch can with stainless braided hosing
One off stainless steel strut brace
Jap-Speed full exhaust System
HKS hardpipe
HKS twin mushroom filters with custom piping
Samco hose kit
Various mirror finish compartment covers
Engine finished in gloss black with silver and old Sparkles
Mirror finish center plaque with "Midnight Godzilla" engraved
Aluminum slam panel
Tein bonnet (hood for Americans) dampers
The car has had numerous changes inside and out, to include a Nismo 400R front bumper and carbon rear wing blade on the exterior and a Momo steering wheel and Nismo gauges on the interior.
Interior:
Standard GTR bucket seats
Momo Chapion steering wheel
Nismo gear knob
Carbon Effect dash
Nismo clocks (gauges)
Pioneer radio/CD with 6 CD Changer
Centre strut-brace (very rare)
Rear standard strut-brace
Back and side windows 90% tinted
Exterior :
Standard side skirts and rear bumper
Nismo 400R front bumper
Carbon rear blade spoiler
Aluminum bonnet clips
Gold GTR badge on front grill
Brand new Meister R fully adjustable coilovers keep the 18 inch Amkread Works 3 piece wheels wrapped in Michelin 275/35/18 rubber sticking to the pavement. Brakes are standard GT-R Brembos with drilled and grooved discs.
When asked about his plans with the car in the future, he adds, "Performance wise, I wouldn't like to go much further maybe just shy of 500 BHP. Main plans are to just keep it as it is."
"All the anti-roll bars are currently being sand blasted and etched then being powder coated in Ferrari Red. I hope to buy 2 new front bucket seats also."
"Other than that im happy with what she is."
PHOTO CREDITS:
Ray Kelly
Corina Laur
Niall Keating
So, there you have it. Three beautiful Midnight Purple GT-Rs. Now, if only I had the money to do something more with mine! HAHAHA!!!
Stay tuned for another installment later this month or early next month!
For the previous blog entry click here: The Monster March
[post_title] => I've gone...Plum Crazy!!!
[post_excerpt] => Three Nissan Skyline GT-R's. All built in 1995. All Midnight Purple. All kinds of awesome. Let's check 'em out.
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"
Three Nissan Skyline GT-R’s. All built in 1995. All Midnight Purple. All kinds of awesome. Let’s check ’em out.
I met him a few years ago when I owned my 1990 Nissan Laurel Club S Turbo and knew he had a GT-R, but it wasn't till I purchased my BCNR33 GT-R that I really got to know him.
When I decided to throw this new feature together, Tetsuya was first on the list of candidates. So, let's get to the nitty-gritty.
"I am the second owner of this car, which I bought in March of 1998 at a shop called I.C.S. (Atsugi city, Kanagawa prefecture), which is a shop that specializes in GT-Rs. The first registration of the car was December 18, 1994, two weeks before the BCNR33 GT-R went on sale."
Now Tetsuya is no stranger to Nissans. Before the GT-R he was the owner of an S13 Silvia Q's with a naturally aspirated CA18DE. He liked that car but says, "My dream cars were the Hakosuka GT-R (KPGC10) and R32 GT-R."
Can't fault him for that.
"In 1997 I started working for Nissan. I currently live and work in the Yokohama area and have been involved with many projects on a few well known Nissans. I was involved with the rear diffuser on the BNR34 GT-R and also some suspension products on the Nissan Fuga ,the Infiniti M sedan in America."
"After starting at Nissan I decided that I wanted to become part of 'society.' I told myself I would get an R32 GT-R within one year. I started searching and that's when I found the shop I mentioned before, I.C.S."
"It was then, I saw what would become my car."
That car was a white 1994 R32 GT-R, which was the last model year and it had low mileage, about 23,000km. Most people don't know this fact, but the R33 Skyline actually started production in early 1994. But, the R32 GT-R model continued through the 1994 year till the R33 GT-R in 1995. So, now and again, you can actually find some 1994 R33 Skylines, even though they won't be a GT-R.
After some negotiating with the salesman, Tetsuya was able to score the GT-R for 3.3 million yen, or about $37,357 with today's exchange rate.
"I agreed to buy it then and there."
And he still owns the car.
As I mentioned earlier, Tetsuya isn't new to Nissans and along with his GT-R he also owns a first generation Nissan Fuga 350GT in black (Infiniti M series in the U.S.).
"While I love driving my GT-R, my Fuga is my daily driver and family transporter. Although, my daughter, the oldest of my two children, loves riding in my GT-R and she always rides in the passenger seat with her booster seat-belted in."
Tetsuya is also a fan of actually using his car for what it was designed for: Circuit racing!
"I somewhat regularly run my car at Tsukuba circuit with a group of customers at a tire shop that I get most of my regular maintenance and light modifications done at. My best time is 1:10 so far."
I had an opportunity to join Tetsuya at a track day at Tsukuba circuit a few weekends ago, and I had a blast. Tetsuya, on the other hand, was trying out a new prototype tire on his car. Unfortunately, they didn't meet expectations and he struggled making decent passes around the track. He still managed to stay right near his best track time.
Not only does he do track days, he also takes time to make the occasional run to other areas not to far from his home to visit some twisting roads in the mountains, most recently (September of last year) to Tsukuba Mountain. I was with him on that trip as well with my GT-R and a few friends and their cars.
About the car, he says, "I have no immediate plans to sell the car. I have owned it for a long time, and I don't see myself selling it as the R32 GT-R is a timeless classic. Its history and success in racing in the early 1990's is a statement to the GT-Rs ability, prowess and reputation on the circuit and the street."
As for modifications, "I have done several modifications to it in the thirteen years that I have owned it. Some aftermarket, some are original DIY modifications."
Here's the list.
ENGINE:
BNR34 GT-R Nur-spec cam/coil pack covers
BNR34 GT-R factory turbos, exhaust manifold, turbine outlet and front pipe
Central20 tuned ECU
Power steering tank heat insulator
Tabata aluminum Radiator
Metal high flow catalytic converter
INTERIOR:
NISMO guages (320km/h speedometer)
Kenwood head unit and DVD navigation with 8" screen
Alpine speakers
EXTERIOR:
NISMO front bumper cover
Velof HID head lights
Heat and infrared ray protected film on all windows except windshield
SUSPENSION/WHEELS
BNR34 front lower link
S&S (Sakurai and Shinichiro) shocks
Strengthened front upper link bushings
Rear aluminium suspension member bushing spacers
Front strut tower bar
HKS kansai lower brace bar
BBS 17" x 9J +14 wheels
Continental 245/45/17
BRAKES:
NISMO metal brake lines
Stock front caliper and rotor
Toyota Celsior custom rear rotor, stock caliper.
OTHER:
Front and rear frame sections filled with foaming plastic for stiffness
Remote keyless entry
Tetsuya is a great guy to know and is always a lot of fun to hang out with, be it at the local shop, some twisty mountain roads or at the bar over a few beers. If you ever make it over to Japan, Tetsuya is always a good choice for someone to become friends with.
For the next blog entry click here: 
The morning session consisted of a lot of cars set up for circuit racing, but still legal to drive on the street. There were also several motorcycles.
The fastest rider was able to clip a 1:04 lap time, and no one was even close to him the rest of the day. The closest time for any of the other riders was 1:06. I know...two seconds is kinda close, but in racing, it's not.
There were several classic cars like an old S30 Fairlady Z G-nose, a 4 door Hakosuka and several Nissan Cherrys and Toyota Corollas and Coronas. So much cool stuff to see.
Well, the afternoon session came and they were running three classes. Drift, bike and grip racers. Our group was in the grip and bike sessions. Each class would get three 20 minute sessions.
So, the first group (the drifters) came out and it's the first time I have ever really seen circuit drifting with my own two eyes. It was pretty entertaining and there were several cars out there that were just killing it. Those guys were all driving Toyota Mark II and AE86's. There were a couple Nissan S chassis cars, but they weren't as smooth and fluid as the Toyota guys. I enjoyed it and would like to see something like that again when I get a chance.
Next were the bikes.
During the bike group that afternoon, one guy took a NASTY spill on the long right corner coming up to the finish line. My friend and I were standing over in that area talking to a Brazilian guy with a hand built S14 with an R33 GT-R front-end conversion on it. He did it all himself...everything! Was a pretty cool dude.
In the second session for the bike class, one of the riders from the group we were with went down on the first corner off the start/finish line. He got banged up a little and had some grass and dirt on the bike, but it was fine. He was a bit shaken up, but good to go for the third session.
Then the grip session started. One member of the group was running a 450GT Fuga which uses the 4.5 litre V8 engine. The first sessions out, he had some transmission overheating problems so the computer went into limp mode early on. So, he came back into the pits.
My R32 GT-R friend was having some problems due to the tires he was using. It was a prototype tire from a manufacturer which will remain nameless and they weren't gripping very well at all.
And one guy running a last generation WRX STi Impreza sedan went off the road and blew a tire. That was the extent of the damage.
Overall, the drivers and riders of our group had a great time and I have vowed that once I get tires and some new suspension on my car, I will be driving the track myself at the next open track day.
AND I CAN'T WAIT.
For the previous blog entry click here: 