Motor Australia – September 2019

Clubcrowdforitshigh-speedstability,availability,andease

withwhichhugepower(andtopspeed potential) couldbe

unwound fromits2.6-litretwin-turbochargedinline-six:the

NissanSkylineGT-R.Curiously,thecurrentheadofGT-Rat

Nissan,HiroshiTamura,ownsaheavilymodifiedR32GT-R.

Onlya fewyearsago,hewasinterviewedwithhiscar,which

sported anot-particularly-discreet“Mid NightCar Speciall”

stickeronthefrontbumper.Naughty.

In2019, 20 yearsaftertheMidNightClubunceremoniously

dissolved,MOTORhearsremnantsofitsbadboyculturestill

remain to this day. And somyself andphotographer Ellen

Dewarcrankourselvesupto900km/handjetthe8185kmfrom

MelbournetoTokyo,inwhatmustbethemostuselessenvoy

AustraliahaseversenttoJapan,toseewhatwecanfind.

Ofcourse,witha chancewemightactuallymeetsomeold

MidNightClubmembers– wedohaveitongoodauthority

OPPOSITE

Shibuya’sfrenzied

‘Scramble’

Crossing’isa

must-seeinTokyo

TOPCENTRE

Thisstickermeans

you’reinthemidst

ofstreetracing

royalty

TOPRIGHT

Whenlanguage

fails,hand

gesturesremain.

Eh,DC?

➜

wheretofindthem– we’renotgoingtoriskshowingupina

hiredDaihatsuMira.Sowe’veorganisedsomethinga bitspesh.

OurownNissanGT-Ris the 2020 reheat,the50thAnniversary

Edition,noless.Forthelatestminorupdate,Nissanhasbuilt

offtherelatively-large 2017 facelift.The 2020 entry-levelGT-Rs,

onwhichour AnniversaryEditionisbased, nowgetbigger

turbochargerscontributingto2kW/1Nmmoregrunt(butit was

hardlyfeelingunderpoweredtobeginwith).Itnowhas421kW

and633Nm,goodfor0-100km/hin three-point-something-

low seconds(Nissannolonger claims0-100km/h times for

GT-R,apparently).There’sa newtitaniumexhaustsupposedly

improving thebark oftheR35’s 3.8-litretwin-turboV6.The

electricsteeringisnewlyprogrammedforbetterfeel,weight

andrefinement;asaretheadaptivedampers,nowpromising

anittybittybettermixofridecomfortandbodycontrol.There’s

a bigger brakebooster forbetterpedalfeel. And thetwin-

clutchautohashaditsbrainreplacedyetagain,nowsmoother

thanever,andwithmoreaggressivemanualdownchangesin

R-mode;anda newR-modeautomaticprogramforthosewho

liketoleaveit inDwhentheyhavea Dig.

Alltheseminorchangesrepresentyetanotherminorstep

intheevolutionofthisgenerationGT-R.Thisisn’ta roadtest

sodon’tthinkyou’reabouttoreadhowallthesetweakshave

‘transformed’ this into the ‘best’ GT-R ever, although that

probably would bethecase.Wecan onlysay,itstill whirs

andwhineslikesomemilitary-grademachineatlowspeeds,

althoughit’sassmoothandclunk-freeasever.Andunhinged-

fast.Itdoessounda littleangrier,althoughtheexhaustisnot

noticeablylouderthanbefore.Largely,if youdrovea 2007R35

againsta 2019R35,refinementwouldbethebiggestdifference.

Thereisn’tmuchspecialaboutour50thAnniversaryEdition,

either,itmustbesaid.Thedazzlingblue-and-whitepaintis

whereit’sat,appliedinfourlayersandcalledBayside“Wangan”

Blue,named,incidentally,aftertheveryfreewaytheMidNight

ClubusedtouseasitsownNardo.Evenmorecoincidentally

again, 2019 marksthe50thanniversarysincethefirstsections

ofthisiconicfreewaywereopened.

Uponboltingourselvesintoourblue-and-white,computer-

isedbeast,a warmTokyodayturnsquicklytoa warmTokyo

nightandwemakeabeelinestraightforacarparkoffthe

d motorofficial f motor_mag^123

VIDEO OF A PORSCHE SPEEDOMETER NUDGING 300KM/H