Motor Australia – September 2019

HAKOSUKA:

THEORIGINAL

50 MOMENTSIN

GT-RHISTORY

R32:LEGEND

REBORN

JUNII: THE

DRAGKING

R33400RVS

MINE'S R34

GIBSON& SKAIFE

INTERVIEWED

MIDNIGHT

CLUBINTOKYO

WILL THERE

BE ANR36?

HEJANUARY 1969 issueof ModernMotor hasquite
theodour.Itsfragile,thin,yellowingpagessmellofan
oldlibrary.Yetthereonpage47,buriedinthestench,is
somethingsmall,yetimportant:thefirstappearanceof
GT-Rinthishallowedtome.
Justoneparagraph,andnoimage,isalltheexciting
new‘NissanSkyline2000GT’gotinourtwo-page 1968
TokyoMotorShowcoverage.Yetthat’softenthecase
whena legendisborn– it’sjustthesameasanyother
similarcar.And inourreportwedescribedNissan’s
sporting new four-door as “handsome”, briefly also
mentioningitsmotorsport-derivedstraight-sixengine.
Nissan couldn’t have known its new nameplate
wouldstillbeinuse 50 yearslater.Supposedly,there
wasn’t much to the name itself, either. GT meant
Gran Turismo, the thinking being an Italian name
would sound more exotic and help sales. R stood,
appropriately,forRacer.AndsoGT-Rwasborn.
Themesoftechnologyandmotorsportintentwere
born at thesame time.The originalGT-R’s 2.0-litre
straight-sixwas,withitstwincamshaftsandfourvalves
percylinder,cuttingedgefor1969,themostadvancedJapaneserace
engineofthetime.Therewasa five-speedmanualgearboxwhenfour
speedswasconsideredhigh-tech.Thefullyindependentsuspension
all-roundwasprettytrick,too.
Quitehowitwentfromawingless,four-door,rear-drivesedanto
the fire-breathing, twin-turbo V6, all-wheel-drive coupe we know
todayistheobjectiveofthenext 62 pages.From“Hakosuka”,wevery
brieflygivea nodtotheill-fated“KenMari”,thesecondGT-R.Thenwe
fast-forward 16 years,asNissandid,totheR32GT-R,whoseown30th
anniversaryisAugust21,2019.Yes,probablyaboutthetimeyou’re
readingthis.
Inthisspecialfeaturesection,wehaveretoldtheR32’sstoryandhow
itmovedtheperformancecargameon.We’veoutlinedhownoother
countryoutsideofJapanhasa connectiontoGT-RlikeAustraliadoes
(upuntil 2007 wewereoneofjusta handfulofcountriesthatofficially
soldtheGT-R).We’veinterviewedFredGibson,MarkSkaifeandPaul
Beranger,thearchitectsoftheR32’slocalmotorsportandroad-going
success.We’vedrivensomeofthemostheroicGT-Rmodels,likethe
R33400RandMine’s-tunedR34– bothonAussiesoil– andprofiled
JUNII,theworld’sfasteststreet-legalSkylineGT-R.FromMelbourne
andSydney,wethenfindourselvesinTokyo,inthelatestR35,hunting
downthestoryoftheMidNightClubandtheGT-R’spartinit.
Thisisnotmeanttobeanencyclopaediccoverageof everylittle
GT-Rdetail,butwe’vehada biggoregardless!Soheatupthatmiso
soup,getthechopstickscorrectlyinhand,maybecracka Kirinandget
comfortableaswetakea twin-turbochargedblastdownNissanGT-R
memory(pit)lane.

68

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100

110

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128

The

Godzilla

Story

50 YEARS

1969 – 2019

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