Motor Australia – September 2019

R31andR32SkylinesweredominatingbothhereandinJapan.
Sevenofthoseoriginalracevictorieswerewonbyoneman,
MotoharuKurosawa,alsoknownasGan-San.Helaterbecame
atestdriverforhitDVDseriesBestMotoringinJapanand
wasreunitedwitha Hakosukaracecarfora video.Herecalls
thefirsttimehedrovetheKPGC10atFujia dayafteranother
driverhadrolledthecarontoitsroof,andit hadbeenrepaired
withmakeshiftmaterials.Eventhen,Gan-Sansaidthetwo-
doorwasnearlytwosecondsfasterthanthefour-doorversion.
The coupewas20kg lighterthanthesedan, withakerb
weightof1100kg,primarilyduetoa lackofmod-cons.Non-
adjustablebucketseatsanda spartaninteriormeantthecar
wasabletoincorporatea 100-litrefueltankforlong-distance
racingwhilestilllosingweightoverall.
But,despitetheinteriorbeing‘stripped’,theKPGC10Skyline
wasgiftedthetechnicalprowess ofahigh-techracer,even
downtoitsthenimpressiveindependentsuspensionforall
fourwheels.Ithas developeda reputationas anengaging
cartodrive,withrelativelystiffsuspension,evenbytoday’s
standards,andgenuinely communicativefeedbackthrough
theunassisted,albeitveryheavy,steering.
Andthesoundofthestraight-sixenginehasbeencompared
withItaliansupercars,despitethecar'shumbleappearance.
Withouta bigtorquefiguretohaulitaround,revswerethe
answertomakinga HakosukaGT-Rgofast.
Unfortunately,thesoundofanS20hiddenintheenginebay

ofa GT-Ratfullflightisrare.Infact,it’salmostnon-existent

outsideJapan.KeepinguptodatewithhowmanyoriginalC10-

generationGT-Rsarestillinactionisa challenge.Fewerthan

2000 werebuiltinbothPGC10andKPGC10guises– Nissan

doesn’tlistanofficialfigure,butresearchsuggests1947,with

1115 beingcoupesand 832 sedans– andfeweverleftJapan.Of

course,presumablya fairfewwerelosttothemotorsportgods.

The combination of rarity andesteem has resulted in a

strongcultureofattemptingtoreplicatetheBoxSkylinein

GT-Rform,usuallyusinga lower-specificationC10.Often,that

meansHakosukaGT-Rreplicasarepoweredbylesspowerful

L-Seriesenginesfromeither2000GTorGT-X-speccars.The

L20 engine in the 2000GT-X, for example, was a 2.0-litre

straight-sixwithtwinSUcarburettorsthatproduced96kWand

172Nm,whilethecaritselfwasa heavier1115kg.

The nature of replicating a car you can’t actually find

easily meansthere are plentyof mismatched engine/body

combinations– renownJapaneseworkshopRockyAutoeven

builtonepoweredbya Toyota1UZV8– butit’sthoserelative

fewgenuineGT-Rsthatdrawthemostadmiration,andmoney,

fromfansofclassicJapanesecars.

NotonlydidtheHakosukalaythefoundationfortherestof

theGT-Rstory– ofwhichthere’splentymoreinthepagesof

thismagazine– butit alsogavetheworlda glimpseintowhat

a JapanesemanufacturerwascapableofwellbeforeJapan's

performancecarrenaissanceofthe1990s.

ONESwapping

thesteeringwheel

forsomething

smallerisa common

mod,duetoheavy,

unassistedsteering

TWOSome

Australianreplicasare

soaccurateyouwould

needtobea proper

anoraktospotthe

differences

THREEThisis

definitelynotanS20

engine,butrathera

differentNissansix,

boredoutto3.1litres

FOURDespitebeing

a stripped-outversion

oftheregularSkyline,

theGT-Rstillfeatured

somewhat'ofthe

time'woodpanelling

➜

01 02

03 04

THE HAKOSUKA GAVE THE WORLD A GLIMPSE INTO

WHAT A JAPANESE MANUFACTURER WAS CAPABLE OF

82 september 2019 whichcar.com.au/motor