Photos by: Kepet Ichigo (@kepet15)
Throughout the world, there are a handful of countries that we would look at as a benchmark for tuning depending on what platforms that are being discussed. Some look at Japan for a conservative JDM tuning philosophy, while some may look at the US or Thailand who can squeeze ridiculous amounts of horsepower. The only difference is how you want to achieve it. However for Australia, when someone mentions 'Aussie car culture', the first thing that someone thinks of are Holdens, big V8s and drag racing. However, if there is one car that they are crazy about that's not Australian, it would be the R32 GTR.
While attending the World Time Attack Championship in Sydney, Australia, I requested my good friend, Kepet to take a look at one of the cars that are being displayed at the event. It was about a week or two before he departed to Sydney. That was when I watched a YouTube video from Motive DVD about a particular R32 GTR build that was carried out solely for the launch event for the new Forza Horizon 3 video game. Based from what I saw, I knew it was a car that was worth to feature on my blog.
It all started when Mark Trueno of StreetFX Motorsports and Graphics received an e-mail stating that he was requested to build a demo car for the Forza Horizon 3 launch event for Australia. But as the task was explained a bit further, it turns out that they were requested to build some race cars for a quarter mile drag race at the event. Initially, Mark and his team thought of building a Ford and a Holden as the demo cars for the launch. However, after contacting Andrew Hawkins for his opinion, Andrew suggested that they build an R32 GTR to go against the Holden.
The reason why the GTR was suggested was because despite not being an Australian car, it was definitely still an Australian racing icon. It was the car that became a fierce competitor in the early 90s at the Barthurst 1000 which was how the R32 GTR earned the nickname 'Godzilla'. Not only it was an icon in the Australian racing scene, but it was also a car that was highly contrasting to the car it was going against, the Holden HSV GTS. It a way, it would diversify things for the Forza Horizon 3 launch.
Shortly after confirming the plan, they got themselves an R32 GTR to be used for the project and have it sent to GT Auto Garage in Queensland. The car they got was already equipped with a roll cage and bucket seats. It also had a set of Volk TE37 Super Lap wheels and an Exedy carbon twin plate clutch making this R32 GTR a decent base to begin with.
The first thing they did with the R32 was pulling out the RB26 motor and sending it to JHH Racing to be refurbished. Once there, the guys at JHH ripped apart the RB26 to be repaired and rebuilt. For this build, Mark requested that the bottom end was to be stroked up to 2.8 liters with Nitto internals. To achieve the targeted horsepower the build team was aiming for which is 500 horsepower, they decided to run a single turbine set up with a twin scroll GTX3582R turbocharger strapped on to the motor.
After they completed the RB26 motor, they started tuning the motor on an Autronic engine management system on the dyno. Due to the extra engine capacity, the motor was able to make over 600 horsepower at only 1.2 bars of boost. As more power runs were done on higher boost, they found that the set up was capable of making 720 horsepower at over 1.8 bars of boost. But since the ignition system is up to its limit, they decided to run the RB26 at only just under 1.4 bars for the launch event at Sydney Dragway.
During the Forza Horizon 3 launch, the R32 GTR showed that it wasn't only a car that was capable of making impressive numbers on the dyno, but it was also capable at making a very quick pass on the quarter mile. While running on Hankook TD Z221 tires, it ran a best time of 10.9 seconds at 221 kilometers an hour. With an achievement like that, the guys at Motive DVD and StreetFX decided to keep developing the car even further. It is an impressively capable R32 GTR despite being built in a very short period of time. Personally, I would like to see how far an impromptu build like this can go.
TUNING MENU
Owner: StreetFX
Model: Nissan Skyline GTR BNR32
Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
ENGINE:
2.6L RB26DETT Inline-6,
Nitto 2.8L Stroker Kit,
Nitto Oil Pump,
ACL Bearings,
Baffled Oil Sump,
+1mm Oversized Exhaust Valves,
Garrett GTX3582R Turbo,
6Boost Twin Scroll Turbo Manifold,
Turbosmart 50mm External Wastegate,
X-Force 3.5 inch Turbo Cat Exhaust,
3 inch Dump Pipe,
Turbosmart FPR2000 Fuel Pressure Regulator,
Bosch 1650cc Injectors,
Aftermarket Industries SP800 Surge Tank,
Trust 100mm Intercooler with Custom Piping,
PWR Radiator,
PWR Oil Cooler,
Autronic ECU,
DRIVETRAIN:
5-speed manual,
Exedy Carbon Twin Plate Clutch,
SUSPENSION, CHASSIS AND BRAKES:
MCA Red Coilovers,
6-Point Roll Cage,
Selby Swaybars,
Front And Rear Strut Bars,
Ferrari F40 Brembo Front Brakes,
Slotted Ventilated Rotors,
WHEELS AND TIRESL
Volk Racing TE37 Super Lap 18 x 10 (all round),
Hankook TD Z221 265/35/18 (all round),
EXTERIOR:
Custom Forza Horizon 3 Graphics,
INTERIOR:
Bride Seats,
OMP Steering Wheel,
Nismo 320km/h Meter Cluster,
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
StreetFX Motorsports And Graphics,
Motive DVD,
Motive DVD video link
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