With the 34 GTR no longer in production Nismo decided to attempt building what they believed to be the ultimate Nissan Skyline GTR. Utilizing many years experience within different racing scenes it could be argued that Nismo should have the ability to do exactly that. This vehicle was to benefit from the many years of success Nismo had within motor racing. Successful race cars include the Gr-A, N1, GT500, and the "Nè1/4rburgring specification," This car had be comfortable for the street and comply with today's new and strict emission laws, perhaps Nismo's biggest challenge to date.



The basic concept of the car was completed in 2000 when Nismo competed in what was called the "tuners battle" power was restricted to 600ps and Nismo came out on top. This concept was then taken to the next level were luxuries had to be added to make the car comfortable for street use. Making a race car street friendly has many challengers brake and clutch feel needs to be light and easy to use, suspension needs to softer, and luxuries like Leather seats and air-conditioning need to be added.

All these luxuries add weight so Nismo had to find a way to shed it and carbon fiber was the answer. This killed two birds with one stone by using carbon fiber chassis rigidity was also improved. To improve chassis rigidity even further the, door frames, front strut upper hood reinforcement area, and center tunnel were all spot welded and CFRP adhered. The aero parts of the car including the front bumper, front blister fenders, and hood were all made of highly ridged carbon fiber.

Aero parts were designed with cooling and down force in mind. The front bumper has large air ducts so cool air is fed to the engine, brakes and oil coolers. Fenders were widened 15mm to fit wider tread and has ducts inside the engine bay to exhaust hot air from the engine bay. The bonnet also contains ducts to exhaust hot air and utilizes a duct to ram cool air into the intake at high speeds. Front and rear under spoilers are used to improve down force.

Beating in the heart of the Nissan Skyline is a race edition RB26DETT which had proven itself lemans 24 hour race and named the Z2. This engine generates 368kw and 540Nm. NISMO utilized the many parts which had been proven on race engines and each engine was carefully hand built by Nismo mechanics and engineers to ensure the finest quality.

Many would agree that the Nismo Nissan Skyline GTR is the ultimate street performance car. It is luxuries, tame enough to drive on the street comfortably and yet its race bread heritage means it still performs brilliantly on the race track. In beast motoring #15 the Nismo Z-tune broke the street car lap record previously held by the Ferrari F360R.

Pictures, more specifications plus a time attack video between the Z- tune and the Ferrari can be seen at this website nissanskyline.6te.net.

Glenn Munn

Skyline Enthusiast