What is the 32-year owner’s goal?
In the past, sports car enthusiasts took machines tuned to their heart’s content to the streets. The Nissan Skyline GT-R, known as the R32, was the most powerful sports car of all time, and it enthralled even the speed fanatics of the day. The man introduced here, Mr. Abe, was a young man who experienced the crazy street stage known as the highest speed in the Gulf at the time.
The R32 GT-R, the machine that was touted as the strongest
Cars only become interesting when they are tweaked. And the more you tweak it, the more appealing it becomes. When looking back on the golden age of sports cars, the Nissan R32 ‘Skyline GT-R’ was the first machine to be mentioned. Speed fanatics also loved the most powerful car of its time as a tuning base car, who tuned it up and enjoyed it in their own ways. Although voluntary restrictions imposed by the manufacturer limited the power, it was a machine that could be even more fun if the seals were released.
Mr. Abe fell in love with tuning when he was young and experienced the crazy street stages of what was then known as the highest speeds on the Wangan coast. And his beloved R32 GT-R was once again a legend on the motorsport stage, showing off its unrivaled potential in Group A and N1 racing. he bought the car new in 1992, when the GT-R was at its peak, and says that this year marks its 32nd year.
Mr. Abe, who was a tuning freak from the bottom up, really wanted an R32 ‘GT-R Nismo’ limited to 500 units, but it was not easy to get his hands on one, so he fitted a Nismo spoiler, which was available as an optional part at the time. The front bumper has since been changed, so there is no trace of it on his current car, but the rear is fitted with a Nismo-specific mini spoiler from back in the day.
After buying the car new, he took it to “Move” in Tachikawa, Tokyo, which is famous for GT-R tuning, to drive it through the high-speed stages that were popular at the time. There, the standard engine was tuned to bring out the limits of the stock turbine. In one top-speed test session, the car reached 280 km/h with the stock final gear ratio.
From there, he changed the turbine and wondered if he should go with the standard Nismo turbine at the time, but just then the GT turbine series from HKS was introduced. This turbine was the talk of the town for its use of ball bearings at a time when most models generally had full-float-type bearings. The performance of this turbine is also impressive, with a solid boost from low rpm and extends to high rpm without any sagging. I also fell in love with the pretense of superior performance due to low turbo lag.
What theft countermeasures are?
Mr. Abe purchased and installed the GT2530 twin turbo kit from the many HKS full turbine kits that use such turbines. The engine itself was also tuned along with the turbine replacement. Without making any major changes, the N1 engine was used as the base for the head tuning and upgraded to a high camshaft to increase power through higher efficiency.
More than 27 years have already passed since this tuning was carried out. During that time, the engine has experienced engine blowouts and has been taken care of by the tuning shop on each occasion. He has asked HKS Technical Factory to take care of his car as a reliable doctor who will continue to look after it.
Also, the number of thefts of R32 GT-Rs has been increasing recently, and when we asked Mr. Abe if he was doing anything about it, he told us the following story.
“I install tire locks and steering locks to buy time in case of theft. I also have COCO-SECOM installed. Recently, it seems to be particularly important to be able to use GPS to track the vehicle if it is stolen. This is because, thanks to the widespread use of anti-theft GPS systems, it seems that in many cases, robbers do not take stolen goods directly to their hideouts, but leave them in a nearby parking lot and see if they come back for them. So, even if they do steal it, it is often possible to track them down and rescue them with GPS in the meantime.”
As for plans;
“As for future plans, I’m basically maintaining the status quo, but as I’m approaching retirement, I’m thinking of finishing up with a crunchy tuned GT-R with a big single turbine specification, which I’ve always wanted to do.”
He knows that there is no place on the street where he can step on the gas pedal as hard as he can, but he would like to experience the acceleration that only a tuned car can provide again. Owners who were into tuning in the past may return to the highest speed tuning and awaken to the fastest driving experience.
translated by DeepL