#Calsonic R32 GTR

[hirocimacruiser]

The All Japan Touring Car Championship was revived in 1985. It attracted a wide variety of cars from all over the world and became very popular. In 1989 2 Skyline GT-R were finished by NISMO to Group A regulations and the GT-R immediately dominated the series with its powerful 2.6-liter straight-six turbo 600bhp engine and four-wheel drive, and the competition between the teams became heated. At the 1990 Inter TEC, No. 12 in the photo (Kazuyoshi Hoshino/Toshio Suzuki) won the first overall victory for a Japanese car.

[superhyperfastcars]

1994 Calsonic Impul R32 Skyline GTR racecar

[itracing]

Calsonic Nissan Skyline GT-R (R32)

Images by Dominykas Liberis

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https://www.instagram.com/artbyshine/

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R32 liveries

[snizzysnazbullets]

Nissan museum by Larry Chen

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[carpr0n]

Starring: Nissan Skyline GT-R R32

By Robert Knight

[rapidjapan]

I could spend all day in these Japanese bookstores 

📷@rapidjapan

[hirocimacruiser]

Calsonic Skylines.

1988 R31 GTS-R and 1992 R32 GTR GrpA race cars and 1993 R32 GTR and 1994 R32 GTR JGTC race cars

[straight-outta-tokyo-blog]

Legendary blue. Credit: @4501ryo #nissan #skyline #gtr #skylinegtr #r32 #r32gtr #calsonic #tuneroutlaws #JDMGRAM #stance #stancenation #dropped #importtuner #eatsleepjdm #jdm #modified #japanflow #StaticMafia #JDMelitist #tunedintokyo #tuning #hellaflush #thelowdown #superstreet (at Prince and Skyline Museum)

[beyazgtrliprens]

Bari maketiyle kendimi avutayım Vol.22 🏁 #nissan #gtr #r32 #calsonic #calsonicskyline #skyline #total #impul #tamiya #japan #modelkit #gtr32 #art #plasticart #carart #scalemodel #sportscar #racecar

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One of my all time favourites!

[dtphan824]

What car events happen during the week of Tokyo Auto Salon?  Where are the best meets?  How do you get there?  If you’re not sure of what to do or where to go, check out this post for annual events that happen every year before the show. 

Part 3 – Car Life

In the last post, we explored what car life is like hours before Tokyo Auto Salon 2017 (TAS2017) at Makeover Co., Ltd. in Konosu located in Saitama prefecture.  If you missed it, check out the post here.   Enrique and I continue car life in Japan by heading back to Tokyo to meet up Joseph, aka @Shihtake , whom just landed into NRT.  Our plan was to rest for a bit, grab a bite to eat, and head out to the car meets.

What car events happen during the week of Tokyo Auto Salon?  Where and when are car meets in Tokyo?  How do you get to the meets in Tokyo?  There are about 2-3 public meets that people attend during the week of Tokyo Auto Salon.  The first one is the annual RWB pre-TAS meeting in Roppongi Hills.  Porsches start arriving around 6PM until about 8PM.  I’ve been to 2 of these gatherings in the past so seeing a bunch of RWB’s parked together is an awesome sight to see.  If you’re a RWB fan boy or car enthusiast, I’d recommend stopping by this meet for about an hour.

You can follow the the Official RWB Instagram page. 

Just look for the Hard Rock Cafe in Roppongi and you will find the RWB meeting spot.

We arrived to the meet kinda late so most of the RWBs were hard parked…

Once we arrived, I caught up with some of the Wekfest guys and JoeyLee from the Chronicles. 

Beautiful Bright Red 964 sporting a huge wing like RWB Rotana. 

The RWB line up on the side entrance of the Hard Rock Cafe parking lot.

There is a random garage space located in the parking lot where some RWB’s park.  From what I remember, they were selling merchandise out of here.

The meet parking lot is really dark…

And lots of spectators and people get in the way of your shots if your lens isn’t wide enough, so I’d strong recommend bringing a tripod or a fast lens… 

Spectators from different parts of the world attend to document this meet.

This was taken around 7:30PM… a fashionably late entrance for RWB Rauh Passion. 

Momoki Yamane, owner of this yellow 964 , transported RWB Nathalie all the way from Hokkaido by truck and ferry to this annual event… it’s about a 19 hrs from Hokkaido to the Hard Rock Cafe… 

It was close to 8PM and we got word that the Super Street meet in Odaiba was already packed…

��   So Enrique, Joseph, and I took our last shots at the night meeting in Roppongi.

Parked outside the lot was this white Levin with ‘Rough World’ on the windshield…

I’m not 100% sure, but this Levin probably belongs to Nojima-san...

If you’re not sure who Nojima-san is, he owns the infamous “Real of the World” AE86 and paints Nakai-san’s RWB cars. 

The next meet I’d recommend is the ‘Fresh Tokyo Car Meet’ by Super Street and Hardcore Japan.   The meet location is usually not announced until a day or two before the meet.  Reason for this was so cops would not shut down the parking garage…

Super Street has a huge following worldwide and their meet shows it…

Using Google maps you can directions from the RWB meet to the Fresh Tokyo Car meet.  You can click on the photo for directions.

As soon as we got off the train, you could hear the cars from a mile away….

Cars were parked outside the parking garage…

Not sure if this is a real Mugen Honda Civic Type R, but does look pretty good on SL’s. 

Cars lined up outside on the street… this was around 8:45PM and the garage was already closed…

SuperStreet guys definitely know how to throw a meet…

So much camber on this WRB BRZ…

We finally made our way into the garage and first thing that caught my eye was @sardonyx3‘s NSX on black TE37’s. 

Last year, this was the prime spot for Jun’s Blue Advance NSX and @Sardonyx3’s white NSX.  Looks like they were replaced with some Honda Fits.

People came as early as 5:30PM to get primo spot parking…

  Walking around, I got to see some familiar faces… Abbitt, Minh, Vinh, and more from Royal Origin.  Enrique on the left taking in what a Super Street car meet is like.  

Sexy foodie boy here is Minh.

Hachiroku Levin Coupe with itb’s on some equips…  there were a lot of hachiroku’s…. alot… you’ll see what I mean…

Not usually a fan of the Abflug Kit on the Supra but this one isn’t bad…

Evan or @wandering_texan is from Houston, TX now residing in Yokohama for work…. he’s also our ride to meets out in Daikoku-Futo.

His chariot of choice, RB Stagea.

There were a lot of R32’s and you could tell if they were owned by U.S. military guys… the ‘Y’ on white plates… you’ll see what I mean in a bit.

Clean FD lowered on some 3 piece wheels… 

Looks like Sarto RB kit on this blue E36 M3….

Boosted S52/M52 setup showing a good size turbo… looks like fun. 

A pretty good Calsonic R32 GTR replica. 

So low, so stance.

Red Altezza looks like he/she drifts… but car looks too clean.

Guess this Datsun Sunny isn’t really JDM and is really Hardcore.

I’ve never seen this kit for the 350z before… Z-Project.

Looked them up and they debuted at TAS 2015…

Another look at the Toyota Celica… 

Really aggressive stance on this ND Miata MX-5.

Of course decorations for cars are ok…

CBY AE86 with really wide wheels… clean. 

Imagine if that woman was the owner of this Chaser…. 

Two tone red / black looks good on gold wats… see what I mean about hachirokus…

Really nice Supra on bronze CE28’s…

Another white Trueno coupe rolling through… check out the Y plate….

Toyota Crown and and Infiniti M stance out in their parking spots…

The windshield banner reads “Photographer”… guess he’s a photographer too…

Super clean and low FC rolling around…

Car Modify Wonder kit S15…

On some Work Emotion wheels…

The 2nd floor of the meet had about 15+ hachirokus…

Oh Japan…

You guys are too wild for me…

Female owned S14…

Team Perversity yo.

Still got tire stickers on…

“ROLAND – WE WANT OURSELF JUST THE WAY WE ARE”

Stanced out ND Miata MX-5 on some 3 piece steelies….

These guys were everywhere!

Really nice Libery Walk Gran Turismo on some Rotiform wheels…

Unfortunately, my full car shot was blurry… 85mm life for the loss.

This NSX sat on the 2nd floor… ‘Y’ plate…

I actually like this Mk3 Supra…

Squad of R32 GTR’s / ‘Y’ plates…

Seems like all the military guys all have nice cars…

Hopefully, I answered some of your questions about the Tokyo car meets during Tokyo Auto Salon.  If you have any questions, just hit me up on Instagram or by email.  Thanks for checking out this post.

http://www.danhphan.com http://www.danhphanphoto.wordpress.com http://www.instagram.com/dtphan

Gear: Nikon D750 Sigma 35mm f1.4 Nikon 85mm f1.8

  Journey to Tokyo (2017): Part 3 – Car Life What car events happen during the week of Tokyo Auto Salon?  Where are the best meets?  How do you get there?

[holding93]

I’m confused.  Among all the choices, versions and variants out there in car land, there are no less than 3 vehicles available for sale today called GTR.  There’s the obvious, the Nissan GT-R.  The new contender, the Mercedes Benz AMG GT R.  There’s the recent, sold out but totally still on our minds McLaren P1 GTR.  The recently renamed Ultima GTR – which is now called the Evolution.  Then there’s the pantheon of great GTRs, the CLK GTR, the McLaren F1 GTR, the BMW M3 GTR and Holden Torana GTR.

The question is – why so many GTRs?

The Meaning of GTR

The GT badge can be traced back as far as 1929 to the Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GT.  Later, in 1951 and the Lancia Aurelia B20 GT, with its more powerful engine and elegant 2 door Ghia-designed, Pininfarina built body was when ‘Gran Turismo’ would start to earn its definition.  1950s Grand Touring was about motoring with exceptional comfort, effortless speed and supreme style.  This association with wealth, speed and style was like catnip to marketing people and the GT designation has since graced everything all the way down to humble hatchbacks with nothing more to note than a sporty pinstripe.

The Bentley Continental GT and the Aston Martin DB11 are possibly the closest modern examples of a true ‘GT’ car, however you can also buy a Kia c’eed that wears the same letters.

Adding suffixes to extend the meaning of GT further diluted the comfort and style side of the balance.  GTO (Omologata) for homologation special, GTA (Alleggerita) for lightened version, GTV (Veloce) for a fast version, GTI (Injection), GTX (eXtreme) and many more.  The R in GTR stands for Racing.  They all have a theme – high performance.

The Inconsistent GT Suffix

With the exception of obscure sports car maker Ultima, the car companies who have used the GTR name seem to have a very love/hate relationship with it. The designation has always been used very sporadically.

McLaren has it reserved for the racing/track version of the pinnacle of their range, so after using it from 1995 to 1997, it wasn’t dusted off again for 18 years and the P1 GTR in 2015.

Mercedes dabbled with the GTR name on the 1997 CLK GTR GT1 race car.  The GTR only ran for the 1997 season plus two races in the 1998 season before it was replaced by the upgraded CLK LM.  The 25 road cars built in 1998 and 1999 would also carry the CLK GTR name.  The badge would stay in hiatus for 18 years until 2017, when AMG would again use it on the hardcore version of the GT coupe the GT R.

Similarly, BMW was to use the GTR name on the racing versions of the E36 and E46 M3s.  Built to maximise the GT series rules at the time, 10 E46 road cars were offered for sale after Porsche complained that the M3 had not met with series homologation rules.  Only 6 were built, none of which were sold to the public funnily enough.  The name has stayed on ice ever since.

It’s like this all through the history of GTR.  The Ford Mustang GT-R was a one-off concept.  The Holden Torana GTR was only around for the LC and LJ models between 1969 and 1974 and never revived.  Porsche called the racing version of the 924 the GTR and we all know how long that lasted.

Even Nissan, the most consistent user of the badge in recent memory has been very on and off.  After the ‘Kenmeri’ Skyline GT-R was killed off in the midst of the oil crisis in 1973 it would be 16 years before the R32 Skyline GT-R would revive the nameplate in 1989.  The GT-R was killed off again when the last R34s rolled down the line in 2002.  The R35 only came along 5 years later in 2007.

GT-R at Les Combes, Spa Francorchamps

The Original GTR

I’ve done a lot of research to write this article and one of the points of note was, of course – who did it first?  My research took me back as far as 1969 when 3 GTRs appeared for the first time.  The Holden Torana ‘LC’ GTR was presented to dealers for the first time in October 1969.  The legendary GTR XU-1 would follow a few months later.  Predating the Holden by just one month in Japan was the Isuzu Bellett 1600 GT-R.

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The earliest appearance of the R suffix, however was the PGC10 Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R.  It first appeared as a concept at the Tokyo Motorshow in October 1968 before going on sale in February of 1969.  Its predecessor, the Prince Skyline 2000 GT-B was already a legendary racing car in Japan, after taking the fight up to, yet ultimately coming second to the word-conquering Porsche 904.  An ‘R’ racing version was the logical next step and was marketed alongside the R380 race car to legitimise its racing bona fides.

Racing Pedigree

GTRs are built to race and most have become legendary.

The Skyline GT-R PGC10 won 33 victories in one and a half years of racing.  The Coupé KPGC10 would take further wins, making it legendary in its home market.  Later, the Group A R32 GT-R would decimate all before it, earning the nickname ‘Godzilla’.  Notable wins include the Bathurst 1000 twice, Spa 24 Hours and all 29 races it was entered in between 1990 and 1993 in Japan. It’s well documented that the rules were changed in Australia to outlaw it, such was its dominance.  If there was ever a case for the ultimate pedigreed GTR, this would go a long way to earning the rights.

The GT-R, reintroduced with the R32 (launched August 1989), made its debut at the opening race of the All Japan Championship in March 1990. In the four seasons running up to the last All Japan Championship held in1993, the GT-R achieved a spectacular record, winning all 29 rounds. This No. 12 Calsonic (CalsonicKansei at present) Skyline (K. Hoshino/Masahiko Kageyama) was victorious in 1990 and 1993.

Not as long lived but just as legendary, the McLaren F1 GTR.  The F1 was never intended to race, however the program was borne at the behest of McLaren’s customers.  It’s wasn’t a slap-dash job, but Gordon Murray was only afforded one day in the McLaren wind tunnel to develop the aero kit, lest he take too much time away from the Formula 1 team.  They still went out and dominated the BPR class it was built for then in 1995 won that little race, the 24 Hours of LeMans.  It remains the only time a car entered in the road car based GT class would ever top the Prototype classes.

The CLK GTR never won the LeMans 24 Hours, however it did take out the 1997 Drivers and Teams GT championships.  It also contributed to championship wins in 1998.

  The State of Today

I find Mercedes AMG’s choice to name the track version of the GT coupe the GT R very curious.  It clearly fits with the naming convention within the range, GT, GT S, GT C.  Yet it’s inviting comparisons with a Nissan, a brand I would generally consider well beneath Benz.  Yet they’re pitching it into the same class with the same name.

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The Nissan GT-R has always been a special, one-out car that transcends the rest of the dowdy Nissan range.   If anything Benz is giving Nissan a free kick.  The R35 is a 10 year old design.  The similar naming has invited the motoring press to compare the two. The new car is winning but not by anywhere near the margin you’d expect it to.  Especially for a new Benz.  Better choices might have been GT T (Track), GT P (Performance) or if they wanted to tap their own history, GT H (Hammer).  GT H works on so many levels, it also has amusing marketing synergies with Lewis Hamilton (Hammer time) but I digress.

The CLK GTR is a mostly forgotten blip in Mercedes history and they quickly renamed it to the LM when they got serious about chasing the LeMans win.

MERCEDES-AMG GT R, AMG green hell magno, Leder Exklusiv Nappa/Mikrofaser DINAMICA schwarz;Kraftstoffverbrauch kombiniert 11,4 l/100 km, CO2-Emissionen kombiniert 259 g/km* MERCEDES-AMG GT R, AMG green hell magno, Exclusive Nappa leather/DINAMICA microfiber black;Fuel consumption, combined 11.4 l/100 km, CO2 emissions, combined 259 g/km*

The big problem is that the AMG GT R is not really the Racing version, that’s the GT3.  It’s a track day special.  It hasn’t earned the R designation in the hellfire of motorsport like the Nissan, the McLaren or even the BMW and Holden have.  It doesn’t matter how good the car is, the marketing berks at Benz have wiped their feet on 48 years of tradition.  They can go and get stuffed.

  Nissan. Mercedes AMG. McLaren. Why so many GTRs? #h93 #cars #street #racing #sportscar I'm confused.  Among all the choices, versions and variants out there in car land, there are no less than 3 vehicles available for sale today called GTR. 

[snizzysnazbullets]

Calsonic R32 GTR 1993