Welcome to part 2 of my coverage of the Autosport International Show 2016. Today we will be having a look at the cars on the GTROC stand. They had a variety of cars on display from a very special example of the legendary Hakosuka to a drag spec R34 and a LeMans R35.
Not one of my best photos unfortunately but it was an absolute pleasure to see the Litchfield LM1 RS in person. I’ve been following the team at Litchfield Motors and the development of their GTR packages on social media for quite some time. This particular car is their piece de resistance; the engine has been thoroughly rebuilt and displacement increased to 4.6 with larger turbos, an uprated exhaust system and fueling system to back up the big increase in displacement allowing this monster to produce a whopping 1100hp! This isn’t just a car designed to be quick in a straight line, Litchfield claim this is the ultimate track day GTR featuring heavily uprated brakes and suspension as well as a full GT3 FIA compliant roll cage and Cobra seats.
Litchfield also very kindly allowed Mike Newman from the charity Speed of Sight use the car to set the land speed record for blind people. Mike and the car managed to set an average speed of 200.9mph over two runs.
If you want to find out more about the Speed of Sight charity please check out their website here:
Next up we have the RIPS Blue Streak Nissan R34 GTR. This incredible machine is the fastest street legal R34 in Europe and runs an astonishing 8.324 at 165.45 MPH!! Slightly faster than my W124 Mercedes!
This is one very special Hakosuka GTR. If memory from the little plaque serves me correctly the car was brought from new by a gentleman in Japan who raced it. It was then converted back to a road car in the 1990s as the gentleman had retired from racing and then was sold to the UK in the early 2000s as the gentleman was suffering from ill health. The car had a complete nut and bolt restoration but unfortunately the original owner passed away and didn’t get to see the car restored. The car now attends numerous shows up and down the country.
A beautiful machine. It is always, always an honour to see one of these in person.
This R35 is a GT1 machine that has previously been used by GT Academy. A program that aims to turn the skills of players of the Gran Turismo video game into skills behind the wheel of an actual racing car.
The Winfield and HKS liveried R32s below are both examples of Group A racing cars. In Group A the GTR dominated everything from Europe to Australia to Japan. They performed so impressively that they were eventually banned for the famous Bathurst race in Australia.
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Thanks for reading!
Great write up but just to let you know its the R35 ‘GT1’ GTR on the clubs stand that you saw which was the one banned from GT1 racing & purchased by one of our members. Not the equally stunning or superb GT3 as you put.
Thank you for taking time to do the article & take the photos of our stand on behalf of all at the GT-R Owners Club.
Thanks for letting me know! I have updated the post accordingly! Many thanks for organising such a fantastic display of cars!