25 replies to this topic

[nivola]

Hi all I am trying to figure out how many Dr30 and Hr31 skylines where race in Group A around the world.

I know there was the Nissan Factory team in australia and also a few privater teams. But I am trying to figure out who else run cars.

Murry Cater had a dr30. There was the Grants car was a hr31 in 1990 and so was Lambden's.

Grice and Pearcy had a Hr31 in the Btcc.

Anyone know of others and have images?

[Team Result]

Well, there were quite a few run in Japan, of course.
From memory, the quasi-factory Nismo HR31 cars were given to Hasemi and Hoshino and maybe someone else to run. Hasemi's was sponsored by Reebok (union jack on the roof?) and Hoshino's was in his usual Calsonic blue colour. There was also one sponsored by Ricoh (white with red stripes), driver may have been either of the above or A.N. Other. I can't recall seeing any private HR31's here, but there were certainly some DR30's in private hands. You might try googling 'intertec' 'jtcc' and 'wtcc' for more info & pix.
Btw, I saw the/a Grice/Percy car in storage at Tokachi International Speedway a couple of years ago. I'm sure it's
one of Freddy Gibson's cars as it had a SAAS racing seat fitted! I live about 45 mins from there so can ask about it when the season re-starts.

[Catalina Park]

Originally posted by Team Result
Well, there were quite a few run in Japan, of course.
From memory, the quasi-factory Nismo HR31 cars were given to Hasemi and Hoshino and maybe someone else to run. Hasemi's was sponsored by Reebok (union jack on the roof?) and Hoshino's was in his usual Calsonic blue colour. There was also one sponsored by Ricoh (white with red stripes), driver may have been either of the above or A.N. Other. I can't recall seeing any private HR31's here, but there were certainly some DR30's in private hands. You might try googling 'intertec' 'jtcc' and 'wtcc' for more info & pix.
Btw, I saw the/a Grice/Percy car in storage at Tokachi International Speedway a couple of years ago. I'm sure it's
one of Freddy Gibson's cars as it had a SAAS racing seat fitted! I live about 45 mins from there so can ask about it when the season re-starts.

Allan Grice had a personal deal with SAAS and may have taken the seat with him. :

[nivola]

I thought the grice/percy was factory GB effort totally.

Hmmm donington in the wet if I remember rightly

[simonlewisbooks]

Wasn't the Grice/Percy effort mainly aimed at the ETC rather than BTCC?

[PS30-SB]

Hi all I am trying to figure out how many Dr30 and Hr31 skylines where race in Group A around the world

I think there may have been an awful lot more Gr.A cars than you realise, and sorting them all out from eachother would be a huge task. You're essentially asking about two quite different types of car too.

For example, in just one race - the 300km Group A Championship race at Sugo in late September 1987 - there were five proper Gr.A class DR30s:

Tohira and Kamioka in one of the Diesel Kiki-sponsored cars, and Sekine and Miyoshi in the other. Kenji Takahashi and Takao Wada in the Advan / Tomei car, Moto Kitano and Masahiko Kageyama in the blue Leyton House-sponsored Hoshino Racing / IMPUL car and Hasemi and Aguri Suzuki in the yellow Dunlop -sponsored Hasemi Motor Sport car. And that's only a snapshot.........

Many of the cars ended up being pensioned off into different race series, such as the Japanese Grand National Stock Car series, and had their specs changed somewhat. Seeing a mixture of the true ex-Gr.A cars and later privateer cars of different specs in other series is going to confuse things I think. I don't know how you are going to count them properly without chassis numbers.

Coincidentally, one of my friends in Japan is just about to start restoration of a good example of the above. It's one of the proper NISMO-built 'RICOH' sponsored Gr.A cars that ended up being pensioned off to different formulas - finally being tucked up in storage for the last ten years or so. It still sports most of its original parts and NISMO handiwork, and should be a fairly straightforward resto. I have to say that the first impression of these cars in the workshop is that they are pretty large.......

Nissan themselves have a couple of the cars in their historic collection - notably one of the Reebok-sponsored R31s, which still makes appearances at events like the Nismo Festival.

Btw, I saw the/a Grice/Percy car in storage at Tokachi International Speedway a couple of years ago. I'm sure it's one of Freddy Gibson's cars as it had a SAAS racing seat fitted! I live about 45 mins from there so can ask about it when the season re-starts.

Sorry Team Result, but do you mean you live about 45mins from Gibson's, or from Tokachi?! If you are in Hokkaido at the moment you must be bloody cold!

[Mark A]

Couple of pics I took at this years NISMO Festival at Fuji.

1983 KDR30


1988 R31 GrpA

[Scuderia SSS]

[quote]Originally posted by simonlewisbooks
Wasn't the Grice/Percy effort mainly aimed at the ETC rather than BTCC? [/quote]

Correct!!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by PS30-SB

Hi Alan. Had a feeling you might join in.

[PS30-SB]

Hello Paul

Just for amusement, some photos of the ex-Ricoh sponsored NISMO-built Gr.A car in my friend's storage unit. Underneath the later 'Stock Car' series additions it's really quite original......






Cheers,
Alan T.

[Team Result]

Originally posted by PS30-SB



Sorry Team Result, but do you mean you live about 45mins from Gibson's, or from Tokachi?! If you are in Hokkaido at the moment you must be bloody cold!

Oh, not so cold - it got up to -5 around lunchtime, today ;)

[ghinzani]

Originally posted by Mark A
Couple of pics I took at this years NISMO Festival at Fuji.

1983 KDR30


1988 R31 GrpA

My faveourite two cars on Gran Turismo 2 here, especially the '83 one. Surprising how much the 88 car looks like the Bluebird Graham Goode ran in Trimoco in 84 & 85. I think the Aussies ran them down under too.

[ellrosso]

We have shots of many of the Aussie Skylines on the oldracephotos.com website. Type Skyline into the Advanced Search (home page) should bring them up. Regards, Lindsay Ross

[Mark A]

few more pics.

[Scuderia SSS]

Seeing that this thread is about DR30's & R31's, here's a few pics to keep the thread alive.
Photos courtesy of Brinn Jacket & Craig Markland (who's family owns the ex-Skaife R31)

Oh, and nice pics Alan. Maybe while your'e in a good posting picture mood, why not post a few pics of the 10 and the Fairlady











PS, look out for a new book of the GTR in all its variants in the spring ;)

[HR31GTS]

Hi, I was pointed to this thread from our R31skylineclub boards.

I don't know about DR30s in Japan, but there were three built by Gibson Motorsport here in Australia. One is raced sporadically, all still exist.

As for HR31s... In Australia there were five built by Gibson Motorsport; and four survive after one chassis was written off by Mark Skaife . Three of the four are currently active in historic touring car racing.

As an aside, four out of five Group A GT-Rs built by GMS also exist, again, one is missing due to Mr Skaife binning it; all are now in Australian hands. Considering their EXA and 3 910 Bluebirds also still exist, thats an impressive 16 out of 18 cars still running.

Ok, back to the HR31s....
Alan, thankyou very much for providing some extremely interesting images. We have had photos of that car circulating for some time but they dated from its JSS days.
Its interesting to look in the engine bay and see intercooler piping approximating stock locations, what looks to be a stock GTS-R exhaust manifold and heatshield; it doesn't look to be as heavily modified as the GMS cars but of course looks can be deceiving. Compare with the GMS engine bays:



Currently we know a fair bit about the GMS specs; but very little about the Japanese cars and any technical information you could glean would be appreciated.

The GMS cars ran a dry sumped motor, with "big" cams, extensive porting, lower compression Cosworth pistons, general blueprinting. They ran a T04 based turbo on an in-house manufactured tuned length manifold (compare the substantially longer runners) and an external wastegate via a plate bolted to the exhaust side of the turbo. The intercooler is also a proprietary item. Engine management is by a fuel cooled Electromotive ecu. Obviously its more detailed than that, but thats the basics. They also run a Hollinger gearbox after a series of failures with the Nissan Motorsport item.
One of the ex-GMS cars was recently run on a chassis dyno, reeling off 416hp at the treads.




Now,the Grice/Percy car. I had read generally that it was a Nissan Motorsport Europe/UK effort? I doubt its a GMS prepared car, as noted, Grice would have taken his seat and wheel with him.

Could it possibly be an ex-Japanese works built car? I notice that theres scant footage of the Diesel Kiki liveried car after its early outings.

Here is a few photos I've collected (generally from other 31 club members, cheers Dave, Mark D. and others) of the GMS cars

[Team Result]

Originally posted by HR31GTS
Hi, I was pointed to this thread from our R31skylineclub boards.

As an aside, four out of five Group A GT-Rs built by GMS also exist, again, one is missing due to Mr Skaife binning it; all are now in Australian hands. Considering their EXA and 3 910 Bluebirds also still exist, thats an impressive 16 out of 18 cars still running.

You didn't include the Gazelle!
IIRC, there was only one Group A car produced and raced anywhere in the world.
In fact, I'm pretty sure its homologation was arranged by Freddy. It incorporated a lot of the bits from GMS' Dr30s, such as rear uprights & suspension. I heard it is in an Australian collector's hands, now. I would be interested in seeing any pix of it as it holds some good memories for me. In return I will try to get some pix of the Grice/Percy car and find out its history as everyone had convinced me it wasn't ex-GMS.

[Team Result]

The GMS cars ran a dry sumped motor, with "big" cams, extensive porting,

Sure about the extensive porting? Was that allowed in GpA?

Ross Burbidge

[PS30-SB]

Originally posted by HR31GTS
Hi, I was pointed to this thread from our R31skylineclub boards.

Alan, thankyou very much for providing some extremely interesting images. We have had photos of that car circulating for some time but they dated from its JSS days.

HR31GTS,
If you PM me with your direct e-mail address I will send some more detailed pics of the car and some of the background story.

I did take a peep at some of the discussions surrounding the Group A R30/R31/R32 Skylines on the R31skylineclub.com forum, but I'm afraid I came away feeling non-plussed and wondering whether some of the people contributing to the threads were even on the same planet as me. Sorry, but anyone who can write that the "Jap" ( ) R32 Group A Skylines were "pieces of sh*t" is probably just a waste of good oxygen.


Cheers,
Alan T.

[HR31GTS]

PM sent Alan, and agreed, a valid point there...
I must say, on looking at it though, that particular comment referenced is somewhat surprising and a little extreme given it is coming from a gentlemen who currently pilots one of the ex-Gibson HR31s in the historics (!), who you hope would know better.

[Scuderia SSS]

Here are some photos of the Grice/Percy/Olofsson car.
After multiple e-mails back and forth with Win, who was kind enough to help me with a project, i learned of how the Nissan Entered Works car was more a developement car than anything...attributing to the reason they were not as successful as one would have hoped for such a promising car, but it certainly put them on the right track for future dominant Nissan wins.

Pictures courtesy of Daniel Delien and John Gaisford and Gerard Serstevens Gurnenville.

[HR31GTS]

Originally posted by Team Result


You didn't include the Gazelle!
IIRC, there was only one Group A car produced and raced anywhere in the world.
In fact, I'm pretty sure its homologation was arranged by Freddy. It incorporated a lot of the bits from GMS' Dr30s, such as rear uprights & suspension. I heard it is in an Australian collector's hands, now. I would be interested in seeing any pix of it as it holds some good memories for me. In return I will try to get some pix of the Grice/Percy car and find out its history as everyone had convinced me it wasn't ex-GMS.

Indeed I did, ah, no turbo, no care? Only joking.
So thats
-1x N12 EXA
-3x 910 Bluebirds
-1x S12 Gazelle
-3x DR30s
-4x HR31s
-4x BNR32 GT-Rs

So yeah, 16 from 18.

By extensive porting, in regard to the Skylines I was referring to tidying and optimising the castings very thoroughly. Really the HR31 RB20DET engines have quite massive intake ports anyway, so from what I'm told most work concentrated on improving the flow of the exhaust ports, and removing the factory butterfly system (designed to close off about 50% of the port area at low rpm to maintain gas velocity, redundant in a racecar).


Scuderia SSS,
great photos there, thanks for sharing them.

[Jesper O. Hansen]

Originally posted by Team Result


You didn't include the Gazelle!
IIRC, there was only one Group A car produced and raced anywhere in the world.
In fact, I'm pretty sure its homologation was arranged by Freddy. It incorporated a lot of the bits from GMS' Dr30s, such as rear uprights & suspension. I heard it is in an Australian collector's hands, now. I would be interested in seeing any pix of it as it holds some good memories for me. In return I will try to get some pix of the Grice/Percy car and find out its history as everyone had convinced me it wasn't ex-GMS.

German Hermann Behrens build a group A Silvia US12 for 1984. Since the car wasn't homologated before 1985, he raced it in second tier group H events before being a regular of the DPM/DTM during 1985 and '86: http://www2.motorspo...etails.php?d=82

In Japan Seiichirou Tsujimoto finished 4th overall in the 1985 All Japan Touring Car Championship, winning his class - car running in Canon colours? At least one more Silvia was around in Japan at the time, but that's all I have ever managed to turn up.

...and absolutely beautifull pictures of the 1988 ETCC GT-R - Thank you very much!

Jesper

[Phil Rainford]

Originally posted by ghinzani


My faveourite two cars on Gran Turismo 2 here, especially the '83 one. Surprising how much the 88 car looks like the Bluebird Graham Goode ran in Trimoco in 84 & 85. I think the Aussies ran them down under too.

Graham Goode's Bluebird exiting the chicane at Donington Park



Kind regards

Phil

[HR31GTS]

The Aussie 910 Bluebirds ran in our obscure Aussie Group C touring category*, and were four door sedans.


*A very, very strange formula allowing some big freedoms, such as massive wheelarch extensions, wings, airdams and monster rubber, yet still requiring production based suspension, homologated engine parts and comprehensive factory interior trim!

[ajrichar]

Originally posted by Scuderia SSS


PS, look out for a new book of the GTR in all its variants in the spring ;)

Do tell more....
What will the focus be specifically - all variants of the GT-R? This sounds like something I will buy.

[Scuderia SSS]

Originally posted by ajrichar


Do tell more....
What will the focus be specifically - all variants of the GT-R? This sounds like something I will buy.

I wont clog threads up with my wittling on, so i'll PM you instead.