People talk about the electronics in the R35 GT-R all the time, almost as if Nissan had replaced its famous Takumi engine builders with wizards who casted a VooDoo spell on Godzilla - you just push a button and the car acts for you. While that’s far from the truth, we have to admit there’s a massive difference to the previous generations of the GT-R when it comes to the driver effort.
To demonstrate this, we’ve brought along the video below, which shows an R32 Skyline GT-R that’s being put through its paces on the dragstrip. This one comes from the world of Russian drag racing, a topic we’ve frequently talked about lately.
Thus, we are dealing with an R32 that was pushed far, far beyond its 276 hp (at the crank) factory output. The thing, which was built by Duke Racing, now delivers around 1,000 (at the wheels).
While R35 drivers may have a few stunts to pull in order to play the quarter mile game, the driver of this R32 basically has to manhandle his machine into 1/4 mile submission. The footage below shows the guy fighting the oversteer and operating the sequential gearbox (don’t let the manual shifter knob trick you), all while inhaling the burnout smoke - we’re not here to discuss the good ole gas mask days of American drag racing, keep in mind we’re doing a GT-R comparo.
As for that burnout, notice the little switch the driver uses just before the start - it is used to disengage the front axle, leaving the car in RWD-only mode so that it can bring its rear tires up to temperature.
The modern-day status of the R35 GT-R also brings something else, namely quite some extra mass. To get an idea of just how much the weight difference matter’s we’ll mention some numbers.
The 1,000 hp R32 you see here managed to pull an 8.625-second run at 165.13 mph (265.87 km/h). The results for the run in the footage were a bit behind that, but not too much. Well, to pull that kind of numbers in an R35, you’ll need about 1,600 hp, as Thor, a just-as-Russian R35 can demonstrate.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
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