We all know how Tsukuba circuit lap times serve as performance benchmarks in Japan. The little Ibaraki-ken racetrack is the place to go if you want to prove how fast your car is, as it challenges every area of a vehicle's performance. So it's no surprise that some tuners dedicate their whole year either creating new demo cars or preparing their existing racers to be ready to give it 100 percent at the Rev Speed Magazine organized Tsukuba Lap Battle. Last year seven out of the 10 fastest cars were Skyline GT-Rs. One of which is the beast you see immortalized on these pages: the widebody Nagisa Auto Motor Sports BNR34 Skyline GT-R. This track monster lapped the tight course in 56.51 seconds. Once we heard from Sugihara-san, the president of the company, that the car will be retired we just had to spend time with it and pay tribute with an inside look at how it was created.
Situated in central Osaka, NAMS has over the years established itself as one of the greatest tuners in Japan. While they like to get their hands on any car, they have a deep-seeded love for the mighty Skyline GT-R. When they began working on their time attack project they knew they had to treat it like a true race car, as that was the only way they could break into the competitive lap times. The base car was stripped to its bare metal chassis, which was then cleaned up and removed of all sound-deadening material. A very heavy dose of spot and seam welding was done to strengthen the shell, while an 18-point rollcage was fabricated and welded in. Additional strengthening plates were added in strategic places, while the transmission tunnel was modified to accept the Hollinger sequential gearbox. To create a very professional look the whole chassis was sprayed in metallic silver, including the interior, trunk and engine bay.
Then it was on to the bodywork, which like the rest of the car needed to be special. In order to get the most cornering performance the front and rear tracks needed to be wider so NAMS called in the help of M-Speed. They built some one off front wider fenders and a set of rear overfenders. The front end was dressed up with a C-West bumper and for added aerodynamic downforce some carbon side canards were thrown in. M-Speed also provided the carbon hood and trunk lid to help shave off even more weight. A D-Speed carbon GT wing takes care of the rear downforce while the final touch was the Craft Square carbon side mirrors. The completed car looks outstanding, finished off in a light metallic silver and featuring extensive graphics. One look at this car and you know it means business.
With lots of experience building high-powered RB26 engines, NAMS knew exactly what the track car needed. While a lot of other tuners prefer to use far more responsive twin turbo setups, Sugihara-san knew that nothing would touch the explosive acceleration of a large single blower. Thus the turbine choice was made and an order put in to Trust for one of their T88-33D turbo kits. In order to fill that rather pronounced low-rpm lag, a setup like this would need a capacity increase. Subsequently the prepped N1 engine block was fitted with a Step 3 HKS 2.8 L kit, made of a fully balanced crankshaft, H-type connecting rods and a set of forged pistons. A lot of time went into the preparation of the head with many secret components used as well as a Step 2 HKS camshaft kit and a hefty dose of polishing. The engine was sealed up with an HKS metal head gasket and on went the Trust exhaust manifold, which has the job of holding up the huge turbine as well as the external wastegate.