R's Meeting 2026! (I think the R33s are starting to be big...)

So friends, apologies for the lack of an update. The usual work excuse, but if you've been following me on LinkedIn and Facebook, you will see that I have been quite busy at NISMO working on expanding our presence overseas.  That's all I will say for now...But meanwhile, the GT-R life continues. As in, this past weekend we had the R's Festival 

Note that they had a photo from last year of me, Craig and Dino on their website this year! (this year, with all the rain I don't think I saw any official looking photographers...)

While it was mostly the same as last year, for some reason it seemed to me that THERE ARE A LOT MORE R33 GT-Rs all of a sudden?

On the way to Fuji Speedway, we stopped off at one of the 7-11s nearby and...

Rare blue one, and the silver one on some classic wheels

Both the blue one and this other silver one were running the R35 brakes!

And then as we pulled into the West Gate at Fuji Speedway:

A LeMans! and a white one in front of it!

As well as this red 400R and this silver one that looks very similar to mine

Once we parked as walked toward the festivities, first we saw this Skyline Japan... wow

And then the transporters used by HKS and Mine's. Note the Mine's transporter license plate has a "33" in it as well...

And then a GT-R democar on a transporter, which was...

yes, another R33 GT-R! 

of course another R33, but this one had an R34 GT-R rear wing. Can't say it looks bad, but I don't think this car ever came off the transporter so maybe Meiku were ashamed of it? :)

First cars on display as we walked from the parking lot was, of course, the Omori Factory cars. Both R33s! Of course the 400R (someday I will drive it!), and the CRS.

And even though I work at Nissan Motorsports & Customizing (NMC - the parent company of NISMO and AUTECH), I swear I had nothing to do with the car selection...

Walking around, I ran into some old friends from Nissan who were passing out flyers for this - 

So these are R35 NISMO prints, as created by Morita-san, the NMC chief designer.  Every NISMO road car - he's the guy behind how those cars look different from the standard car.  Only 35 of these R35 prints will be sold, of course, with a price tag at 230,000 yen, at the upcoming NISMO Festival on December 6.  For each one sold, Morita-san will be on hand to personally sign each print.

Speaking of Morita-san, I found him signing some other artwork at the Kusaka Engineering tent:

A true legend, and consumate gentleman!

I need to get him to autograph something on my Skyline NISMO!

As usual for these kinds of events, there were some talkshows as well - the two I saw featured the actual legends behind the cars, as well as the legendary race car drivers who did battle in the R32, R34 and R35 GT-Rs!

Don't let anyone say they are the father of the R33 or R34 GT-R - here are the real gurus.

This talk show had, left to right, Hiroshi Taguchi (R32 GT-R product specialist); Kozo Watanabe (R33/R34 Chief Engineer); Masatoshi Yoshikawa (R33-R34 chassis/testing chief); Hiroyoshi Kato (Nissan's top test driver); and Motohiro Matsumura (father of the SR20DET engine as well as primary powertrain engineer of the R33/R34 RB26DETT - and ex COO of NISMO - oh and R33 GTR owner).  Just in case you missed it, in my previous post,  I was able to sit down and chat with both Watanabe-san and Matsumura-san.

As for the racing drivers, my buddies Katsura-san and Sunako-san were joined on stage by Keiichi Tsuchiya and Takayuki Kinoshita. I'm sure most of us have seen Kinoshita-san on many, many Best Motoring videos.

I would have to say that Tsuchiya was there just because? But the other 3 did talk about how they used to race the R32, R33 and R34, and how each race car was different. Strangely the background photo for most of the talk was Sunako-san's yellow Prince Tokyo Taikyu race car:

Meanwhile, I was going around meeting with old and new friends:

with Kobayashi-san from MCR (and Ugajin-san from NISMO)

Basically, the 2 guys who built my car - Watanabe-san and Mine's owner Niikura-san!

And then I got to hang out with the race drivers, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that Kinoshita-san is a really, really nice guy!

Connected now, must learn from this guy too.

It was raining pretty hard and I wanted to beat traffic back, so I managed to leave a couple of hours early. But on the way out, I found these:

I know this car...

And then I found this, which was REALLY interesting. Who makes this exhaust?

Close up for research purposes...

Anyway, all this R33-ness got me inspired.  The next day, I picked up my own R33 from the dealer (it seems I might have a faulty G-Sensor? Inconclusive...) and drove home in the rain! (weather has been almost non stop rain these days...)

Super clean here...

And yeah, I am too scared to go fast in the rain when expressway traffic is slowing ahead of me - and I am taking a photo...

So next post?  Don't know but meanwhile here is my car as it is drying off in my garage:

I use a power air dryer thing to fling off most of the water...

Hint - I really need to do something about the mess in the garage. Changes coming soon and I will post here when I can share!

Last Post of the Year!

 So with two new cars joining the Itoh garage this year - my 2016  E52 Elgrand VIP and the 2024 Skyline Nismo - I did not have much time to do much with the R33 this year.  But never fear, yes I do have a few more things I want to do to it next year.

In the meantime - here are some photos I took when I went and picked it up from Omori Factory, where Midorikawa-san of Nissan Prince Fukushima had delivered it after getting the car shakened for this next 2 year cycle.

Meanwhle I also found this beautiful 33 in the showroom too.

Hard to believe they are essentially the same machine. I wonder what the difference is, could it be the 400R hood with those exhaust vents? Hmm... In any case, I have a new list of things I want to fix/try on the 33, so hopefully 2025 will be a good year for that!

Nismo Festival 2024!

(Please excuse the belated post - I was overseas on a business trip the day after the Nismo Festival (which was on December 1 this year) and I am finally getting caught up...)

I know many of you are not going to like this, but I have been lucky enough to attend the Nismo Festival so many times that frankly, it is beginning to lose some of its luster.

Instead of checking out the latest from Nissan and Nismo - uh yeah well I know as I work at Nissan - at the Festival I am able to meet up with old friends, both car owners and shop affiliated, that I have not seen for some time. 

Of course, from an R33 GT-R perspective, there are some cool things too - check out the Global Auto 400R that was on display.  Seeing a 400R is no longer that exciting but it was interesting to see what it looks like under the hood!

And then walking around I see some privately owned 33s in the parking lot...

It was cool to see the Nismo carrier truck out as well.

The parking lot was sectioned off according to car model - one section for Zs, R32 GT-Rs, R33 GT-Rs, etc... probably organically by the owners too.  In the Skyline sedan section I found this Skyline 400R (JDM version that has the 400ps engine):

I like the paint, but that sticker...nope

And one other interesting thing I saw - at Nismo Festival wtih so many shops sellings stuff, and some shops taking cash only, what happens when you run out of cash? Simple, you go to a mobile ATM, this one operated by 7 and i Holdings, operator of the 7-11 convenience stores here in Japan...

Interestiing products for cars - yeah there were a couple. One shop - Ota Automotive - selling recreations of the Series 3 front blinker grill with cut-out for the oil cooler - but modified to allow air to flow slighlty better (for some reason I can't seem to find the photo I took).  Another shop was selling Nissan OEM interior clips - an entire set for the interior of one car.  I guess I will have to update this blog when I get some photos or the products themselves in hand for me to try out. Stay tuned!!

NISMO 40th Anniversary - up close with the NISMO 400R

So if you've been paying attention, NISMO turned 40 on September 17, 2024.  To celebrate, Nissan made sure the gallery at Global Headquarters showed off some of NISMO's best cars. 

I meant to say, Road cars... as there were several race cars on the gallery floor as well.

In particular, these three!

So in the heritage section next to the Nissan/NISMO gift shop, these 3 cars were lined up for inspection. Of course, I focused my efforts on the middle one.

As I approached it, I decided to take photos of it from all angles. First the left front:

Then the right front:

And of course I wanted to get a closer look at the hood/bonnet bespoke made for this car.

I think the need to ventilate tells you something...

And a shot of the front wheel arches - needed to comply with Japan road laws as wheels and tires cannot stick out past the body. Add on fenders allow just a bit more width to the tires.

Another angle, I was trying to get a shot of the brake caliper.

and a less interesting shot of the left rear wheel

Of course, while so close I had to check out the interior. Even though regular 1996 GT-Rs had passenger airbags as standard, the 400R did not. Interesting...

Oh and I must check out that back. Wait, speaker grills? This thing had a stereo?

Stereo yes, but not the Kenwood Sound Cruising System

And of course I need to check out the quality of the carbon fiber. Couldn't touch it, but I am sure it is dry carbon. And the weave is 1x1 square, just like those old Nismo B pillar stickers....

And while back here, I MUST get a better view of that badge. Cool, but to me not as cool as "GT-R"

And let's not forget to get a rear quarter view photo.

Need to enjoy that sticker...

And the obligatory front quarter view to finish.

Oh, and look who I found, this 34 owner, admiring the greatest road going GT-R of all time...

Admit it Dino, you love it...

Thanks for viewing this post.  It did not feel right to have all these photos on my phone for only me to enjoy. Let me know if any questions!