Dinner with Nissan and R33 GT-R Legends!

So due to my new position in the Nissan Group (some of you might know exactly), I was lucky enough to be invited to a very special but casual dinner/drinks with some legends from the R33 GT-R world.

Thank you everyone! Especially Hiromi-san for arranging this!

First of course, was Mr. Kozo Watanabe.  Most of you know that he is the real father of the R33 and R34 GT-Rs, so of course I took advantage of this to ask questions to confirm my belief that the R33 is the better car (lol).  So yeah, on my promise to not publicize the details, I learned about why the R34 GT-R never had published numbers for Nurburgring, actual horsepower numbers of the GT-Rs, and how the shorter wheelbase of the R34 was not something driven from a dynamic performance perspective.  He was quick to deflect admiration on his efforts, saying that most of the amazing work for these second generation GT-Rs was by Ito-san, father of the R32 GT-R, and the teams of people involved.  Oh, I also got him to autograph a couple of things for me...  

As Sunako-san looks on, Watanabe-san squeezes his signature onto...

The front GT-R emblem!! 

I do not think I will install this on my car... way too valuable... but on the other hand...　

Watanabe-san was kind enough to sign and leave a message on my car's sun visor!

Note that in addition to his signature, he asked me if I wanted to have him write anything special? My response was, "Anything, I will leave it up to you sir!" 

So he wrote - 究極のドライブングプレジャー　(Kyu-kyo-ku-no-dora-i-bing pu-re-jah) which translates to "The Ultimate Driving Pleasure"- this is the concept Nissan pursued for all of the Skyline GT-Rs beginning with the KPGC10 to produce world-class sports cars. Watanabe-san would obviously be the one guy intimately connected to this phrase, and when he showed us all what he wrote, there was a murmur of Wow and Naruhodo! expressed at the table from the others, including Matsumura-san and the race drivers.

Matsumura-san is a super interesting guy.  He retired from NISMO in 2024 where he had been the COO; but as a career Nissan motorsports engineer (with a PhD!) he was involved in all of the cool stuff, working with Ito, Watanabe, and Mizuno on the GT-Rs.  Known as the "The God of Engines" at Nissan and NISMO, I learned he is the father of the SR20DET?!!! But most importantly, he owns an R33 GT-R and I have heard the guys at Omori Factory about the lengths he went to in order to get the RB26 engine running PERFECTLY in his own car.  Hopefully I get a chance soon to check out his car, and when I do I will post what I learn here!  I have actually worked with him on a couple of projects at Nissan/NISMO and so he knows me well, but I never had a chance to post about him before.

Anyway, as you can see I am pretty happy with just being in the same photo with these two legends!!! 

Another bucket list item for me!

Matsumura-san's successor at NISMO as Chief Motorsport Officer is Kiga-san - who was kind enough to pose for a photo with me and ex Nissan racing driver and current WTAC driver Tarzan Yamada who I had not seen for several years!

Long time blog readers probably remember the time he drove my car on the track, testing out the Tarzan G-Box.

I was also able to meet up with Sunako-san, who I had not seen in about 10 years!

This man does not age..

In addition to teaching me on how to drive on the track, his real claim to fame is winning the 1996 Super Taikyu Class 1 Series Championship in an R33 GT-R, of course.

From Sunako-san's website

In addition to his WTAC fame, Yamada-san was Sunako-san's co-driver in the Super Taikyu series, so it was interesting to hear stories from both of them from that (golden) era.  I was just happy that both of them remembered me!

And then I was able to get to know Katsura-san too!

Super nice guy Shinichi Katsura

I had met Katsura-san very briefly at TAS before, but this time I got to sit down with him and have a series of very interesting chats with him about how awesome the 33 GT-R is (in front of Watanabe-san, of course!). He also talked about Aston Martins, a topic Watanabe-san actually knew a lot about, so that was really interesting too!

You can see a very young Katsura-san (oh and a very young Sunako-san too) in this Best Motoring video from 1997, upon the release of the kohki BCNR33.

And finally, another NISMO legend - Mizuki-san, long time NISMO Racing Team Manager/Group A GT-R Chief Mechanic! Even though I lift weights at the gym, Mizuki-san apparently works out every day and showed off his impressive shoulder and arm muscles - the guy is 64 and SOLID!  Here, Katsura-san is laughing at how weak I am compared to Mizuki-san...

And finally, I have to thank the both of these lovely ladies - Hiromi-san (long time NISMO) and Yumi-san (long time AUTECH PR) - for arranging and for keeping the conversation going at all times!

Anyway, first thing I did when I got home, was to reinstall the sunvisor in my car.

Yeah, I know it is not an OEM part, being an S15 part, but as you know I installed these to match the dark grey Alcantara on the roof! So now, everytime I drive the car, I can flip down the sun visor and remember this evening I had with so many incredible people who have contributed to the Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R!

R's Meeting 2025!

So yes folks it has been awhile - sadly no mods to the GT-R really this year, however going to this event DID allow me to meet up with some tuners and shops and yes get some inspiration for at least one project this year.  In additon to a new extra job at Nissan as well as doing most of my driving in the Elgrand, it has been quite a year.

Anyway, some photos...

The banner in front of the stage

My Favorite...

Another angle for you guys.

Then of course I stopped by my friends at Mine's. Only the usual R34 this year.

They were getting ignored so I asked them to open the hood. This attracted a new wave of people!

Can't remember which tuner but those lights are weird.

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Slightly smaller turbo there

Very clean. A rebuild, I heard.

Have to say very well done.

A 400R is a 400R, Rebuilt or not.

Then it was about time to go. So Dino did his walk in the parking lot, the 34s and 32s were boring so of course I checked out the many R33s there...

Why? Just why???

See what I mean? 34s are boring

Even Dino spent more time with the 33s than usual.

Not sure what was interesting but I guess we will find out on his YouTube video

Rear of that Autech is strange too. I guess being a midnight purple R33 4 Door GT-R didn't attract enough attention?

Not sure if this is a hidden code or something...

Super clean. Super OEM. Super Normal

Saw this red one and then...

...then this one. I prefer this one. More sophisticated red? Burgundy?

Damn this one was barely held together...

this was interesting. The color...

camera does not do it justice. a deep grey but a hint of green?

At Ebina PA

We left early to beat the traffic. On the way back at Ebina PA, saw this yellow thing with a Do-Luck body kit.  Reminded Dino and I to recall that neither of us have seen Ito-san of Do-Luck at any of these GT-R events lately. I guess maybe he's no longer in the GT-R scene?

With no Nismo Festival this year, I guess that was THE event to go to, but it really isn't quite the same. With the Nismo Festival, since there are cars other than GT-Rs there the variety of tuners and people are different, and there is more energy. A shame it got cancelled this year. Hopefully, next year?

In the meantime I am looking for an excuse to drive the GT-R. Maybe soon???

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!!

Meeting The Father of the R33 GT-R, Kozo Watanabe!

At this year's R's Festival, I had the honor of taking a photo with Kozo Watanabe, who was the Chief Vehicle Engineer that oversaw the development of the R33 GT-R and the R34 GT-R.

Here is the Wiki link for him.

Much like Kazutoshi Mizuno for the R35 GT-R, and Naganori Ito for the BNR32, Watanabe-san is a true engineer who worked his way up at Prince Motors and Nissan.  Watanabe-san in particular, in addition to being the chief engineer for the R33 and R34, also worked on the Pulsar and the C110 Skyline and was also the Chief Experimental Engineer of the R32 under Ito-san.   Both Ito-san and Watanabe-san were mentored by Shinichiro Sakurai, who is acknowledged as the father of the Skyline. Further Mizuno-san worked on the R34 project under Watanabe-san and took over the BNR34 program when Watanabe-san retired from Nissan in 2000 and went to head Nismo, overseeing its racing program!

Watanabe-san had probably the toughest job ever - how to make a heavier and longer car go FASTER than the race champion R32 GT-R! And as we know, he succeeded so well that most of the running gear engineering on the 33 was carried over to the 34!

So you see, THESE guys are the ones who should be getting accolades as well as the nickname of the "Father of the GT-R" - as they truly were.  Unfortunately there is at least one guy running around now who is over stating his involvement in each of the programs, whereas his true talent seems to be in the area of self-promotion.  Caveat Emptor!

So... if you find yourself at any of these GT-R related events, and happen to run into Ito-san or Watanabe-san... well now you know who actually to ask the question - "Why didn't Nissan have a Nurburgring lap time for the BNR34?"