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!

Sunako-Jukucho is Back! (or, how I got ready for the SSCT Track Day at Fuji)

Those of you who have read this blog for awhile may remember this entry -

http://www.r33gt-r.com/2008/07/photos-from-sunako-juku-last-lesson-at.html

Sunako Jukucho (real name - Teruhiko Sunako) was, before his retirement in 2008, one of the top professional race drivers in Japan, well known in GT-R and Porsche circles. He also taught a select few students, running a high performance driving "juku" (prep school) hence his nickname "jukucho" (literally prep school master).
Here is his bio (in Japanese, sorry):
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/砂子塾長

Anyway, I was pleased to find out that his retirement from the car world was short-lived. At a recent social gathering, I found out he was back in Tokyo and now in charge of introducing the Base Performance Simulator (one of only 5 in the world) to Japan. Essentially, it is a high performance racing simulator, kind of like the PlayStation Gran Turismo game series...but on steroids.

Developed by double LeMans winner Darren Turner, the BPS system is recognized as being literally one step below the full on million dollar simulators F1 Teams use to train their drivers. Read more about how fantastic this simulator is here.
http://www.baseperformance.net/

Due to my status as a former juku-sei (prepschool student) of his, I was lucky to be invited to try this machine out before its unveiling to the paying public.

As I had been recently too busy to really think about my past driving both good and bad at Fuji, this was a perfect opportunity to remind myself of my weakpoints - ie sections of the track that I always seem to have trouble with - and work on improving my techniques not only by driving in the simulator, but getting advice directly from Sunako-san.

How fantastic is this? I can try different things before actually hitting the track and risking damage to my car (as well as any others that might happen to be there if I spin out)- Fuji is a high speed track after all, so a mistake can be expensive!

First time I hopped in, I was embarrassingly slow. Yes there was some initial disorientation - I mean the displayed images made me dizzy in the beginning, but then you get used to it. The wheel has force feedback, but this simulator doesn't move up, down or sideways like some others. But it was also the vehicle I was virtually driving, a GP2 formula car... The thing accelerates so quickly that if you're not careful, just like in real life, your car suffers oversteer and... yes, you spin. And braking - no power assist here! Just like a real formula car. And the force feedback is so strong sometimes I was glad I heeded Sunako-san's advice and brought my racing gloves. So getting used to the virtual car for me took some time.

But once I started getting used to the formula car steering wheel, and the DSG style shift paddles, and the acceleration and the braking - then it quickly became apparent that I had a whole list of weak points on how to drive the Fuji track itself - for example, how to take the Coca Cola corner properly without upsetting the balance of the car, the proper entry speed and clipping points for the 100R, braking and acceleration points for Netz Corner, and the proper line for Panasonic Corner - and those are just the obvious ones.

And the result - during the actual SSCT track day, I found myself flying through Coca Cola corner with no fear, my car behaved exactly as predicted and simulated. Other problem areas were not much of an issue too, although the number of cars on the track that day made taking the ideal lines more the exception than the rule...but anyway, the simulator did its job and got me prepared!

No photos from my first session, but after my actual track day at Fuji, I went again - this time with another juku-sei, Russ of RE-Xtreme. Here are some photos he took, plus some more on his blog entry: http://re-xtreme.blogspot.com/2011/12/base-performance-experience.html

So check this out - First Corner approach (Russ driving):

Then coming out of first corner, accelerating and mentally getting ready for Coca Cola Corner (me):

Getting ready to brake before Coca Cola (Russ):

Another tough corner for me, Panasonic Corner (and what's distracting is, that LCD billboard on the upper right, ACTUALLY plays Panasonic TV commercials...!!!)

Then down the straight:

Then the Motec software, which keeps a running tab on what you're doing, displays it all for Sunako-san to breakdown and analyze. Brutally.

But you know, I'm really glad I had this opportunity. It's so much better to spin out and wreck virtually than in your own pride and joy...

Anyway, for those who might be interested in preparing for their own track days, the simulator has, on file, in addition to the major tracks in Japan, dozens of tracks from around the world, ranging from Laguna Seca to Nurburgring.

Actually, the true benefit of this simulator is - my car is already very well prepped - I am the weak point. So instead of going to the track, which costs time and money, plus puts wear and tear on the car, polish my driving skills on this simulator first! So next time, I will hopefully be able to extract the maximum potential of the car...

For more information or to arrange your own session, Sunako-san can be contacted at: sunako@yukes.co.jp

Here is a link to his blog, where, in addition to more pictures and information on the simulator, if you read long enough, you may stumble upon a picture of me...
http://star.ap.teacup.com/sunakojyukuchou/

He does understand some English, so don't be shy... And tell him I sent you!