NISSAN SKYLINE R34 GT-R
Model Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R V-Spec N1
Engine 2568cc 6cyl, dohc, 24v, twin-turbo
Max power 206kW @ 6800rpm
Max torque 392Nm @ 4400rpm
Transmission 6-speed manual
Weight 1528kg
0-100km/h 4.4sec
Economy 15.8L/100km
Price $275,000 (estimated)
THE TEXT MESSAGE was delightfully pidgin-cryptic. It was 1998 and Bill Thomas, former editor of this august tome, was working with me on a never-to-be-launched car magazine in London. Bill showed me the screen of his phone. “Meet me in the midnight at Nur.” The sender was Nissan engineer Hiroshi Tamura, a man steeped in Skyline legend. Tamura had to be excited about something to summon a journalist to the Nürburgring in the middle of the night. There could be only one reason: to see something that was still hidden from the public at large.
That something was Nissan’s Skyline R34 GT-R, being readied ahead of release to the UK market, and Tamura was right to be proud. Although the R34 was produced in relatively small numbers, with a production
