This year's Tokyo Auto Salon took place between January 11th and the 13th. For the event, 33-year-old Michihiro Takatori decided that now was the time to chase his dream of being a drift racer. More specifically, to take part in this season's Formula D series in the USA. Just one small hitch: He didn't have a car.
That's not completely true; he didn't have the right car. He previously built an R34 Skyline that he competed in D1, but after consulting the Formula D rulebook, it became clear that the car couldn't be made to comply. The entire suspension had been revamped with one-off components for the Japanese series. So he procured a new machine-an '01 ER34 Nissan Skyline, and then went crazy.
Takatori's particular brand of insanity must be contagious, because he talked Super Autobacs into building the car. Not just modifying-building. And here's the really crazy part-it all had to be done in four weeks.
Some background: Super Autobacs is a service and installation business that started in Osaka, growing to over 500 outlets in Japan and is now expanding to other countries, including the U.S. The branch in Kyoto, where-either through luck or judgment-Takatori took his Skyline, employs several specialists for drift preparation.
And so it began. Every part was chosen carefully, regardless of pressure from sponsors. This had to be done with winning in mind-not politics or commerce. Starting at the nose, the front suspension apron comes from an '02 Nissan Laurel with a C35 chassis, as the Skyline and the Laurel share a basic platform. The reason being that this item offers easier camber adjustability over the factory Skyline geometry and a much wider steering angle.
The front-mount intercooler, plumbing, oil cooler, radiator, fans, and radiator diversion panels all wear the Koyo logo, with radiator hoses from Samco. The turbocharger, manifold, wastegate, and boost controller are HKS items-Takatori eschews a blow-off valve. With just 28 days before packing the sunscreen for an appointment in Long Beach, Calif., it made sense to keep it simple, so after talking to engine specialists, Tomei was the most expedient move.
From the ECU down, it's all motorsport-proven Tomei stuff. A RB26DETT out of the ER34's big brother, the R34 GT-R, was swapped in and the 2.6L straight-six engine was bored out to 2.8L. The cams, cam gears, pistons, piston rings, crankshaft, oil pan, valves, valvesprings, retainers, air intake, intake manifold, and throttle body were all part of the Tomei plan and build; the only variations being an HKS turbo manifold and fuel rail, a Kakimoto exhaust system, Rev ignition, NGK spark plugs, and a Bosch fuel pump. With all the components spinning, bouncing, banging, and generally singing from the same hymn sheet, Takatori estimates output at 700 hp.
All that kinetic energy goes to a sequential manual transmission supplied by another pillar of the Japanese racing community: OS Giken. This apparatus is made especially for a GT-R, so it needs the all-wheel-drive transfer case in place for everything to connect up properly. Luckily, along with the GT-R's RB26DETT motor, the all-wheel-drive transmission was changed over as well. But drifting doesn't require all-wheel drive. Given the time constraints, making custom-length driveshafts and adapter plates wasn't the way to go-modifying a GT-R transfer case was. The front driveshaft hub was removed and anything unnecessary, such as the oil line for the all-wheel-drive system, was plated off. A triple-plate clutch and a two-way limited-slip differential, also from OS Giken, complete the transmission mods.
Surprisingly, the brakes have been left stock, not that a standard braking system in a Skyline is all that shabby. High-performance racing anchors, however, are often fierce and a little give means less likelihood of a sudden, unwelcome wheel lock-up, which could be disastrous on the drift course. Also stock is the rear subframe; we'll assume these guys know what they're doing.