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Top Racing HK Report from R35 Street Battle at ZIC in China
The 27th and 28th of March was a big weekend for the GT-Rs around Hong Kong and China. For the first time ever, the R35 Street Battle was held at the Zhuhai International Circuit (ZIC) on the 29th and organized by the Hyper Zpeed Magazine. Many GT-Rs turned up for the event to see how fast they were able to go. Although there was a small drama on Saturday, one of the GT-Rs was severely damaged during practice, the race course was required to shut off for a while for clean up. It was a great day with nice sunshine, with an air temperature of 20 degrees and overall, it was proved to be an enjoyable event run smoothly.
Top Racing GT-R Professional Workshop also attended the event with their customers and became the spot light of the day. Since Top Racing had experience at Zhuhai International Circuit from previous trackdays, the track’s layout was well known to them. Since it was technically a Street Battle, Top Racing brought their street demo car up to ZIC to conduct the speed trial. This street spec car was able to manage a respectable 1:46.28 lap time and also set the highest top speed for the day of 244km/h at the end of the main straight. To top it off, on the very same night at the after battle dinner party, Top Racing GTR Professional Workshop won the Most Fashionable award, Quickest Lap Record award and the 2009 Media Best Tuner Gold award for their street demo car.
The Top Racing street demo car was equipped with the Willall Racing WR35MTT turbo setup which runs 1.1 bar of boost, HKS Hipermax III ZIC spec suspension, Tanabe sway bar, SSP radiator, Trust oil coolers for the engine and transmission, HKS Superior Spec R, Trust Intake Suction kit, HKS GT600 Kit, COBB Tuning AccessPORT, Dixcel R15 brake pads and SP FSC brake rotors. Also, in the transmission department it was equipped with the Dodson Motorsport mechanical circlips and FWD gear lock to ensure durability, as well as Willall Racing WR35CP clutch packs to ensure good bite while shifting gears.
What is special about this time out is a newly in-house designed aero kit which borrows concepts from the Nissan FIA GT1 spec race car. Not only does it give the GT-R a new aggressive look, but it could also decrease the engine oil, transmission oil and water temperature dramatically. This aero kit completely solves the usual temperature issues and allows the driver to drive their GT-R on the race track at full pace with peace of mind. The aero kit is made out of light weight, rigid dry carbon, and provides ducting to cool the front brakes down which helps solve the problem of brake over-heating. The new aero front bumper is also designed to give greater down-force and provide greater stability at high speed, add that to the fact that it reduces weight and you can see how it can improve handling. The kit reduces weight by 5kg in the hood, 5kg in the front bumper and under panels, 2.5kg in the rear bumper and 2.5kg in the rear trunk lid.
The Director of HKS product strategy management, Suguru Kobayashi, was also there on the day as a spectator, he was astonished with the cooling ability of this new aero kit and admired the quality and design. He is greatly interested in the aero kit, and in discussions with Top Racing, has requested a set for testing on the HKS R35 demo car.
Unfortunately, Top Racing’s race ready R35 “TR35” was unable to attend this event. The TR35 GT-R features an even more aggressive aero kit which provides for even wider front wheels. We are all anxious to see how well the TR35 will perform with the wide body kit on the race track.
So it was an enjoyable weekend at ZIC, everyone from Top Racing and their clients had fun and enjoyed the thrill of high speed on the race track, they are all looking forward to hitting the track again very soon.
Top Racing Hong Kong would like to take this opportunity to give a special thanks to the following:
- Weave Carbon Series
- HKS
- Dodson Motorsport
- TRUST
- TANABE Japan
- Willall Racing
- TOYO
Link: Top Racing GT-R Professional Workshop Hong Kong
Runduce Kickoff 600hp Full Carbon Aero GT-R Project
Japan tuning house Original Runduce have embarked on an epic tuning project this week. Finally sinking their teeth into some serious R35 work, their plans are to take this innocent looking black GT-R of theirs and turn it into a full carbon bodied weapon with at least 600hp at the wheels.
Judging by their concept art, we should see some pumped front and rear fenders with a matching front bumper. The bumper looks like they might keep it real with some more simple styling. The aero hood looks aggressive but functional and the rear spoiler to match.
Expect to see Runduce at Tokyo AutoSalon 2010, with exactly what on show we wont know but we don’t have to wait long to find out…
Link: Original Runduce Official Site
SEMA 2009: AIT Full Carbon Widebody for the Nissan GT-R
Over at the 3T booth in South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center you can witness a literal leap forward in terms of serious body styling for the Nissan GT-R. The team at AIT have spent the last 5 – 6 months developing the very first full carbon widebody for the R35 GT-R. The results is something special too as they manage to significantly widen up the body without sacrificing the aggressive good looks of the GT-R’s body.
While still in prototype form, you can see already how this kit will help on the track. Firstly you can fit some monster wheels and tires under these beefed up fenders. We’re talking 12″ FRONTS and 13″ rears. Right now, the car is running 335 wide tires all round on the street and drives beautifully according to the owner. I guess this owes a lot to the fact that you get to ditch the runflats.
The main components of the kit are the front bumper, front lip, front fenders, side skirts, rear quarters, rear bumper and rear underspoiler. Also from AIT is a trunk lid and hood but I’ll need to confirm if these are in the kit itself or separate items.
When available, AIT plan to make the kit affordable, which is a breath of fresh air. That being said final pricing is not yet confirmed so I wont comment on the $ number I’ve heard, save to say, I think it’s a very fair sum.
Link: AIT Racing Website
SEMA Previews: NAGTROC Announcement Plus Password:JDM Sneak Peek
SEMA 2009 is almost upon us and it appears that a few Nissan GT-Rs are being prepared to be tricked out for the show. In about a month’s time we’ll be in Las Vegas for the annual event that runs from the 3rd to the 6th of November.
I will be there and so will the North American GTR Owner’s Club (NAGTROC) who will be hosting their own booth in the North Hall Lobby showing Nissan GT-Rs in varying states of tune from members and sponsors alike.
Speaking of NAGTROC, the guys have organized a special rate for suites at the super luxurious Palazzo Hotel at just $229/night. If you are attending SEMA or want to get in on this exclusive deal contact bookings at 866-263-3001 with group code VNAGT. You must book by MONDAY 5PM PDT 12th October. Then for your included SEMA pass contact me or Chuck @ NAGTROC.org via email.
NAGTROC and GTRBlog will be getting together for a meetup (or a few meetups actually!) to eat, drink and talk GT-Rs so feel free to get in on this as well by posting a comment below or just stay tuned for the details of the meet place and time.
It’s going to be a great SEMA this year with quite a few surprises in store so start planning your attendance now.
Password:JDM have started their plans. As you can see here their finished dry carbon wide front fenders are fitted and their demo GT-R is off to the paint shop for a respray. These front guards are easily wide enough to swallow 315 wide Toyo Proxes R888s at the front so you can kiss understeer goodbye.
Pricing and availability information to come as we hear it…
Link: NAGTROC Website
Link: SEMA Show Website
Link: Password:JDM Website
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