When Mark Skaife took the green flag at Mallala for the sixth round of the Australian Touring Car Championship, the Nissan Skyline was just an import running with Ford and Holden. The HR31 Skyline, a rear-drive, single turbocharger machine, did well enough. Skaife wasn’t driving one, though…he was chosen to debut the BNR32 Skyline competition car, and he only got it because the lead driver of the Gibson Motorsports team, Jim Richards, was in the runnings for the championship and it was too risky to stick him in a brand-new car. So Skaife got the privilege of driving a brand new machine onto the grid and into the fight.
The Nissan Skyline R32 has a legendary reputation among enthusiasts. It’s known as “Godzilla” because it came from Japan and left a trail of devastation in it’s wake. It’s solely responsible for the end of Group A touring cars because of how wicked it was on the track. All-wheel-drive, the twin-turbocharged RB inline-six engine, and grip like nobody could fathom at the time meant that Ford and Holden had something serious to worry about. But remember, nobody is expecting a show-stopping performance with the first race. If the car finishes at all, that’s a good day and if it places well, that’s icing on the cake. Skaife didn’t place well…but he was in first place quickly and it appeared that he was going to barnstorm the whole event right up until a hub failure put the R32 out of the race. Without being present, you don’t know for certain, but I’m willing to bet that nobody was making any jokes about what they had just seen the Nissan do after the race.
Every legend has a starting point, and this is where the Skyline’s really took hold. Check it out!
just being picky, but its ` Mallala’ not Mallara..
Accuracy is everything, and you’re right. Fixed.
Mallala in theory suited the GTR more than the Sierras with it’s fairly tight corners and rough surface in areas. Iirc the Sierras had more power, and less weight, than the GTR at the start but were not known for their ease of driving.
No other team had as much experience with injected turbo cars than Gibson motorsport/Nissan.