Tsukuba Here We Come!!!

Car Is Now SOLD

16/08/07

Well after several months of negotiations we are proud to announce the Hi Octane Racing R32 GTR of Mark Berry and Russell Newman is entered in the “Rev speed Time Attack� at the infamous Tsukuba Circuit in Japan on December the 5th. It is an exciting time for all involved and is certainly the first time any international entries have been accepted to what is really the Holy Grail of the Time Attack racing and the place where it all started. To put you in the picture we will be competing against the likes of HKS, JUN, Tomei, RE Amemiya plus all the other big Japanese tuning houses and to make it all the more exciting, we have also been advised that at least two cars from the UK have also been accepted making this a truly international event.

As we are now going to take on the best that Japan has to offer we have had to burn some serious midnight oil on the black beast to bring it up to “world class� spec. Firstly we have had to put the old girl on a serious diet and get to a race weight of around 1300kgs. The first thing to go is the heavy doors which weigh near 30kgs each replacing them with wet carbon units that weigh in at 6kgs. The passenger seat has been removed and all other road going items also bound for the dumpster. A full Chro-moly cage is now also being installed. The car has now been corner weighted and the street spec coil overs have been removed and hand made remote canister Swedish made Ohlins shocks have been ordered through tuning mystro and ex pat Aussie, Steve Bijok at Arabian Automotive Technologies in Dubai ( www.aatuae.com ). Steve will also be part of the crew in December and his knowledge will be of great value to our team.

With the weight out of the car our attention is turned to the engine and the new engine will be filled with only the best components to ensure absolute reliability under race conditions. Starting with the new 4 stage Hi Octane Racing dry sump system we then sourced a new GT500 block, fitting a new Tomei full counter crankshaft, Tomei H beam connecting rods with L19 bolts and Mahle pro series pistons creating a super light rotating assembly capable of sustaining 10,000rpm. The head has been fitted with new spec Tomei camshafts and springs before being fitted with a 6 throttle Hypertune inlet manifold and Turbosmart Race Port BOV and Fuel Regulator.

With huge success in previous guise which was basically a modified street car the car should be a serious weapon in race format and with Mark Berry’s unquestionable ability behind the wheel we are hope full of putting Australia on the Time Attack map. With support now in place from numerous Australian companies including Turbosmart, ACL Race Series, PPGearbox, CNJ Motorsport, Ross Tuff-bond and Hypertune aswell as our supplier in Japan Trust/GReddy and the reliability maintained with Royal Purple Racing Lubricants you can be assured we are going to be leaving an impression when we take on the masters at their own game! Keep checking back for regular updates

Update *05/09/07*

By the time you read this we should be hitting the track for some serious testing. After many sleepless night we are now getting to the fun part where we get to see if our theories are correct. With a full chromoly roll cage now welded in and a fresh coat of black war paint the old girl certainly looks the part. The Ohlins coilovers are due any day now and the wet carbon doors and lexan windows have also just arrived. The Hypertune 6 throttle intake is now fitted along with the Turbosmart Race port BOV and FRP 1200 fuel regulator giving us an arsenal of the worlds highest quality automotive produce manufactured right here in Australia. For testing purposes we will be using our old engine (albeit now with dry sump oil system) to sort the chassis tuning before switching to our 10,000rpm plus engine for the event. The PPG straight cut gearbox has also received a once over in readiness. Trust Japan has also come on board as an associate sponsor and to have a Japanese company believe in what we are doing is certainly flattering to say the least! A big thank you to all the people who have emailed us with their support, the response has been unbelievable and come December 5th we will certainly be flying the Australian flag for all of you. Because of the interest generated we have decided to take Ignition DVD along with us to the event so you guys can enjoy the experience as much as we will, including in-car footage etc. This will be available in stores early next year. Until then you can keep track of our progress at www.timeattackgtr.com so make sure you add it to your favorites.

Update *26/09/07*

Well the car is finally back together with its fresh paint, roll cage & Carbon Fibre doors, testing has begun with the GTR getting on the rollers for the first time with the dry sump to make sure its working properly and to check our tune. With oil pressure and tune double checked we headed out to the track. We were pleasantly surprised after a few laps with the dry sump, new PWR Radiator & chassis setup. Finally we were seeing normal temperatures across the board, Coolant was below 100 and our oil temps were down from the usual 130 to 90-95 degrees. The chassis is now much stiffer and the car feels brilliant mid corner and under brakes. We saw lap times drop by around 1 second compared to our last outing at Queensland Raceway. After some very pleasing results we headed back to the shop to get the car back on the dyno with some new fuel and injectors. Once the injectors were fitted it allowed for the tuning to be much more controlled. Next we swapped fuel from VP 109 to Sunoco GT Plus & found that power figures were almost identical with very little tuning changes. Our brand new Ohlins coil overs have been fitted and the ride height dropped by 15mm to allow more camber and a lower centre of gravity. Also a new exhaust setup now sees the unwanted gases exit the side of the car in true race car style. We should see the new engine fitted and tuned early next week and we will be straight out to Queensland Raceway for testing. We also have a Custom Carbon Fibre boot lid on its way to us to help aid our weight loss program.

Update *08/10/07*

Well Guys and Girls, the last 2 weeks have been very busy for us here at Hi Octane and for the boys in Queensland preparing parts for the car and getting it together. On Tuesday the engine was together and in the car ready to go, so after a run in on some back roads we headed to the dyno to get a proper tune. Unfortunately the dyno was on its last legs and gave up mid way through tuning. Despite all efforts from the boys at C’N’J we were unable to get the dyno fixed. Luckily we had time to plan some 2WD tuning incase the parts for the dyno did not show up. After all options were exhausted including trying to fly the part up overnight we headed for the 2WD dyno. With some light tuning done we headed home and started to apply the new decals. With the new war paint on the car the decision was made to go to Queensland Raceway on the Friday and try and do some on track tuning.
Bill from C’N’J Motorsport came along and spent most of the day with us working on the car as hard as he could. Our hats go off to the boys at C’N’J for all the time and effort they have put in to help us to get where we are now. Once we were happy with the tune of the car we headed out for some fast laps, and they were fast laps.
Mark was driving like a demon all day and bettered all our previous PB’s. On the Sprint Circuit we ran 53.84 beating our PB of 55.1, on the Clubman Circuit we posted a 57.2 but Mark was held up a bit by other cars, without the hold up we believe we will see a 56 second lap. The National Circuit saw us post a 1.16.6 on which we were held up a fair bit and believe the car has a 1.15 in it without the hold ups. Our previous PB on the National Circuit was 1.17.9 so there was a big improvement made with the new setup. Comparing these times to our times on other tracks should see us run into the 1.37’s at Eastern Creek and a 1.03 at Wakefield Park. What’s even better was that all these times were run on semi slick medium compound tyres, track temperature was also 52 degrees!
Late in the afternoon we had a power steering belt come off. We are now checking pulley alignment and making an idler pulley to help stop belt flap. We are hoping to get some more testing in at Morgan Park next week and then we have the Austosalon Circuit Battle on the 25th for the final shakedown. After that we pack the car up and put it in a container for shipping early next month.
We would like to thank everyone who has been involved with the build of the car for all their hard work and also everybody following the build and supporting us in Japan.Photos can be seen on page 4



C ‘N’ J Motorsports have been working on our GTR from the beginning when the car was first built, After initial discussions we decided with Bill and Kelvin's help that we would run an Autronic ECU and CDI modules to try to achieve the maximum results possible. Our plan's for the car were always to try to achieve maximum power output down low and achieve very little lag which is not what a GTR is well known for when you try to achieve high power figures, but with the tuning ability of bill and Kelvin that Is the result that they were able to achieve. Bill and Kelvin have been able to tune our car safely and still achieve massive power and throttle response, our car has never had detonation issues and the engine bores always look in exceptional condition upon inspection. There is no doubt the consistency and undeniable speed this car has produced has benefited from C ’N’ J's experience and wealth of tuning knowledge.

With different engine configuration changes over the last 3 years, bill and Kelvin have always maintained the highest level of consistency with the tuning of our GTR. & With many late night trips to the dyno for a final check before race meetings Bill and Kelvin have always been able to help us achieve the results we have aimed for.

The guys at CNJ have been able to attend test days with us to do data logging allowing for the maximum results possible from the GTR’s power plant.

They will also be making there way to Japan with us in December to help as much as possible with the changing conditions of an international circuit.

Russell, Mark & the Hi Octane Racing Team would like to thank C ‘N’ J Motorsports for there continuing efforts and support with our GTR.

Hi Octane Racing Team

*Note this is still the old engine*

The New Engine Is In!

sounds good, i love tsucuba time attacks. Engine looks to be just a little bit of a beast, its even in that awesome red yay. Any info about how much power your aiming for/the set up will be producing, power is quite an interesting issue on tsucuba as some of the fastest cars haven't had all that much.

I gotta say, AWESOME!!!!!

Tsukuba time attack is always great to see. I hope you beat some of the EVOs, cos I'm so sick of those sons of byatches owning the times.


Good luck, hope it all goes well.

That is an old picture of the engine. The new engine GT500 Block and Tomei parts is in the build now i have the GT500 block sitting out the back at the moment actully waiting to goto the engine builder. The old setup made 400kw at all 4's and ran 10.2 @ 137mph we are hoping for abit more power on the new engine and better response and close 10,000rpm. I will post up the current available spec list in a minute.

Good luck with the event. Hope to see some footage of your runs after the event.

Ok Engine Spec List So Far:

GT500 Block
Tomei Full Counter Crankshaft
Tomei Rods
Tomei Gaskets
Tomei Camshafts
Tomei Cam Gears
Tomei Valve Springs
ARP L19 Bolts
ACL Race Bearings
Mahle Pro Series Pistons
Hi Octane 4 Stage Dry Sump
HyperTune 6 Throttle Inlet Manifold
Ross Tuffbond Balancer

Thats the list for the moment more parts will be added as I find ut what else is going onto the engine.

Cheers
-Nathan

Holy crap! This thing is incredible to watch in its old state, i can't wait to see it race again in Australia with its new setup!

any idea as to what you might be able to achieve?
do you think you will be able to break the 1 minute barrier?


what do other R32 GTR's manage?

will the car stay with a stock body? or will you be adding wider panels?
you say that you have added wet carbon doors to save weight, what about bonnet, bootlid, guards and bumpers?



good luck against the big names

Yes we are keeping the stock body. the bonnet and front guards are already aluminium and weight next to nothing as it is.

We are aiming to be the fastest R32.

As for other R32 GTR's I believe the Garage Saurus R32 is the one to beat as far as im aware it runs 56 or 57sec laps.

Cheers
-Nathan

Awesome news!

This car is already a beast, will be great to see it out at Tsukuba! Good luck to you all

omg, nice list of mods.
GL with it guys
show em how the aussies do it..

AWESOME guys - sydney, australia represent!!

congrats! nice to see an aussie garage mixing it with the best in the business. whos gonna be driving it?

Great news and really exciting - you guys must be wrapped!

Not sure if I missed it but what turbo/s are you running? what gearbox? Most of the big name cars run large turbos with sequential boxes. Quickest GTR? Big ask, but wish you all the best.

Make sure you get footage!!!!

I offered Russell my CF bonnet, guards and doors last year too, they were a decent amount lighter than standard.

should've just waited until NOvember to tell us..............how am I supposed to wait til December??

whats the turbo setup?

I was thinking about popping over to japan around that time this year so it looks like I might have to pack an aussie flag

good work guys, the boys sick of winning here and need a new challenge? hahhaa

looks like it will be ready before my car too

Repeat

oh and who is the engine builder? Better list his name here so everyone can ring him and get their engines built...

Danny_S15, on Aug 16 2007, 07:30 PM, said:

Mark Berry

good luck guys

a.scott, on Aug 18 2007, 12:07 AM, said:

x2

awesome - hope to see plenty more internationals and aussies getting over there to compete in the future...

Do us proud guys

That is going to be freakin awesome. The car is certainly one of the best time-attack cars that Australia has seen, so I can imagine that it will be fairly competitive over there, especially with the new work that is done.

AWESOME, this is the sort of stuff i go to bed and dream about doing if i won lotto, lol

Best of luck!

would be good to catch this on a HPI dvd or even video option take on an aussie car competing with there japanese counter parts..

looks like you boys will be waving the aussie flag for our modified scene in the land of the rising sun.. good luck to you..

just racing there will be an achievement in itself.

Hell yea thats wicked


Good luck to all!

Awesome. Is it getting more aero stuff? Looks mild compared to the shenanigans the Japs bolt on...\


Anyway, I see no reason why Aussies couldn't have a shot. Hell, when the R32 was racing the Gibson Motorsport ones were by far the world's quickest circuit GT-Rs, they started out buying parts from Nismo and ended up exporting their knowhow to the Japanese...

That sounds awesome. Can't wait to hear the results...

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the late reply I have been away on holidays.

Yes Mark Berry will be driving the car.

Repeat im sure your engine will be done one day. I'm sure the engine builder would love everyone ringing him haha why dont you ask him to build yours Pete?

As for aero mods at the moment the car is staying the way it is. We are not aiming for the fastest GTR just the fastest R32 on the day.

I will post some new photos that i have just recieved soon.

Cheers
-Nathan

I don't see why it can't be competitive.

Light weight - check
good horsepower - check
big brakes - check

I'll have to check the specs on the Garage Saurus car, I remember it was also the most powerful engine on the last Time Attack day, over 1000PS right. The main difference I can see is the aero, I remember seeing a large front splitter and large rear wing on the Garage Saurus car. I'll have to check the previous issues where High Performance Import magazine has covered this event before.

You are correct johnny. I believe in the last time attack the Garage Saurus car was making around 1080PS I was reading a HPI last night which had it featured. it runs mid 56second laps and yes it has a big front splitter and big GT wing, plus radiator in the boot etc. The car doubles as a Drag car all they do is change the turbo apparently.

Cheers
-Nathan

Have you got Mark Berry driving laps of Tsukuba on GT4 to familiarise himself? Or does he know the track really well already?

that's one nuts GTR. good luck with it all.

sillbeer, on Aug 27 2007, 05:49 PM, said:

i doubt that would help as much as racing a real car around local tracks.

^^ Of course it won't help as much, however it is good for familiarising yourself with the track. Even professional drivers play games so that when they jump in the car on a track that they haven't driven before, they pick up the lines a lot quicker.

As far as I'm aware at the moment Mark is concentrating more on the car with tuning and testing the new suspension setup rather than worrying about the track at the stage getting the car ready is the most important part.

I can see why you want to keep the body relatively stock, it worked for Gibson Motorsport after all!
But surely you could run some underbody aero?
Most people seem to forget that underneath is just as important as on top!
Plus its 'free' downforce - downforce without drag.
Have you looked underneath a current STi or Evo? R34 GTR V spec is an obvious example as well.
06 Sti has an almost FLAT underbody, with little trip strips and diffusers obviously honed in a wind tunnel.
Helps make them bastard fast at the track BEFORE you start modifying.
There are a few jap manufacturers that make front and rear diffusers that will bolt on with little modifacation to the factory bodywork and will increase stability massivley.
haha my 2 cents!

Tim

Hi All,

Im not sure about the underbody aero. I dont think they will be running anything to serious maybe just a front underbody splitter and rear. But this is one of the last things on the list at the moment.

New pics of the car freshly painted are up now and I will be posting some photos later today of the HyperTune 6throttle Inlet Manifold.

Cheers
-Nathan

Nothing beat a full prep R32GTR,

Specially with a dry sump and a GT500 block. Good luck boys, will this be cover on BMI? I dont' think HPI will have a chance to do so.

keep us in the loop with how f**k off Jims dry sump set up goes, certainly looks the goods with Leon's sump on there

it's from f**k off motorsport Brad, of course it will be good

where on earth did you guys find a gt500 block? I thought they were sold out!

Yes I have no doubt that the sump will be great.

as for the GT500 Block we got it direct from Japan just lucky that we know the right people to be able to get our hands on one.

** CARBON DOORS ARE IN **

Check original post for photos

Cheers
-Nathan

how much difference is there in the weight of the doors?

Looks good, i bet they ended up paying a lot more than the price i offered them my carbon doors, bonnet and guards for last year though

Hi Octane Racing, on Aug 16 2007, 03:43 AM, said:

Awesome work. Will be great to see some new cars in this years shootout..espeically an Australian entry.

One question regarding the cage though, may i ask who made it? Since Simon Evans injury in the Toyota where the side intrusion actually contributed to his injuries, i thought there had been a tendency to move away from how that side intrusion has been done. ie one bar being profiled to go either side of the other diagonal.

Instead the trend is to bend an almost u shape in two bars and tie them together with some gussets. like...


Awesome car and awesome work. Just participating will be a huge accomplishment, but no doubt the car will perform admirably

agreed..

the garage saurus 32 gtr run's minimum aero mods but compensates with over 1000hp of p[ower. The, mspeed or nagasai auto GTRs..and the HKS evo by far run the most far out body work of all the time attack cars that have competed in the past.

Properly alligned rear wing, cannards and a front diffuser wouldnt hurt though

Booked my ticket this arvo so I'm looking forward to watching some aussies kick some arse in a few months time

In terms of the aero discussion, for Tsukuba working on getting power down from low speeds is much more important than uber aero as there's only really one medium to high speed corner and three hairpins.

Sticky, on Sep 7 2007, 01:00 PM, said:

Our Dorrs Weigh 6kgs Each compared to the Standard GTR Doors which are around 30kgs each.

neil_se, on Sep 7 2007, 04:03 PM, said:

Im not sure what they paid or what you offered yours to them for. Just out of curiosity do you still have all thos carbon bits pictured?

OZ_HCR32, on Sep 8 2007, 09:28 AM, said:

Cage was done by Beehad Engineering.

GTZLevin, on Sep 8 2007, 09:52 PM, said:

_omg, on Sep 8 2007, 11:53 PM, said:

GTZLevin my answer about the aero items got answered before I had the chance to.

Getting Power down to the ground is the most important thing at Tsukuba. _omg is on the case

Hopefully there will be another update this week guys.

If anyone has any questions so far let me know

Cheers
-Nathan

Hi Octane Racing, on Sep 10 2007, 10:17 AM, said:

No, i sold them because they're a bit too risky to have on a street car.

neil_se, on Sep 10 2007, 12:55 PM, said:

Understandable, too bad we proberly would have grabbed them off you.

-Nathan

Even the guards and bonnet were about half the weight of the aluminium ones. You really need a fixed lexan window and no electrics to make the most of the CF doors, once you load back in all the factory bits the price you paid for a minimal weight saving doesn't look so good.

Fixed Lexan Windows are already in the doors

neil_se, on Sep 10 2007, 02:37 PM, said:

On a road car i could imagine that this would be the case. on our car however the only electrics that are going back in are those that are needed so the weight saved is much higher than the weight saved on any normal road going car.

Here is some weight reduction that the boys should have...

Hi Octane Racing, on Sep 10 2007, 03:56 PM, said:

I dunno, on our street registered S14 we removed around 300kgs. Then again, we didn't bother having things like front windows, ignition barrel, indicator stalks, fusebox etc so there is an argument it wasn't a normal road going car. Was bloody fun up the old road though

300kg's from an S14??! That's incredible!

I've gotta start pulling some weight out...

hahaha pete, Mark is fine.

300kg's out of an S14 is a good effort. our GTR is down to around 1200kg's and still losing more weight. Which considering stock they are anywhere from 1430-1650 is a big difference.

-Nathan

Hi Guys,

Well the Ohlins arrived this morning and will be fitted this weekend. There was some testing done last week which saw the car 1second faster than its best around QR not even on full song. I will be putting a new press release up with more info later in the week.

For anyone who is interested in the Ohlins they are $8900 a set.

Cheers
-Nathan

*Drool*

They are nice coil overs arent they neil

Ok guys theres a small update in the first post. Should hopefully have new engine pictures up this afternoon

Stay Tuned!

Cheers
-Nathan

Well Guys,

Ignition Volume 22 has just found its way onto my desk & I find that the car has a feature about our dutton rally sucess. Make sure you check it out

-Nathan

i didnt even know hypertune had a 6 throttle billet plenum on the market

Hi Kemp,

Only just released mate the 1st one ever made is th eone on our car. They are not actully for sale to the public yet as they are still in production. We have two going over to Japan for race cars over there but thats it at the moment.

-Nathan

cant wait to see the footage from this

thats a hot car, well worth the wait. love the dash and the plenum in it.

The boys are out testing today, hopefully they took the camera and we will get some footage up for you guys

-Nathan

Ive added the Ignition DVD feature to the original post.

-Nathan

aye this is the same R32 GTR that was in the dutton challenge huh???

Yep, same one.

Well guys the engine pics are finally up and the engine is in. Should hopefully be on the dyno tomorrow.

-Nathan

just wondering
wat exhaust manifolds are they??

They run modified standard manifolds.

-Nathan

Here you go guys. Some footage from QR Testing last week. New engine is in and getting tuned as we speak and will be back out on track tomorrow.

Love the Stock Wheel. Sounds beautiful..
What chance did you think you have at Tsukuba?

Our aim is to be top 10. but we would like to beat the Mines GTR and we would like to be the fastest R32 GTR on the day.

daing it looks so basic... all the black just makes it look like any other road GTR.

were you guys at the practice session at QR on Sat 15 Sep ? I remember seeing this black R32 fly past me on the back straight, made me feel like i was standing still !! LoL i was in the white s14

so what times was this car doing on the QR national circuit ?

On the old setup our best at the National Circuit was 1:17.5, I'm chasing the times for that video at the moment and they will be out with the new engine tomorrow.

Hi Octane Racing, on Oct 4 2007, 10:08 AM, said:

wow - that car has a massive reputation. Would be great if you knocked them off. Are they in the same class as you? Are they street class?

they are in a different class i believe but we would still like to run quicker times. they run 57's I believe

hey guys,

thanks for all the good luck for japan! much appreciated really good to hear we are getting support , hopefully we can get over there and represent well!

will be massive if mark can beat the mines skyline!

the car will be getting the war paint tonight, and we will have pics and in car footage from tomorrow's test day.


thanks again guys
cheers russ

Some pics up from testing last week now guys

-Nathan

Looks great with the black TE's - what size, rim and tyres?

How did the dyno and track testing go?

They are 18x10.5 rubber is dunlop Semi's

Today at QR we ran

National Circuit - 1.16.6
Sprint Circuit - 53.8
Clubman Circuit - 56.XX

We dont have a dyno figure yet as it was on the dyno the other night and the dyno shat itself. but it is much much faster than before. we were not even at 100% today

-Nathan

i was just watching that video on the 1st page

GOD i hate the host on ignition

u can so tell they have no clue wat they are talking about!! it shits me!! why cant they get some one who knows wat they are talking about
its like me hosting a show on make up and skin care products

STR8E180, on Oct 5 2007, 07:40 AM, said:

Nick knows his stuff ( JET 200 ) he is going to be doing all the presenting over in Japan when the time comes.

Hopefully we will be back at QR next week with full boost and reaching full rpm limit plus soft tyres

Andrew is actually doing the stories for Japan

Hopefully when it does get covered by ignition they let me hear the car, without a cheesy hip hop tune over the top of it!

I'll have a word to them for you phunky new pics from fridays testing will be up soon.

Finished Product

Well Guys and Girls, the last 2 weeks have been very busy for us here at Hi Octane and for the boys in Queensland preparing parts for the car and getting it together. On Tuesday the engine was together and in the car ready to go, so after a run in on some back roads we headed to the dyno to get a proper tune. Unfortunately the dyno was on its last legs and gave up mid way through tuning. Despite all efforts from the boys at C'N'J we were unable to get the dyno fixed. Luckily we had time to plan some 2WD tuning incase the parts for the dyno did not show up. After all options were exhausted including trying to fly the part up overnight we headed for the 2WD dyno. With some light tuning done we headed home and started to apply the new decals. With the new war paint on the car the decision was made to go to Queensland Raceway on the Friday and try and do some on track tuning.
Bill from C'N'J Motorsport came along and spent most of the day with us working on the car as hard as he could. Our hats go off to the boys at C'N'J for all the time and effort they have put in to help us to get where we are now. Once we were happy with the tune of the car we headed out for some fast laps, and they were fast laps.
Mark was driving like a demon all day and bettered all our previous PB's. On the Sprint Circuit we ran 53.84 beating our PB of 55.1, on the Clubman Circuit we posted a 57.2 but Mark was held up a bit by other cars, without the hold up we believe we will see a 56 second lap. The National Circuit saw us post a 1.16.6 on which we were held up a fair bit and believe the car has a 1.15 in it without the hold ups. Our previous PB on the National Circuit was 1.17.9 so there was a big improvement made with the new setup. Comparing these times to our times on other tracks should see us run into the 1.37's at Eastern Creek and a 1.03 at Wakefield Park. What's even better was that all these times were run on semi slick medium compound tyres, track temperature was also 52 degrees!
Late in the afternoon we had a power steering belt come off. We are now checking pulley alignment and making an idler pulley to help stop belt flap. We are hoping to get some more testing in at Morgan Park next week and then we have the Austosalon Circuit Battle on the 25th for the final shakedown. After that we pack the car up and put it in a container for shipping early next month.
We would like to thank everyone who has been involved with the build of the car for all their hard work and also everybody following the build and supporting us in Japan.

Much appreciated!

Car looks fantastic. one question though, where's the aussie flag? I thought you guys were going for one on the bonnet?

There is front right hand corner

Some Incar Footage From Friday

Hi Octane Racing, on Oct 8 2007, 11:08 AM, said:

Ahhh, I see it now, nice!

Impressive, looks real nice now.

looks good!

I would recommend removing the bonnet spacers though, so it can sit flush.

The back of the bonnet is a high pressure zone, so raising it will only reduce overall cooling airflow through the engine bay - and I really hate the misaligned look

man that sounded awesome!

certainly looks the goods

So totally f*cking SICK!!! That is THE best GTR in OZ. I want one.
All black is so hot!!!!
Man I love it. If I won lotto or something, I'd buy it.

fook yeah, it's looking tuff now!

Well done boys, great to everyone getting behind the car too well done all who are supporting it.

Best GTR ever built. full stop. I've been in love with it ever since I saw it on the road a couple of years ago. Absouletly brutal machine. All the best of luck to yas in Japland guys. Garage Saurus 32 has no chance haha

awesome vids! good luck with the time attacks!

any comments on aerodynamic additions? is it necessary for tsukuba?
the saurus r32 body is relatively stock looking compared to some of the other cars in the time attacks. but it still uses GT wing and front splitter etc. will you guys be adding anything?

Thanks for the coments guys.

At this stage we are leaving the exterior as it is apart from a carbon boot and I believe we are getting the standard GTR wing made in carbon also. The car has no issues at high speed so I dont think the boys feel the need for a big GT wing. We have had the car doing 275odd down the back straight at QR on the National Circuit so the speed is not an issue. The M-Speed R34 GTR hits high 280's on tsukuba so top speed wise we are going to be right up there.

-Nathan

zErTeK[2k], on Oct 5 2007, 08:50 AM, said:

yeah nick knows his stuff but wat about the rest of them????

STR8E180, on Oct 10 2007, 08:53 AM, said:

To be honest I dont really watch them. Only specific stories that im interested in. You have to remember the narating is just read off a sheet of paper the people reading it didnt write it as far as im aware.

Andrew will be doing all the stories for us in Japan so will all be done well

-Nathan

Dont worrry, It'll be me hosting the Japan feature, not the token hosts.

YEs you will hear the noise of the car - lots.

This trip and the features are gonna rcok!!!

Sorry Andrew I was mixing my ignition people up

Hi Octane Racing, on Oct 9 2007, 11:13 PM, said:

same here im always skiping to sections i want to see ( the big HP cars and the techanical stuff )
i prety much only watch them because i get them for free

GODZILLA, on Oct 10 2007, 11:35 AM, said:

I envy you Andrew as you actully get to go where I get stuck here haha

STR8E180, on Oct 10 2007, 11:42 AM, said:

The Technical sections always good watching

man the guys in Japan are gonna get the shock of their lives when they see that Australia isnt just about Kangaroos and the Opera house.

You guys and the Drift Australia guys that are heading over next month are gonna do Australia proud!!!!

Ok Guys, Carbon boot arrived last night I took some photos while it was leaning against my desk before we send it up to the boys

Very nice indeed!

Who supplied that?

Our Carbon supplier. He mainly does custom work but does have some moulds made up. Any parts you after in carbon let me know and I'll price it up for you

I wouldn't mind a carbon or FRP S13 boot lid.
I've been thinking about making one, but then get lazy

I say if it can't be TIG welded, it's not worth making!

He does not have a mould for an S13 boot but is happy to do one up. But would need a few people to buy to make it worth while then he would cover the cost of the mould. For one like ours ( top of the line ) is about $1900 and for the cheaper one which is slightly heavier would be about $1000.

-Nathan

hmm, at over 10% of the cost of my entire car it might have to wait a bit
Maybe I'll just attack it with the grinder a bit more for now!

I can probably dig up a spare boot for mould making though if it was to go ahead.

Hey Nathan, is it Andrew that makes these up for you????

ido09s, on Oct 11 2007, 08:09 PM, said:

Hi, Yes it is Andrew, he does very good work.

Good luck being fastest R32 of the day.
It's going to be tricky considering you've built a car out of Japanese components,
And now you're flying to Japan and trying to use those parts to beat the cars that the companies use to advertise the parts in your car in the first place.
I hope your driver is top notch

Back to school on Monday huh Ozchuck, sucks to be you.

Well done HiOctane, Good to see the Aussies getting out there and stiring things up.

just to prove my point that them token host have no clue wat they are talking about on the weekend i was watching a ignition dvd
it featured a orange S13 silvia with a late model SR20 engine with a HKS GT2510 pushing out 211rwkw
the engine is controled by a Z32 air flow meter and a power fc D JETRO <------- since when does the D jetro run on air flow meter??
Andrew u should just host the whole show urself

a host that knows wat his talking about makes it so much more beta to watch
if they are going to use clue less host they should use hot clue less host like lucy but topless

nathan every time i come into this thread it makes me want to sell my 180 and go spastic on my GTR

Very nice car, and those black TE's look hot as all hell. Did you get them painted or powder coated?? Good luck at Tsukuba.

might sound silly, but do you guys have any estimate of what you think your laptimes will be around at Tsukuba?

hellspawn888, on Oct 13 2007, 08:05 PM, said:

I'm not 100% I will ask the boys next time I speak to them.

ae86hachiroku, on Oct 13 2007, 10:33 PM, said:

It is hard to guess but we are looking for a 56 second lap.

Cheers
-Nathan

I was checking out the Mark Gibbs youtube qualifying footage from Bathurst 92.
I noticed that they have alot more camber at the front, possibly from running slicks.
The footage is worth checking out.

That was 16 years ago though remember. Suspension and tyre technology have come a long way since then. If you have a look at the V8 supertaxis they don't even run that much camber anymore....and they run lockers!

STR8E180, on Oct 12 2007, 10:52 PM, said:

Power FC d-jetro sounds better

They had a feature on the NAMS R34 in HPI this week, I noticed the camber angle wasn't so large. Looks like they've pushed the track width out as well.

Good luck, hope you can do some great lap times.

The car looks and goes awesome, hope everything goes well.

Hi Guys,

Well we just got the car off the dyno after making 427kw atw on semi slicks.

Cheers
-Nathan

427kw atw...jebus! Sounds like a fun car to drive haha.

Can't wait to see how you go in Tsukuba.

Best of luck!

Great stuff guys!

Well guys,

At Autosalon Circuit Battle today we ran 1:03.5 on a wet track and 1:02.5 on a dry track and we have not turned the anit-lag on yet. hopefully we will get a run in today with the anti-lag on.

Oh and we are still on semi slicks

Cheers
-Nathan

that's more like it!

It'd be pretty cool to beat some V8 Supercars while still being on semis

1:02 around Wakefiled is mental

tme to aim for 59.99 t Wakefield!!!!!

The dyno runs were very repeatable too. we got footage of all the runs

we will be doing a feature on teh buid.-up fo the car before it goes to Japan and then running features on teh Japan trip after we return
We'll aslo be attedning the NIsmo festival while we are there and may get to check out the new GTR properly too.

Gonna be a mad trip!!!

is there footage from Wakefield?

DumHed, on Oct 25 2007, 09:01 PM, said:

Less net video watching, more coming over to japan with us and watching live

I wish I could!
If I can't I'll just have to take my car to wakefield and watch myself drive it

under 1min at wakefield would be very nice with slicks and car fully setup it would be doable I think.

No fottage as of yet that I am aware of but some may surface once the boys get back to QLD I'm not sure if any got taken.

Cheers
-Nathan

Well shes in the container and on her way to the docks now.



Wish us luck all Cheers for all your support.

-Nathan

hey awesome .. awesome pic too! make sure its safe in there! =)

good luck again guys =D

MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE POVO QLD PLATES ON!
WILL LOOK GREAT ON A JAPANESE TRACK.(SICK OF JAP PLATES IN OZ)
GOOD LUCK GUYS

Wishing her a safe trip, and great results at Tsukuba !! Hope its filled with styrafoam!!!


Sorta funny in a way. Car was made in jap, get sents to Aus. Worked over hard, now she is going home to show them all.


+1 for leaving Aus plates on them.. Japan is becoming the New USA.. Everyone wants to be like mike!

Good luck

+1 for leaving the qld plates on it.
If you do the photographs and the INTERNATIONAL WTF (remembering that US and Euro's all watch this and masturbate also) that will happen will last for internet eternity (2 weeks)

wish you the best!!!

+1 definitely for leaving the plates on... hahahaha...

All the very best. Wishing you a safe trip, some quick times and most of all heaps of fun.
Cheers!!!!

history in the making...

top effort, love the car, do OZ proud.

Good luck.

I'm pretty sure the plates are staying on

Thanks for all your support guys.

Marks new Race Suit arrived today.

Best of Luck! Looking very excited to the results.

Good luck!

Get shitloads of vids!

if i had a race suit like that i would wear it clubing i reckon it would pull the chicky babes like krazy

STR8E180, on Nov 3 2007, 05:15 AM, said:

Haha id does look good on. I have a photo somewhere of Mark in it ill post it up when I find it.

Here it is.

^ watch all the chicks go krazy over him now AHAHhAhAhA race suits = chicks love em

best of luck guys!

STR8E180, on Nov 3 2007, 12:14 PM, said:

White man in Japan + Race suit = Mr. Super Charisma

Best of luck, that car is awesome

So how much longer until the Superlap is run?

The Event is on the 6th of December.

Thanks again guys for all the support

-Nathan

STR8E180, on Oct 5 2007, 06:40 PM, said:

Haha I could just imagine it

best of luck mate, the car looks like it come a long way.

all the best for dec 6th

i like how youve arranged the sponsor tags on the race suit! looks nice and neat, its not just randomly placed everywhere... nice

id wear that around like the stig if I had one! hahaha

kirby, on Nov 20 2007, 10:43 AM, said:

Yea the suit came out very well. Looks even better in person aswell.

Thanks for the support guys. Not long away now car should hopefully be landing in Japan on the 24th of this month.

Good luck boys.

Nice build guys absolute quality... Good luck over there!

mark and russ living the dream, good luck fellas and good luck high octane

So has it landed yet?

How about now? lol

Hi Guys,

Sorry I have been on holidays for the last week so I am unsure as to the progress of the car at the moment but I will find out today or tomorrow. The car was meant to land on the 1st I believe.

-Nathan

Hi Octane Racing, on Dec 2 2007, 10:19 PM, said:

how was skoolies??? any nookie???? tell tell share share

STR8E180, on Dec 4 2007, 03:06 AM, said:

hahaha kemp yea not bad plenty of fun I was there with my missus she was the schoolie I was just tagging along for a big week of running a muck and getting slightly intoxicated.

Hey Guys,

Well just got word that yesterday on the dyno the car made 780hp @ the tyres which is great news, but we had a bit of a set back because they wouldnt let us on the track for practise.

-Nathan

Is this being run tomorrow?

Oooh, I feel like I may piss my pants with glee.

Wannabe S14/15 owner, on Dec 5 2007, 02:19 PM, said:

LOL yes the race is tomorrow. They had practise today aswell.

Why werent you let on the track to practice??

Not sure I was only on the phone for a short time didnt really get much info.

Is there a limit to how many runs you're allowed to have?

Wannabe S14/15 owner, on Dec 5 2007, 03:09 PM, said:

Do you mean tomorrow? To be honest im not sure. I think there is a practise session in the morning then you get one lap to warm your tyres and one fast lap and I think thats that but im not 100% on that

wat are some rough lap times they're getting?

Danny_S15, on Dec 5 2007, 03:31 PM, said:

I have not been in contact with them yet today so I am unsure at this stage. Andrew from Ignition is with them I am sure once the day finishes he will get on and give us some info.

Any news back from Japan yet?

Hatzo, on Dec 5 2007, 05:43 PM, said:

You can follow the progress of the guys in Japan in this thread.

http://www.nissansil...howtopic=273775

well done fellas good effort

was there a final update on this?

interesting read!, Good work fellas!!

Hey guys,

Cant remember if this ever got posted of not so I will post it again.


A Quick Letter Of Thanks From The Hi Octane Racing Team

Well firstly I would like to thank all the people and companies that got behind us on our mission to Tsukuba circuit. Your support is greatly appreciated. Also a big thank you to Bill from C and J Motorsport in Brisbane who worked tirelessly around the country getting the car ready and then traveled to Japan with us to make sure everything went smoothly. His tuning abilities are certainly showcased here and the fact that the engine is still running as strong as ever are testimony to his skills. Thank you also to Turbosmart, Royal Purple Oils, PPGearbox, ACL Race Series, Hypertune, Ross Tuffbond and GCG Turbos from Australia and Trust and Tomei Powered Japan. Again a showcase of the worlds finest performance products. Also a big thankyou to my good friend ex pat aussie Steve Bijok of Arabian Automotive Technologies in Dubai who built us a beautiful set of Ohlins coilovers that transformed the handling of the vehicle and then he traveled all the way to Japan with us to help with adjustments. Lastly a big thank you to Mark Berry and Russell Newman who have worked their guts out to get this right, paid all the bills with out complaint, drove the wheels off the car in unknown conditions in a foreign country, put our company name on the world stage and did Australia proud. I am sure next year we will be back, bigger and better than ever.Hi Octane Racing Team



Update *10/12/07*

Well after months of preparation we finally made it to the infamous Tsukuba circuit on December the 5th. With over 20 keen Australian fans there to cheer us on we recorded a time of 59.6 seconds with a top speed of 218kmh. This placed us well inside the top 20 of 60 cars. Quite an achievement when you consider that Mark had never seen the circuit before let alone driven on it and the fact that we had only ONE NEW set of intermediate tyres, hardly the correct compound for a circuit that would be lucky to reach 15 degree track temperature (the ambient temperature on the day was between 5 and 15 degrees). Unfortunately all semi slick tyres need to be pre-ordered weeks in advance so we could not purchase tyres on the day and therefore Mark was forced to drive on the limit with what little grip we had. We also had some other gremlins sneak in that have never raised their ugly head on home soil. Firstly we had a spongy brake pedal that can be put down to absorbing moisture in the container during transit and also some serious wheel alignment issues that again can be traced to tying down the car in the container. Once these issues where resolved the car certainly made its presence known with some blisteringly quick laps and an awful lot of attention in the pits with many of the top Japanese tuners sneaking over to see what makes the black rocket from down under tick. Because of the support shown by the public we thought it would only be fair to share our experience with you, so we organized for IGNITION DVD to come along so you can see first hand what it is like to take our humble little race team to what many would consider the absolute Holy Grail of Time attack events in the world. This will be available in your local newsagent early next year so be sure to look out for it. If you are overseas and cannot purchase this send us an email and we will arrange to send you a copy. The event was won this year by the awesome M speed R34 GTR with a time of 54.48 showing how far the top teams from Japan have advanced in the past five years. Five years ago a 59.6 second lap time would have placed us well inside the top ten and next year will be even harder but one thing is for sure, we will be there!

thanks for the write up, well done

Hi Guys,

Just thought I'd let you know that I just got Ignition DVD 27 and it has the first installment of the road to tsukuba segment on it.

Also I have started a thread in the main motorsports section about the build of our R34 GTR time attack car.

Cheers
-Nathan

Hey Guys,

Just thought I would let you know we took the R32 to the drags last night and in full circuit trim we ran 9.7 @ 143mph then got kicked out for no parachute haha.

Also the car is for sale if anyone is interested Link

fark

The car has now been sold

Bugger...

Can you say who too?? and where??

It was sold to another customer of ours from QLD.

Is it possible to fix the broken links to the pics would be great to see them again

Sorry guys, links fixed