GODZILLA, REANIMATED

Three decades have passed since this competition spec Skyline GT-R last saw race action. Jethro's on hand to help with the shakedown

- JETHRO BOVINGDON

I have many happy memories at Blyton Park, near Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.

These range from trying to tame the mighty, maleficent Porsche 997 GT2 RS to flying off the end of the back straight in a Glickenhaus SCG 003 racecar as Jim Glickenhaus himself looked on. Not my finest hour. Anyway, it's a great little track but most would concede this narrow, flat and short loop is a million miles from the towering challenge and fever dream mania that surrounds Suzuka circuit in the Mie prefecture of Japan. One of the great racetracks.

Today though, these two locations are linked by a very special car. An incredibly rare competition model that was last driven in anger around Suzuka at the opening round of the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship in 1995. Back then it set pole position, then disappeared and now it's rolling onto the unhallowed tarmac of Blyton Park. It's running the original engine, the original six speed XTrac sequential gearbox, the original, gorgeous, hollow spoke, SSR magnesium wheels and it wears its battle scars with pride. This is the UNISIA JECS Nissan Skyline GT-R GT1 by Hasemi Motorsport. A NISMO-backed semiworks effort to evolve the all conquering Skyline GT-R from its Group A roots into the new GT1 ruleset for 1994 and a rolling laboratory that would inform Nissan's assault on Le Mans in 1995. I guess you could say this is what Godzilla became when he grew up...

The car's history is complex and fascinating and its owner (sangfroid_shift on Instagram) is well and truly down the NISMO/Hasemi/Skyline rabbit hole. We can't hope to tell the full story here, but it would be remiss not to explore the myth around the Skyline competition cars in general and this car in particular.