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Nissan Skyline in police chase

By | February 8, 2012 | Uncategorized | No comments

If you should ever find yourself being pursued by the police in a car chase (not that you ever would of course), then the ideal car to be driving might well be a Nissan Skyline. However that assumes that you are able to drive well and are sober. Although an unfortunate Australian had one of the three, in the other two he was sadly lacking.

The reason the police were chasing him was that he had evaded a breathalyser test. In Australia they have breath test sites where drivers are stopped at random and breathalysed. If any driver appears to evade them, then the police set off in hot pursuit after him.

On this occasion the 26 year old Skyline driver failed to keep his car on the road and collided with a telegraph post just 37 seconds into the chase. The impact was so severe that the Skyline was effectively cut in two and the driver later died of his injuries in hospital.

Being killed in a car chase in Australia appears to be quite common; last year seven drivers lost their lives in this manner just in Victoria, though this is the first reported case of it happening to a Skyline driver.

Nissan Skyline GTR Unlimited

By | December 19, 2011 | Uncategorized | No comments

So, last week we posted a rather tired looking Skyline that literally was falling a part, but looking back on it now we realise how depressing it was so see an example of this wonderful car so tired and neglected, so if we have upset any7 of you we can only offer our humbles apologies.

So, to make up for that example of bad taste, this week we will post an example of one of the fastest Skylines around, and from the era before Nissan took it upon themselves to drop the name; will they ever be forgiven?

Anyway, here it is. This is the Nissan Skyline GTR “Unlimited” ands it packs a powerful punch. The power is supplied by a 6.7 litre V12 unit which has quadruple turbochargers, four overhead camshafts and a total of 48 valves. The engine delivers around 1,000 bhp. The 0 to 62 mph acceleration time is just under 3 seconds and the top speed is around 220 mph, so this baby can fly.

It is not just good in a straight line either. The car has four wheel steering, four wheel drive, a six speed sequential gearbox, magnesium wheels and brakes to cope; they are 355 mm in the rear and 381 mm discs on the front. The braking system is carbon fibre.

This is one of the fastest road cars ever built. It also looks very pretty – what do you think?

Nissan Skyline GTR Unlimited

Nissan Skyline GTR Unlimited

Restoring a Nissan Skyline

By | November 29, 2011 | Uncategorized | No comments

Restoring an old Nissan Skyline is a great way to learn a lot about motor engineering, to create a wonderful motorcar, and if you get it right to make a lot of money too. Certainly it is not a game that will appeal to everybody, and it can be a risky business for if you get it wrong or run out of patience, enthusiasm or money part way through the project, then it won’t be only time you will have wasted; you are likely to have wasted a considerable amount of cash. The message is to be certain of your final goals, timescales and potential costs before you commit yourself.

If you really do have to close down the project before it is finished, and sometimes life changes in unexpected ways, then if you are lucky some of your work and expenditure may be exploited by selling on your partial restorations. In fact, sometimes it is possible to start off your project using the bones of someone else’s abandoned one. Search the web for partially restored Skylines and you should find plenty of examples, sometimes at bargain prices. Obviously you will need to apply a due amount of caution and find out why the project was abandoned, but it could be just what you are looking for.
Also it is worth looking at a number of Skyline restoration projects that have been completed successfully. Most restorers are more than happy to show off their work and what they have achieved.

Rusty Skyline

You have to start somewhere...

The biggest enemy of all in any car restoration project is rust. Generally you will find all the parts that you need, but replacing rusty wheel arches and body panels can be very tricky. In some future posts I will return to this issue and see how various Skyline restorers have found solutions to the various problems they have encountered.

Favourite Skylines

By | November 4, 2011 | General | No comments

Everybody who visits this website is likely to have a favourite Skyline, so what is yours? In a recent survey of Skyline favourites the most popular was the 1998 Nissan Skyline R34 which received 45% of the total votes cast.

Next was the 1970 Skyline GTR which polled 37% of the votes followed by the Nissan GTR which was launched in 2007 and which received 12% of the votes.

The 1989 Nissan Skyline R32 received 10%, the 1993 Nissan Skyline R33 and the 1972 Nissan (Kenmeri) Skyline C110 both received 9% of the votes.

The most unlived Skylines were the 1958 Prince Skyline ALSID-2, the 1961 Prince Skyline S50 and the 1967 Prince Skyline S57 which received no votes at all.

So what is so special about the 1998 R34 that stands it apart from the rest? Perhaps it is because it is the last Skyline bear the name Skyline. Before the model was launched Skyline R33 sales had plummeted. The R34 was produced as a sportier looking car and was also more fuel efficient, though it re-iterated the R32 shell. There were five models which ranged in power from the relatively tame 155 bhp GT through to the mighty 280 bhp 2.5 litre GT-T.

This car did much to revive the fortunes of the Nissan Skyline and still seems to be most Skyline fans’ favourite car. For all skyline lovers and you are interested in insurance buy your insurance online at http://www.endsleigh.co.uk.

The New Nissan GT-R

By | October 25, 2011 | Uncategorized | No comments

As we all know, the new Nissan GT-R is at heart a Nissan Skyline GTR brought up to date. When Nissan dropped the Skyline brand in 2007 and the new version became simply the Nissan GT-R, they did not drop the philosophy that drove its design and three years on from its launch Nissan has produced a brand new model with many substantial changes.

The new engine is both powerful and economical. It is still a twin-turbo 3.8 litre V6, but it develops a massive 530 bhp (up from 480 bhp) which takes the car all the way to 200mph and possibly a little beyond. The new suspension system provides a far more refined driver comfort whilst producing superb cornering performance. Some important changes to the aerodynamics have been made which has reduced the air resistance by around 4% and although 4% may not sound very much, it is very significant when you are doing nearly two ton. There is also a 10% improvement t on downforce. Brakes have also been updated and changes have been made to the seats with the intention of providing an improvement in the relationship between car and driver.

The new GT-R was released for sale in Japan in November 2010 and in the UK February 2011 and at launch was described by Nissan as a multi-performance supercar. Certainly it looks like a supercar and performs like one, but with a price tag of around £72,000 it just doesn’t cost quite as much as you would expect to pay for one. Take a look at this beauty in the video – I promise that you will love it. The new Nissan GT-R is the world’s fastest production car.