RaceCo Nissan GT-R

Things change. Everything changes at some point. Mountains rise and erode away, civilizations are built and crumble, companies and people build cars and sell them. This Nissan GTR already had a full life before it came to RaceCo, and was transformed into the opus you see before you.

The car was previously owned by Cobb Tuning, and eventually became a car they campaigned in the Redline Time Attack series. Unfortunately Redline folded and Cobb had a race car with nothing to race in. So they sold it to someone who brought it to RaceCo for some adjustments, and for a while it wore the livery it had at Cobb. At the end of last season that all changed.

Visually the car has changed quite a bit. It was wearing the white and blue of Cobb Tuning, but now it is covered, thanks to Envision Wraps, in the primal primary colors: red, black and white. These colors elicit deep reactions from those who see them.

The old fiberglass front end has been replaced with an AIT carbon fiber widebody, while the AIT fiberglass widebody rear end and sideskirts remain the same. RaceCo made some floating mounts for the front splitter, along rear diffuser strakes and skid plates for the splitter and side skirts. Other custom pieces include a flat floor, floor exit exhaust on the rear diffuser and front and rear Lexan windshields.

Not everything can be custom made, so some off the shelf pieces were fitted: an XPR air jack system, an Aeromotions R2 static rear wing, APR carbon fiber mirrors, Aerocatch hood pins, and JDM front clear side markers and a Moonface front tow hook round out the off the shelf pieces on the exterior of the R35.

Inside the cabin it’s all business. Aside from the automatic gear shifter that is. You have to climb over the custom roll cage before you can squeeze into the RaceTech 4009HR seat. A Schroth Hans six point harness holds you in the seat as you grip a Sparco steering wheel on a custom quick release. A Moty lightweight battery provides power, and a fire suppression system makes sure you don’t burn to a crisp. A MoTec ADL3 data system with a custom RaceCo wire harness and carbon fiber switch panel gathers information and provides easy access to all the necessary controls.

Getting out is a matter of pulling on the custom door pull, un-doing the harness, taking of the wheel and climbing back over the roll cage.

The car sits on CCW C10 wheels, 18×13 at all corners covered in equally large 310/710/18 Michelin S9H slicks.

Behind the custom CCWs sit Performance Racing rotors with Pagid RS29 brake pads, front and rear, and AP Racing J hooks. RaceCo fabbed up some stainless steel brake lines for the front while some Goodridge stainless brake lines are in the rear. The fluid of choice that allows the car to be hauled to a stop is SRF Racing brake fluid.

The car sits nicely upon its JRZ triple adjustable coilovers and Hypercoil springs. MODE racing front and rear sway bars tie the sides of the car together. This WAS a Cobb car, and that car wasn’t too bad so a lot of the parts from its past are still there. Parts like the adjustable rear end links, prototype adjustable rear camber links and toe links.

This properly set up suspension is complimented by the OS Giken differentials in the front and rear housings. The rear differential doesn’t see nearly as much airflow as the front so it gets a custom cooling system with a Mocal oil pump and air to air cooler. Both of the differentials are filled with OS-250R 80W-250 gear oil.

The Cobb parts don’t end with the suspension. Cobb 3.5” intakes, ceramic coated downpipes, cat-less Y pipe and race exhaust, XLE bypass valves and secondary oil cooler kit are still on there. As is the AccessPORT that has been tuned on E85 and Speed Density by Tim Bailey of Cobb Tuning.

The engine is still the familiar VR38DETT, but things on both the inside and outside have changed. The stock turbos have been ditched in favor of Garret 2871’s with upgraded wastegate acutators. Dual Walbro in-tank fuel pumps send fuel to a pair of AMS fuel rails and on through a set of Injector Dynamics 2000cc fuel injectors. In between there and here is a custom surge tank with two Bosch 044 fuel pumps on it.

In the motor itself are forged rods and pistons, six HKS spark plugs, Motul oil and coolant. That coolant also flows through a Koyo radiator.

Now this is a race car, but it has something a lot of race cars don’t have: an automatic transmission. Albeit a ShepTrans stage 3 transmission with PPG 1^st-6^th gears and a Dodson billet clutch housing, but you can still pop that thing in D. But you wouldn’t. You’d put it in R mode so you can make use of all the parts that have been lovingly bolted to the car. Parts like the Dodson pressure sensor controller, Cobb Tuning transmission oil pump, and custom stage 2 transmission oil cooler system (with Mocal Laminova and air to air cooler). Since this transmission is in the back of the car, the car has NACA ducts and carbon fiber inline fans to cool its and the rear differential coolers.

Change is a constant. Never stopping for anything. Change can at times be scary, because what comes after the change could be something terrible. Especially if the thing that is being changed is something thats known to be good However, change can take something good and propel it to greatness.

Words by Michael Chandler and Photos by Michael Chandler and Trent Bray

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