GT-Rs are rapid straight from the factory but here are five that have taken things to the extreme and become some of the world’s fastest Nissan Skylines.
From the R32 to the R35, Nissan’s GT-R lineage has always been a favorite amongst the world’s craziest tuners. Both the RB26 and VR38 power units are tough as nails, and capable of simply stunning power figures. When translated onto the road, that power can then create mind-bending speed records. To give you an idea of what’s possible, we’ve collated some of the most impressive high-speed builds we could think of.
The World’s Fastest Nissan Skylines
Now, the Nissan enthusiasts amongst you will understand that the R35 GT-R is a very different beast to the R32-R34 Skyline GT-Rs which came before it. Indeed, the fastest GT-R-badged build of all time is Severn Valley Motorsport’s R35. But for the sake of this article, we wanted to focus on what the old school RB-generation of GT-Rs were capable of, so you won’t find any R35 aliens here. Anyway, with that clarification made, let’s dive into it. Here are some of the world’s fastest Nissan Skylines.
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Aleksandr Сherjomushkin’s R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R
Built by talented mechanic and tuner Aleksandr Сherjomushkin in the Baltic state of Estonia, this wild R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R has evolved to become one of the fastest accelerating Skylines in the world. Built to compete in Estonia’s 2020 standing-mile competition, held at a disused Soviet airfield on the outskirts of the city of Haapsalu, the standardish-looking Skyline hit an incredible 402kmh (250mph) at the one-mile mark. And that’s after launching from a standing start!
Powered by a 5.6-liter twin-turbocharged Nissan VK56 V8 engine from a Nissan Titan pickup truck (an engine that Nismo itself used in its R35 GT-R GT1 race car, which won the 2011 FIA GT1 world championship), it has been tuned further to a whopping 1500bhp.
This huge figure comes courtesy of a pair of Garrett GTX3582 turbochargers running 2.2 bar (32 psi) of boost, combined with a secret mixture of heavily uprated engine internals designed to handle the immense pressures of running such high boost levels.
This tsunami of torque runs through a custom 5-speed Samsona sequential gearbox and a custom five-plate carbon clutch that sends drive to the rear wheels only. The suspension is standard Nissan, while the rims are 18in Volk Racing Group CV pros at the rear and Blitz Technospeed Z1s at the front.
Croydon Racing Developments’ R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R
They love a fast Skyline Down Under, and this street-legal monster is one of the very fastest. Built by Aussie tuning specialists Croydon Racing Developments, it achieved an incredible quarter-mile run of 6.37 seconds at 224mph in June 2022. That makes it the *quickest* GT-R in the world of any generation, including the latest R35 models.
Codenamed JUN II, this quarter-mile specialist machine unleashes 3000bhp from its highly tuned RB30 engine, yet retains full factory chassis including working doors, glass and all the necessary trim to allow it to be legally driven on public roads in Australia.
The engine bay is home to a RB30 billet block with 3.2-litre stroker kit and a custom JHH race head, a Promod 110/108 turbocharger making 100 psi of boost with a water-to-air charge cooler, and a whole heap of nitrous oxide!
The car wears a custom carbon wide body kit to house the 275-equipped 12in rims and a pair of parachutes to slow this beast down after it flashes past the finish line. It’s a car that Croydon has been developing for the last 20 years and has been launched down the strip over 2000 times. It might have a few twists in the otherwise stock chassis, but the firm reckons there’s still more to come from this mega machine. Watch it – and one of it’s fiercest rivals – in action, here.
Michele Guyer’s R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R
The World Time Attack Challenge is an annual event held at Sydney Motorsport Park in Eastern Creek, New South Wales, Australia to find the very fastest cars on the planet. Competitors are seeking to achieve the quickest single lap possible with unlimited modifications to their cars. Due to their potential for tuning, Skylines are a firm favorite with competitors, but few have reached the heights of the R32 owned by die-hard Nissan enthusiast Michele Guyer. In the hands of pro racing driver, Brad Shiels, it won the Open Class in 2019 and came second in 2022 when piloted by Tim Slade of V8 Supercars fame. As such it’s currently the fastest Time Attack Skyline in the World.
Featuring a fully carbon-clad body with wild wings and various aero addenda, plus a brutal 2.8-litre billet RB26 stroker engine and Precision 6870 turbocharger hiding underneath, it’s capable of lapping the challenging circuit in 1.27.3790 seconds.
Transferring over 1000bhp to the tarmac is no easy feat, but an Albins six-speed sequential is the perfect tool to get the required twist to all four of the RAYS Volk Racing CE28SL wheels. As you’d expect from a machine of this caliber, a host of MoTeC electronics is used to control the engine and the various functions of the car with military precision.
A nasty engine fire in the 2017 tournament nearly scuppered the project entirely, but Michele persevered and rebuilt her lap dancing monster. It’s a top competitor that’s still going strong to this very day. Take a closer look at it in this video.
Assaf Ab’s R33 Nissan Skyline GTS-T (Bypola)
It may have started life as a lowly GTS-T variant from the factory, but that hasn’t stopped Aussie speed freak Assaf Ab from building it into the fastest R33 Skyline on the planet. Known as Bypola, due to his 8YP01A numberplate that perfectly reflects this car’s duel personalities, it was built for Assaf by renowned Australian Skyline tuning specialists Maatouk Racing. It can complete the quarter mile in 6.49 seconds at 222mph, which is an incredible achievement for a car that is still road legal and driven on the street – in fact he even drives it to and from the drag strip when he competes!
Underneath the relatively stock-looking styling, if you ignore the huge drag slicks and twin parachutes that is, lies a billet RB30 engine with a simply humongous single turbocharger thrusting over 70psi down its throat. This equates to a mammoth 2400bhp at the wheels, that’s transmitted to the tarmac through a drag specific automatic gearbox.
Having accomplished his goal of owning the world’s fastest R33, Assaf has decided to put his radical ride up for sale, so if you fancy owning a record breaking R33, be sure to get in touch. If you need further tempting, watch it in action here.
Bradley Sheriff’s R32 Nissan Skyline GTS-T (Bathurst)
The legendary Bathurst 1000 run on the famous Mount Panorama circuit is a fixture of the Australian Touring Car series and is where the R32 Skyline GT-R’s famed and feared ‘Godzilla’ nickname was coined. It earned that title after it comprehensively trounced the local opposition in the early ‘90s, much to the Australian media and fans’ dismay. But it was the Bathurst 12 hour in February 2023 that saw another R32 dominate proceedings. This time it was the R32 Skyline GTS-T of Bradley Sheriff of Tasmanian tuner’s Racetech Performance that was drawing all the attention, as he frankly obliterated the competition in the Combined Sedans category.
Packing 1171bhp from its highly tuned 2.8-litre RB26 billet stroker engine fed by a Precision 76/75 turbocharger and through a Hollinger sequential gearbox, he scythed through the field from last to second place and even managed to break both the minimum lap time for the circuit of 2mins 09 secs, but also was consistently hitting over 320kph (198.8mph) on the circuit’s main straight.
This lightning speed prompted officials to dock him one place, demoting him to third, and launched an investigation to potentially limit the car’s top speed on the grounds of safety, as most cars at Bathurst do not exceed 300kph.
As well as Bathurst, Bradley and his Skyline hold lap records in racetracks in Tasmania too, and is responsible for tuning many of Australia’s fastest circuit racers. Watch the R32 do it’s thing, here.
Words by Dan Sherwood.
