With custom candy paint, wide arches and 600bhp, Adam Christie’s bagged Nissan GT-R is the complete package.
Feature from Fast Car. Words: Dan Bevis. Photos: Adam Rous
Stop licking your lips. You’re dribbling. Had you noticed? Yes, this bagged Nissan GT-R looks good enough to eat, but you’re just going to have to try to contain yourself. You see, while the candy raspberry exterior may appear to be so Wonka-like in its sucrose allure that you just want to bury your face in it and guzzle it down your hungry gullet, you’ll be getting yourself into serious trouble – not least because its owner, Adam Crispin, may wish to have words about just what it is exactly that you think you’re up to, but also because there’s a monster hiding inside. You won’t find a fluffy strawberry-flavoured centre in this candy treat, there’s no hazelnut or praline residing within. No, there’s a terrifying Japanese monster in there. Godzilla. And it wants, quite frankly, to claw your eyes out and tear you to bits.
Godzilla is a terrifying entity, there’s no denying that. Since the character’s inception in 1954 in Ishiro Honda’s original movie, this ‘King of Monsters’ has passed into pop culture as a vengeful horror-beast; an indiscriminate, all-pervading, all-consuming force of destruction and unstoppable ruthlessness. Is it any wonder that Nissan’s own monster, the GT-R, is so inextricably intertwined with this folkloric legend?
It was the R32 Skyline GT-R that first enjoyed the nickname, and it’s continued with impressive persistence right through to today’s R35. We all know the factlets and titbits that make the R35 so special – the nitrogen-filled tyres on knurled rims, the PlayStation-alike interface, the plasma-coated cylinder bores – and it’s hard to believe it’s been with us as a showroom model since 2007. It’s a giant-killer, an establishment-upsetter, a stealth missile, an absurd amount of horsepower and cunning technology for what is, relatively speaking, a bargain price. It’s specifically designed to annoy Porsche 911 owners. And with such a delicious platter of rich, succulent technology, it’s pretty much the perfect everyday supercar. A gruff and jagged Godzilla, built to obliterate all in its path in a hellstorm of swishing hydrocarbons. Impossible to improve upon, right?
Ha! No. Of course not. Nissan’s claim that they’d built an untunable car has been comprehensively disproven over the last thirteen years, as it turns out that drilling into Godzilla’s very DNA and rewiring things can unleash all sorts of fury. And don’t let Adam hear you spreading that sort of defeatist logic either – he deliberately bought a completely standard GT-R simply because he wanted to heavily modify it, and do so his way.
When it comes to this sort of thing, it’s fair to say that Adam’s a pretty safe pair of hands. He’s well known in Vauxhall circles, having built a Corsa D VXR into a 472bhp hellion; after he’d had his fun with that, he then set his sights eastward and sprinkled his unique blend of magic over a Mitsubishi Evo X, pumping up the jams to the tune of 611bhp and smacking it down on air-ride. “I’ve been doing car shows for the last eight years, and I don’t plan on giving up anytime soon,” he assures us. Good lad, that’s what we like to hear.
It has to be said that this time, however, he’s knocked things up a notch even by his own exacting standards. What we’re seeing here is the legendary Godzilla grappling in an internal struggle with the Candyman himself, hooks and bloody stumps slashing at claws in a freaky civil war within those broad purple flanks.
“I bought the car completely stock,” he reiterates. “I’d always wanted one, as it’s one of my favourite cars. This one is a 2008 Japanese import; I wanted a standard and untouched GT-R because I knew what I planned to turn it into. The condition was very clean and well-looked after, with full service history.” A strong base then, and of course that dream-come-true scenario wasn’t allowed to mellow for too long before Adam began tearing the car apart and changing things.
Naturally, the first thing that draws the eye is the unique and astonishing exterior, but before we dive into the details of that, let’s first unpick what’s going on under the bonnet. You see, the mad scientists at Knight Racer have been having their wicked way with this one, and the results are finger-lickin’ good. That tectonically grunty VR38DETT 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 has been subjected to the full Stage 4.25 treatment, which essentially comprises uprated fuelling, a massive intake, beefier downpipes and a full 4-inch decat system with titanium tips. Most cleverly of all, it boasts an Ecutek RaceROM remap for both the engine and transmission ECUs; for the cog-swapping, this means the latest software derived from the supercar-baiting Nismo GT-R. For the engine, it shuffles the performance upgrades into order and results in a meaty 660bhp, with the added benefits of such toys as launch control, rolling launch, pops and bangs, shift pops, and reworked traction control parameters. In short, the ‘untunable’ has been heavily tuned to become a truly incredible version of itself.
So, it’s got all the horsepower it needs (plus a hell of a lot more) to ensure that the performance is worthy of the iconic GT-R badge. The purists are momentarily appeased. But let’s kick some sand in their faces and see what manner of lunacy Adam’s unleashed on the bodywork…
“The car was built by Kode Performance,” he explains, “and it’s fitted with the first CMST front end in the UK. The CMST front arches have been custom-fitted and smoothed in with added vents, and the rear is the only GT-R running this setup; everything was custom-made to fit. Those rear Rocket Bunny arches were smoothed in and cut so it’s possible to take the rear bumper off, while the Varis bumper has been widened to fit the arches with proper metalwork to make it factory-looking.” The effect this achieves is more than a little arresting, and the addition of the Liberty Walk diffuser, Knight Racer carbon bonnet, and ducktail bootlid add up to something way more than the sum of its already more-is-more parts. But the crowning glory, the thing that really sets this unique R35 apart, is that lip-smacking fruit-loop paint.
“It’s Candy Raspberry from Custom Paints,” Adam explains, “with a silver base coat and six layers of candy topped off with 2k show lacquer.” The raspberry is vivid enough in itself, but the silver base really makes it pop and that gleaming lacquered finish allows the colour to fulfil its juicyfruit potential; counterpointed by the white centres of the fat CMST split-rims as well as all of the carbon details across the body, it’s the perfect finish for an unapologetic and uncompromising build. Looks delicious, doesn’t it? You can almost taste it. But don’t try anything weird… Godzilla will tear your head clean off without a moment’s hesitation, and that’s before the Candyman gets his hooks into you.
Tech Spec: Bagged Nissan GT-R
Styling:
Custom Paints Candy Raspberry paint, CMST carbon fibre front bumper, CMST front wide arches, Varis rear bumper, Rocket Bunny rear wide arches, carbon sideskirts, Liberty Walk carbon diffuser, CMST carbon splitter, Knight Racer carbon bonnet, carbon bootlid with ducktail, Depo Lightning Bolt LED headlights
Tuning:
VR38DETT 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6, Knight Racer Stage 4.25 setup inc. Big Power intake, ASNU 1,050cc injectors, 90mm stainless Y-pipe, 3-inch high-flow cast downpipes, full 4-inch decat exhaust system with titanium tips, Ecutek RaceROM custom tune on engine and transmission, 660bhp
Chassis:
10×20-inch ET-18 (front) and 12×20-inch ET-60 (rear) CMST forged 2-piece wheels, 265/35 (f) and 305/30 (r) Nankang NS-2R tyres, Air Lift Performance struts with 3P management, Brembo calipers, Alcon discs, Ferodo DS2500 pads
Interior:
Recaro seats retrimmed in Alcantara Seatskinz with purple stitching, carbon steering wheel, carbon shift paddles, carbon interior panels
