Guest writer’s blog

Category: Guest writer’s blog

GTROC European Tour – Day 4

Day 4 A nice lie in today, meant we all felt better after our early start and a long wet day at track; met by our French hosts, we all set off in convoy to the next destination – a converted monastery in Provence. We all decided we would use the itinerary from now on, [...]

Published by iansmith on April 25, 2012 5:30 am

GTROC European Tour – Day 3

Early rise wasn’t as bad as we had anticipated and Geetak asked me to navigate – perhaps my frustration had shown through the previous night? Lady luck seems to have changed for the southern contingent this morning 3 people couldn’t get their cars out of the car park – the barriers seemed to be broken…it [...]

Published by iansmith on April 24, 2012 9:57 pm

GTROC Euorpean Tour – Day 2

Day 2 saw us leave Paris…unfortunately, we’ve brought British spring weather, with us, so for 10 mins it’s sunny and we’re in t-shirts and then as we drive out of Paris, it’s raining (then sunny, then raining, then cloudy…). We head south from Paris, destination Eric Louis – Les Celliers de la Pauline in [...]

Published by iansmith on April 23, 2012 2:05 pm

GTROC Euro Tour – Day 0

The Northern Contingent You may think the title is strange, but as Sue and I were the only participants from “North of Watford”, we travelled a day earlier than everyone else so we could catch the ferry from Hull to Rotterdam and meet everyone in Paris, later in the day. Packing the car was fun [...]

Published by iansmith on April 19, 2012 2:43 pm

Build Your Own R35 GT-R, Week 8

Summary of this week’s magazine contents: 1) R35 GT-R Story The GT-R Proto – In Detail The design of the GT-R Proto, based on a proposal by Hironaka Ono of Nissan Technical Center Advance Design Department, was clearly a step forward towards production from the GT-R Concept. While 90% of this design would make it [...]

Published by akasakaR33 on April 11, 2012 5:32 pm

Build Your Own R35 GT-R, Week 7

Summary of this week’s magazine contents: 1) R35 GT-R Story 4 years after the GT-R Concept was shown, the base for the production car, the GT-R Proto, was shown to the public on October 19, 2005. Carlos Ghosn had announced at the 2003 Tokyo Motor Show that the GT-R would be “unveiled in 4 years on [...]

Published by akasakaR33 on April 8, 2012 8:22 pm

Build Your Own R35 GT-R, Week 6

Summary of this week’s magazine contents: 1) R35 GT-R Story In Pursuit of GT-R-ness! [Editorial note: because I found this article so interesting, I have gone ahead and translated - not summarized - most of it, hence the length.] The GT-R Concept, shown at the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show, was developed under Product Chief Designer [...]

Published by akasakaR33 on March 18, 2012 10:12 pm

Build Your Own R35 GT-R, Week 5

Summary of this week’s magazine contents: 1) R35 GT-R Story May 2004. While tests using the SSV400 test car had begun at Sendai Hi-Land Raceway, the “Unit Test Car” based on what Kazutoshi Mizuno envisioned, was being made at fever pitch. Later,stages of development would progressively see a “Platform Lot” and a “Product Lot” test [...]

Published by akasakaR33 on March 15, 2012 5:40 pm

Building Your Own R35 GT-R – My Thoughts on the Actual Build, Part 1

As the last four blog installments have essentially given you readers an idea of what kind of information is contained in the materials included in each weekly “magazine” – but no information about the model itself, I decided it was time to give everyone a look at the actual kit, as I am building it. [...]

Published by akasakaR33 on March 13, 2012 5:23 am

Build Your Own R35 GT-R, Week 3

DIY GTR Build, Vol 3. Summary of this week’s magazine contents: 1) R35 GT-R Story October 23, 2003. At the 37th Tokyo Motor Show, Carlos Ghosn declares that “the new GT-R will be revealed on this stage in 2007.” This week, this section explains how Mr. Ghosn was able to make that statement. While it’s [...]

Published by akasakaR33 on March 6, 2012 1:59 pm

Build Your Own R35 GT-R, Week 4

DIY GTR Build, Vol 4. Summary of this week’s magazine contents: 1) R35 GT-R Story The first development mule, the SSV400, begins testing at Sendai Hilands Raceway on May 17 2004. In early 2004, Mizuno-san realized he needed to do the following for the supercar he was seeking – lap Nurburgring under 8 minutes, have [...]

Published by akasakaR33 on March 6, 2012 1:58 pm

Build Your Own R35 GT-R, Week 2

Summary of this week’s magazine contents: 1) GT-R Story The GT-R Concept show car, displayed at the 35th Tokyo Motor Show, was an indication that development and sale in the near future of the next GT-R, as Carlos Ghosn had proclaimed. And yet, little was known of the hardware underneath. Even so, there were hints [...]

Published by akasakaR33 on March 1, 2012 6:42 pm