Widescreen Gallery: ‘Godzilla’, 1991 Nissan Skyline R32 GTR 004

Photos by Seth Reinhardt

We enjoyed watching ‘Godzilla’, the 1991 Sandown 500-winning GIO Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R, stomping around the HSRCA’s recent Sydney Classic, so we thought we’d take the opportunity for a closer look at the car.

Just five Nissan Motorsport Group A GTRs were built, and this car was the only one sold by Nissan Motorsport as a customer car. It went to GIO in 1991 as chassis four of the five and they kept it close to home, storing and maintaining it with the other Group A GTRs and Fred Gibson’s Nissan Works Team.

That turned out to be a good decision, as the car went on to win the Australian Endurance Championship in 1991, dominate the Drink Drive 500 at Sandown and take third overall in the 1991 Tooheys 1000 on Mount Panorama with pilots Mark Gibbs and Rohan Onslow. With Gibbs and Onslow back behind the wheel, it returned to Bathurst in 1992, claiming sixth outright.

The car’s been a frequent competitor in Heritage Touring Cars’ Group C & A race series for some years now, driven by Terry Lawlor and now Anthony Alford. At the Sydney Classic, some thirty years on from its period career, it was still living up to the ‘Godzilla’ nickname, monstering all challengers as Alford drove it to a clean sweep of every event.

Photos by Seth Reinhardt
For more on the HSRCA head to their site here, and check out Heritage Touring Cars at their website here