Hunting Godzilla Overseas
A Dream Achieved

I find that there’s little in common between United States and Irish car culture. USA is the home of monstrous capacity V8s, while Ireland is, well… not. We do have something in common though, neither country was offered the Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R from new. This has created an even stronger sense of lust between our two countries, than say to those who were lucky enough to be able to walk into a dealership and drive one off the showroom floor.

In a rare occurrence of Ireland actually having a car culture related benefit over the USA, we are – and have always been – able to import the GT-R from Japan. I remember the impact when a good friend of mine brought one over from the UK. It was a monster. In fact, think I still have a photo of it parked outside my house somewhere. Whilst the likes of the R32 and R33 GT-Rs bottomed out at around €10,000, the R34 always held strong residuals. As such, they remain a rare sight on our roads.

2015 Nissan R34 GT-R Domnic Kelly by Paddy McGrath-20

So imagine my surprise when not one, not two, but three examples rolled into Mondello Park the Sunday morning before last for Japfest. Nothing quite signals the end of a recession like a trio of R34 GT-Rs showing up in one place at the same time does…

2015 Nissan R34 GT-R Domnic Kelly by Paddy McGrath-3

Luckily for me, the owner was standing right beside this particular example, a 1999 V-spec, and was able to talk me through his time with the car, which he has owned for over a year now. Like most, the R34 GT-R was Domnic’s absolute dream car. When he bought the Nissan in June 2014, it had been in Ireland for approximately six years already. The Skyline was in great condition, but the styling wasn’t to Domnic’s taste, which he described as being a bit ‘Fast and Furious‘.

2015 Nissan R34 GT-R Domnic Kelly by Paddy McGrath-13

Subtlety would be key for this transformation. Well, as subtle as a Bayside Blue R34 GT-R can be on Irish roads. Dressing the bottom of the car, are carbon Nismo-style under-skirts and rear spats, while the front is wearing a Top Secret bumper with accompanying Top Secret carbon front splitter and undertray (which can be seen in the Bonus Images chapter below).

2015 Nissan R34 GT-R Domnic Kelly by Paddy McGrath-10

The most striking visual cue are the white Work DR9 wheels, measuring in at 19×10.5-inch at all four corners and wearing 275/30R19 Bridgestone S001 Potenzas.

2015 Nissan R34 GT-R Domnic Kelly by Paddy McGrath-6

It’s not all aesthetics either, the RB26 has been mildly tuned to bring the power and torque levels up to 440hp and 364lb-ft when run on standard 95 octane Irish fuel. This was achieved with Kakimoto downpipes and a Regu 06 exhaust system with a Sard high-flow cat on the exhaust side and Trust intercooler and A’PEXi air filter with HKS hard pipes on the intake side.

2015 Nissan R34 GT-R Domnic Kelly by Paddy McGrath-7

It’s a sensible set of modifications, without chasing outright horsepower figures. Suspension is adjustable Nismo S Tune whilst the stock Brembo brakes have been treated to Endless CCX pads at the front and Ferodo DS2500s at the rear.

2015 Nissan R34 GT-R Domnic Kelly by Paddy McGrath-11

The interior has been kept relatively untouched, asides from the matching pair of Bride seats, some Nismo details and an FC Commander for the A’PEXi Power FC engine management system.

2015 Nissan R34 GT-R Domnic Kelly by Paddy McGrath-12

It’s a tastefully modified GT-R and one that rewards a closer look.

2015 Nissan R34 GT-R Domnic Kelly by Paddy McGrath-2

When you consider that this car accounts for approximately 10 to 15 per cent of the entire R34 GT-R population in Ireland, I think it’s awesome that its being used and modified in a proper manner. Now, I think I’ll have to go find the others…

Paddy McGrath
Instagram: pmcgphotos
Twitter: pmcgphotos
paddy@speedhunters.com

Cutting Room Floor
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1

The Bayside Blue with frost white rims is such a great combination. It took me a while to realize what was going on with the picture with the mirrored underside of the hood. That is a really cool touch! Not sure how well it'd stay clean, but that's nothing an emergency bottle of Windex wouldn't fix. I feel like that Godzilla tirecap should be a prerequisite for Skyline owners, haha.

2

IRONWOLF RD +1 for the Bayside Blue and white wheels - such a classic combo.

3

In the third bonus image, it took me a minute to realize I was looking at the underside of a hood with mirrors on it! My initial thoughts before that was "Wow, those are some really crazy strut tower braces. Wait a sec..."

4

364 lb-ft or torque is appalling when you consider stock AMG A45 with 29% less capacity (1991 cc AMG vs 2568 cc R-34) puts out 480 NM (353 lb-ft). It goes to show that modern technology beats superseeded, 1990's technology.

5

CharlieJoiner Top tip: never judge a car wholely by its numbers.

6

Speedhunters whereas the feature on the MidNignt special?

7

Awesome build gorgeous car! XD

8

Oh hey - if you want to get rid of the GPS, you can use the Air Con panel from a GT-t (series 2 look best, green panel, not white). That'll leave you with a double din slot, hande for digital displays, switches, etc :)

9

AMG needs it! At 400kg heavier.. the slovenly beast masquerading as a hatch needs the extra Nm and a 7 speed auto for it's ham-fisted driver.. and it would still be slower to 100 than this particular example (4.6 sec vs GTRs 4.9 sec stock)
If anything tech has gone backwards it seems,

10
turbo BEAMS ae86

CharlieJoiner AMG A45  will be rubbish in 3 years..none  working left

11
turbo BEAMS ae86

Peter_Kelly IRONWOLF RD i like on gloss black too

12

CianHa Thanks, Cian!

13

Michael Atwell hahahaha that crazy hood underside got me too!

in an understated build, that's the one thing for me that seemed out of place.  but hey, this is still a beautiful car!

14

TWash_KillinIt It's coming soon... stay tuned!

15

It's amazing how much the US love the R34 GT-R, whereas us here in the UK have them and even though we don't see them as much, they're still not considered as 'unobtanium'. I just want to see when the R34 GT-R becomes 25 years old and then they'll all be shipped to the US lol

16

Ezra painted on the engine cover :D

17

I saw this car at the event and it has huge presence. Love the rocker cover..

18

The car in the picture may not be as fast as a45 amg, but I bet this would be more memorable drive. This car had purpose, it was Mercs answer to BMW M3, it was about rivalry, driver enjoyment. Your a45 is just another fast hatchback in a sea of hatchbacks.

19

I like this clean and simple not over the top

20
AndrettiTerretti

pugmonster If you can even find one of those Merc EVOs you will pay well over $150K for it. With low production numbers they are collector cars now. The R34 is a more "achievable" car for the average Speedhunters reader. The Merc with the Cosworth engine is a real gem its not fast, as stated above, but man it revs, sounds great, and handles fantastic!

21

alisterp it aint 400 kg heavier. A45 is 1.52 tons and lighter than this R-34 by ~ 120 kg. Read my post AMG A45 2 litre not c63AMG!!

22

@turbo BEAMS ae86 CharlieJoiner Mercedes quality as many people know it is higher than your NISSAN.

23

Very nice, but those mirrors under the hood? Would hate to think how much more weight it adds to an already front heavy car >.<

24
turbo BEAMS ae86

CharlieJoiner xaxaxa, quality?  M156? airmatic??

25

Dream ride

26

Nice car, horrible mirrors.

27

CharlieJoiner Hmmm i dunno bout Merc quality...bit hit and miss sometimes; my mums '11 ML350's door handles are more faded than my 25yr old Nissan's and she's had bunch of silly things go wrong over the years...key mechanism, rear hatch sensor faults, transmission issues and few other electronic gremlins.
I get where you are coming from but as someone said spec sheet numbers don't tell the whole story and there is good decade and a half worth of advancement between them. That said i'd still rather the R34...

28

i23sonny They're only held in place with velcro, can be removed at the end of the show :)

29

That's... That's genius!! Haha :)

30

ethosVeritas_Z32 CharlieJoiner My point is advancement in technology enables car manufacturer like Mercedes to produce a vehicle like AMG A45 which can seat 4 comfortably, loaded with safety features (active and passive), tremendous performance (not just straight line), good fuel economy,all of which missing in the R34 GTR. For the same price I will buy the AMG. Oher peole may prefer the GTR.

31

abezzegh87 I'm sure the owner likes them.

32

CharlieJoiner ethosVeritas_Z32 But is this post about getting the most powerful car in Ireland, or getting a rolling classic and tastfully making it your own? 

My Evo X is not the fastest, or most technical car around the track (and has an awful factory interior), but is a car I felt attracted to since NFS Underground, and that feeling never left!

I don't have this nostalgia about any Merc that I could have afforded. Sometimes the stats don't matter, but the feeling you get from driving.

33

Thommo They're removable :)

34

Like paddy said, all the mirrors are removable as I wouldn't like them on it full time. Only put on for show use

35

Cheers mate

36

Thanks for the advice mate, it's something I'm looking into doing in the future :)

37

That's exactly it, I'm not into building the most powerful car in Ireland, I want something that can be drove with a bit of ease.
Figures any bigger than that are unless in Ireland, even lower figures are too much

38

Ya it was one thing that took a while too decide on, white is a nightmare to keep but when there clean I think they personally finish the car off :)

39

Cheers mate, the rocker cover took a fair bit of time to perfect but my paint man got there in the end

40
jbfromsiliconvalley

Not fair,

Sincerely,
Americans

41

We have been importing all types of GTR and other JDM into the USA since 2002.
The problem with the US, people think they know everything, and a lot of haters.

When we started bringing cars in, no one believed us, etc, etc
We started with a small CRX, and it snowballed from them.

Now suddenly people are buying GTR's, and not your run in the GTR's, I'm talking about Vspec2 NURS type of GTR's
But then again, to bring these cars into the US, you have to have deep pockets.

Here is one of our customer who bought an R34 GTR Vspec from us, he is actually a race car driver for the American Le Mans Series.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbwPnapy7uo

42

ok "UNREALIMPORTS1"

AS IT IS REALLY SIMPLE TO HAVE A jdm CAR IN THE STATES. I REALLY NEED YOUR HELP. I HAVE MINE IN CENTRAL AMERICA AND I WANT TO TAKE IT TO THE STATES AND MAKE IT LEGAL  HELP ME. IM TALKING ABOUT AN IMPREZA GC8 STI 2000

43

DiegoSantos9 email me mate...sales@unreal-imports.com

44

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