If you are into Skylines then read on, as this is one post you are sure to enjoy. After the AE86 Matsuri came to an end a few Sunday's ago in Tsukuba Circuit the track began to slowly be taken over by equally vintage cars, but of a totally different appeal. I have been in Japan a very long time but I have never seen so much R30 goodness like that day and I just couldn't help but stay a few more hours to grab a ton more pictures!

The Skyline Owner Battle was organized yet again by the guys at Mercury Racing, who on top of the countless R30s invited owners of vintage machinery…

…not to mention some other more up to date ones! 

Much like the AE86 event, entrants were split up into different groups, one for the older Skylines and GT-Rs, a second for the R30s and the last for the R32s and R33s that had also showed up.

I actually began spotting random R30s parked up all around the Tsukuba Circuit premises from early on in the day…

…with cars arriving throughout the morning and making their way to other areas of the paddock, owners patiently waiting for their turn later in the day once the hachiroku guys had their fun.

Not a bad selection right? The cars in this group would be the ones heading out onto the track so were all modified in some way or another.

In the grassy area at the back of the paddock a second group of R30 owners had gathered, not there to abuse their cars on track but just to open their hoods and talk about the good old eighties with like minded people. 

All examples present were in beyond perfect condition, all running aftermarket wheels and lowered to achieve perfect stanceness (I know it's not a real word, but I like it, so there!)

With the R30 having been available with quite a large choice of different engine configurations it was interesting to take a look at what each car was running.

Wait a second…

…this didn't come as stock!  Not too shabby as a daily driver, although a 650 HP RB26 might turn out to be quite thirsty.

Volk CE28Ns really do look good on almost anything!

Most of these R30s were really fast out on track with a lot of them running quite a lot of power…

…RWD can be quite a handful at times!

One word. Perfection. This is no replica either, it's the real deal powered by an S20. These cars fetch quite a lot more money than new R35 GT-Rs in Japan.

Among all of the tekkamen or "iron mask" R30s…

…it was nice to spot the odd "Newman-face" version too, like this FJ-powered RS-turbo.

These engines developed around 190 HP in stock form but were easily tuned to over 400 HP.

And how about some NA power in this four door…

…with this beautifully built FJ20E running velocity stacks.

This RS was by far the wildest of the R30s present…

…not sure how much power this FJ developed but I would assume quite a lot judging by the size of that turbine. Gotta love the angular piping, kind of reflecting the 80's feel!

The Jenesis race-prepped Skyline was the fastest out on track but I didn't get a chance to look at the engine. 

This is where the C10 & C110 goodness started from. I have to admit, I did end up staying much longer here…

…than where the R30s were, as it's not every day you see authentic first gen GT-Rs like these. 

A lot were four doors.

This JUN tuned widebody R32 GT-R was quite the beast, but I only saw it head out on track once.

Like for the AE86 Matsuri Mercury had their own car for the Skyline gathering, this R33 wrapped in custom graphics. Check out that crazy carbon front lip spoiler and canards!

That's it for Part 1, more to follow in a second look at this very special event!

-Dino Dalle Carbonare