Maintained by the well-known Skyline specialist RB Motorsport of Ormskirk, the engine was sourced from an unmodified JDM R33 GTR with just 32,000 miles on the clock. Rod Bell, the grande fromage there, has said that if anyone wants to call him then he is happy to chat about the car.

The engineering is magnificent, comprising:

The engine is a Nissan Skyline GTR RB26DETT 2.6-litre twin-turbo fitted with:

Nissmo oil pump
Nissmo waterpump
Tomi fuel pressure valve
High-performance plug coils
Apexi FC power controller
Skyline GTR fuel system fitted inside the 240z fuel tank
Bespoke air recirculation system to keep original GTR recirc valves

We are told that: “the engine has been mapped to the amount of grip available at the wheels.” We are told the power is in the region of 350bhp and it has a theoretical top speed (tyres allowing) of 209mph, which is enough, surely?

More importantly, it is very tractable; the vendor has seen many triple-clutch monsters that might have massive performance but can’t be used as a daily driver. His car, on the other hand, has been designed and built to be as capable of ambling through traffic as it is streaking into three-figures with consummate ease.

It was set-up, mapped, and maintained by Rod Bell of RB Motorsport in Ormskirk. The owner resisted the temptation to modify the engine and it is still totally stock except for the items you see listed above.

Interestingly, the rev limiter is set to 8,000rpm rather than the factory 9,000rpm in order to protect it. This speaks volumes as to the owner’s mechanical sympathy.

The gearbox is a Nissan Skyline GTST RB25 five-speed gearbox with a:

Modified propshaft
Nissan R200 differential fitted with a limited-slip differential
Solid differential mount
Uprated rear halfshafts from a Nissan 300ZXT
Uprated Datsun 280Z rear hubs
Modified rear anti-roll bar

Configuring the drivetrain for all this power is no easy matter but this arrangement provides a perfect solution. Power is instantly delivered to the wheels with no lag whatsoever and more importantly absolutely no 'speedboat' style lurching of the front and rear.

The suspension comprises:

Polybush master kit
Uprated front and rear antiroll bars
Tecno Toys control arms
Tokico Illumina adjustable dual gas dampers on all four corners

In addition, full length rally-style frame rails were fitted together with front and rear strut braces to stiffen up the shell. The Tokico Illumina adjustable gas dampers are very effective and easy to adjust. Simply pop a strut tower cap off and turn the adjustment pointer to change the damping settings.

The braking system has been uprated. Obviously. The car is so light weight that a wide variety of options were available. The vendor went for the solid and trusted stopping power of huge 4 pot Toyota callipers mated with 300ZXT vented brake discs which are both cross drilled and slotted .As the owner has remarked “The car stops even better than it goes which is a real surprise to people”.

The car exhales through a stainless-steel exhaust complete with slash-cut twin tail pipes.

As you can see, this is a proper job and, as the owner himself puts it: “If the above all sounds a simple job then trust me, it really isn't.”

In terms of mileage since the conversions, the owner tells us that: “apart from a small number of longer trips the car has covered an average of less than 50 miles each year.” 

The engine bay is nothing short of magnificent and even includes a working period lamp.

1972 Datsun 240Z 'GTR’

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