my skyline story

Super Bleeder!! · 03-20-2009

This evening i went to an SAE dinner at the nissan proving grounds out here in AZ. I walked in, picked up my ID, and was told to go hop in one of the Armadas outside and the driver would take me to a section of the track.

After the brief truck ride in jump out and walk towards the other students/professionals standing in a sloppy line. I see some guys i know from my classes."Hey guys whats up with this line?" "DUDE, we get to drive skylines. Like, beat on them down this dragstrip both ways!!" me "WHAT?! Fuck you you're lying." him " Nope, check it out"

I look about 10 people ahead of me and see a dude who is obviously a student jump into the drivers seat. He familiarizes himself with the controls (there were test drivers riding shotgun with everyone to show them how to work the trans and whatnot), rolls out for a few feet and then just shitcans it down the track.

Fwooooooooooooooooooooosh!

Anyway, fast forward to me getting into the beautiful silver GTR. Wow the interiors are cool, gauges everywhere. Very tight intimate interior, very sports car. The test driver turns to me and explains that he'd suggest i only go 50-75% throttle down the track in one direction so as to familiarize myself with the speed. Then on the way back i can push the car as hard as i want for 1000ft run from a full dead start, and then do a full force brake test.

Did he really just say i could beat on this eighty-thousand dollar car? Yes he did, okay sounds good. So i pop the thing into drive and mash the pedal 100%, then i let off a bit to 75% at the top of 1st and ride it out till the end of the track. Scooted pretty good! No lag and megafast shifts. I go around the skidpad and line up to do my run in the other direction.

me "soo i can really just pin the throttle all the way up to those tall cones right?"

codriver "yep, then mash the brake full force"

me "haha this is great"

SLAM goes the gas, fwoosh goes the engine and the car just grips and dips. Zero drama and more fast shifts. I feel zero lag. Feels just like a much bigger engine in its power delivery, very smooth and flat torque curve. Deceptively fast as it got up to 115+ in a hurry.

STUFF BRAKES!1 hurrrrrrrrrrrrrr good thing im wearing my seatbelt.

I exited the car all smiles. Damn im glad i decided to come out to this meeting all the way out in BFE.

ALSO, nissan had a beautiful white 370z on hand. Gotta say, in real life that car looks 10x better than the 350. The interior is fantastic as well. I would definitely take a 370 over an evoX and a lot of other cars.

So anyway, thats my skyline story. SAE is pretty cool. Last year i got to see/touch/examine the ZR1 vette months before it was released. Then this year i get to drive a skyline!

Im still smiling about the whole ordeal, haha.