Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R (1969)
Publication: Car Graphic
Format: Road Test
Date: May 1969
Author: “C/G Test Group” (uncredited)
Summary: A hot six-cylinder, twin-cam, 24-valve 160ps sports sedan. The engine easily revs up to 8000rpm. Even at low revolutions, it is relatively smooth and stable. The 5-speed gearbox is excellent. The bucket seats provide good support. The suspension is stiff but comfortable. The handling is significantly improved from the 2000GT. The controls are a little heavy, making it difficult to drive around town.
Road testing the Skyline 2000GT-R
A Group 6 prototype DOHC 4-valve racing engine is slightly detuned and placed in a seemingly ordinary four-door sedan body, which you are driving nonchalantly around town. A two-seater GT that looks fast approaches from behind, pulling close enough to fill the rearview mirror. You press the throttle hard, and in that moment the sheep transforms into a wolf, quickly pulling away from the startled GT driver. I’m sure everyone has had this childish fantasy at least once. However, the recently released Skyline 2000GT-R makes this dream a reality–if you can invest 1.5 million yen.
The GT-R shares the same body with the conventional 2000GT, but is equipped with a DOHC 160ps/7000rpm engine and a 5-speed gearbox instead of the GT’s SOHC 105ps unit. This engine, called the S20 type, is based on the GR8 type engine of the Nissan R380, which won fame in the Japanese Grand Prix and E-class international records, but has been detuned to be practical for use in the city, and with some copromises to allow producivity of manufacturing. The compression ratio has been changed from 11.0 to 9.5, the camshaft has been changed to one with a more practical valve timing and profile (valve angle from 310° to 250°), and three double-choke Solex carburetors are used instead of the Lucas fuel injection, reducing the output from the GR8 type’s estimated 230ps/8500rpm to 160ps/7000rpm. Nevertheless, it is still a high-performance unit with 80.4ps/liter. To get an overview of the 2000GT-R, it is best to compare it to its sister car, the 2000GT, and the old 2000GT-B.
Where the 2000GT-B (S54B) had a SOHC six-cylinder with 125ps/7000rpm, 17.0kgm/4400rpm, and a vehicle weight of 1095kg, and the 2000GT (GC10) is also SOHC with 105ps/5200rpm, 16.0kgm/3600rpm, and a vehicle weight of 1090kg, the new 2000GT-R (PGC10)’s DOHC six-cylinder has an output of 160ps/7000, a maximum torque of 18.0kgm/5600rpm, and a vehicle weight of 1120kg. The resulting power-to-weight ratios for the S54B, GC10, and PGC10 are 8.8kg/ps, 10.4kg/ps, and 7.0kg/ps, respectively.
As you can see, the horsepower load is much lighter than the old GT-B, and even lighter than a pure GT car like the Toyota 2000GT (7.5kg/ps). The only Japanese car that is better than the GT-R in this respect is the Fairlady 2000 (6.4kg/ps).
At first glance, the interior is not much different from that of the 2000GT (GC10), which shows that the design also prioritizes practicality on the road. Almost the only major difference from the GC10 is the seat, which is a full-fledged bucket seat with a fixed backrest angle, and both the shape and angle are close to ideal. The driver’s side seat is equipped with a headrest and a three-point seat belt as standard, the steering wheel rim and the shift knob for the 5-speed gearbox have been changed to wood (real), and the rev counter scale has been expanded to 10,000rpm. Other than that, it is the same as the GC10.
However, from the moment the engine starts, you can feel with your whole body that this is no ordinary car. When you first turn on the ignition switch, the electromagnetic pump in the trunk makes a busy noise, sending high-octane fuel from the 100-liter tank to the three Mikuni Solex N40PHH carburetors. Like a semi-racing engine with a large valve timing overlap, it doesn’t start up instantly, but it’s by no means capricious. The moment it starts up is literally explosive. Many of you may have seen an F1 or prototype engine start up in the paddock at a race track, and it’s similar to that feeling, where the starter revs it for a long time with a “coo-coo-coo” sound, and just when you think it’s not going to turn over, it starts up with a thunderous roar.
There’s no need for a choke even on a cold, early morning. Just flicking the throttle a few times is enough. Surprisingly, even after a cold start, it idles stably at 800-900rpm, and once you start driving, it pulls immediately without hesitation. However, if you are the buyer of this GT-R, you will never want to drive off without warming it up for at least five minutes, and fully warming up the six liters of oil in the crankcase. Even when idling, there is a constant light hum that seems to be due to a timing change, but when you step on the gas, it revs up immediately. The wonderful mechanical noise and exhaust sound reverberate all around the car. In a quiet residential area on a quiet morning, you will probably get complaints if you don’t warm it up properly.
It would be a lie to say that the GT-R is easy to drive around town. First of all, all the pedals are heavy. The throttle pedal is working against three Solex return springs, so it feels much heavier than the clutch pedal in a Subaru 1000 (which is unusually light). However, the throttle response is so sensitive that this weight may actually be safer for the average driver to use around town. The clutch is also extremely heavy, making it a bit of a burden for frequent use around town.
The engine’s character is, to put it simply, a Jekyll-and-Hyde type. Up to about 4000rpm, it’s almost like a normal passenger car, but once it exceeds 5000rpm, it suddenly becomes ferocious, and even after passing the redline of 7000rpm, its momentum continues to rise, just like a racing engine. The torque characteristics are of course a completely high-speed type, and it doesn’t have any torque to speak of below 1500rpm, but the torque sensation comes on suddenly from around 3500rpm, and the most usable rotation range is around 3500 to 6500rpm. So, driving around town at a speed of 60km/h at most is not fun at all.
As mentioned above, the GT-R is equipped with a Porsche-type servo-synchronized 5-speed gearbox that is the same as the Fairlady (the gear case is different because the engine is different). The final drive ratio is 4.44, shorter than the 2000GT’s 3.90. The gear ratios are as follows: 2.957 for first gear, 1.858 for second gear, 1.311 for third gear, 1.000 for fourth gear, and 0.852 for overdrive fifth gear.
This gearbox was mentioned in the Fairlady test report last month. As we said then, it has very good points. The operation is smooth and light, the movements are moderately small, and the powerful synchros are unparalleled. However, the first gear ratio of 2.957 is a little too tall for this high-speed torque engine. Moreover, the grip of the Dunlop GS1 tires is good, and a limited-slip differential is standard equipment, so a quick start takes a little practice. If you do not raise the rotation to at least 4000rpm and engage the clutch just right, the moment you release your left foot, the rotation will drop to below 2000rpm and the start will be sluggish. It is impossible to launch with a fierce start leaving black tire marks, and even a light 1-liter class passenger car will take the lead for about 10 meters.
Even though the torque curve is peaky, the absolute value of the torque is high, so you can maintain 50km/h in fourth gear and 60km/h (about 2000rpm) in fifth gear and drive smoothly. However, it goes without saying that accelerating from these speeds is difficult, if not impossible. Therefore, in most urban areas, you can only use up to third gear.
When we got the test car, the odometer was showing barely 1,500km, so it was practically a new car. We were reluctant to conduct a high-speed test on a car that hadnt been fully run-in yet, but due to time constraints, we had no choice but to bring it to Yatabe in this condition.
The engine was still tight, and the top speed was significantly lower than the catalog value. The GT-R’s nominal top speed is 200km/h, but the test car could not reach more than 180km/h no matter how much we tried to coax it. The C/G test group’s test method is highly reliable, with a fifth-wheel electric speedometer and precisely measured passing times on a 1km straight section and a 5.5km circuit. Before the test, we check the accuracy of the fifth wheel. This is done on a 1km section at 60km/h and 120km/h, with an error of less than 1% in both cases. Our GT-R averaged 179.6km/h over the 1km straight section and 173.2km/h over the 5.5km lap. This was the same whether in fifth gear (5600rpm) or fourth gear (6500rpm). In our experience, engines begin to settle in after a mileage of around 5000km, making the cars they are installed in suddenly feel lighter. Therefore, we would like to make it clear that these figures do not represent the GT-R’s true performance. We would have liked to have tried to reach the top speed again with a GT-R in good condition, but due to time and space constraints (we couldn’t reserve Yatabe on short notice), we had to give up. Incidentally, the speedometer of the test car had an exceptionally large margin of error, indicating 195km/h when the actual speed was 180km/h.
The red zone of the rev counter is 7500rpm or more. The still-new test car started to struggle a little from around 7500rpm, and the torque dropped sharply once it reached 6500rpm, so there was virtually no use of the red zone. It seemed that the engine was running hot, and when I pressed the gas, blue smoke would rise up from the exhaust, especially after a cold start and before it was completely warmed up. We couldn’t measure the oil consumption exactly, but it seemed to be about 400-500km/liter. Either way, it wasn’t excessive. The spark plugs were B-7ES, which covered all the conditions we drove in, and they didn’t burn out. However, looking back, I think that if we had used a colder type plug for the top speed test, the engine may have run a little better, because there was a feeling of the spark cutting out when we pressed the engine over the recommended speed. The GT-R is the first domestic mass-produced car to use a non-contact full transistor ignition.
The brakes are the same as those on the 2000GT, with 10" Dunlop Sumitomo S16 opposed-piston discs in the front and 9" leading-trailing drums in the rear, but the difference is that the GT-R does not have a vacuum servo (a 4.5" master back, the same as on the 2000GT, is available as an option). This may seem odd at first, but it is because racing drivers dislike the momentary servo time lag. Therefore, the pedal force is generally greater than that of the 2000GT, and even bringing the car to a gentle stop (about 0.3g), such as at a traffic light, requires a heavy 20kg foot, nearly twice as heavy as that of the 2000GT. Effectiveness and response are good and gradual depending on the force applied. The braking effect is particularly stable at high speed, allowing you to drive at high speeds with confidence, but on the other hand, starting and stopping in the city can be a bit tiring if done repeatedly.
In order to test brake fade, the C/G test group “invented” a test method called 0-100-0. When the car reaches 100km/h after a standing start, 0.5g is applied, and once the car stops, it is immediately accelerated up to 100km/h and stopped again, and this is repeated ten times. In the case of the GT-R, the pedal pressure for the first stop was 32kg, and on the tenth stop, it was only 34kg, with almost no difference, so there is nothing to complain about in terms of fade resistance. The handbrake is located to the left of the gear lever, and in an emergency stop, this alone can provide a braking force of about 0.3g.
The only safe (and legal) way to test the handling of a car like this is to take it to a closed circuit. We had intended to go to Fuji Speedway, and even arranged for racing tires, but unfortunately, on the day of the test, there was 30cm of snow, the heaviest in March since the weather station began taking measurements, and testing had to be suspended for two days. As a result, we were not able to test the handling to our satisfaction.
I will not make any definitive statements, but even from my limited experience, I can say with certainty that the handling is much better than that of the 2000GT. The spring constants are 30% higher in the front and 10% higher in the rear than the GT, the front and rear tracks are 44mm wider, the steering ratio is faster, at 18.5:1 (3.3 turns lock to lock) compared to 19.8:1 (3.5 turns lock to lock), and the tires are H-spec (capable of a continuous 205km/h) 6.45H-14-4PR Dunlop GS1s, which we drove at the specified pressure of 2kg/cm² on public roads and 2.3kg/cm² at Yatabe.
The steering force is considerably heavier than the GT, and requires considerable strength, especially in parking. This is in start contrast to the GT, which is lighter regardless of speed. The straight-line stability on good roads is outstanding, and I could let go of the steering wheel without any worries even at 160km/h, but on the other hand, the steering response when going straight is unexpectedly sluggish, and steering effort is also heavy. Judging from this, it is natural to think that there will be severe understeer. It is true that the initial turn-in is sluggish and stiff, but once the steering starts to work, contrary to expectations, it turns smoothly. There is very little roll, and the geometry seems to be set to reduce understeer. Due to the limited-slip differential, it is difficult to corner in tight corners. Even when applying full power in second gear, there is almost no wheelspin. However, it was surprisingly ineffective in snow and the wheels spun easily, making it difficult to drive.
The ride feels much harder than the 2000GT. However, due to the long wheelbase, there is no pitching, and it is extremely smooth on good surfaces. It also has strong traction on rough roads, and the suspension never bottoms, but the car does shake up and down quite violently.The front half of the body also flexes a little under these conditions, and the vibration of the steering column in particular was not very pleasant. The Dunlop GS1 tires are bias-ply, but the tread is hard, and even at a pressure of 2kg/cm², considerable steering kickback is transmitted to the driver’s hands.
The interior is exactly the same as the 2000GT, except for the good bucket seats, so there is no need to repeat the details here (see C/G, Januaruy 1969 for the test of the 2000GT). One thing I noticed about the driving position this time was that the clutch and brake pedals both protrude up too high from the floor, so they get tiring when you use them frequently. It would be better if they had a shorter stroke. This was especially noticeable because the pedal pressure is heavy.
The light switch, which is used frequently, is located far away on the center console, and is difficult to reach from the straight-arm driving position that drivers of this type of car will naturally assume, unless you lean forward in the seat. As I have said many times before, I hope they will bring back the convenient light switch on the steering column, which was a traditional feature of the Skyline, soon. New additions for the GT-R include a four-way flashing warning light (switch under the dash), and a flashlight that can be used in both red and white (located next to the passenger seat), which will be mandatory for new cars from April 1st onwards.
In conclusion, contrary to expectations (or hopes?), the GT-R turned out to be a detuned high-performance sedan that is sufficiently durable for practical use around town. However, since it is based on the R380, it will be relatively easy to restore the engine to its full 220ps. Tuning parts for the engine and suspension are already listed in the catalog, and the conditions for each modification according to purpose such as rally and race are in place, which is very encouraging for drivers who are planning to enter a competition with the GT-R. As already mentioned, we were unable to fully test the GT-R’s incredible high-speed performance due to a malfunction of the test car, and we hope to have an opportunity to confirm this in the near future.