The Legend Will Rise Again

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Greycap

Greycap

The Flying Finn
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Finland
The Legend Will Rise Again​

It was a dark and stormy night. Pitch black everywhere, no signs of the moon through the heavy clouds pouring rain all over the land as far as eye could see. Still there was something fascinating in the weather... and I decided to go for a walk, grabbed a Mag-Lite from the table and stepped out of the door, heading for the narrow streets and the sidewalks far from the lights of the downtown. After a while the storm lost its rage and only the rain stayed, continuing its vital job of revitalizing the earth after a long dry period of time. All I could hear was the sound of silence while I kept walking, with some subconscious force keeping me going on. I was like I was born to move, no specific destination but just making my way through the rain, singing to myself "and I wonder, still I wonder, who'll stop the rain?".

Slowly the first rays of the sun crept over the horizon and everything was gaining colour in the dim light. It was still raining but not as heavily as during the past few hours. I knew I should be going home soon to get ready for a new day, whatever it would bring with it. Getting closer to my house I decided to shortcut through one small patch of forest just for fun, life gets boring if one always walks the same streets day after day. I thought I saw something dark and shiny glimmering between the trees but shook the thought out of my head as I walked around a corner on the road, thinking it was just a product of my tired imagination. Or then not.

I could hardly believe my eyes as I saw that someone had abandoned a car in there. The real "whatthehell" thought hit my brain as I got a bit closer and saw the silhouette of the car... no, it just CAN NOT be... yes, apparently it can.

foundintherainjm2.jpg

I quickly dug my phone from the bottom of my pocket and called the local police office to ask if someone was missing a black R32 Skyline GT-R. The officer sounded so bored that he probably believed me to be another drunk looking for his pink pet elephant or something, but the result was clear: no cars like this had been stolen in the near past. Either someone had gone nuts and dumped his valuable car in the woods or then there was something even more unexplainable going on but anyway, the car was there just waiting for someone to kick the doors in and break the windows... or someone to drive it out of there.

I chose the latter option as the car even had the keys on the front seat, almost as if it was waiting for a new owner. I noticed that it didn't have licence plates on it and drew a conclusion that it might have been someone's track day car and the latest race meeting might not have been a success, which had led to the car getting quite a crude faith being driven there in the middle of the night.

Turning the ignition key strengthened my thoughts as the rough idle clearly revealed some modifications to the engine, the menacing growl from the exhaust reverberating in the forest and causing panic among little birds. Nevertheless it ran well and after a lot of three point turns I managed to get the GT-R pointing in the right direction on the narrow road. Luckily I was only a block away from home and managed to drive the Skyline there without encountering a single police car on the way, a car without licence plates - and one which had just been asked to be possibly stolen - might have had caught their attention.

After getting the car in my garage I performed a very thorough inspection of it, the result being that I had got my hands on a well kept, slightly modified and unbelievably rare GT-R V-SpecII. Even the rear wing and the wheels were still stock, the previous owner clearly had had a good taste as he hadn't put on some cheap-looking chrome wheels and a cosmetic wing. The things would change now though, as much as I liked the stock look of the car I wanted it to reflect the racing heritage the R32 had built on the race tracks of Japan. I took the phone and called a friend of mine, a car mechanic by profession with some contacts in Japan...

*to be continued*

- R -
 
Your second one if I'm not mistaken .......and it's good really good.
Can't wait for the rest........

AMG.
 
I can't believe I've only just found this! Your talent certainly shows through again with this one, Greycap, seems we're to find out that your artistic flair isn't only limited to photos! The attention to detail is fantastic, I can't wait for the next chapter to arrive! :)

DE
 
Thank you! And the answer to when the next chapter will be out... right now.

A New Plan​

The next week I drove the car to his garage, having acquired temporary licence plates to it to make it street legal. The car was a dream to drive on the motorway, running steadily like a freight train with no signs of uncomfortability often found in fast road cars. Just for fun I overtook a few 5-series BMW's and other cars in that class and the drivers' reaction was just the one I had wanted - staring at me in an unfriendly way, they thought that they had been passed by some mildly riced Sunny from the early nineties. The sleeper struck again!

I turned the car to the driveway of my friend's garage and wanted to inform him about my arrival. No horn blowing, that's just too usual... instead I gave the Skyline a healthy amount of right foot and the whistle of the twin turbochargers along with the exhaust roar filled the alley. It was just too much fun not to do it. He stepped outside and greeted me with a wide smile on his face, looking at the car in awe.

stilltobetunedym1.jpg

"Where did you get this beauty from?"
- In the woods near my home...
"WHAT? In the woods?"
- Yep, I found it abandoned there!
"Why on earth would anybody leave a vehicle like this in a place like that?"
- Absolutely no idea, it was in this condition as I found it, even the keys were there.
"This is a crazy world... but anyway, now it's yours, what are you going to do with it?"
- If possible, I'd like it to be turned into a track rocket that would still be street legal.
"Sounds perfectly possible, let's see what we can do about it."

He walked to the backroom and soon I heard him talking on the phone. The language was unknown to me, probably Japanese considering the circles he worked in, but I recognized one word from his speech... "Nismo". I think the grin on my face was around six inches wide by that point, this guy really knew the right people! Having ended the call I heard him mumbling something to himself and then he came back to me.

"Rrright... it seems that we only have one really good option for this model."
- OK, what is that?
"The only Nismo-made performance kit I can get is the S-Tune, more of a sports set but we can always throw in some race spec parts too."
- Sounds pretty good, any idea about the final power output?
"That's what I was going to ask you."
- Something around 500 bhp would be just great, enough to humble most supercar owners but not too much to be undrivable in low grip conditions.
"That's a deal!"
- Can you get a racing suspension and drivetrain for it?
"Naturally, there are still parts from the old racing R32's lying in the corners of garages all over Japan."
- That sounds almost too good, anything else you can do?
"You'll see when I get the first step done, I promise that there will be a few surprises."

We planned a new meeting a month away as we both had some other things to do, this car was more of a project than a first priority thing. The car was left shining on the driveway, looking as innocent as only an R32 Skyline can. I greeted him for goodbye and began walking towards the railway station to board a train back home. I was wondering what were the "few surprises" he had promised...

*to be continued again*
 
The Godzilla is born...​

Having been away for that said month I was riding a train again to see what my friend had managed to do to the car. I wasn't expecting anything too miraculous as I knew that he had had many other more urgent projects underway.

- Hello, good to see you after a while! How's my Skyline doing?
"Cheers, it's got new clothes now. Want to see it?"
- I guess you don't need an answer for that... let's go and take a look!

The overall look of the car hadn't changed too dramatically, the body shape and the wheels were still original but I immediately noticed some subtle Nismo stickers here and there on the nose of the car. The licence plate holders had also been swapped for Nismo parts, but the thing that interested me the most was the new exhaust that was in the size class of drain pipes.

​

- What on earth have you done to the exhaust system, that looks like a beer can!
"We did some modifications to the engine, they necessitated changing the exhaust too..."
- What does that "some modifications" actually include?
"We changed the cams, enlarged the valves and other small internal modifications like that."
- Sounds good, how much extra power did you get out of it?
"The power output shot from the stock 309 bhp to around 400 bhp and the torque rose from 352 Nm to around 430 Nm... but there is a downside too."
- Aww, what's that?
"The low-range power is pretty much gone, it's a high revving engine now."
- Oh well, what the hell, I think I'll be able to live with that. No problem!

I took the car for a short run around the block, made a few ricers look silly at the traffic lights and then returned it to the garage. The low-end power wasn't as bad as I had feared, not as much grunt as in the original but as soon as the turbos kicked in the car rocketed forward like a bat out of hell. It was quite evident now that it needed new tyres, the originals were struggling for grip in the full throttle acceleration - chirping even in third gear!

"How did it feel?"
- Goes like greased lightning, very good!
"In the next step we'll throw most of the unnecessary equipment out of the car..."
- You don't need to tell me what that means to the performance. I'll have to dig myself out of the seat after a standing start!
"The engine isn't even close to be finished yet, and the race suspension is on the way. The Godzilla has barely been born by now!"
- Oh my... you'll really make this a supercar killer!
"Naturally, let's show the European car makers that an old dog can learn a good deal of new tricks..."

The car was taking shape steadily in very good hands so I decided to call it a day and head home again. In the corner of the garage the monster had fallen asleep, only to rise again and rule the world...

*to be continued*

-----------
For those wondering why these chapters are so short... these are only the story behind the car, the real action lies in the last part. ;)

- R -
 
I really love your writings, but you need more metaphors, similies and figures of speech in general. your tone is very nice, and the story is absolutely spectacular, but the repetetiveness and similarity (not the beginning, i like that part) of the sayings and like a freight train, ol dog new tricks etc. make it less enjoyable.

Good luck and great story
 
Thanks for all who have replied this far! :)

Tulok, take into account that I'm not a native English speaker so I naturally have less vocabulary than those who speak it as their first language. Anyway, thanks for the comment!

- R -
 
Oh, i thought you were full blown english with how well you wrote, i really like your story. Congratulation for becoming a great writer
 
...and raised​

He called me one crisp winter morning to tell that the reincarnation of the old road rocket was finally complete. Eager to see the car in its new shape I lightened my breakfast "slightly" :P and hit the road as soon as possible. I knew that I had just a few minutes to catch the bus to the railway station... and naturally missed it by ten seconds or so. Knowing that the next one was half an hour away I decided to get undependant of fossile fuels and use my pair of Merrells instead. The weather wasn't as cold as it had looked from inside with the rays of the rising sun nicely warming up my face. After a twenty minute walk I was looking at the timetable at the railway station - just to see that I had to wait for the next train almost for an hour... so much advantage gained by skipping that breakfast. Oh well, the situation was quickly corrected in the nearby café.

The train journey was as boring as always but I managed to stay awake by the thought that the Skyline was finally completed. Some voice inside me told me to call my friend for confirmation and that surely was a good move, he had forgotten to tell me that the car wasn't at his garage anymore.

"There will be a track day car show here tomorrow, I thought that it might be a good idea to show the car to the public."
- No problem, people deserve to see that older cars make good starting points too!
"It's placed on the second floor of the expo hall, the usual Civics and others will fill the first floor while the second one is for the more exotic ones."
- Good to know, at least I won't panic when I can't see it there!
"See you at the main doors at 1200, OK?"
- That's a deal!

I saw him from a long distance standing near the door, there aren't too many guys around that wear bright red Nismo jackets here... seemingly he had dressed up for the party in his own unique way. We went in and made our way to the second floor through the surprisingly empty hall - most of the other cars hadn't arrived yet.

finalproductuo8.jpg

- Damn, that truly looks like a menacing machine!
"And doesn't only look..."
- OK, now give me a comprehensive introduction to what has been done to it...

The things he told me were located somewhere between awe-inspiring and unbelievable. The seemingly peaceful body of the old R32 now hid a full racing rollcage in the place of pretty much all the interior equipment fitted as stock. As a result the weight of the vehicle had dived to a WRC-like 1245 kilograms, surprisingly light for a car this big. But that was just the beginning. The entire drivetrain had been swapped for a race spec system salvaged from an old Group A racing Skyline - no idea where he had found that one. Now the monster had the ability to transfer all its power to the road with considerably less trouble than before.

The suspension was fully adjustable now, probably from the same car that had donated the drivetrain for this example. The car was now sitting much lower than the original, but still with some room to spare so that the front bumper wouldn't get shattered in every bump. The most noticable changes, however, lurked in the engine bay. The good old RB26DETT had been completely rebuilt and fitted with a new crankshaft, new cams, new valves and what not... practically everything had been changed. The turbos were special small-diameter units straight from the Nismo workshop and mainly by their help the power output was now a whopping 510 brake horsepower.The only external changes were a tall rear wing to improve the downforce of the car and shiny black five-spoked Nismo rims to complete the sinister look of the car.

"How does this sound?"
- The Godzilla really has returned... it seems that I have the last Nismo-backed R32 race car of the world in my hands now.
"How about seeing if it's in its old shape, I can get you a meeting with certain people?"
- Depends on what you mean by this meeting!
"Taking the car to its natural element, of course!"
- This car was built for Group A racing and then transferred for the streets... sounds like a track day, and a hard one.
"Indeed, but naturally in a friendly way as the guys there hold this car in high esteem, it's a legend for them, and don't want to wreck it."
- What will they be driving?
"All I say for now is that it all began from this very model... they have the modern editions. ;)"

I didn't get the chance to try the car out this time but I firmly believed that it was in perfect condition to meet whatever odds were thrown at me. The meeting was to be held in Japan the following spring so I would have more than enough time to get used to it. This time I didn't get home immediately but booked a room from the local hotel and spent the following day sightseeing the city. But that doesn't belong in this story so I'll call this a chapter and end now.

*to be continued, one more time*

- R -
 
The moment of truth
Two big pictures, five thumbnails​

The sun was shining and the birds were singing out their telegraph code on the wires crossing the coutryside as we were zooming past in the Skyline, on our way to the airport on a sunny spring day. The flight to Japan had been booked a week earlier and now it was time to make the big move, to see how the old legend would do against modern hardware. The car was working like a clock, in full race trim excluding the tyres that had been changed to road legal rubber - the slicks were in the trunk waiting to see action.

The flight was spent by sleeping, it's pretty much the only sensible thing to do on an aircraft... lots of time without any space for moving around so Sandman paid me a visit and made the sitting marathon a lot easier. The car had been tightly strapped in the cargo bay so I didn't have to worry about it either.

The next morning we drove the car to the famous Suzuka racing course, the scene of the planned meeting. The weather forecast was promising for track racing, a sunny day with some occasional clouds here and there that would not stop the sun from warming up the tarmac. We quickly changed the road tyres to track spec ones and began preparing the car for the upcoming action. I drove a few warm-up laps to break the slippery surface of the brand new tyres and then pulled back into the pits to wait for the others to arrive.

And with style did they arrive, whereas we had driven the car to the track these guys had huge truck trailers. With JGTC liveries. Oh my, did I poke a beehive here...

After some organizing and chatting we managed to decide the rules of the race and placed the cars into the starting grid. There were two fellow Skylines, an NSX, a Supra and a very late model Z ahead of me... and I was to cut my way through the pack. The plan was to see if I could overtake them all, the race was to end as soon as I had taken the lead and held it for one lap. I wasn't too sure about this as my car seemed to be outpowered, outhandled, overweight... but crazy as I am, I naturally accepted the challenge, shook hands with my opponents and then closed the visor. ;)

​

The thunder of the engines got progressively stronger as the red lights were turned on one by one, reaching an unbelievable roar as they finally went out and the race was on. The less-than-spectacular low-end torque of my car immediately left me behind but as soon as the turbo reached the high boost area the Skyline was rocketing forwards like never seen before. There were no grip problems whatsoever, the four wheel drive transferring every horsepower directly to the road. By the first corner I was still behind them but a kamikaze-style late braking took me past two of the Nissans, leaving the door open as they probably were afraid of me ramming them. :D

​

Making my way towards the esses I saw the NSX right in front of me and the driver was continuously looking at the mirrors, trying to stop me from overtaking him. Unfortunately for him, he should have looked forward to stay on the best racing line and thus he fell victim to the Godzilla in the very first corner of the esses.

​

The next car in my aims was the Supra in its garish Castrol livery, the driver was a pretty skilled one judging from the way he took the corners by effectively closing the inside line time after time. Having lost some speed while dodging the NSX I thought it might be wise to let things cool down a bit and spectate his driving for a while. The car was clearly good, only showing some instability in fast changes of direction and I decided to use that to my advantage on the next lap. As we arrived in the esses for the second time I could see his car wandering slightly and I made the move after the last right hander, before the uphill left as he went a bit wide, just enough for me to stick my car alongside him and move ahead. By now I was already in position to begin planning the last pass: the one that would take me into the lead past the latest Skyline model, the grandson of my car.

​

He was really fast, utilizing the downforce advantage to full effect and managed to avoid me for the rest of the lap. On the following lap I noticed some hints of understeer in his car when braking from high speeds so that could be a chance for me to strike... in the entrance of the hairpin. I got a very good draft out of the previous corner and was right on his tail when he slammed on the brakes, drifted a bit wide... and I was past before he could even realize it.

​

Now I could fully unleash the power of the old monster, with clear air for the engine and brakes and surely enough, the car was still a thoroughbred race car. Accompanied by the whistle of the Garrett turbochargers I zoomed down the straight, with the menacing growl of the JGTC GT-R haunting me not so far behind. His car may have been faster but I was a lot crazier, driving the Skyline right to its limits in the corners and enjoying every moment. The parts salvaged from the old racing R32 were once again building up the legend of the car that once dominated the tracks of Japan.

​

Arriving at the chicane I knew that if I could hold the lead for that one more lap I would be the winner, but the driver of the red GT-R wasn't going to give anything for free. He tried every imaginable move but somehow I was able to make short work of all his attempts. The situation looked pretty grave in the entrance of the Spoon corner but he managed to blow the exit and I floored the throttle once again, rapidly building up the gap between us. Throwing the Skyline through the final chicane I was pretty damn proud of myself and my car, together we had taken on the fastest GT cars in the world and won. The legend had truly risen again.

​

This is it, the end of the Skyline Story as it was called in the making stages. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it and playing the game to get the pictures needed. And for those who wonder, the car really was built only to the specs described in "...and raised" part - and it was fast enough to beat the JGTC500 class cars.

- R -
 
Spec-tac-u-lar!

Really brilliant work, wingman... You've managed to strike fear into my heart along the way, too, by the specifications of the car and the performance you got out of it... 👍

DE
 
Great report Greycap, been watching this for a while now. Well presented and written. + Rep (edit: as soon as I'm able to)
 
FLK
Great report Greycap, been watching this for a while now. Well presented and written. + Rep (edit: as soon as I'm able to)
Click to expand...


I fully agree, great reading 👍
Like the pictures too......!






just 1 tiny little niggle, i think there's a bit too much drop shadow in them.

Darn, "you must spread" etc etc :grumpy:
AMG.
 
All readers - First a big thank you for all, you are the ones that made this story a success! :bowdown:

Firedragon - Thank you, but beware of that car: it tends to choose its drivers. ;)

Dark Elite - Thank you! The performance doesn't necessarily lie in the car itself but more in the knowledge on it.

FLK and Moloch_horridus - Thank you!

AMG. - The drop shadows might well have been too much for these coloured borders but as I was too lazy to make entirely new ones I just repainted the usual white ones. :D Thank you!
 

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