- Today we are out in Florida.
Which, by the background behind me,
you can pretty much tell I'm in Florida.
But I am here
to drive an 850 horsepower Nissan Skyline GT-R R32.
(engine roars)
It's a time attack car destined for Pikes Peak.
And it's built by a guy named Sean Bassett,
who knows a thing or two about time attack.
(distorted sounds)
So here's the thing, though.
The car has never even been raced or driven.
So we get to be part of its shakedown.
And if you know anything about cars from shops:
it's one thing to see the car in the shop.
It's a way better thing to see it out here at a racetrack.
(car revving)
I don't want to get in it. I'm gonna love it.
(engine roars)
I don't even wanna drive it because I'm gonna love it.
I'll just stay over here.
All right. So we're hearing the guys shaking down the car
and it is pure euphoria listening to that thing
off of the distance.
Oh, here it comes.
They're getting faster each round and it's just-
(car engine roars)
- Brakes are crazy.
Brakes are really good on this car.
- It sounded all right out here.
It didn't, you know, it wasn't amazing or anything.
- Yeah.
- Pretty mellow drive, but this thing's definitely..
She wants to be driven.
- Yeah. - That's cool.
See? Smile. (Rob laughs)
- This isn't Sean's first wild Nissan.
For the last few years,
he's raised an LS powered 240Z
in time attack competitions.
Those are timed lap battles as opposed
to head-to-head racing.
He's also run at the Pikes Peak hill climb to twice.
That 240 is one of the cleanest builds you'll ever see,
fabricated at his shop with the same care that SpaceX puts
into its rockets.
That was a pretty nice two bender right there.
Lot of fabrication equipment.
A 350Z.
Another Z, but this looks a little bit different
than that one.
Just judging by the carbon fiber in the back.
It is pretty obvious to me looking at all the details
in this car, including the mill spec wiring,
all the booting, that's a very expensive option to do.
You could just run a wire and, you know, use duct tape.
You can tell the person that runs this shop
is a very meticulous person.
And in fact, if you look at anybody's shop,
it will tell a lot about their personality.
Whether it's their own personal car
or maybe even their choice in customers and customer cars.
In this case, I can see a theme going on here.
You got the huge front splitters, a big wing
a big wing, a big wing, a big wing.
But those don't look like they're just for decoration.
This looks like, with the words up there, time attack,
it looks like these cars are built for a purpose.
But not just all of these cars.
I think it's the car right here that has me most interested.
Whether you're an absolute fanboy like me,
or very aware of the fanboy culture,
you can't deny the place that the R32 GTR has
in the automotive world, especially in the tuner world.
(fascinated tune plays)
First of all, I used to own a R32
and it didn't look anything like this.
So I want to ask you, what did you do to this car?
- Yeah. So this, this car is, is very special
because people don't want to..
People look at like how do you bring them back to stock
as opposed to go for a race car?
So the customer, Chris, who owns the car, when he was like,
'I wanna go full race car with this thing.'
I was like, 'You came the right place, homie.'
The car makes about 850 horsepower
OS Giken sequential transmission for now.
- The stock RB26.
- It's actually a Stroker.
So it's a 28.
- Okay. Yeah. - [Sean] 2.8 liter.
Right now we've got a twin set up on it.
We're actually gonna be going to a Garrett single
to simplify things.
You know? - [Rob] Yep. Yeah.
- So motor wise, she's good to go.
It's now just keeping her happy and maintained.
We're gonna dry sump the car.
But we did a lot of aero work on the car, obviously. Yeah.
- And this is, this is exciting to me
because I can ask you in person, this aero is effective.
I know the answer, but I want, I want you to say it.
Cause I know front splitters, rear wings
these aren't just for street looks.
These actually are functional.
- Yeah, they are.
So we took a factory shaped front fender.
We widened it just a hair.
I still wanted to keep it clean.
So you couldn't maybe really notice
but we wanted to be able to pull that air out of the fender,
all that turbulent air.
- [Rob] So wait, you're saying that you made this?
- [Sean] Yep. - [Rob] You made the carbon?
- [Sean] Yep. - [Rob] Oh, that's amazing.
- [Sean] Yeah.
Well, we can go on for a long time about that,
but yeah, we made the front fenders
and then a couple other little carbon parts here and there.
But, yeah, it's a full, flat bottom car.
- This is gonna pain me to ask this.
How long did it take to do this build?
- So we got a really nice example of a street car,
not running, like I mentioned, and we knocked this out
in about two to three months.
- I need to work on my own times.
- Yeah, Jamie keeps us in shape,
making sure that we stay on schedule.
- I am a huge fan of aero that is functional.
And so you've got the front splitter.
You know, now that we're out here, we can see all this
in such bigger detail.
Front splitter, flat bottom, and rear diffuser.
That's like free money.
That's like free horsepower.
And you're really putting more grip down,
or at least weighing more down on the tires.
That might not always be a good thing.
But I think in most cases, that it absolutely is.
(Rob laughs)
(exciting music intensifies)
(car engine roars)
Oh feel that. Oh, that is a string game set up right.
The brakes, the steering, everything about this car.
It's just like a dream for me.
It uses the same all wheel drive system as my car does.
And so it's way better than mine right now.
So I get to experience my dream of using this sort of setup.
And my dream is fulfilled right now.
(Angry Shapes by Peter Spacey plays)
- When I said I wanted to build a car, my wife was like,
'What's the one that got away from you?'
Like, oh, Skyline;
I'm a kid of the nineties, right.
So this was like that extreme version of Skyline.
You know, not the one that you see all the time.
(distortion sound)
- And I mean, you can't deny the sound of a straight 6.
Oh my God.
(engine purrs)
- I called him up and we started talking
about what's your goals.
I'm like, I wanted to be like next level.
He was like, you wanted to be that GTR.
- Yeah. - I'm like, yeah, that.
That's the one.
Not just, like, a GTR. That GTR.
So I think that's kind of in our mantra.
And looking at it, I'd say so.
I'm like, if it wasn't mine I'd be trying to buy it.
- This car is clearly an aerodynamic car
but it wasn't until recent,
really within the last 20 years,
while I was a kid.
You never saw this sort of stuff.
And even when I was a teenager, you saw a big wing
from, like, Fast and Furious, but it was just a wing.
In this case, there's balance, you know.
You've got all this rear down force, right.
Well then what's that gonna do?
It's gonna lift the front of the car.
So you have to balance it all out.
And it's so neat to see that, not just the professionals,
but even people..
And I'm not trying to point this car into amateur.
That's not the case here,
but the idea is that I could go and make a car,
you know, slap some aluminum at the bottom.
Like there, it's a thing that you can research and learn.
But something that says a lot
to me about this car is the brakes.
I cannot stand when you see a car,
like, I don't know, my own cars,
where the wheel is huge and the brakes are small.
It's just like such a nice proportion.
And of course, that also speaks to of how functional it is.
That certainly will be used today.
I'll tell you what, Sean, I am so impressed with your work.
I'm quitting my own car building,
and I'm just gonna have Sean build my cars.
(engine roars)
(distortion sounds)
I'm supposed to talk and tell you guys things
about this car.
But I can't explain how much I just wanna drive it.
(music intensifies)
- We're trying to live in this world
where it's a streetable race car.
And like, you know, our fit and finish level is very high.
His expectation of fit and finish is very high.
So doing our thing, but, like, living in the boundaries
of, like, how do we optimize this car
without just cutting it apart?
Not making it a GTR anymore.
That's I think intimidating.
That's a huge challenge to be able to do that.
- You wanna make a car yours but you want it
to do a lot of different things.
Well, this car checks off everything off of my list.
There's been no issue, not a single issue.
And this is the first time it's driving.
There's supposed to be issues.
These guys just roll it out.
No problem whatsoever.
And then hand it to a guy like me?
That's a testament to their work.
That is just impressive.
Oh my God.
I want one so bad. I want one so bad. This is ridiculous.
♪Bad, dumb habit♪
- We weren't even gonna bring tools.
- Did you bring tools?
- A little bit, but nothing..
- You notice the toolbox in the trailer's empty?
- Yeah, I did.
(group laughs)
- It's just there for looks. (distortion sounds)
- Okay, baby. I'm gonna miss you.
I'm in love with another man's girl.
I wanna cry. That's not fair.
Even though I've got all the safeties on, oil pressure,
oil temperature on a rotary, you just have to, like,
live by those.
This? I was looking down. It didn't matter.
I was running solid. I'm driving it.
What I thought was hard. Car didn't care.
And, my God, does it stick to the ground.
I felt like this car is just..
That circle of like ability and the car's way out here.
And I'm thoroughly impressed.
- Check the only sign. That's the only sign.
You got the sign?
- [Man] Yeah, I got the sign got sign.
I got the sign.