Group A Nissan Skyline DR30 and HR31

[Nivola]

Hi all I am trying to figure out how many Dr30 and Hr31 skylines where race in Group A around the world.

I know there was the Nissan Factory team in australia and also a few privater teams. But I am trying to figure out who else run cars.

Murry Cater had a dr30. There was the Grants car was a hr31 in 1990 and so was Lambden's.

Grice and Pearcy had a Hr31 in the Btcc.

Anyone know of others and have images?

[KA]

How about Kent Biagent's white Nissan NZ car, usually shared with Graeme Bowkett- didn't they have two cars? There was another DR30 from NZ, run by Kieran Wills in a blue & white 'Dalesman Shirts' livery- finished 7th in the 1987 Castrol 500 at Sandown, shared with Philip Henley. Was this an ex-Baigent car, and did it appear anywhere else in Australia- a couple of ATCC rounds somewhere?

You mentioned the Grice/Percy Nissan Motorpsort Europe car, which ran a few ETCC rounds (Donington, Spa 24 hours, Silverstone TT and a couple more, plus one BTCC race at Donington- the 1-hour/2-driver race)

What happened to that car- returned to Japan, to Australia, or is it still sitting in a workshop somewhere in the UK? It's certainly the only DR30 or HR31 that raced in Europe as far as I can remember.

The only other serious European Nissan effort I can think of before the R32 appeared was Graham Goode's privateer Bluebird Turbo in the BTCC in 84/5. There would have been a lot in Japan though....about half-a-dozen at the 87 Fuji WTCC race for example, including a pair of HR31s- was that the debut for the HR31?
http://homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jon...87%20Fuji.html

[chunterer]

Well KA has once again provided an excellent summary of a particular Touring Car model's participation, in this case the earlier Skyline's. Top man!!

I loved the NISMO Europe entered HR31/GTS-R, it sounded great (although it could've done with a louder exhaust note IMO!) and I believe that if the ETC carried on after 1988, Marsden would've entered 2 of the cars with Percy and Grice joined by... who knows.....?

[Nivola]

I knew there was some one I had forgotten on the british front.

Howard Marsden. Miss seeing him around the traps.

[racer69]

In terms of Australia;

1986:

- Works Peter Jackson Skylines for George Fury (#30, all 10 ATCC rounds), Glenn Seton (#15, ATCC rds 3-7) & Gary Scott (#15, ATCC rds 8-10). Terry Shiel also steered the #15 car at the Oran Park Pepsi 300.

- Murray Carter & Bill O'Brien drove an Everlast backed DR30 at Bathurst


1987:

- Works Peter Jackson Skylines for George Fury (#30) & Glenn Seton (#15) in all 10 ATCC rounds. John Bowe ran a third DR30 (#60) at the last round to aid Seton's title hopes

- Kent Baigent & Graeme Bowkett fronted with a pair of white DR30's from Surfers Paradise ATCC (#24 & #25) round onwards.

- Murray Carter ran his NetComm DR30

- Kieren Wills & Phil Henley drove a red & white Skyline DR30 in the Wellington 500 at the beginning of 1987


1988:

- One works Skyline HR31 from Adelaide ATCC rd 5 (#30 Fury), Lakeside ATCC rd 6 (#30 Seton) & Sandown ATCC rd 7 (#30 Fury). At round 8 at Amaroo Park a second car ran (#15 for Seton, #30 for Fury), whilst at the final ATCC round at Oran Park Seton ran #15, while Mark Skaife stepped in car #30.

- Murray Carter ran his NetComm DR30 in the ATCC with intentions of stepping up to an R31, but changed to a Sierra for the enduro's.


1989:

- Three works HR31 Skylines at most ATCC rounds for Jim Richards (#2), George Fury (#3) & Mark Skaife (#12). Fury took the cars first ATCC win, at Winton.

- Clive Smith ran a bright yellow DR30 (#43) in some ATCC rounds that year.


1990:

- Two works HR31 Skylines at the 4 of the first 5 ATCC rounds (only ran Richards at Symmons rd 2), Jim Richards (#2) & Mark Skaife (#3). Skaife debuted the GTR at Mallala rd 6 where Richards had his final run in the HR31, before the two swapped for the last two rounds, Skaife finishing the year in the HR31. Richards won two races this season in the HR31.

- Chris Lambdon ran a Beaurepaires-backed HR31 in the ATCC (#23)

- Alf & Tim Grant ran a Sizzler-backed HR31 at Bathurst (#2)


1991:

- Alf & Tim Grant carried on with the Sizzler-backed HR31 (now #6)

[PZR]

Originally Posted by racer69

Works Peter Jackson Skylines........

Hi racer69,
Can I ask - what's the local perception in Australia with regard to the differentiation between these Australian-built "Works" cars and the Japanese 'Works' cars built by NISMO at Omori in Japan?

I know we mainly apply these terms to differentiate one spec / situation from another and it is all quite subjective, but I think things can get a little confused. Certainly in Japan you would have a hard time convincing anyone that an essentially privately-built Gr.A DR30 or HR31 ( even if it was supplied as a 'kit' of parts from NISMO ) was the equivalent of a true Omori or Oppama-built 'Works' NISMO car. I guess the term 'Works' is quite a grey area...........

Not a criticism, but wouldn't the Peter Jackson ( & other ) Australian-built cars be better described as 'semi-Works' or 'Works supported' where that applies? These are Japanese cars after all.

[Graham Clayton]

Originally Posted by racer69

In terms of Australia;

1991:

- Alf & Tim Grant carried on with the Sizzler-backed HR31 (now #6)

Here is a photo of the #6 Grant Skyline:

[racer69]

The cars raced in Australia by Fred Gibson's team (DR30's, HR31's & GTRs) were built & developed in Australia, had backing from Nissan Australia, so were very much 'works' cars. Peter Jackson (cigarette brand) was just the team sponsor.

The only other term to describe them would be 'factory' entries, but since the team wasn't run from by Nissan themselves (The Bluebird's raced in Group C from 1981-1984 is a different story), then 'works' cars is the best description.

The Australian Skylines (particularly the GTR) were quicker than the Nismo cars anyway, Nismo blocked the Australian car from coming to to the Fuji 500 in the early 90s because to quote Fred his cars were "too quick" and would make Nismo look bad......

[PZR]

Originally Posted by racer69

The cars raced in Australia by Fred Gibson's team (DR30's, HR31's & GTRs) were built & developed in Australia, had backing from Nissan Australia, so were very much 'works' cars. Peter Jackson (cigarette brand) was just the team sponsor.

The only other term to describe them would be 'factory' entries, but since the team wasn't run from by Nissan themselves (The Bluebird's raced in Group C from 1981-1984 is a different story), then 'works' cars is the best description.

I can understand your viewpoint, but still find it hard to describe the Gibson cars as 'Works' cars in the same way that the NISMO cars were 'Works' cars. They are clearly two quite different situations. No disrespect to Gibsons ( quite the opposite ) but I think it is far more accurate to describe their cars as 'Works-supported' or the 'Factory designated' Australian team when the NISMO operation in Japan was working so closely with Nissan to develop and homologate the cars.

Originally Posted by racer69

The Australian Skylines (particularly the GTR) were quicker than the Nismo cars anyway, Nismo blocked the Australian car from coming to to the Fuji 500 in the early 90s because to quote Fred his cars were "too quick" and would make Nismo look bad......

You're bringing the R32 into it here - which is something I have a lot more personal experience of in period. It's interesting to read the "...we were faster" type comments ( on this forum even ) whilst wondering how such comments can be chucked around so freely without ever being questioned. It strikes me that many of the people who repeat such comments actually seem to have very little true understanding of the situation - which was a lot more complicated than Gibson's "too quick" comment will get across. Still, it's nice and easy to do - and 'The Japanese' (TM) don't answer back, do they?

It would be nice to see more balanced versions of these stories, but it's probably hoping for too much.

[racer69]

Originally Posted by PZR

but I think it is far more accurate to describe their cars as 'Works-supported' or the 'Factory designated' Australian team when the NISMO operation in Japan was working so closely with Nissan to develop and homologate the cars.

"Factory Designated" is probably the best way to describe it, as the bulk of the Nissan money did come from Nissan Australia to run the cars. What became Gibson Motorsport was originally the Nissan Australia race team, run by Howard Marsden who was working for Nissan at the time (he was the Nissan product planning manager), which ran Datsun Stanza's (160J's in Europe) in the late 70s in Australian rallying, and from 1981-1984 ran the Nissan Bluebird turbo's in Australian Touring Car racing which ran to Group C rules at the time (Fred Gibson was one of the drivers at the time for the team)

During 1985, Nissan wanted to outsource the team so they offered it to Gibson who bought it. The first task was to get the DR30 developed for it's 1986 ATCC campaign.

The team was funded by Nissan Australia & had direct links and interests from Nissan Japan, so i think the term 'works' team fits..... a comparison would be the RML Nissan Primera's in the BTCC in the late-90s, they were considered a works team, despite all the work being done by RML, and the funding coming from Nissan GB & NME (Nissan Motorsport Europe).

I'd be more inclined to call the Nismo cars "factory" cars.

The Australian cars were at the time very much considered a Nissan effort.....even when local rules forced a switch to Holden Commodore in the ATCC in 1993, GMS still pushed forward with Nissan Australia looking at the Primera for local 2 litre racing.

Originally Posted by PZR

You're bringing the R32 into it here - which is something I have a lot more personal experience of in period. It's interesting to read the "...we were faster" type comments ( on this forum even ) whilst wondering how such comments can be chucked around so freely without ever being questioned. It strikes me that many of the people who repeat such comments actually seem to have very little true understanding of the situation - which was a lot more complicated than Gibson's "too quick" comment will get across. Still, it's nice and easy to do - and 'The Japanese' (TM) don't answer back, do they?

It would be nice to see more balanced versions of these stories, but it's probably hoping for too much.

This is from the Australian magazine "Australian Muscle Car", Issue 32 Spet/Oct 07, a Q&A part of an article about Fred Gibson's driving and team owning career;

Q: Your GT-R's gained the reputation as the worlds best, including with Nismo. That must have given you satisfaction?

A: It did. We went to take our car to Mt Fuji one year to race in the Fuji enduro. The promoters invited us over, all expenses paid. I thought that sounded pretty trick, but i got a phone call from the boss of Nismo, Mr Kakimoto.

"Ah, Gibson-san, I believe you are coming to Fuji, but this is not good idea. You do Australia & New Zealand - we do Japan & Asian races.

"Why that so, Kakimoto-san"

"Ah, Gibson-san, your cars are too quick. We don't want to race our cars against yours"

The bottom line was Nismo made alot of money from GT-R privateers. They supplied race-ready engines to them with 500hp - ours had 625hp. We would have blown the socks off them. He was smart.

But i got on well with the Japanese. They were good people, but they charged like wounded bulls. A water pump for a GT-R was $A9000

Now it's probable of course that it wasn't as cut and dried as Gibson makes out, but the Nismo cars never set foot in Australia or New Zealand (not even to Wellington) which matched the 'agreement', plus it is worth remembering that the Australian Group A scene (putting patriotism aside) was probably bettered only by the DTM in terms of competitiveness.....


What is your view from the 'other side'

[PZR]

Originally Posted by racer69

"Factory Designated" is probably the best way to describe it, as the bulk of the Nissan money did come from Nissan Australia to run the cars.

Originally Posted by johnh875

Perhaps to avoid confusion they could be referred to as Nissan Australia works cars.

'Factory designated' and 'Nissan Australia works team' both seem more accurate than the bald "Works" term - given that a more closely-affiliated Works team existed in Japan. Splitting hairs I know, but I think it's worth making the distinction to avoid confusion ( see last quote below.......! ).

Originally Posted by racer69

I'd be more inclined to call the Nismo cars "factory" cars.

I guess that would also be true in a way, except that - during the time period we are discussing anyway - the NISMO operation at Omori was already one step away from Nissan Motor Co. Japan. I'm thinking back a little further into the sixties and seventies, pre-NISMO - when the Works race cars were actually built on 'Factory' premises at Oppama and Murayama for example. Once again this may seem like splitting hairs, but in my opinion the situations were completely different and it is useful to look at the big picture rather than just the view from a local perspective. But then with a local ( ie Australian ) Nissan plant(s) making Nissan products I guess there is a different viewpoint over there. I just want to make the distinction between the original Japanese domestic operations and any local non-domestic ones.

Originally Posted by racer69

Now it's probable of course that it wasn't as cut and dried as Gibson makes out, but the Nismo cars never set foot in Australia or New Zealand (not even to Wellington) which matched the 'agreement', plus it is worth remembering that the Australian Group A scene (putting patriotism aside) was probably bettered only by the DTM in terms of competitiveness.....

No disrespect to Fred Gibson, but his version quoted above sounds rather like the Hollywood version of the U571 story

I don't know of any documented instances where the two products were put head to head, and Fred Gibson might well have been comparing butter and margarine. But in all fairness, I don't have any struggle to understand why NISMO would not want to have the Australian cars coming over to Japan and treading on their toes. After all, even forgetting about tyre wars and local-content issues, the whole thing was about a lot more than simply who was 'faster'.....

The NISMO Gr.A R32s totally dominated their national series, and with a really good reliability record too. Maybe we could speculate that their local competition wasn't up to snuff - but that was not NISMO's fault. All this talk about 'faster' seems to ignore the fact that the NISMO cars certainly could have gone a lot faster than they did ( and simply by turning the wick up on some occasions ) but more often than not they simply didn't need to. They were even controlling supply of engines and other race parts to their non-Works GT-R competitors, and could frown threateningly at the likes of HKS should they have the temerity to go a little faster than they ought to - which was probably enough to slow them up a little!
It appears that the Australian series was a little more closely fought, and the Gibson team had to push their development and driving just that bit harder - with the result that they sometimes broke or crashed. I don't think the situations in Japan and Australia are directly comparable, and just as much as the Gibson effort deserves due recognition I believe the Japanese effort should not be dismissed with a pat one-liner. How about some two-way respect here?

In my experience, the discussions surrounding Japanese race cars sometimes reveal what amounts to thinly-veiled xenophobia, or at the very least a lack of understanding of the Japanese situation and viewpoint. Not only is this regrettable, it also masks the truth behind a lot of the stories - which doesn't help any historians or enthusiasts who want to try to get to the bottom of it all. Not only that, but non-Japanese speakers looking into the history surrounding the cars will often have an almost inexplicable blind spot about the Japanese side of the story. No offence intended to Nivola, but he seems - to my eyes at least - to be somewhat less curious about the Japanese Gr.A DR30 and HR31 cars ( of which there were more than any other territory! ) than he does of any non-Japanese. So is this just an example of the expected lack of information about the Japanese cars, and the perceived difficulty in revealing any hard data about them?

Originally Posted by Nivola

You also have to remember that the r32 was basically developed here with Gibsons crew and the Nismo boys from Japan.

Sorry, but that's just plain absurd. I won't belittle the Gibson team project, but you must surely understand that the Gr.A R32 GT-Rs ( and indeed the street version sold to the general public on which it was based ) was the child of Nissan and NISMO in Japan, who designed, engineered and homologated it. The Gibson team might well have gone down their own path after they got their first cars ( and - as said so many times - hats off to them for going their own way and doing so well ) but your statement seems to completely discount the origin of the cars and the fact that Japanese Gr.A cars even existed. Surely you must be aware of what was taking place in Japan before Gibson's got their cars?

Nivola, I posted an answer to your query on the Atlas F1 TNF board which I thought would be helpful, or at least put your DR30 / HR31 task into some perspective. I haven't seen a response from you over there yet - but your above statement surprises me somewhat and I'm now wondering if you might be ignoring the best fishing waters for the fish that you are trying to catch..... ?

Just trying to broaden our horizons here.

[racer69]

First of all PZR, i don't think anyone here is trying to belittle the Japanese involvement or the performance of the Nismo cars, and it is great that yourself can give us some perspective from the Japanese side.

The fact is the Japanese touring car scene was abit 'low profile' compared to the likes of the ETCC, WTCC, DTM, BTCC and ATCC when it came to Group A racing. There was just not alot heard or spoken about it in this part of the world at the time (or since really, i was amazed to find out last year that there hadn't been a JTCC since 1999!), hence why alot of our quotes and knowledge are from the Australian or European perspective. Our local motor racing magazines and TV telecasts would report on the Euro-goings on (and vice versa, thanks to the deal between Hay-Fisher Productions in Europe and Channel 7 in Australia when it came to swapping footage), but very rarely were there mentions of the Japanese series. There just wasn't enough information coming in about it for enthusiasts to know any different.

Not even when the likes of Allan Grice/Graeme Crosby & Peter Brock/Allan Moffat raced at Fuji in 1986 (after so much was made of their ETCC trips earlier in the year) was much noise made about it locally, let alone when Allan Moffat won the race with Klaus Neidzweidz in 1989.

Originally Posted by PZR

The NISMO Gr.A R32s totally dominated their national series, and with a really good reliability record too. Maybe we could speculate that their local competition wasn't up to snuff - but that was not NISMO's fault. All this talk about 'faster' seems to ignore the fact that the NISMO cars certainly could have gone a lot faster than they did ( and simply by turning the wick up on some occasions ) but more often than not they simply didn't need to. They were even controlling supply of engines and other race parts to their non-Works GT-R competitors, and could frown threateningly at the likes of HKS should they have the temerity to go a little faster than they ought to - which was probably enough to slow them up a little!
It appears that the Australian series was a little more closely fought, and the Gibson team had to push their development and driving just that bit harder - with the result that they sometimes broke or crashed. I don't think the situations in Japan and Australia are directly comparable, and just as much as the Gibson effort deserves due recognition I believe the Japanese effort should not be dismissed with a pat one-liner. How about some two-way respect here?

That probably was the case, after-all they were doing enough to win the races, and i'm quite sure they could have developed them alot more to go quicker if they had to, considering the budget they would have had at their disposal.

However just because they could have gone quicker, doesn't make Gibson's statement any less true that at the time his cars had more hp than the Nismo cars, afterall that was what they had to do to win in Australia, the same as Nismo was doing what they had to do in Japan

Originally Posted by PZR

Sorry, but that's just plain absurd. I won't belittle the Gibson team project, but you must surely understand that the Gr.A R32 GT-Rs ( and indeed the street version sold to the general public on which it was based ) was the child of Nissan and NISMO in Japan, who designed, engineered and homologated it. The Gibson team might well have gone down their own path after they got their first cars ( and - as said so many times - hats off to them for going their own way and doing so well ) but your statement seems to completely discount the origin of the cars and the fact that Japanese Gr.A cars even existed. Surely you must be aware of what was taking place in Japan before Gibson's got their cars?

I don't think anyone is trying to say that Gibson was #1 in the pecking order at Nissan HQ in Japan. Indeed in 1988 they were #3, behind the Nismo JTCC cars, the ETCC entry, then the Australian cars were next inline, meaning they couldn't debut their HR31's until halfway through the ATCC that year.

And ofcourse HR31's had run in the last round of the 1987 WTCC at Mt Fuji.

Indeed Allan Grice has mentioned in many interviews how he was involved in initial testing of the R32-GTR for Group A competition in late-1988, when he was still a Nissan contracted driver after partnering Win Percy in the ETCC that year in works European-based Skyline HR31.

[KA]

Originally Posted by PZR

In my experience, the discussions surrounding Japanese race cars sometimes reveal what amounts to thinly-veiled xenophobia, or at the very least a lack of understanding of the Japanese situation and viewpoint. Not only is this regrettable, it also masks the truth behind a lot of the stories - which doesn't help any historians or enthusiasts who want to try to get to the bottom of it all. Not only that, but non-Japanese speakers looking into the history surrounding the cars will often have an almost inexplicable blind spot about the Japanese side of the story. No offence intended to Nivola, but he seems - to my eyes at least - to be somewhat less curious about the Japanese Gr.A DR30 and HR31 cars ( of which there were more than any other territory! ) than he does of any non-Japanese. So is this just an example of the expected lack of information about the Japanese cars, and the perceived difficulty in revealing any hard data about them?

Personally, as someone with a great interest in the history of Group A touring cars, I think part of the problem is that it does seem frustratingly difficult to find much information on the web about the Japanese series and cars- right across the board.

OK, I've got access to some race reports and results from the stack of contemporary Autosports etc lurking in my parents' loft (one day I'm sure my mother is going to ask why they're still there, 20 years after I moved out! ), but at first sight there seems to be very little on the web- or at least very little English-language material.

Even finding decent pics of the cars often proves to be a frustrating task. I'd love to be able to find a good source of pics and history not just for the cars campaigned by the Japanese manufacturers, but the various European cars that also found their way to Japan- for example the ex-TWR/Bastos Rover that went to Japan at the end of the '86 season.

[chavez]

Originally Posted by PZR

I can understand your viewpoint, but still find it hard to describe the Gibson cars as 'Works' cars in the same way that the NISMO cars were 'Works' cars. They are clearly two quite different situations. No disrespect to Gibsons ( quite the opposite ) but I think it is far more accurate to describe their cars as 'Works-supported' or the 'Factory designated' Australian team when the NISMO operation in Japan was working so closely with Nissan to develop and homologate the cars.



You're bringing the R32 into it here - which is something I have a lot more personal experience of in period. It's interesting to read the "...we were faster" type comments ( on this forum even ) whilst wondering how such comments can be chucked around so freely without ever being questioned. It strikes me that many of the people who repeat such comments actually seem to have very little true understanding of the situation - which was a lot more complicated than Gibson's "too quick" comment will get across. Still, it's nice and easy to do - and 'The Japanese' (TM) don't answer back, do they?

It would be nice to see more balanced versions of these stories, but it's probably hoping for too much.

Quote from Australia Motor Racing Yearbook 1986/87 pg 16....

".......the unusual set-up where the Australian racing operation would design and manufacture its own components, then funnel them through Nissan's Japanese headquarters for homologation"

[PZR]

Originally Posted by chavez

Quote from Australia Motor Racing Yearbook 1986/87 pg 16....

".......the unusual set-up where the Australian racing operation would design and manufacture its own components, then funnel them through Nissan's Japanese headquarters for homologation"

And this quote from 1987-ish has direct relevance to the situation surrounding the Gr.A R32 GT-R, which debuted in 1989?

Please explain!

[Nivola]

pzr what we know is that DJR had the fastest seirras in the world (2min 12 around the mountain is something very very magical) and the mightly GTR of Gibson Motorsport kicked there backsides out of the playground.

I know that there was Nissan boys involved with Freds team at the start of the project. That it was a building base for Nissan as awhole.

Wasnt the first r32 GTR raced here in Australia??????? Thus the main part of race preparing and racing development was here. It took ages for the cars to get there you know what togeather. Let alone leting Skaifey roll the new baby at the AGP. That was funny! Exit stage left!

There would of been alot of parts being filtered back to Japan from here.

To "Maybe" put the JTCC into perspective Allan Moffat and the late Gregg Hansford won the Fuji 1000 (allans last win) and they where not the top guns here. Im not trying to dish anyone here just know that alot of teams from europe or asia seemed to get their rear ends handed back to them on a bit of armco.

I have tried here and atlas for infomation cause some people dont look at both.

[chavez]

Originally Posted by PZR

And this quote from 1987-ish has direct relevance to the situation surrounding the Gr.A R32 GT-R, which debuted in 1989?

Please explain!

This was referring to the DR30 as per the topic heading.

[johnh875]

I wonder whether the Gibson cars were entered by Nissan Australia or not - the results list I could find on the web didn't list the car's entrants, only the drivers. Perhaps to avoid confusion they could be referred to as Nissan Australia works cars.

[Nivola]

Guys The Gibson cars where factory. I have been told that there where a fair few NISMO Men working in the cars. You also have to remember that the r32 was basically developed here with Gibsons crew and the Nismo boys from Japan.

This thread was missing something. Here it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6qG1Yu6KYA

Dr30 driven the easy way lol

[Nivola]

Now we are getting some where!.

Jesper thank you for this list.

Now just got to find some images. But it is a basis to start from.

To all that have posted in this thread thank you. We are getting some good infomation out that we might never of seen normally.

[Jesper OH]

Before getting on with 1988, Aguri Suzuki became champion in 1986.

The races:
1988.01.17 – Suzuka
1988.03.20 – Mine
1988.06.05 – Sendai
1988.08.21 – Tsukuba
1988.09.18 – Sugo
1988.11.13 – Fuji

#12 (#32 at round 6) Kazuyoshi Hoshino?/Calsonic HR31
Takao Wada and Hajime Kitano driving.
R2 – DNF
R3 – 3rd o/a, 3rd in class
R4 – DNF
R5 – 4th o/a, 4th in class
R6 – DNF

#23 Nismo? HR31
Anders Olofsson driving the entire season, Aguri Suzuki doing the first two and final two races, with Kenji Tohira driving rounds three and four.
R1 – Victory
R2 – Victory
R3 – 4th o/a, 4th in class
R4 – 3rd o/a, 3rd in class
R5 – 7th o/a, 6th in class
R6 – DNF

#24 Diesel Kiki Co., Ltd. HR31
Motoji Sekine being the main driver. Tomokasu Sakata partnering Sekine for the first two races, with Takayuki Kino****a taking over from Sakata from round three and onwards. Kenji Tohira added for the final two races.
R2 – DNF
R3 – 9th o/a, 6th in class
R4 – 17th o/a, 6th in class
R5 – 12th o/a, 7th in class
R6 – DNF

#50 Masahiro Hasemi? DR30 for round 1, HR31 for the rest of the season
Masahiro Hasemi and Kenji Takahashi driving. Unknown codriver replacing Takahashi at round two.
R1 – 5th o/a, 4th in class
R2 – DNF
R3 – DNF
R4 – 22th o/a, 8th in class
R5 – 6th o/a, 5th in class
R6 – DNF

First two victories for the HR31. Masahiro Hasemi seems to have been involved in an unusual amount of retirements over the ’87 and ’88 season – 7 DNFs from 12 starts!

Jesper

[Jesper OH]

1989

The races:
1989.03.19 – Mine
1989.05.21 – Sendai
1989.08.20 – Tsukuba
1989.09.10 – Sugo
1989.09.23 – Suzuka
1989.11.12 – Fuji

#12 Kazuyoshi Hoshino/Calsonic HR31
Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Hajime Kitano driving
R1 – DNF
R2 – Victory
R3 – 4th o/a, 4th in class
R4 – DNF
R5 – 6th o/a, 6th in class
R6 – DNF

#24 Diesel Kiki Co., Ltd. HR31
Kenji Tohira driving all races, Takayuki Kino****a doing rounds 1-2, 4-6, with Takashi Kino****a driving round 3.
R1 – DNF
R2 – 4th o/a, 4th in class
R3 – 8th o/a, 7th in class
R4 – 5th o/a, 5th in class
R5 – 3rd o/a, 3rd in class
R6 – DNF

#50 Masahiro Hasemi/Reebok HR31
Masahiro Hasemi and Anders Olofsson driving and eventually winning the All-Japan title.
R1 – 10th o/a, 4th in class
R2 – 2nd o/a, 2nd in class
R3 – Victory
R4 – Victory
R5 – Victory
R6 – DNF

Only three Skyline teams left by ’89. Good enough though to win four from six races, but total meltdown at the Fuji Intertec 500 finale. This is also the last season of the HR31. Here's a link to a 10 min. race report: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1QHAoAMSAU

Sorry about Takayuki Kino****a's name comes out the way it does, but I cannot edit that part!

Jesper

[racer69]

Howard Marsden originally had big plans for 1989, even after the ETCC was so sadly scrapped, the plan being for a car or two in national championships (BTCC & DTM i presume). It obviously never happened.

Similiarly the 1988 ETCC campaign was more low-key than originally intended (though they had planned in the first place, like everyone else, on the WTCC continuing into 1988), the original plan calling for two cars by mid-season (Seton & Fury were meant to be part of a two-car Spa entry, which wound up being the one car for Grice/Percy/Oloffson)

Originally Posted by Nivola

Now just got to find some images. But it is a basis to start from.

Here is the Ricoh HR31 entry from the 1987 WTCC round at Mt Fuji

[KA]

Originally Posted by racer69

Howard Marsden originally had big plans for 1989, even after the ETCC was so sadly scrapped, the plan being for a car or two in national championships (BTCC & DTM i presume). It obviously never happened.

Similiarly the 1988 ETCC campaign was more low-key than originally intended (though they had planned in the first place, like everyone else, on the WTCC continuing into 1988), the original plan calling for two cars by mid-season (Seton & Fury were meant to be part of a two-car Spa entry, which wound up being the one car for Grice/Percy/Oloffson)

I've also read suggestions that the NME HR31 was at one point a possible Bathurst entry in 88, but the idea fell through- reasons quoted including clashing tyre supply contracts (NME on Yokos and Gibson's cars on Dunlop) and a lack of time for rework the car to a spec suitable for Bathurst once it reached Australia, as Gibson's workshops were fully occupied rebuilding the car rolled during a pre-Bathurst publicity event. Grice and Percy eventually raced a Les Small Commodore instead

[racer69]

Originally Posted by KA

I've also read suggestions that the NME HR31 was at one point a possible Bathurst entry in 88, but the idea fell through- reasons quoted including clashing tyre supply contracts (NME on Yokos and Gibson's cars on Dunlop) and a lack of time for rework the car to a spec suitable for Bathurst once it reached Australia, as Gibson's workshops were fully occupied rebuilding the car rolled during a pre-Bathurst publicity event. Grice and Percy eventually raced a Les Small Commodore instead

The stuff surrounding the NME entry in the 1988 Bathurst 1000 was almost comical. I'll have to dig the "Auto Action" magazines of the time out for the full story, but it was basically a case of no, yes, no when it came to the car.

Grice & Percy were originally slated for a third works TWR HSV Commodore at Bathurst in 1988 (presumebly #40, which in the end was the oldest Commodore they had in the fleet, and was just used during practice).

Then it was decided the ETCC Nissan would come to Bathurst to join the two Australian cars, with Grice & Percy driving as they were the contracted steerers.

However just a few weeks out from the race it was decided the car would afterall stay in Europe and the entry was scratched. From memory the main reason given by Fred Gibson was:-

(A) it would have been based in their workshop, and they already had their hands full as KA mentioned, and

(B) it made no sense to bring the car out from Europe, run Bathurst, then fly it back again (as the 1988 ETCC wasn't finished), when it was a different beast to the local team, and anyway Nissan already had two works-backed cars entered for the race.

Not that it mattered, both cars were out of the race within 15mins


The late pull-out left Grice & Percy high and dry. Percy got onto Tom Walkinshaw about reviving the third HSV Commodore idea which was canned when the Nissan was coming, but it wasn't really a goer.

Les Small had a new TWR-spec Commodore free (the sister car to the Rogers/Andretti entry) for Grice & Percy to use if they could get the money together (if not, Small said he would take the car to Bathurst as a spare for Rogers/Andretti). Ultimatly they got some backing from FAI Insurance & Bob Jane T-Marts to run the car there, but an article in AA just weeks out from the race quotes Grice as saying it would be unlikely he would race (while Percy was being linked as a third/reserve driver at TWR/HSV)

Thats how i remember it, i'll look through the old "Auto Actions" for the full story.

Originally Posted by chunterer

Have to admit I wasn't aware of the DTM ideas though?

There is nothing official in that, just i have a quote from Howard Marsden saying he wanted Nissan's to be racing in the main domestic championships in Europe in 1989 (after the ETCC was canned), presumebly that would have included at least exploring the DTM (would the handicapping rules there have been attractive to them?)