History of a 9 second GTR

[Munro]

I have had so many PMs asking about the R33 I thought I would post a run down of how the project came about as the articles on the car dont really give enough details & I dont have the time to answer all the questions.

I bought the car in April 2000 with 13,000km completely standard.

I drove the car in this form for the rest of the year & thoughly enjoyed it.A standard R33 GTR is a fantastic car, particularly in the Hills around Adelaide.In early 2001 I put Bilstein suspension & the

18x10 works wheels that are now on the blue R34 GTR.I was introduced to Mark Tilbrook about the same time & decided that it was time I started modifying the car.The potential that a std GTR has for improvement is amazing.We did the usual exaust,Apexi FC ,pod fillters, intercooler upgrade & it made 227rwkw.

After years of Drag racing V8s I was interested to see what it would run down the quarter mile.My very first run was 13.0, followed by 12.7.(10/3/01)Next time I ran 12.6 & 12.5 @ 112mph.(6/5/01)My previous drag car( an HJ ute that ran 10.1 @ 133 with 350 chev)had been sold when I bought the R33 & being blown away by old school V8s was not my cup of tea - so something had to be done.

Cue HKS 2540s,680cc injectors,Bosch 044 pump,Cam gears,twin plate clutch,boost controller,cusco exhaust,oil catch can, & Nismo

320km speedo(nice to know how fast you are actually going on the freeway!). 338rwkw & 11.8 @ 121mph.(14/10/01) The car had done 20,300 km at this stage, & was driven regularly.

We were now on a mission to see if we could get a std internals RB26 GTR in to the 10s with only bolt on mods.

[Munro]

At 1600 odd kg,it had to lose some weight, so for just one meeting we decided to pull out anything not needed.Around 150 kg was removed(seats, stereo, spare wheel etc)then we dynoed the car again with C21 race fuel & made 395rwkw! But at this power level it would not hang together so we reverted back to PULP & made 345rwkw.The std gearbox could not handle all the 8000rpm practice launchs so I bought Danny's Trust 6 speed dog box & OS triple plate clutch.11.10 @ 127 mph(11/11/01).So close, yet so far away.The next time it was run was the 4,6&rotor Nats on 16/2/02.With the interior back in the best it could manage was

a 11.5 & 11.6 @ 124.On the second run it developed a severe knock which turned out to be a non-existent rod bearing!Keir also

blew his engine that day after running a 10.6.

Up to this point I had wrecked 2 clutches, the std gearbox,the engine, & destroyed 2nd gear in the Trust box while practicing 1st-2nd gear burnouts on the street the week before the Nats!

A major decision needed to be made. Should I just rebuild the engine & stay in the 11 second zone, or go sick & push for 10s?

Cue the OS 3 litre short engine package, brand new N1 head, HKS

2835R turbo kit, twin 54mm external wastegates,HKS step pro L valvetrain, Trust Drag intercooler, custom single throttle body, etc,etc,etc.Lot the plot now - No turning back.The OS 3 litre has an 8 bolt crank, so an OS quad plate clutch was ordered to suit.

All these great bits were taken to Adelaide Engine Developments for a total engine package to be built.With the 1st Drag Combat meeting looming & not much time, all hands were on deck for the final assembly.ATS 1.5 way mechanical diffs were fitted,cusco adjustable suspension arms,twin pump fuel system,Motec engine management,Velo seat,Harnesses etc all had to go in.The car had to be ANDRA tech inspected to run under 10 seconds & we were running out of time to get the car into the container for Queensland.My first test drive of this new combination was from JMS around the corner to the container guys, who were waiting to load the car.I barely got it into 3rd gear, little own actually do a practice launch or anything.The next time I sat in it was when I drove it out of the container at Willowbank right next to THE HKS Drag GTR!Talk about intimidation!The HKS team were very helpful & a great bunch of guys.I enjoyed meeting Kawasaki & the crew.

[Munro]

The car had been off the road since feb & I was a bit out of touch

with driving it, so the practice day on Friday gave me a chance to

see how it went & work out a routine.The first run was a 10.9, followed by a 10.8 & then a 10.7.Everyone was happy with tens straight out of the container as we all knew the car was not anywhere near it's potential tuning or suspension wise.After plenty of drinks down the coast that night everyone was convinced that I needed to give it heaps off the line the next day.

Rain held up proceedings & after hanging around nearly all day, we left without a run.On Sunday, all fired up, I lined up - held it on the limiter & sidestepped the quad plate. BANG.Smashed both rear driveshafts right on the line.Spewin.I reversed the car back on FWD which pretty well fried the transfer case.Mick from Sub-Zero came to the rescue with some spare shafts(which had to be removed from a car in his workshop an hour & a half away!) & we just made it into the first round.Another 10.9 & then a 10.8 on a red light put us out for the night.Was heaps of fun, but I am not racing interstate again until the car is fully sorted out.Seeing the HKS GTR running 7.8 @ 175mph with no parachute was a good experience.When the container came back to Adelaide the R33 went straight to Tilbrooks where it lived now.Around this time I bought the R34 GTR 'cause I was hanging for something to thrash in the hills & my VU SS ute, while an excellent cruiser & tow car, just doesn't cut it up the Gorge.

[Munro]

We weighed the car at Willowbank & it was 3650lbs (1650kg)

It was obvious that the car was no longer a regular street car, so

we proceeded to remove unneeded parts.Power steering,Hicas,power windows,Air con,ABS, std fuel tank,oil cooler,std gauges,heater box - the list goes on.The fact we were doing this to a 20,000km R33 GTR is perfect condition was sad, but it was too far gone & a R33 shell was not available at the time.And I had the R34 for street duties, so I bit the bullet & decided that with such a great engine it was a waste not to prepare the car properly.The next time I took the car out to race(aug 02) was a disaster.I ran a 10.6 then blew the Trust gearbox to bits.

It also smashed the HKS driveshafts on the line.Breaking things is what causes many guys to give up on Drag racing & I parked the car in the shed & forgot about it for a month or so.

A holinger was the only way to go.The trust box is excellent & much better for the street 'cause it's H pattern, but we now had well over 700hp & it could not handle it.A 3 month wait for the HS6 put a damper on things for a while & only driving the car 3 times in 2002 was a real piss off.With the 4,6&rotor Nats around the corner we had to get it ready & practice with the new box or I

knew the Nationals would be a flop.turns out I was right.On a practice run 2 weeks before the Nats I ran a 'casual run' at 140mph then smashed the new custom driveshafts again!Hmmm.

I think the problem was the Line locker.I was using it to hold the car on the line then release it at the same time as the clutch.I must have been a splitsecond late with the button, as it didn't seem to matter what the driveshafts were made out of - I was snapping them like celery sticks.I was used to launching on the transbrake button in my old drag car & I couldn't get this right, so we removed the line locker, put a std pair of driveshafts in( with a spare pair on hand just in case),dynoed the car with a decent amount of boost this time (27psi) & took it to the Nationals with out finger crossed.

[EnricoPalazzo]

Cool Munro. Next time ur goin past the gorge, pop in my house (i live like a min away) and i can tag along. (hopfully)

[Munro]

Off the trailer( I could have driven it there, but it's such a pain lining up to get in I couldn't see the point) it ran a 9.9 @ 148.85.

Cool.Everyone relaxed cause I didn't break the thing & I ran my first 9 second pass.Next up was a 9.66. For an hour or so I had the fastest GTR on street tyres in Australia - until Keir ran a 9.51!

Next was a 10.3 against danny(bogged off line but did a killer burnout - half the reason for racing) & then my first heads up run against Keir's R32.He red lit then backed off & I ran a 9.89 @148.95 mph.Next run together I red lit but Keir lost boost & had to back off & I ran a 10.1(nearly hitting the wall due to low front tyre pressures)My last run of the night was a solo pass.

9.69 @ 148.88 mph, which backed up my previous 9.6.

Overall I was very happy with the meeting & to run such consistent mph with a car that had only done 17 runs in it's current setup.All the work done by Mark Tilbrook, Martin Donnon,

Darren Palumbo,David Baines,Steve Cramp & many others had finally paid off & I want to thank everyone involved in the project for their help & support.

There are a few further changes I want to make to the car, but now we are talking hundreds & tenths of a second.The amount of extra power needed to even gain a few tenths or mph is tremendous.The car is pretty well finished, a colour change & maybe bigger turbos down the track will be the major upgrades to an otherwise completed project.I would like to race the car as often as possible & maybe do a return to Drag Combat or Jamboree if finance permits.

In the meantime, I have reached my goal of beating my old race car & finally getting into the nines.I would have been happy with a 9.999 so the 2 9.6 runs have surpassed all my expectations.

Regards to all those who have shown interest in the car, keep

cruising.

[kabab]

You should write a book

What stopped you running better times with the 2540's lots of guys with similar turbo's have managed low 11's and your mph is about right... 60fts ??

Anyway good read well done

[Munro]

I did run a low 11.

An 11.10 @ 127 with the 2540s. 60 ft was 1.69.

My best is now a 1.46 60ft.I've been told that with

hotter tyres is should run even better 60 ft times.

Excellent - bigger burnouts - suits me.The Nittos will probably

go off before I wear them out anyway so I may as well

destroy them!!!

On the whole "RH9" street car thing, the RH9 club is a group of workshops in Japan, who all run 9 second GTRs on Nittos.There is really no such thing as a 'proper' RH9 club car in Australia 'cause we are not in Japan & to be a club member thats where you need to be. My car is a 9 second street car, not a 'RH9' car.

the R33 is still registered & I have driven it a number of times on the street in the last month.sure it is not ' street legal'.far from it.

It has no mirrors, perpex door windows, no passenger seats(although I am putting another seat in it shortly to take a couple of good mates for the ride of their life!), no speedo, & If the cops could catch me I'm sure I'd get chucked in the loony bin for driving a car with a 2kg/kw weight/power ratio car on the street!

But - it is streetable.It idles at the traffic lights, stays pretty cool,

can cruise at the speed limits(as long as I can put up with them)

& looks at first glance like a normal street car.Of course when it's takes off everyone within a 5-10 km radius thinks there is a jet or something flying over.You should of seen some of the looks when I took off from the Gepps Cross intersection the other day!

The 1.5 way diffs mean Gorge road is out, 'cause it wont turn under power, but without them it would spin one of the front wheels at the track & there is no use having around 900 hp if you can't put in down so I was prepared to make that sacrifice.

Danny(JMS) gave me his 'official' japanese RH9 stickers over a year ago when he decided against going that far & I have held on to them all this time until my car had actually run a 9.

It's not a 9 second car ( or a supposed RH9 car) until it's run a 9 is it!

As far as writing a book goes, I'm too busy cruising & racing.If I've got a hour or so spare, I'd rather do something constructive & post on here vs watch mindless rubbish on TV or whatever.

[Merli]

The stuff legends are made of

Good on ya mate!

[2rismo]

Best post(s) of the year so far.

Well done mate.

[ed]

excellent!...good to see someone has extra $$$ laying around :uh-huh:

[kabab]

I still wanna know when your going to bring it to sydney so we can all drool

[Munro]

extra $$$ ??? Not anymore. All invested in GTR shares now - hope they go up! ha ha.(Oh well you're only young once eh)

The R33 will come to Sydney.When is the next 4,6&rotor meeting

over there & does anyone know if Drag Combat is on this year?

It would be good to get Marios R33, Jasons R34,Keirs R32,my R33,

& a few other fast GTRs together at the same meeting for a heads

up battle.When Keir & I raced head to head in Adelaide at the Nats the crowd loved it.I'm sure it wont be long till there are other

tough GTRs being built & we have a proper Heads up class for late model 4WD turbo cars.I think that some of the track managers have to realise the huge interest in these types of cars now, & that eventually we will need to be catered for at the larger

V8 dominated events.Of course, at the moment we only have 3 cars in Australia under the 10 second bracket.Marios awesome 8

second machine, Keir's R32 at 9.5, & my R33 at 9.6.There are plenty of up and coming GTR owners out there, keep hotting up your cars & lets get out there & race.

[whatsisname]

Well done John! Fantastic reading mate.

Thanks for taking the considerable time & effort to give us all an insight into your GT-R drag racing history.

[benm]

I didn't understand much of all the mumbo jumbo but it certainly sounds like a great coupla years u have had.

All this talk about GTR's makes me want to get an R33 GTR grrrrr.

neeeeeed a better jooooob.

[RNGTR]

Interesting read John! Makes me wanna blow all the $$$ I can on mine! Ive drawn the line at 300rwkw (currenty at 285rwkw) with 2530s.

But I've been known to step over the line before......

[GTR King]

Nice Effort John. Great post worth the read !

John Quotes:

(although I am putting another seat in it shortly to take a couple of good mates for the ride of their life!)

Pick me Pick me !

Rubs hands together. He He.

Good Stuff, Keep it up.

[GILTY]

Dreams are made of what is in Munros' posts, we can all dream.

Thanks for sharing mate, it is something to read that in a mag, but this is a little more personal, and we all appreciate it!!!

[Munro]

285rwkw is nothing to sneeze at.My R34 makes 270rwkw & it's great fun to drive.Problem is, when you start climbing over the 300 kw mark, you start losing that all important bottom end torque. 2530s are great turbos.I think I would have enjoyed them more than the 2540s I used to have on the R33 'cause they were a bit laggy - top end was great though.Hard to keep the balance.

The magazines do a good job, but there is only so much space & sometimes the details get a little bit mixed up.I have always enjoyed the articles that Martin has written.He writes well 'cause he is not just a journo, but a tuner & enthusiast as well.

[gtrken]

Originally posted by GILTY

Dreams are made of what is in Munros' posts, we can all dream.

Thanks for sharing mate, it is something to read that in a mag, but this is a little more personal, and we all appreciate it!!!

Absolutely

I'm with guilty. It's not often someone who has actually DONE it ( as opposed to my wifes brothers 2nd cousin......) posts a bit of personal history like that.

Have watched with interest the various articles in Zoom , HPI etc and always wondered about some of the info that was missing.

Good one and a bloody good read. Kick that donnon dude out j/k and write em yourself , Hehehe

Cheers

Ken