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Following up on my previous thread:

First, i am not 20 yrs old (although i wish i was) & secondly i dont come from a line of blackmagicians but the nos 88 may give u a clue to my ethnicity. I do however own an R35 and have had it for 6 months. I've had many quick cars over the years (yes..i am older than 20 yrs x 2 even !!) including half a dozen Porsches (all modified and one i remember with fondness being a heavily reworked & exceptionally quick Porsche 911 turbo which costs half the price of the R35 just in engine mods). The R35 however is completely different. Interesting car but more on that later. Attached are some pix i took just a couple of days ago. Alot happening on the R35 tuning scene now (despite the financial turmoil we are experiencing) which is really in its infancy now as the car is still pretty new.

All carbon fibre components on the car in the pix are dry carbon. Clear coated on the bonnet and bootlid but uncoated on the rear spoiler and very light. How light? see the pix of the carbon fibre front fender....

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Neither of these cars are mine. I just happen to know the custom painted red one (pic of another thread) who owns the HKS Technical Centre in Singapore. The white one is a customer's car. Mine is Black and looks basically stock so no point posting a pix as it looks very ordinary.

On engine tuning the HKS 570 kit is pretty interesting. Its been posted many times online but this particular install i actually in person 2 days ago. Very neat and OEM like finish. Obviously didnt get to drive it as its not mine but i did get to ride shotgun and it is VERY quick indeed. Makes mine, which already puts out at least 70-80 bhp at the wheels more than a stocker, feel rather lethargic.

A stock R35 on a Dyno Dynamics puts out between 380-390 hp @ wheels and this is a fact as i've seen several stock cars dyno'ed already and they all consistently produce hp within this range (i know the US cars seem to dyno at much higher nos which seem optimistic). Given the dyno figs at the wheels it doesnt seem that Nissan's claims of a 10 pct drivetrain loss is accurate. Its more like 18-20 pct loss. The HKS 570 produces on this particular car 590 bhp at the wheels, a good 200 bhp more than a stock car, so it is pretty damn quick. This seems to be consistent with the results that other tuners who have fitted the HKS 570 have achieved. 570 hp at the wheels is what HKS says is the Minimum you will get and some depending on temperature, humidity, fuel quality etc appear to get over 600 hp at the wheels. Stock brakes are definitely NOT good enough with this amount of power. Based on my experience with my own car, driven hard on road and track, the stock brakes are barely adequate even for a stock car (so dont believe all the hype the motoring press dishes out...and definitely not the BS that fat pommie Clarkson regularly dishes out).

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On a less technical note, how easy is the install of custom wheels? (lots of discussion on forums but you see them everywhere now) the BBS wheels look great btw, I like a bit of dish......

Those BBS LM wheels are a special edition. I think BBS only produced 200 sets for worldwide distribution. I had first dibs on a set but didnt like the idea of it being a limited edition as you probably wont be able to get a single replacement if you damage one wheel. Nonetheless they are very nice and light and expensive. If i recall correctly there are 5-6 sets in Singapore.

When the R35 was launched Nissan didnt want anyone to change wheels or install bodykits/spoilers (its even mentioned in the Owners Manual as a big No No) but they should have known better. The GTR being a cult car its almost impossible to expect owners to leave it in stock form. The initial problems with aftermarket wheels were (1) fitment of the tire pressure sensors (one sensor on each wheel forming part of the TPMS) and (2) nothing available in 20 inch with the correct offsets. Both problems are now solved and there is a fairly good selection of aftermarket wheels and probably more to come in time. However 20 inch wheels in the GTR fitment are not cheap. I am thinking of a set of Rays Volks TE-37 in bronze which should suit a black car. The second biggest problem as far as I am concerned is the use of RFT (run flat tires). They are very heavy (i think around 39 Lbs each or close to 18kg and the sidewalls are super stiff. I have yet to weight a set of non-runflat tires like the Pirelli P-Zero's but i estimate they should weigh in at around 28 Lbs or roughly 5kg lighter per tire than the Bridgestone/Dunlop RFT's. Together with a lighter wheel, thats alot of weight savings and especially since its rotating mass/upsprung weight the advantage should be quite dramatic.

Thanks BM88. those wheels you're looking at seem similar to the Nismo Rays save for some minor design details and ?weight . no doubt the nismo product will be way overpriced though

http://www.nihoncar.com/en/news_pics/889/g..._R35_GTR_04.jpg

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