Motorsport

The GT-R's success in motor racing was formidable, particularly in the annual 1,000 km race at the Mount Panorama circuit in Bathurst, Australia, where the winner in 1991 and 1992 was a GT-R (despite receiving additional 100 kg in weight penalties and a turbo pop off valve in 1992), and in the Japanese GT series where it has remained dominant for many years. The Skyline GT-R line were retired from the JGTC series(later changed Super GT Series) in 2004. And the successor Nissan GT-R will return in Super GT in the 2008 season.
No other race victories by the GT-R could escape without controversies. At the 1998 Macau Grand Prix Guia touring car race, the factory backed R32 driven by Masahiro Hasemi led the race from the start to the finishing line which caused a wave of protests by the European entrants. The following year, the car was forced to carry a weight penalty of 140 kg and was up against the more competitive DTM BMW M3 and Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 Evolution II. A disgruntled Hasemi was forced to settle for fourth place. For the following and final year the weight penalty was reduced and works backed Hasemi returned with another privateer R32 that crashed in the race, while Hasemi would retire with engine failure.
In the UK, Andy Middlehurst took the Nissan Skyline GT-R (R32) to two consecutive championship wins in the National Saloon Car Cup. Other championship titles include the 1992 Spanish Touring Car Championship.
Akira Kameyama has taken the GT-R to the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb race on three occasion winning in each Open Class for production cars he entered, one in 1993 with the R32,[2] another in 1996 with the R33[3] and again in 1998.[4] For the following year, Rhys Millen took a R33 Skyline GT-R to win the High Performance Showroom Stock category[5]
At the 1994 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, the GT-R would make its US debut when Nismo entered a sole Group A specification R32 for the GTU category, the car would finish 20th.[6]
In 1995 Nismo developed the Skyline GT-R for endurance racing with a pair of JGTC specification R33s for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In order to meet homologation regulations, a street legal version had to be built, although Nismo only required one example. This Skyline GT-R LM has been held by Nissan UK since its creation and has never been sold as a true production vehicle.[citation needed] The two racing cars were able to achieve some success at Le Mans, with one car achieving 10th overall, and 5th in its GT1 class, being beaten only by the more developed McLaren F1 GTRs. For 1996, the Skyline GT-R LMs would return, this time carrying enlarged RB26DETTs, now displacing 2.8 litres. Again competing in GT1, they would finish 15th overall, and 10th in class. However, with the cars in GT1 exploiting more and more loopholes in the rules, Nissan was forced to abandon their production-based Skyline GT-R LMs and instead turn to the purpose-built Nissan R390 GT1 for 1997. In honor of the success of the Skyline at Le Mans, Nissan marketed a limited edition R33 referred to as "LM Limited", only available in a competition blue.
In 2007 Automotive Forums became the first ever to compete with a Nismo R34 Z-Tune in the United States, participating in the Speed World Challenge GT series. Team: Driver and President of Automotive Forums.com Igor Sushko, Crew Chief Sean Morris, Team Manager Victor Reyes, Mechanic Josh Mitchell, and Engineer Merritt Johnson. Tentative plans are in place for the 2007 season.
In 2007 the Heat Treatments Drag Skyline GT-R driven by Reece McGregor of New Zealand, broke the world record for the fastest 4WD over a 1/4 mile with a 7.57@ 305.96 km/h at the Willowbank Dragway in Australia, a record previously held by the HKS Skyline GT-R with a 7.67.
Nowadays, the car is popular for import drag racing, Time Attack and events hosted by tuning magazines.