(0700, Pocono) – Morning coaches meeting brief: the CI approaches me and says “Oh and btw, you have a student with a GT-R” — Nowadays, when someone says “they drive a GT-R” your mind immediately goes to the Nurburgring record busting R35 Skyline which debuted in 2007. “No, no, not one of those” and then your mind drifts to the Hollywood-made-Glamourous Skyline R34 as seen in movies like The Fast and the Furious. “Nope, an ‘89” – an ‘89? – You mean … the R32?! #thatsbadass.
Geeking-out
Despite my outright boyish glee to finally get to ride in a Skyline R32, knowing that these cars have now passed the statutes for legal import into the US (from Japan and the UK), I’d completely forgotten than they are 99% right-hand-drive (RHD) vehicles. Oops. Admittedly, I’ve always wanted to drive a RHD vehicle, it’s a bucket list item. And I’d only ever ridden in a RHD once, and it was for less than a half mile ;-).
My student, Lukasz, has had his R32 for a few years now. Recounting the journey to get the car to the US and the mods he’s done to improve it, he’s very proud of his Skyline and has the utmost respect for the vehicle. Lukasz admits that this car is a love for him, his only manual transmission vehicle, and pales in comparison to his daily Toyota Camry that he uses to commute to work each day. It does put a smile on his face when people “ooo & ahh” over it, whipping out phones to take pictures, but that’s not what fuels him. His goal is to learn to master the R32 on track. His twin-turbo Skyline puts down close to 550 wheel-horsepower, and has an 80/20 rear-front All-Wheel-Drive split. Since the AWD on the Skyline is like the older German products (meaning, it kicks in when it’s too late) working with this car on track would be a lot like other high HP rear-wheel-drives.
Geeking-out throughout the day we talked about the Skylines, their history, their heyday, and the newer Renault-inspired products. At one point, I asked Lukasz: “why the R32 over the R34?” In short summation, he said: “The R34 is the car that makes You look COOL, the R33 is the Skyline you buy for your Wife, and the R32 is the one you take to the Track!”
Ok, enough fawning, back to coaching…
with 550 whp, I honestly expected the Skyline to be a bit of a handful. I’ve been warned by others that they can be a bit twitchy and unforgiving. After my “coaches inspection” this R32 seemed well sorted.
Setting off, my immediate impression, despite getting used to sitting on the left side of the car with no steering in my hand, was a smoothness reminiscent of the E46 BMW ///M3. The sound, the body roll, the gear changes, the balance was all too-familiar. I can work with this. Until we hit the main straightaway … outside of some minor turbo-lag, once spooled, my inner voice suddenly channeled Captain Picard … “Engage!” … and maybe a few expletives as my body sunk into the seat. The power delivery was intense, the the speedometer needle was completely buried mid-way down the front straight. Many outsiders commented on how “the car looked slow” but in reality it was deceivingly quick. With with the car being so composed matched with Lukasz’s silky smooth shifts and the R32s muffled exhaust, it was just a white blur.
The only shortcoming of the Skyline was the brakes, bringing the car down from Warp-6 was quite the chore. We both agreed that the brakes didn’t inspire confidence for an entire session so we tamed our speed and worked on perfecting the line. Thankfully, Lukasz had been to Pocono before, and was much more interested in building his technique than setting lap records. Dropping to sub-light speed meant we needed to be more aware of traffic around us, as more capable high HP cars would easily catch us. This meant point-bys. The first few times we had to give passes it was a bit frantic since I kept wanting to check the rear-view mirror out of habit, and I felt “blind” to what was going on. Only having a small, shaky, the left side mirror to gauge our fellow drivers left me with some visibility challenges.
At first you could tell that oncoming cars weren’t sure what to do with us. We did our best to point over the roof for a left-side pass and stay right, which people seemed OK with, but when it came to a right-side pass things got weird. Driving the car on the street, Lukasz’ tendency was to stay right “to keep the car in the lane” and follow the right edge, but there are sections of Pocono where you must stay left to give a pass. Putting your arm straight out the right-side window was near impossible for people to see, and crossing the track to give an over the roof point-by was unpredictable. That meant, I was tasked with timing and giving an over the roof point by from the left seat which would be less confusing for the other cars on track. Thankfully, Lukasz and I were able to come to an agreement early on and it seemed to work for our sessions.
I will say that Lukasz’s right turn apexes were spot-on! – which was opposite of what I am used to, where people struggle to see the right-side apex across their A-pillar, whereas we had to work on our left apexes. I also had to change from using my left arm for hand signals to my right, a habit as a right-handed person I’ve worked for years to break while coaching. Later in the day, I took Lukasz out in my car so that he could get perspective on the course with someone else driving. Joking, he said “this ride-along is perfect for me, because this is exactly where I sit and what I see in the other car.”
All-in-all it was a great day at Pocono, and Lukasz was an awesome student. He and I bonded on different topics being fellow IT and Sci-Fi nerds, but especially around a passion for the R32, I fell in love with this car as a kid and it’s hard one to let go of. #jelly.
The beginning of our day was definitely awkward but the fundamentals of coaching were still the same. And by the end of the day, being in a RHD vehicle started to feel very normal. However, it’s very important to remember one thing as a coach, you need to adapt and overcome. Remain flexible, and take every opportunity to learn something new. #goodtimes #neverstoplearning.
We look forward to seeing Lukasz and the his Skyline at more events in the future.