GT-R Drivers Club Silverstone Classic
GT-R Drivers Club at the Silverstone Classic.
As an enthusiastic photographer you never know what you are going to see until you get to an event but I have yet to be disappointed by a car show, even the small ones. As far as shows go they don’t get much bigger than the Silverstone Classic so with my camera packed I headed off to the home of British motorsport for this three day festival of the internal combustion engine.
I enjoy going to car shows, from the quaint village charity events where 50 random cars turn up, to the major headline shows. The drive to and from the show is always fun especially if you are in a group and on this occasion the M1 was like a mobile car show.
Performance and classic cars were popping up all over the place. Little MGs purring along at a steady 50 and Corvette Stingrays waking up the commuters with the roar from their massive muscle car engines. Great stuff and a great way to start the experience.
Before I get into the meat of the report, if you're visiting next year there are a number of ticketing options you can choose from the Silverstone Classic website. You can visit for one day but I would not recommend this as the show is so large you won’t get to see everything.
It’s not just a static car show, there is some high quality racing and evening entertainment, with live bands as well as stunt shows and fair ground rides to keep your little ones entertained.
We at PistonClick had three photographers out to cover this event. Last year two of us attended and tried to cover the event in one day, but we didn’t do it justice. Our previous Silverstone Classic report is in the 2018 events
section if you want to check it out.
The other ticket option is to join in on one of the club car stands. This year there were 120 clubs with over 10000 cars on show, from the classic Bentleys to the latest Maclaren Senna and everything in-between. This was the option I went for, choosing the GT-R Drivers Club to display my Datsun in all its glory.
The week before the Classic had seen record temperatures in the UK which was not ideal when you are trying to prepare a car for a show stand. Getting up early to wash and polish the car was the only option. If you have tried to wax a car in direct sunlight never mind stupidly high temperatures (for the UK) you will understand where I’m coming from.
Typically, on the Friday when the show started the heavens opened, dropping biblical proportions of rain on the UK. I planned my trip via the BBC weather app, judging the time between the showers from the radar map to perfection and managed to get to Silverstone with only a few drops of rain on the windscreen.
Camping overnight, my cunning plan ended up in tatters as the heavens opened, waking me up a 2 in the morning - the joys of camping! The rest of the weekend was to be more of the same, heavy showers and continual mizzle. Compared to last year and even the week before, this was slightly disappointing but I wasn’t down hearted as I was looking forward to the show regardless of the weather.
Ranulph Fiennes once said “there is no bad weather just unsuitable clothing” This is also true for your photographic kit. A waterproof camera cover is an essential item to have in your bag, along with a set of waterproof trousers to keep you and your kit dry in inclement weather.
Arriving early Saturday the GTR Drivers Club stand had a few cars left parked overnight from Friday but within an hour or so it was packed despite the weather, mainly because there was a special event going on. The GTR is 50 years old this year, so to celebrate that milestone, 50 GTRs and Skylines were invited to be on the stand and take to the Silverstone track for a celebration parade lap.
The club organisers had managed to get together most of the main models of Skyline and GT-R for the event from the earliest to the latest. The most unique model being the GT-R50 designed by Italdesign to celebrate the 50 year anniversary of the GT-R and the design house.
This car was the centre piece for the club stand and attracted a lot of attention during the day, popping up on my instagram feed all day as people took selfies with it.
The GT-R50 was based on a 2018 Nismo edition before the Italian design house got their hands on it. Italdesign have kept the shape of the original R35 GT-R but lengthened it and chopped a few inches out of the roof, redesigning the front and back but keeping the essence of the original car. It still looks like a GT-R but much sleeker.
It’s not just the exterior that has had a make over the interior is totally different to the production car with custom carbon fibre all over the inside. The go faster bits that were very capable in the original car have also been upgraded.
The 3.8-liter V6 VR38DETT is now producing 710 Hp and 575 Pound-Feet of torque blown by GT3-Spec twin turbos. With all that power being put on the road the drive train and suspension were modified and stopped by bigger Brembo brakes.
Bob Laishley the Program Director at Nissan and Andrea Porta the lead designer at Italdesign were around the stand answering questions about the GT-R50 and the 2020 edition Nismo GT-R. Nissan had pulled out all the stops delivering the Nismo for the show for us all to get a sneak preview of the latest model.
The main club event for the weekend was the parade lap. The last time I was out on track with a bunch of Skylines and GT-Rs was the 12th April 2010. On that day we set two world record for the most Nissan Skyline on track at one time and the most at one meeting, check it out its in the Guinness Book of Records.
This time there were only 50 taking to the track to represent the 50 year of the Nissan GT-R. We were joined on track by a few other clubs celebrating various miles stones but for me all I could see were Skylines and GT-R as I was in the middle of the pack.
Up front on the lap were the early models, the Hakosuka which literally translates from Japanese into Box Skylines, which they are. These were followed by a Kenmeri the nick name coming from the advertising campaign which featured a Ken and Mary couple in the ads.
Then the Godzilla’s the R32. The Godzilla name has been used to describe all the Skylines and GT-R over the years but is should only be associated with the R32 due to its dominance of the Group A race series.
In the Japanese Touring Car Championship it active 29 wins from 29 starts. In the Super Touring Series for slightly modified “showroom” cars it was 50 wins from 50 starts with the R33 flying the flag after the R32 went out of production towards the end of this N class racing series.
The name Godzilla came from the Australian motoring press after the R32 dominated the racing down under ending the run of wining run by the Seiara Cosworth in the Bathurst. Next up were the R33 that when released on the general public in 1993 and were the first production cars to get round the Nürburgring in under 8 minutes.
The last of the Skylines were the R34 basically a R33 with a pretty dress on. I will standby for incoming on the club forum for that one. The 34 is the most desirable Skyline with the GT-R badge on the back. Some of the cars going to auction in Japan recently have been hitting six figure numbers such is their popularity.
The massive increase recently of the price of a Skyline in Japan has a lot to do with the USA now being able to import R32 Skylines that are over 25 years old. This has had a knock on affect on all the models as people speculate on what the 33 and 34 will be worth when they are eligible for importing into the states.
Last and by no means least are the R35 the latest model of GT-R. Nissan dropped the Skyline name for the R35 as they only produce a GT-R for this variant. The Skyline models had a number of different engines from the wezzy 2.0l up to the twin turbo of the Godzilla 2.6l GT-R.
The R35 now has a hand built V6 twin turbo engine that produces about 560bhp. I don’t think many of the R35 now have that original factory bhp they, like the skyline models are very tuneable and most are running much big numbers.
My passenger for the parade lap was Andrew who took the on track photos while I was driving. It was also Andrews birthday so he was chuffed to bits to be on track and in a GT-R. His farther David, who is one of the other Pistonclick photo journalists was up in the stands for the lap and sniped the on the on track action.
Andrew chatted to me all the way round Silverstone and to be honest he knows as much about the GT-R family as I do. This is the appeal of the GT-R and Skyline, young or old genuine petrol heads know its heritage and appreciate this performance car in all its different guises.
The parade lap done it was back to the stand for a hot brew curtsey of Nissan hospitality. Nissan had supplied a great hang out space for the club members to relax in and chat to visitors interested in the cars on the stand.
The Classic is a great show having something for everyone from the track to the club stands. So lets take a look at what you can expect to see if you are coming along next year. We have looked at the club stands so what else is there to hold your interest?
The pits are the best place to start. There are two of them that are fully open to the public. The first is the national located to the rear of the Silverstone Café. Here you can find Minis, Bentleys to Formula 3 and everything in between. There is a podium at both pits and big display screens so you wont miss any of the action while strolling around. The Moto Grand Prix legends are also in this area, the riders from yesterday year are available to sign autographs and in exchange flog you books and T-Shirts.
Over at the Wing is the International Pits this is where the big boys hang out, the GT cars, the super car stands and the Classic Formula 1 cars.
Here you are free to walk into the garages and watch the mechanics preparing the cars for the next race. You can also get right up to the pit lane which is great when the endurance cars are coming in for driver changes.
As Silverstone is quite large there is a free bus service running all day and into the evening. There are two main routes, one round the outside of the track where you can get off and go into the many grandstands that are open. I would recommend Club corner at gate 15 there is a great spot here for taking photographs and you can see the finish line from the Grandstand.
The other route takes you via the village which is the main eating and daytime entertainment area where your little ones can go on the many fair ground rides. The final stop on this route is the International pits and the Silverstone wing which is opposite Club corner.
The racing is a large part of the entertainment at the Classic. We have already produced a report covering two of the main race which can be found in the articles section.
I wanted to capture Jake Hill in the Transatlantic Trophy for Pre '66 Touring Cars. Jake is a British Touring Car driver who helps out during the GT-R Drivers Club track days. Jake was taking part in a number of races over the weekend but the Pre 66 cars had the most drama.
Driving a number 166 a Ford Mustang he had a great battle with the number 9 Craig Davis car also a mustang. Hill managed to limp the big Ford across the line in first place after a coming together with the Davis car that damaged the rear of Hills cars. This is why I love this racing, no quarter is given and none expected and its great to see these classic cars bing pushed to their limits.
As the sun goes down the cars continue to race into the dusk finishing around nine. This is when the evening entertainment kicks off. Live bands food and drink are located in the centre of the circuit. This years theme was the Woodstock Festival experience with the race fans putting on their 1960 fancy dress and partying round the live stage. A great way to round off your visit to the Silverstone Classic 2019.
In conclusion I would like to thank the GTRDC for putting on a great stand, Nissan for keeping me dry and hydrated with the great coffee, Chris Baker Photography for the GTRDC stand photos and lastly Andrew and David Harbey for the parade lap pictures. You can see more of these photographers work at the links below.
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