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Some cars leave an indelible mark on all of us – cars that transcend the boundaries of fandom and become icons in their own right. And yes, I mean all of us.
If you don’t have even the smallest soft spot for an R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R, I’m calling bulls**t, respectfully. There’s no way you were a car enthusiast in the 2000s without fond memories of Need for Speed: Underground, 2 Fast 2 Furious, or some grainy YouTube clip of gold Top Secret or white Mine’s GT-Rs defying physics – in 240p.
Mickey Andrade and the Throtl team have taken that 2000s nostalgia and mixed it up with 2024 tuning style and technology to create a monster of a Skyline, debuting the build on the Meguiar’s booth at the 2024 SEMA Show.
Full disclosure: this isn’t a BNR34 GT-R, and Throtl doesn’t claim it is. Instead, they’re proud of the work put into upgrading the bodywork and entire powertrain of what rolled off Nissan’s production line as a rear-wheel-drive ER34 GT-T in 1999. The beefy Pro Street Radial tyres on custom Motegi Racing wheels at all four corners make it clear – this Skyline’s retrofitted all-wheel-drive setup means business.
The transmission tunnel has been re-fabricated to accommodate a transfer case, and the front chassis legs have been modified to fit driveshafts, ensuring power reaches the front wheels via a drag-spec Powerglide 2-speed transmission. The rear is driven by a Platinum Racing Products (PRP) 8.8-inch billet differential with upgraded driveshafts.
The hood-exit exhaust, bead-lock wheels and a parachute mounted at the rear all point to the Skyline’s intentions – drag racing.
Under the hood, you’ll find an RB25 block bored to 2.6L, fitted with an RB26 05U cylinder head. A Garrett G45-1600 turbocharger provides around 32psi (2.2bar) of boost in the current state of tune to deliver 1,219hp, with a CSF Race radiator ensuring reliable cooling. MoTeC engine management system keeps everything in check, controlling a drive-by-wire throttle system and feeding vital data to the MoTeC digital dash display. Oh, and yes, it has NOS. The big bottles. It couldn’t be a Fast and Furious tribute without it, could it?
A Zestek steering wheel controller and Rywire CAN module put near-total control of the car’s systems at the driver’s fingertips – two-wheel-drive, four-wheel-drive, adjustable power levels and a range of driving aids are all easily selectable.
But the fun doesn’t stop here: the final engine for this car will be an RB-based design by PRP with all the factory flaws of the RB-series ironed out. This car will be the recipient of the very first production engine of the batch, and it’s coming to the United States all the way from Australia.
The new engine will be tuned for 1,400hp, so it’s good the Skyline is equipped with a full, gusseted roll cage and a carbon fibre bucket seat with Sparco harness belts – safety is no afterthought.
I’m not usually a fan of movie replica cars; they often try too hard and fall short. But a homage – something that takes inspiration and goes far beyond the star car’s capabilities? That’s something I can get behind.
Throtl’s R34 build (check out the full video playlist here) is a fun way to honour our collective roots in modified car culture without being a lazy replica. It showcases the best of what the tuning world can offer in 2024.
Mario Christou
Instagram: mcwpn, mariochristou.world
mariochristou.world
Photography by Darrien Craven
Instagram: _crvn_