In a Time Where Drift and Time Attack Rule Strong, Garage Yawata Stands Tall In Its Roots.
How do you make a bold statement these days, especially when everything’s been said and done before?
That’s something we ask ourselves everyday. But ask that very question
to Nobuyuki Morita and you’ll get a different answer.
You see, at Street Special Garage Yawata, they’re all about that gateway drug to the motorsports world: drag racing. In their shop, there are countless customer cars waiting to be prepped for straight-line duty; even Morita-san’s personal project—a 500hp four-door R30 Skyline with a custom twin-turbo setup—is a beast we’d like to see finished later down the road, and that’s a story for another day. You need to know more about this R32 GT-R, a project that has seen its fair share of time attack racing, and while it can clock in a 57-second lap around Tsukuba Circuit, you’ll be surprised to discover that it can also nail a 9-second e.t. with ease. A GT-R that can do it all? Oh, do tell…
You see, at Street Special Garage Yawata, they’re all about that gateway drug to the motorsports world: drag racing. In their shop, there are countless customer cars waiting to be prepped for straight-line duty; even Morita-san’s personal project—a 500hp four-door R30 Skyline with a custom twin-turbo setup—is a beast we’d like to see finished later down the road, and that’s a story for another day. You need to know more about this R32 GT-R, a project that has seen its fair share of time attack racing, and while it can clock in a 57-second lap around Tsukuba Circuit, you’ll be surprised to discover that it can also nail a 9-second e.t. with ease. A GT-R that can do it all? Oh, do tell…
The early days of Garage Yawata were spent drag racing, and to this
day, a big part of their customer base still love to blast down the
1320. The shop’s demo R32 started off this way back in 1993, built up to
do the rounds at places like Sendai Hi Land. Over the years, it has run
a variety of different configurations, always remaining
street-registered, and achieving a best time of 9.3 seconds on street
tires. With a shift in popularity moving over to time attack, Morita-san
knew he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to show what Garage Yawata was
capable of. The idea was to make a statement by building a car that
people would instantly identify with the shop. Doing this called for a
complete strip down of the chassis to shave weight and to also stiffen
the aging shell with a custom 7-point chromoly rollcage. To free up
space for the intercooler, they relocated the radiator from the engine
bay—but since the rear mounted radiators are a bit passé, he moved it
inside, right on the passenger side and a special shroud seals it up,
protecting the massive twin intakes cut out into the doors.
Like we said before, function is an important factor when Garage
Yawata builds any car, and with this GT-R, the statement comes into full
play. We’ve seen cars like the Autech Tsukada GT-R run the radiator in
its trunk, and the Auto Gallery Yokohama BNR32 use the passenger door as
an exit for the exhaust and wastegate dump pipe but nobody has ever
placed a radiator right next to the driver! The front bumper with its
gaping intakes and oversized metal canards lead way to the widened front
fenders; its side skirts a nice contrast in black. Bronze 18-inch TE37s
are the wheel of choice and run sticky Hankook Ventus TD semi-slick
tires. A car like this would be far from complete without a striking
paint scheme, achieved here by a pearl red highlighted with plenty of
flake.
Boost is something Morita-san likes, and lots of it—so does the
RB26DETT. In order to generate 1000hp, he bolted on a big T88 turbo from
Trust. But before it could be pushed to 2.5-bar of boost, the engine
had to be rebuilt—a N1 Nür-spec block was sourced, then outfitted with
forged Garage Yawata pistons, Tomei connecting rods and a balanced
billet crank, upping displacement to almost 2.8L. Tomei parts were also
used to build the cylinder head, like larger valves, upgraded valve
springs, retainers, lifters and also more aggressive camshaft profiles.
With the radiator out of the way, the extra space allowed Morita-san to
place the intercooler closer to the engine, which actually helps improve
throttle response since there’s less piping involved. To help give an
extra kick at either the dragstrip or a long straight on a road course, a
100-shot of nitrous is on deck. The drivetrain had to be upgraded with
all these power adders onboard, so a HKS triple-plate clutch was
installed into a sequential OS Giken transmission to distribute it
properly to the wheels.
For handling, custom-valved dampers were built in-house for the
GT-R, allowing the almighty power of the RB26 to be deployed
efficiently, especially as it travels under full acceleration to the
finish line. With single-digit time slips realized, the brakes had to be
changed, and Endless was called upon for larger 6-pot front and 4-pot
rear calipers.
With roots that run deep in drag racing, it’s obvious to us that the Garage Yawata GT-R is a very unique car. It’s enough to make us want to find a stoplight battle of our own (but please, we encourage you to find a local and legit method instead) and light those tires up. They filled us in on a little personal mantra of theirs: style is dictated by function. It’s a bold statement if you ask us, and one that Garage Yawata can call their own.
Tuning Menu
Owner Nobuyuki Morita
Hometown Handa, Aichi-ken, Japan
Occupation Owner, tuner and drag racer at Street Special Garage Yawata
Power 1,000hp at 9000rpm; 579lb-ft at 8,000rpm; max boost 2.5bar; best lap at Tsukuba—57"071; best ¼ mile time— 9.3e.t.
Engine N1 Nür-spec block; Garage Yawata custom exhaust, 87mm forged pistons, custom sump, custom intercooler piping/end tanks, fuel collector tanks, oil catch tanks and racing radiator; Tomei H-section connecting rods, forged and balanced crank (2,738 cc), 280° camshafts, valve springs, valves, retainers, lifters and 1.8mm metal head gasket; Trust stainless steel exhaust manifold, T88-38GK turbo, external wastegate with screamer pipe, front pipe, blow-off valve, billet fuel rail, oil cooler and oil filter relocator; Bosch fuel pumps; Earl’s fuel lines; SARD adjustable fuel pressure regulator and 720cc fuel injectors (primary x6)/430cc (secondary x6); NOS single fogger 100-shot nitrous system
Drivetrain HKS triple-plate clutch and lightweight flywheel; OS Giken sequential gearbox
Engine Management HKS F-Con V Pro ECU; Blitz Dual SBC boost controller
Footwork & Chassis Garage Yawata custom-valved dampers
Brakes Endless 6-pot front calipers & 355mm 2-piece slotted discs/Endless 4-pot rear calipers & 330mm 2-piece discs, Endless brake pads
Wheels & Tires 18x10" Volk Racing TE37; 265/35R18 Hankook Ventus TD
Exterior Garage Yawata front bumper, canards, wide front fenders, FRP hood, passenger side vented door, side skirts, custom wide rear fenders, FRP removable trunk lid, GT wing and custom pearl red flake paint
Interior Garage Yawata custom 7-point chromoly rollcage; Bride carbon-Kevlar bucket seat; MOMO Commando steering wheel; Blitz Dual SBC boost controller, Blitz shift knob; GReddy water temp/ oil temp/ fuel pressure/ oil pressure/ boost gauges, GReddy Multi-switching system; Nitrous Express nitrous tank; HKS Circuit Attack counter and Mixture controller; custom switch panel
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