I'm excited to see what the JNC1 can do, but I don't envy the tester's wallet lol.
My neighbor down the street had a GT-R. He got it around 2013 when I had my black NSX. He always made fun of my car "it looks cool but it's so slow," etc.- at the time his GT-R was tuned to about 900 whp. I didn't see it drive much though- it always seemed to be down for service. Then when I got my GT-R he got really excited and tried to get me to use his tuner, who was a well known local hack known for detonating WRXs and Evos all over the front range. I steered clear and went with Ben Linney in the UK and my car ran like a dream. I dailied it for years all year round. We tuned it to about 700 hp and 600 lb/ft. The car ran beautifully and OEM-like
on stock internals LOL.
About a year later I see him walking his dog and we chat a little. He bragged that he just got a $25,000 AMS intake (he was always bragging about the cost of his parts) but his car is down again because it blew up at the drag strip. Rods just snapped. I mentioned if his tuner made sure to remove the torque "hump" (like Ben had warned me) in the power curve and he had no idea what I was talking about, but said his guy was the "best" and was rebuilding the entire engine at his own cost for like $30,000 (always a lot of zeros with him). Anyway a year later he pulls up to my house. This is the first time I've seen this GT-R in almost 2 years. I should say I heard it coming up the street but not in a good way. The car was shaking at idle and there was a ton of clunks and rattles. Now, the GT-R is known for its clunkiness, but this was different to my mechanical ear. He was so proud of it. This time, it had billet rods and was tuned to 1,000 hp. It also had a Shep trans. He said he was taking it to the half mile race and that I should bring my GT-R. I politely declined and said I might go as a spectator. He took off and the car sounded like it was going to shake itself apart.
Another year goes by and I run into him walking my dogs this time. I notice the GT-R is not in his garage. He tells me that it blew up at the half mile. Rods went straight through the block. He's "had it" with the local guy and the car is in Florida with "the best GT-R tuners in the world. The guys who do the UGR Lambos for like pro athletes and drug dealers," etc.). He's spending "$100,000" on getting the car fully built there. Billet block, rods, pistons. Full race trans with straight cut gears. Huge turbos. All the stuff. The "street mode" will be 1,440 hp and "track mode" a cool 2,000 hp. I tell him that's cool and I hope the car turns out great. He asked me what I had done to mine and I just said HKS resonated midpipe and 1050 injectors. He was like "oh." LOL
So that summer the GT-R pulls up to my house...all 2,000 hp of it. He's put on like 315 drag tires (the ones with the wrinkly sidewalls) and it has these riveted on fender flares to cover the mega wide tires. He tells me the body shop did all the custom fitting and painting and it was about $25,000 for the work. It looked like a 9-year old did it- gaps, wavy fiberglass, holograms, orange peel, etc., but whatever (side note- he tried to convince me to use that shop to paint the Zero). He shows me the gold-plated engine (literally) with AMS everything, the huge Garrett turbos, etc. He said he's taking it to the "Texas Mile" which is where all these 2,000 hp cars supposedly go to race and that it's exclusive and only the fastest cars in the USA are invited. He thinks his GT-R is one of the fastest if not the fastest in the entire country: "Maybe 3rd or 4th at worst." I ask him where his parachute box is and, no joke, he answers "what for?" I say that's really cool and good luck. Never saw the car again on the road that summer.
So I'm walking my dogs again in the Fall and I notice the GT-R is missing from his garage again. He tells me that at the "Texas Mile" on his second pass the crankshaft shattered. Like bent and cracked in several places. This caused the pistons and rods to basically explode. This all occurred at 160 mph. The car dumped all of its oil out of the cracked block, spun and flipped several times (no race cage either). Thankfully he walked away with some bruises and cuts but no broken bones. He sold off all of the million dollar parts that could be salvaged and the car is gone.
Fast forward a couple years and I noticed a few days ago that there were two Ducati race bikes in his garage...
Anyway, when I see threads like this, this is what I think about. I saw that car actually drive on the road maybe 3 or 4 times over the span of like 5 years. I daily drove my 700 hp GT-R on stock internals for nearly 30,000 trouble-free miles. I feel like these mega builds are cool from a magazine or social media content persepctive, but I never actually see them around. Whether it's a GT-R or a Lambo or a Hellcat or whatever. They always seem to spend more time in the shop than on the road, even when they're running right.
