The Unbeatable Skyline

In a feat of dominance so rarely seen in top-level motorsport, Nissan’s third-generation R32 Skyline GT-R was entirely undefeated within Japan’s highest level of touring car competition for four whole seasons, 1990-1993.

Concurrently, the model earned back-to-back titles in the 1991-1992 Australian Touring Car Championships, successive Japanese Endurance titles in the 1990-1992 N1 Super Taikyu series, and an important European victory at the 1991 24 Hours of Spa. In fact, by 1993 the R32 had caused the FIA, the Japanese Automobile Federation, and the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport to carve out multiple new touring car categories in a bid to suppress the model’s absolute superiority.

During the peak of the R32’s infamous undefeated streak there was no single driver who exercised the model’s ruthless capability better than Masahiro ‘Mr. Skyline’ Hasemi. Though not widely known outside Japan, Hasemi is a larger-than-life figure in Japanese motorsport. He has earned championship titles in everything from single-seaters to Super Silhouettes, Group A super tourers, Group N endurance tourers, and Group C prototypes. Hasemi first earned prominence and success as a works driver for Nissan (NISMO) and was one of the first Japanese drivers in Formula One during 1976. As his own eponymous racing team flourished, he continued as a ‘ringer’ for NISMO at premier endurance events. He contested Le Mans five times between 1986 and 1996, with a best finish of 5th overall in 1990. His brilliant driving also secured an overall victory for NISMO the 1992 24 Hours of Daytona.

From 1989 to 2000, and again from 2004 to 2009, his team Hasemi Motorsport competed in the successive iterations of the Japanese Touring Car Championship with their number 3 Nissans, sponsored by Unisia JECS and Tomica. It was these famous orange-and-white-liveried R32 Skylines with which the team secured back-to-back titles in 1991 and 1992.

In early 1994, Hasemi Motorsport and NISMO began building this Skyline into a competitive grand touring racecar utilising carbon fibre bodywork, extensive structural reinforcements, and new underpinnings which defeated the new 1994 rulebook.

Masahiro Hasemi debuted this newly built car at the end of April 1994, during qualifying for that weekend’s opening round at Fuji Speedway. Despite a solid effort that earned him 4th on the starting grid, gearbox troubles during the race caused him to wrestle the car across the line in a disappointing 10th-place finish. It would only take until the following round at Sendai Highland Raceway for Hasemi’s mastery of this new chassis to become startlingly apparent. Starting from pole position after a blistering qualifying time, victory proved a certainty after the first few laps. Hasemi took the checkered flag with a full 15-second lead over the R32 Skyline of his evergreen rival Hoshino Racing, then driven by Masahiro Kageyama.

This outstanding 1994 Nissan Skyline GT-R JGTCC-GT1 by Hasemi Motorsport will feature as part of RM Sotheby’s Monterey sale between the 18-20th August 2022. Photos © Larry Chen / RM Sotheby's