One of the strongest elements was the sharpness of feel and response at initial turn-in. I was surprised at how easily I could get the car to rotate at corner entry with some subtle trail brake pressure and an increased rate of steering. However, once the car took a set in the corner the considerable mass of the GT-R made itself clearly known and with any changes in pavement height, the settings on the Öhlin/Impul combination were pushed to their limits. The car began to slightly “float” through bumpier corners, and a little more rebound to “hold” the car down would have been a nice adjustment. In that respect, the car was more street than track oriented, but personally, I would have kept it that way unless I could make the changes easily—which we couldn’t. I was very sorry to see the GT-R leave the driveway of the Bondurant School circuit at the end of my test, and it’s one of those machines that I’ll miss. The UMS car was everything that I thought a R34 GT-R should be—and more.
People are going to ask if the car was as quick or as good as the new GT-R and the answer, of course, is no. But that’s not what makes the R34 such a desired commodity and what, in my mind, makes the older car the one I would choose of the two. What the R34 is all about is the idea—the fact that Nissan produced a true and viable supercar contender when supercars were so much more rare. It’s also arguably one of the single most important cars in the tuner culture that has spanned the last three decades. I am humbled to have been able to take a drive in one of these machines, and I can’t wait until I get another chance.
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