Driving the RB26DETT
‘ T hey can suddenly feel like they’ re on castors.’ That is how a colleague of mine described driving the ATTESA E-TS- and Super HICASequipped Skyline GT-Rs on a road test we were working on. And I was baffled by the concept.
You see, I did my GT-R education the wrong way around. The first car I drove was the newer V6 transaxle R35 GT-R. My concept of a GT-R was brute force. Heavy-duty mechanical underpinnings that clunked and grabbed like they were fighting with the road and had no intention of losing to something as measly and pathetic as tarmac or concrete. Something that was equally prepared to battle with physics, too. That the R35 GT-R is often compared to driving in a computer game is absurd; it’ s viscerally real. The seamless, elegant gliding that comes to mind when you think of castors – pirouetting down a supermarket aisle on a trolley, for instance – sounds nothing like the attack nature of an R35 GT-R.
Despite this dignified-sounding description, I was not prepared for the civility of the R34 GT-R. The very datedfeeling interior didn’ t help, either. Everything in an R34 is very Nineties Japanese, with hard surfaces, hard leather and then extremely soft seats. But then the RB fires into life with typical straight-six refinement. The pedals, perfectly sprung. The gear lever is so precise and smooth, but substantial enough to remind you, reassure you, it’ s built for heavy-duty performance.
In stock 280hp – if-you-believe-such-numbers form – the RB26DETT has very little of the turbo foibles of other cars of its age. There’ s a little hesitation at lower revs that a naturally aspirated 2.6 might not exhibit, but the boost comes in with a determined but subtle force. There’ s no big wallop of torque to master or drive around; the performance rises in conjunction with the revs.
So do the noises. They’ re not deafening or exaggerated. Not trying to grab your attention like the later GT-R’ s
V6. There’ s a proper straight-six growl, but joined by a harmony of whistles from the turbos. And it feels fast. Not explosive, tear the tyres from their rims fast. It feels like it would win an endurance race or like you could set a record average speed over a country road.
The traction the four-wheel drive generates compounds that feeling. It’ s stable, and through fast bends you can glide through them like you’ re in a much smaller, lighter sports car, not a substantial all-wheel drive four-seater coupé. The then-firm Nineties suspension now feels supple, but more than supportive enough. It’ s a car that does nothing wild, nothing overt, but wheedles its way into your affections by feeling so right.
Then you get to some tighter bends and ask more from the car. Its weight-defying loyalty to your inputs at high speeds gives you the confidence it’ ll have the agility here. And then it acts like it’ s on castors. Big steering inputs, even with a little amount of throttle, rotate the car an alarming amount initially. It’ s a big car to get sideways unexpectedly. But as the road begins to straighten, if you just keep the front wheels pointing where you’ d like to go, the GT-R follows. With the wheels all turning in different directions, and the four-wheel drive shuffling drive to each axle, it takes some getting used to, but you can trust it. Then you can take advantage of it.
A brief drive of an R32 and R33 Skyline GT-R confirms they’ re very much like their immediate successor, just a little less refined and not quite as fast. But they too are stable and secure when you need them, and super darty when you want them to be nimble.
What they don’ t feel like is those Group A R32 Skylines you’ ve seen spitting flames and clinging to the tarmac on just three wheels. Perhaps more power, as the RB26DETT deserves and the rest of the drivetrain feels like it can cope with, unleashes this character. Maybe more power is what you need to make these RB-powered GT-Rs feel like a R35. Even left standard, they have a character that’ s unique to this era of GT-R. One that’ s a joy to play with.
Nothing about a GT-R stands out. The RB26 engine works in conjunction with the ATESA four-wheel drive and the car’ s chassis
30 The Engine Rebuilder Issue 03