Anthony From Dahtone Racing Knows How To GTR

GTR. Three letters that represent a machine that nearly every car enthusiast is familiar with, appreciates the meaning of, and would love to have sitting in their garage. The King of Japanese performance cars as Anthony puts it and who could possibly disagree, especially when you look at his meticulously crafted R32 GTR.

With GTR’s becoming a rare and expensive commodity in the car market, it’s not uncommon to see the same street builds and setups on these cars. Big single turbo, Tomei exhaust, LMGT’s, Bride Lowmax’s; the standard. But it’s safe and it works. On a car increasing in price, most owners do often opt for the more community accepted confines of modifying, however Anthony had a different goal in mind. A build that was half a decade in making, Anthony’s transformation of his GTR is one of careful planning, fastidious assembly and sticking to a clear vision no matter the setbacks. His vision? Create a GTR that was one off, unique and yet seemed as OEM as possible. The twist? Do this while running one of Sydney’s top GTR workshops and looking after a family at the same time.

Rewind 7 years and you may have seen Anthony’s white R32 GTR on the road sitting on BBS LM’s as opposed to his current Meister setup. You’d have to be quick in sighting the car though as it wasn’t long after the initial purchase that Anthony decided to retire it as a daily driver and undergo initial cosmetic improvements. This included N1 body parts like skirts, a front bar, rear pods and boot lip. Some additional carbon goodies including custom side skirt extensions, Abflug front diffuser and Rocket Dancer spoiler extension finished iteration one in terms of the look of the car. Honestly speaking, not much changed visually from then until now, but I think for those who know the car, it’s what’s under the hood that really grabs your attention.

With the car now a weekender, Anthony turned his attention to the engine bay. What started initially as a paint refresh quickly spiralled out of control and laid the foundations for the clinically assembled engine bay you see today. As an experienced advocate and mechanic for the twin cam RB26, Anthony said it was only natural that his car was destined to have a monster of an engine setup. With the bay being sprayed, work began on building his dream motor with the ambition of putting it in not long after the car had come back from the painters. That was the plan anyway. You may recall earlier in the write up that Anthony is actually workshop owner by profession and that means customers come first. An urgent need from a customer saw the motor he built for himself being sold and Anthony was put promptly back to square one.

In between balancing the daily workload of running his shop, the limited time he had to build his own car gave Anthony the luxury (and curse) of having time to think about exactly what he wanted to do with it. What eventually kick started the build was his desire to create a one of a kind exhaust manifold and after months of tinkering and mock ups, his idea came to life. With his unique manifold locked down, the rest of the jigsaw pieces fell into place and like clockwork, Anthony selected and assembled the necessary supporting engine components he was all too familiar with.

Moving to the inlet side of the motor, Anthony wanted to eliminate the rats nest of vacuum and water lines Nissan kindly left to GTR owners of the future. In order to eliminate this while also keeping the ITB’s, a custom drive by wire and Plazmaman plenum was crafted to solve the problem.

In keeping with the ‘one off’ design principle that Anthony had for the car, every pipe and line you could bend, every reservoir that could be filled was customised and hand fabricated to Anthony’s spec. Even the number plate bracket wasn’t spared from the fabrication table! The result is clear though, through a complete overhaul of the engine bay, an unparalleled degree of consistency was able to be formed and every part in the bay looks as though it was put there straight out of the factory.

To send power to the wheels, a rebuilt R34 GTR Getrag 6 speed was optioned instead of a dog box with Anthony citing he wanted to maintain the OEM driving experience of the car but still have confidence that the box was able to handle big power. A billet NPC clutch finished the transmission setup.

It’s almost impossible to talk about early 90’s Nissan interiors without mentioning the infamous dash cracks and/or bubbles that torment Skyline and Silvia owners alike. Unfortunately, Anthony’s GTR was no exception and so the dash was the first interior item to get changed for the better. For seats, Bride Cuga’s were selected for comfort and uniqueness compared to some of Bride range. However, this wasn’t unique enough for Anthony and so both front and rear seats underwent a custom upholstery job that featured leather trimming and Bride fabric centres. Finally, a Cusco 5 point half cage in white was installed to add protection and rigidity to the cabin, break up the black interior and quite frankly, just look awesome inside the car.

But how about the engine you’re probably thinking. For the time being, the exact specs are under wraps until the car has undergone the full tune but rest assured, Anthony has high hopes and confidence for the potential power using the combination of internals he’s selected himself. For reference, the run in tune saw the car make 650hp on just 20psi.. with wheel spin issues on the dyno. Needless to say, stay tuned for the full hub dyno run at 40psi.

On the surface and perhaps to the untrained eye, Anthony’s GTR may look like so many others. In a modifying age where sexspec is dead and OEM+ is king, appreciation comes more in the creating the fine balance of unique and subtle modification while maintaining the timeless looks of these iconic 90’s Japanese performance cars. Striking this balance is not an easy one however Anthony’s car stands true to this ethos and has really produced an incredible modern take on an R32 GTR.

Anthony would like to put out a special thanks to all his friends, family and automotive suppliers, partners and mates including Mick’s Motorsports, Auto Elements, Just Upholstery, and Fabtech Global.

MODS LIST

POWER

– 650hp @ 20psi

ENGINE

– RB26/30 (test engine)
– Platinum Racing Products engine brace, R35 coil kit, trigger kit, alternator bracket, A/C relocation kit
– CWC LS1 alternator conversion
– Custom thick wall stainless exhaust manifold
– Garrett GTX4294 turbo
– Custom intercooler
– Custom Plazmaman intake manifold to suit 6 throttle drive by wire system
– Dahtone Racing 6 throttle drive by wire system
– 1650cc Bosch Motorsports injectors
– Dahtone Racing billet fuel rail
– Custom intercooler pipes with Dahtone Racing/HDI clamps
– Custom cross flow radiator
– Custom radiator hard pipes with HDI clamps
– Real Carbon fibre moulded cam cover set
– Stainless 4” exhaust system
– Frenchy’s Performance Garage twin Walbro 460 in-tank fuel pump kit
– Turbosmart 60mm wastegate and FPR2000 fuel pressure regulator
– Garage Defend carbon fibre cooling panel
– All Braided hoses and AN fittings for everything (vacuum, boost, coolant, fuel, engine oil, power steering)

DRIVETRAIN

– NPC billet twin plate clutch
– Custom concentric slave cylinder/pull to push converter
– R34 GTR 6 speed Getrag gearbox

ENGINE MANAGEMENT

– Haltech Elite 2500
– Haltech Wb1 single channel wideband kit
– Flex sensor
– 3 x Bosch pressure and temperature combo sensors (oil, coolant and fuel
– Custom hidden loom with motorsport bulk head connector

BRAKES

– R34 GTR Brembos with custom “J slotted” rotors
– Braided lines
– Modified brake booster (helps the booster work better with big cams and low vacuum)

WHEELS & TIRES

– Work Meisters
– 19 x 11
– 285/30/19 Toyo T1R

EXTERIOR

– N1 front bumper
– N1 side skirts
– N1 rear pods
– N1 boot lip
– OEM rear wing
– Carbon Fibre Fujimura Auto Rocker Dancer aero flap
– ADM rear number plate garnish
– Shaved rear bumper
– Carbon fibre Ab Flug front splitter
– Custom carbon fibre side skirt extensions
– Carbon fibre Varis vented bonnet
– Ganador aero mirrors
– FEED Afflux carbon mirror caps
– D-Speed clear corner indicators
– R35 GTR boot badge
– R34 GTR front guard badges
– Custom aluminium front number plate bracket

INTERIOR

– Custom leather trimmed carbon fibre backed Bride Cuga seats
– OEM rear seat re-trimmed to match front seats
– Cusco 5 point roll cage
– Carbon fibre scuff plates
– Nismo carbon fibre rear view mirror cover
– Tomei instrument cluster
– Superior Auto Carbon Fibre stereo surround
– Nardi 330mm Deep corn steering wheel
– Custom reconditioned OEM 6 speed gear knob

SUSPENSION

– BC BR coilovers
– HICAS elimination kit