When Nissan ruled Australia with its 'Godzilla' Group A special

By:

Tom Howard

Feb 8, 2022, 3:36 PM

The Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R was the fastest Group A touring car ever. It cleaned up at the Bathurst 1000 and in the Australian Touring Car Championship, and is fondly remembered by the drivers who monstered it to success on the world-famous Mount Panorama

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It became known simply as ‘Godzilla’. The Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R is the very definition of a monster of motorsport, destroying all that came before it during a short but dominant period in the early 1990s.

Australian motorsport journalists coined the nickname because the car would “smash and eat everything alive in its path” during an all-conquering run of victories in domestic touring car championships in Japan (1990-93) and Australia (1990-92). The Skyline R32 GT-R proved the ultimate touring car from the Group A breed of homologation specials, including the Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth and the BMW M3.

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Tom Howard

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Tom Howard is a News Editor working across both Autosport.com and Motorsport.com websites. Starting out as a sports reporter in local newspapers, Tom focussed on motorsport covering several national championships in the UK, including the BTCC.

After a period working as a freelance journalist, Tom moved to Australia in 2013 landing a job at leading Australian motorsport news outlet speedcafe.com, covering international motorsport events including F1, WRC and Supercars. Progressing to Editor in 2017, Tom was named Motorsport Australia Journalist of the Year for his work. He is also a two-time winner of Supercars Journalist of The Year (2017,2019) and a Supercars Championship Media Award winner in 2019.

Tom moved back to his native UK in 2020, firstly working in BTCC, before joining Autosport and motorsport.com in 2021.