ERA CAR Nissan GTR R35 Simola – A Hillclimb Beast FEATURETTE
When Godzilla conquered South Africa…
His appearance was announced with a lot of noise, dust and smoke: Godzilla, probably the most famous creature from the land of the rising sun! The one and only who came (this time) for a visit to South Africa for a certain mission: one last ultimate hunt! Not for fresh meat as you might expect at first glance, but rather to be on top of the timing sheet and become declared as „King of the Hill“.
Nissan’s sharpest weapon has been nicknamed „Godzilla“ for quite some time now, due to the seemingly endless series of successes in circuit races in the 1990s with the legendary R32 GTR. Meanwhile in 2021, three generations later, it’s the R35 GTR who thrilled the crowds. At least it was supposed to be, because the covid-regulations meant that you could only follow the action virtually. Godzilla’s legacy lives on in the hill climbs: The Nissan GTR has won the King of the Hill title for seven of the 10 years that the competition has been held. It is also the most popular car the Modified Saloon Class, where eight of the nine competitors to race in GTRs.
Pushing it to the absolut limit!
In the Road Cars and Supercar class, local racing driver hero Reghard Roets pushed the 2018 GTR from Melrose Nissan to the max and set a new personal best of 43.840 seconds during qualifying before winning with a time of 44.092 quit. The Simola Hillclimb is South Africa’s premier motorsport and motoring lifestyle event by showcasing some of the country’s most exhilarating cars and accomplished drivers. Generally we can only speculate about the exact performance data of this GTR, but undoubtedly we can certainly talk about lots of more power than the usual data of a stock 570HP engine. Almost 43 seconds set on a 1.9 km uphill track are absolute insane numbers to think about!
Best values for the best car on the grid?
Actually, it was quite obvious that ERA CAR would immediately put their hands on this Simola Hillclimb theme. As we get to know meanwhile: Simola likes the GTR, so does ERA CAR! If anyone has built fantastic R35 models over the last few years, we have to talk about that brand! It is going to get pretty hard nowadays to find a highly detailed model between 10$ to 20$, which has openable doors AND bonnet at the same time as a special feature. Other models with the same functions might cost three or four times as much in the 1:64 scaled modelworld. In addition to a solid construction and rubber wheels that actually roll, this GTR has an unique, very detailed Simola paint job, which is absolutely identical with the original version. Generally speaking, if you like the R35 (and honestly WHO doesn’t?!) there is no way around the ERA CAR GTR R35 models at any case!
