One to Buy: ex-Team Taisan 1991 Nissan R32 Skyline GT-R Gr. A
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Of the several iconic colour schemes worn by the Skyline GT-R in Group A competition, few are more evocative than the black and red livery of Team Taisan, the renowned Japanese outfit run by Yasutsune ‘Ricky’ Chiba, head of the Taisan Industrial Company.
Having witnessed GT-Rs destroy the opposition in 1990 (including his team’s BMW M3), for 1991, Chiba got his hands on the latest Group A Skyline. This would take the Nissan contingent up to four cars at most rounds of that year’s Japanese Touring Car Championship.
On January 23rd, that very car, chassis BNR32-91-001, will be going under the hammer at Bingo Sports’ BH Auction event taking place at the Tokyo Motor Show.
‘001’ was piloted throughout 1991 by Nissan GT-R test driver, Kenji Takahashi, and drift king, Keiichi Tsuchiya. In the six round series, they most notably bagged second place finishes at the Suzuka 500km and Tsukuba 300km races. There were also thirds at the Fuji 500 miler and Sendai 300km plus fourth at the Autopolis 300km. Only once did they fail to finish: at the season-opening Sugo 300km with brake trouble.
Tsuchiya and Takahashi finished the year fifth and sixth in the ‘91 JTCC standings.
According to BH Auction: “The R32 GT-R was an iconic car for Team Taisan, and the only surviving examples are the one that competed in Group A in 1991 and the one on display at the Nissan Museum that raced in 1992 to 1993. Chassis BNR32-91-001 is currently equipped with a stock N1 engine and its original water-cooled brake system. The majority of the suspension parts have been kept to the original Group A specification.”
