It could be a criminal offense to shut out ‘Japan Month’ on Speedhunters with out discussing one of many nation’s most legendary automobiles: the HKS Zero-R.
It’s a automobile steeped in thriller, with quite a few blogs and boards devoted to piecing collectively its true historical past and tracing its journey via the years. Worth figures fluctuate wildly, as do estimates of the variety of Zero-Rs produced and the precise timeline of their creation.
The late Eighties have been a time of technological innovation and extra, and in 1989, HKS needed in on the motion, utilizing the brand-new BNR32 Nissan Skyline GT-R as a base. However right here’s the essential element: this isn’t a Nissan Skyline GT-R.
The Zero-R was HKS’s try at creating their very own supercar primarily based on an already competent manufacturing chassis, very similar to Alpina, RUF, and Brabus have been doing on the time with their creations. This wasn’t only a tuning package deal for the BNR32 – HKS made sufficient modifications to the Skyline GT-R to warrant homologation for street legality. The problem, nevertheless, was the astronomical prices concerned.
Homologation in Japan throughout the Nineties was horrendously troublesome and costly, and regardless of the technical experience and fervour behind the Zero-R challenge, the monetary realities couldn’t be ignored. HKS merely didn’t have the sources to crash-test a number of Zero-Rs, and their dream of constructing Japan’s reply to Europe’s boutique supercars was abruptly crushed.
That’s to not say the Japanese tuner deserted the challenge fully – a number of Zero-Rs have been absolutely developed within the early ’90s, albeit with out homologation. A few of these automobiles remained at HKS’s Shizuoka manufacturing facility, whereas one made its approach into the Sultan of Brunei’s outrageous automobile assortment.
Whereas most sources agree that solely 4 ‘unique’ Zero-Rs have been made within the Nineties, some recommend as many as 11 have been produced. I used to be initially inclined to facet with the smaller determine – given the shortage of strong data and documentation on the Zero-R – till a deeper dive uncovered the next:
No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. These are movie scans from 1993, displaying eight real Zero-Rs, nonetheless on GT-R wheels, in storage at HKS. The pictures have been taken by former HKS USA worker Scott Webb and posted on an American GT-R discussion board in 2013.
This determine is backed up by an article from an early-2000s Australian journal, Excessive Efficiency Imports, which featured eight Zero-Rs lined up outdoors – each carrying its bespoke magnesium TecnoMagnesio wheels.
The entire preliminary Zero-Rs have been completed in silver – or a minimum of, eight of them have been. The Sultan’s Zero-R, nevertheless, was white, and being a part of the preliminary run, which means HKS produced a minimum of 9 automobiles earlier than the flip of the century.
Across the mid-2000s, modifications in Japan’s roadworthiness legal guidelines gave HKS an opportunity to make the Zero-R street authorized. That did nothing to ease the confusion across the automobiles already produced, nevertheless, and nobody was certain what number of extra could be constructed.
HKS introduced the ‘Zero-R Model II’, taking the unique idea and updating it with trendy turbos, brakes, and suspension. Our very personal Dino Dalle Carbonare even obtained behind the wheel of one in every of these later fashions in 2010, simply earlier than extra details about the unique automobiles started to floor.
However even then, questions stay. Dino’s article featured two automobiles – one white, one silver – however there’s nonetheless no certainty on whether or not the white automobile was a totally new construct or one of many unique Zero-R chassis up to date with new components.
Then there’s the ‘Zero-R Model III’ from 2007/2008. The one concrete pictures present a black instance, however then a purple one appeared – which can have turned purple – and extra modified silver automobiles started popping up.
And let’s not overlook the well-documented gray Zero-R on RAYS Volk Racing RE30 wheels that made its approach to Australia, in addition to the white automobile that Mark had the prospect to drive, pictured round these phrases.
Based mostly on photographic proof alone, there seem like 9 Zero-Rs from the unique run – the eight silver ones, plus the Sultan’s white automobile. With the addition of the Model II and Model VIII fashions pictured, we may very well be 14 or 15 automobiles, although some consider as many as 17 Zero-Rs may have been made.
However the reality is, with out concrete data from HKS or a manufacturing log, there’s no approach to confirm the numbers. In a approach, although, that provides to the thriller of this two-seat world-beater that the visionaries at HKS dreamt up practically 4 many years in the past.
Whereas all eyes have been on HKS’s ‘reborn’ R34 GT-R, seemingly taking up from the absurdly priced Nismo Z-Tune R34s and 400R R33s, you would possibly assume the Zero-R has all however been forgotten. Reality be instructed although, the story’s not fairly over but.
A plan to revive the automobile seems to be in movement, with HKS constructing a Zero-R from the bottom up once more this 12 months, lastly taking the BNR32 chassis to the lofty heights it envisioned all these years in the past. Watch this area – and don’t look away for a second.
Mario Christou
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Images by Mark Riccioni
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Twitter: markriccioni
mark@speedhunters.com