It could be against the law 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 automotive 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 Nineteen Eighties have been a time of technological innovation and extra, and in 1989, HKS wished 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 based mostly 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 bundle for the BNR32 – HKS made sufficient modifications to the Skyline GT-R to warrant homologation for street legality. The difficulty, nonetheless, was the astronomical prices concerned.
Homologation in Japan throughout the Nineteen Nineties was horrendously tough and costly, and regardless of the technical experience and keenness behind the Zero-R venture, the monetary realities couldn’t be ignored. HKS merely didn’t have the assets 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 venture utterly – a number of Zero-Rs have been totally 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 means into the Sultan of Brunei’s outrageous automotive assortment.
Whereas most sources agree that solely 4 ‘authentic’ Zero-Rs have been made within the Nineteen Nineties, some recommend as many as 11 have been produced. I used to be initially inclined to aspect with the smaller determine – given the shortage of stable information 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, exhibiting eight real Zero-Rs, nonetheless on GT-R wheels, in storage at HKS. The photographs 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 – every one carrying its bespoke magnesium TecnoMagnesio wheels.
The entire preliminary Zero-Rs have been completed in silver – or at the very least, eight of them have been. The Sultan’s Zero-R, nonetheless, was white, and being a part of the preliminary run, meaning HKS produced at the very least 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, nonetheless, and nobody was positive what number of extra can be constructed.
HKS introduced the ‘Zero-R Model II’, taking the unique idea and updating it with fashionable turbos, brakes, and suspension. Our very personal Dino Dalle Carbonare even bought behind the wheel of considered one 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 automotive was a totally new construct or one of many authentic Zero-R chassis up to date with new elements.
Then there’s the ‘Zero-R Model III’ from 2007/2008. The one concrete images present a black instance, however then a crimson one appeared – which can have turned purple – and extra modified silver automobiles started popping up.
And let’s not neglect the well-documented gray Zero-R on RAYS Volk Racing RE30 wheels that made its approach to Australia, in addition to the white automotive that Mark had the prospect to drive, pictured round these phrases.
Primarily based on photographic proof alone, there seem like 9 Zero-Rs from the unique run – the eight silver ones, plus the Sultan’s white automotive. With the addition of the Model II and Model VIII fashions pictured, we may very well be 14 or 15 automobiles, although some imagine as many as 17 Zero-Rs might have been made.
However the reality is, with out concrete info from HKS or a manufacturing log, there’s no approach to confirm the numbers. In a means, although, that provides to the thriller of this two-seat world-beater that the visionaries at HKS dreamt up almost 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 suppose the Zero-R has all however been forgotten. Fact be informed although, the story’s not fairly over but.
A plan to revive the automotive seems to be in movement, with HKS constructing a Zero-R from the bottom up once more this yr, lastly taking the BNR32 chassis to the lofty heights it envisioned all these years in the past. Watch this house – and don’t look away for a second.
Mario Christou
Instagram: mcwpn
mariochristou.world
Pictures by Mark Riccioni
Instagram: mark_scenemedia
Twitter: markriccioni
mark@speedhunters.com
