Huge Group of Nissan Skylines Gather for R’s Day Event in California

There aren’t a ton of Nissan Skylines traveling down North American streets, regardless of what Instagram would have you believe. Sure, there are examples from just about every generation that you can find at a car show, meet, or sometimes a local track event, but in the big picture of things, there’s but a handful in comparison to domestically sold enthusiast vehicles—and that’s part of what makes them so special.

Being that they’re still relatively rare, highly sought after, and serve as aspirational dream cars to countless enthusiasts, Jack Yi thought that bringing as many owners together as possible would be a good way to celebrate all things Skyline. So, having successfully formed R’s Day back in 2016 at Laguna Seca, he’s since managed to assemble even more participants. For 2022 the event landed at SoCal’s Streets of Willow on April 30 for the King of Kaiju Battle, followed by a visit to Top Rank Importers on May 1.

Sponsored by Falken Tires, Top Rank, Cusco, and more, the track event was open to all Nissan models, though the majority in attendance were of course Skylines. As with any tight knit community, many took advantage of the meet up to reconnect with old friends and put some digital names to faces, while sharing what they’d been working on since the last event.

This R33 is a remarkable throwback. Its bass boat glitter paintwork and two-tone interior is fitting as it was originally put together back in 1995. Our friend and GReddy Performance Products President, Kenji Sumino had just begun his career with GReddy at that time and was shipped off to TRUST for a six-month training stint where he helped build this car for an Option Video Speed Challenge event.

Decades later, after spending some time with a collector in Japan and then living in Paraguay, it’s back in Southern California where Kenji is making some updates to this rolling piece of his personal history.

This R34 is actually an N1 model, 1 of just 55 ever produced. It sports the lightest curb weight and is the fastest of all factory R34s. The Mine’s tie-in is more than just the livery, as the complete drivetrain was plucked from a Mine’s demo car.

Top Rank Importers brought out this gem that had everyone taking a closer look. Originally owned by Craft Sports Japan, this 1996 400R eventually made its way to Canada through a collector and last year was brought to the U.S. by Top Rank.

Depending on who you ask, there were either 40 or 44 models produced, and this is model 29 of the bunch. All original except for the radio and intake manifold, it’s in pristine condition inside and out.

Aki of Garage Bomber’s R32 does it all. Originally built for drag race duty, he’s attended multiple R’s Days and made appropriate adjustments to attack the turns. We featured his GT-R back in 2017 where we were able to get a closer look at the fine details and it’s stil
l one of our favorite Skyline builds ever.

Other Nissan models were welcomed to R’s Day as well, like this 300ZX being chased by a pair of R34.