NISSAN takes the Japanese Calsonic branding into Supercar Retro Round

Prepare to take a step back in time as the Virgin Australia Supercar teams get ready for the Sandown 500 which is tagged as Retro Round meaning we’re going to see new-look cars on the grid.

First out of the blocks is Nissan, announcing Michael Caruso’s Altima will turn blue and adopt the iconic Calsonic paint job.

Interestingly, we never got the Calsonic GT-R in Australia, however in Japan, at the same time Jim Richards and Mark Skaife were tearing up the Australian Touring Car Championship this blue R-32 GT-R was winning everything .

More recently, it’s been iconic car to drive in Playstation’s Gran Tourismo racing game, so many of the younger generation will relate to it!

We look forward to seeing this car, and the others to be unveiled – on the track at Sandown.

Car Statistics: Nissan GT-R R32

Japan Touring Car Championship (JTCC) competition history
Debut: Nippon 1990
Final race: Fuji 1993
JTCC Round Starts: 29
JTCC Round Wins: 29
JTCC Titles: 4

Team Statistics: Calsonic Nissan GT-R R32

Japan Touring Car Championship (JTCC) competition history
Debut: Nippon 1990
Final race: Fuji 1993
JTCC Round Starts: 29
JTCC Round Wins: 15
JTCC Titles: 2
Drivers: Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Toshio Suzuki (1990 and 1991), Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Masahiko Kageyama (1992 and 1993).

Major Australian GT-R R32 results

Bathurst victories: (2) 1991 & 1992
Australian Touring Car Championship titles: (3) 1990, 1991 & 1992