Introduction - Amber Flare

Racing has been at the heart of my family for decades. During the early 90s I won the long-haul trucking world championship, in 96 the ERC and in 99, the Equestrian Le Manes. That was over a decade ago. Since then, all of my race cars have been sold for charity. But then, I was told about this. Hyped so much, it's turning into what could be the greatest achievement for a driver. Stalliongrad to Ponyville - a journey that would take the average driver more than a week - is going to take us just under four days.

Those victories mean nothing to the new breed of racers we have now. My days are over - I stopped racing after the Millennium Accident at Trottingham in 2000 that killed four of my opponents. I campaigned for better safety in motorsport for years, but nothing was done about it. The corporate greed of Short Shifter, the head of the FIA during the nineties, was going to change. Finally, two years after I quit racing, in 2002, he was fired and the FIA re-wrote every rule and regulation. Motorsport may never be as it was in the 80s and 90s, but it will be much safer and a lot more fun.

I will be in the Running of the Leaves for one reason; to add to the most accomplished 90s racing team’s win list.

Because of the nature the Running of the Leaves has, the car must be road-legal. This meant I had to take a completely different approach than I did in my hay-day. The team I formed in 1992, Flare Logistics, was made for GT3Equestria, ERC and Le Manes style events. Purebred, custom-built RACE-SPEC cars that my mechanics and I spent days working on. Other teams went to car companies and built a partnership using their cars, which they then stripped and race-tuned. My team built it all from the ground up.

This challenge,  then, is going to be the hardest yet.

My cousin runs a classic car business. He goes to auctions and gets a bargain, restores the car and then sells them on. He had a Mini Cooper S van once - it was a really nice drive. I asked him whether he could source me a modern classic, preferably Japanese built, for the Running of the Leaves. Within two weeks he had found it, a Midnight Purple ’97 Nissan Skyline.

 

#471 - 1997 Nissan Skyline R33 ‘Flare Logistics’

Specs:

POWER                              599 HP (6,400_RPM)

TORQUE                             542 LB-FT (3,200_RPM)

REDLINE                             7,000_RPM

WEIGHT                              3,033 LBS

DISTRIBUTION                    54% (FRONT)

DISPLACEMENT                 3.8L V6TT

DRIVE TYPE                       AWD

ENGINE POSITION              FRONT

ASPIRATION                       TWIN-TURBO

TRANSMISSION                  6-SPEED