It was an echo of the glory days of Japanese racing, when the Hakosuka GT-R similarly ruled the racetrack to achieve its famed 50 victories. The races drew massive numbers, and it is said that at 1990’s last race at Fuji Speedway, 87,000 spectators saw the GT-R dominate once again. In its first season, the car nabbed the pole position in all six races and outright won five of them. The return of the legendary GT-R name not used since the early 1970s was a huge deal in Japan and sponsorship of Hoshino’s team continued, giving us the iconic Calsonic R32 Skyline GT-R. The first car to wear it was the homologation R31 Skyline GTS-R Hoshino drove with Moto Kitano.Ī year later, the iconic R32 Skyline was introduced. At a time when many teams were using brighter and multiple colors, the stark all-blue with white lettering graphic scheme was quite unique. In 1988, the company merged with another automotive supplier called Kansei Corporation to form Calsonic Kansei, headquartered in Saitama Prefecture. The new company needed a new corporate look, the Calsonic Blue livery was born. They were sponsoring Nissan race cars campaigned by Kazuyoshi Hoshino - whose team was called Impul (yes, that’s where the wheel name comes from) - as early as 1982, most prominently with the Super Silhouette S110 and S12 Silvia. Eventually, they became the primary supplier of radiators for Nissan, but moved into producing gauges and catalytic converters as well. One of their first products was for a Nissan 180 truck. As the name implies, their specialty was heat exchangers, radiators, and air conditioning units. The company actually has a long history with Nissan that goes back long before the instantly recognizable blue livery, almost 80 years to be specific.įounded in 1938, the company was originally called Nihon Radiator, or Nichira for short. The JTCC R32s were what made the livery famous, but this wasn’t the first use of Calsonic Blue.īefore we delve into the history of the livery, it might be a good idea to explain exactly what Calsonic is. Specifically, it graced the R32 Skyline GT-R of the Japan Touring Car Championships, and while Godzilla notably won every single JTCC race it competed in from 1990-93, the Calsonic liveried cars were the winningest, taking the championship in both the first and the final seasons. Outside of Japan, most enthusiasts’ first encounter with the legendary Calsonic Blue livery of Nissan’s touring cars was likely in Gran Turismo.
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