Bulletproof engines, killer handling, and a chassis to die for, thanks to the Chicken Tax, Nissan Skylines for drifting aren’t a thing here, but that’s slowly changing.
Tired of seeing just S-Chassis and FRS’s in Formula Drift Pro 2? Worry no more because something big, bright, and hot yellow is headed to your local Formula Drift feeder series. According to Matt Haugen Racing on his Facebook page earlier today (Nov 5, 2018) he officially announced his intention to slide in Formula Drift in one of the most anticipated chassis to hit our shores since the chicken tax, the legendary R34 Nissan Skyline AKA Gojira AKA Godzilla. Check out a rough and ready side profile rendering of what should be the hottest sled to slide through Pro 2.
With the floodgates of importing chassis into the United States now a thing, there’s been an influx of R33’s and R34’s in all forms of grey market legality. While you can’t drive these cars officially on city streets, you can presumably bring a chassis over and trailer it around, soley for racecar duties, which is what Matt Haugen is doing.
A cursory glance over at Matt’s official Blog, this Skyline has been in the works at least for the previous year with a full restoration seeing this legendary JDM beast stripped to bare metal for a no-expenses-spared and “do it right the first time” kind of build.
Matt made a name for himself sliding around his 1,000 HP Hyundai Genesis, a chassis that few drift because of the lack of aftermarket support. Major props go out to Matt because after reading his blog posting highlighting the struggles he went through to get this Korean sport car to hang its rear end out reliably, he low-key laid out the foundation for people who want to slide their Hyundai’s in the future. It can be done, it’ll just take a certain type of person to do so. Also, it would behoove you to have some savings in your bang account.
No word on what’ll be under the hood of this R34 but Matt Haugen’s listed some legit sponsers and partners for this build. Additonally, drifters around the world already drift the Skyline on the daily so presumably, Matt will have an easier time finding his groove (knock on wood.)
So, look out for this Skyline at your local Pro Am 2 Formula Drift championship series, soon!
Source: Matt Haugen Racing
