If You Can Dream It, You Can Break It – Introducing Project Thirty Four

1999 was a bit of a strange year.

The world was braced for complete chaos as the Millennium bug ripped through computers faster than an itchy rash at Coachella. US President Bill Clinton was finally acquitted from having his stars & stripes rearranged by a White House intern, and the phrase ‘hashtag’ would’ve seen you arrested on conspiracy to sell weed.

Hell, a meme was just a foreign-sounding name.

1999年是一个奇怪的一年。

由于千禧虫在计算机上比在Coachella发痒的皮疹更快地撕裂，因此全世界都陷入了完全的混乱之中。美国总统比尔克林顿终于因白宫实习生重新安排他的星条和条纹而被无罪释放，并且“标签”这句话会看到你因串谋出售杂草而被捕。

地狱，模因只是一个外国名字。

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But in between the weird was a bit of good. 1999 gave us arguably one of the best supercars of all time, the Mercedes CLK GTR. And for $1,499,950 less you could buy Gran Turismo 2, one of the best racing games of all time.

Seeing as Speedhunters is powered by Need for Speed those words should be muttered quietly, but I’ve been assured that for this one time only I’ve got a free pass. That, and I know Paddy loves a bash around the digital Nürburgring.

但在奇怪之间有点好。1999年，我们可以说是有史以来最好的超级跑车之一，梅赛德斯CLK GTR。只需1,499,950美元即可购买Gran Turismo 2，这是有史以来最好的赛车游戏之一。

看到Speedhunters是由Need for Speed提供动力的，这些话应该悄悄地嘀咕，但我已经确信，这一次我只有一张免费通行证。那，我知道帕迪喜欢在数字纽博格林附近闯祸。

Not only did Gran Turismo revolutionise driving simulators on a mainstream scale, it changed my outlook on car culture forever.

While you could argue the series has lost its way a bit in recent years (it’s not much of a debate, it has) the first four games from 1997 through to 2004 remain some of the best racing games of all time.

Gran Turismo不仅在主流规模上彻底改变了驾驶模拟器，它还永远改变了我对汽车文化的看法。

虽然你可以说这个系列在近几年已经失去了一些方面（这不是一场辩论，但它有）从1997年到2004年的前四场比赛仍然是有史以来最好的赛车游戏。

Back then, I was 11-years-old and like most 11-year-old boys I’d developed a bit of an obsession for cars, thanks mainly to ‘old’ Top Gearduring Clarkson’s merkin-for-hair era.

Put simply, if it was Italian with many vents or a swooping race car which shot fire, you had my 11-year-old attention. Then, along comes Gran Turismo – with all 45,000 variations of a Suzuki Alto Works – and suddenly my brain was poisoned forevermore.

What even is a Suzuki Alto Works? Why do I need so many versions? And why does an oil change almost double its horsepower?

那时候，我11岁，像大多数11岁的男孩一样，我对汽车有一点点的痴迷，主要归功于Clarkson的merkin-for-hair时代的'老' Top Gear。

简而言之，如果它是带有许多通风口的意大利人或者射击的猛烈赛车，那么你就有了我11岁的注意力。然后，沿着Gran Turismo - 铃木奥拓作品的所有45,000种变化 - 突然我的大脑永远中毒了。

甚至铃木奥拓的作品是什么？为什么我需要这么多版本？为什么石油变化几乎是其马力的两倍？

In reality, none of that mattered because it had already opened the door into Japanese car culture. A culture I’ve borderline obsessed over (a very Japanese approach ironically) for some 20 years now, and it’s all Gran Turismo’s fault.

That’s not to say other games didn’t try – the very first Need for Speedfeatured an NSX, RX-7 and Supra – but Gran Turismo did two things the others didn’t: car tuning and Nissan Skylines.

实际上，这一切都不重要，因为它已经打开了日本汽车文化的大门。20年来我一直痴迷于（一种极具讽刺意味的日本方式）的文化，而这一切都是格兰特瑞斯特的错。

这并不是说其他游戏没有尝试 - 第一个极品飞车的特色是NSX，RX-7和Supra - 但是Gran Turismo做了其他两件事：汽车改装和日产Skylines。

As a young boy obsessed with cars who hadn’t quite discovered the turmoil of females, my next logical obsession was numbers… or rather, Top Trumps.

‘Cus your love for a car could entirely be dictated by its vital stats – horsepower, 0-60mph and the all-important top speed. Throw tuning into the mix and all the standard rules go out the window. Tell an 11-year-old that a wacky-looking Nissan could be tuned to over 1000hp and you’ve created the ultimate Top Trumps top trumper.

The fact the Skyline GT-R looked like it’d crashed through Halfords in the process was just a bonus.

作为一个痴迷于没有发现女性动荡的汽车的小男孩，我的下一个逻辑痴迷是数字......或者更确切地说，顶级特朗普。

“你对汽车的热爱完全取决于其重要的统计数据 - 马力，0-60英里每小时和最重要的最高速度。调整混合，所有标准规则都会消失。告诉一个11岁的人，一个看上去很古怪的日产可以调到超过1000马力，你已经创造了最终的顶级特朗普顶级王牌。

事实上，Skyline GT-R 在这个过程中看起来像通过Halfords坠毁只是一个奖励。

Skylines were iconic; they still are today. In the ’90s, after their initial dominance at Bathurst, tuning launched the Skyline to a stratospheric level – both in the virtual and real world.

Don’t forget this was a few years before The Fast and The Furiousbrought tuning culture to the mainstream, and connecting to the internet still sounded like R2-D2 was having a stroke.

天际线是标志性的; 他们今天仍然是。在90年代，在他们最初在巴瑟斯特的统治地位之后，调整将Skyline推向了平流层 - 无论是在虚拟世界还是现实世界。

不要忘记这是几年前“速度与激情”将调音文化带入主流，并且连接到互联网仍然听起来像R2-D2正在中风。

What made GT-R tuning feel unique compared to everything else? The Japanese. If you presented a German man stood next to a Mercedes, suited & booted explaining cylinder head optimisation, 11-year-old me would’ve fallen asleep.

But show me a Japanese man in dungarees working in his garage – complete with some badly-translated subtitles reading ‘it gives great sensation of powerful feeling’ – and that seemed infinitely cooler than anything the western world could offer.

是什么让GT-R调音与其他一切相比都是独一无二的？日本。如果你看到一个德国人站在梅赛德斯旁边，适合并启动解释气缸头优化，11岁的我就会睡着了。

但是告诉我一个穿着工作服的日本男人在他的车库里工作 - 有一些翻译得很糟糕的字幕，上面写着'它给人一种强烈的感觉' - 这看起来比西方世界提供的任何东西都要冷得多。

It’d take me a further 18 years to finally visit Japan, and it’s one of the few countries where the reality turned out to be far better than my imagination. Even if the culture of saying ‘yes, no problem’ to something which is actually a problem (and subsequently not possible) gets quite wearing.

我需要再过18年才能最终访问日本，而且这是少数几个现实比我的想象更好的国家之一。即使对某些实际上存在问题（并且随后不可能）的事情说“是，没有问题”的文化也会变得非常容易。

Everyone loves an underdog. The Skyline GT-R shouldn’t be able to mix it with the best; it came at a time when Nissan was on the brink of bankruptcy. It chose turbochargers over displacement, four-wheel-drive over rear-wheel-drive. It stood out from the crowd without being ostentatious.

That attitude appeals much more to me than a traditional supercar; it represents the type of character I am. Happiest flying under the radar without making a fuss unless it’s necessary. Maybe that’s the real reason why Japanese culture stood out so much to me? Hideously introverted in day-to-day life but with a car that serves as an extension to your true character behind closed doors.

每个人都喜欢失败者。Skyline GT-R不应该与最好的混合使用; 它发生在日产处于破产边缘的时候。它选择了超越排量的涡轮增压器，后轮驱动的四轮驱动。它从人群中脱颖而出而没有炫耀。

与传统的超级跑车相比，这种态度对我的吸引力更大; 它代表了我的角色类型。除非有必要，否则最快乐的飞行不会大惊小怪。也许这就是为什么日本文化对我如此突出的真正原因？在日常生活中显然内向，但有一辆车可以作为你闭门造车的真正性格的延伸。

There was no promise that one day I’d own an R34 GT-R, even if my last dying words screamed ‘Smoookeeeyyy Nagaaataaa’ before performing harikari.

I’ve always looked at things in a horrendously logical way – great for accepting that luck and God doesn’t get you results, bad when you realise it’s only hard work and informed decisions which do. Ironic given my typical approach to buying cars.

没有人承诺有一天我会拥有一台R34 GT-R，即使我的最后一个垂死的词在表演harikari之前尖叫着'Smoookeeeyyy Nagaaataaa'。

我总是以一种可怕的逻辑方式看待事物 - 非常适合接受运气而上帝不会得到你的结果，当你意识到这只是艰苦的工作和明智的决定时，这很糟糕。Ironic给出了我购买汽车的典型方法。

It’s not so much that logic goes out the window, it’s just more that logic doesn’t exist in the first place.

Viewing a car, driving a car, checking its history. Leave that all behind.

If there was a WhatsApp group of car salesmen around the world, I’d be the statue they all pray towards for good luck. First car I bought? Japanese (EK Civic). First car I crashed? Japanese (EK Civic, obviously). First car I bought in the dark without driving? Japanese (RX7). First car I blew up? Japanese (RX7, absolutely blindingly obvious).

逻辑不在窗外，并不是说逻辑首先不存在。

观看汽车，开车，查看历史。把这一切都抛在脑后。

如果世界各地都有一个WhatsApp汽车销售人员小组，那么他们就是他们为了好运而祈祷的雕像。我买的第一辆车？日语（EK Civic）。第一辆车我撞了吗？日本人（显然是EK Civic）。我在黑暗中买的第一辆车没有开车？日语（RX7）。第一辆车爆炸了吗？日语（RX7，非常明显）。

Skip forward a few years and that story repeated itself more times than I should probably admit to. Three RX7s (the most recent of which I still own is pictured above), two Civics, an S14a, Evo X and two Skyline GT-Rs later, I finally found myself in a position to buy an R34 GT-R.

This is the one Japanese car which had always escaped me. I’d use every excuse why – the R33 shares many parts with it, the R32 is the original – but the only reason was that I couldn’t afford it. Simple as that.

向前略过几年，这个故事重复了很多次，而不是我应该承认的。三辆RX7（我最近仍然拥有它们如上图所示），两辆Civics，一辆S14a，Evo X和两辆Skyline GT-R后来，我终于发现自己有能力购买R34 GT-R。

这是一辆一直逃过我的日本车。我会用每一个借口--R33与它分享很多部分，R32是最初的 - 但唯一的原因是我负担不起。就那么简单。

It’s a really odd feeling buying a car you’ve borderline worshipped for so long, one I feel has been watered down by various YouTubers making a fanfare for buying their dream car, inevitably selling it six months later and then buying their ACTUAL dream car all over again. And again. The influencer who cried wolf springs to mind…

购买一辆你已被长期崇拜的汽车真是一种奇怪的感觉，我觉得被各种各样的YouTubers大肆宣传购买他们的梦想汽车，六个月后不可避免地卖掉它然后购买他们的ACTUAL梦想汽车所有再次。然后再次。那个叫狼的影响者想起了......

The reality is, there isn’t a big fanfare. There’s equal parts of nervousness mixed with excitement – more in fact – because like the old saying ‘never meet your heroes’ there’s the real possibility your dream car might be a bit naff.

现实是，没有大张旗鼓。同样紧张的情绪与兴奋混合在一起 - 实际上更多 - 因为就像古老的谚语“永远不会遇到你的英雄”一样，你的梦想车真的有可能有点不自觉。

This is why I love the world of tuning so much. It doesn’t matter if it starts off a bit crap; you’ve got the freedom to refine it into your actual dream car. A dream which doesn’t require asking subscribers what colour you should wrap your own car – it’s your choice and spec no matter how wild or farfetched it seems.

That’s not a deliberate dig at any YouTube influencers, but rather the culture that manifests itself by taking a privileged experience and monetizing it for views.

这就是为什么我喜欢这么多调音的世界。如果它开始有点废话并不重要; 你可以自由地将它改进你的梦想中。一个梦想，不需要询问订户你应该用自己的车包装什么颜色 - 这是你的选择和规格，无论它看起来多么狂野或牵强。

这不是对任何YouTube影响者的刻意挖掘，而是通过获取特权体验并通过观点货币化来体现自己的文化。

The real problem with buying an R34 GT-R is the market. Not the lack of, the exact opposite in fact. It’s a car which is being crippled by two key words rapidly tainting interesting cars across the globe… ‘investment opportunity’

购买R34 GT-R的真正问题是市场。事实并非如此，完全相反。这是一辆被两个关键词瘫痪的汽车，它迅速玷污了全球各地有趣的汽车......“投资机会”。

Whatever happened to buying a car for an enjoyment opportunity? It seems the moment a car exceeds 20-years-old it’s immediately looked upon as a future classic. Doesn’t matter how terrible it was first time round, if it’s old and not rusty suddenly it’s a classic.

Now, if you’re blessed with a fat bank account and like the idea of telling people what cars you own rather than actually driving ‘em, fill your boots. But that’s never washed over with me.

无论购买汽车获得享受机会怎么样？似乎汽车超过20年的那一刻，它立刻被视为未来的经典。不管它第一次是多么可怕，如果它已经老了而且没有生锈突然它是一个经典。

现在，如果你有幸拥有一个沉重的银行账户，并且想要告诉人们你拥有什么样的车而不是真正开车，那就填满你的靴子吧。但是我从来没有洗过这个。

The moment you take a car away from what it was designed to do – transport people, go fast around a track, whatever – you’ve gained an expensive paperweight. That’s not to say you shouldn’t look after it, and I get that for some it’s the thrill of the chase which outweighs the ownership aspect.

When Gordon Murray was busy weighing the speakers for the McLaren F1, do you think he did that on the assumption that one day it’d be worth £20 million?

你把汽车从它的设计目的开始的那一刻 - 运输人员，快速绕过轨道，无论如何 - 你已经获得了昂贵的镇纸。这并不是说你不应该照顾它，而是因为某些事情，这就是追逐的快感超过了所有权方面。

当戈登·穆雷忙着为麦克拉伦F1的扬声器做称重时，你是否认为他这样做是因为假设有一天它值2000万英镑？

That’s how I view the R34 GT-R.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a Nissan engineer or a tuner in their workshop building performance-enhancing upgrades, those people and that car exists solely on the basis that it gets used.

这就是我对R34 GT-R的看法。

如果它是日产工程师或他们的工作室中的调谐器并不构成提高性能的升级，那么这些人和那辆车的存在完全取决于它的使用。

Step forward Harlow Jap Autos.

I’d known about HJA for years already; they differ from your typical used car dealership because they stock equal amounts of tuned cars as they do stock. Seeing as I’d never been in a position to buy one, I’d never given them much of a look. But as soon as ownership looked like a possibility, HJA became the holy grail for terrible-brilliant financial decisions.

向前迈进Harlow Jap Autos。

我已经知道HJA多年了; 它们与典型的二手车经销商不同，因为他们存货等量的调整车。看到我从来没有买过一个，我从来没有给他们太多的看。但是一旦所有权看起来像是一种可能性，HJA就成了可怕的财务决策的圣杯。

My dream R34 GT-R couldn’t be stock – I wanted the peak ’90s Japanese special. Big silly turbo, Volk Racing TE37s, preferably some odd-positioned gauges and far too much horsepower. Turns out that’s HJA’s bread and butter.

Not only do they bring over über-clean stock models, they’re also responsible for buying some of Japan’s most iconic tuner cars too. Garage Defend, Auto Select, Sunline Racing – these famed demo cars now reside in the UK and beyond, all thanks to Harlow Jap Autos.

我的梦想R34 GT-R无法存货 - 我想要90年代日本特别高峰。大傻涡轮，沃尔克赛车TE37s，优选一些奇数定位仪和远太多马力。原来那是HJA的面包和黄油。

他们不仅带来了超级清洁的车型，而且还负责购买一些日本最具标志性的调谐器车型。Garage Defend，Auto Select，Sunline Racing - 这些着名的演示车现在都位于英国及其他地区，这一切都归功于Harlow Jap Autos。

‘Genuine beast from the east – Full Stage 650bhp HKS 2.8 R34 GT-R’.

I’m not saying Ozz had been monitoring my internet search history, but that advert title was too much of a coincidence. It looked beyond perfect, 11-year-old me was having a complete crisis at the thought of it. HKS 2.8-litre engine, T04Z single turbo, Volk TE37 wheels and 650bhp.

Aside from a slightly enthusiastic Voltex wing and BRIDE bucket seat which my fat western thighs couldn’t fit in, this R34 was the epitome of my dream R34 GT-R. It even ran a Top Secret front bumper (probably the best aftermarket option after Nismo Z-Tune).

For once I’d actually picked a good one. Of course, I didn’t drive it before buying it. Why change the habit of a lifetime?

'来自东方的真正野兽 - Full Stage 650bhp HKS 2.8 R34 GT-R'。

我不是说Ozz一直在监视我的互联网搜索历史，但这个广告标题太巧合了。它看起来超越了完美，11岁的我在想到它的时候遇到了彻底的危机。HKS 2.8升发动机，T04Z单涡轮增压，Volk TE37车轮和650bhp。

除了一个稍微热情的Voltex机翼和BRIDE斗式座椅，我的胖大西部大腿无法适应，这款R34是我梦寐以求的R34 GT-R的缩影。它甚至跑了一个Top Secret前保险杠（可能是Nismo Z-Tune之后最好的售后市场选择）。

有一次，我真的选了一个好的。当然，我没有在购买前开车。为什么要改变一生的习惯？

In the months following the purchase, I drove the R34 as much as humanly possible – come rain or shine. I had no interest in tucking it away while studying worldwide values; if it had 650bhp, I was going to use 650bhp whether that was going to the shops or heading to the Nürburgring.

Full boost, all the time, here’s a car that’s begging to be used.

在购买之后的几个月里，我尽可能地驾驶R34 - 风雨无阻。在研究全球价值观时，我没有兴趣把它藏起来; 如果它有650马力，我将使用650马力，无论是去商店还是前往纽伯格林。

全力以赴，这是一辆乞求使用的汽车。

Unfortunately, I should’ve probably ignored this slightly care-free attitude for a few of the 3000+ miles I racked up, as I now find myself in the middle of rebuilding its engine for the second time after a bit of bad luck and a whole lot of enthusiastic driving.

不幸的是，我可能会忽略这种对我在3000英里以上的里程中稍微小心的态度，因为我现在发现自己在运气不好之后第二次重建它的发动机。一大堆热情的驾驶。

You know what? I’d still choose that approach over a garage queen any day of the week, even if my bank balance screams otherwise.

But we’ll save that story for next time.

你知道吗？即使我的银行余额发出其他声音，我仍然会在一周中的任何一天选择这种方法而不是车库女王。

但我们下次会保存这个故事。

Project GT-R – Initial spec (from April 2018 purchase)

Engine

HKS 2.8 Step 2 stroker kit, HKS Oil pump, Trust sump extension, HKS crank damper pulley kit, HKS 1.2mm metal head gasket kit, HKS Step 2 cam shafts, HKS valve springs, HKS T04z Single Turbo, HKS manifold, HKS External wastegate, HKS air filter, HKS intake pipe, HKS intercooler piping kit, Nismo Bearings, Early cast iron RB26 block used for build, Dummy head block bored, Full Stage catch tank, Full Stage custom titanium exhaust, Samco radiator hoses, Nismo engine mounts, ARC engine oil cooler kit, Full Stage Aluminium radiator, ARC transmission oil cooler kit, ARC diff cooler, Sard coolant air separator tank, Full Stage swirl pot setup, SARD fuel pressure regulator, Sard 800cc injectors, JUN fuel rail, Nismo twin fuel pumps, HKS F Con vV-Pro Gold, HKS boost controller

Driveline

ATS Carbon rear LSD 1.5way, ATS Carbon front LSD 1.5way, Omega diff oil, ATS carbon twin plate clutch, Omega transmission oil, Brembo 8 pot monoblock brake callipers front, Brembo 4 pot callipers rear, Floating rotors front and rear

Suspension

Crux coilover kit, Ikeya Formula arms, Auto Select front strut brace

Wheels & Tyres

18×10.5in ET15 Volk Racing TE37 alloy, Toyo R888r 275-35-18 track tyres

Exterior

Nismo LED tail lights, carbon bonnet painted body colour, Nismo clear indicators, Ganador wing mirrors, Top Secret front bumper and carbon undertray, Nismo side skirts/spats, carbon R34 GT-R spoiler (with extended wing stands)

Interior

Recaro Pole Position bucket seat, Nismo shift knob, DEFI gauges x 6, Cusco roll cage

项目GT-R - 初始规格（从2018年4月购买）

发动机

HKS 2.8 Step 2冲程套件，HKS油泵，Trust油底壳延长件，HKS曲柄减震器滑轮套件，HKS 1.2mm金属头垫片套件，HKS Step 2凸轮轴，HKS气门弹簧，HKS T04z单涡轮增压器，HKS歧管，HKS外部废气门，HKS空气过滤器，HKS进气管，HKS中冷器管道套件，Nismo轴承，用于制造的早期铸铁RB26块，钻头虚拟头块，全阶段收集罐，全阶段定制钛排气管，Samco散热器软管，Nismo发动机支架，ARC发动机机油冷却器套件，全阶段铝制散热器，ARC变速箱油冷却器套件，ARC差速器冷却器，Sard冷却液空气分离器油箱，全阶段涡流罐设置，SARD燃油压力调节器，SARD 800cc喷油器，JUN燃油轨，Nismo双燃料泵，HKS F Con vV-Pro Gold，HKS增压控制器

Driveline

ATS Carbon后部LSD 1.5way，ATS Carbon前部LSD 1.5way，Omega差速器油，ATS碳纤维双板式离合器，Omega变速箱油，Brembo 8罐单体制动卡钳前部，Brembo 4罐卡钳后部，浮动转子前后

Suspension

Crux套管套件，Ikeya Formula手臂，Auto Select前支撑支架

车轮和轮胎

18×10.5in ET15 Volk Racing TE37合金，东洋R888r 275-35-18履带轮胎

外部

Nismo LED尾灯，碳纤维车身涂漆车身颜色，Nismo清晰指示灯，Ganador后视镜，Top Secret前保险杠和碳纤维底盘，Nismo侧裙/ spats，碳R34 GT-R扰流板（带延长翼架）

内部

Recaro Pole位置铲斗座，Nismo换档旋钮，DEFI压力表x 6，库斯科防滚架