A gathering of ‘Godzillas’ at Gamuda Cove

Even before 1989, the GT-R – which was the high-performance version of Nissan’s Skyline model – was already known in motorsports circles. However, during the Australian Touring Car Championship in the late 1980s, the Nissan sportscar was impressively dominant. Its performance at the Bathurst 1000 race led Wheels, an Australian car magazine, to nickname it ‘Godzilla’, after the fictional Japanese monster.

The nickname somehow caught on and thereafter became used widely, not just in Australia but all over the world. It started with the R32 GT-R and has been used ever since to refer to Nissan’s legendary sportscar.

Not surprisingly, the ‘Godzilla’ Nissan has thousands of fans besides the lucky ones who are owners as well. As with many other sportscars, there are clubs dedicated to the GT-R, with a thriving and large community in Malaysia too. You may see them travelling in groups along the highway on Sunday drives or proudly displaying their cars at auto-related events.

This weekend, GT-R owners from around Malaysia once again got together at the 2025 Malaysia GT-R Festival. This is the second one after a similar event held in Penang in 2024. The event was actually part of the activities running up to the 2025 Tokyo Auto Salon Kuala Lumpur (TASKL2025) organised by Element X Strategies. This is the second year of the famous Japanese event and the Malaysian one is the only licensed Tokyo Auto Salon outside Japan.

With the GT-R being a popular display car at events such as the Tokyo Show, the organisers decided to have a special just for the community and invited them to meet at the Gamuda Cove Experience Gallery in bandar Gamuda Cove, Selangor.

Father of the modern GT-R
Arriving from as early as 9 am, some 80 ‘Godzillas’ turned up at the venue which is right next door to the Paya Indah Wetlands. While getting together and exchanging stories and admiring each other’s cars was one reason to attend, the bigger attraction was the presence of Hiroshi Tamura, a former Nissan Chief Product Specialist who was responsible for the development of the GT-R and is regarded as the ‘Father of the modern GT-R’ which was launched in 2007.

Tamura, 63, joined Nissan in 1984 and besides also working at AUTECH (a subsidiary which develops performance Nissans), he spend much time in Nissan’s Product Planning Department from 1993. He became involved in the development of the R34 Skyline and then led the team in the development of the R35 GT-R and was also responsible for the new generation of the Nissan Z.

So, for GT-R owners, a chance to meet Tamura could not be missed as he could provide many insights into the car. Some would have met him last year as he also came for the Malaysia GT-R Festival. Delighted to see all his ‘Godzilla babies’, he also picked three cars for awards of Best Tuning, Best Design and Tamura’s Choice of GT-R.

“It’s incredible to be able to host the second Malaysia GT-R Festival. Last year’s event brought participants to Penang and this year, we have the privilege of hosting it in Selangor. The Festival is one of several activities organized as a satellite event and as a pre-cursor to Tokyo Auto Salon Kuala Lumpur 2025 which kicks off on August 8,” said Jason Yap, CEO of Element X Strategies.

This year’s TASKL promises to be bigger and even more exciting with the attendance of 6 Japanese automotive legends and icons; the arrival of several iconic builds from Japan; and a showcase of Malaysia’s best tuners. The special displays from Japan include Top Secret’s VR32 Stealth Nissan BNR32 GT-RR (the only one of its kind in the world); Liberty Walk’s Super Silhouette ER34 and world-famous Ferrari F40 (the first time the F40 is being displayed outside of Japan); CREWCH Delusion next-generation GT-R R356C; and RE Amemiya’s MATSUKIYO KIZAMI 3ROTAR NA-7.