With 800 horsepower from a highly-tuned RB26, solid 295-section rubber at all four corners, and four wheel-drive, there are bound to be fireworks. The AGY Skyline GT-R isn’t the lightest time attacker at 3,050 pounds, but its tidal wave of torque make it a rocket. Plus, it has traction like you cannot believe. How can a car, on street tires, deliver that turbocharged torque so effectively to the pavement?

The frightening power is delivered in the typical RB26 fashion: a knockout punch high in the revs. With a massive Garrett single turbo replicating a small hurricane under the hood, the way the boost comes on abruptly, to say the least, but at least the engine’s been stroked to a solid 2.8 liters for more beneath 5,000 rpm.

Though aided by great traction and torque, the GT-R’s no spring chicken and shows its age under acceleration.

To handle the asphalt-churning power, AGY employs an ATS carbon clutch and LSD, as well as a strengthened S690RS gearbox. However, wonderful traction or not, it’s a car nearing thirty years old, and as such, still slides around in a classic style when some wheelspin loosens the rear.

Rounding the first hairpin, the rears are totally lit yet, with some accurate countersteering and a sensible use of the power available, there’s still plenty of drive off the corner. When the road straightens out it accumulates some serious speed in little time. At Tsukuba Circuit, where hairpins and long straights are the dominant features, the GT-R’s phenomenal traction and colossal power can work wonders.