The Supercars Sandown 500 was somewhat of a wild event, with TCM being cancelled early on Saturday following a crash at the end of the back straight, on the same day as Todd Hazelwood narrowly avoided serious injury after another horrific crash at turn 6.
But not all was doom and gloom at the weekend – that morning saw a rather spirited thrash from some of Nissan’s most iconic Aussie racers while fans and VIPs watched on from a small ‘safari’ bus lapping the track.
Joining the bus for Nissan’s ‘circuit safari’ were two of its R31-based Skyline GTS-R racers built by Gibson Motorsport, one being the car driven by Jim Richards in the the 1990 Australian Touring Car Championship.

The stars of the show, however, were the two 1991 R32 Skyline GT-Rs which became famous for absolutely dominating the competition.
And one of them was the ‘Godzilla’.

It won seven of the nine rounds of the championship in 1991, and became the first Japanese car to win at Bathurst.
Also present at the safari was one of Nissan’s international racers, a prototype that most Australians wouldn’t be too familiar with.

Nissan Australia’s senior marketing manager Mitchell Wiley said the event has been included in the NISMO festival for a long time, but this was the first time it had been brought Down Under.
“The Nissan Circuit Safari is a unique way for Nissan to bring its motorsport heritage to life, and the Sandown retro round is the perfect place to do this.”