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Skylines: seriously fly

There are certain characters on the Cape car scene who could be described as larger than life. Jonathan Schaffers is one of these people.

Known on the track as Johnny 2J, he is probably best known for his red Nissan Skyline powered by a Nissan VK45 turbocharged V8 powerplant. Talk to the guys at Saldanha top-end drags, and they speak of this car with awe. It has always been one of the more exciting cars to watch as it tears down the 800 metre strip.

The Nissan VK45 engine itself was used by Nismo for Super GT races, with its variable intake manifold directing air through different pathways so as to optimise low-end torque or high-end horsepower. For its time, a very competitive powerplant.

What Johnny may be less known for is his philanthropic projects. As a founding member of the Supporting People in Need (SPIN) non-governmental organisation, he has been instrumental in arranging and executing targeted outreach projects that support the community. Representing a charity organisation that operates from within communities, the projects intimately understand the needs of the people being helped and responds directly to these needs.

The philosophy of SPIN is simple: get the kids off the streets and into Spin cars, give them something to work at and to get known for. You can learn more about Johnny and this aspect of his community passion in episode 10 of Karbrasse, streamed via Showmax.

 Johnny speaks of having to leave school early after his father died, then spending hours in his grandfather’s garage, learning the art of mechanics from the ground up. Since a young age he has been building cars to enjoy, to race and to spin.

 The three Skylines featured today though, are all in the family and are testament to Johnny’s preference for adding a modicum of performance technology to old school icons. The result is a surprise to many drivers of newer cars when they give him a go at the robots.

 All three cars are 1987 Skylines, with the blue car sporting a stock standard Nissan RB25 engine for Johnny’s son Ricardo, and the grey Skyline running a Nissan L28 engine usually found in the old 2.8 litre GTX, but with a turbocharger added.

 Ricardo, for his part, delightfully blames his appreciation for the Skyline on his father, having grown up alongside all things Nissan.

 The grey Skyline, unusually so for these cars, is stock standard. Johnny’s reasoning behind this is to demonstrate that it does not have to take piles of cash and imported engines to make a racer. He says: “Noticing the direction the racing genre is taking nowadays, I decided to keep it simple and affordable, and I wanted to show car fans that the old school way of doing things is definitely still relevant.

And no better car to do that with than the Skyline, a car that holds a special place in automotive history. Starting with an angular design that departed from the rounded aesthetic of previous generations, the 1987 Skyline arrived as a modern and somewhat aggressive vehicle, built with motorsport in mind. With a large turbocharger and intercooler, rear-wheel drive layout and solid suspension, it can be said that the 1987 R31 models laid the groundwork, and the reputation, for the iconic R32-GTR, a car that cemented the legacy of the Skyline as a global racing legend.