Just who the hell do the people at Sunline R think they are? Never heard of 'em? We didn't expect you to. Sunline's an Okayama-based shop, and we're willing to bet that you haven't heard of that city, either. Near the Osaka end of the country, Okayama is home to a crapload of amazing tuners you'll never hear of and drifters you'll never see on American soil. Sunline R is one of those tuners. And like other tuners, Sunline R focuses on one make, and in this case, it's Nissan. Some of the other demo cars from Sunline are the Silvia Street Version (no relation to the Super Street Version), Sunline FairLady Z33, R32, R34 and Sunline Cefiro. The company's Silvia S15 SPL is the road racing track-counterpart to its Silvia S15 Street version. You've seen enough last-generation Silvia models to know when to be impressed.
Now is one of those times.
On December 8, '05, the Sunline R Silvia SPL destroyed Tsukuba Circuit, posting a best lap time of 0'57"291. That's within four seconds of the record set by the all-carbon HKS Lancer Evolution-not bad for a car that probably weighs a few hundred pounds more. To be fair, Sunline also put in considerable effort to reduce the weight of the Silvia chassis. However, unlike the HKS Evo, the major parts of the unibody are steel, with its only removable parts made of carbon.
Sunline's expertise comes from building cars and designing parts. The company specializes in anything from the usual stuff like aluminum radiators, catch-cans, and aero parts, but it also takes things a few steps further with fancier stuff like Sunline R suspension parts and even dog gear transmissions for the Silvia.
The Silvia SPL isn't an SPL for nothing. It carries a killer punch in the form of Tomei's 2.2 liter engine kit. The kit consists of Tomei forged piston, forged H-section connecting rods, and forged fully-counterbalanced crankshaft; this last piece is where all the money goes. But Sunline R went further to set the SPL apart from its Street Version. With the bottom end completely fresh and ready for battle, SPL didn't intend on leaving the head alone. Tomei INEX 260 degree Procams replace the stock camshafts, along with Tomei PBB valve guides and Sunline R's Headtune.