Drag Racer Saving Nissan GT-R From 225 MPH Crash Makes It Look Easy

It all happened during last month's TX2K event. As is the norm, the 2021 edition brought together plenty of four-figure street car-based builds to the Houston Raceway Park for drag racing and roll racing. And the Texan velocity fest wasn't without its incidents, even though we can report that nobody was injured during the event, fortunately.

This year saw the GT-R projects taking over the event to the detriment of Lamborghini Huracan builds, but, for now, we'll focus on the tale of a specific Nissan.

This example of Godzilla retains its full street vehicle assets, which means it's not a scale-friendly beast. Nevertheless, the machine is now animated by a 4.3-liter AMS billet block working with a pair of Precision 7685 turbos and using hardware such as methanol injection and a custom water-to-air intercooler to generate about 2,500 horsepower.

While the beast has kept its AWD nature, the rear beadlock wheels now keep meaty-sidewall tires in place to help with traction during the starting phase of the race. As far as aero is concerned, the "longtail" approach defining the posterior is there to reduce drag at high speeds.

Before crossing the finish line, things went well for the Japanese-built-American-modded vehicle, as it appeared to one-up the Raging Bull it was going up against in a rolling race. However, as Billy, its driver, came off the throttle while he was performing light countersteer maneuvers to keep the animal in check, the rear end came loose.

With the stunt taking place at about 225 mph (362 kph), it took a steady hand to avoid overdoing the swift opposite lock maneuvers required to keep the vehicle from kissing the concrete barriers on the sides of the track. While the parachute also helped stabilize the vehicle, the car seemed to be willing to kiss both walls (you'll find the said race at the 4:40 point of the clip below, which comes from that racing channel).

Of course, things could have ended badly, especially if the Lambo had stuck with the Nissan up until the end, as the latter could've crashed into the first. As Tony Palo of T1 Race Development, the builder behind the GT-R, aptly points out at the 9:20 point of the video, these fights often cross the 1,320 feet point where the finish line is.

In fact, another race held at the event saw a twin-turbo R8 spinning into a wall while doing battle with a different GT-R (you'll find this in the first part of the clip).

In the end, nobody was hurt, but such incidents only come to show why racing needs to take place in a controlled environment, with barriers for the public, emergency responders on-site, and other safety measures.