1982 #17 Houshou Hinode Garuda Group 5
Made in collaboration with @66mazda
Hinode did not have much of a racing pedigree. Hinode cars have previously competed in various motorsports. However, these cars all raced under private teams as Hinode never had their own factory team. That was until 1982, when Hinode cannonballed their way into one of the world’s most prestigious motorsports: Group 5.
The company’s car was the Garuda, which was first released in 1981. The Garuda was designed as the successor to the Mahkota Coupe, an E-segment personal luxury coupe. While the car would be quite large and boaty compared to its competitors, Hinode’s engineers believed in the Garuda’s potential at the race track while the executives believed in its marketing potential.
And thus with the assistance of Hinode-sponsored racing teams and even rivals such as the Kaizen Corporation, and the Houshou keiretsu (consisting of a movie studio and a shipping company), the Garuda Group 5 was born.
Because Hinode’s existing engines were too small to reliably receive the boost of a turbo, the engineers designed a new engine from the ground up which could displace up to 3.5L. For the race car, however, the engine sleeved to 3.2L and turbocharged to fit under the FIA’s 4.5L class after the FIA 1.4L multiplier for forced induction. The shape of the car was also changed drastically, with a large air dam, enlarged fenders, cooling vents, along with a large wing and diffuser at the back to improve aerodynamics. Thanks to the use of aluminium body panels and other lightening measures, the Garuda Group 5 weighs only 1092kg, about 100kg less than the homologation model and 250kg less than the standard model.
In all, the Garuda Group 5 could dash to 100km/h in just 4.3 seconds and reach a top speed of 342km/h at the Yatabe Test Track, while gluing its driver to their seat at 1.32g and 1.61g in 20m and 200m cornering respectively.
The Garuda Group 5 first debuted in the 1982 FIA World Sportscar Championship at Monza, drabbed in Houshou colours and driven by Albert Hoy, a former race car driver and executive at Houshou Studios that went out of retirement for the race. Hoy went on to win the race, scoring the Hinode factory team’s first-ever victory.
After the dissolution of Group 5 by the FIA at the end of 1982, the Garuda continued to compete in other championships such as the All Japan Endurance Championship and the Fuji Super Silhouette Series. For all its greatness, however, the Garuda Group 5 still suffered a number of setbacks throughout its career including crashes due to human error and the general obsolescence of the car as time went by.
In spite of its flaws, the Garuda Group 5 is remembered fondly by many as the car that paved the way for future Hinode motorsport endeavours and for the technologies that it helped to bring to production Hinode models, including the use of aluminium panels and double wishbone rear suspension, and as the underdog that went toe-to-toe with the world’s best.
To comply with Group 5 regulations, Hinode released their homologation car: the 3.5GTR. While the normal Garuda was luscious and heavy, the 3.5GTR was stripped-down and sport-oriented. Powering the 3.5GTR is a 3.5l inline 6 engine derived from the race engine producing 280hp. With its (relatively) low weight of 1197.5kg, 5-speed manual, and limited-slip differential, the 3.5GTR was able to accelerate to 100km/h in 6.1 seconds while its cornering abilities were superb thanks to the double-wishbone suspension system on all four wheels all while the driver sits in relative comfort.
