At the second Japan Grand Prix in 1964, Prince Motor Company pit a family sedan against a race car. And even though Shinichiro Sakurai stuffed a two extra cylinders down the nose of the Prince, the purpose-built Porsche 904 won — but not before creating the legend of the Skyline. For the third Japan Grand Prix, Sakurai didn’t mess around. Prince returned with a purpose-built race car of its own, the R380.
Powered by the legendary Prince GR8 motor — a four-valve, triple-carbed, twin-cam design that might sound familiar to GT-R and Z432 fans — mounted midship, the Prince R380 came prepared to take on the new and improved Porsche 906. After a hard-fought battle, the R380 emerged victorious. Best Motoring obtained footage of the race, which you can see in the video above. Also in the video, Shinichro Sakurai himself talks about the R380. It’s all in Japanese of course, but you can still listen to the wondrous sounds of the R380 at full speed at the then-new Fuji Speedway.
Just needs a # 5 on the roundel.