OUSCI Preview- Ben Therrien's 1995 Nissan Skyline

Today's profile for the 2012 OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational (OUSCI) will focus on Ben Therrien's 1995 Nissan Skyline R33. If Ben's name sounds familiar, it is because he competed in the 2010 OUSCI in a Chevy Cobalt, also from the Red Lion Motorsports stables. That previous experience will certainly benefit Therrien, as he knows the format and is familiar with the venue.

Therrien's Skyline is one of only a handful (perhaps between 5 and 37) of right-hand drive models to make it into the country. Apparently, when the cars were first being imported, they were not able to meet US government crash test standards and imports were halted. Those already on US soil were "grandfathered" in, including Therrien's, which was previously-owned by a drifter, who crashed it into a wall, just prior to selling it to Therrien.

It wasn't until after Therrien brought the car home, that he realized how unique the car was and how hard replacement parts were to find. "There are no body parts made for this car, whatever you can find is all used," says Therrien. "The body kit came from Japan, the taillights from Madagascar, the taillight bezels from New Zealand."

Once the car was repaired, the engine was rebuilt and now generates 420 rear wheel horsepower at 18 pounds of boost with 91 octane pump gas and stock 550cc injectors. With just a few tuning adjustments Ben is confident the car can generate north of 500 horsepower. For curious Skyline afficianados, the engine is the RB25DET 2.5L and features a stock crank and cams, but now has Eagle rods, CP Pistons, ACL race bearings, a Garrett GT3076R turbo, a Greddy Intake Manifold, Supertech valves and springs, a ported and polished head and an HKS exhaust manifold that exits into a three-inch Buddy Club exhaust system.

The Skyline weighs in at just over 3,000 pounds and while they haven't made it to the dragstrip, they estimate times in the low-11 second range. When we asked Ben how he thought the Skyline would fare in OUSCI competition, he felt the Skyline would shine the most in theRideTech Autocross Challenge and especially the BFGoodrich Hot Lap Challenge.

In addition to being sponsored by OPTIMA, Red Lion Motorsports is also sponsored by K&N Filters, Extreme Dimensions, Vertical Doors and NRG. You can watch all the past OUSCI competitions free, on-demand on the OPTIMA Network on Roku.