Arriving from all parts of the country, owners of Nissan GT-Rs descended upon Penang for the inaugural GT-R Festival from 4-6 October 2024 and to welcome Nissan’s Brand AmbassadorHiroshi Tamura who is also known as father of the modern GT-R.

The three-day festival, held as a prelude to the Tokyo Auto Salon Kuala Lumpur which will be held in early November, kicks off with a a GT-R owners gathering and dinner with Tamura at the Crowne Plaza Penang Straits City this evening (4 October 2024).

The highlight of the festival is a convoy breakfast drive to SPICE Convention Centre on Saturday (5 October 2024) that will see the GT-R owners being escorted on the Penang Bridge Second Link. The formalities will also include several hours of free and easy giving owners the opportunity to explore Penang before regrouping back at Crowne Plaza Penang Straits City in the evening for an exclusive meet and greet with Tamura.

For members of the public, you can catch the festival on Friday (4 October 2024) from 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm at the Crowne Plaza Penang Straits City, or on Saturday (5 October 2024) from 8.30 am to 11.00 am at the SPICE Convention Centre ground level multi-storey carpark.

For many years, Hiroshi Tamura was Nissan’s Chief Product Specialist, responsible for the GT-R. Within the automotive community, he is known as the father of the modern GT-R.

Tamura, 62, joined Nissan in 1984 and worked for three years before being transferred to Autech, a subsidiary responsible for building all of the souped-up GT-R-powered Nissans. He rejoined Nissan's product planning department in 1993, eventually making his way up to the planning department for the R34 Skyline GT-R. In addition to leading the development of the R35 GT-R, Tamura was also responsible for the new generation of Nissan Zs.

“This is the second year of organizing Tokyo Auto Salon Kuala Lumpur and it’s going to be bigger and more exciting. While the GT-R Festival starts this year as a promotional event leading up the show, the support it has garnered from owners and fans alike proves that it has all the potential of becoming a standalone program which we intend to grow even further moving forward,” said Element X Strategies Director and Chief Executive Officer Jason Yap.

“I would like to take this opportunity to also thank the Penang State Government for its hospitality and support of the GT-R Festival. We are deeply honored to host the inaugural festival here.”