I will introduce Japanese motorsport scene here.July 07, 2007
●777 - RX-7 Meeting at Daikoku (7-07-2007)
7th of July 2007, 7-7-07, the perfect day for an RX-7 meeting!
Here are some pictures from Daikoku. I've never seen so many cars there, it was truly amazing!
June 25, 2007
●Il Salotto D1 3-series car
This is one I shot a long time ago. This 3 series was turned into a SR20DET powered D1 drift machine by Il Salotto
For 2007 their drift car in now based on a E36 M3 and pushes over 400 PS thanks to some turbo-charging.
Enjoy the pictures:
May 07, 2007
●New wheels for the Legacy
Well with the cold winter season over the Legacys snow tyres (which are run on the stock 17" 5-spoke wheels) have been put in storage. I picked up a used set of 10-spoke Spec B. 18" wheels from Yahoo Auctions clad in almost new Falken something or other tyres. Certainly makes a change on the handling side of things, not to mention tyre noise is considerably reduced! I really like the look of these stock Subaru wheels, but I'm contemplating having them sprayed in a dark silver for a meaner look. Next for the Legacy will be suspension and brakes. I will keep you updated on how that goes.
A few pictures.
The Yokohama snow tyres
Station Wagons are great aren't they!
Getting them fitted at the local tyre place. The poor guy doing the work looked like he was 130 years old or something!
And with the new wheels fitted. Yes I know, it rides too high!
Put away until next winter
May 03, 2007
●V36 Skyline 370GT Coupe
Spotted this at Roppongi Midtown the other day. It's a very nice looking car and looks great in this deep red. The 3.7 L V6 promeses to be even better than the already great 3.5 L VQ35HR whcih I loved in the V36 saloon. Can't wait to get behind the wheel of this.
Some crappy pictures taken with my phone:
April 22, 2007
●Newera AE86 Toyota Levin, tuned by Techno Pro Spirits
Here is another car I shot last year, the Newera Imports AE86 Levin.
The owner, Miguel, kindly let me borrow his recently completed pride and joy for a few days. And what an experience that turned out to be. This little hachiroku is a very special car. Miguel built it up from scratch and turned it into the ultimate street going beast. Under the carbon fiber bonnet beats a highly compressed 4AG pumping out a whisker under 200 PS. It is without a doubt, a full-on race engine.
Seeing this was always going to be a road legal street car Miguel spent a lot of time and money on the interior. A set of red Bride seats take center stage while details like the Nardi racing wheel add to the whole drifter look. There is even a headunit if the piercing sound of the individual throttles gets boring!
And how about this for a custom dash! The old 80's cluster was binned and this Defi custom item built on a nice piece of carbon fiber. Looks great at night with the green illumination
Looks totally mean from any angle
Under the Mito tower in Ibaraki-ken
In the back streets of the city
And of course you are all wondering how it drives? Simple, this is the rawest most thrilling car I have ever driven. Sure it might not be as precise and as fast as more modern sports cars, but it gives the driver an overall more intense driving experience. This little hachi has something that has all but disagreed from cars lately, soul. Its controls feel so direct, it immediately responds to the faintest input, and gradually becomes an extension of your mind and body. It's a delight to hammer to the redline as the tiny 1.6 engine screams its heart out from intake and exhaust. And then there is the handling. No electronics to hamper feel here. Its as raw as the rest of the package and it is its finest point to say the least. Its demanding on the limit but progressive and understandable. Mess with it and it will bite you in the ass, but respect it and it will satisfy you in a way that very few cars can.
April 18, 2007
●Infini MZ21 Soarer
Well it has been over four months since the last update. Yes I know, I'm lazy. But seeing the amount of e-mails I've been getting asking me for more updates....well I couldn't really ignore them! So here we go.
This was a car I shot early last year at the Saitama football stadium. Built by Infini this MZ21 Soarer packs some serious power, very serious in fact. 900 PS on the engine and 1200 PS with a bit of nitrous! Which explains the size of the rear tyres!
All that power comes thanks to a 2JZ-GTE swap, running JUN-Cosworth pistons, HKS connecting rods and a stock, balanced crankshaft. A big HKS T51-R turbine was chosen to meet the 900 PS goal. As you can probably imagine a lot of fuel is needed to keep this engine happy so a twin rail set-up was made up, the first running 450cc injectors the second 720cc items. If that wasn't enough Infini fitted two nitrous foggers which are used only for serious drag races. The two tanks for the gas are in the boot. You can also see the ballast weights on the sides.
The interior has been stripped out and runs all the necessary gadgets to keep the engine happy. Gearbox lever actuates the cogs on the Hollinger sequential while the OS Giken quad plate clutch juggles the immense 120 kgm plus of torque.
And in case you are wondering, yes, this Soarer is sporting a full custom wide-body. No cheap FRP panels here, it's all metal and hand shaped by the owners trusted bodyshop! Quite a car to say the least!
December 08, 2006
●Tsukuba Super Battle 2006 (Rev Speed Magazine)
This is THE event of the year for me. This is what I enjoy the most, fast modified cars out on track proving what they can do. Fastest car this year was the M-Speed GTR which managed a 55.230 sec lap with Tanaka-san behind the wheel. Yamada-san drove the Cyber Evo (now built & looked after by Unlimited Works, not Garage HRS) and posted a 55.864 sec lap. Third place in the lap time rankings went to the R-Magic FD3S with a 55.947 sec lap.
Two days prior to the TSB 2006 Taniguchi broke the track record for a modified car with the HKS CT230R posting a 53.999 sec lap. Modified cars are all getting extremely fast nowadays and its always so enjoyable to be there in person seeing tuners battle it out. I'm already looking forward to next year's event!
A small selection of pix:
