One of the surprise guests at the last NDF Cafe that we held, belonged to a friend of Sekinei’s.  サワダさん got quite a bit of attention from everyone when he rolled into Umihotaru in his fully restored, 1970′s (73′?) Datsun GTX2000.

The car’s appearance was a dramatic change from the rest of the attendees.  As I had paired up with Nao-san and his 90′s Cafe, this car was a good 20 years older than the majority of those that came.

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I wasn’t the only one that had my eye on the car either.  Tec-Art’s long coat a must for the chill Winter temps.

After bombarding Sawada-san with questions about his car, it was decided that we move the Cafe to Daikoku PA, just to mix things up a bit.  Plus the chilling wind from being in the middle of the sea was leaving us frozen to the core.

Leaving Umihotaru and blasting through the Aqualine.  The car’s exhaust tone had a distinct and timely note that fit the car’s L-Series engine perfectly.

We pulled up to Daikoku PA and Sawada parked a bit away from the group for some isolated shots.  The lights from the parking area, and resting trucks provide a great backdrop for the classic car.  I can’t think of a better set of wheels that match the Bluebird as well as the gold Panasport G7 C8R wheels do.

The L20A remains true under the hood with a full tune-up and a set of velocity stacked, Hitachi carbs’s; the reason for the great sound in the Aqualine.

A couple shots of the very period-appropriate interior.  70′s theme all around here with the Playboy ashtray, the glow of the plug in light, and the ‘lava lamp’ shift knob.  The car smelled just like you would imagine too; I was hit with a wave of nostalgia as I opened the door to take these.

One last shot before putting the camera away and just hanging out at Daikoku.  It was pretty cold, and I wanted to get my hands out of the wind and wrapped around a warm coffee can.  Thanks to Sawada-san for coming out to NDF Cafe, hope to see you next time!

When Harada & Sekinei went to Fuji Speedway for the Fairlady Festival, they met up with Amisaki-san who was out showing in the main lot.  Since Harada’s car is currently down, they took Sekinei’s LHD Z32.  Masatosi’s Z is on par with some of the best in Japan.

The combination of Work wheels matches the bright yellow exterior tremendously well.  Bronze Emotion up front, and white XD9′s in the rear.

The rear tails are also a great addition.  Hopefully Amisaki can make it out to the next NDF Cafe in November; would love to see this car in person.  Another great addition to the Fairlady community in Japan.

This guy got a little too anxious on the parade lap last weekend at Fuji Speedway.  I’ll have some more shots from the Fairlady Festival up soon.

ハコスカ Skyline at Fuji Speedway

]]> http://thenaritadogfight.com/2013/05/07/encounter-fuji-%e3%83%8f%e3%82%b3%e3%82%b9%e3%82%ab/feed/ 0 ndfblog h1 h2 http://thenaritadogfight.com/2013/05/05/one-shot-fairlady-festival-fuji-speedway/ http://thenaritadogfight.com/2013/05/05/one-shot-fairlady-festival-fuji-speedway/#comments Sun, 05 May 2013 19:10:44 +0000 Sean http://thenaritadogfight.com/?p=6255 Read More →]]>

Hello from Fuji Speedway!  Hope you all had a good weekend; here’s a little preview from the フェアレディ祭 at Fuji Speedway this past weekend.  Narita Dogfight x NORUSH Japan.  Good friends Sekinei and Harada were in tow to grab some coverage.  I’ll have more footage up as I edit ~

“People can’t be just tied together. They have to connect. Otherwise, they’ll find themselves bound hand and foot.”  A quote (from the Japanese movie NANA) that holds true in most cases; especially when referring to the psychological ties we create for our vehicles.  It’s not uncommon for enthusiasts to establish an almost human like connection with their vehicles; giving them names, talking to them, etc.  This isn’t a bad thing, but in some ways it can hold us back.  Not Criss though.  Criss is a little, well; disconnected.

Having owned many previously sought after cars in his past, it’s only fitting that Criss ends his journey with the R32.  When I say sought after, I really do mean it; his track record consists of heavily modified FD3S, S14, NSX, and now the 32.  After reading that list, I can imagine many of you thinking to yourself, “If I owned a ____ I would never sell it”.  I thought the same thing about his R32, however, Criss has actually already sold this car.

You see, his relationship with vehicles is different than most.  It stops at the simplest purpose; enjoyment.  The invisible ties we formulate with our vehicles are non-existent to him.  Perhaps that’s the main reason he’s been able to enjoy so many different chassis’.

That’s not to say he leaves the car as is though; although the GTR appears almost stock on the exterior, there is actually a tremendous amount of work that went into the Skyline.  The cars aggressive attitude is in part thanks to the full Bilstein coilovers that sit at each corner.  Assisted by a plethora of Cusco components including traction rods, and all arms (front/rear lower/upper).

With the focal point being the Garage Bomber built RB26 under the hood.  A frightening 600whp propels the all wheel drive Nissan at cruise missile like speeds.  I can attest to this you see, Criss gives me freeway rides in exchange for green tea Kit Kat bars I bring back from Japan.  A good trade if you ask me.

If you know Aki’s work, you’ll know that it’s the best stateside.  Not only was the work done at Garage Bomber, but the parts list for the RB would floor even the most adapted Nissan fan.  2 Garrett GT2860R turbines, CP Pistons, R33 N1 Crank, and a shopping list of Tomei parts. That alone should be testament of how insane this car feels at wide open throttle.  Exhaust gases are spent via a Veilside Evolution exhaust, that I actually covered a bit ago.

The Gram Light 57 Optimise fit the exterior in both color and spirit.

The interior remains relatively stock aside from a Momo steering wheel, and a nice array of Blitz controllers, timers, and the Apex’i FC Commander that controls the heart of the RB.

Next month, this car will be in the hands of a new owner.  Maybe he is just as disconnected as Criss, or maybe he’s more like us.  Maybe he’ll give the car a name, talk to it in the garage, apologize to it after hitting a pothole.  Maybe he’ll be the last to own this amazing vehicle.  Perhaps it’s been his life long dream to own this very car.

“In the end, only my dream is able to save me.”  Either way, I hope they enjoy it as Criss has.  Although it’s been a disconnected bliss, it’s bliss nonetheless.

Big thanks to Criss Crass for letting me enjoy this car almost as much as he does.

RB26DETT Build

- 2 Garrett gt2860r -5
- Tomei Head Gasket
- Tomei oil restrictors
- CP pistons
- r33 n1 crank
- Tomei extreme mid pipes
- spl down pipe
- Ron Davis radiator
- Nismo rod bearings
- Tomei cams
- Tomei cam gears
- apexi hybrid FMIC
- Greddy intercooler hard pipes
- RC engineering 1000cc injectors
- stage 1 head port and polish
- custom ported exhaust manifold to match turbos inlet
- garage bomber oil catch can
- special AKI-San build secrets

I ask my friend Yuta, on average, close to 10 questions a day; probably twice that on weekends.  I’m not the only one either.  It seems like he’s become the ‘go-to’ for many people who seek answers to life’s hardest inquiries.  So, I thought it might be a good idea, or an entertaining idea rather, to start a series of posts where you, the general internet audience, can submit your questions to have Yuta answer them.  I introduced the idea on the NDF instagram (@naritadogfight) and it seemed to get some good feedback, so I’m hoping you all have a lot of questions!  Questions can be about anything: car related problems, space, low-carb dieting, what to wear on your first date, how to trick your co-workers into doing work for you, etc…

So if you’re stumped, or just curious, please email your questions to: heyyuta@naritadogfight.com – and next segment we just may answer your question.

Enjoy part 1 of an indefinite amount of parts…

______________________________________________________

Hassan G. asks,

1. Hey, Yuta! Do you think Dragons exist?
A friend of mine I went to high school with is named Dragon, I still see him around at get-togethers and birthday parties and such when I go back to Norcal.

Michael Y. of Northern California asks:

2. Hey, Yuta!  What got you into cars?  What is it that keeps you playing with them throughout all of these years?

What got me into cars? That’s a question I’ve been asking myself for years, one that I haven’t quite found the answer to yet. Ever since I was a child, and as long as I can remember, I’ve loved seeing machines. When I was really young, I liked trucks – big rigs, my mother would take me to go watch big rigs come and go at construction sites. As I got a bit older I really started appreciating cars, I bought Super Street and Import Tuner, I watched The Fast and The Furious, when I was in Japan I bought Auto Works and Option. I knew I wanted a S13 before middle school and bought one as a shell when I was fifteen, since then I’ve had six- despite what others cars I may own, I usually have one S13 in my possesion. Nothing in particular really keeps me interested in cars, I guess after living your life a certain way for close to a decade – it just sticks. I really enjoy working on my cars, friends’ cars, customers’ cars even. I love driving them, to work, on the mountain, at the track – it’s the best thing ever to me, I can’t think of anything else I enjoy more. I guess when you find something that you enjoy to this extent, you stick with it . Many people find a person that they enjoy being around – more than anything, they get married, spend their life together. To me, cars are like that – I can’t imagine doing anything else with my time, with my life.

3. What are your thoughts on the USA tuning scene compared to Japan’s?

This is a tough question, one that I will try to answer to the best of my ability. I feel that as far as technology and quality of products goes, the US and Japan are pretty much neck to neck, both countries are constantly innovating new ways to make more power, go faster more efficiently. As far as style goes, this is where it gets interesting for me. When it comes to circuit machines, cars from both countries don big wings, splitters and canards for the sake of function. Most people would be hard pressed to determine the country of origin of a particular car simply by it’s styling cues. A closer look however, would reveal that Japan has this amazingly graceful way of incorporating great style into a car that is meant to function, and only function. Generally (I really do stress the word generally here) I feel that American built circuit machines have yet to develop this tact, this crazy ability to blend full on functionality with pleasing aesthetics to the level of the Japanese quite yet. Show cars, demo cars and the like from either country are equally impressive to me – the cars I see as SEMA easily surpass the cars at TAS in some aspects, while the opposite is true in others. Drift cars in Japan, however is where I see the largest difference in the culture of style. In my opinion, Japan is easily ten years ahead of the US in terms of drift car styling. Simply because the US has settled, we have decided that we have reached the point of “good enough”. THIS is the reason why i feel that the vast majority of well built and styled US drift cars look like they were built in Japan in 2003. Which is not a bad thing at all, Japanese drift cars of that era were incredible. But in Japan style is still progressing, new trends are being created and boundaries broken every day, I hope America’s drifting (the drifting that still cares about style, the real drifting) doesn’t stay in 2003 forever.

Mr. Loon from London asks,

4. Hey, Yuta! Will Sean buy and then build an RWB inspired S2K?

I believe Sean already owns an S2000, I’m not really sure how you could transfer over any of the styling points of an RWB Porsche to an S2000 without it looking quite silly. But perhaps you should ask him.

David F. from Pensacola, FL asks,
5. Hey, Yuta! What’s your favorite sandwich?
Knuckle.

That’s it for part 1, let’s try to get a little more interesting for part 2 yeah?  Remember to email your submission to heyyuta@naritadogfight.com – make it interesting!

Garage HRS EVO IX spotted in the paddock of Tsukuba Circuit.  The owner was competing in the Dunlop Challenge that afternoon.

Taking some extra time to edit this shot of Hannita-san’s NA2 staging up for an attack of TC2000, and I thought I’d share.  Going through a judging phase on some shots that may be turned into posters for your garage or shop – stay tuned for more on that.  You may also recognize this shot as the cover picture for the official NDF Facebook Fan Page.

Here’s a car that you don’t see on the race track too often; especially if you live in any other country but Japan.  I spotted this Honda City (GA1) at Tsukuba during Evome.  Needless to say, it garnered a lot of attention.  In fact, the Option crew did a feature on it, and interviewed the driver.

The only entrant that day that was rocking 15″ wheels at the track.  It was quite odd to see this little compact go head to head with other more common time attack cars; like the FD’s, the R34′s, and S-chassis’.

After it’s first run, the GA1 was brought back in for a few minor checks.  Here’s a good look at the front mount of the turbo D15B setup.

Headed back out to track.  You have to appreciate the work and dedication that it would take to make this platform a designated track car.  Just goes to show it doesn’t matter which car you have, as long as you’re committed, you can make the outcome great.  This GA1 went a staggering 1’00.179 at TC2000.  Very impressive!

High Power & Save Energy.  The words that make up the entire mission statement of Revolfe S.A.; a tuning shop most famous for it’s high power, wangan inspired builds.  Earlier in the week, Sekinei and I met up with Tayama-san at Tsukuba Circuit, and he passed over to us some old VHS tapes full of footage from Yatabe test track for us to convert to DVD.  On those tapes, flying around Yatabe, was none other than the owner of Revolfe S.A.; Mizota-san.   So, after Sekinei converted them to DVD, he wanted to drop off a copy to Mizota-san…and here we are at Revolfe.

Not one for missed opportunities, I brought my camera along to take some pictures of the showroom.  One of the focal points was the Z33 that the shop is building for competition in the Nissan Z Challenge series.

The 350Z is a joint venture between Mizota-san, and Ito-san of Do-Luck Japan.  Combining two, very well know tuners in the industry makes for quite the creation.

The blue of the Weds SA-55M’s match the teal covered Do-Luck body panels very nicely.

The interior is just what you’d expect from a street inspired circuit car.  There are many restrictions in the Z Challenge series that allow the competition to be equal.  You’ll notice the majority of cars with pretty much full interior.

The Z33 wasn’t the only resident of the showroom though – as it shares it’s space with another, possibly more well known, build of Revolfe.

Mizota-san’s Z32 in all it’s glory, also calls the showroom it’s home.  Part Ablug widebody, part fully custom body panels adorn the whole of the Fairlady.

There is so much going on with this car it’s hard to even begin to describe what it’s like to see in person.

Mizota was nice enough to open the hood for me…

…as well as let me basically lounge around inside of it.

The pearl white Works match the vibrant purple very well.

Although both from the same lineage, these two Z’s are very different from one another.

After we talked for a while, we made our way outside to check out some of the other cars that were at the shop; one being this Abflug equipped Z32.  Revolfe S.A. will always be one of my favorite tuning shops in Japan, and the hospitality of Mizota-san is like none other.  He’s always been a big influence to me, and I’m glad I can call him a friend.

One shot of the Brio S13 time attack coupe before Okamura takes it out for some heat around Tsukuba.