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It feels like it’s been so long so my latest post! My apologies, as I’ve been extremely busy this past week; traveling for work as well as trying to buy some property. I am super stoked on NDF though because I’ve been getting some really cool inquiries as of late. I’ve also just got the go to start planning my next trip back to Japan – which is going to be quite awesome. The best news is that I plan to share it all on the blog. While I try to keep the ‘personal’ out of this page, and stick just to features, events, and auto related posts, it is after all a blog about Japan. I figure the followers would be just as excited as I am to see what a week spent in Japan visiting tuner shops, attending a Super GT race and interviewing tuners is actually like. March is a great month for motor sports all over the world. I don’t even have to mention the start of Formula 1; but in Japan specifically it marks the beginning of Super GT, Super Taikyu, and a handful of other series. JDM Clips recently attended the Super Taikyu Official Test Day at Fuji Speedway. Needless to say, the 6 different classes involved in this series makes for a great amount of variety on track. In my opinion, one of the coolest entrants is the DC5 – and it seems to be a popular platform as well. In this post, I focused on only that chassis. Click past the break for more!
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There were a total of 7 DC5 Type-R’s at Fuji for the test day. All 7 participate in the ST-4 class of Super Taikyu. Here is the リデューカー (ReduCar) Type-R blasting down the track. I think ReduCar is a large aftermarket parts wholesaler in Japan.
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Some of the Integra Type-R entrants even retained the OEM body panels; opting out of any added aerodynamics. This ITO Racing DC5 looked great cruising down the pit lane of Fuji. I’m not positive that this car was racing in the Taikyu series or not.
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Here’s another shot of it in the paddock area. At least their car looks good, because that’s more than I can say about their website (hahaha -sn).
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The ディジョンレーシング (Dijon Racing) DC5-R. The Super Taikyu series makes it really easy to identify which cars are running in each class. You can see the large ST4 decal on the rear window. Remember, all the cars are on track at the same time, but are competing only against others in their class. It is similar to the Le Mans series.
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Rear shot of the Dijon Integra pulling into the pit lane.
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It had rained on and off throughout the day, making conditions at Fuji somewhat dirty. At the end of the session, when it came time to load up the race cars, you could tell they had spent a full day at the track. With some coming away better than others. Here’s the Team A-One DC5 sans a front bumper. Perhaps the team took it off to get it on the flatbed.
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浅野レーシングサービス (Asano Racing Service) actually had two entrants in the ST4 class. To no ones surprise, their Integra’s looked the most racy of them all.
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What better way to match a racy exterior than with an even more racy interior? One look inside the cockpit and you realize that these are actually fully built race cars. Remember, the Super Taikyu is an endurance series, so these things need to have bulletproof reliability.
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Here is their #18 being loaded onto the stacked trailer.
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I thought this shot was pretty cool. I wonder if that R34 belongs to one of the drivers? There is one EK9 that belongs to the Mita Project team in the ST4 group, but I don’t think that it is this white one on top. Hope you enjoyed the first bit of the Super Taikyu series. Look for more soon, courtesy of JDM Clips.
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This makes me miss my ’03 RSX Type-S. Nice shots.