Event: Super Taikyu Round 2 – Twin Ring Motegi v.2

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I think I’ll break up the Wekfest coverage with the second post of Super Taikyu from Twin Ring.  I have a few fans that are awaiting the continuation of this and it just so happens I initially started posting it right before Wekfest hit town; which was not my intention.  Plus, seeing a couple of race cars fight it out on track will be a nice contrast to the show coverage.  We left off on the last post somewhere near the start of the race, after the practice laps.  By now you have a good impression of the diversity of this series; I’m pretty sure I’ve said that a million times now, but it’s part of why this is such a cool race.  Part of the appeal of Group-N racing series’ is that it has the ability to make any regular person feel like they can be a race car driver behind the wheel of there normal, every day car.  That’s not to say that they should…but it’s nice to have that feeling.  A popular car among the Super Taikyu contenders is the Sturm Motul STi.  You can see it here propped up on the air jacks in the team garage; the crew going through a few final tests before it’s unleashed on the track for the 4 hour stint.  Check the continued coverage past the break.

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Another shot of the Sturm Motul STi in the garage from the front end.  The STi competes in theST-2 class and competes against it’s other 4-wheel drive counterpart; the Mitsubishi EVO.

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Another shot of the STi smashing into an easy, high speed left hander.  At Twin Ring, the Sturm Motul STi manage to finish a total of 63 laps in a little over 2.5 hours, before dropping out for mechanical reasons.  It’s 2nd driver managed a best lap of 2’05.965 around Motegi.  Not too far off the EVO’s best pace.

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One team that could use a stroke of good luck is the Spoon Sports team, who for some reason is listed as the リジカラS2000 (Because of Spoon’s Rigid Collar product).  They ended up placing a less than impressive 8th place at Twin Ring, and only managed to complete 57 laps at SUGO in Round 3.  The ST-1 Porsche has no issue overtaking the S2000 heading into the turn.

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The ST4 class was flooded with DC5’s.; somewhat proof of how well this chassis is for a FF track car.  If the shear number of them in this series isn’t enough proof for you, how about the fact that this DC5 you see pictured took first place in the entire ST4 class.  The Cosmo Sonic21 Integra completed a total of 108 laps in just over 4 hours.  The ST4 class probably had the closest race of the day with 2nd and 3rd place finishing just one lap down.

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The Winmax/Tien DC5 managed to pull out a respectable 4th place finish, just seconds off the pace of the Tracy Sports S2000.  Although, by the looks of it, it sure had to fight to maintain that position.  The damage to the front bumper is indication of some heavy dog fighting!  See what I mean when I say the ST4 class was an exciting race?

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The Petronas SLS AMG GT3 machine makes the STi look like it’s at a stand still as it blasts past it on the straight away.  The difference in strength easily apparent.

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Cool story – despite this EVO blowing up halfway through the race, it still managed to finish 3rd and run a full 4 hours – even though it was 28 laps the first place finisher.  Just goes to show anything can happen in motor sport.

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I thought this shot of the Faust Racing E86 passing the Okabe/Dixcel Z34 showed a pretty cool perspective.  The BMW ended up clenching an impressive first place in the super close ST1 class.

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The 6th place finisher of the ST3 class – yet another close class at Twin Ring.  The 2nd place through 7th place finishers were all just one lap down from the class winner; the Asset Z34.

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I’m pretty sure I don’t have to tell you what happened after the corner haha.  Depending on who is in front of you, overtaking often comes with little to no effort.

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The ST5 class was fun to watch in it’s own right.  Not the fastest of cars on track that day, but you can imagine how much fun it would be to drive one of these little compact race cars.  Especially if you had an opportunity to take it off track to the touge!  Here the Endless NCP91 (Vitz RS) shoots out of the pit on some fresh rubber, and perhaps with a fresh driver.

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Back in the pits, the Faust Racing crew watches on as the Honda Cars/SUNOCO DC5 get’s it’s refresh on.  Unfortunate that this team didn’t end up finishing.

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I still have plenty more action from Twin Ring, including a special Pit Walk ‘Intermission’ post!  I’ll try to finish it up in the next two posts or so as I know the race was quite awhile ago now.  I still can’t believe how difficult it is to get information on this series here in the states.  For those of you who are fans, I hope you find this informational and entertaining as well.  My Japanese isn’t the best, so it takes awhile to translate some results, so I hope this isn’t coming too slow for you guys.  Stay tuned, and as always, thanks for visiting!

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While you wait for further coverage, check out this in-car footage of the Petronas SLS AMG GT3 car lapping Twin Ring in the rain.  Beast!

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