With the FF drivers, Ton and Asai, sitting this season out, the M’s Machine Works Porsche slotted in as the fastest NA Class competitor at Attack Tsukuba 2025, coming into this season with a best of 55.28. Given the updates over the off-season, it was highly anticipated that Yuta Kamimura would pilot the 987 to a new NA record time.
New billet aluminum rear suspension uprights, an active DRS style GT wing, and several other weight reducing changes put the GT3 in a good fighting position to break into the 54s this year. Up until this year, the car was tuned for 295 square setup of Advan A050 GS, but somewhere along the line Mizumoto made the decision to swap over to the new Shiba Tire R50 compound in order to take advantage of the option of a 335 rear tire. The late decision didn’t give them much test time, and the matter was compounded (no pun intended) by the fact that Shiba Tire had only yet developed the ‘M’ compound of the R50, and are still developing their ‘GS’ equivalent tire. Mizumoto is certainly playing the long game, betting that the new R50 GS will be just as quick, if not quicker, than the current A050 GS offering, with the added bonus of being able to run a tire wider than 295. Despite having only one test in December and one in January, Yuta was able to pilot the Porsche within a tenth of their current best.
After watching the video you’ll see just how much input is needed behind the wheel to manage the car, making their current times even more impressive. I can’t comment directly because I’ve yet to talk to Yuta about it, but it seems maybe a bit unstable under hard braking. While they weren’t able to make any progress on the NA record this season, the M’s team is still as determined as ever to retake the class record and break into the 54’s. This will still be one of the most anticipated drivers of next season, and I’ll be looking forward to hearing what comes next for the build. M’s will be celebrating their 35th anniversary in March, and it would be a great present to achieve the record in the same year.
These photos were taken on the morning of the 14th, as well as the event day on the 15th. Each day the lighting was so harsh that it was difficult to get consistent looking photos throughout the weekend. The morning shade made the white balance automatically cool, and the eye-piercing afternoon sun created really high contrast scenes that were hard to balance in processing. I went to the track over a dozen times this season, and not once was there an overcast day – pretty surprising for Japan, and the first Attack season that I’ve experienced that. It was a little disappointing for me because I love shooting with naturally diffused light, and my best results have always been on overcast days. On the other hand, it served as a reality check in that it reminded me that I need to get the work done regardless of the forecast, and gave me the much needed opportunity to practice shooting in harsh, bright light; something I would usually do my best to avoid.
As I progress through more of this season’s coverage, I’m going to do my best to provide a consistent feel to all the images as usual, but for those that pay attention to that sort of thing you can expect some variance like the below gallery. Have a good weekend, and look forward to more from Tsukuba soon – enjoy //
