On the last weekend of October, Sugo Sportsland played host to the 2019 Attack event, officially kicking off time attack season in Japan. The event, which typically has a smaller turnout due to location, was paired with the Goodluck Challenge; a local motor sport event at Sugo.
A walk through the paddock at Sugo Sportsland during the recent Attack event. Sugo usually hosts a smaller group of drivers due to it’s distance from Tokyo, but the ones that do attend are very serious. Check out our behind the scenes video of the action…and the downtime.
Every so often I like to check in on cars and drivers that we’ve spotlighted in the past to see how the development of their build is going. Earlier this year I had the opportunity to talk to Tajima Hirotsugu about his Nismo 380RS, but that was months ago and he’s been busy over the off-season.
Sekinei and I just got back to Yokohama from HKS Day at Fuji Speedway, and before we can relax and bask in the satisfaction that is time attack, we have to get ready for work tomorrow; and by ‘we’, I mean Sekinei. So, while he is outside in the cold, swapping alternators on a Diahatsu Hijet, I’m inside the office, heater blasting, watching Rick and Morty, writing an article on CTAC last weekend. I came across these photos in my Lightroom library from a recent visit to Advance, so I thought I’d post them up real quick.
I almost didn’t recognize the Step-Up Z33 without it’s massive rear diffuser and front splitter attached to it’s exterior. The car in this state takes on an almost street car look, aside from the chassis mounted GT wing. It wasn’t running in the Attack event, but was there supporting other drivers. I would have liked to see how it performed around Suzuka in the wet compared to some of the other similarly powered RWD cars. I included a video of a hot lap around Suzuka below.
Last weekend our friend Franklin had come down to our area to grab dinner before he left on vacation to British Columbia. I hadn’t seen him in quite some time and it was nice to catch up over sushi. As an added bonus, he brought down his newly made-over Z32 and I was able to snap some pictures in front of our shop. Click past the break to see more.
The 2JZ powered Z32 built by C&Y Sports has adapted a much more aggressive looks since last we saw it. While it does look more the part, the cosmetics of this car aren’t the only thing that’s come a long way. The car, since 2013, has consistently improved it’s lap times around the famous Fuji Circuit.
I wonder if it’s acceptable, in the off chance one falls victim to writer’s block, to type freely their thoughts? I mean, this is a blog after all, and blogs are typically written in an informal or conversational style. It would be difficult to keep it informational to the topic however, if I were to just start spouting off about a random thought. In the case of the Garage Mak Z33, I could start typing about Nagano; the hometown of the shop. Or perhaps about the Miyagawa brothers, the two creative powerhouses behind the brand. I could always fall back to uncreatively (is that not a word?) listing off the modifications to the Z33. To be honest though, I’m pretty sure I’ve covered all that basic stuff in prior articles – it seems redundant to keep typing it. I could talk about how I was naked in a public bath again…does anyone even read this?
While it’s true that Japan has quite the heritage in the automotive world, few models have a more prestigious lineage as the Fairlady Z. Starting all the way back in the late 60’s […]
小山哲さんのZ32 This weekend at Fuji Speedway, the All Japan Z Meeting took place. This event is the largest Z meeting in the country, and is held annually at Fuji. This year, Satoru Koyama, the […]
Hope you all have a great week ~
We’ll kick off some of the Mobara drift coverage with a closer look at Kato-san’s Z32; one of the more famous drift Z32’s in Japan. Unfortunately later in the afternoon Kato damaged the front end […]
Last weekend at Fuji Speedway during Skyline Owners Battle, the Mercury Racing Project built Z33 demo car made an appearance at the Wakos booth. The livery on this car is great; I really like the […]
Last weekend a couple of my friends all went to Fuji Speedway to check out the Slammed Society show, and they got some cool shots of all their cars as well. Pondari, Manabu, Sekinei, and […]
This past weekend Long Beach’s Queen Mary played host to the 9th annual Japanese Classic Car Show. A show that I particularly enjoy, as it’s roots are firmly planted in the nostalgia of the Japanese […]
If you follow this blog, chances are you’ve seen Mr. Harada’s Z32 more than a couple times. He is a good friend, and I always take time to visit when I’m in Japan. Just recently, […]
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 […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]
Please enjoy these two shots of my friend Tayama-san’s Z32. I will assure you, the mild aero that this car is equipped with is not just for aesthetics. This car has, at one point, […]
As I’m sitting here, looking through the January 2013 issue of Option, page 44 specifically, I can’t help but reminisce on a specific attendee of my Dog Fighter Cafe in February (2 if you count […]
Shot this from Harada-san’s Z while following Kume to Tokyo Disney. Good times – see you soon guys!
Z32’s are admittedly not the most common choice when it comes to building a time attack car. Actually, Z32’s are pretty much uncommon no matter how you put it; but there is one company […]
Just this week Option magazine released their January 2013 magazine in Japan. In that magazine they wrote an article relating to custom widebody builds; and one of the cars they featured was my good friend […]
I apologize for the lack of site updates, but I’ve been pretty busy that last couple days. I spent pretty much all of Thursday with Harada and Kume driving around Tokyo and shooting their […]
Saturday the 22nd, 2012, 6am; the first daybreak of Fall. As the sun casts its new rays upon the horizon, we can say goodbye to Summer, and welcome in the new season. A season filled […]
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Yesterday evening we decided to make the drive out to Riverside to visit Franklin. His car’s been down for awhile and he hasn’t been able to come down our way for awhile. I had been driving a lot this past week, and didn’t really feel like tacking on a drive all the way out to Riverside, so I got a ride with Allan and we both met Yuta over there. It’s been quite awhile since I did a Garage Life post, so I brought along my camera stuff to get a few shots – nothing fancy though. Not sure why, but I don’t really take pictures of what I do outside of events and stuff, but these types of post get good attention; so you can expect more day to day lifestyle type posts like this in the future. Anyway, click past the break for a few more shots.
. I stopped by Wheelflip tonight to keep Yuta company while he changed the flywheel on his civic. I also took a crappy picture of his 240Z – not as crappy photo shoot coming soon. […]
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I’ve always been a fan of the Z32; it’s shape is so iconic to the 90’s sports car. It’s one of those cars that I love to look at, but would never have the patience to build. So, with that said, I’ll leave it up to people like Kevin Hurst to build them for me to look at. I met Kevin when he moved into my old apartment complex a few years ago. I had noticed his Z in the parking area a few times, mainly due to the concave 5-Zigens and it being 1 inch off the ground, but I never saw a driver. We eventually ran into each other when I was washing my car and instantly started talking cars. I mentioned my blog and it was decided that I would eventually get to photograph his car. A few months and mods later, we finally both had a break in our schedules to take some shots and grab some lunch. Check out the results past the break.
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Ahhh, Nismo Festival. A celebration of all things Nissan. Oh, wait. I already introduced this coverage with some mediocre commencement. Let’s dive right in to the second part of the Nismo Festival coverage with these RC cars. No, not radio controlled. RC stands for Racing Competition in this case; a series of cars built by the NISMO factory specifically for competition. When I say specifically for competition I mean just that – you cannot drive these on the street; and yes, they are expensive. But if the car isn’t enough, and you’re looking to spend even more money, you can also buy NISMO’s technical support upon delivery. Think of it as a warranty on steroids. Let’s check out some more past the break. You guys are in for a treat with this post…
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B-Max Engineering is one of those companies that are so involved in motor sports, that they often get overlooked. Click the break for more eye candy.
. These guys were racing…seriously. The bus was pulling on him. Ha, I like how laid back both drivers look. Taken somewhere in Yokohama. Anyone know what front bumper that is?! .
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I literally just went through another 100 photos from TAS, and I’m sick of editing. I’ll break up the coverage a little with a look at this Final Konnexion Z33. Of all the Fairlady’s at the show, this one just floored me. I can’t really find much info on it though. It’s flow is so tasty… Click past the break to see another shot.
Japanese mega tuner Power House Amuse was on site at Super Autobacs Yokohama recently to demo their new aero kit for the Z34; the Vestito. Lucky for us, Taka was there as well to capture it all. Amuse has long been producing unique and aggressive aero kits for a variety of chassis. This is their latest offering for the Z platform; preceded by the Superleggera kit for the Z33 chassis. I believe Amuse took a less domineering approach to this kit, and put more emphasis on flowing lines and function; and flat out on the track the Vestito proves that it does more than just look good. Click past the break for more display shots.
