I’ve always appreciated the varying degree of tuning style in Kyushu prefecture; specifically the cars that frequent Autopolis International Circuit. From fully dedicated track cars, to light tune approaches, there is something about the cars that standout that’s not quite describable.
Last week we held a small get together at Autopolis International Racing Circuit in the Oita Prefecture of Kyushu. I had 3 photoshoots for 80R scheduled for this particular weekend trip down south, however a few could not make it last minute.
In this video we visit Skyline tuning masters Racing Factory Autobahn, deep in the countryside of Ibaraki. Kawai-san shows us some of the newer builds and I take a walk around the shop.
Caught this pretty cool FD2 at Tsukuba during a Grooving event. The entire interior was gutted and it was running a pretty mild aero package. Fastest time it clocked was 1’01.25 – pretty quick! The fender cut away made the car look much more aggressive than the factory form. Click past the break for a few more shots.
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Visiting Type One never gets old for me; there is always something new there to see every time I go. So I make it a priority of mine to stop in each time I go to Japan. Granted, without a car, it makes for a bit of a walk; but I had access to a car this time because I was with my friend from JDM Clips. I might add that having makes visit tuning shops so much easier. Obviously, you go to car shops because you own a car, so it’s not a big concern for shop owners to be close to train stations. If you’re just visiting Japan, going places not near train stations can be both difficult and expensive without an auto; especially if you’ve never been there before. I have absolutely no problems walking a few miles to get to clutch shops, but needless to say, having a car was a giant win. Like any typical foreign fan boy should, I like just walking around the shop and looking at all the stuff I’ve seen dozens of times already – it never gets old. Plus, the shop gets a lot of traffic, so chances are you’ll see different rides there every time you visit. I already featured that extremely cool matte black S2000 that I saw last time, which you can see here; but I never got around to posting up some of the other cars that were in the shop on that trip. I know there are many sites that post up stuff from Spoon and Type One once or twice – but who else posts new shots from the shop over and over! hahaha – hopefully the viewers share the same love that I do. Click past the break to take a stroll through the shop and check a few more of them out.
. I must have gone to Fuji on a great day for finding nice looking white cars because I kept running into them at every turn. Take this this fresh Honda Civic FD2 for example. […]
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It’s no secret that the Japanese tuning philosophy is to achieve the maximum with the minimum. While we can see this practiced throughout all the major tuners, I wouldn’t be too far off in saying we witness it most in the Honda field. The majority of Honda tuners in Japan are so specific to not disturb the chassis by overpowering, and work closely with what the manufacturer has already offered. While, typically, FEEL’S would fall into that category just nicely, their FD2 Type R you see pictured above may be pushing the boundaries of that philosophy just a bit. Aesthetically, the minimalism has vanished; the use of aftermarket aero abundant. I would argue though, that although a bit extreme on the exterior, the car is a shining example of perfect balance. Let’s take a closer look at this build at my first stop on my all Japan mega tuning adventure; Honda Twincam. Click past the break for more.
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I know I haven’t been updating the site as much as I should; I’ve been busy with real life. All that aside, I received a nice surprise in my email yesterday morning by the way of some new photos from Japan. Taka sent more coverage of the Mugen Circuit Challenge my way, but this time it took place at Fuji Speedway. One of the cars that caught my eye was this Mugen RR. Only 300 of these were produced, and they would run you close to $40,000 if you wanted one. For that though, you get one hell of a weekend track car; compliments to the host of finely tuned Mugen products on board. Click past the break to see it in action.
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Due to some unforeseen trouble with my own car (i.e. broken driver side knuckle), it took me a little bit longer than expected to get this second part up; sorry ‘y’all. In the last post, I mentioned a little bit about the breakdown of classes and regulations for the Circuit Challenge. So for this one I’ll just let the pictures do the talking. I really like this shot, with the CR in the background. As I was taking a second look through some of the shots, I noticed a few EK chassis that were worth putting up. Check um’ out past the break.
. Spotted this CTR looking good in traffic somewhere in Tokyo. Untouched; preserved in all it’s OEM goodness. .
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Anything doing is worth doing right – and Mugen does track events right. Open to anybody with a Honda, enter into the Circuit Challenge and you are graced with four 15 minute runs on Tsukuba 1000 circuit, professional instruction on and off track, ride alongs with current professional racing drivers, the opportunity to drive one of three Mugen built machines, and the option of trying out Mugen products during your track time for free. This year there were 86 drivers in attendance, including JDM Clips own Taka. Check out the action below.
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There’s not too much to say about this F-series at Hontune. I’m really not sure who it belongs to, but I was really into it’s aggressive styling. I snagged a few pictures of it, check um’ out past the break.
