On Friday, January 27th, on his second session on track, Yoshiki ‘Fire’ Ando broke the 50-second barrier at Tsukuba Circuit with a record 49.897 second lap time. A truly incredible moment for motorsport enthusiasts world wide and a massive breakthrough in Japanese time attack.
Earlier in the week, in a prior conversation with Hashimoto about a photoshoot, he mentioned that he was going to be at Tsukuba on Thursday morning assisting with Kiyotaka’s with his FD. Throughout the week, the TFR supported FD has been frequenting Tsukuba, testing various aero setups.
Yesterday afternoon I had a day scheduled to catch up on emails, editing, and writing. But when I woke up I had the urge to get out of the house. I messaged Kubo from Garage Work and asked if he was going to be at the shop that afternoon. He replied quickly and said please come; so, I did.
Early Sunday, January 15th we headed back to Tsukuba for the morning Zummy Racing Attack practice event at TC2000. Many of the cars that had made it out for Saturday afternoon stayed for this event as well to get the most out of the weekend.
In this video we head out to Tsukuba Circuit to photograph the DKM Challenge event in the morning, and the Zummy Racing event that was held just after in the early afternoon.
One of the reasons I enjoy visiting Hayashi at his shop, Auto House Solid, anytime I’m in Gunma is that there is always a large variety of tuning cars on hand. Hayashi services a wide range of customers so there is guaranteed to be something interesting in the shop.
Self-tasked with building the fastest Civic in Japan, Asai-san and Sapporo based shops GNR Racing and Rise-Up Garage, are constantly modifying the setup on their flagship EK9. Their hard work is paying off as they close in on the FF NA Record at TC2000.
The ‘Kagayaki’ (かがやき) is a high speed train service that operates between Tokyo and Kanazawa on the Hokuriku Shinkansen line. It is jointly owned by JR East and JR West, and is the fastest train on this particular line reaching speeds of up to 260kph. It also served as the inspiration for the livery and overall appearance of Oya-Ji’s widebody Evolution 5.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the Attack Tsukuba Championship this year, personally, because of COVID travel restrictions. Lucky for us though, we can join my brother Sekinei as he wanders around the paddock checking out some of the cars competing at the event.
Attack Tsukuba is one of the most anticipated time attack events of the year in Japan. NDF was on hand to to provide a walk through of the paddock area, an overview of drivers and cars, as well as on track action during super lap at the famed TC2000 course at Tsukuba.
The day before the Attack Tsukuba Championship event at TC2000 (February 21, 2020), the organizer Zummy holds an event that allows competitors the ability to practice and get their cars set up properly for Attack. A lot of times the event is just as exciting as Attack and this year was no exception.
Take a walk through the paddock of Suzuka Circuit the day before, and the day of Attack Suzuka last weekend. There was an intimate amount of cars for this half day event, which ensured the heavy hitters had plenty of track time.
This time of year is best spent on reflection (because if not now, when right?). So much is happening during the year, and we’re so busy just living, that we rarely take the time to pause and take stock of what’s been accomplished, remember what we’re working towards, or how we’re handling it all mentally. So, when things start to slow down during this last week of December, I think as a society we traditionally use the time to reflect.
A couple shots of Shintaro’s S15 Silvia at Tsukuba. Looks like the front splitter makes a nice coffee holder. Unfortunately, Shintaro didn’t get enough time on track to set a hot lap at […]
This weekend Sekinei took to the circuit to participate in the Bridgestone sponsored タイヤ館 event in Honjo. Among the runners at the track, this Silvia stood out the most with it’s attack styling and aero. […]
So, it was 5am and the only thing I could think about was getting caffeine into my system; not if my friend was going to be late, not if it was going to rain […]
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Aside from the KERS outfit on a Formula 1 car, it would be a safe bet that the last thing that goes through peoples minds when discussing motor sports is the term ‘hybrid’. So when Toyota, along with APR Racing, and Super GT announced their intentions to develop a Prius GT300 car the buzz was quite large. Japan has always been a leader in hybrid technology and promotion of its use, so to me, it didn’t come as much of a surprise. It was really only a matter of time until hybrids made their way into the racing scene, and Super GT seems like a great place to start. The Super GT series is the flagship of Japanese motor sport, and with the increase of various chassis comes an increase in fan base. Everyone who drives a Prius will now have a reason to come watch the races and cheer on their own team; which in the end is great for the sport and probably Prius sales. Although the consumers might be a little disappointed when they can’t get the car up to 220 km/h dropping their kids off at school. I should point out not to get me wrong when I start throwing the term ‘hybrid’ around so loosely, because this is not your average grocery getter. I think we would all agree that it would be a little naive of us to assume that this is a stock Prius. While it does retain the stock hybrid system, it gets a little extra help from something special mounted in the rear. Click past the break to learn more about the first hybrid in Super GT.
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We continue the coverage of Super GT Round 2 from about the middle of the race. By now I had wandered myself around the better half of the track and started making my way back to the paddock area to get something to eat. While doing so, I managed to miss the massive crash of the Art Taste Porsche driven by Tim Bergmeister that ended up sending him to the hospital. I’m not sure if he had a puncture in one of his tires that threw him off, or if it was a driver error, but the accident was pretty horrific. This delayed the race for a good 30 minutes while they cleaned up and got the car off-track. It didn’t take long though for the GT cars to start up at full throttle again. Click past the break to check out more racing action from Fuji Speedway.
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After two straight weeks of work, I finally managed to squeeze in a much needed day off. This past Wednesday I had plans to shoot my friends Z32 but, due to a scheduling conflict, had to cancel. Not being one to waste a day off, I sat down and thought of some other things to shoot for the website. I had remembered someone telling me last month that COBB Tuning had opened a new facility in Southern California; I had also remembered reading about an open house for their grand opening. Well, after I had looked into it, I realized their grand opening had already past on the 22nd. No big deal, I figured I’d go ahead and stop by because I had plans on going that direction anyway – and I’m glad that I did. The brand new, 10,000 square foot facility that COBB Tuning inhabits is extremely nice. Upon my arrival I introduced myself to Ronnie, one of the cool dudes in charge of sales & marketing, and they gladly showed me around the facility. Check out more past the break.
. . Subaru released this insanely awesome video yesterday in regards to it’s intentions on using the BRZ as a GT300 competitor in Super GT. This will quite possibly be the most bad ass contender […]
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Before I post the coverage that JDM Clips got of the Motor Sports Japan 2011 Festival, I thought it would be cool to share the ‘on-track’ action from the event. Race teams, aftermarket companies, and car manufacturers give the fans a sample of the vehicles performance on a make-shift track in part of the lot at the site in Daiba, Tokyo. Famous drivers take to the machines for a few spirited laps around the course. Some of the cars include current Super GT cars, rally built cars, prototype and modified street cars. Click past the break for some more great shots.
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Race day – it truly is special. As the purpose built machines line the grid, the quiet idling of their hungry engines a deceiving tone. Just minutes before the red lights go out; the exhaust notes scream held back only by the bouncing rev limiter of the launch control. The paddock thick with anxiety. The rivalry, the tension, the noise and drama. As the green flags drop the machinery comes to life, and a torrent of power is unleashed across the asphalt. Exciting right!? But there is a lot that goes into getting everyone into position on time. Our friends at JDM Clips got some great behind the scene shots in and around the Pit area of the first Super GT round at Fuji Speedway. Click past the break to check it out!
. At the beginning of the month the delayed opening round of Super GT took place at Fuji Speedway and saw the first victory of the season go to the Autech GTR of the GT500 […]
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Ah, Monday. Hope you all had a good race weekend; congrats to Sebastian Vettel for his second 2011 season win! As promised, I’m posting up some shots of a Super GT Test Day at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit. While these shots may be dated a bit, they are still awesome. This post will be followed up with some race day shots as well. Unfortunately, the Super GT series has been delayed due to the tragic events in Japan. I know we’ve heard it a lot, but let’s hope Japan can bounce back and things can return to normal soon. Thanks again to JDM Clips. Check out the NSX GT-R FR – looks so mean.
. In lieu of the recent events that have taken place in Japan, you can imagine that gathering content for a site that focuses on Japanese motorsports is quite challenging. To be honest, I’m not […]
. . Here’s a quick video from JDM Clips of the Calsonic GT-R testing a new set of Bridgestone’s at SportsLand Sugo. Be sure to watch it in HD, and turn your speakers up! You […]
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This past weekend I ventured over to the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana to attend the Speedventures open track day, and to check out Big Mike’s Hontune event. This was the first Speedventures event I’ve been to, and although I didn’t track my car, I had a ton of fun walking around the facility shooting photos. Despite the bone chilling wind and uncertain forecast, I’m glad I went because I ended up meeting some great people and getting to shoot their awesome cars. Case in point; the two track ready S2000’s you see before you. I saw this pair sitting unattended in the garage, so I ventured in for some pics; click past the break for more.
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When Honda announced the end of the NSX’s participation in the Super GT due to new regulations only allowing front-engine, rear-driven cars, fans around the world winced a little. Little did we know what Honda had cooking in their chemistry lab of motorsport awesomeness. They announced their new GT spec car towards the end of 2009 as a successor to the popular mid-engined NSX, that was to compete in the GT-500 class in 2010. I believe there were four teams that utilized the HSV; Epson, Weider, Autobacs, and Keihin. Of these teams, Keihin managed the best performance of the season. You can watch the race at Sportsland Sugo here; the spectacular ending, and win for the Keihin team, was a highlight of this season. This win helped them to acheive 3rd place in the championship. If that’s not enough HSV-ness, click over to JDM Clips to see the Keihin HSV in action in Motegi. Thanks to JDM Clips for some great shots.
