Tag: Racing

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Video: Create The Racing Power – The Pit Road M M7SL FD3S 80R PV

Last week, my wife and I made the drive from Osaka to Himeji, in Hyogo, to visit the boys at Pit Road M; a shop that has been on my list for quite some time. If you know me, you’ll know I’m a huge fan of RH9 – both in idea and what it stands for; it is the group I emulated to create the Frontrunners Group.

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Feature: Koyorad x NDF Street ISF V.8 – Spring Rate Change

Between the amount of traveling I’ve done early this Summer (Japan’s record temps in June), our new focus on growth, and the recent heatwave here in the West, this years off-season has developed a sense of eternity to it.  Even now in September, as people are gearing up to race again, the idea of heading out to the track for testing alludes me.

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Video: Visiting Garage Mak in Nagano – S15 Type 6 Delivery

This past weekend I headed to Nagano to photograph my friend Tsubaki’s new S15 delivery. He had the car fixed and fitted with the new Garage Mak Type 6 front end. While I was there, we take a close look at Amemiya’s 1,000+hp S15 at the shop, and I also took some photographs of our friend Masato’s DIY S13.

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Feature: Akihabara Nightlife – The Sector One FD3S

Based in Japan’s unrivaled hub of neo-anime culture and unwavering creativity, Sector One turns out some of the worlds most detailed Itasha designs.  After 2 months of having their flagship location in Akihabara, I was invited to come take a look at their new demo car; the former RE-Amemiya built LW-7 FD3S.

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Feature: Koyorad x NDF Street ISF V.7 – SOW CCW & TRD Series Round 3

Before I take off for Japan for the Summer, I was lucky enough to have one more opportunity to take the ISF to the track with all the tire issues finally sorted out.  I wasn’t able to get the stiffer springs on in time, however that may have actually worked out better for the baseline testing.

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Feature: Excellence In Craft – Arvou Motor Sports Service

Growing up with his father, Akira, Yusaku Shibata was embraced with motor sport from the moment he arrived in this world.  His life would see him behind the wheel of numerous race cars throughout a number of series, and eventually coming full circle to own and operate the tuning shop his father founded in 1985; ARVOU Motor Sports Service.

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Video: Attack Tsukuba Championship 2021 – Paddock Walk and Highlights

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.

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Site News – ‘Circuit’ Photo Book Release

With the down time I’ve had due to an inability to travel, I began organizing my media storage several months ago in an attempt to be proactive in how I store all of the assets I’ve accumulated over the years.  What I thought was going to be a simple sorting exercise, turned into an idea to publish a photo book showcasing my time spent around race tracks in Japan.

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Encounter: Friends Power Silvia S15

Friends Racing and their re-purposed drift Silvia have made quite the comeback over the past year or so.  Making the transformation from the GReddy backed D1 Grand Prix competitor, to a record chasing time attack build was no easy task for the small Tochigi-based outfit.  It took the company a few years to get the car to where it’s at now; a journey that is paying off in blindingly fast lap times.

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Event: Dora Festival – Zummy Racing Family

A couple weeks ago Zummy held one of the first open time attack events of the what is considered the ‘prime’ season at TC2000; temps have dropped, and track conditions are ideal for fast times.  Many of the amateur drivers used this as an opportunity to shakedown their summer upgrades.  We saw a lot of modifications to existing builds, as well as the debut of many newer entries to the ever-growing niche.  It didn’t take long for the returning drivers to see the fruits of their labor, and within laps personal bests were being racked up across the board.

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Close-Up: 2016 APR Toyota Prius GT300

Among the various Super GT cars on display, APR was one to unveil their 2016 GT300 take on the new Prius.  We got a close look at the previous model a few years back at Fuji Speedway; however, since Toyota has released a newly remodeled production version of the hybrid chassis, it was time for it’s older counterpart to be retired.  Unlike the previous model, which utilized a mid-engine setup (as it was built to the somewhat controversial JAF GT300 rulebook), the 2016 will be using the now mandated front-engine setup, as this is the factory engine layout of the Prius.

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Event: An Afternoon with GMG – Auto Club Speedway

With my small involvement in this industry, and the often times overwhelming amount of events in the area, I’m sometimes faced with conflicting events (ie. HKS Premium Day and Evome being on the same day) .  This is usually not a concern because my interests happen to fall into a smaller niche of the whole of automotive lifestyle; such was the case for me this weekend.  Formula D took place in Long Beach this weekend, as well as the accompanying car show downtown.  Earlier in the week however, my friend and employee of GMG Racing, Dom, invited me to hang out with the team for the sprint race at Auto Club Speedway.  Needless to say, I did not attend Formula D.