Cold and bright was the morning as I departed for Kawaguchi Station. The warmth of the sun felt nice, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit disappointed in the clear weather. After weeks of overcast mornings, the day I was to shoot Saito’s FC, the sun just had to be shining with vengeance.
One of the issues that was preventing us from going quicker in the ISF build (aside from my driving) were the soft spring rates of the KW V3 coilovers. Much of it had to do with the softer, more comfortable nature that is inherent in the V3, but we at least needed to try and alleviate some of the negative side effects of that on track.
It’s always refreshing to me to see productivity in it’s most energetic form. I think their are many positive effects to being constructive and it seems to me that it is overlooked quite often. It’s an aspect of life that adds a great deal of meaning to what we choose to pursue. Instinctively knowing the difference between being busy and being productive gives us the ability to progress through life much more efficiently; ultimately allowing us to experience more, and get the most out of our time. Ryo Kaneko is a man who knows the benefits of productive living, and it shows through his work on the circuit.
If you follow the blog (or Instagram @naritadogfight), it’s likely that you have heard of Justin, or seen his car posted several times. Justin is one of the two team drivers we have on NDF, and while he’s made several appearances (like the Podcast interview, and a few cameos) I’ve never really gone out and shot his S2000 with the purpose of featuring it. The car has come a long way in the past few months with the assistance of some pretty weighty modifications. This past weekend, we took to the streets with the idea of showcasing his build for the site.
In the furthest Southeastern part of the Saitama prefecture lies the small commuter town of Misato City. The suburb that serves as home to many employees of Tokyo, also serves as the headquarters for CCE; a fairly new, by some standards, tuning shop that offers a one-stop option for a variety of cars. The president, Yoshihiro Nakamura, chose this FD3S to serve as the companies flagship build. It’s gone through minor changes each year for the past several years, but I think that it’s current state is one that strikes a good balance between street and track; a goal that many enthusiasts in Japan strive for.
The last weekend in February marked the start of the new season of VTEC Club at Willow Springs International Raceway. WSIR was once again packed with some of Southern California’s most dedicated Honda enthusiasts for a full day of track fun. The local popularity of this series was more than proven last year, and if the first round was any indication, 2016 looks to be on the same track.
I wish I had more to say about this FD, but in all honesty this is my first time seeing the car at any event. The owner was registered in the Grooving series, which is a series in itself that, as of last year, runs in tandem with the Evome events. The Grooving events are catered more towards beginning drivers, or those that want to improve their skill on the circuit without having to enter events that host more advanced run groups. You can read more about it on their website.
With the year’s new Summer taking no time to bare it’s teeth, 107 degree temperatures plagued the desert at Round 5 of the 2015 VTEC Club series. Willow Springs International Raceway played host to the season’s final round, where competitors gathered to claim the last points available in each run group. While the heat may have hindered some, there were a few drivers that were able to grab personal bests despite the weather, and lap times that secured victories for each class.
Mobara invites from Team Yamada. Lots of good street teams out this day.
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.
While no doubt popular in it’s day for it’s nimble handling, performance, and excellent gas mileage, I wonder if Honda ever imagined the capability that their CR-X would have on circuit nearly 30 years after it’s inception? This particular example, hailing from the camp of G-Work, is no doubt a testament to the capability of the tiny chassis. Barreling through TC2000 in a mere 1’02.419, the NA B-series powered CR-X can hold definitely hold it’s own. Click past the break for a gallery of shots on track at Tsukuba Circuit.
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.
On the Sunday of February 22nd, VTEC Club held the second event of their 5 round season at Big Willow at Willow Springs International Raceway. The excitement and success of the first round no doubt carried through to the club’s follow up event with, once again, over 50 entrants participating. To say the day was perfect though, would be a stretch. The week leading up to the event, the temps in Southern California had steadily been dropping, and rain was on the forecast for race weekend. Ryan was once again on hand to grab some shots of the event.
Saitama native Nakashima Tomoyoshi, or Tomo for short, is an avid fan of the RX-7. Unique in many ways, the car has stolen his attention for better half of several years. Before he built the FD you see here, Tomo was the proud owner of a white Savanna FC.
“If you build it, they will come.”
While I wouldn’t necessarily call Streets of Willow a “Field of Dreams”, I will admit that Kevin Costner’s iconic line applies well in this situation. The organizers of VTEC Club, a Honda specific spin off of Extreme Speed events, have successfully created not just a niche event, but are well on their way to (possibly accidentally) creating an entirely new community of race fans.
You may or may not remember me mentioning a little bit about Mitsuyoshi’s super pink Evo in the post I wrote awhile back about his conquest in the CT9A; if not, here is […]
“Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is […]
So, one of the side projects that I’ve been working on over the past few months is expanding the site to include a very niche line of carbon goods, targeted towards circuit racing and […]
Wow. Such Drift. Just kidding; I’ll do my best to maintain decent grammar. Sekinei attended the Lowbrain drift event last weekend, mainly to drive in it, but he also was able to snap a […]
Aoki’s Doraemon themed, RE equipped FD.
Stopped by a 7-11 in route to Tsukuba one morning and caught up with the ATTKD posse; even their street cars are no joke.
Typhoon drenched circuits definitely provide ample practice for racing in the rain; as was the case a few weeks ago at Honjo Circuit in Saitama. This NSX and it’s owner wouldn’t let a little […]
Beautiful shot of the Revolfe S.A./Do-Luck built 350Z Challenge car at Fuji Speedway, where just yesterday the circuit played host to the annual Skyline Owner’s Battle event. More coverage coming soon…
Last week I posted up a shot of this DC2 on the NDF fan page and it seemed like quite a few people enjoyed it. Sekinei was at Tsukuba the other day during an […]
Kyushu boys
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 […]
Just about 6 more months until the next Battle Evome. Looking forward to what 2014 has to offer! Here’s a shot of Aoki-san’s (青木大輔) FD taking on the tight turn 4 of TC2000.
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. […]
A couple shots of the Techno Pro Spirit Corolla that were taken at Tsukuba during the Hot Version N2 Race last year. By no means the craziest build at the race, but definitely one of […]
Here’s a car that you don’t see on the race track too often; especially if you live in any other country but Japan. I spotted this Honda City (GA1) at Tsukuba during Evome. Needless to […]
Although this FD may seem mild compared to the rest of the paddock, it’s still has much to boast about. Including a best run of 59.429 on TC2000. It’s great to see the privateers get […]
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, […]
I first encountered the ATTKD street-spec R34 on our way to Battle Evome last February; we had stopped to grab some coffee at 711 and in the parking lot was the entire ATTKD entourage, including […]
Top Fuel; a company made famous by high powered builds. Voltex; a company based on the foundation of aerodynamics. Two companies, that, when married together can create a masterpiece on the circuit. […]
Over the past weekend a couple of friends and I attended an open event at Streets. Unfortunately, I wasn’t driving, but I still like to come along because you really never know what you’ll find […]
Went out to Streets this weekend – I’ll post up a couple shots throughout the week.
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 […]
This past Sunday marked the end of the 2012 Super GT season with the final race at Twin Ring Motegi; and despite the cold, rainy weather, the action was as hot as ever. […]
On September 17th, Super GT held it’s final Official Test Day of the season at Twin Ring Motegi. Our friends at JDM Clips were there to catch all the action as both the GT300 and […]
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Behind most cars, there are stories to be told. Some are your ordinary, every day type of stories that happen to the majority of people. I’m sure we all have lot’s of memories that are centered around our vehicles; but I doubt that they are quite as intense as the story that surrounds this particular S2000. Why? Because this one was at one point engulfed in flames. Has your car ever been on fire? Didn’t think so. This beautiful S2000 belongs to Nhan Doan, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at Wekfest LA, where he was showing his car for the day. I liked his car so much I asked if he wanted to snap a few pictures for NDF after the show. He happily obliged and around 5 or so we headed to Ballade Sports, where he was to drop off the car for a new tune that week. I was hoping to have the new website up by now, here, and have this post as a sort of ‘kick-off’ of the new layout, but as you can see it seems to be taking me longer than I thought. So, good news for all the fans I suppose, you get it early! Click past the break to learn more about this true fighter of a S2000.
