Tag Archive: Tomonori Akai

PERKS OF THE JOB: Papa-chan’s custom gauge panel

By in 15-05-2009 5:35 pm

Remember Tomonori Akai’s purple AE86 hatch? After cracking the crankshaft of his 10,000rpm engine clean in half, he bought this turbo 86 we saw at Tsukuba circuit, transplanted the engine and replaced the transmission with a Toyota W55, replaced the diff with a 7.5-inch item bought from C&Y Sports.

So what happens when you run an industrial laser cutter all day? You make neat custom panels to fit your Defi gauges and other bits and pieces.

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I SURVIVED A JAPANESE GAME SHOW: Shino and Ken Satoh coming to US television

By in 03-04-2009 12:30 am

A couple of weeks ago, Shino had mentioned that she had been asked to come along to Mobara Circuit with her car, because an American film crew were coming, and wanted to film her drifting.

Turns out it was for the second season of I Survived a Japanese Game Show!

For anyone not familiar with the show (link to Youtube segments here) it’s an American reality show along the lines of The Apprentice or Survivor, based around competing in team-based, Japanese-TV-style challenges.

The team that wins each challenge gets to do something cultural and fun, like visiting the Tokyo fish markets. The losing team has to do something difficult, yet still cultural, like working as rickshaw drivers or labouring in a rice field.

This week’s winners won a ride in a drift car.

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FULL THROTTLE: Papa-chan’s 10,000rpm AE86 drifter

By in 28-01-2009 12:30 am

Remember these shots of Tomonori Akai’s car at the MSC invitational competition at Odaiba? You can thank him for the fact you’re seeing these photos today. He has been bugging me constantly on Mixi (a Japanese Myspace/Facebook) and in person all day yesterday at Tsukuba Circuit, wanting to see the shots I took of his car a couple of weeks ago. So then, here they are.

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