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SEVENS ON THE BAY: 7/7 at Umihotaru

By in 09-07-2010 12:58 am

As some of you may know, the day before yesterday being the 7th day of the 7th month, was RX-7 day! I knew that there was going to be a big meeting at Daikoku Futou parking area, so I waited until the peak hour traffic and torrential rain died down before getting out onto the Shutokou and Wangan to head down to Yokohama.

Unfortunately, right when I was around Haneda Airport, I saw that dreaded information sign. “Daikoku Futou Parking Area is Closed”.

Seriously, the last two or three times I’ve headed down to Daikoku, they’ve shut it down at about nine’o’clock, before I even get there. Usually, it’s because of the kyushakai and kids on bikes that we all know and love making too much noise and generally being annoying to the police. That was usually on a weekend though, but since it was a weekday and I was earlier than the usual closing time, I figured it should be OK, even if they did close it.

I made a quick phonecall to Dino Dalle Carbonare, who was also covering the event for Speedhunters. He didn’t answer, but I figured that everyone would probably head out to the Umihotaru parking area in the middle of Tokyo Bay. I didn’t want to waste the three thousand yen toll (that’s $38 Aussie and $33 US) going there if nobody else was though, so I slowed down behind a truck and called Dino a couple of more times.

I got through to him literally as I was passing the off-ramp to Umihotaru, and just barely made it on. It turns out that so many cars showed up to Daikoku that they were blocking the on-ramps and causing trouble for the truckers and bus drivers who are the usual attendees of expressway parking areas, so the police kicked them all out. A few minutes later, I was at Umihotaru, which was only populated with a few dozen groups of people out on a night drive. They had no idea what was soon to decend upon them.

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THE BOSS’S WEDGE: Keiichi Tsuchiya’s NSX-R

By in 02-07-2010 12:04 am

I was on another Honda-centric Hot Version video shoot this week. There was a lot of running around and moving cars here and there for various shots, which meant I was hopping in and out of interesting Hondas for most of the day.

This one was probably the most interesting. Keiichi Tsuchiya’s personal NSX-R. Of course, I had to get a picture.

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THUNDER AND SMOKE: Tokyo Chaser burnout

By in 01-07-2010 11:07 pm

Someone asked back in this post to see more of Carmake Rasty’s “Complete V” JZX100 Chaser demo car.

I haven’t had a chance to see it since then, but here’s how it appeared in a recent issue of Option magazine. They’ve been doing this thing in Option recently where they’ll get a current demo car to do a burnout in a famous part of the city.

In this case, it’s the Thunder Gate (Kaminarimon) in the tourist area of Asakusa in Tokyo.

Take a closer look at the background though.

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I’M WALKIN’ ON THE DRIFT LINE: D1GP course walk

By in 29-06-2010 10:29 pm


Here’s something fun that they’ve added to the schedule of D1 Grand Prix events. If you’re not one of the kinds of people who like to have one foot out the door when they’re announcing the winners because you want to beat the traffic, you can go for a walk on the circuit itself after the event is over.

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DENSETSU HACHIROKU: GunTama.R

By in 28-06-2010 3:05 pm

When you think of famous all-AE86 teams from the 90s, the first one that usually comes to mind is Rough World. They were so famous that their team stickers were even being commercially replicated and sold in places like Super Autobacs.

However, on the western side of Tokyo, GunTama.R (a combination of Gunma and Saitama) reigned supreme on the touge, and circuits like Nikko and the now defunct Miu Circuit.

The team doesn’t exist any more though, and the incredible stories I actually have been able to pull out of a few people have been followed by a caution to never repeat them to anybody. Let’s just say that they’d put the storyline of Initial D to shame.

I’ve heard firsthand from one person who saw the leader of GunTama.R do a 46 second lap of Nikko Circuit in a completely standard AE86 in the rain. Keep in mind that the current AE86 record is a low 38 in the dry, held by the CBY Trueno.

This photo was taken shortly before this sticker was removed, as this AE86 shell that used to belong to a member of the team that went by the nickname “Gachapin”, has since been rebuilt and repainted by a new owner.

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