Tag Archive: Kimihiro Obata

HACHIROKU DAY AT NIKKO CIRCUIT: Part I

By in 17-08-2009 12:30 am

I was going to editorialise a bit here, but since it was going to be unrelated to AE86s, and because my column for the UK’s Banzai Magazine is due in a couple of days and I need to save up my opinion juice, I’ll save it for another post.

Until then, enjoy the first half of Noriyaro’s coverage of the 6th of August AE86 meeting at Nikko Circuit.

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IF MAD MAX DROVE A TOYOTA: Missile drifting

By in 13-11-2008 12:30 am

A “missile” car has a couple of definitions in Japan, depending in which context you’re talking. Usually it refers to a drift car that has been left close to standard externally, while still being heavily modified under the skin. Imagine the sort of thing a D1 driver would take up to the mountains for a bit of practice on weekends.

In the case of these cars however, it means that cost of tyres petrol, and entry fee for a track day combined should cost about as much as the car itself.

At this particular event at Nikko Circuit, four drivers showed up in missiles, and three of them were current D1 drivers, which meant the driving was sphincter-tigheningly close. The first two drivers here are Shinji Minowa in an R32 GTS-t, and this year’s D1GP Champion Daigo Saito in what is just barely recognisable as a JZX90 Mark II, running a very large turbo and 19-inch wheels and tyres left over from some of his slightly better looking JZX projects.

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