CRAB RUNNING FAMILY MEETING: Nikko Circuit soukoukai
April 20, 2010 4:48 pm
You might have noticed that I haven’t really been doing much driving recently.
I hope to correct this.
A good way to get back on the horse was to attend a regular-old “soukoukai” or “drive meeting”. This particular one was run by the “Kani Hashiri Ikka” or “Crab Running Family” at my local favourite, Nikko Circuit. Since the weather prediction was “overcast followed by showers”, I arrived as early as I could to secure a sheltered pit area. One of the previous wintertime Nikko events ended with me in sopping-wet overalls in the rain lying underneath the car on freezing concrete trying to get a red-hot exhaust back on. That wasn’t going to happen this time!
It was still pretty cold though, so I sat in the car with the heater running and listened to some podcasts while waiting for more people to arrive.
It’s always fun to look at the entry lists to see if any of your friends, famous people or interesting cars are coming along. You can see me there as #66 (bottom middle) with my “100 マークＩＩ” as “Team Noriyaro with Shino Kouba”.
A couple of the other car models were listed as “Erotic Pink” and “Hiace”.
We were going to see a Hiace drift today?
Not quite. The Hiace referred to this R32 GTS-t, which had a Hiace van wing attached to the back.
Damn, look at that. I think only Takurou-san’s 180SX box wing beats this for ridiculousness on a drift car.
Owner Tokusa-san thinks it pretty funny too.
Ah, so this was the “Erotic Pink” car.
Speaking of eroticism, it looks like he has a bit of a wing fetish too.
These guys were all standing around kinds of suspiciously.
“I am Japanese special driver!” he said in English.
The electrical tape sign on the window says “über missile”.
Yeah, it’s looking pretty haggard, but what about those wheels?
Panasports are a bit nice for a missile.
Hang on, NOS too?
Yep.
This S14 looked a bit lost. It might be a “JDM-style” car, but it’s more of a So-Cal style of JDM.
OK, now I’m confused.
As a side-note, the owner had a Nintendo DS in the same colour.
Team Orange’s Naoto Suenaga had been invited to the day to give advice, judge the competition and do demo runs. To do this, he brought along his personal practice car.
It’s remarkably close to stock. Note the Team Orange “tsuisou joutou” or “ultra tandem” sticker on the dash.
S15 turbo, S15 injectors. That’s about it.
With just that, he was absolutely owning me in tandem runs. I could read the time on his watch when he was next to me, and I could just barely keep up when he was in front. It wasn’t until his tyres went a bit off that I was able to even remotely keep pace. Good bit of motivation to improve, those runs were.
There were a good mix of cars there.
This guy likes blue.
This D1SL driver came all the way down from Akita to practice, which is about a six-hour drive.
Remember the Laurel from this post? His dampers blew, so he had to put in some standard coilovers for this event.
This doesn’t look good.
Oh no! We have another De Rorian Taimu Mashin!
Here’s my Mark II and Shino’s 86. Please ignore my plank of wood bonnet stay. It’s better than using an umbrella.
Speaking of ghetto mods, here’s a storage hook I picked up from the local 100 yen shop. Works pretty well as a rally-spec helmet holder!
Also, exhaust manifold heatshields work well as ghetto can coffee warmers!
Yes, I have an SSQV. Deal with it. Pitcheww!
Best part of the day. Expert Class Second Place trophy. Judged by Naoto Suenaga, so you know it’s the real deal.
This is a long post, isn’t it?
After the event, I thought I’d head over to the nearby Mature workshop and see how their RC course was coming along after I visited it the day before it opened in July last year.
Here’s the new Yokomo shell for Yoshinori Koguchi’s D1 car.
The track layout is more or less the same.
This time though, it has a couple of little “parking areas” for the cars to take a break in. These vending machines light up, apparently.
Mature’s Yoshibumi-san says that they’re working on making some scale-model roadside barriers out of metal to make the track look a bit more realistic.
It was only early in the evening, but there were already a few guys there.
Here’s some track layout suggestions by the customers.
In the corners of the track were some miniature shell junkyards!
I need an RC drift car.
I think I should probably get a new front bumper first though.
Tags: Mark II, Mature, Naoto Suenaga, Nikko Circuit, Nissan, R32, RC drift, S13, S14, Silvia, Skyline, ToyotaCategorised in: Events イベント
This post was written by Alexi
28 Comments
Looks like a great day, awesome photos and that uber missle S13 is that a chain holding the rear muffler up (missle spec)?
Also congrats on the second place
Another awesome post man. Seriously love reading this blog! Please keep it all coming!
awesome post! luv ya work…
Good read, especially suenaga’s practise car! I’m taking same approach to my s14 at the moment and its proving to be heaps of fun and reliable.
What happend with your turbo ? is it stock or something else ?
I see you have deleted top part of intake with bypass valve
let’s go for the RC drift yo
It’s been a long long time since I last touch my Yokomo… Its pretty boring if you’re all alone! It’d be great fun if you have company! Gd Luck with ur RC grab man~ its good for line practicing though~ hahaha
Had a great day, i suppose 🙂 ..
. . lol “ghetto can coffee warmer”
Great post ! It’s fun seeing a bit more pictures ^^
I like your gauge cluster btw 🙂 ( defi’s ? )
I can tell that you are in the early stages of RC addiction. At first you weren’t convinced about grown men playing with toy cars, but now you are curious to give it a go. Soon you will be lusting after every tiny little shiny hop up part available and your bank account will be utterly empty! Go on! You know you need this in your life! 🙂
Awesome Alexi.
Your definatly living the dream!! keep up the great work!
Massive thanks 2 you man! Awesome work keep it 😀
cheers
De Rorian Taimu Manshin LOL
get a new bumper first! 🙂
Strong post love it
Very nice post, I really enjoyed reading it!
The “Hiace” R32 and misile S13 don’t look bad at all IMO.
sounds like an awesome day to say the least congrats one second place (assuming you won the trophy not just photographed it lol)
you wouldnt even need to buy a rc car shell just use a junkyard one
absolutely love these small meet blogs u do man!
lol at the uber missile with SP1’s are they? i guess thats how they roll their missiles around in japan, wish we could do the same!
oh and LOVE the 2 tone skyline with the hiace wing! 🙂
lol i had a piston and connecting rod from a Detroit Diesel engine propping up my hood once 😉
http://www.vwvortex.com/gallery/albums//Events/Enthusiast/Waterfest/2007/1279.jpg
Congrats on the trophy too! How long until you’re competing in D1SL? ;D
Also i’m curious as to what the RC drift track’s surface is made of, it almost looks like a fabric from here.
wicked cool post at any rate, one day i’ll make it to japan and check out a soukoukai, even though i’ll have no idea what’s going on.
BTW, congrats for the trophy Alexi! Cool! Seems that you’re getting better and better now~ You should post more videos or your own action shots from some other photographers or video friends you have there~ I know its hard when you’re the driver and the photographer~ haha~ you gotta work that out mate! XD
Nice Post Alexi. Congrats on the trophy.
Jash
yeah, bumper first
Good post Alexi.
Congrats on the 2nd place. You’ll be D1SL in no time.
mad post mate! Yeah maybe bumper first then RC
Whoa! 2nd place in expert, what the hell? You’ve come so bloody far since we saw you in September running in beginner class!
Great photos and stories once again! Get someone to film you dude, I love to see some vids of you ripping over there!
Good to see the trophy! Do not, (that is DO NOT) go near the RC stuff. All the leaders are being booked for molestation of minors. Oh, you mean Radio Control? Don’t go near that stuff either. It’s motorized crack.
looks like a great day was had, the team orange car looks soooo sweet!
love the rc drift cars too
Pics of the R33 4 door on 34R rims in the first shot?