DENSETSU HACHIROKU: GunTama.R

June 28, 2010 3:05 pm Published by

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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This post was written by Alexi

20 Comments

  • Vickers says:

    So legit.

  • kurisu says:

    Dammit, you can’t tease us like this and not share more! Or at least some old pictures of them in action?

  • Ray says:

    Thats HELLA MEAN to tease like this!

  • Guardian-X- says:

    Damn this was a teasing write-up. I wished there was a good story in that post :p , but i must say i find it very respectfull that these (awesome) stories are not just put on some blog for our amusement.

    These are the kind of stories that should be told among a select group of friends or one person to another. That would be so great to just have a few drinks and sit outside or something whilst listening to someone telling crazy stories from back in the day :p

    I can imagine nowaday’s these kind of groups can’t even come out anymore without being filmed/photographed and sent on the internet before they even hit the road :p

    Maybe “the good old day’s” is not such a dull sentence in this case 🙂

    A teasing but interesting read!

  • Fury-S12 says:

    dam its stories like the ones we are all imagining about this 86 team that i rekon is why most of us got into cars specifically jdm and drift …you haaave to tell us 😛

  • Thomas-san says:

    GunTama.R
    Only in Japan can a really bad name be changed from FAIL to HERO in the space of about five short paragraphs.
    Touge till’ Sunrise! :O

    (e-mail me a story)

  • Isidro says:

    AAAAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!I feel like hunting you down and forcing you to tell me these stories, Alexi!!!! That 1-sentence Nikko legend summary gave me goosebumps. That alone is enough to put Initial D to shame in my book. Now I won’t sleep for a week just thinking about what kind of other god-like abilities the GunTama.R guys had (or have).

    May you please tell us 1 more summary!! please?

  • adam says:

    wow thats awesome… the mystery alone intrigues me.
    reminds me of some stories i heard about an aussie group called dorished or something. they were around a few years ago and did a similar thing, illegal street drifting and racing and stuff. i even heard that they had a time trial thing at a bunch of different mountain roads in sydney somewhere, like a competition trying to set records.
    a mate of a mate i met once was boasting about racing one of them and losing in his S2000 to some hachi from their group. i had only just seen initial d then, and it sounded like something lifted from the series lol.
    damn its cool though!!

  • dangina says:

    Now were all hungry to hear more on this team! I wonder why the previous owner sold the car if it had that much history…

  • stqeno says:

    Ok i owe you some beer and you tell me the whole story then.

  • skurai says:

    O_O
    this fascinates me, i want to hear more.
    the street legends of japan

  • tim says:

    there are a few stories from the mountains around sydney…!
    good and bad ones.

    pretty sure there are still groups doing this stuff here too…i’ve seen a couple of things i’m best not talking about, lol.

    I’m sure they are world wide, and more common that most would believe.

  • Get Shedded says:

    Yay, Dorished has entered into Drifting folklore LOL

  • jimmo says:

    @Adam – I head of those dorished guys too. Heard some mental stories about mountain racing and tandem battles.
    Rumor has it the hachi was almost stock standard and there was a 180sx that used to terrorize other mountain racers down some gorge road.
    huge respect to them.

  • Adam says:

    jimmo, i think the road the 180 was on was galston gorge, near hornsby or something.
    it’d frekin sweet to see some of that underground stuff…

  • Tekno Twinky says:

    Ray says:
    June 28th, 2010 at 11:12 pm
    Thats HELLA MEAN to tease like this!

    ^^^shame on you to use such lingo in this post.

    sacrilegious stuff Alexi! Damn i love it! makes all my downloaded intial d,wangan midnight anime and manga books so.. not good enough?? when theres true storys out there and even current storys untelling in the making! Gotta get insured on my 86 again soon!

    Please do a write up on the storys via email or post!!! i pinky promise to destroy after reading!!!!!!! 😀

  • Matt says:

    Can you do some kind of story on another team or post some pics or something??

  • Benny says:

    Super cool! Any chance of more pictures of other 86s in the team if they are still alive n lil teaser write up again :p

  • Frisco says:

    Hey i found another GunTama.R its in a Hyper Rev. All the way in the back, I’m not sure but I think it did Nikko in 44″896.