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Posted
Feb 25 2010, 07:30 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 32 comment(s)
I'm not quite sure why, but I felt strangely drawn to this KP6 Toyota Starlet during the recent Omega Oil track day in Tsukuba. How can you not like its 70s/80s old-school feel, enhanced with body modifications that include massive N2-like overfenders and a set of vintage wheels. The interior was kept pretty simple to start off with so the owner obviously didn't feel the need to go crazy and remove too much trim... ...the stock dash and instrument binnacle remaining, but sporting a custom...
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Posted
Feb 25 2010, 10:45 AM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 35 comment(s)
When I recently found out that the owner of this dedicated track S15 Silvia manages to lap Tsukuba in 55-sec I knew I had to dedicate a small post to this incredible car. Suzuki-san, the owner, had his time attack project built by Scorch Racing and Ennepetal with a goal of achieving the fastest possible amateur time around the small Ibaraki-ken circuit. For a privateer to achieve times dedicated tuning shops employing professional drivers would boast about, is simply mind-boggling. And the base of...
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Posted
Feb 23 2010, 07:30 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 37 comment(s)
After the great feedback I got from the Battle Evome coverage a few weeks back I just knew I couldn't pass up the opportunity to head to Tsukuba circuit again. This time the event was organized by Omega Oil, which holds free practice sessions at the little circuit in Ibaraki-ken throughout the year. Omega customers are invited to bring their cars out for the day for some fun and practice but I didn't realize how cool this day would turn out to be until I drove into the paddock and saw just...
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Posted
Feb 09 2010, 10:30 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 32 comment(s)
Some of you were wondering why a lot of the cars/drivers from the Battle Evome time attack events don't participate in the yearly Tsukuba Super Lap Battle. Seeing the times a lot of these cars managed to post had me asking myself the exact same thing, the best example being Suzuki-san, owner of the Scorch S15 above who has lapped in a best time of 55.5 seconds. Like he has announced on his blog he is now shooting for that extra half a second to break the 54-second barrier! That is Cyber Evo/Tarzan...
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Posted
Feb 08 2010, 04:00 AM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 32 comment(s)
We cover a lot of grassroots drift events here on Speedhuntres.com but what about those that prefer to grip around a track? Well don't worry because a couple of weeks ago I attended a BE-Circuit event at Tsukuba Circuit where I got to see, after quite a long time, some proper time attack action. There is nothing amateur about the cars and drivers that participate at this event. Sure most of them are simple owners out to have some fun, but their competitive nature has pushed them to create some...
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Posted
Dec 16 2009, 07:20 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 17 comment(s)
This was probably the biggest surprise at the Super Lap Battle last week, the Koyama Racing Labo Evo X built in collaboration with Team Orange. Anyone familiar with the world of JDM tuning will have no doubt have heard the name Koyama, he is of course the man behind most of the projects that JUN has built over the last two decades. Earlier this year however he decided it was time to move on, time for a change and joined the guys at Team Orange up in Nihonmatsu, the home of Ebisu circuit. Koyama-san...
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Posted
Dec 15 2009, 11:30 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 29 comment(s)
After finishing third in the Unlimited FF class of the Super Lap Battle in Buttonwillow the 5Zigen guys sent their Accord Euro-R back to Japan in time to compete at Tsukuba. The car arrived back at the Osaka HQ on the first of December which allowed them to get to work on it to take care of a few small modifications before its outing at the Rev Speed event. It's the first time I've seen the car so I took my time to have a nice detailed look over it. I remember test-driving the CL7 Euro-R...
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Posted
Dec 15 2009, 03:33 AM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 31 comment(s)
OK time now to wrap up the coverage from the 2009 Tsukuba Super Lap Battle by taking another look through the paddock and some of the cars that help make the event what it is. There is no doubting that Time Attack is the epitome of the tuning industry, it helps push manufacturers and shops to advance parts and car development to extremes, creating wild machines like the Cyber Evo above. Like I mentioned in Part 1 back in the mid nineties if your car managed to lap Tsukuba in under a minute you had...
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Posted
Dec 11 2009, 08:00 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 47 comment(s)
I'm really surprised that a proper Super Lap Battle championship has yet to be organized in Japan. An effort was made back in the day with the T1-GP but it never really took off. I've been thinking about this for a while as I'm a little sad that we all have to wait one year to see our favorite cars blast around Tsukuba, because there is no doubt about it, this is one of the best events of the year. A national series would not only see teams participate at different tracks, like the new...
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Posted
Dec 09 2009, 11:50 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 42 comment(s)
I have probably never covered as much drifting as over this past year. It has been a real blast seeing pro drivers battle it out in D1-GP or up and coming young stars shine at more grassroots events like MSC, not to mention the craziness that is the Drift Matsuri, but I have well and truly missed more conventional kinds of motorsport. I am of course talking about grip. I'm not going to deny it, this is where my passion lies, so you can understand why I have been eagerly awaiting for what is in...
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Posted
Dec 09 2009, 02:56 AM
by
Jeroen Willemsen
with 27 comment(s)
Should I even add words? This amazing all carbon Revolution FD has been seen doing some laps at the recent RE-Wars round 4 at Tsukuba. I can't wait for Dino's coverage of the Super Lap Battle at the same circuit. Will this FD take the crown or will some of the other contenders like the Mspeed R34 (my favorite) be faster? -Jeroen Willemsen
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Posted
Nov 20 2009, 04:04 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 7 comment(s)
We've been running a lot of vintage Japanese car material this week, so I thought I'd add a high res wallpaper of the much-requested Hakosuka drift photo I snapped last year. Widescreen and standard versions available now in the Desktops section. Enjoy, and have a good weekend everyone! -Mike Garrett
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Posted
Oct 12 2009, 01:36 PM
by
Jeroen Willemsen
with 22 comment(s)
I saw some of the comments in my previous random snap , asking what lap-time these cars do on Tsukuba. Well almost all cars build by Rauh Welt are around the 1 minute mark, as can be seen here . Funny thing is though that a Nissan S14 was faster than all the Porsches during this race. -Jeroen Willemsen
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Posted
Jul 01 2009, 02:45 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 21 comment(s)
Subaru will always be known first and foremost for its Impreza, but in Japan the Impreza's bigger brother the Legacy is just as popular. Although they are generally favored as street cars, tuned Legacy's do show up to the track pretty often. I spotted this fully built second gen Legacy Wagon at an HKS track day at Tsukuba last year. I recall it being one of the fastest cars of the day, and that's not hard to imagine when you look at what's been to this thing. In the photo you can spot the full cage, Endless brakes, Advan wheels, and a fat front mount intercooler along with that aggressive aero kit. And that's just on the outside...
Do you guys want to see some more Legacy love this month?
-Mike Garrett...
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Posted
Jun 19 2009, 09:12 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 30 comment(s)
For my next post from the Idlers Games at Tsukuba Circuit, I thought I'd take a break from the on-course action and share some of the images I shot while exploring the paddock. With all of the cars on hand, one could easily spend the whole day wandering about, taking in the fantastic machinery up close....
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Posted
Jun 16 2009, 11:30 AM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 16 comment(s)
Time now to take a look at the final part of the InterClub Historic Car Race in Tsukuba. The event mixes so many modern and historic cars together it is like no other track-day event in the world. This picture of the Chevron around the first corner at Tsukuba might as well be taken back in the 70's! I used to see cars like this at hill-climb events in Italy... ...it certainly looked the part but wasn't running very well due to mis-tuned carbs which made it cough and splatter around the circuit...
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Posted
Jun 15 2009, 08:11 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 26 comment(s)
I still haven't even had a chance to sort through all the pictures I took at the Idlers Games at Tsukuba on Sunday. Unfortunatley for my hardworking little laptop, I managed to come home with nearly 2000 photos from the event.
Perhaps I got a bit trigger happy with the camera as I was overwhelmed with awesome cars and great driving?
Anyways, lets jump right into some more Idlers coverage....
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Posted
Jun 11 2009, 04:30 AM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 16 comment(s)
While walking through the paddock the other day at the InterClub Historic Car Race I couldn't help but be amazed at the broad selection of cars. It felt great seeing the owners actually use them on track like they were designed to. And despite this being a friendly race series, some out there were taking it pretty seriously, which made for some great footage! Now this little selection here is something I was just not expecting. Vintage Formula 1 cars, and a few other racers, mixing it up with...
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Posted
Jun 07 2009, 08:30 AM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 37 comment(s)
It was an early rise for me this Sunday morning as I packed up the car and headed straight for Tsukuba circuit. After the seamlessly non-stop rain that has plagued Japan over the last two weeks (well it is the rainy season after all) the weather miraculously changed giving us clear blue skies all day. I knew I was going to get very sun burned (and I did!) but as soon as I set foot in the paddock at Tsukuba I really didn't care as I was greeted with an impressive assortment of motoring jewels...
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Posted
May 18 2009, 03:35 PM
by
Jeroen Willemsen
with 27 comment(s)
After checking the RE-Extreme blog I came across this picture. I have seen this same FD numerous times before on pictures when it was going through its paces on Tsukuba, even Mike has captured this car before. I never realized that it was a street legal car. That in itself makes this car even cooler than it already was. Can you imagine driving a car like this to and from Tsukuba on any given Sunday and compete in a Time Attack event? The thought alone... -Jeroen Willemsen
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