Mobara Circuit

After a busy weekend in Japan (VeilSide and Nikko) I just kept on going with a visit to Mobara Circuit in the Chiba prefecture where a drift practice day was taking place

Despite being a Monday there were around 50 cars there,the most common cars were Toyota 4 door's (Chasers,Mark II's and Crestas) with almost every other car you would expect at a drift day there too,although surprisingly not 1 Toyota AE86 in sight. Also there were 2 D1 drivers along with their cars. For once I was the total outsider and the only westerner there

The track layout is flowing with both fast and slow corners and a very long sweeping bend onto the start/finish straight. There are also 'shortcuts' on certain bends,so if someone spins ahead,you can avoid the bend completely

Interesting A31 Cefiro with C33 Laurel front

D1GP driver Youichi Imamura was there practicing with the ORC/Top Secret Fairlady Z Z33 (or 350Z) This is a new car with a twin turbocharged VQ35DE (+TT) 3.5litre V6 engine


Not that smokey but very very fast!

Also there was Kuniaki Takahashi in the Kunnyz/Do-Luck/Goodyear Toyota JZX100 Chaser, powered by a 600bhp 2JZ-GTE engine from a Mk4 Supra, 1 of my favourite D1 cars

While Imamura was concentrating on setup,doing a few laps then coming into the pits to discuss the car with the Top Secret mechanics,Kunny was just making as much smoke as possible!! Unfortunatley for me I was shooting ito the sun for this shot so its not as good as Id like!

The scream off the 2JZ has to be heard to be fully appreciated!!

About 20 seconds after I took the previous photo!

As always, practice makes perfect


Time to go home,the shrink wrapped wheels are so you dont get bits of rubber strewn around the boot area,no point in getting bits of tyre in the shopping now is it!!

VeilSide

VeilSide - the name says it all and yes they did exist before Fast and Furious and I had heard of them before then!! For my 2nd trip to Japan it was a must that we went to see them, so after a long train journey and some crap directions, myself and Chris found ourselves deep in Ibaraki prefecture in suburban Tokyo, not far from Tsukuba circuit when suddenly I saw a big building with VeilSide written on the side.....

This was it - one of the the best known of all Japanese tuning companies, as famous for their styling as their drag racing/top speed exploits

Despite being in Japan the weather had followed us from Ireland and it was pouring rain outside,so time to take a look inside

Yes - Its really VeilSide!!! And Im here - lets go inside!!

Its a Fortune kitted RX7 and Drift Kings 350z from Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift.......
With 2 more alongside.... the orange 1 unsurprisingly is 1 of the cars used in the film (and autographed by Sam Hubinette)


Glad I brought my tripod.......



1 of the cars I had wanted to see,their 1300bhp drag Supra,below is a video of it in action (an idea I borrowed from VeilSides showroom,where loads of tv screens show similar footage of their cars in action). We will come back to the man with the big grin on his face at the end of the video later.




And the car that almost had me drooling,Drag R-1 their R32 GTR drag car with over 1300bhp which still holds the world 0-300km/h record (see below) with a time of 13.72 seconds and the 4wd 1/4 mile world record on street tyres with 8.612 @ 172.5 mph....

The R32 Evolution R-III,860bhp and 1 of the fastest Skylines in Japan in the early 90's. This car won VeilSide their 1st Tokyo Auto Salon trophies. The front looks the same as your 'average' R32 GTR,but the rear end of it blew me away aswell as the wide arches,very radical and only VeilSide could do something like this well!

Chris debates purchasing some VeilSide products. Notice how wide the arches are on the Combat Supra behind him!

And finally,the creative genius that is Mr Hirano Yokomaku,President of VeilSide, and easily 1 of the most influential people in the modifying world. He designs every VeilSide kit himself and the modifying world would be a much less exciting place wihout his work. He also gave his name to the company, Veil meaning ‘Maku’ and Side meaning ‘Yoko’

Thanks to Hirano Yokomaku for being an excellent host and his contributions to the world that I love, Yoko Koyanagi for her hospitality and Chris Gray for the extra photography and his logistics help!!

AE86's in Japan

I never really was a big fan of the Toyota AE86, or 'Twincam' as they are more commonly known in Ireland,mainly due to their stupidly high prices, the fact they have a hooligan image and the gardai (police) and insurance companies here hate them! But that all changed when I visited Japan and a drift practice day at Nikko Circuit

Plenty of AE86's (or Hachi Roku which means '8-6' in Japanese) there, along with some committed drivers and mechanics, all ready to push these RWD, lightweight machines to the limit and beyond


Most weight less than 900kg's so its easier to really throw them around


Got a few laps in this 1,crazy. Rough,rusty,full of welded up panels but still a lot of fun,particularly when the engine is approaching 9,000rpm! Go Shino!!!!
This 1 suffered a blown engine,constantly overheating but the driver just kept topping up the radiator until the headgasket cried enough

I was told at the start of the day 'You will like AE86's at the end of the day' And it was true,now I do,suppose sometimes you have to see them in their real habitat showing what they can really do and not in a carpark doing donuts at a cruise - how lame

Time Attack - Round 2

The 2nd round of the UK Time Attack series took place recently at Silverstone, in glorious weather but it would have slight imperfections in terms of grip and performance for some cars, but still it wouldnt put people off!


The overall winner was the RC Developments Evo 6 driven by Clive Seddon with a 1:01.455 laptime, if the weather had been a little cooler this time would have been faster again


2nd again was the Roger Clark Motorsport Subaru Impreza WRX driven by Olly Clark,not even a second off 1st place


And 3rd again was the Gugliemi Motorsport Lotus Elise, again just 1/1000ths of a second off the fastest time


1 of my favourites from the weekend,Dave Ellen in the Prolex UK Toyota Aristo Vertex V300, running with full leather interior,aircon and stereo, along with a 2JZ-GTE with automatic transmission with the steering wheel paddle shift controls, and it didnt finish last either!


Winner in the Club Normally Aspirated class was Nadine Gearys Dodge Viper,easily the most menacing car on the track,coupled with the soundtrack provided by the 8 litre V10 engine, which set a winning class time of 1.06.312 which was a comfortable 4 seconds ahead of..

Dixon Chengs DC2 Honda Integra Type R who was just ahead of....


Simon Miskellys newer J's Racing Dc5 Integra Type R which proves my own theory that loads of revs and no torque are no substitute for higher engine displacement,lower revs and high torque levels, or maybe its just Im not a big Honda fan!!

2 in a row for Ron Kiddell in the RK Tuning R32 Skyline GTR who once again placed 1st in the Club Forced Induction (Turbo) class

And finally Andy Middlehurst who won the British Saloon car championship in the R32 GTR in the 90's,aswell as introducing the GTR to the UK market was driving the Trackday Performance R32 GTR in the pro class, which was very quick but a few mechanical gremlins got in the way of things,so should be interesting to watch in Round 3 as only minor problems put the car out

Round 3 takes place at Knockhill in Scotland on July 28th

Screw you Orido!!!

Well there we were,our last night in Yokohama,myself and my friend Chris decided to go to Bar 559 for a meal and some farewell beers. The bar is owned by the well known racing driver,drifter and video presenter Manabu Orido. But it was not to be as it was closed!! I think the weather that day was a subtle hint as to what was in store as it poured rain all day,hence the umbrellas. So heres a photo of our general feelings towards both the weather and the bars owner - or maybe it was because he was judging at a MSC event that weekend that he wasnt there and the bar was closed.


Oh well maybe next time as there will definatley be a return made there