Video - Super GT Round 2 Okayama review

After Hondas less than perfect debut for the HSV-010 in GT500, how will they get on in Round 2? Also will GT300 ever be a dull race? Watch the video and find out, preferably in full screen/HD mode

ITCC Round 1 - Mondello

Round 1 of the Irish Touring Car Championship took part recently at Mondello Park

On pole was the former J's Racing CRX, now run by Tuning Factory

Second on the grid was Martin Tracey in the Westward Engineering RS500 Sierra Cosworth

Third was Tomas O'Rourkes Astra

and fourth was Brian Sextons Urban Per4mance Honda Integra

Onto the race and a storming start from O'Rourke saw him jump into the lead...

...chased down by the pack

But it didnt take long for Martin Tracey to take the lead and a sizeable one at that, he was soon lapping the field

but with a few tight battles going on midfield

and more than 1 case of doorhandling going on!

But Tracey was not to be caught and victory was his!

Round 2 is at Kirkistown on April 24th

ITCC

A new direction for me in 2010 is the newly formed Irish Touring Car Championship
This new series has developed out of both Irish Time Attack and the need to have a decent Saloon car series in Ireland.

The class is open to any make and model of saloon or hatch back car. The openness of the rules means the first race will boast a grid consisting of BMW, Peugeot, Mazda, Honda, MINI, Volkswagen, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Ford, Renault and other well known marques.

I am now the official photographer for this series so regular coverage will be found here

The B-Racing K20 Civic doing some testing, with a best lap for now of 1.02, expect more from this car

Round 1 is at Mondello Park, this weekend - April 4th

Video: Super GT Round 1 Suzuka review

Round 1 from Suzuka, best viewed in fullscreen/HD mode. Few surprises in store!

If only F1 was exciting as this!

Honda HSV-010 GT

From 1997 until 2009 the Honda NSX was a front runner in the JGTC and later Super GT series, winning 37 races out of 106 and 50 pole positions, but a rule change for the GT500 category for the 2010 season outlawed the car as only front engined, rear wheel drive cars will be allowed to compete. The NSX is no longer in production, so in a special ruling, Honda were allowed to race with the NSX's still born sucessor, - the HSV-010 GT, even though it has yet to make it to production

HSV stands for Honda Sports Velocity and test versions had been spotted on the Nurburgring and elsewhere, before the project was cancelled (for now at least). So onto the racing version..

There is a saying in motorsport that if a car looks right at first glance, then it generally turns out OK. That is the case I think with the HSV-010, combining a carbon-fibre shell with a sleek functional and aggressive design.

A purpose built racer, with very little ground clearance. Underneath the carbon lurks a spaceframed front/rear end

But unlike other GT series, carbon brakes are not permitted so fairly substantial steel discs are in place

Plenty of ducting to help cool both the engine and the brakes

and more carbon

The heart of the beast,the Honda HR10EG a 3.4 litre,32V normally aspirated V8, this is a similar engine to those found in both Formula Nippon and Acura LMP2 cars

So how does it compare to the NSX? Taller with a longer wheelbase, but with the same overhangs. Handling will probably be similar though with the engine mounted low and all of the racecar chassis work making this a pure racecar rather than a roadcar converted to racer

Aguri Suzuki, owner of the ARTA team during the press launch of the car, where most of the photos Ive used on this post came from, indroducing his drivers for the HSV-010 GT in 2010,Takuya Izawa and Irish driver, Ralph Firman

And some fantasy liveries that the car may be seen in during 2010, all based on the NSX liveries on the first photo in this post.

And finally a testing video of the car, probably where most people became aware of this new car


5 weeks to go until its racing debut, should be good and hopefully competitive

Tsukuba Circuit

One of my last Japan post before the next trip, whenever it will be and a return to Tsukuba Circuit for a small time attack event, quite a busy one too. Tsukuba is quite poor for places to shoot from so this set is similar to the last time I was here. Cheers to Mike Garrett of Auto-Otaku for the lift and hanging with us for the day

This very tidy Nismo kitted 350Z was zooming around

And a nice FD2 Honda Civic type R

Nice Suzuki Swift Sport, I love these

And a very cool and fast....

Honda Fit (aka Jazz) with a J's Racing bodykit, and Id say a few J's bits underneath too

Only in Japan would you find a Ford Ka running on RS watanabe wheels and at a trackday too...

You cant escape, AE86's are still everywhere

And much rarer stuff like this Z31 300ZX

Most R35's I have seen so far have been parked up, or being wafted gently around - but not this 1, the first time Ive seen a R35 get some proper right foot action, and this 1 had a rear wing, different wheels, a Cobb accessport ECU and a centre exit exhaust among other things

Needless to say it tore up the track, overtaking everything and proved to me that the GTR is a fast car, and one that is even faster with some tuning applied

J's Racing

Kansai is one of my favourite regions of Japan, much more laid back, easy going, bit more off the wall and home to both Toyota and Honda, so we find ourselves at J's Racing, 1 of the better known Honda tuners in Japan. We had passed here in 2008 but being a Wednesday it was closed, but today its not

The crazyness of Kansai explains much of J's philosophy - extreme tuning and n/a only, their motto is 'The Xtreme Honda ride'

Loads of parts and brochures, nearly every Japanese tuner I have visited has a counter like this

Outside customers S2000, Accord Euro-R and Super Taikyu Civic Type R

A closer look at the Accord, J's make their own bodykits aswell as tuning parts, shame Accords are overpriced at home, I do like them

And the reason I visited - to see their Honda S2000 10th anniversary car and winner of the Most Outstanding Performance Award at Tokyo Auto Salon 2009

Even without the graphics J's have made the car look evil and no doubt perform just as well


From every angle its menacing and agressive, and no doubt on the tight and twisty touge roads around Osaka be unbeatable!

Time Attack 2008 Round 1 - Donington

Its back!! Time Attack 2008 will be bigger and better. More tracks, more entries and much more interest all round! An interesting weekend, for Round 1 at Donington Park: dry,windy, rain and then snow, it had it all!

Pro Class
The day was eventually won by Duncan Tappy in the Autosportif/TEIN Subaru Impreza with a time of 1.20.550 in the damp but had earlier set a time of 1.12.758, the fastest of the day overall

Not far behind was Olly Clark in the Roger Clark Motorsport Subaru Impreza, with 1.22.691 in the final, easily the loudest car of the entire weekend with its side exit exhaust, visible just infront of the real wheel

Third was Jamie Stanley in the RC Developments Evo 6, with some great drifting at times even though its Time Attack! His final time was 1.23.114

One of the most improved cars in round 1 was the Scoobyclinic Impreza, driven by Andy Harvey, with a strong 6th place in the final
Not long back from its trip to Japan and Tsukuba was Fensports Celica running a new sequential gearbox, eventually finishing 9th

Stanley and Darren Robinson in the Whifbitz RX7, in the snow

Club Class
1st in the Forced Induction class was Kev Horsley in the Scooby Clinic supported car with 1.28.569

1st in the Normally Aspirated class was Paul Hughes in the Buddy Club UK Honda Integra Type R with a 1.36.185

Fastest overall club class lap was 1.18.286 set by Barrie Rycroft in the Distinctive Cars York Mitsubishi Evo 7

Not every day you see a Renault Clio (briefly) leading a R34 GTR

A few offs and crashes but this is the only 1 I caught on camera

And to end this overdue update, 2 of the more interesting cars running in club class:

Craig Winstanley's Mazda FD3S Rx7 -with a Chevy v8 transplant

and the Apex Performance Skyline R33 GTS - also with a Chevy V8