TRIAL

Most tuning companies in Japan are a little bigger than ones you would find in the UK and Ireland but there are a few which are huge and the biggest in Japan is TRIAL in Osaka. Think of a premises the size of a large main dealer except its purely for tuning and modifying cars and your getting close. After a quick meeting with the company founder/director Makihara san, then being smitten with cheif racequeen Chihiro it was time to take it all in, and there was a lot

Heres a shot of a small part of the car park, most of these are customers cars. I love the palm trees

10 work bays, an inhouse engine dyno, a set of rollers and a dynapack, almost everything is done inhouse, all thats missing is a circuit. Not to mention the massive showroom

Im standing just inside the doors here and the 1st thing you see is this smart NSX, also for sale, bit too much for me at the moment!

Also you can see some of the extensive parts displays in the background


Most tuners/garages probably have just a small kettle or its a case of go to the shops for refreshment, but TRIAL have their own bar, and thanks to me and Chris, theres some proper Irish whiskey behind the bar now too!!

In the corner of the showroom, 1 of TRIAL's original R32 GTR's is on display

While outside their PS13 Silvia track car and a R34 GTR for sale can be found

Aswell as some of the latest TRIAL demo/development cars, a FD2 Honda Civic Type R and a MY2008 Subaru Impreza STi

A 350Z convertable on the ramps getting alignment work done

TRIAL will tune any car, from a Suzuki Kei car to a R34 GTR

or 2......

Getting ready to lock up for the evening, or maybe a spot of racing around the kanjo highway.......

Extra special thanks to Yuichi Ikegami and Keisuke san for their help and hospitality, not to mention Chris for his amazing organising skills

Buying a car??

Back home, most car dealerships have 1, if not 2 high performance models on display, but not in Japan where they tend to be more common...


While on the way back from Signal Auto with Chris we saw this used car dealership called GT Net, so the rather inviting looking forecourt led us in for a closer look

The forecourt was jammed, cars everywhere, making it hard to get a clear shot, here are some Imprezas...

And some Fairlady Z's (or 350Z's) along with some Mitsubishi Evos, a Honda NSX and S2000

A small line up of R32 and R33 Skyline GTR's, Skylines were the most common car there

A pair of R34 GTR's

And my favourite car there, a factory red R32 GTR


Random Japan Part 2. The Japanese police are a bit like their American counterparts as this police station not far from GT Net conveniently has a Mister Donut shop right across the road aswell as the obligatory Toyota Crown patrol car parked outside.....

Time Attack - Round 3,Knockhill

Wow - Knockhill - what a track,the only track Ive been to that comes close to it is Brands Hatch, short,sweet and with loads of gradients

Overall winner on the day was Phil Glew in the Zen Performance Subaru Impreza who set a 57.704 in the wet of the final but earlier had set a 53.450, fastest time of the day

2nd overall despite this high speed trip through the gravel trap was the Roger Clark Motorsport Subaru Impreza WRX driven by Olly Clark

3rd overall and the only driver to get close to Phil Glew during qualifying was the Autosportif / Tein Subaru Impreza driven by rally legend Jimmy McRae, father of Colin (RIP) and Alastair

After a paintshop malfunction,Rob Barnes in the Do-Luck /Sumo Power Evo 8 now sports pink paintwork.....

1 of the best prepared cars in the series is Adrian Smiths Fensport Generation 7 Toyota Celica, which has been converted to 4wd aswell as a 3S-GTE engine transplant

Very narrow and loads of gradient changes,fantastic track and a real challenge,but every driver loved it

The only Irish entrant this round was Phil Burdock in his Burdock Flooring Subaru Impreza

Shane Smith in his nicely presented GTR register R32 GTR

Once again Nadine Geary in her menacing Dodge Viper won the club n/a class

Clive Seddon in the RC Developments Evo 6 looked very strong in the final,until disaster struck...



Fortunatley there were no injuries and the car only sustained minimal damage,it will return

George Orr in the Extreme Motorsport Evo 6 was setting some of the quickest times on the day overall,but the lack of a rollcage for the car led to him competing in and winning the club forced induction class overall

The AG Motorsport Ford Focus Cosworth 4x4 in the pro class,driven by Andy Gallacher, exits with a puff of smoke and some nasty grinding noises on only the 2nd practice lap of the day

The Time Attack final will be at Brands Hatch on September 2nd,all 3 classes (Pro, Club NA and Club FI) are still undecided so it goes to the wire. Should be good!

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

Time Attack Round 1

Wow what a weekend,full of surprises and broken records. Loads of new cars,updated cars and new drivers. A lot of the teams watched 2006 with interest and now have entered the 2007 series. It can only get better

This round and all rounds of the 2007 season will be shown on MotorsTV

The overall winner was the Zen Performance Subaru Impreza driven by GT/BTCC driver Matt Allison with a 1:14 lap,3 seconds quicker than the fastest lap from the 2006 final

2nd overall was the Roger Clark Motorsport Subaru Impreza WRX driven by Ollie Clark losing by just two tenths of a second to the Zen car

3rd overall and breaking up the Japanese car dominance of the event was Steve Gugliemi in the Audi 1.8 turbo powered Gugliemi Motorsport Lotus Elise

Simon Norris in the Norris Designs Evo IX SWB was 4th overall, but is 1 to watch as always, perhaps the snot rocket has met its Subaru Nemesis??

Andy Barnes's Sumo Power 350Z didnt make the final but was a fine sight ontrack, moreso as the pink paintwork made it easier to photograph, hopefully will place better in the remaining 3 rounds

Unfortunatley for Mick Wade, the Distinctive Cars York R32 GTR suffered from problems all weekend but should place better next time, gotta love the R32 GTR's

and finally 'Fast' Rob Barnes in the Sumo Power Evo VIII widebody put blown off boostpipe problems behind him to record a well deserved 5th overall

A few of the teams were still not ready for Round 1 whereas others will be making adjustments for Round 2 which will take place at Silverstone on June 3rd as part of the Japanese Tuning Show Keep an eye on the website for the latest info