Time Attack 2009 - Round 1

Time for another 5 rounds of Time Attack, 1st stop Oulton Park for an interesting day

Pro/Club Pro/Prototype/Openwheel Class
For the first time since June 2007 it was not a Subaru Impreza on the top step - it was a Mitsubishi Lancer Evloution! Chris Ward in the RSE Motorsport Evo 7 took top honours with a 1.26.8 lap and was in the top 3 times all day

But the Imprezas were never far behind, Olly Clark in the Roger Clark Motorsport Impreza, managed a very close second with a 1.27.1 fastest lap

Another Evo in third, perhaps the tide is turning! Gareth Lloyd in the Car Planet Racing Evo 5 with a 1.29.3

Fourth for Russell Humphrey in the Interceptor Racing Evo 5 with a 1.30.8 - but running in the new ClubPro class, for the not so fast cars, but still more developed than club class cars

Fifth for James Nicholls also in ClubPro with 1.31.8 in the second Car Planet Racing Evo 6. Prior to today, this was the last Evo to have won a Time Attack round overall

But this was the car that had everyone talking. The sole Prototype class car, the AG Motorsport Ford Focus Cosworth of Andrew Gallacher, which had topped 2 of the 4 sessions with a fastest time of 1.27.1, which he no doubt would have beaten if only for a blown diff in final qualifying

When time attack started properly in 2006, these little openwheel cars were the ones to beat - but in 2009 they are having to fight for it. Duncan Cowper in the Dax Rush, with a Suzuki Hayabusa engine with a 1980's F1 turbo, good for 7th over all with a laptime of 1.32.4

Finally Simon Norris could debut Version 2.0 of the Norris Designs Evo 9 SWB 'Bogey' but he had differential carrier failure, but will return

2007 champions Zen Performance were back with pro-driver Tom Ferrier but a few teething problems kept them out of the serious running, but will be onces to watch

Best looker for now, Robin Duxburys Evo 8....

Club Class

An overdue win for Shane Smith in the Abbey Motorsport / CAT Driver training R32 GTR with 1.35.1

2nd for Marcus Webster with a 1.36.8

3rd for Duncan Graham in the RaceDynamix Impreza with 1.37.1

Round 2 will be at Knockhill on May 17th

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!

Impulse AE86 shop

Well following on from this AE86 at Auto Salon,my good friend Chris was most insistent on seeing the shop that created it, so once again it was off on 1 of those jaunts where you went with an open mind and came away satisfied, so in the suburbs of Kobe, Japan we set off with the aid of some scary looking taxi drivers to Impulse

As always some nice cars for sale outside, but aswell as sales they are known for their restoration projects



Like this, I had a good look underneath it, not 1 bit of rust - anywhere!
20V engine conversion

Bareshell rebuild

N2 racecar, along with even more shells for restoration

And immaculate cars for sale, as much as the AE86 is popular globally, its true home is still Japan

Mobara Circuit

After the excitement and hatred of Auto Salon it was off to Mobara Circuit in Chiba for a SR drift day, which meant mostly Silvias but a few other cars too

A 180SX 'Missile' drift car, I wonder is this the same 1 from the last time I was here?

T&E's S14 Silvia, the day before this had been on T&E's stand at AutoSalon. Not long before I took this picture Mr Ueno himself was asleep in the car, not allowing himself a day off after the madness leading up to Autosalon where he was a busy man

Japan boasts plenty of girl drifters and some of them are really good and would put many others to shame

This 1 was very aggressive in her C33 Laurel

but with a slightly unaggressive interior and helmet, are girls allowed gearknobs like that....

Too fast into the first bend and you get stung....

and off into the gravel

and then hide in shame behind the dust cloud

I love Japan

If you managed to move on from the previous pic there were a few non Nissans there too like this SR equipped Mazda RX-7

On the apex of the 1st corner

Then later a few reverse runs around the track

Including G-Corporations amazing 180SX

Tokyo Auto Salon 2009 Part 3

Time to wrap up Tokyo Auto Salon with some randoms...

A B310 Nissan Sunny, I remember these on the road as a kid, but until recently I didnt know they were a popular racing car in Japan

An Aston Martin/Maserati influenced Nissan 350Z. With the R35 and 370Z, the old 350Z was a bit overlooked at this years show

A Mazda Biante van, shame vans have not really caught on outside of Japan

Its not Japan without Engrish

Nice parts on display, these are HKS Kansai parts. I could easily post thousands of part photos, its what Autosalon is all about

Under the bonnet of Power Enterprises twincharged R35, with 2 superchargers supplementing the turbos. This car won the modified car of the show award

The Calsonic Super GT R35

and a very pleasant surprise just outside my hotel in Yokohama after the last day, a Hakasuka Skyline GTR, not sure if it was genuine but it sounded great as it pulled away.

Thats it for this years Autosalon coverage, but more from Japan to come