It’s straight back to Tsukuba now for the second Part of the Battle Evome Final coverage. I’m kicking off this post with a shot of Satoh-san’s all-carbon Evo 5, a well known old Varis demo car that has other famous and respected names behind it such as Cyber Evo and Garage HRS. Satoh was in full form on Sunday posting the fourth fastest time of the day, a blisteringly quick 57″511.

With things happening so quickly at this 2-hour time attack session it’s always a hard choice to either stay a little longer in the paddock…

…to check out all the cars like this cool Garage Kagotani tuned 180SX…

…or head out trackside to see the drivers give it all they’ve got.

You guys probably remember this RE-Amemiya FD from a few weeks back.

This time round the team was looking very serious, keeping their rubber up to temperature with tire warmers!

It was cool to see this BNR34 again; in case you are wondering it does looks as mean as it sounds and it seems the over-fueling issues it had a couple of weeks back had been cured.

If you are serious about getting the best out of your GT-R at Tsukuba then the stock brakes really have to go. This sanyon was sporting a 6-pot Endless brake kit up front with smaller 4-pots at the rear.

The teammates, who are usually just family and friends, were keeping the GT-R’s 295-wide Advan 050s nice and toasty in front of this big and powerful kerosene heater. Best the driver managed was a 59″244.

A helmet heater/dryer? Obviously some have a little more budget than others!

Got aero?

I ran across the Maiham Media crew who were out there covering the event. Luke set up cameras all around the track and inside Under Suzuki’s S15, so you can expect a cool film from him soon!

The M-Technic CT9A Evo 9 RS was back down from Yamagata and looking as wild as ever thanks to that custom aero treatment around the fenders.

Here is a quick look at the engine bay. This car is good for sub-1-minute lap times…

…posting a 59″913 on the day.

I’m glad a lot of you realized just how special a Civic has to be to break the 1-minute barrier at Tsukuba! The G-Work EG6 is a great example of how efficient weight reduction can be…power isn’t everything of course!

The “Pretty Teruteru” S15 on the way to a 1’00″400 lap.

In case you are wondering why Under Suzuki was unable to set a proper fast lap we have to go right at the beginning of the first session. During the first few warm up laps something went wrong with the Arios Okuyama RX-7 and it started dumping either oil or radiator fluid, or both, around most of the track.

It took well over ten minutes for the marshals to spread saw dust most of the way around the track and soak up the entire spill.

With less than ten minutes to go before the end of the session it was obvious that the track would remain slippery for a while as is shown here by the Fiber Garage CG8 powering out sideways from the in-field hairpin.

Some took advantage to have some fun and keep those tires warm! Suzuki-san didn’t even bother going out as he knew there was no way he would find the grip he needed for a decent lap. That left him only the second session later to have a shot.

More to follow soon from Battle Evome so tune in tomorrow for Part 3!

Battle Evome

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-Dino Dalle Carbonare