Photos Of The Year 2011>> Dino Dalle Carbonare Pt.1

What a rollercoaster of a year 2011 has been. Looking back over the last twelve months I can’t believe all the incredible cars I have immortalized with my camera, the action-packed events I have had the pleasure of covering and all the wonderful people I have met along the way. Japan is one of the most unique countries out there and one with the most diverse car culture in the world. All of this however was put through one of the hardest tests the people of Japan have had to endure. It was just nine months ago, on March 11th, that the massive earthquake hit the Tohoku region of the country. The world was left speechless at the sheer force of the earthquake and the tsunami that followed, killing far too many people as it swept over countless costal towns. If that wasn’t enough the whole country panicked at the resulting damage to the Fukushima nuclear energy plant and the radioactivity that was released into the atmosphere and the Pacific Ocean. Still, the people of Japan fought back immediately and continue their efforts to rebuild and deal with the destruction that was left behind. This will be a year that won’t be forgotten in a hurry.

It’s incredible the amount of pictures you can accumulate in a whole year of Speedhunting. I’ve spent the last few days going through my favorite shots of 2011. Below is my first selection which is taken from the first four months of the year.

(Above) Kazama Auto 2JZ-powered Lexus IS350, Kasukabe, Saitama-ken, Japan: One of the most extreme cars that I have shot in the last couple of years. Kazama-san of Kazama Auto definitely didn’t hold back when creating the wide-body conversion for the IS, not to mention the 650HP 2JZ that powers this beast.

Datsun meeting at Daikoku Parking Area, Yokohama, Kanagawa-ken, Japan: No matter what night you head down to Daikoku PA, you will always find car guys chilling out with their cars. It’s a place than never disappoints.

RWB’s Nakai-san, RWB soukoukai, Tsukuba Circuit, Ibaraki-ken, Japan: Nakai-san was up until the early hours of the morning putting the finishing touches to his then new Royal Montegobay 993. I grabbed this shot as we were waiting for our lunch at the cafeteria in Tsukuba Circuit.

MSC Mobara Circuit, Mobara, Chiba-ken, Japan: Drifting remains one of the most entertaining forms of motorsport and I’m lucky to be able to choose from three different championships in Japan, not counting the countless grassroots soukoukai that are organized at tracks across the country.

Daijiro Inada, Option Magazine HQ, Tokyo, Japan: It was a real honor being able to chat to Inada-san for a few hours at the Option Magazine HQ. His and Tsuchiya’s split from D1 is still one of the most controversial stories of the year.

Auto Bahn Soarer, Ibaraki-ken, Japan: It was a pleasure to shoot such a unique car, as it’s not often you see Soarers built for time attack. Plus having the chance to visit Auto Bahn was also great, a shop that I had heard a lot of in the late nineties.

RWB meeting in Moriya-PA, Ibaraki-ken, Japan: When Nakai-san invited me to meet up with him one cold January morning in Moriya PA prior to a track day at Tsukuba, I had no idea I would be finding quite so many Porkers!

RWB Master Piece, RWB meeting in Moriya-PA, Ibaraki-ken, Japan: Master Piece indeed.

Nakai-san’s RWB Royal Montegobay, RWB soukoukai, Tsukuba Circuit, Ibaraki-ken, Japan: Everyone identifies RWB and Nakai-san with the Stella Artois 930 but his new 993 is evolving as expected and already looking a little different than when I shot this picture 11 months ago.

RWB Sunburst, RWB soukoukai, Tsukuba Circuit, Ibaraki-ken, Japan: The Sunburst is one of a few track-only Porsches that Nakai-san has built.

Super Made S15 Silvia, Tokyo Auto Salon 2011, Makuhari Messe, Makuhari, Chiba-ken, Japan: During the set up of the Tokyo Auto Salon I came across an S15 Silvia on 15-inch Equips. This car has graced the cover of countless tuning magazines across the world.

Girlhunters, Tokyo Auto Salon 2011, Makuhari Messe, Makuhari, Chiba-ken, Japan: Not everyone goes to TAS for the cars.

Bosozoku meeting, Tokyo Auto Salon 2011, Makuhari Messe, Makuhari, Chiba-ken, Japan: Get to TAS early enough on the public days and you are treated to a gathering of in your face bosozoku rides.

Bosozoku meeting, Tokyo Auto Salon 2011, Makuhari Messe, Makuhari, Chiba-ken, Japan: As they say, only in Japan!

Flatwell S15 Silvia, HKS Premium Day, Fuji Speedway, Shizuoka-ken, Japan: The HKS Premium Day has become one of the year’s best events.

Scattered R35s, HKS Premium Day, Fuji Speedway, Shizuoka-ken, Japan: A perfect example of Japan’s love affair with white cars.

Esprit twin-turbo NSX. HKS Premium Day, Fuji Speedway, Shizuoka-ken, Japan: A longitudinally-mounted, 700 HP twin-turbo C30A and a Hewland transaxle sequential transmission make the Esprit demo car the most extreme NSX in the world, and the fastest in Japan.

Top Secret R35, HKS Premium Day, Fuji Speedway, Shizuoka-ken, Japan: Smoky’s gold R35

Suzuki-san and his Scorch Racing S15 Silvia, Battle Evome final round, Tsukuba Circuit, Ibaraki-ken, Japan: A few hours after I took this picture Suzuki-san put a conrod through the block of his SR while attempting to break his Tsukuba lap record.

GT-R meeting, Daikoku Parking Area, Yokohama, Kanagawa-ken, Japan: Couple of car nuts at Daikoku chatting about cars. This is what it’s all about!

Tremauto Racing Ferrari F430, Desenzano Del Garda, Brescia, Italy: It was quite an eye opener to feel the savage performance gain that a simple ECU, filter and exhaust upgrade from Tremauto can do to Maranello’s V8.

Emanuele Festival’s ex-Team Orange drift-spec GDB, Vicenza, Italy: Seems I can’t get away from drifting and anything Japanese-related even when back home in Italy. I met up with Emanuele Festival and all the cool guys that are part of his team for a morning of fun at an abandoned, and rather smelly, birdseed factory.

Daijiro Inada & Keiichi Tsuchiya, Nagoya Exciting Car Showdown 2011, Nagoya, Aiichi-ken, Japan: Within a few days after flying back to Japan I was down in Nagoya for the Exciting Car Showdown. The country was still very much feeling the pain of the earthquake that had hit only weeks prior.

Trial S2000, Osaka, Japan: Couldn’t get over how stunning this Trial tuned S2000 looked wearing the Amuse GT1 body kit.

Type One, Takaido, Tokyo, Japan: For Honda enthusiasts this is pretty much as good as it gets.

Ichishima-san, Type One, Takaido, Tokyo, Japan: The man, the legend, Ichishima-san – ex-Honda development driver, racer, founder of Spoon and Honda tuning guru.

Spoon track-spec CR-Z, Toyo Tires Turnpike, Hakone, Shizuoka-ken, Japan: That morning on the Toyo Tires turnpike I was reminded just how much fun lightweight, front wheel drive cars can be when tuned properly. Even hybrids!

Spoon NSX-GT Macau endurance racer, Motegi Circuit, Tochigi-ken, Japan: Nothing short of a work of art.

Koyama Racing Labo EvoX, Ebisu Higashi Circuit, Nihonmatsu, Fukushima-ken, Japan: The whole tuning world is eagerly awaiting the full recovery of God Hand Koyama. This was the last car he finished before falling ill. Best of luck!

Mugen Civic RR, Mr. Tsukuba, Ibaraki-ken, Japan: Seriously, what is Honda up to these days? A few years ago this was what it built…now…uhm. Let’s hope the rumors about the new NSX are true.

Top Fuel S2000, Tsukuba Circuit, Ibaraki-ken, Japan: The most extreme S2000 I’ve ever come across.

TRA Kyoto Civic Kanjo racer, Kyoto, Japan: I happened to meet Miura-san of TRA Kyoto and Rocket Bunny fame by pure coincidence while shooting at Phoenix Power a couple of years back. I’m glad I did!

Varis/Garage G-Force/Sunbeam Evo X time attack car, Yoga, Tokyo: Evo Xs don’t get much faster than this collaboration between some of the best names in the JDM world.

That’s it for this first installment.

Photos of the Year 2011

-Dino Dalle Carbonare

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1

Your one of my Fav Dino ....keep it up :)

2

I've said it before Dino, for being Italian. You are one hell of a photo journalist!

Stunning work!



Kind of annoys me that you didn't get a shot with a certain Lambo and a tower together for this compilation, but we will never know what could have happened there.



Keep up the good work and see you soon!

3

TOP NOTCH

Dino is the man period!

4

Man, I remember reading the original posts for some of these cars! Good times...

5

Pure japanese goodness *manly tears*

6

Esprit twin-turbo NSX. HKS Premium Day, Fuji Speedway, Shizuoka-ken, Japan

That is such an extreme race car, just gotta love it

7

Nakai-san's finger and Suzuki-san and his S15 are my favourites in that set. The lengths of dedication one can go to....

8

OMG my stomach drop when i seen all those deck out nissan sweet japan know how to hook up cars very well

9

yes me too!! your my all time fav Dino! keep it up!!

10

I enjoy every single post Dino makes. He always has the best content!



P.S. Daikoku Futo PA is INSANE!

11

Dino amazing work !! I must say out of all the speedhunters I think i like your style and finds the best... Great stuff !

12

Dino every post in 2011 that youve made was epic!!!! Good work man!

13

Dino my friend you re the best!!!! best photos, best blogs, best cars!!!! thaks for all your stories from japan!!!! greatings from Asuncion Paraguay!!! :-)

14

Dino, you get it...

15

Thanks a lot guys!! Really appreciate your comments, it's what keeps me going!



Dino

16

Great pictures and content! And what's this about a new NSX?!

17

much as I love a lot of your work and speedhunters in general, could we try and go a couple of weeks without an RWB photo in 2012? I thought they were really cool at first, but I am just kinda bored with them now, which really isn't fair to the cars as I am sure they are great but over exposure is a bad thing! Also keep this in mind when it comes to 86/BRZ photos in 2012 as I can see that getting over done too.



All that aside, love your work!

18

No words for how awesome these shots are! Dino you are living the dream, I envy you! It was very nice to be able to meet you at Tsukuba this year :)

19

Sad to see that theirs not enough Retro cars Dino, miss the old school machines. Best of hope next year.

20

damn you good! send some sticker to me....

21

Here is my second selection of shots from 2011, taken from the beginning of May till the end of August

22

Time to finish up my selection of Pix of the Year with this third part, which spans from September all

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