To say that the return of the GT-R to Japan's premier motorsport category was a major event would be a huge understatement. Despite earning massive success with its Fairlady Z in the years 2004 – 2007 (two titles plus two second places in the Teams' championship, plus one Driver's title), the anticipation surrounding the arrival [...]
As part of Skyline week, it seems only appropriate to include images from the R34 GT-R's final season in the JGTC (All-Japan Grand Touring Championship), 2003. After taking the title in its debut season in 1999, the R34 later came up against stiff competition from the likes of the Toyota Supra and Honda NSX. [...]
At this year's Razzle Dazzle, it wasn't only the amazing American cars from yesteryear that caught my eye, but the details and style cues that made many of them such automotive and design icons. A good case in point is the Indian Head hood ornament above – something no manufacturer would even dream about these [...]
Razzle Dazzle did exactly that, and on so many levels. From lowriders to street rods, chopped and channelled customs to rat rods – you name it, every interpretation of the art was represented. The car above was the coolest of the old style chop jobs I saw. I'm guessing it's a '49 or thereabouts Ford, [...]
This year's Razzle Dazzle was the 11th running of the steadily growing and very popular event in Yokohama's Honmoku area, conveniently located just a stone's throw from the Mooneyes shop and cafe. '40 Ford above just superb. Organized by the Chop Sticks Car Club, what appears to be a fairly casual event that takes place [...]
Welcome to part two of my coverage of last weekend's New Year Meeting. Some cars just never go out of fashion, like each one of the three above. The Mazda Cosmo Sports represents one of the coolest Japanese designs ever IMO. Despite the modern wheels, I just cannot get enough of this car. This year the [...]
Coming over from the parking lot (previous post) I already knew this year's event was something huge. While I don't remember how many cars there were last year, I'd guess there were twice as many this time. Honda was the celebrated marque, but the number of Nissans and Toyotas far outnumbered that brand. For me, [...]
When I headed to this year's New Year Meeting in Odaiba, I promised myself one thing; to spend some time in the visitors' parking lot first. I'd always known it to be a bit of a treasure trove (looking down greedily every year as I exited the train), and when I finally devoted some time [...]
Fellow Speedhunters, I thought I'd take the opportunity to combine this month's 'Behind the Scenes' theme with the dawn of a new era for one of Britain's, nay, the world's most highly-respected preparation companies, Prodrive. This visit was a little while ago, after SUBARU's departure from the WRC and while the Aston Martin N24 Vantage [...]
Time for Photos Of The Year already – 2010 has gone by like a flash! While all the noise in this season’s SUPER GT was about Honda’s new-for-2010 HSV-010GT, the car that showed the greatest consistency all year long was the Team LeMans LEXUS SC430. With equal finesse, the Quintarelli/Matsuda pairing in the CALSONIC IMPUL [...]
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As a city, Tokyo never fails to impress with its endless array of interesting and unexpected places. In the world of hand-made 1/43rd scale models, Make Up Co., Ltd. has got to be Ground Zero. Despite the somewhat incongruous name ('make up' in this case refers to kits that can be built or 'made up'), the quality and range [...]
The late autumn/early winter period in Japan is chock-full of motoring events of all kinds. The Super Car Rally Challenge, in its fourth running in 2010, is a pet event for SUPER GT's Team Taisan owner Ricky Chiba, who entered no fewer than sixteen of the 48 cars taking part. The SCRC is a one-day [...]
It seems a little hard to believe that an institution in Japanese endurance racing has finally come to an end. The eponymous RX-7 as campaigned by Isami Amemiya's RE: Amemiya Racing outfit recently ran its swansong event, the JAF Grand Prix Fuji Sprint Cup. The team will be back in 2011, though with a different [...]
The Japan launch of Aston Martin's groundbreaking One-77 was a strictly private affair, open only to a select few established members of the marque's customer base, and took place in rather unique surroundings… Tokyo plays host to a lot of different entertainment genres, and like other cities of its stature (New York, London, Paris) [...]
Fellow Speedhunters, after many requests from the JAF Grand Prix Fuji Sprint Cup posts I've uploaded eight desktop images, mostly of the Minor Touring Car Race, but with a couple of Super GT images as well. They're all available in both standard and wide format. You can download them by going to the Desktops section. Enjoy! [...]
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