I’m a big fan of going down ski slopes at unreasonable speeds, but not such a big fan of the slog to get back to the top again. So any way of reaching the summit in double quick time sounds good to me – especially if it involves the unfeasible idea of throwing a four-wheel drive, 600hp R35 GT-R up a freshly-bashed run.
Up? Yes. Uphill, like semi-vertically. Team IceRiders and Redhouse Media decided to find out if it would work, and added in some snowmobiles for an almost James-Bond-in-reverse thrash up the side of a mountain at Kåbdalis in northern Sweden. Ski lifts will seem so last year from now on…
Change and variety are the single most important things that keep drift series going. D1, after enduring some tough times a few seasons back and what can only be described as a bit of stale period, seems to have regained its momentum again. And while the organizers continue to mix things up by selecting exciting [...]
Don’t blame it on us if we come across as being repetitive, but it’s actually Nissan’s fault. It seems Mizuno-san and the R35 development team weren’t joking when, back in 2007, they announced the GT-R would continue to be fine tuned until the very last year of its production. So here we are, six years on [...]
You might have noticed I haven’t been heading down to many night meets at Daikoku PA lately. With the Police constantly closing off the rest stop way before gatherings have a chance to get too big, it has began to take a lot of the fun away from it all. The reason they have started [...]
I’ll admit it. I’m guilty of having ignored the Porsche Boxster. I’m not one to usually to do this sort of thing, but I let the somewhat questionable image the car had developed get the better of me. I was always aware of the fact it was a revered driver’s car, but its somewhat unmasculine [...]
For my last post on the Premium Day, I will be concentrating on some more tuner cars I came across on the paddock as well as checking out some of the entrants that participated in the Option Magazine organized Super Lap time attack session. I’m going to kick things off with this Yashio Factory candy green [...]
It may be off season for the motorsport world, but the cold winter months in Japan certainly don’t mean there is a shortage of interesting events to head to. In fact you guys are actually quite lucky because Mike is still here in Japan and spent his day at the JCCA New Year meeting in [...]
It’s time to dedicate a bit of time to the true tuner cars that were dotted around the vastness that was the Tokyo Auto Salon this year. Performance is the name of the game here and if there is a bit of style thrown in for good measure you can rest assured it’s all driven [...]
When this set of pictures sent in by Thomas Wong from Hong Kong reached our inbox we couldn’t quite believe our eyes. Seems that Thomas has developed custom 1:24 scale models of the TRA Kyoto FR-S and BenSopra GT-R… …two cars that totally ruled the JDM tuning world in 2012. The attention to detail is [...]
It’s not often that I go to Daikoku PA during daytime, but a couple of days ago I made an exception. I’d heard that a lot of supercars and various car clubs would be holding a meeting across a series of parking areas, starting off at Tsuzuki in Yokohama and eventually ending up at the [...]
I take my hat off to the organizers that year after year organize what, in a relatively short period of time, has become the most fiercely contended time attack event in the world. This recently released video created by Luke Huxham brings us face to face with the men behind it all. And seeing we are right in the middle of the Japanese time attack season, the timing is just perfect. I for one can’t wait to see how WTAC develops in 2013! Start your stopwatches!
After a somewhat disappointing event last year, spoiled by snow, rain and a track that didn’t want to dry, the Tsukuba Super Battle couldn’t have been blessed with better conditions today at Tsukuba. Freezing air and cloudless blue skies are always the perfect recipe for optimal time attack conditions, and the 78 cars in attendance [...]
I still can’t believe what Ueta-san of BenSopra has managed to create in such a short space of time. When I first met him earlier last year he told me that for a long time he’d been thinking of ways to launch his own tuning brand. I did sort of dismissed it initially believe it [...]
You have seen the GT-R Egoist in detail, now it’s time to see it in its element as it cruises through the streets of Tokyo, tapping into its performance on the C1 as well as it’s docile nature through the streets of Ginza and Akihabara. Is the Egoist the best version of the GT-R Nissan has so far made? Hit play and let us know your thoughts…
Let me get the clichés out of the way first. The GT-R is an incredible feat of engineering, it’s a physics-defying tool from the PlayStation generation, packed with as much technology as the Space Shuttle, allowing any ham-fisted driver to look like a pro behind the wheel. Ahhh, that’s better! Right, let’s forget about all [...]
