Good weather, 3 drivers,  2 cars, 1 track.

The economy the way it is, front bumpers were removed as a cost cutting measure. 

AE86 lived up to its purpose, as we tweaked and (I) learnt more about handling throughout the morning.  Having a pro driver around is handy!

Ultimately no matter what we did, there was little too much grip for the 20V.  High speed slides were a bitch to keep on line. 

Some classic Australian suspension tuning was applied and problem ceased to exist. 

UPDATE: Video

The rest of the day was joy as we got comfortable and let loose.

Nobody else showed up so we had the entire track to ourselves which was perfect for photography from some unconventional positions at this track. 

S kept us drift newbies in our place.

Great company, great day. 

Share/Bookmark

Overnight tag-team long haul west. 

Slept in, then prepped for tomorrow.

PS: Introduced to this (amongst other tracks) which got us through the night:
StereoHeroes – Action Pack (The Mixtape) by stereoheroes

Share/Bookmark

A bit of time for a few photos in the main foyer. 

For tourists who happen to be near Yokohama station with time to kill, all the cars in the current Nissan range (including export only models) and some concept cars are on display for public viewing in the foyer of their global headquarters.  Apart from the concept and race cars, cars are unlocked, free for visitors to poke around in. 

Share/Bookmark

Rain -> Wet -> Light Rain -> FOG -> Wet.
Everything but fine weather conditions throughout the race – Take home notes at the end of post.

The day was spent between the pit and the lookout over hairpin corner. 

UPDATE: Finally getting around to sort out video and Youtube.  Video of the startup and check procedure after last minute suspension changes (Only for the seriously keen). 

The amount of rain just after the start (Kageyama steering). 

Rain suddenly stops, but it’s still a pool. 

A little more rain to keep Tanaka on his toes.

Then the epic fog – safety car sees action. 

There are cars in there somewhere:

Fog lifts, Hoshino all out.

Although everybody expected the GT-R to walk away with the race due to the unexpected wet conditions on the weekend, qualifying and Sunday morning practice data already suggested that the race was going to be another day of data collection. 

In December, an earlier protoype of this car was running 3 seconds faster in the wet, on wet tyres, than the race winning BMW today.  So what went wrong?  The wet tyres provided for this weekend were of a different compound than those provided in December to cater for the vastly different track temperatures.  The tyres were so hard that the drivers were unable to get them into operating range. 

The clincher is that Hoshino elected to go out on full slicks and during his session and beat the entire field for fastest lap of the day. 

Gallery including some other randoms:

Share/Bookmark

No time for other photos today. 

Changing weather conditions meant struggling with the wets. 

End result 3rd. 

Previously not forecasted, it looks like it is going to be wet tomorrow too – oh the joys of racing at Fuji.

Share/Bookmark

Previous testing at Fuji already provided strong indicators of what time the car would do in qualifying.

Today, like yesterday, was used by the team to familiarise Hoshino and Tanaka (they have had the least seat time) with the car.

After getting a quick briefing, we went on lookout duty down near Dunlop and later at first corner.

The main rival for the day was this 911.  Blistering pace through the chicane.

Z3s were not as quick as the R35 or the 911s, but were probably sand bagging.

More photos of the R35 and a few others in action.

Share/Bookmark

From the outside, everything is just…bigger.

Air intake spans almost half the width of the bonnet:

Enormous rotors behind 18 inch wheels. 

Fronts:

Rears:

Just under 5 million yen for these when you could put your name down for one back in April.

http://www.subaru-sti.co.jp/product/r205/index.html

Share/Bookmark

Literally across the road from the hotel is this full spec racing kart course.

We had a go on the rentals before our afternoon meetings.

Damn professional race car driver.  Just over a second off his pace. 

SJ: 5X.546

Me: 5X.617

Auto Paradise Gotenba

http://www.apg-kart.com/

Share/Bookmark

Also home to Suderia Ferrari when the F1 was held at Fuji. 

Not the cheapest in the area, but on race weekends there may be no other options. 

Auberge Blanche Fuji

http://www.auberge-jp.com/index.html

Share/Bookmark

1 of the 5 Daikin Pichonkun-go:

http://www.eco-tabi.jp/about/index.html

Share/Bookmark