Auto Otaku: Car and Life

Japanese Pro Touring Style: Common Snapper's S30Z

Earlier today, while browsing through the magazine section at the Japanese book store, my eye was drawn to the December issue of Custom Car magazine. Of course having a beautiful woman on the cover will have a tendency to do that, but even more importantly I noticed a wicked looking S30Z sitting right behind her. I decided to buy the magazine and after looking inside, I think I may have found one of the most impressive S30Z's of all time. I have yet to see another car with this combination of classic and modern so seamlessly integrated.

If you can find it, try to pick up the magazine. It also has some nice coverage of the Japanese Classic Car Show from Long Beach. Anyways, here's what it looks like-

The car in particular is a '74 Fairlady Z built by Common Snapper, a Mie-prefecture based shop that specializes in Japanese and foreign custom car customization of all sorts. As you will see, Common Snapper left no part of this Z untouched.

The first thing that you notice on the car are the 18"x8.5 front and 18"x10.5 rear SSR Professor MS1 wheels. They fit the car nicely ,looking very natural despite the aggressive sizing. The mesh spokes of the SSRs' cover a set of BNR32 Skyline GTR brakes. The exterior modifications are nominal, including ZG-style flares, a front spoiler, and side mirrors.

Naturally, the engine is far from normal - an R33 Skyline GTR RB26DETT to be exact. While an RB26 under the hood of an S30Z is not ground-breaking, this swap has been done flawlessly. The engine is mounted very close to the firewall, giving it a front midship-like layout. A massive front mount intercooler peeks out from behind the bumper and the chromed cam cover adds some aesthetic appeal to the engine bay. There are no crazy single turbo set-ups, as the mild RB already makes more than enough power for the S30.

The balanced theme is continued underneath the car where the suspension has also been modernized with a coilover set-up including Z31 hubs up front, among other items. Here's a pic during the build-

The most unique part of this car, however, is the interior. After seeing the rest of the car, you might expect a gutted, caged interior with carbon fiber bucket seats, but that is far from the case here. A complete cockpit from an R33 Skyline GTR has been retrofitted to the car. This includes the dashboard, gauges, center-console and seats. It looks absolutely amazing, like something from the factory. An upgraded sound system is present as well, in case the the driver grows tired of the RB sound.

Like modern the pro-touring Challengers and Camaros that are found in the U.S., this Z is built to be a street car that excels in all areas. It has a great combination power, handling, comfort, and a classic style that add sets the standard for the new wave of modified classic Japanese cars. I'm hoping I'll get a chance to check this one out up close sometime next year. Until then, be sure to check out more at Common Snapper's site .

D1 Wrap Up

Just finished the rest of the photos from D1 Saturday and Sunday. Check them out-

Saturday's Pics

Sunday's Pics

Complete D1GP Gallery

It was a great weekend, to tell the truth I'm a little sad because this is the last event I will be covering before I move to Japan. On to bigger and hopefully better things. By the way when I was at D1 Antonio Alvendia of Cipher Garage told me he is a fan of this blog, and that made me feel great. If you don't know who Antonio is, he wrote the book on drifting. Literally, he wrote a book about drifting and it's fantastic. I bought it awhile back and I love it. Check it out at http://driftingbook.com/. It's awesome to hear positive feedback about the site, especially from someone as established as Antonio is. It's people like him that inspire me to continue doing worthwhile stuff. Thanks Antonio!

D1 Aftermath: Part One

Well, another exciting around of the D1 Grand Prix is in the books, and now it's time the for long process of sorting through the all the photos. First off, congrats to Nobushige Kumakubo for taking the win in Sunday's USA vs. Japan Drift Dream Match and to Vaughn Gittin Jr. for coming out on top for the USA in the main World All Star event. I was only at the track for the first half of Sunday so I didn't get to see JR's win, but I heard it was awesome. Anyways, I just finished going through the pictures from Friday, which was the practice/qualifying day. There were several notable drivers that failed to qualify for the main event including D1 boss/founder Inada Daijiro and Oka-chan of Yashio Factory in his Pink S13 Silvia.

Don't worry Dai-Chan, practice makes perfect right?

Takatori in the SA Kyoto Fushimi A31 Cefiro.

Taka's AE86.

Nomuken and Kawabata practicing.

Complete Day One Coverage Here  (About 200 photos)

That's it for now, Day two coverage coming tomorrow.

Coverage: D1 USA Exhibition Match

Just a quick update for now, in tonight's D1 USA exhibition match, Kumakubo Nobushige, behind the wheel of his new Lancer Evo IX defeated Kuroi Atsushi's RB26 powered S13 to take the win. The victory did not come easy though, it took Kumakubo and Kuroi three rounds of sudden death and one tire change before the match could be decided. On his way to winning the event, Kumakubo also defeated both Nomuken and Samuel Hubinette, who was the top finishing non-Japanese driver in tonight's match.

Here are few photos from today, there will be plenty more on the way after I have some more time -

'07 D1 Japan champ Kawabata.

Vaughn Gittin Jr. in the Falken Mustang dominated during the single-car qualifying runs with Tsuchiya Keiichi giving him a "120" out of a possible 100 points.

Tanaka, Kumakubo, and Suenaga of Team Orange doing a three-car tandem run during morning practice.

A few more pics can be found here .

That's it for now, I think I need some sleep. Look for more coverage after tomorrow's World All Star feature event. I'm looking forward to seeing the some of the world's top drifters battling for the glory of their nations, should be a great time.

Coverage: D1 All Star Finals Warm Up Day

The day after Thanksgiving, or Black Friday as it is better known in the United States, is typically a day reserved for fighting the crowds at the shopping mall or if you are the lazy type like myself, sitting around recovering from Thanksgiving dinner. Today at Irwindale Speedway, The only thing "black"  things were the chunks of burnt rubber covering everything and every one. Skipping the shopping and sitting around, the D1 Grand Prix kicked off its Thanksgiving Weekend double-header with today's practice and qualifying day.

At times the word "world" is thrown around loosely when referring to competitions, but this weekend's event will surely live-up to the "world all star" title. Besides the usual contingent of top Japanese and American drivers, the "House of Drift" is packed with cars and drivers from over a dozen different countries.

This ultra-wide and ultra-low three rotor powered FD was shipped over from New Zealand for the event. It has an exhaust note unlike anything I have ever heard before.

No this isn't Rhys Millen's old GTO, it's a Holden Monaro from Australia.

No D1 event is complete with out Nomuken.

This event also marks the U.S. debut of Kumakubo's Evolution JUN prepared IX.

I've uploaded a handful of pictures from today, click here to see them. There will be many more on the way. If you live in SoCal try not to miss this event, just seeing the cars from all the different countries is worth the price of admission of alone. If you can't make it, keep an eye out here throughout the weekend as I'll try to post updates when I can.

JTCC: Japan's Forgotten Racing Series

In 1994, two new racing series were launched in Japan. One of them was the All Japan Grand Touring Championship, better known as JGTC, and now Super GT. This series went on to become well known around the world, and continues to serve as a testing ground for production car technology. The other series started that year was the Japanese Touring Car Championship, or JTCC. During it's short life, the JTCC included many of Japan's top drivers, including Tsuchiya Keiichi and Hattori Naoki.  From 1994-98 the JTCC grids were home to a number of sedans from both Japanese and European makers. Based on similar racing series in Europe, JTCC grids included FF,FR,and AWD cars. The cars were changed over the years, and many of them were quite impressive.

Honda started off by using EG Civic Ferio sedans, but later switched to the CD Accord sedan with a 290ps naturally aspirated H22A engine.

This is the Mugen Castrol Accord which can be found at Honda's Twin Ring Motegi Collection Hall.

Nissan campaigned both P10 and P11 Primeras as well as Sunny Sedans (Sentra).

This is the Tamiya model kit of the Calsonic P10 Primera. If this car looks familiar, it's the same as an Infiniti G20 in the United States. A JTCC replica G20 would make for an off-the-wall project.

Toyota was represented with front wheel drive Corolla Sedan and Corona EXiV. One of the only rear wheel drive Japanese cars in JTCC was the JZX100 Chaser which was campaigned in 1998.

In 1998, when the other Japanese makes had dropped out of the JTCC, the Chaser took home the series championship. I wonder what became of the JTCC Chasers.

Subaru had a small presence JTCC, but it was an interesting one nonetheless.

The SYMS Impreza Wagon: Probably the coolest ever.

Of course there were non-Japanese cars in JTCC as well. How 'bout the HKS Opel Vectra?

Here is a good video from a 1994 JTCC race at Suzuka.

After four years the auto-makers had re-focused their efforts on JGTC, and 1998 was the final season of the JTCC. When you look at the styling of mid-late '90s touring cars, you can see the origins of the the "tuner" style cars in Southern California and elsewhere. The graphics, large diameter-bright colored wheels, and single windshield wipers could be found on many of the modified compact cars in the early days. I found a great page where you can find a ton of pictures from the JTCC. Although it was short-lived, the Japanese Touring Car Championship was an influential chapter of Japanese motorsport history.

CLK80 and "Evolution Q"

It's hard to think that the Nissan S13 is going to be 20 years-old next year, but despite its age, the venerable S13 Silvia/180SX/200SX/240SX continues to be one of the most popular platforms for drift/grip/drag and virtually any other form of motorsport worldwide. There are few things that haven't been done to the S13, and the car continues to evolve with no signs of stopping. We have seen every kind of motor imaginable under the hood, and cosmetically the S13 has been mated with everything from 350Z, to Ford Mustang, to 240Z. The latest S13 conversion can be found on the cover of the December issue of Drift Tengoku magazine.

This 180SX has CLK Mercedes front and rear conversion. I haven't seen the magazine yet, but it appears to be quite well-executed. The fact that it's a drift car makes it even more impressive (does he have to call the Mercedes dealer every time he destroys his aero?) I'm looking forward to checking out the magazine to learn more about it.

While on the subject of magazines, I also came across this which I thought is pretty cool.

Option 2 just released a special edition book/magazine called "Evolution Q" . If you were wondering what the letter "Q" has to do with classic cars, it comes from the Japanese word "旧車”（Kyuu-sha), which means "classic car". This special magazine features classic cars outfitted with modern engines,suspension and other modifications. Basically these are Japanese versions of the "pro-touring" muscle cars which have been so popular in the US recently. The magazine includes articles about an RB25DE powered S30Z and an AE86 with double-wishbone suspension, among others. It will be on sale until the end of December, so if you happen to live in Japan you can run down to your neighborhood convinience store and pick up a copy. For those who might not be living in the land of the rising sun, a trip to your closest Japanese book store may be in order.

Kyushu Classics

Which of the following is more bitchin'?

A) A group of early Skylines and Z's cruising down picturesque Japanese mountain roads.

B) An even bigger group of "Kyuu-sha" (Classic Cars) taking to the track on one of Japan's most modern racing circuits.

The correct answer is both of the above.

My S30Z-owning friend from Kumamoto prefecture in Kyushu, posted some photos from his trip to the Historic Automobile Festival at Autopolis. Autopolis is home to both D1 and Super GT events during the racing season, but on November 3rd the track was overrun by waves of nostalgic cars.

While driving to the event, this group of enthusiasts used the opportunity to take some beautiful group shots.

Four Hakosukas, two S30's, and one R30 Skyline.. not bad.

Wide Work VS-XX wheels and a carbon bonnet set off this Hakosuka sedan. I love the gold coloring as well.

This the grid at Autopolis. The gang's all here:C10,S30,S130,R30,510,B110,SA22C.

I fail to find words that can describe the coolness of this photo.

As you can see, Kyushu's classic car enthusiasts are just as hardcore as their Honshu counterparts.

Who doesn't like Race Queens?

Obivously not the guys who created http://racequeen-photogallery.jp/ .

Coverage: Super Lap '07 @ Buttonwillow

Yesterday, tuners from all the over the United States (and the world) descended upon California's Buttonwillow Raceway for the annual Super Lap Battle (formerly known as time attack). As you might expect, the Lancer Evolution dominated the event in both attendance and lap times. In fact, it was almost easier to count the cars that WEREN'T Evos. The weather was abnormally warm for November with sunny skies and temps in the upper 70's which may have had an effect on lap times.  Besides the tuner cars from the United States, these events always have a handful of cars shipped over Japan specifically to run at Buttonwillow, this year was no exception.

HKS pulled no punches, bringing out the famous CT230R Evolution and it's pilot Nobuteru Taniguchi. The CT230R is well known both inside and outside of Japan, where earlier this year, it car set the record at Tsukuba Circuit with a 53 second lap time. Besides Tsukuba, HKS campaigned the car at tracks all over Japan, kicking ass and taking names, for lack of a better word. Recently, Buttonwillow has become the Tsukuba of the United States, so naturally HKS felt the need to leave its mark at the dusty track in Kern County.

I'm not going to post the results, I'll leave that for the official site, but I will say that the Taniguchi and  the CT230R were fast. Fast, as in it looked like they weren't even trying.

As I posted about a few weeks ago, 5Zigen USA was on hand with its spanking-new Civic Type R sedan from Japan. Super GT driver Ryo Michigami was again in charge of piloting the car around Buttonwillow. This car was at SEMA last week, I wonder how many people thought it was just a US-spec Civic Si sedan without giving it a second look?

Like I said, the Evo turnout was huge. Here are a few of the Evo's in that were competing-

It's been interesting to watch Evasive's Evo uhhh... "evolve" over the past year or so. It looked great out on the track. The Evasive S2000 was competing as well.

The Bay Area's Speed Element was out with their own Garage HRS equipped Evo.

AMS gets the biggest wing award.

Honda specialists A&J Racing brought their S2000 and turbocharged Fit.

There were four S15 Silvias, which is quite a few considering the car was never sold in the US.

Tein's RB26 powered S15 piloted by Kobayashi-san of MCR in Japan.

Though outnumbered by Evo's, the Impreza camp was well represented.

The lone Skyline at the event, XS Engineering's BNR32.

One look at JIC/Hankook Tire's pit set-up shows just how big time trial events are becoming in the United States.

With another Time Attack in the books, HKS has raised the bar for tuners both in the US and in Japan. Time will tell if the CT230R will have any competition-from either side of the Pacific.

Take a look at the complete photo gallery here .