Over the past few months I have covered car events of all types and each time I get a better grasp on the vastness of Japan's love affair with the automobile. This past weekend I got the opportunity to cover one of the most unique and exciting events I have seen here thus far.
Where can you see everything from vintage Mini's and Honda S800's to fully tuned Porsche 911's and Skyline GT-R's engaged in full-on sprint racing? Welcome to the Idlers Games. The Idlers Club is a Tokyo-based organization built on the tradition of European clubman-style sports car racing. The Idlers organization includes a network of car owners groups and tuning/restoration shops for everything from Porsche and Alfa Romeo to Caterham and Volkswagen.
Throughout the racing season, Idlers hosts a number of racing gatherings. Among these are both sprint races held at Tsukuba Circuit and endurance races held on the road course at Twin Ring Motegi. Ever since I had first become familiar with the Idlers events a few years ago, I was anxious to see one for myself. With the date of March 16 set for the opening of the 2008 series, I made plans to head out to Tsukuba to have a look.
The scale of the event became obvious as I pulled into the parking lot and saw empty car transporters parked everywhere. Tsukuba has a two relatively small paddock areas and both of these were literally jampacked with racing machines of all types, old and new. The air was filled with the smell of racing fuel and the sounds of engines being ran through one final check. The weather was overcast most of the day but the track was dry so conditions were not bad. The temperatures were in the pleasant 60 degree range. It was to be a good day for racing.
The flagship car of the Idlers club has to be the Porsche 911 and the 930 and 964 models in particular. There were a couple different Porsche-heavy race groups with cars ranging from showroom stock restorations to fully built race cars. Of course as you will see, the event is not limited to European makes alone.
Idlers Porsche undergoing some last minute adjustments before the morning test session.
Of course no event with Porsche's in Japan is complete without RAUH-Welt. RWB-tuned cars occupy many spots on the grid at Idlers events.
TE37-wearing 911 from Met's-Speed.
Meet "Tommy", an RWB-tuned Porsche 993.
Only an RWB Porsche can manage to look intimidating in this color. Rad.
The second most popular car at the event would have to be the original Mini Cooper. These cars are still quite popular in Japan and many can still be found as people's daily drivers. Of course it helps that they were sold here well until the '90s.
RS Watanabe wheels are a perfect match for a Mini.
Looking into the cockpit of a low-windshield Honda S800 racer.
There is something so awesome about an air-cooled VW bug wearing RS Watanabe's and Advan A048's.
I fell in love with this car. How often do you see a circuit-tuned Karmann Ghia?
Rough World AE86. Another one of my favorites. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't "RAUH-Welt" the German translation of Rough World?
Some random late model domestic car.
Amazingly clean KP61 Starlet with TRD flares.
The Ginetta area.
It does not get any more radical than this.
Heavily disguised Eunos Roadster from Active.
Seductive hips.
Now that you had brief look at some of the cars in the paddock, it's time to hit the track.
RWB 930 Turbo being chased by a Ford Escort Cosworth.
Lancia Delta Integrale 16V.
Hot Rod.
RWB 930 Carrera.
Mini coming out of the Dunlop Corner.
Porsche 356 passing a Lotus Elan at the first hairpin entrance.
Another shot of the Bug from K Project.
Nissan Cherry, a rare sight on the race track.
S800 Roadster. I really liked this photo.
Three-wheeling Mini.
Check out the rear over fenders on the Ghia.
Minis coming through the esses.
One of the race groups was nothing but Caterham's and small Formula cars.
This machine was sporting turbo rotary power. You can see the top of the intake manifold coming through the hood. It was fast.
Mr. lavender RWB 964 Turbo into the Dunlop Corner.
More RWB 964 goodness.
Width.
The same 964 I spotted at Tsukuba a few weeks ago.
RWB Dominance.
Mazda vs. Porsche.
Porsche tuned by Pro Modet.
A little Ginetta Action-
Now the fastest Super Cup SS Class.
Porsche 993 also tuned by Pro Modet.
Active Roadster.
Porsche parade into the Dunlop.
The Kagotani R32 would have a good chance at fighting off the Porsche army but it developed mechanical trouble and had to retire early.
More Japanese fighters trying to defend their turf from the German invasion.
Another 930, this one from Pro Shop HIRO.
The fastest Porsche of the day. It was running in the 59 second range.
The SEYA-MAX BNR32, one of the fastest Japanese cars of the day.
This 964 , one of the top runners from RAUH-Welt would also end up retiring early with mechanical issues.
It sure had presence on the track though.
Here we see an R34 GT-R attempting to chase it down under the Dunlop bridge.
A more subtle, but no less beautiful Carrera RS from RWB.
This RWB 964 RS was one of the top finishers. Lap times were in the 1:02 range.
The Idlers car was running well into the 1:01 range.
Now the GT class race where Japanese metal gets its chance to battle it our on the track.
The field enters the first hairpin led by an FD from Dream Factory.
Rush hour in the S-curve section.
The new kid in town.
Low EK Civic.
This may be 86 perfection.
Or maybe a Levin better suits you?
Another BNR34.
A bashed driver's side door didn't stop Garage Miura's N2 Levin from running the race.
Hey! Is that OK?
A few more shots to wrap it up-
For the pride of Deutschland, M3 vs. 911.
Cosworth Escort.
Beetle vs. 356.
A couple Mazda's floating in a sea of Porsche.
Desperado FD attacking the corner.
I think I want a Porsche now.
Lastly, one more shot of some Mini action.
Wow, this post took me a while to put together. Hope you enjoyed it. If that wasn't enough there are over 400 photos in the galley right here .
Check out the Idlers Club official site for more info and complete results. I can't wait until the next Idlers Games.
Well done dude! That is some truly fantastic coverage! what a wicked mix of JDM & Euro Sports! Keep up the great work!
Posted by: hojitsu | March 19, 2008 at 01:56 AM
The term 'Rauh Welt' translates into 'Rough World'. So you are correct on that. The font used for the letters is also the same on the Porsches and the AE86. So maybe they have a connection of sorts.
I had this post about a AE86 made by RWB
http://kultivate.wordpress.com/2008/03/06/rauh-welt-begriff-ae86/
Posted by: Kultivate | March 19, 2008 at 02:45 AM
Yeah I was actually the one that scanned those pictures. Those came out of one my old Autoworks mags from last year.
Cool stuff.
Posted by: Mike | March 19, 2008 at 02:55 AM
Excellent stuff as usual mate
keep up the good work!
I've managed to get some of my friends to bookmark your site and they read it regularly ;)
Posted by: Nevermore | March 19, 2008 at 05:18 AM
Superb! Definitley enjoyed going through your couverage. Well written and awesome photos!
Posted by: Matt | March 19, 2008 at 06:29 AM
Love the photos...you have some great shots here! Wish I weren't so far away, I'd love to see an event, but I'm in California. In fact, I am sitting at my desk at Mini Mania, Inc... I didn't realize Mini were so popular there! We have an association with Nicole Racing there in Japan so some of our parts are probably on those cars...LOL. Anyway, thanks for the coverage and the photos. Keep racing!!
Bill
billz@minimania.com
Posted by: Bill Z | March 19, 2008 at 08:29 AM
Mike...again, purely amazing coverage. I truly love your work and regularly visit your blog, especially at work. I especially like your photo commentary on the " Mazda vs Porsche" shot. Being a RX-7 "otaku" I couldnt get enough of all the FC's and FD's you captured. Thanks for the eye candy Mike :)
Posted by: FC Edward | March 19, 2008 at 09:12 AM
THAT my friend is car porn. Pure, XXX car porn.
Posted by: Chohdog | March 19, 2008 at 09:31 AM
"Some random late model domestic car. " LOL..........
AMAZING set!
j!
Posted by: jan trondsen | March 19, 2008 at 10:18 AM
Wow, very nice! thanks for posting, cant wait for more :)
Posted by: tobeng | March 19, 2008 at 11:36 AM
The most amazing race, cars and coverage EVER! Thanks for going to this event and then sharing it with us.
Posted by: Josh / F/M Tuning | March 19, 2008 at 05:32 PM
man... seeing those sexy porsches.......i want one
Posted by: Vincent Lo | March 19, 2008 at 05:55 PM
Awesome coverage!! This has got to be one of your best entries I've read so far!!! I spend a lot of time mouth opened wide in awe reading today's entry. Love your commentary too!
Posted by: leongsoon | March 19, 2008 at 07:00 PM
Amazing cars and photography.The black porsche is dream car.
j.s.
Posted by: James S. | March 19, 2008 at 09:31 PM
Dear god those RWB porsches are sexy!
Posted by: Thor | March 20, 2008 at 06:04 AM
Great photos and commentary as usual. I really appreciate all of your hard work and dedication, keep it up!
Posted by: Ilya | March 20, 2008 at 08:42 AM
that domestic car is the new skyline gtr35 lol
Posted by: stormhammer | March 20, 2008 at 11:20 AM
Fantastic photographs, many thanks for sharing. Interesting to see the new Skyline out there mixing it too!
Posted by: race car fan | March 21, 2008 at 08:12 AM
Stunning!!!! Thanks so much for sharing these great pics. Without a doubt the best, most up to date Japanese car pics on the web. This set is awesome!!! and shows this not very often publicised japanese car scene. Please keep up the great work you do, as I don't know what I'll do without my weekly fix!!!!!!
Posted by: sirs_eg6 | March 21, 2008 at 07:48 PM
Amazing Photos! please tell us more about your equipment and techniques. I really like your style.
Btw. The correct translation of "rough" would be "rau", however Japanese like german words and if they
misspell them, it's no problem ;-)
(Checkout http://www.flinkmann.de/165-0-VLN-Einstellungsfahrt-Maerz-2008.html for some Hondas and more. That are shoots I have done two weeks ago at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. It was a testing day for the long run racers new season)
Posted by: Daniel | March 28, 2008 at 04:08 AM
Thanks for the compliments. I shoot with a Canon 30D and the two lenses I use primarily are the 70-200F4 and Canon 10-22mm. I shoot everything handheld as I haven't had much luck with monopods for action shots.
It must be awesome to shoot at "the ring". Hopefully I will get a chance to see it for myself someday.
-Mike
Posted by: Mike | March 28, 2008 at 09:35 AM
Hi Mike,
You missed the best chance to shoot at "the ring". There is a huge (3 meter) high fence all around the north ring part installed in the last winter. We still sneak through the woods and hope to find a secret spot, but it looks like the last parts to shoot is at the (more boring) gp-track.
By the way: I am very much dedicated to Kei-Cars. Do you know where I could find shoots (and eventually race dates) when the K4-GP is racing ?
The 70-200F4 (the IS version I assume) does a great job. I really like the style of the photos.
Cheers,
Daniel
Posted by: Daniel | March 28, 2008 at 11:51 AM
sorry to be posting in a section 3 months old, but I would like to know if you knew where I can find more info and specs about this porsche: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2050/2344790662_59b41b81a3.jpg
love your site, love your photography. keep it up!
Posted by: Shin | June 06, 2008 at 12:49 PM
These spectacular photo shots of those wonderful cars were just saticfing to my eyes lol, An reminds me that I should never let my dreams of becoming a driver on the track be let go. It would be an honor to race on a track anywhere. Just to be part of a competition would set me on a whole other level. Lots of work an fine tuning is 1 of the best things about racing. Thanks for posting the shots...
Posted by: Luis R Trinidad Jr., | August 22, 2008 at 01:33 AM
Some time ago, I did need to buy a good house for my firm but I didn't have enough cash and couldn't purchase something. Thank God my mother adviced to get the home loans from trustworthy bank. Therefore, I did so and was satisfied with my short term loan.
Posted by: RutledgeKristen35 | June 04, 2010 at 10:43 PM