Thursday, January 29, 2009

J's Racing 6-pots

Currently on a short break from class and I just ran across this close-up snapshot of the #69 J's Racing FD2 Type-R equipped with some fresh six-piston calipers with large 332mm×30mm carbon-combination ventilated disks. "Improves absolute braking performance considerably" and if that's an understatement you didn't already expect, for just under $5,000US they'd better. Not to mention they also require wheels 18"-plus for fitment. But 6-pots on an FD2, mmMMmmm that's some serious delicious right there. A link to one of the J's Racing blogs.

Some more images from a recent event at Sendai Highland:


-Nick

PS - With my return to school this week for my final semester I've been a little busy and kinda slacking on here the past week or so. But I've been sitting on some good material though, and constantly finding more which will be posted/shared in time. Stay tuned, many of us feel '09 is going to be something worthwhile.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Rayra Motorsports

I ran across this shop/driver/blog about a month or so ago; Rayra (Layla?) Motorsports. I wish I knew a little more of the back story behind this driver/shop, but through these photos (and reading a bit on her blog/website) you can see she's been driving what you wish you were for over a decade. This particular driver, a mother of two sons, 20 & 25 years of age (just for an indirect reference to her age), started off as with motorcross at age 14. With experience growing up racing Honda motorcycles and eventually a few modded EG6s, she went on to drive a couple of EK9s and a DC5 in various west-Japan one-make race series for a shop called Prime Garage. As a three time Civic West Series champion in '94, '95, and '97, and the Integra West Series champion in '02, she then took the reins behind a N2 Nissan Sivlia Cup S13, and an N2 AE11. She currently pilots the Rayra Motorsports' pink SXE10 and AP1 that holds the Gold Cup SS2 class course record at Autopolis.

I suppose the rarity of highly-skilled female drifters (GalDori if you wanna call it, thank Tosh and the JDM Insider guys for that term) might be more enticing than women who grip-drive well, but I don't know if I agree though. There's definitely something worthwhile to say about a woman who can out-drive her man gripping, and she's a rarity herself. But does she exist in the United States? Or is this just one more thing better sought after and shipped over from Japan? Haha.

Regardless, check out some of the Rayra Motorsports autos (and past chassis with Prime Garage), and don't forget the pink racesuit that I could totally see Tym donning:

http://www.rayra.com/

-Nick

Bonus - Video of Rayra Motorsports AP1 participation in the HSR Honda one-make race, on Nov. 23, 2008. Just follow the link, ignore the Japanese if you can't read it, and click play. In-car footage from Autopolis awaits: http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/272201/blog/11168504/

Before/After:

Constant reminders:


Shit happens. And in one way or another we all have our stories of ill-fated afternoons, evenings, and early mornings from the track to the street, but it's all in how you react to those occurrences and grow as a driver. It only takes a split second of distraction and/or miscalculation for catastrophe.

So everyone, have fun out there doing what you may as the season eventually gets going full swing (whether grip or drift), but becareful in '09; safety is paramount while driving at speed.
-Nick

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Turn your volume up!!!!!!!!!!

MMmmmmmmmmm NSX
I was just doing a little future shopping for my future NSX and came across this....

-Jamie

Thursday, January 15, 2009

No. 72, Y. Taniguchi?

Yukinori Taniguchi recently entered the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) during the last stages of the 2008 season, driving at Monza, Italy and Okayama, Japan. Taniguchi also competed in the Honda Exciting Cup One-Make Race 2008, Inner-Civic Series. He finished third in early November, during the final race, No. 7 at Fuji and seventh in overall series standings.

Check out the Hondas he has been piloting; the Repsol/AMS (JAS/N-Technology) CL7 and the Ings+1/Sergeant FD2:

Just a little bit of history behind Taniguchi; He founded the video game developer Yuke's in Osaka, in 1993 and supported Nobushige Kumakubo's Team Orange (Team Yuke's) in the D1 Grand Prix which lead to Yuke's development of the D1GP game series. As a driver, in 2005, he competed in Super Taikyu piloting a Nissan 350z alongside Tarzan Yamada and the pair became series' champions. Then, in 2007, he competed in the Japan Le Mans Challenge, won a race and finished runner-up in the season.

That's the real dream right there. At age 40, a successful businessman with a side job as a racing driver, currently for two separate Honda teams and a history in motorsports.

Photos courtesy of Taniguchi's blog: http://ameblo.jp/yuke72/

-Nick

Monday, January 12, 2009

More from Honda at TAS '09: Extended Edit

Following a year filled with announcements of R&D cancellations and officially pulling out of Formula 1 due to economic hardships, including all the hype behind the Nissan 370z and R35, no one expected much from Honda at Tokyo Auto Salon 2009. Yet, there was still a pretty decent turn out of quality Honda representation this year. Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with what I've seen, even if it came mostly from the big name companies. Here are a few of the highlights:

J's Racing's new Fit (with completed livery from the post before) and new widebody S2000 were on display (which you can find more information/photos on The Chronicles, along with preproduction art for both), as well as one of their FD2s:


Twincam/Feels FD2 (check out those fenders) & S2000:

New Honda Accord Mugen 24sc Concept, a big debut/hit this year:

Modulo FD2:

GE Fit, sporting Noblesse aero; a little more simple, yet aggressive in appearance compared to some of their more lavish/VIP aero parts:

Spoon Sports/Volk Racing Fit:
Spoon Sports FD2(s) and NSX-R:

And then how could/would I forget the Honda that caused the most stir this year, the NSX Mugen RR Concept:
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Edit: Here are a some more H-cars worthy of mention, and I also added a few more/different photos to the cars shown above. Enjoy.

These are some new shots of an old school EF on Mugen CF48s that has recieved some rightfully deserved attention:

Avanzza and ASM S2000s, both with rather aggressive aero:

5Zigen FD2:

RG FD2 and DC5

And this S2000 with rather appealing fitment to finish out:
-Nick