VIDEO> Rauh Welt Porsches on Japan Streets!
I just posted up a Papercuts story about 0-60 Magazine’s newest issue, which includes a feature on Nakai san and his Rauh Welt Porsches and on one of my favorite cars of all time – the AE86 Corolla GT-S, but I thought I should just go ahead and post this video as well! This video features clips from 0-60′s photo shoot in Japan, and some handheld video footage so that you can hear the Rauh Welt Porsche 911′s AMAZING exhaust note as it cruises through Japanese city streets and freeways!
Enjoy!
:: Antonio Alvendia
ARCHAEOLOGY> Super Silhouette Pics from Japan
Just check out this famous S110 Nissan Silvia, which was raced by legendary Japanese racer Kazuyoshi Hoshino's team, Impul. Hoshino-san has reached God-like status amongst race fans in Japan because of all his HISTORY. He actually raced in two Formula 1 races*; both of them at Japan's legendary Fuji Speedway - the old school course, with the famous old (and dangerous) banking, which is now closed and sits on the side of Fuji Speedway as a holy relic of the Shizuoka prefecture's glorious racing days of the 1970s and 1980s. In fact, I'm still kicking myself because I had the opportunity to chill out in the Impul/Calsonic Super GT pit area when I attended the Pokka 1000kms Super GT race at Suzuka Circuit, and Hoshino san was standing right freaking THERE... and I didn't even take a photo with him or ask him to autograph something. What an IDIOT I am. I still regret it. Read more...
NEWSWORTHY> Hubinette Driving D1GP Japan
I’ve been holding this info back for a couple days, and trust me – it’s pretty hard not to say anything when you have news like this! This is a pretty interesting piece of news here – Samuel Hubinette is currently in Japan, and plans to drive at the D1 Grand Prix event at Odaiba this coming weekend!
I received an email from Samuel, asking my opinion on which car I thought he should borrow for this weekend’s D1GP event – Daigo Saito‘s D1 Championship car, the FNATZ JZX100 Chaser, Takahiro Ueno‘s widebody JZZ30 Vertex Soarer, or Takahiro Ueno’s normal fendered JZZZ30 Vertex Soarer.
My vote was for Daigo’s super sick Chaser – first of all, it’s a D1GP Championship winning car for crying out loud; second of all, I thought the long wheel base and the big pendulum swinging characteristics of such a long drift car would be perfect for Samuel’s driving style. However, since I heard reports that Samuel was currently in Yokohama at Ueno-san’s car shop, Sui Vax, I’m guessing he opted for one of the Soarers. Either way, S.Hubinette is one hell of a driver, and I’m confident that he can drive anything with four wheels – probably even an Ikea Expedit bookcase or a Malm dresser. LOL
Speaking of Ikea, I can’t believe that Samuel has been drifting professionally this long, and Ikea still hasn’t sponsored him. They’re both Swedish after all; now that Mopar is no longer his title sponsor, I think Ikea needs to step up and sponsor the crazy Swede. Samuel has told me before that he loves going to Ikea in Irvine, because it reminds him of Sweden. He can chill out there and drink all the lingonberry juice he wants!
Could you just imagine Samuel’s pit area if Ikea were to sponsor him? Instead of an EZ-up with folding chairs, he’ll be rocking a bright red Ikea couch that folds into a bed; a furry white carpet on the ground; a difficult to assemble cabinet, and a million cheap tealight candles scattered all over the place.
Oh, umm… but back to the topic at hand, I’m sure Samuel will be putting on quite a show for the Japanese D1 audience. I just hope we don’t see Option Videos of Keiichi Tsuchiya and Manabu Suzuki saying “DRIFT YA RATER!!!”
:: Antonio Alvendia
NEWSWORTHY> Farewell, Atsushi Kuroi
Last night, D1GP driver Atsushi Kuroi from legendary Osaka drift team Tinker had a deadly accident while he was riding his motorcycle. Although there aren't too many details known about the accident, Kuroi san's kohai (apprentice) Kazuya Bai says that Kuroi's thigh was apparently injured from the accident, and even though the hospital staff worked diligently to stabilize him, Kuroi san's wounds were too severe, and he passed away within four hours of arriving at the hospital. Read more...
POINT&SHOOT> Toyota MarkII on SSR MarkIII
[I received an email yesterday from an Australian guy named Ian Hancock. Ian is crazy about Japanese nostalgic cars, and is currently on vacation in Japan (or as he says it, he's "on holiday") to check out a bunch of his favorite cars. He sent in a photo of this MX32 Toyota MarkII (Toyota Cressida) that he carspotted in Japan, because he knew it would be just the type of thing that Motor Mavens readers are into! Well, he was absolutely right. Here's what Ian had to say about the Mark II...]
The white Cressida belongs to Naoya Yamaguchi, who owns an old school Japanese wheel shop in Moiyra called Bellezza Auto Produce, about 15km from Tsukuba Circuit. I had been at Tsukuba for the day to watch drifting (and get taken for a ride!), and was going for a walk from my hotel to find some dinner when I came across the shop! I thought I was delirious – it was just too good to be true!
When I walked into his store, he was in the corner smoking, wheelchair bound because of a motorbike accident. Naoya “didn’t want to know me” until I started saying the names of the wheels in his shop, and I showed him pictures of my KB110 Sunny from Sydney. He couldn’t believe that an Aussie 20 year old would be interested in old J-tin. He couldn’t speak any English, and I don’t speak Japanese, so we talked for an hour and a half using a translator on the computer.
The Cressida wears huge SSR 15x9Js (-37 offset) on the back and 15x8J SSR Mark IIIs up front. From what I could gather, it is fairly stock mechanically aside from a healthy lowering, carbs and exhaust. A nice little front lip spoiler and rear spoiler finish it off, and although there are some fender gap issues, it has definately been built in the shakotan style! The body is straighter than straight, and some nice fender mirrors really set it off. I’m buying a set of 7.5J SSR Starsharks from him, and he has invited to take me out in his car next time I come over!
:: Ian Hancock
WEBMINING> Keiichi Tsuchiya at Ebisu Circuit East
Okay… this is a super old video, but since I just posted my story about how I felt the first time I ever saw the legendary Best Motoring Volume 41, I figured I should post the video up on the site. To me, this video is totally the shit… it’s a classic that I must have watched about a thousand times, but I still remember how this video made me feel the first time I ever saw it. It was inspiring, to say the very least. And the very first time I ever drove Ebisu Circuit‘s East Course, it immediately brought me back to the first time I watched this video, and the sound that the naturally aspirated blacktop 20 valve AE111 4AG engine made at full throttle as Keiichi drove his white TRD AE86 at Ebisu.
I’m sure that everyone must have a favorite movie or CD that they’ve listened to countless times… Inputs like this become engrained into your head; they eventually become a part of your permanent memory, and a part of who you are as a person. For me, these types of inputs include things like the Illmatic album from Nas, the Low End Theory album from A Tribe Called Quest, the Do You Want More album from The Roots, the Legend album from Bob Marley, and the Best Motoring Video, Volume 41. If you have a favorite book, video, movie, or CD, please share it…
Enjoy the video!
:: Antonio Alvendia
WEBMINING> Bosozoku Love Shakotan Boogie
For those who are fascinated with bosozoku style and other aspects of Japanese underground car culture, I thought I’d post up this video clip. I actually watched part of this movie at my friend’s house in Japan a few years back, but it was only recently (on the Bosozoku Style website) that I discovered that someone had actually uploaded the video to Youtube.
This video doesn’t feature outstanding driving or anything… and ALL the cars inside aren’t necessarily cool, although you will find a few pretty nice gems mixed in with the street rubble. What kinds of bosozoku cars can you point out? I saw some pretty interesting non traditional cars, like the AW11 MR2 at the beginning of the movie, as well as the normal bosozoku fare, like Toyota Crowns and Nissan Skylines.
Just think – this movie was released way back in 1987! Sheesh, I was just a kid listening to Eric B & Rakim and LL Cool J back then… I wasn’t even into cars yet!
Fun video to watch! Just don’t get too offended by what happens to the hakosuka at the end…
:: Antonio Alvendia
WEBMINING> S13 Running Touge at Night!
For everyone who’s ever wondered why mountain racing in Japan has evolved from an illegal, underground activity into something that accidentally slipped into the “mainstream” via comic books, anime, movies, and more… you need to watch this video, which was sent to me by my friend Chihiro Yoshimura from PEAK, an all AE and KP chassis drift team from Kanagawa Japan.
The driver of this S13 Silvia is drifting through a mountain road with such little space to navigate and maneuver the car… it’s incredible! Now this is car control.
I can’t wait to get back to Japan.
:: Antonio Alvendia
CENTER STAGE> AE86 Inspiration: Running Free
Since all these AE86 friends have been coming by to hang out and look through my photo albums, filled with old school AE86 photos from over 10 years ago, I felt that it would only be fitting to dig up some old school AE86 photos for our website too. You see, I have to exercise extreme control in order to avoid posting up AE86 photos and stories every day on the MotorMavens site. Hell, if it were solely up to me, I could make it a site that only had AE86 and old school Toyota content... but we wouldn't want to alienate all our readers who own other car marques.
Today though, I'm going to indulge and share images of one of my favorite AE86s from a stash of photos I took FIVE YEARS AGO. Yes, I took these photos way back in 2005. The red Sprinter Trueno in the photos is the famous "Yama red" AE86, owned by hachiroku driver Yamashita Koichi from the legendary Kanagawa-based drift team, Running Free. Running Free has a small handful of original members, but Yamashita is definitely the most famous in the group. Read more...
WEBMINING> A Shakotan Odyssey
Here’s a video I got from my boy Travis that had me and some of my boys on the East Coast straight trippin. We just don’t see stuff like this over here too often – especially not when we have potholes as big as moon craters that suck up whole caravans of cars without so much as a burp. If this is how they roll in Japan, I’m sold – I’m completely down with citizenship.
I spent way too much time just watching it over and over with my mouth hanging open – it’s so short and when you see the camber and fitment on the Odyssey…INCREDIBLE! It’s the little things that mean so much. I mean, it’s one thing to slam a car and hard park it – but, driving it on the highway like these guys is another thing entirely. Whoever these guys are – they get mad love for KILLIN this Odyssey shakotan-style! And whatever that is running with the Odyssey – DOPE!
Take a second and snatch a peak. It’s like those chips – betcha can’t watch just once!
::Avon Bellamy
WEBMINING> Ebisu Summer Drift Matsuri 2009
This video of the 2009 Summer Drift Matsuri at the famed Ebisu Circuit is just plain awesome. It’s got tons of variety in cars and courses and lots of high speed fly-bys. I haven’t been to Ebisu yet personally, but by the looks of this video, it’s no wonder everyone is so crazy about Ebisu. I can’t wait to go!
Check it out!
::Justin Shreeve
WEBMINING> Nikko Circuit in the Rain
Nikko Circuit: Part 2 from David Dizzle on Vimeo.
As the gloomy rainy season begins for many of us, I thought I’d post up a cool rainy drift video, reminding us that the rain isn’t all that bad… it saves tires!
Chasers, Mark IIs, Soarers, Silvias, 180SXs, Skylines, Levins, Truenos and RX7s… I stumbled across this gem on Vimeo recently, featuring lots of awesome Japanese cars at the famous Nikko Circuit. The entire three-part series is viewable on MayDayGarage.com, check it out!
:: Justin Shreeve
WEBMINING> Zen Drift Master Orido
I was on a hunt for footage of one of my favorite cars – the JZZ30 Toyota Soarer (aka the Lexus SC300/SC400) and lo and behold, what should I find but Manabu Orido drifting Honjo Circuit in Japan.
Although in this video, Orido’s driving his Project Mu/Autotech JZS161 Toyota Aristo (Lexus GS300) and not a Soarer, I thought it was worth it to post this gem just to show the interior action shots. Look at how little he has to do to control the car – his economy of motion and technique is amazing.
I know that we’re not supposed to be envious…but I just can’t help it! Who wishes, like I do, that they could plug into The Matrix (I’m talking about the movie, not the FF Toyota) and download Orido’s drifting skills like Neo, waking up suddenly, saying… “I know drifting.”
::Avon Bellamy
WEBMINING> Bluebird SSS at Flex Auto Yokohama
Back in 2004, I went to visit D1 driver Takahiro Ueno and his shop, Sui Vax in Yokohama, Japan. I was doing a feature photo shoot on Ueno and his shop for Modified Magazine at the time, so I spent the whole day hanging out in Yokohama. When I told him how crazy I was about Japanese nostalgic cars, he said he knew a shop that I would love, and he wanted to take me there. That shop was Flex Auto Review - they restore and sell Japanese classic cars! Ueno was absolutely right. I flipped out when we got there! AWESOME. (I was kind of embarrassed afterwards, because I was so obviously excited when I was walking around Flex Auto... and I didn't quite show the same level of excitement when I was hanging out at Ueno's shop earlier that day. Oops, my bad.) Read more...
CARSPOTTING> Mighty Crown from Japan
While you were sleeping… I was out doing a late night photo shoot with a particular mighty Crown from Japan. No, I’m not talking about Mighty Crown, the reggae soundclash champions from Japan; I’m talking about this incredible looking MS60 Toyota Crown Super Saloon.
This awesome right hand drive MS60 Crown is owned by an old school Toyota enthusiast named Irik Farnacio. Even though he just started working on building it up bosozoku style, I think it looks awesome already. He already has wide wheels with hippari tires (stretched tires) on it, not to mention a takeyari (exhaust pipes) set up that will get the local fuzz to pull him over in no time flat.
This photo is just an excerpt from a recent photo shoot I did for Max Power Magazine in the UK. This is an extremely busy week and weekend (FD weekend) for the Motor Mavens crew, so I’ll just post this preview on the site for now… but please check back real soon for more photos and our story about Irik and his friends!
::Antonio Alvendia
PS: In case you other photographers were wondering… this was hand held using a 5D Mark II.
WEBMINING> Kawabata's Unbelievable Entry!
I’ve had to watch this video of Kawabata drifting his Toyo Tires S13 in Japan over and over and OVER again at least 10 times just to see if it was somehow a fluke or even possibly faked! When you watch this video, you’ve GOT to agree that he nailed down an absolutely unbelievable entry!
I’m utterly speechless, just shaking my head in bewilderment… so please help me out here and comment below! Wasn’t his entry into that corner just NUTS?! Also, does anyone know which circuit that was? At first I thought it might be Sugo Sportsland, but after watching it again, I don’t think so…
:: Jover Papag
WEBMINING> Club Outrun in Japan
For Club Outrun from MeZ Productions on Vimeo.
While I was checking out some videos on Vimeo earlier today, I ran across this Mez Productions video from Club Outrun‘s Japan trip. Very cool! They show footage of some cool looking AE86s at Nihonkai Maze Circuit, some more 86 action at Nikko Circuit, and then some really cool footage from Ebisu Circuit‘s South Course, School Course, and the very famous Touge course!
Let’s all go to Japan already!!!
:: Yoshi Shindo
WEBMINING> Kansai All Stars Tandem Drifting!
I was checking out Roaster Drift today, only to be blown away with some of the craziest multi-car madness I think I have ever seen! Rob said he counted 34 cars on the track at one time. Not 3 or 4… 34!!! Words cannot really describe how insane this video is. Take a look!
:: Andy Sapp
WEBMINING> Japanese Super Silhouette Racing
Ever wonder how Japanese Bosozoku and Yanki car owners came up with the ideas of how to make their cars look so crazy? Well, according to stories I’ve been told, a lot of these guys began making their street cars resemble the professional Super Silhouette racing cars, and then making them look a whole lot crazier and a whole lot more gangster basically.
Me personally, I love Super Silhouette cars. I wasn’t really aware of these cars in the 80s when they were new, as I was too busy watching cartoons like Robotech (Macross) and playing with Transformers. However, whenever I began going to toy stores that had Japanese car models, I noticed that many Japanese plastic model companies like Fujimi and Tamiya had silhouette racers within their product lines! So awesome. Just another reminder of why I love Japanese car culture so damn much.
So let’s watch the video and enjoy the Super Silhouette racers as they run Tsukuba Circuit and my favorite, Fuji Speedway!!!
:: Antonio Alvendia
CARSPOTTING> Toyota Mark X ZiO TGDA Concept
Back in 2008, I – the guy with no “steez” or a functioning media outlet – somehow convinced Toyota Japan’s corporate types to let me into the Toyota Technocraft facility in Yokohama to shoot the van you see here, the Toyota Mark X ZiO TGDA Concept. Toyota Technocraft, for those who may not be aware, is where Toyota Japan builds all its “specialty” vehicles. Everything from ambulances to JGTC cars, plus the Mark X ZiO TGDA Concept, is made at this top-secret facility, and Toyota let me in to run amok in the place. Read more...
WEBMINING> Miniz SR20 & RB26 Trucks Drifting!
We received this link from one of our loyal readers, Shakotan Oscar. Thank you Oscar! We just love the internet for reasons like this. We just posted up some photos that demo car builder David Huang found of Garage Miniz in Japan… and shortly after, we received a video link from Oscar that shows more detail in both trucks!
I especially like the awesome rear mounted radiator in the white RB26 powered one! Not to mention its stance and the incredibly detailed fuel setup in the bed of the truck. Well, both trucks are incredible, but damn… that white one! Aside from me, who else is now interested in building a truck?! Garage Miniz shows the possibilities…
:: Jose Gonzalez
WEBMINING> Garage Miniz
Have you ever seen a Nissan hardbody pickup truck that looked this good?! To be very honest, I'm not normally a fan of using "car wheels" on lowered trucks... but damn, there's just something about this truck that makes my jaw drop! It might have something to do with the fact that it's slammed to the ground with big Work Emotion CR Kai wheels filling up the fenders. What a great location for a photo shoot, too. That's the Fuji TV building in Odaiba, right next to the Tokyo waterfront. Read more...
CARSPOTTING> Datsun 410 Bluebird in Tokyo
For me, finding photos like this in my hard drive is cool because it reminds me of why I love Japan so much - there's something interesting on every corner, and you never know what you may find. This is a very typical scene in the suburban area of Tokyo that Kenta lives in, but you don't normally find super clean cars this old just sitting outside in a carport! Most likely, this old Bluebird is a car that's been in the family for decades, while the daily mode of transportation is more than likely the charinko (bicycle) that's sitting right next to it.
This type of Datsun Bluebird 410 was made between 1963 and 1967, and was available with a 1200cc or 1300cc engine, depending on how fast the owner wanted to drive their Bluebird. It's funny to think that you could stand in a Datsun dealership in 1964 or something, telling the salesman, "yeah, I don't quite think the 1200cc engine is going to do it for me. I need more power, so I'll take the additional 100cc." (Haha!) To make the Bluebird sportier and more competitive in circuit racing, Datsun decided to launch a 1600cc sports model under the name Bluebird SSS in 1965.
Perhaps the coolest thing about this car (in my opinion, anyway) is the super old school original Japanese license plate, which only has one number on it. This top number (in this case, a 5) signifies the engine size and/or purpose of the car. Read more...
WEBMINING> Japanese Nostalgic Car Chase!
Our good friends at Japanese Nostalgic Car Magazine posted this on their site yesterday – it’s a super cool 1980s car chase sequence from Japan, with a lady cop in a TE71 Corolla Levin chasing down the bad guy, who is driving an S30 Fairlady Z. Lots of great action in this video clip; we’re just sad to see the cars get smashed up!
::Motor Mavens
