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V$ BigSmoke's Bizzare Builds and Life
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(Some pics are taken from Side to Side thread)
Finally got another time to write an update! Again, life got in the way and being quite a hassle.
I've landed safely back home at Japan, but this time I'm not alone. We've got Side to Side crew with us!
First off, we seek a new headquarters for them (don't worry, I'm staying at Tsukuba
) and retrieve some of their rides!
How does this all unfold along the month? Well let's delve into the update then shall we?
I've landed safely back home at Japan, but this time I'm not alone. We've got Side to Side crew with us!
First off, we seek a new headquarters for them (don't worry, I'm staying at Tsukuba
) and retrieve some of their rides!How does this all unfold along the month? Well let's delve into the update then shall we?
[11 Nov 2019]
We (I, Ziga (@Lagano), @Benny and AJ (@RocketBunnyS13) if you don't remember) finally arrived back in Japan and landed safely at the Narita Airport. If you're wondering, no, this isn't the first time Benny and Ziga landed their feet at the land of the rising sun. In fact their yearly schedule includes a trip to Japan for various events. This time though, due to the grand SEMA project that you can read at the previous page, they missed two Ebisu Drift Matsuris at summer and autumn. If I'm not mistaken they also missed the annual R's Meeting at Fuji Speedway. But eh, at least it was paid handsomely with how well our effort at SEMA goes
This time though, they've got more in their mind rather than just hanging around for a while and leave. Of course, they'll stay to enjoy the sights and scenes of the home of the Japanese tuner culture, but there is another specific reason: If you know them for a while, you've noticed that they owned quite a lot of cars, both in their main HQ at Ardmore and another one in the west side of USA at Los Angeles. But eventually, their car collection kept on growing and once again they ran out of space. So the best solution is of course to find another place to store their cars. And this time, they selected Japan as the next storage place, since (a)They've got a lot of connections here and (b)some of the cars are RHD so it'll be much more suitable to drive here. So before and after SEMA, they shipped some of their collections to Japan, as well as purchasing some cars here as a head-start should some of them haven't arrived here.
Back to the plane, as soon as the plane finishing it's taxi procedure back to the terminal, Benny was looking quite anxious and after we arrived at the arrival terminal ordered Ziga to get his luggages and rushed off somewhere. At first I thought he was holding his call of nature, but then I decided to ask Ziga anyways why did he do that.
"Hey ZIga, why does Benny look in a hurry? Call of nature? Something fell off while landing?"
"Nah nah don't worry, that's Benny for you. It's the call of his nature, but not that one"
"Eh? What is it then?"
"I guess you already know that he smokes"
"Yeah, then wha-oh......OH I get it now! *laughter* "Aaaaah I guess he can't live without a pack of these"
"Oh hey that's his stuff, help me grab some of them"
"Ah okay, here goes" *grabs our luggages*
With our luggages claimed with no problems, Benny had his proper cig break, and AJ had to split off from us eariler for work, we decided to get off to my crib to have a proper rest, since Tsukuba is closer to Narita than Tokyo, and it's relatively not too crowded and cramped compared to Tokyo as well. After all I and Ziga has a deal to be made.......we'll see what is it in a bit. And since I obviously would disturb either Rantaro or Sera if I ask them to pick us up while at work, we have to make do with public bus and a bit of walking. At least the autumn winds helped us cool down a bit...........
Finally, we arrived at my home sweet home. As we all take our rest, I made Benny and Ziga some cups of coffee and a milk tea for myself. We all enjoyed it with some biscuits (though Benny swapped biscuits for his pack of cigs) I happen to store before going to USA while watching the TBS news channel. If you're wondering, thanks to their annual visits, Benny and Ziga understands and can speak quite sufficient Japanese, though at some points I had to help them a bit. For speaking matters they can mostly handle them themselves, it's the written ones that needs help since Kanji writing is basically almost everywhere and difficult to understand.
After some time, I asked Ziga about our deal.
*sips tea* "Ey Ziga"
"Yea Smoke?"
"You said you wanna see the Mustang yeah?"
"Oh sure sure, but let me finish my cup first"
"Ah good" *dips biscuit* "And uh, how much you're offering for it?" *eats biscuit*
"How much did you offer for it back then?"
*gulps biscuit* "V$5000" *dips biscuit again* "You can bargain or raise it"
"That sounds reasonable, I'll have it for full price"
"Deal then, I'll grab the keys later-wait where's my biscuit?"
"In your cup man!" *chuckles*
*squints at cup of tea with half a biscuit in it* "How did it went off my hands? Gah!" *picks up the biscuit anyways*
Later that day, we checked out my Mustang in flesh. Apart from slightly dusty interior and exterior after half a year not being driven, the car is quite healthy, and thankfully the Modular V8 still runs like a champ. As I've mentioned at the very first page, I bought this Mustang at my first visit to USA for quite cheap, being an I4 model that needs quite a lot of work and ultimately nuked its transmission right when it arrived at the StS HQ. Franklin (@FranklinAnderson) then suggested to do a Ford Modular V8 swap since it's cheap and easy to obtain. He's actually correct, y'know, as that engine powers just about everything from later generation Mustangs to Ford Crown Victorias, and from Lincoln Town Car to Ford F-Series pickup trucks. It has quite a long manufacturing lifespan from mid-90s to 2011.
This time though, they've got more in their mind rather than just hanging around for a while and leave. Of course, they'll stay to enjoy the sights and scenes of the home of the Japanese tuner culture, but there is another specific reason: If you know them for a while, you've noticed that they owned quite a lot of cars, both in their main HQ at Ardmore and another one in the west side of USA at Los Angeles. But eventually, their car collection kept on growing and once again they ran out of space. So the best solution is of course to find another place to store their cars. And this time, they selected Japan as the next storage place, since (a)They've got a lot of connections here and (b)some of the cars are RHD so it'll be much more suitable to drive here. So before and after SEMA, they shipped some of their collections to Japan, as well as purchasing some cars here as a head-start should some of them haven't arrived here.
Back to the plane, as soon as the plane finishing it's taxi procedure back to the terminal, Benny was looking quite anxious and after we arrived at the arrival terminal ordered Ziga to get his luggages and rushed off somewhere. At first I thought he was holding his call of nature, but then I decided to ask Ziga anyways why did he do that.
"Hey ZIga, why does Benny look in a hurry? Call of nature? Something fell off while landing?"
"Nah nah don't worry, that's Benny for you. It's the call of his nature, but not that one"
"Eh? What is it then?"
"I guess you already know that he smokes"
"Yeah, then wha-oh......OH I get it now! *laughter* "Aaaaah I guess he can't live without a pack of these"
"Oh hey that's his stuff, help me grab some of them"
"Ah okay, here goes" *grabs our luggages*
With our luggages claimed with no problems, Benny had his proper cig break, and AJ had to split off from us eariler for work, we decided to get off to my crib to have a proper rest, since Tsukuba is closer to Narita than Tokyo, and it's relatively not too crowded and cramped compared to Tokyo as well. After all I and Ziga has a deal to be made.......we'll see what is it in a bit. And since I obviously would disturb either Rantaro or Sera if I ask them to pick us up while at work, we have to make do with public bus and a bit of walking. At least the autumn winds helped us cool down a bit...........
Finally, we arrived at my home sweet home. As we all take our rest, I made Benny and Ziga some cups of coffee and a milk tea for myself. We all enjoyed it with some biscuits (though Benny swapped biscuits for his pack of cigs) I happen to store before going to USA while watching the TBS news channel. If you're wondering, thanks to their annual visits, Benny and Ziga understands and can speak quite sufficient Japanese, though at some points I had to help them a bit. For speaking matters they can mostly handle them themselves, it's the written ones that needs help since Kanji writing is basically almost everywhere and difficult to understand.
After some time, I asked Ziga about our deal.
*sips tea* "Ey Ziga"
"Yea Smoke?"
"You said you wanna see the Mustang yeah?"
"Oh sure sure, but let me finish my cup first"
"Ah good" *dips biscuit* "And uh, how much you're offering for it?" *eats biscuit*
"How much did you offer for it back then?"
*gulps biscuit* "V$5000" *dips biscuit again* "You can bargain or raise it"
"That sounds reasonable, I'll have it for full price"
"Deal then, I'll grab the keys later-wait where's my biscuit?"
"In your cup man!" *chuckles*
*squints at cup of tea with half a biscuit in it* "How did it went off my hands? Gah!" *picks up the biscuit anyways*
Later that day, we checked out my Mustang in flesh. Apart from slightly dusty interior and exterior after half a year not being driven, the car is quite healthy, and thankfully the Modular V8 still runs like a champ. As I've mentioned at the very first page, I bought this Mustang at my first visit to USA for quite cheap, being an I4 model that needs quite a lot of work and ultimately nuked its transmission right when it arrived at the StS HQ. Franklin (@FranklinAnderson) then suggested to do a Ford Modular V8 swap since it's cheap and easy to obtain. He's actually correct, y'know, as that engine powers just about everything from later generation Mustangs to Ford Crown Victorias, and from Lincoln Town Car to Ford F-Series pickup trucks. It has quite a long manufacturing lifespan from mid-90s to 2011.
With the deal sealed and inspection over, we spent the rest of the day with more cups of coffee and tea, going to a ramen depot near my crib for dinner, anime binge watching (Particularly Benny's favourite series, Macross and Detective Conan) and some sim racing sessions (Ziga almost broke his arms due to me not lowering my wheel's FFB level, which was set at 100%. Thank god it wasn't a DD wheel.......). Serious work starts the next day as we plan to go around half of the Fukushima prefecture to locate cars that Benny has purchased and to establish their new HQ here.
[12 Nov 2019]
After a quick onigiri and coffee breaksfast, we set off to the Fukushima prefecture. If the name still doesn't ring a bell for you, the area is known for at least two things: (a)The nuclear reactor, which was damaged after an earthquake back then (some bits of the areas are still radioactive) and (b)Ebisu Circuit.......I'm sure this one doesn't need any introductions (don't worry, Ebisu isn't affected by the nuclear disaster) This time, we jumped in into my Silver Queen. It's a good thing I never uninstalled the back seats, though I rarely use it after all I really want the boys to experience the punchy acceleration and power it has!
(don't worry, Ebisu isn't affected by the nuclear disaster) This time, we jumped in into my Silver Queen. It's a good thing I never uninstalled the back seats, though I rarely use it after all I really want the boys to experience the punchy acceleration and power it has!
Sadly though it wasn't really the case....even though everything went safe and sound, the traffic was rather crowded so there wasn't much chance to open the taps of the Silver Queen's potential. But then again, it won't be funny if I kept going flat out and crash it while trying to weave around traffic. Nevertheless, the trip was alive with quite a lot of banters, memes and chatters. I'm not sure what they thought about Silver Queen's back seats, but overally they look quite contempt sitting there. Whether their backs are okay is another question though
Hours later, we've collected the cars and finally established a garage somehwere around Inawashiro town. The garage used to be a simple warehouse, but later on converted to be a garage with several tools and working bays inside. The garage and the town itself is roughly 3 kms from Ebisu, so whenever they wanted to go swing around the track or perhaps going to the zoo instead, they can simply drop by this garage, grab the cars and go to the circuit complex, much quicker compared to storing the cars at Tokyo. There's the 3-4 hour drive to Ebisu, and then there's also the traffic and fuel costs...............
Hours later, we've collected the cars and finally established a garage somehwere around Inawashiro town. The garage used to be a simple warehouse, but later on converted to be a garage with several tools and working bays inside. The garage and the town itself is roughly 3 kms from Ebisu, so whenever they wanted to go swing around the track or perhaps going to the zoo instead, they can simply drop by this garage, grab the cars and go to the circuit complex, much quicker compared to storing the cars at Tokyo. There's the 3-4 hour drive to Ebisu, and then there's also the traffic and fuel costs...............
Aside from Ebisu Circuit, the garage is quite close to the Inawashiro lake, in fact we can see it from the windows at the backside of the garage. It's quite a refreshing sight I should tell you, and better yet we can simply go there after working all day in the garage to refresh ourselves. At the front of the garage, Mount Bandai arises from the town's skyline (no pun intended). Ziga told me there's a touge road laid somehwere at the mountain, which is great, though I don't know where is it exactly. If the name ringed something to you, you might know Bandai is the name of a toy and hobby company
They're best known for their Mobile Suit Gundam mecha robot franchise, from the robot figures to the medias such as comics and anime series. There's also the Digimon series which is a direct rival to the Pokemon series, and also SH Figuarts that features figurines of the girl characters from their various franchises. And yes, they're the ones who built the giant Gundam robot statue in the middle of Tokyo, specifically the RX-78-2 model in the pic, the iconic Gundam unit used by the series's first protagonist, Amuro Ray. The RX-78-2 though is now moved to Shizuoka (which means somewhere near the Suzuka Circuit) and the one in Tokyo is now replaced with the RX-0 Unicorn model, which is a part of the Gundam novels.
They're best known for their Mobile Suit Gundam mecha robot franchise, from the robot figures to the medias such as comics and anime series. There's also the Digimon series which is a direct rival to the Pokemon series, and also SH Figuarts that features figurines of the girl characters from their various franchises. And yes, they're the ones who built the giant Gundam robot statue in the middle of Tokyo, specifically the RX-78-2 model in the pic, the iconic Gundam unit used by the series's first protagonist, Amuro Ray. The RX-78-2 though is now moved to Shizuoka (which means somewhere near the Suzuka Circuit) and the one in Tokyo is now replaced with the RX-0 Unicorn model, which is a part of the Gundam novels.
If you're an avid gamer, then you might know them as Bandai Namco instead. Bandai and the legendary game studio Namco merged way back in 2005 to strengthen up each other's position in entertainment business. You might know Namco or Bandai Namco from their franchises like the drifty Ridge Racer arcade racing series or the licensed Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune arcade cabinets (yes, that Wangan Midnight, although they had to wait until the 5th game to aqcuire RUF license and 6th for Porsche ones). They're also appointed as the publisher and distributor for Project CARS game series as well. They're also famous for the Ace Combat series (jet fighter shooter), Tekken and Soulcalibur series (your traditional fighting games, both are connected to each other story-wise), Pac-Man (no need for introduction ), Dark Souls (no need to introduce this either ), and probably the most sought-after is The Idolmaster series (a combo between rythm game, visual novel and raising simulator featuring teen idol girls (and teen boys in one of the games)). With the popularity they've enjoyed today, safe to say, they've successfully created a jolly cooperation which causes people to go their way and bought their products
Right let's move back to the garage, we've veered waaaaay too far from the topic. As you can see at the garage pic, there's an AE86 Levin Hatchback and an R33 GTS-t. The AE86 is a rolling shell bought by Benny, and at this point I'm not sure what he's gonna do with it. They do have an AE86 in their fleet, which is Ziga's 3S-GE swapped Trueno Hatch so I reckon it'll be a smooth sailing for them. The R33 is Ziga's birthday gift from quite a lot of people: Benny, me, AJ, Muza (@Niatross), Marc (@topy), and I think @Soju and 11K (@11000rpm) as well. It looks a bit um, unfinished, though that's the way we purchase it. But it should be okay, since rather evidently by the dust and scratch on the Bomex bodykits it was used properly, looks like it's been used for drifting. Speaking of which, Ziga once owned an S14 here as a drift missile to use everythime he comes here. Sadly though, the S14 was flooded as the result of the Hagibis typhoon some time ago, and as in the end the car was terminally damaged. The S14 is now in the hands of Franklin for restoration, and the R33 will be his new missile toy.
), Dark Souls (no need to introduce this either ), and probably the most sought-after is The Idolmaster series (a combo between rythm game, visual novel and raising simulator featuring teen idol girls (and teen boys in one of the games)). With the popularity they've enjoyed today, safe to say, they've successfully created a jolly cooperation which causes people to go their way and bought their products Right let's move back to the garage, we've veered waaaaay too far from the topic. As you can see at the garage pic, there's an AE86 Levin Hatchback and an R33 GTS-t. The AE86 is a rolling shell bought by Benny, and at this point I'm not sure what he's gonna do with it. They do have an AE86 in their fleet, which is Ziga's 3S-GE swapped Trueno Hatch so I reckon it'll be a smooth sailing for them. The R33 is Ziga's birthday gift from quite a lot of people: Benny, me, AJ, Muza (@Niatross), Marc (@topy), and I think @Soju and 11K (@11000rpm) as well. It looks a bit um, unfinished, though that's the way we purchase it. But it should be okay, since rather evidently by the dust and scratch on the Bomex bodykits it was used properly, looks like it's been used for drifting. Speaking of which, Ziga once owned an S14 here as a drift missile to use everythime he comes here. Sadly though, the S14 was flooded as the result of the Hagibis typhoon some time ago, and as in the end the car was terminally damaged. The S14 is now in the hands of Franklin for restoration, and the R33 will be his new missile toy.
Benny also bought one more car, which is...........a Hyundai Santa Fe. Nothing much, really, though I suspect Benny would pour his mad ideas over the car. I won't be surprised if he shoved an LS inside Joking aside, the Santa Fe is here for quite an obvious reason: Not only it'll be their daily and winter warrior, it will act as their parts hauler in the meantime. I would like to put my Silverado here to be honest, since well, it's a truck and it's originally belonged to them. All I need is a green light from them. As for me, don't worry, I've got my Sprinter to do the job.
Joking aside, the Santa Fe is here for quite an obvious reason: Not only it'll be their daily and winter warrior, it will act as their parts hauler in the meantime. I would like to put my Silverado here to be honest, since well, it's a truck and it's originally belonged to them. All I need is a green light from them. As for me, don't worry, I've got my Sprinter to do the job.
We spent the rest of the week by exploring around both Inawashiro and Tsukuba, since they usually dwell in Tokyo back then. I'm basically becoming their impromptu tour guide but all in all it was a fun drive all around, whether it's in the SIlver Queen or Santa Fe, sometimes witha spot of car spotting along the way. Occassionally the R33 went off the garage as well for occasional joyride and maintenance checking. It's been sitting for a while after all.
but all in all it was a fun drive all around, whether it's in the SIlver Queen or Santa Fe, sometimes witha spot of car spotting along the way. Occassionally the R33 went off the garage as well for occasional joyride and maintenance checking. It's been sitting for a while after all.[17 Nov 2019]
The first cars of their collection has arrived at the Japan shores, and it is........Benny's signature R33 GT-R! Along the way is the S2K, which Benny has recently restored and given some aftermarket parts and arrived much earlier some time ago, as I've did a quick joyride on it. Benny, obviously quite excited, told me to pick him up at Inawashiro garage and as the sun shines mildly, we went back to Tokyo to pick them all up. I'm not sure how and why, but all of Benny's beloved babies from USA comes first and so far none of Ziga's does
Some time later we're already around the central part of Tokyo, blazing around the famous C1 route to make our trip slightly faster and to be able to open the taps of all that power from the Silver Queen as I play this song on the radio.
Some time later we're already around the central part of Tokyo, blazing around the famous C1 route to make our trip slightly faster and to be able to open the taps of all that power from the Silver Queen as I play this song on the radio.
The C1 highway route is one of the most sought-after highway areas in Japan to do street racing in, along with most popular ones such as Tomei Expressway, Wangan Line, Hanshin Expressway Loop at Osaka and so on. In fact the C1 is quite popular there's a dedicated Wangan Midnight light novel dedicated to this highway section (Wangan Midnight C1 Runner if you're wondering). The C1 is quite unique compared to other highways at least around Tokyo: Instead of relying on raw engine power like Wangan Line or Tomei Expressway does, the C1 doesn't rely on a lot of power, but punctuates over chassis stability and driver skills and reflexes. Not only there are quite a lot of sharp corners as compared to other highways, there's already only a few lanes and space to move around. And then there's those lane splitters at several tunnels. If you hit them, it's game over, both in games and real life, to the point that several Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune players would try to force their multiplayer opponents into the splitter as an offensive or defensive move, or simply just to spite them off. Ramming others into tollbooth gates is also a commonplace dirty tactics. And of course, don't replicate these in real life, especially since nobody else actually did.
As I've mentioned, the C1 usually appeard in Wangan Midnight series, as well as their licensed arcade and console games. Tthe C1 also saw a prominent appearance in the Tokyo Extreme Racer series, which has the same theme of highway racing around Japan. But the one I really want to mention is it's appearance in Racing Battle C1 Grand Prix, which is basically a Japanese-only hybrid of TXR, TXRD, Gran Turismo, Automobilista and traditional Japanese RPG games. Here the entire C1 loop plus half of the Hanshin loop were converted into a full-fledged closed street circuit, but that spiltter at C1 remains there. The C1 loop is actually quite long, with a lap can last around 4 minutes and there are not only one but two pit garage complexes, which can come handy at later races. The rest of the track roster was flled with purpose-built circuits, which are Suzuka, Tsukuba, Okayama and Nikko. The game has that highway battle mechanics carried over from TXR, and also features traditional grip racing a la Gran Turismo and drift events and battles carried from TXRD. You can decorate your garage just ike in Automobilista, and sometimes the garage items can be equipped as JRPG-style stat enhancing items, allowing power-ups such as less damage received from wall contacts, earning drift points faster or make your tyres and brakes lasts slightly longer.
After a while, went off the city complex and moved along to the Bayshore areas. We're almost there to pick up Benny's weapons of choice. I think the 4G63 engine really enjoys the cool and crisp autumn winds, it runs quite eager as usual with the engine noise battling with my radio, which played this song on the run.
Finally, we arrived at the docks to retrieve the cars. And here they are, in all of their glories and almost no signs of dust. After some talks to clear the car and obtain the keys, Benny jumped into his R33 and ordered Ziga to jump into the S2K. Despite the R33 being much more powerful than my Silver Queen, I still lead the way back to Inawashiro.
To check and test the cars around the twist and turns of Tokyo, I decided to run on the C1 route again with the crew. All of us were under a spirited mood as we all buzz and echo the sounds of our engines around the metro highways. I switched another song into my radio.
The Silver Queen runs sprightly around the highway, it's quite obvious that the curves suits it very well, even though I should admit I held back a bit in fear of smashing it into the armco. It's like doing a rally stage but sped up twice or even thrice. I mean normally you won't reach highway speeds all the time in rallying, and the turns are much twistier. Probably riding a roller coaster with graters as walls would fit the description better. Nevertheless I, Benny and Ziga kept on pounding and blazing across the capital as afternoon falls.
Some time later, we arrived back at Inawashiro. We stored the R33 and S2K at the backside of the garage, where as I've mentioned before, we can see the lake from the windows. Just imagine: It's sunset, you sit on a small chair and wooden table beside your car, sipping tea and reading articles on your phone or just addiring the lake from afar as you enjoy the peaceful day..............
But Benny had a better idea to spend the rest of the daylight. He took us to the lake (though I'm still the one driving), and we parked at the shores of the lake. Benny immediately went off to take a swim, while I and Ziga take a bit of walk along the shores. I'd like to rent a boat to sail around, but sadly there weren't any. Nevertheless, it was quite a peaceful evening, with only the wind breeze, cicadas, ducks and doves providing sountrack of the nature.
[22 Nov 2019]
If you're following at least the last two updates from me, you might remember that I've ordered a sum of parts for the Evo V which drained my wallet for a while. And obviously, as I arrived back to Japan, all of them has stacked in fornt of my crib. It's gonna be a while to install them all.......but then I remember that Ziga and Benny's new place got working bays to work on, and I haven't ordered two more things due to running out of money back then.
First off, I ordered the missing parts from the list: RaceFab rear top arms set, which costed me around 1300 NZD or V$650, and Eibach Pro Spacer Kit for V$248 . With the order sorted, I called Ziga on phone.
"Yo Ziga, Smoke here"
"Ayy Smoke, what's cracking? Are you chewing on number nines right now?"
"Nah man" *laughter* "Ah listen are you working on the cars at the moment?"
"Not really, just inspecting the AE86 and R33, nothing much"
"Ah great. Listen, I have quite a lot of parts to be installed to the Evo V"
"Ah, sure, we can help you with that"
"Please do, and um, can I have it on the working bay as well?"
"Sure why not, feel free to use it"
"Thanks mate. Ah yes it's not today, no need to rush"
"Eh?"
"I'm still waiting for another part to be ordered"
"Ah I see, it's okay. Come whenever you want"
"Aight, thanks my man"
"Don't mention it"
With the phone call over, I received an announcement email. The next Attack Challenge at Tsukuba will be hold at 22 February 2020. That's quite a unique date to be picked, I mean it forms as 22/02/2020 in dd/mm/yyyy format or 2020/02/22 in yyyy/mm/dd ones. On a more serious note, there's only some more months to prepare the S15 to be race-ready, and with the national championships starting at least at March or April, the Evo V project can be put on a halt for a while after this next installation work.
First off, I ordered the missing parts from the list: RaceFab rear top arms set, which costed me around 1300 NZD or V$650, and Eibach Pro Spacer Kit for V$248 . With the order sorted, I called Ziga on phone.
"Yo Ziga, Smoke here"
"Ayy Smoke, what's cracking? Are you chewing on number nines right now?"
"Nah man" *laughter* "Ah listen are you working on the cars at the moment?"
"Not really, just inspecting the AE86 and R33, nothing much"
"Ah great. Listen, I have quite a lot of parts to be installed to the Evo V"
"Ah, sure, we can help you with that"
"Please do, and um, can I have it on the working bay as well?"
"Sure why not, feel free to use it"
"Thanks mate. Ah yes it's not today, no need to rush"
"Eh?"
"I'm still waiting for another part to be ordered"
"Ah I see, it's okay. Come whenever you want"
"Aight, thanks my man"
"Don't mention it"
With the phone call over, I received an announcement email. The next Attack Challenge at Tsukuba will be hold at 22 February 2020. That's quite a unique date to be picked, I mean it forms as 22/02/2020 in dd/mm/yyyy format or 2020/02/22 in yyyy/mm/dd ones. On a more serious note, there's only some more months to prepare the S15 to be race-ready, and with the national championships starting at least at March or April, the Evo V project can be put on a halt for a while after this next installation work.
[30 Nov 2019]
With the rear top arms set and spacer kit received, I mounted up all parts inside the Sprinter van (of course it won't fit in the Evo V), have the Evo V up on the trailer, and set off to Inawashiro once again. The weather is sunny but calm, with the end of autumn approaching quite fast. Most racetracks has ended their operation for the year, or stepping into the last month of operation. Tsukuba is usually open all day long, but of course they won't be operating if heavy snow befalls on the track. Best Motoring shows exactly why twice in 1990 and 1998, with the 1998 edition featuring not just one but THREE Evo Vs! SPOILER: All the Evo Vs secured the podium in the race!
► Show Spoiler
Later that day I arrived in their garage. The Evo went off the trailer, then straight into the working bay. It looks like Ziga and Benny already expected just how much parts I've brought inside the Sprinter, as all their reactions are best summed up as "Oh wew, right, let's go to work". We pumped up the music and set off to work.
Some sweaty and oily hours later, and several time of shouting as we screw and unscrew a lot of bolts, finally we made it. As you can see, the upgrade focuses on the suspension works and chassis strengthening. And of course we also lowered car a bit, not too low to make tha car scrape the tarmac but low enough to gain more stability and aero advantages. And of course, still comfortable enough for daily purpose. And yes, that's spare tyre space on the back
Before I went back to my crib, we received the notification that the rest of the cars has arrived safely to the docks, which are obviously Ziga's cars. Since we are all tired for the day, we decided to pick it up the next day. But we also planned to go to Ebisu afterwards, since December is the last month we can go there as it'll be closed at January and February for maintenance.
[01 Dec 2019]
We picked up Ziga's cars today, which consists of Evo VI TME, Z32 and Mark II JZX90. The Evo VI-yes I hear you, I swear that's a TME model. Speaking of which, the TME came not only in red, but basically every colour Mitsubishi offered for the regular Evo VI as well. The stripe livery on the side was actually optional as well. It's just happened that the red ones with stripes is the one that becomes the poster boy for the car due to resembling closer to Tommi Makkinen's WRC challenger, and thus being sold the most and became the most sought after. The real difference between the regular VI and TME VI is that front bumper, and better and stronger internals taken from the WRC car, which is why some hipsters would also call it the Evo 6.5. Oh I don't know, let Marc the Human Lan Evo explains it better.
If you already read the Side to Side thread, you might remember that Ziga obtained it from a goverment auction as a seized exhibit from a drug case in Oklahoma earlier this year. Fun fact: It was me who tipped about the auctions to him, after seeing the news of it running in my social media timeline Aside from the TME, he also grabbed a race-ready Supra JZA80 in drag racing setup.
If you already read the Side to Side thread, you might remember that Ziga obtained it from a goverment auction as a seized exhibit from a drug case in Oklahoma earlier this year. Fun fact: It was me who tipped about the auctions to him, after seeing the news of it running in my social media timeline
Aside from the TME, he also grabbed a race-ready Supra JZA80 in drag racing setup.
Speaking of Tommi, if you're a fan of rallying, you'll know that he's still alive, hale and hearthy and kicking ass, just from the management desk instead of driver's seat. He's currently juggling between leading Toyota Gazoo Racing's WRC effort and leading his own team, Tommi Makkinen Racing. This though also came in benefits that is TMR becomes TGR's unofficial junior team and Tommi has private access to one unit of Yaris WRC, which was used to train Toyota's protege Katsuta Takamoto. TMR and Katsuta usually runs Ford Fiesta R5 in the WRC-2 class. Recently Tommi and Toyota finally won their first WRC title after sooooo long, thanks to Ott Tanak, breaking the French domination that was upheld by Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier from 2004 to 2018. Back to Tommi himself, he once made an appearance in Best Motoring's Hot Version after his final season as an active race driver for, hilariously enough, Subaru. You can see it below:
► Show Spoiler
Hilariously though Tanak then announced to move away to their closest rival, Hyundai. This major move leads to Toyota scrambing for replacement, and ended up revamping their entire squadron, which now all consists of former factory spearheads: Ogier who was Citroen's spearhead, Kalle Rovanpera who is a WRC rising star and Skoda's former spearhead, and Elfyn Evans who was Ford's spearhead. Citroen 'ragequitting' from the championship after failed to retain Ogier in their team also added the spice to the drama.
Right, back to the topic. The second car here is Z32, one of Ziga's personal favourites. Bought from a close friend last year from Osaka, it's been kept to a prime condition and retained it's 90s tuner flavour. And it looks like after some years in the stateside, it's time for it to go home.
Right, back to the topic. The second car here is Z32, one of Ziga's personal favourites. Bought from a close friend last year from Osaka, it's been kept to a prime condition and retained it's 90s tuner flavour. And it looks like after some years in the stateside, it's time for it to go home.
And finally, the Mark II JZX90, which is also a Japanese import. Used by ZIga as a grassroots drift car or a tutor car for those who wish to learn drifting properly to him, it doesn't have much visual mods other than R34 stockies and Vertex bodykit set. I personally quite like it, it looks very clean
We then went back to the Inawashiro base, with Benny in the Mark II, Ziga in the Z32 and I in the TME. I guess Ziga will tell more about it later, so stay tuned both here and their thread!
Now let's check how do my wallet survives:
► Show Spoiler
That's all my updates for now, thank you for stopping by and see you soon!
Last edited by BigSmoke on 04 Dec 2019 02:19, edited 3 times in total.
-
NotPerfect
- Gangster
- Posts: 193
- Joined: 24 Sep 2019 21:59
- Location: Japan, Utsunomiya
OwO ayyy big smoke damn that was a lot of information (actually had to download text to speech extensions for browser and did homework in meanwhile lol). Ay the mustang isn't sold? i thought you got rid of it lol hm you might as well do the swap i mean it's not gonna make the car worse or smthg. uwu fukushima? Ah yes and uwu bandai namco. I'm sure the c1 loop was a blast to drive on in the evo with the bois. And the view on the lake is just so amazing. Ayy new evo work and as i thought you're gonna make it handle better first. Damn the tme model honestly i knew them only in the red with stripes but that's good to know. As for z32 i honestly always underappreciated how it looked but it really grew on me especially ziga's, good to see the chaser that isn't just missiled and was a nice drift car and a tutor car
Roleplay cars :
1997 Mitsubishi Colt 1.6 - One day
1996 BMW 3 series E36 316i - Seat time drift car
Nissan 180sx #1 - No engine YET, drift car
Nissan 180sx #2 - flooded, fake type-x, daily
Nissan S13 - D1GP spec drift car
R o l e p l a y
Boi, I'm noticing you having good time at C! with you and other boy. I'm jealous since, I haven't got Wangan vehicle yet.
My Roleplay Link: viewtopic.php?f=55&t=13430
RP's My vehicle owned:
RP's My previous owned vehicle:
RP's My vehicle owned:
► Show Spoiler
► Show Spoiler
You actually had to use text-to-speech? That's a first I should sayNotPerfect wrote: ↑02 Dec 2019 18:46OwO ayyy big smoke damn that was a lot of information (actually had to download text to speech extensions for browser and did homework in meanwhile lol). Ay the mustang isn't sold? i thought you got rid of it lol hm you might as well do the swap i mean it's not gonna make the car worse or smthg. uwu fukushima? Ah yes and uwu bandai namco. I'm sure the c1 loop was a blast to drive on in the evo with the bois. And the view on the lake is just so amazing. Ayy new evo work and as i thought you're gonna make it handle better first. Damn the tme model honestly i knew them only in the red with stripes but that's good to know. As for z32 i honestly always underappreciated how it looked but it really grew on me especially ziga's, good to see the chaser that isn't just missiled and was a nice drift car and a tutor car
Well you see, Ziga's been eyeing for the Foxbody for a while, so as he's coming here might as well hand the keys to him Quite a lot of my friends are Bandai Namco products fan......I used to play Ridge Racer back then and whenever I've got the time and cash I play Maximum Tune as well. Some of my friends are collectors of SH Figuarts figurines, Gundam series fans, fellow Maximum Tune players, and of course some are Dark Souls players as well I did the handling work first one the Evo V for two reasons: (a)That's how I also worked on the Silver Queen back then, and (b)Yup, all these horsepower would be useless if the chassis can't support it or it makes the car handles like a pudding
I normally don't really approve Z32s, aside from the IMSA GTO racing version but I must say, it aged gracefully just like other Nissans, and combined with the tasty mods on Ziga's unit, it really feels like you're running in the 90s And oh, you can read more about the TME here.Eh don't worry, you'll be able to blast on it soon enough
Thank you!
Running on C1 is quite challenging but yeah it's quite addictive as well! 
Thanks for the ride in the Evo 3 bro! I must try it out on the track once you get the 5 ready. And now it has some good company with the Evo 6 returning home! The Mark 2 is not really a drift car, i only visited one event with it and randomly gave it a try it's more of a daily otherwise.
it's more of a daily otherwise.
Anytime my man!Lagano wrote: ↑04 Dec 2019 18:48Thanks for the ride in the Evo 3 bro! I must try it out on the track once you get the 5 ready. And now it has some good company with the Evo 6 returning home! The Mark 2 is not really a drift car, i only visited one event with it and randomly gave it a try
And eh, the Mark II still got what it takes anyways ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well Well Well,
What do We Have Here?
What do We Have Here?
14 Days Left........
Q: Hey Smoke, are these your cars?
A: Ah, no they're not. Or rather, I can't say much.........
A: Ah, no they're not. Or rather, I can't say much.........
Tour de Tokyo-Ebisu
With winter and the end of the year closing in, it's time for spending the rest of the year in jolly motoring activities!
First off, I took our visitors for a day around Tokyo, which includes yet another C1 run and bumped into our friends.
Speaking about these friends, we also took a visit to their shiny, brand new working place, complete with drumkits.
Finally, since we all missed the Ebisu Autumn Matsuri......we decided just to have our own matsuri instead!
As usual, let's delve into the update to see it all unfold shall we?
First off, I took our visitors for a day around Tokyo, which includes yet another C1 run and bumped into our friends.
Speaking about these friends, we also took a visit to their shiny, brand new working place, complete with drumkits.
Finally, since we all missed the Ebisu Autumn Matsuri......we decided just to have our own matsuri instead!
As usual, let's delve into the update to see it all unfold shall we?
[04 Dec 2019]
It was 8am when I was woken up by a phone call. I lazily open up my eyes and squint to see who called me as my new phone ringtone blares loudly. Turns out it was Ziga (@Lagano). As I get up from my bed and embracing a cold but shiny morning, I answered the call.I have to say, I'm not ready for winter just yet.
"Ay Smoke, it's your man Ziga"
*half-sleepy* "Oh hi Ziga" *yawns*
"So you've just wake up?" *breathe in* "WAKE UP YOU FAT MAN!" *laughter*
*still half-sleepy* "Alright alright I woke up already. What's up?"
"Eh, nothing much, all good. But um, we're a bit bored and freezing"
"Eh, some time bathing at nearest onsen will fix that"
"That's the problem. They're all fullfilled with people"
"Ah yes, people are getting cold as well after all. Got any ideas?"
"How about.......a ride around Tokyo"
*chuckle* "Eh, you can't be separated from big cities after all. But hey, good idea"
"I know right? I'll be at your crib with @Benny soon"
"Aight, I'll take a shower. See ya later"
"Later, Smoke"
It's been quite a while since the last time I went to anywhere around downtown Tokyo......I guess it was at Akibahara at spring. Of course I still went around Tokyo at times, but usually I'm only going around the Bayshore Line. And the last time I went downtown for leisure was......earlier this year. Back then I was relatively still new to the community, the Silver Queen has just received its nickname and engine upgrades, and I was visiting the Kami-Sama crew (Muza (@Niatross), AJ (@RocketBunnyS13) and Marc (@topy)) for the first time and stayed in their garage for quite a while. Fun fact: It was @Soju who coined the 'Silver Queen' nickname, but that's after I show the crew and him a picture of Silver Queen choco bars sold in my homeland, and the fact that the colour of my Evo is officially called Queen's Silver. Since it's just fitting very, very well, I went with it ever since.
After a fresh, freezy shower and a quick brekkie of oatmeal cereal and cold water, Benny and Ziga rolled up at the front of my crib. With the crib secured and Silver Queen fired up, we roll to Tokyo downtown. And since the traffic has eased up a bit along the way, we decided to enter the C1 loop once again before merging back downtown. I blasted this song inside my car to retain my balance of mind and sights.
"Ay Smoke, it's your man Ziga"
*half-sleepy* "Oh hi Ziga" *yawns*
"So you've just wake up?" *breathe in* "WAKE UP YOU FAT MAN!" *laughter*
*still half-sleepy* "Alright alright I woke up already. What's up?"
"Eh, nothing much, all good. But um, we're a bit bored and freezing"
"Eh, some time bathing at nearest onsen will fix that"
"That's the problem. They're all fullfilled with people"
"Ah yes, people are getting cold as well after all. Got any ideas?"
"How about.......a ride around Tokyo"
*chuckle* "Eh, you can't be separated from big cities after all. But hey, good idea"
"I know right? I'll be at your crib with @Benny soon"
"Aight, I'll take a shower. See ya later"
"Later, Smoke"
It's been quite a while since the last time I went to anywhere around downtown Tokyo......I guess it was at Akibahara at spring. Of course I still went around Tokyo at times, but usually I'm only going around the Bayshore Line. And the last time I went downtown for leisure was......earlier this year. Back then I was relatively still new to the community, the Silver Queen has just received its nickname and engine upgrades, and I was visiting the Kami-Sama crew (Muza (@Niatross), AJ (@RocketBunnyS13) and Marc (@topy)) for the first time and stayed in their garage for quite a while. Fun fact: It was @Soju who coined the 'Silver Queen' nickname, but that's after I show the crew and him a picture of Silver Queen choco bars sold in my homeland, and the fact that the colour of my Evo is officially called Queen's Silver. Since it's just fitting very, very well, I went with it ever since.
After a fresh, freezy shower and a quick brekkie of oatmeal cereal and cold water, Benny and Ziga rolled up at the front of my crib. With the crib secured and Silver Queen fired up, we roll to Tokyo downtown. And since the traffic has eased up a bit along the way, we decided to enter the C1 loop once again before merging back downtown. I blasted this song inside my car to retain my balance of mind and sights.
The autumn breeze swept along as we blaze across the highway between the skyscrapers filling Tokyo and its surroundings. We went quite fast but we still kept it safe, since as I've elaborated in the last update, there isn't much room to move around in the C1 loop and it's quite narrow. And in some parts of the loop it's filled with blind spots, which means you don't really know what's lurking behind the corner and how sharp is it. All of us are driving our very prized main cars so obviously we don't want to risk it, or else we would have a domino-style crash involving our cars and just about everything around us.
Since I've told you just about everything about the C1 loop in the last update, let's shift the focus to the cars for this time. Let's start wth Benny's R33. If you've been on this site for long enough, at least before the new one (which is this current one) established, this R33 is one of the big faces of the RP community, along with the likes of @Soju's A80 Supra and many more. Benny has owned this R33 for almost three years, and basically it's one of his life companions. This year alone, it has gone thorugh a tour around the world, and most times it goes without Benny behind the wheel. How come? It's been sent around the world for quite a lot of modifications. As some of you might know, this R33 usually resides in the USA. Earlier this year it was sent to Japan to have Nismo parts installed on it. And then it went to various places around Europe to get some more mods, including RHD to LHD conversion. And then it went home to USA, and finally now it's coming back to its birthplace in Japan. That's more distance covered than your regular rock band world tour
Ziga's Z32 originally belonged to a close friend of his, which I believe currently still residing at Osaka right now. It's been modified that way when Ziga bought it, and it's been kept that way as a token of friendship.....and because it's already fast enough. As you can see, the previous owner gave the Z32 a nice taste of 90s and early 00s tuning by giving it big bumpers, bright paint colour, that rear wing, and equally big deep dish Nismo LMGT1s. As for the performance, don't you worry, there has been a lot of effort put into the VG30 engine, including a complete Greddy turbo and intercooler setup. It's probably been intended as a Kanjozoku car, which is why it looks like the car feels at home at C1 loop. They require similar amount of grip and stability demand, after all.
As for my Evo........eh, at this point you'll already know this car quite well If you haven't, what are you even doing here? Go back to page one of this thread, or even better, the page one of the original thread (though it actually might be a bit too far). Ever since the last time I upgraded the brakes some more, had a better wheel and tyres combo, and of course applying the stickers, I kept the car this way. As I've said multiple times, I accidentally went off my initial vision of a dailyable track day car with a bit of kick into a dailyable time attack car. Of course, I'm not the first one to do so in the time attack scene.
If you haven't, what are you even doing here? Go back to page one of this thread, or even better, the page one of the original thread (though it actually might be a bit too far). Ever since the last time I upgraded the brakes some more, had a better wheel and tyres combo, and of course applying the stickers, I kept the car this way. As I've said multiple times, I accidentally went off my initial vision of a dailyable track day car with a bit of kick into a dailyable time attack car. Of course, I'm not the first one to do so in the time attack scene.
I should admit, I took my inspiration from Naoki Takigahara's Impreza GC8. Aside from the 22B widebody replica and the wide stance it has, it's otherwise looked timid compared to other time attack cars in his class. But it has around 555 BHP (what a coincidence!), extremely lightweight and even got rollcage inside while still deemed streetlegal. This year at Attack Tsukuba it scored a best lap of 58.853 seconds, while at last year it scored a slightly better time of 58.474 seconds. With the arrival of my Evo V, I aim to consistently set a similar time to Naoki with the Evo (and slightly more power).
Of course, there are more cars that set the example of a streetlegal time attack car other than Naoki's GC8. In fact there's a dedicated class for it, called Real Tuning class. It's not actually explicitly written that the cars should be street legal, but the basic rules are no GT wings, no canards, and no flat floors. In general, cars are only allowed to gain an extra 3 cm length and extra 2 cm width. Aftermarket parts are allowed as long as it doesn't violate the legth and width regulations aformentioned. Because of this, teams running in this class are usually resorted to OEM parts or OEM+ ones, such as Nismo or Mazdaspeed parts. And from the aformentioned rules above, this comes in another benefit: The cars can stay streetlegal. A good examples of these cars are Rush Factory R34, which constantly running 59 seconds lap times. If you want something a bit more aggressive, you can try to see the likes of the famous ASSIST M4 that I and Muza are quite a fan of, or Fumiaki Sato's 'Tarmac Meister' S2K which impressed Benny so much that he wants his S2K to look like it. And oh, you can follow the Tarmac Meister S2K Instagram account here.
After weaving around the traffic at C1 loop for a while, we went off the highway and headed to Shibuya district. Coincidentally, it's almost lunchtime, and I know just where I could treat the boys a good food. I really hope they like a shot of Japanese culinary.........meanwhile, to match the city's crowded yet laid-back surroundings, I switched to another song in my radio.
Of course, there are more cars that set the example of a streetlegal time attack car other than Naoki's GC8. In fact there's a dedicated class for it, called Real Tuning class. It's not actually explicitly written that the cars should be street legal, but the basic rules are no GT wings, no canards, and no flat floors. In general, cars are only allowed to gain an extra 3 cm length and extra 2 cm width. Aftermarket parts are allowed as long as it doesn't violate the legth and width regulations aformentioned. Because of this, teams running in this class are usually resorted to OEM parts or OEM+ ones, such as Nismo or Mazdaspeed parts. And from the aformentioned rules above, this comes in another benefit: The cars can stay streetlegal. A good examples of these cars are Rush Factory R34, which constantly running 59 seconds lap times. If you want something a bit more aggressive, you can try to see the likes of the famous ASSIST M4 that I and Muza are quite a fan of, or Fumiaki Sato's 'Tarmac Meister' S2K which impressed Benny so much that he wants his S2K to look like it. And oh, you can follow the Tarmac Meister S2K Instagram account here.
After weaving around the traffic at C1 loop for a while, we went off the highway and headed to Shibuya district. Coincidentally, it's almost lunchtime, and I know just where I could treat the boys a good food. I really hope they like a shot of Japanese culinary.........meanwhile, to match the city's crowded yet laid-back surroundings, I switched to another song in my radio.
Sometime later, we went around the central part of Shibuya, which was fullfilled by people as always. As I saw from the sights around us, some big shops hasn't ended their Black Friday discount deals yet, and in general a lot of shops has discount promo running for the entire December. We were cruising around slowly as the burbles from our car's exhaust got slightly echoed by the surrounding skyscrapers.
We stopped for a nice lunch at a sushi parlor, which happens to be AJ's favourite sushi parlor as well around Tokyo. Truth to be told, I went there just for a blind guess that AJ would have a lunch here And as we approach the roadside to park our cars, I spotted a familiar sight: A lowered Audi A5. We intentionally parked right behind it so we can make sure quickly if my guess is correct.
And as we approach the roadside to park our cars, I spotted a familiar sight: A lowered Audi A5. We intentionally parked right behind it so we can make sure quickly if my guess is correct.
E: *gets off car, closes doors* "Gentlemen, I think someone that we all know is here as well"
B: *closes his car's door* "Um, who exactly?"
E: "You'll see later as we go inside. But first let me check again to verify if it's indeed the one I'm looking for"
Z: "How can we trust you if you yourself don't even know it?"
E: *walks to A5* "Well it could be someone else's A5, but not everyone lowered theirs don't you think?"
As I walked to the A5's rear doors, I peeked through the glass and spotted a tidily folded black vest. Yup, it's indeed him and he's having a lunch!
E: *glanced to Ziga and Benny* "Ah yes it's him. Trust me, you'll kow once we go inside"
Z: "Yeah right right, let's go inside anyways. I'm already quite hungry"
B: "Hey is there any shops that sells cigs around here?"
E: "I think so, let's look around after lunch. I'll help you guys through the menu so you can pick the best stuff"
As we stepped inside the sushi parlor, we went to look for AJ. It didn't took a long time to spot him having a nice lunch with his two colleagues, Raku and Yamata. Fortunately AJ and co. occupied a huge table, so I, Ziga and Benny can join their table. AJ and co. aren't exactly in a hurry either, so they can be with us for a while.
E: *taps AJ's shoulders* "Yo, AJ! Having a nice lunch I see!"
A: "Whoa! Oh, Edo, it's you. And hey Ziga! Benny! It's been a while man!" *a lot of brofists ensues*
B: "Ah, so it's you. So this is your occupation? Being a suit man?"
A: "Ahaha, yeah. I gotta have a stable job after all"
E: "He's a lawyer you know. Which is why he's rich!"
Z: "Hey can we have our orders on you?"
A: "Oi! No!"
z: *laughter* "Just kidding man"
After introducing ourselves to Raku and Yamata, as well as AJ introducing them to us, and ordered our plates of sushi, we continued the talk. Raku and Yamata are your usual Japanese hard-working man, though being in a law firm just like AJ obviously made them quite rich. Raku is a fan of photography and owns quite a lot of cameras, while Yamata likes to travel around Japan. He already planned to go skiing for this winter holiday at Mount Zao. Obviously, I and AJ had to constantly switch languages, from Japanese to talk with Raku and Yamata, to English to talk to Ziga and Benny.
A: "So tell me, how do you guys stumble upon us?"
E: "I'm sure you still remember back when I and Muza spotted you here. That's exactly how I spot you here now"
A: "Oh, you saw my Audi?"
E: "Yeah, and I was sure that it's yours since it's lowered. I didn't expect you to had some company though"
Z: "Man I didn't know you worked as a lawyer! So since when you became one?"
A: "Years ago. At least a year after I come to Japan"
B: "Do your friends know about your auto activities?"
A: "Um, not a lot. These two are the ones that know me better than the others. Most just regarded me as the one with lowered car"
B: "Any other people in your company that drive cars?"
A: "My boss drives a Mercedes S-Class. Some of my colleagues are driving either Merc E-Class, Toyota Crown, or Toyota Mark X"
Z: "Quite a reasonable choice I should say. I take it you're being different from the bunch there, since it's lowered"
A: "Pretty much yeah. Some doesn't really like to see it since it's lowered, but it's still quite an attention grabber since it's an Audi"
E: "Even the girls?" *giggles*
A: "Yeah, even the girls! Some even asked to ride along with me!" *laughter*
E: "Oh hey, can we bump into your new place as well?"
B: "Yeah, we would like to see it as well"
A: "Oh sure sure! I'll share the location to your phones"
E: "Thanks my man. Don't worry, we ain't in a rush, but we'll show up sometime this week"
A: "Sure, you're welcome anytime"
Another conversation with Raku and Yamata confirmed that fact. Damn AJ's quite a lucky guy! With the lunchtime over, we parted ways, leaving I, Ziga and Benny walked around Shibuya some more. With I and Ziga didn't find anything interesting to buy and Benny can't find the brand of cigarettes that he wanted, we continued our drive around Tokyo.
Some time later, we arrived at the Akibahara district, home of Tokyo's electronic market and entertainment industry, including, you guessed it, anime and tokusatsu industry. The only problem we encountered is I accidentally lead the group to the narrow streets around Akibahara. My Evo might could make it across, but certainly not Ziga's Z32 and Benny's R33. So we decided to park the cars somewhere else and walk back to the alleyway.
Z: "Yeah right right, let's go inside anyways. I'm already quite hungry"
B: "Hey is there any shops that sells cigs around here?"
E: "I think so, let's look around after lunch. I'll help you guys through the menu so you can pick the best stuff"
As we stepped inside the sushi parlor, we went to look for AJ. It didn't took a long time to spot him having a nice lunch with his two colleagues, Raku and Yamata. Fortunately AJ and co. occupied a huge table, so I, Ziga and Benny can join their table. AJ and co. aren't exactly in a hurry either, so they can be with us for a while.
E: *taps AJ's shoulders* "Yo, AJ! Having a nice lunch I see!"
A: "Whoa! Oh, Edo, it's you. And hey Ziga! Benny! It's been a while man!" *a lot of brofists ensues*
B: "Ah, so it's you. So this is your occupation? Being a suit man?"
A: "Ahaha, yeah. I gotta have a stable job after all"
E: "He's a lawyer you know. Which is why he's rich!"
Z: "Hey can we have our orders on you?"
A: "Oi! No!"
z: *laughter* "Just kidding man"
After introducing ourselves to Raku and Yamata, as well as AJ introducing them to us, and ordered our plates of sushi, we continued the talk. Raku and Yamata are your usual Japanese hard-working man, though being in a law firm just like AJ obviously made them quite rich. Raku is a fan of photography and owns quite a lot of cameras, while Yamata likes to travel around Japan. He already planned to go skiing for this winter holiday at Mount Zao. Obviously, I and AJ had to constantly switch languages, from Japanese to talk with Raku and Yamata, to English to talk to Ziga and Benny.
A: "So tell me, how do you guys stumble upon us?"
E: "I'm sure you still remember back when I and Muza spotted you here. That's exactly how I spot you here now"
A: "Oh, you saw my Audi?"
E: "Yeah, and I was sure that it's yours since it's lowered. I didn't expect you to had some company though"
Z: "Man I didn't know you worked as a lawyer! So since when you became one?"
A: "Years ago. At least a year after I come to Japan"
B: "Do your friends know about your auto activities?"
A: "Um, not a lot. These two are the ones that know me better than the others. Most just regarded me as the one with lowered car"
B: "Any other people in your company that drive cars?"
A: "My boss drives a Mercedes S-Class. Some of my colleagues are driving either Merc E-Class, Toyota Crown, or Toyota Mark X"
Z: "Quite a reasonable choice I should say. I take it you're being different from the bunch there, since it's lowered"
A: "Pretty much yeah. Some doesn't really like to see it since it's lowered, but it's still quite an attention grabber since it's an Audi"
E: "Even the girls?" *giggles*
A: "Yeah, even the girls! Some even asked to ride along with me!" *laughter*
E: "Oh hey, can we bump into your new place as well?"
B: "Yeah, we would like to see it as well"
A: "Oh sure sure! I'll share the location to your phones"
E: "Thanks my man. Don't worry, we ain't in a rush, but we'll show up sometime this week"
A: "Sure, you're welcome anytime"
Another conversation with Raku and Yamata confirmed that fact. Damn AJ's quite a lucky guy! With the lunchtime over, we parted ways, leaving I, Ziga and Benny walked around Shibuya some more. With I and Ziga didn't find anything interesting to buy and Benny can't find the brand of cigarettes that he wanted, we continued our drive around Tokyo.
Some time later, we arrived at the Akibahara district, home of Tokyo's electronic market and entertainment industry, including, you guessed it, anime and tokusatsu industry. The only problem we encountered is I accidentally lead the group to the narrow streets around Akibahara. My Evo might could make it across, but certainly not Ziga's Z32 and Benny's R33. So we decided to park the cars somewhere else and walk back to the alleyway.
Around the alleyways we continued our window shopping along the way. There are quite a lot of maid cafes, cat cafes, karaoke palaces, even arcade game stations along the way. I grabbed some UCC Coffee cans for everyone, and Benny was able to buy his fav brand of cigarette. I was also going to buy some figurines to put on my table, but I can't find any of my favourite.
At the end of the day, Benny wanted something more.......American. Specifically he wanted a burger, so naturally I took the boys to a Burger King branch at the outer limits of Tokyo as we made our way back home. And for the second time, we met another of our friend! This time it's Muzahid, having a break from working at Nismo, and this time he used one of his RX7 FD as his commuter ride of the day. We immediately parked right beside the FD.
As we enter the fast food joint, Muza, already noticed us from the window, offered us to sit together with him. As we eat our burgers together, we talked about the red FD that he owns, as well as our recent encounter with AJ and our intent to visit their garage.
As we enter the fast food joint, Muza, already noticed us from the window, offered us to sit together with him. As we eat our burgers together, we talked about the red FD that he owns, as well as our recent encounter with AJ and our intent to visit their garage.
Ah yes, that's right, Muza owns two of these things. This one, a '97 JDM model retains it's original 13B engine and pretty much looked OEM inside out, aside from the WedsSport TC105X wheels (an evolution from the TC105N that I use on the Evo), a complete Greddy intercooler setup, rear spoiler removal and all that low ride height. He's really living his Keisuke Takahashi fantasies with this car, though of course in his own twist. In his very own words, this is one of the most prized and favourite rides he ever owned.
The other one is a USDM model, can't remember what year, bought when we visited the states for the first time. In a huge contrast from the red FD, Muza, in his own words, said this one is absolutely cursed. No, not literally cursed, but he's under a sate of both outright liking and disliking the car. The reason of this is because it has been LS-swapped (LS3 to be exact) right when the Kami-Sama crew bought it. Of course he could just dump the LS somewhere and swap in a rotary unit, but since he can't find a recent 13B just yet, this FD still runs on the LS at this moment.
With the early dinner over, we all parted our ways and set a reminder to visit the brand new KS garage. Muza went back to Nismo's Omori Factory, I went back to Tsukuba, and finally Ziga and Benny went back to their Inawashiro garage.
With the early dinner over, we all parted our ways and set a reminder to visit the brand new KS garage. Muza went back to Nismo's Omori Factory, I went back to Tsukuba, and finally Ziga and Benny went back to their Inawashiro garage.
[06 Dec 2019]
It's Friday evening, and since I assume everyone at KS garage has went back from work I decided to pay them a visit to their new garage. But first, I gotta confirm this to AJ, since I want to play it safe, and I don't want to be locked outside the garage for a while.
"Yo AJ, it's your man Edo. Are you in the garage right now?"
"No, not yet, but I'm on my way there. So you're going to visit us now?"
"Yeah. It's a nice Friday and I thought you guys has finished working soooo"
"Oh nice! I'm on my way there, and I'm sure Muza has finished his work shift as we speak"
"Oh cool! How about Marc?"
"He's already at the garage, he did show me he some pics of the tool shelf today"
"Great! Will be there in around two hours or so. No need to rush"
"Okay cool, see ya there"
"See ya"
With the phone call over, I remembered one thing: I haven't registered yet for two final competitive events I can attend for this year, RevSpeed Super Battle at 11 Dec and the final round of Eastern Kanto Circuit Trial Championship at 14 Dec. You might remember the latter one since I entered the 4th round at one of the updates in the previous page, which was held together with the final round of Tsukuba Circuit Trial Series, and then I said I would skip the 5th round at Sodegaura Forest Raceway since I'm already fullfilled the requirements to be classified at the final standings. To remind you again of Eastern Kanto Circuit Trial's classification, here's how the championship laid out alongside the overall championship:
Since my Evo has a stroked 2.2L engine, that made me qualified for the NT3 class. After I skipped the 5th round of the championship, now I'm sitting in 8th in the NT3 class and dropped to 10th in the overall championship, tying with 11th. Before the 5th round I was sitting in 6th in class and 8th overall respectively. All I need to do now is improving my finishing position in the final round and probably also hope that some of the contenders above me skipped this round as well for an instant boost in the final classification.
The RevSpeed Super Battle, meanwhile, is an annual single event held by RevSpeed Magazine every December, although for this season the events will be held back-to-back to commemorate the 30th and 31st running of the event, specifically at December this year and January next year. Along with events like Attack Series, Battle Evome and Hyper Meeting, it's one of the premier time attack events held in Tsukuba, encompassing a lot of teams around Japan entering a lot of categories. Now, the classes in RevSpeed Super Battle is quite a lot and complex to explain. Let me make it as simple as I could for you to follow.
The classifications starts by determining if your car is street legal or not. If it is, it enters the Street Class, while if it isn't it'll enter the Open class instead, where the champions are duking it out with unlimited amount of aero. And then both classes are segregated again depending on the drivetrain of your car, which means there are six main classes: Street FWD, Street RWD, Street 4WD, Open FWD, Open RWD and Open 4WD.
The FWD and RWD classes segregates the class further depending on the engine displacement. For the FWD classes, there are three sub-classes: FWD 1 consists of turbocharged and supercharged cars with engine displacement of 1600cc upwards, FWD 2 consists of naturally aspirated cars with engine displacement of 1600cc upwards, and FWD 3 consists of anything with engine displacement of 1500cc or less. For the RWD classes there are only two of them: RWD 1 consists of turbocharged and supercharged RWD cars with no displacement limit, as well as naturally aspirated cars with engine displacement of 2500cc upwards. RWD 2 consists of naturally aspirated cars with engine displacement less than 2500cc.
So in total there are 12 class opened for the RevSpeed Super Battle: Street FWD 1, Street FWD 2, Street FWD 3, Street RWD 1, Street RWD 2, Street 4WD, Open FWD 1, Open FWD 2, Open FWD 3, Open RWD 1, Open RWD 2 and Open 4WD. Thankfully I don't have to think much about it since my Evo is AWD and streetlegal, which means it'll be entering the Street 4WD class. And oh, the registration fee for the Eastern Kanto Trials is V$170, while the RevSpeed Super Battle is V$250.
With the event registration errand solved, I called Ziga to have him and Benny along to the KS garage.
"Hey Ziga, Smoke here"
"Ay Smoke, what's cracking?"
"Let's go to the KS garage, everyone's already there by now"
"Oh great! Should I drop by your crib first or can we go straight there?"
"Have you received the maps to go there?"
"Let's see......oh yeah yeah we did"
"Y'all good to go then. You can go first, I'm going as well in a bit. See you there"
"See ya"
With the phone call over, I went out to get the Silver Queen running and set off back to Tokyo. It's a brand new garage as I've said, recently established after the Hagibis Typhoon at the end of summer. The typhoon fortunately didn't do much damage to their garage physically, but not only it's flooded after all, the entire electricity installation was destroyed by the flood, and some tools and materials were carried away in the aftermath. Because of this, and they needed a bigger place after all to store their cars and tools, they decided to rent a new place.
After some time driving around Tokyo, I arrived to their place. I still remember the first time I visited them: Due to my nickname, of course they had to pull a GTA joke by recreating one of the very first scenes seen in GTA San Andreas. I'm quite sure you know which one it is And this time, they decided to pull it off again.......
A figure shrouded by the sunset lights appeared in front of me as I closed my Evo's door.
"YOU PICKED THE WRONG GARAGE FOOL!"
"Wait WHAT THE FU-Oh, OH.........hi Marc"
"Yo, come in man come in. Where's the others?"
"On their way, yeah let's wait inside"
That was Marc holding a crowbar to scare me off as he pulled off the joke Muza and AJ's already waiting inside, with Muza reading the latest issue of Option Magazine and AJ having a sandwich he just made for himself. And oh yeah, here's their garage! It's indeed much bigger than their previous one, and has even more working bays and tool shelf than before. I already fell in love with this place.
"Yo AJ, it's your man Edo. Are you in the garage right now?"
"No, not yet, but I'm on my way there. So you're going to visit us now?"
"Yeah. It's a nice Friday and I thought you guys has finished working soooo"
"Oh nice! I'm on my way there, and I'm sure Muza has finished his work shift as we speak"
"Oh cool! How about Marc?"
"He's already at the garage, he did show me he some pics of the tool shelf today"
"Great! Will be there in around two hours or so. No need to rush"
"Okay cool, see ya there"
"See ya"
With the phone call over, I remembered one thing: I haven't registered yet for two final competitive events I can attend for this year, RevSpeed Super Battle at 11 Dec and the final round of Eastern Kanto Circuit Trial Championship at 14 Dec. You might remember the latter one since I entered the 4th round at one of the updates in the previous page, which was held together with the final round of Tsukuba Circuit Trial Series, and then I said I would skip the 5th round at Sodegaura Forest Raceway since I'm already fullfilled the requirements to be classified at the final standings. To remind you again of Eastern Kanto Circuit Trial's classification, here's how the championship laid out alongside the overall championship:
Turbocharged, supercharged and rotary engined cars has their engine capacity multiplied by 1.5
- NT1: <=1600cc Road cars, including MX-5s of all generation, but no VTEC/MIVEC/Similar sytsem allowed
- NT2: <=2000cc 2WD and 4WD Road cars
- NT3: >2000cc 2WD and 4WD Road cars, as well as rotary-engined cars
- AT: Anything from above-well, pretty much anything with automatic transmission
Since my Evo has a stroked 2.2L engine, that made me qualified for the NT3 class. After I skipped the 5th round of the championship, now I'm sitting in 8th in the NT3 class and dropped to 10th in the overall championship, tying with 11th. Before the 5th round I was sitting in 6th in class and 8th overall respectively. All I need to do now is improving my finishing position in the final round and probably also hope that some of the contenders above me skipped this round as well for an instant boost in the final classification.
The RevSpeed Super Battle, meanwhile, is an annual single event held by RevSpeed Magazine every December, although for this season the events will be held back-to-back to commemorate the 30th and 31st running of the event, specifically at December this year and January next year. Along with events like Attack Series, Battle Evome and Hyper Meeting, it's one of the premier time attack events held in Tsukuba, encompassing a lot of teams around Japan entering a lot of categories. Now, the classes in RevSpeed Super Battle is quite a lot and complex to explain. Let me make it as simple as I could for you to follow.
The classifications starts by determining if your car is street legal or not. If it is, it enters the Street Class, while if it isn't it'll enter the Open class instead, where the champions are duking it out with unlimited amount of aero. And then both classes are segregated again depending on the drivetrain of your car, which means there are six main classes: Street FWD, Street RWD, Street 4WD, Open FWD, Open RWD and Open 4WD.
The FWD and RWD classes segregates the class further depending on the engine displacement. For the FWD classes, there are three sub-classes: FWD 1 consists of turbocharged and supercharged cars with engine displacement of 1600cc upwards, FWD 2 consists of naturally aspirated cars with engine displacement of 1600cc upwards, and FWD 3 consists of anything with engine displacement of 1500cc or less. For the RWD classes there are only two of them: RWD 1 consists of turbocharged and supercharged RWD cars with no displacement limit, as well as naturally aspirated cars with engine displacement of 2500cc upwards. RWD 2 consists of naturally aspirated cars with engine displacement less than 2500cc.
So in total there are 12 class opened for the RevSpeed Super Battle: Street FWD 1, Street FWD 2, Street FWD 3, Street RWD 1, Street RWD 2, Street 4WD, Open FWD 1, Open FWD 2, Open FWD 3, Open RWD 1, Open RWD 2 and Open 4WD. Thankfully I don't have to think much about it since my Evo is AWD and streetlegal, which means it'll be entering the Street 4WD class. And oh, the registration fee for the Eastern Kanto Trials is V$170, while the RevSpeed Super Battle is V$250.
With the event registration errand solved, I called Ziga to have him and Benny along to the KS garage.
"Hey Ziga, Smoke here"
"Ay Smoke, what's cracking?"
"Let's go to the KS garage, everyone's already there by now"
"Oh great! Should I drop by your crib first or can we go straight there?"
"Have you received the maps to go there?"
"Let's see......oh yeah yeah we did"
"Y'all good to go then. You can go first, I'm going as well in a bit. See you there"
"See ya"
With the phone call over, I went out to get the Silver Queen running and set off back to Tokyo. It's a brand new garage as I've said, recently established after the Hagibis Typhoon at the end of summer. The typhoon fortunately didn't do much damage to their garage physically, but not only it's flooded after all, the entire electricity installation was destroyed by the flood, and some tools and materials were carried away in the aftermath. Because of this, and they needed a bigger place after all to store their cars and tools, they decided to rent a new place.
After some time driving around Tokyo, I arrived to their place. I still remember the first time I visited them: Due to my nickname, of course they had to pull a GTA joke by recreating one of the very first scenes seen in GTA San Andreas. I'm quite sure you know which one it is
And this time, they decided to pull it off again.......A figure shrouded by the sunset lights appeared in front of me as I closed my Evo's door.
"YOU PICKED THE WRONG GARAGE FOOL!"
"Wait WHAT THE FU-Oh, OH.........hi Marc"
"Yo, come in man come in. Where's the others?"
"On their way, yeah let's wait inside"
That was Marc holding a crowbar to scare me off as he pulled off the joke
Muza and AJ's already waiting inside, with Muza reading the latest issue of Option Magazine and AJ having a sandwich he just made for himself. And oh yeah, here's their garage! It's indeed much bigger than their previous one, and has even more working bays and tool shelf than before. I already fell in love with this place.
Some time later, Benny and Ziga arrived to the garage, though they decided to park the cars outside. As I've mentioned, the crew owned quite a lot of cars, but not all of them are parked near the working bays. Instead most of them are stored at either the back side of the garage or their own cribs, particularly if it's their daily rides. At least now they can cut a lot of time working on their cars thanks to the additional working bay space (which is not limited to the car lifts!) and the vast amount of tools to work with. Oh, and they now also got their own paint booth as well!
But what fascinated me most is their own hangout spot, the garage's lounge. It's located at the second floor, with a small table and a drumkit occupying it. Near the drum there's another small room containing Muza and Marc's guitar collections, as well as their own wi-fi router and a small sound system. From this spot they can chill and doing anything, be it sleeping, reading stuff, playing mobile games, strumming their guitars and have a nice cup of coffee or tea while admiring their own garage and cars from up above.
After a short tour of the garage and their recent projects, including the constant joke of the crew trying to pull my Evo into the paint booth so they can respray the wheels from black to white and I trying to depressurize Muza's RX7 tyres in retaliation, we headed up to the lounge. Oh well, boys will be boys after all Though personally, yeah I prefer to have my Evo wheels in black, or at least dark gunmetal. Most GT race cars and time attack cars have dark-colored wheels so why shouldn't I?
At the lounge, Benny and Ziga read some issues of Option Magazines while taking references for their own builds, Marc and Muza had yet another guitar battle, whereas I and AJ were......vibing to their music. It's best described with this video what happened up there as I and AJ tried to interrupt the guitar battle Nevertheless they were unfazed and kept on delivering masterful riffs and djents.
As they stopped playing for a while, I asked Muza if the drum has seen any minutes of usage.
"Hey Muza, has someone ever used the drums? I know that you and Marc are guitarists but I don't know about AJ"
"Mmmm, no, nobody did. All that AJ can play is kazoo and improvised VQ35 engine to sound like a trombone" *massive laughter*
*recovering from laughter* "Hey, can I try?"
"Oh you can play drums?"
"Nooo, but I simply want to. I can sing until now, and play piano at basic levels back then, but I always want to try drumming"
"That sounds interesting. Anyways grab the sticks back there, I think it's still there"
"Sure"
After picking up the sticks, I tried to drum by following slower patterns usually heard in pop and ballad songs, and then some faster patterns that I know, and finally trying to follow some of the music in my playlist. Somehow I could follow them rather well, though of course I still did a lot of mistakes while drumming and accidentally skipping beats or just downright broke the pattern, but all in all I think it was all good for a start.
The night was culminated by yet another guitar battle by Muza and Marc, as well I, Muza, Marc and sometimes AJ having a small concert, covering several songs:
Though personally, yeah I prefer to have my Evo wheels in black, or at least dark gunmetal. Most GT race cars and time attack cars have dark-colored wheels so why shouldn't I?At the lounge, Benny and Ziga read some issues of Option Magazines while taking references for their own builds, Marc and Muza had yet another guitar battle, whereas I and AJ were......vibing to their music. It's best described with this video what happened up there as I and AJ tried to interrupt the guitar battle
Nevertheless they were unfazed and kept on delivering masterful riffs and djents.As they stopped playing for a while, I asked Muza if the drum has seen any minutes of usage.
"Hey Muza, has someone ever used the drums? I know that you and Marc are guitarists but I don't know about AJ"
"Mmmm, no, nobody did. All that AJ can play is kazoo and improvised VQ35 engine to sound like a trombone" *massive laughter*
*recovering from laughter* "Hey, can I try?"
"Oh you can play drums?"
"Nooo, but I simply want to. I can sing until now, and play piano at basic levels back then, but I always want to try drumming"
"That sounds interesting. Anyways grab the sticks back there, I think it's still there"
"Sure"
After picking up the sticks, I tried to drum by following slower patterns usually heard in pop and ballad songs, and then some faster patterns that I know, and finally trying to follow some of the music in my playlist. Somehow I could follow them rather well, though of course I still did a lot of mistakes while drumming and accidentally skipping beats or just downright broke the pattern, but all in all I think it was all good for a start.
The night was culminated by yet another guitar battle by Muza and Marc, as well I, Muza, Marc and sometimes AJ having a small concert, covering several songs:
- Kavinsky - Nightcall (Muza and AJ on the vocals)
- Michael Hunter - Theme from San Andreas (Yup, GTA San Andreas theme song)
- Michael Hunter - Soviet Connection (GTA IV theme song)
- Ice Cube - You Know How We Do It (AJ on the vocals)
- Nujabes - Aruarian Dance
- Phonat - The Big Deal
- Kraftwerk - Das Model (I'm on the vocals)
- Daft Punk - Giorgio By Moroder
[08 Dec 2019]
With the front right arm welded properly this time the day before, I got myself a shower, wear my hoodie, trousers, racing shoes and gloves, quick brekkie of onigiri and cold water, grab my racing helmet, fired up the Meme Machine and roll up to Ebisu. I'm kinda sure Ziga and Benny has waited for me there, as the Inawashiro garage is quite close to Ebisu as I've mentioned in the previous update. For AJ though, I hope he didn't get caught in any kind of traffic jams, since Tokyo is a bit far from Ebisu. In the meantime, along the trip I fired up this song on the radio, which thankfully survived the Ebisu abuse back then.
It's 10.15am when I arrived at the track. Benny and Ziga already waited for me near the main gate, with their R33s. We waited for AJ while enjoying some cups of coffee, and of course Benny also lighted up some of his cigs. I guess burning tyres isn't enough for him to produce smoke
After AJ arrived and we shared another cup of coffee, we headed straight to pretty much where everyone wanted to be at Ebisu: The famous Minami (south) course! As we approach the course we can already hear a lot of tyre screeching and engine noises. The track has been fullfilled with other drivers ready to toast their tyres and slide along with the others. We decided to prepare ourselves first and occupy some of the pit stalls on the back.
It's 10.15am when I arrived at the track. Benny and Ziga already waited for me near the main gate, with their R33s. We waited for AJ while enjoying some cups of coffee, and of course Benny also lighted up some of his cigs. I guess burning tyres isn't enough for him to produce smoke
After AJ arrived and we shared another cup of coffee, we headed straight to pretty much where everyone wanted to be at Ebisu: The famous Minami (south) course! As we approach the course we can already hear a lot of tyre screeching and engine noises. The track has been fullfilled with other drivers ready to toast their tyres and slide along with the others. We decided to prepare ourselves first and occupy some of the pit stalls on the back.
And in case you haven't aware of why I called the Mark II the Meme Machine.........here you go.
Yes, the visual damages plus the missing driver side window are also the leftovers from Ebisu Summer Matsuri. Speaking of which, I picked a JZX110 because.......I don't really like how it looks, it's a bit conservative and bloated. But then again it's an RWD car and you can have it with 1JZ from standard, both GE and GTE. Obviously the GTE is a bit expensive to buy, so I started by buying a GE ones and then adding a single turbo kit.......from ebay. Yup, you might already see where is this going, though surprisingly it survived the Summer Matsuri. And then again, this is a Mark II, which is one of the most popular drift platform (though it's usually applies to X90 and X100). Anothe reason of why I picked a X110 is because Marcus (@marcus915) recommends it. He said that the car is strong and sturdy enough to be a drifter, and as you can see, the car lived to the claims.
After some quick preps, I, AJ and Ziga exited the pits and started to rip around the track for a while. We were really on high spirits and just let out what we can do to push our cars to the limits. I though avoided doing the famous Minami wall jump maneouvre since the last time I did it, I ended up more often going into the wall or being too far from the wall rather than doing it correctly.
I should admit, being a man who prioritizes grip and zipping around corners quickly rather than going sideways, I can't really drift well. Which is why I have a JZX110 as a drift missile, so I don't have quite a remorse when I damage it over and over. Originally I have a HR34 for this purpose, but not only it lacks quite a lot of power at somewhere like Tsukuba, I actually grew fond of it, so I saved it for later when I could drift better. I simply don't want to hurt it for the moment. For now it serves as a spare daily, when I need a break from my Evo.
Later on we moved to the Nishi (west) course, which usually, along with the Higashi course, is a grip-only course. It's only available fro drifting at every Ebisu Drift Matsuri, be it at spring, summer or autumn. And as you guessed it, that's one of the attracting factors to go to the Matsuri, a rare chance to go drifting at the grip circuits. Since Benny is the only one to bring a grip car here, it's time for him to shine as he prepped his R33 for a while before rolling off the pits.
Being a circuit suited for smaller cars and basic sports motorcycles (125-300cc if you're wondering), Benny's R33 looked like a battleship running around the track, not really being at home as Benny juggled all the weight around the corners. Nevertheless it stays planted around and Benny was still able to zip around quickly as he unleashed all the detuned power from the car. The Nishi circuit not a circuit that demands top speed, obviously, but rather than that it requires a lot of acceleration and quick steering input.
The Nishi circuit is also a part of Attack Japan event schedule, usually acting as the final event of the season. It's usually fullfilled with small cars such as Civics, Miatas, a lot of kei cars, Toyota 86s and Subie RBZs and many more, though the usual time attack top runners such as Imprezas, RX7s, R32s, S13s and S15s are still present as well. The 2018 and 2019 winner of Attack Ebisu was the Arvou TIT S2K. No, it's not the white/silver Arvou S2K that crashed into an armco at Gunsai Touge during Hot Version's Touge no Maou battle series, but a different one coloured in lime green. The Arvou TIT S2K is currently the only car that can score a laptime under a minute at Ebisu Nishi, and also a regular challenger at Attack Tsukuba, actively challenging the top naturally aspirated S2K throne against ASM S2K and Fura S2K. The record for turbo S2K is held by Top Fuel S2K, which is also the third fastest TA car to go around Tsukuba overall (the second is Escort Evo, and the first is the Scorch Racing S15 if you're wondering. Whereas the overall record is held by Kamui Kobayashi in a 2014 Super Formula (formerly Formula Nippon) car). If you're really curious about this, you can see the Option Magazine's official Top 50 lap time records here or open the spoiler to see the Top 10:
Even though the Nishi circuit doesn't suit the R33 very well, Benny clearly was still able to enjoy every lap he turned in, going all out everytime he appeared from the final chicane and doesn't hold back when he's braking for T1 and T2. Now if only I brought a stopwatch........
► Show Spoiler
After a quick lunch we moved to the Kita (north) circuit, personally my least favourite layout of them all, but I still have to run here for a complete experience. It's also where most of the Ebisu Matsuri visitors end up at night, due to brighter track lights around the track. Some of them would also spend the night at the Touge course........for quite obvious reasons. As usual we did a quick prep at the pit stalls, then went into the track.
Despite my initial reluctance, eventually I found myself enjoying going sideways around the track. The track's first half demands your mastery of doing a continous manji, which is basically chaining your drifts as you go around multiple corners. The latter half would test your skills on doing a scandinavian flick, and by continuation sanpatsu or triple flick. It's basically a faster variant of feint/kansei drift or scandinavian flick, where you're going to the corner's direction sideways far before the corner, then flick the car to the opposite direction, and finally flick the car back to the correct direction as you enter the corner. There are three places where you can legally attempt a sanpatsu: Here at Ebisu Higashi's main straight, Tsukuba circuit's main straight, and Nikko's back straight. Or if you're inclined to the outlaw side, you can attempt it at the highways of Port Ooi. If you still can't catch what I'm saying, Alexi/Noriyaro can explain it better than me.
The sunny day passes on as we shred our tyres to pieces, but eventually we had to stop because there's one more place we should go to before the circuit gets closed for the day. And it's one of the layouts I haven't visited........
......which is the Ebisu Touge layout. As the name implies, the Touge layout emulates the narrow, undulating touge routes you can usually find on mountains around Japan. The touge course is designed as an ultimate test for drivers to go around as well as a legal playgroud for those who wants to go for a touge session and for those who has mastered drifting at its finest core. The only problem is, not only I haven't fully mastered drifting, I usually go for the Kyoichi Sudo method in touge drives, minus the fear for oncoming lane (I have the same car as him after all!), and I'm basically bringing a battlecruiser into a small river. What could possibly go wrong?
My initial doubts continued as I already made an error at the first corner, where instead of inducing the car to oversteer, I made the car suffering a heavy understeer instead. It was quite severe I hit the steering wheel in anger. But then I took a deep breath to calm down.
But I quickly get the hang of it as I navigate through the gutters and the chunks of earth around me, eventually being able to form a tidy manji around the track. The weight of the car made swinging around a bit difficult, but then again the track doesn't demand a spectacular amount of sideways action like Minami or Nishi course does.
AJ, who's used to throw everything sideways clearly enjoyed the ride very much. Him, his S14 and the track are arguably a match made in heaven, proven by his confidence to sail and carve his way around the touge course. Not even a slight hint of fear or worry of damaging the car sparked from his face, it's all confidence and optimism.
Ziga, who arguably also got a heavy car to throw around, didn't face much problem either due to already being an expert. The fact that he spends some time entering the competitive drift scene back home (with a Chevelle, no less!) and used to teach people drifting only serves to strengthen the proof that he's a master of the drifting arts. Whereas AJ and Ziga works with a small brush in details, I still work with a huge brush when it comes to carving our way as we drift around.
Meanwhile, some time later, I made a fatal mistake. One of the corners is quite long, leading to a blind spot behind a small hill. What I don't know is behind the hills lies a narrow chicane, immediately followed by a sharp hairpin. After failing to shed a lot of speed and transitioning properly, I ended up lurching sideways into a huge berm at the hairpin, almost throwing my car off the course and splashing a lot of dirt in the process.
Once again though, the car remained unfazed, and after a quick recovery, I continued going sideways through the rest of the course. I do worry about how severe the car has been damaged, though. Hopefully not too much........
We continued our rubber burning party until 5 pm, one hour before the track closes. My ride though the touge course was quite taxing for my arms and shoulders, and of course my Meme Machine, but then again it also gave me quite a lot of experience on car control. This might come handy in time attack sessions one day.....oh I don't know, all that matters is I had fun in the process
Before we all went back home, we checked the damage that the Meme Machine has received. It's quite strong enough to bend the floor and driver side door a bit, but other than that it's still deemed good enough to roll with. And fortunately I haven't changed the driver's side window, otherwise I have to deal again with a lot of shattered piece of glasses. The last time it happened, almost every single of it sprayed my arm and shoulder. Thankfully though my body wasn't bruised or injured because of it, and I had my helmet visor closed as well. With the damage check done, we all bid our goodbyes and parted ways back to our cribs.
[09 Dec 2019]
It's another usual paycheck time with another V$1125 landing on my wallet safely. Before I end this update, I gotta have a bit of banter about some things. Specifically, I'm gonna buy a car......again. Yes, even if my car collection is already a lot (even if one has been recently sold), but that's one of my points.
Two of my three trips to the stateside involves buying a cheap car there and trying to see if it's worthy enough to bring back to Japan. The first one, I ended up buying two, plus a gift from Benny. One of them, the Mustang, is now sold to Ziga. The second trip, I felt like the car wasn't good enough to set my heart on fire despite standing against my abuse, and it's quite common to be found anyways, so I sold it. Now I'd like to buy a proper American-market car that is good and unique enough to be a daily car while I'm going stateside, and I'm going to keep it there at the Side to Side garage. Here's some of my picks (I actually would like to have a Crown Vic but no mods has been made for it yet):
Two of my three trips to the stateside involves buying a cheap car there and trying to see if it's worthy enough to bring back to Japan. The first one, I ended up buying two, plus a gift from Benny. One of them, the Mustang, is now sold to Ziga. The second trip, I felt like the car wasn't good enough to set my heart on fire despite standing against my abuse, and it's quite common to be found anyways, so I sold it. Now I'd like to buy a proper American-market car that is good and unique enough to be a daily car while I'm going stateside, and I'm going to keep it there at the Side to Side garage. Here's some of my picks (I actually would like to have a Crown Vic but no mods has been made for it yet):
If you have a nice or better idea, feel free to tell me. It has to be an American car that you'd think would be nice enough as a daily driver and costs less than $10,000 used.Options for this problem:
Pontiac G8
It's technically an Australian car, being based on a Holden Commodore, but it's based on my favorite Commodores, which is the VE generation. And oh, this is also the last of the Pontiacs being produced before their bankruptcy at 2009. Obviously I can't purchase the GXP model as it's extremely expensive, but I can settle for either the base V6 model, or the GT trim which has a 6.0L V8, which is a derivative from the LS2 engine. Both can only be equipped with auto transmission though, but it's not like I'm going to track the car often anyways. Speaking of the LS2, that leads to the.......
Pontiac GTO 5th gen
.......the final Pontiac GTO, which was produced from 2003 to 2006. Anoter Aussie-based car, this time from Holden Monaro, it's basically the G8's predecessor. Can be had with LS1 (early models) or LS2 (late models) V8s, and both has manual transmission. The G8 GT though it's slightly faster and more economcial than the GTO, and many GTO users recommended the G8 instead for daily usage due to it being a four-door sedan. But as a track day weapon, obviously the GTO took a massive lead over the G8 for just about every reasons you might can list. Also it can be bought cheaper than a G8 GT. But then again I needed a daily car.
Cadillac Brougham Sedan
I have a soft spot over this car ever since James May drove it in the Top Gear's American Special episode, much to the ire and laughter of the Jeremy Clarkson (who bought a Camaro RS) and Richard Hammond (who bought a Dodge Ram). But James looked quite relaxed, comfortable and happy driving it across the west coast, even though it constantly ran out of batteries, which almost lead to James and Richard's death (though the cause of the near-death experience wasn't the battery, it was something else). The suspension is jelly-soft, as proven physically by Jeremy and Richard, perfect for a cruiser. But not only it was quite a gas-guzzler, it's extremely slow for a cruiser, even for James May, the Captain Slow himself.
Ford LTD Crown Victoria
One of the Brougham's rival and the progenitor of the Crown Victoria models. A boaty cruiser like the Brougham as well, it's one of the symbols of American idea of luxury sedans and cruisers, and just like the Crown Vic that succeeds it, a policemen's best friend. Although also available as station wagon, I prefer the sedan model. Whether this would resut in a similar experience to the modern one though remains to be seen.
Chevy Caprice 4th gen
The Caprice was Chevy's spearhead on the full-size sedan market. The 4th gen was quite an odd-shaped block of steel, especially the early model ones which features what I would say a badly shaped rear wheel arches. I guess they intended it to be a wheel spats......anyways it has a faster, meaner-looking cousin in the form of Impala and Impala SS. Aside from the Crown Vic, the Caprice was also a policemen choice of cars.
Corvette C4
Okay, it's a 2-door, two seater sports coupe, which practically makes it impractical as a daily. But then again who doesn't like Corvettes? The C4 generation has became one of the cheapest Corvettes to obtain these days, and although I don't really like the boxy styling, I do have a soft spot for the salad shooter wheels. They look period-defining and handsome! And of course being a sports car means automatic track day credibility. Another reason of my interest towards C4 is this racing C4, which is actually three C4s welded into one.
Chevy Corvair late model
The infamous Corvair is Chevy's answer to VW Beetle and Porsche 914, and by extension, um, Porsche 911. It feature the exact formula that the 911 has: An air-cooled flat-6 engine placed in the back of the car. Sounds like a 911 isn't it? Best still, it can be had as a sedan or coupe.The only problem was it's not exactly as powerful as a 911, where the turbocharged model had at best 150-180 BHP. And if you're a classic auto enthusiasts, you'll know that the early model Corvair was the subject of Ralph Nader's famous "Unsafe at Any Speed" book, which highlighted the Corvair's tendency to suffer from snap oversteer, just like an MR2 SW20, or in Ralph's own words, "Trailing Throttle Oversteer". Which is why I picked the late model, which not only has an improved rear suspension in response to this, but also looking much cooler.
Jeep Grand Cherokee WJ
This one is an odd one on this list, but otherwise looked normal and makes a lot of sense in today's modern auto living. The Grand Cherokee is Jeep's solution over providing a luxurious, comfortable family SUV while retaining that undisputed offroading abilities. Even the basic inline 6 model is powerful and economic (relatively speaking) enough to roll around the states. Should I feel like to do some offroading or if I came to the states on a freezy winter, this will come very handy.
And finally, it's time to check my wallet:
► Show Spoiler
That's all my updates for now, thank you for stopping by and see you soon!
Last edited by BigSmoke on 09 Dec 2019 09:16, edited 1 time in total.
it was nice bumping into y'all at Burger King that day
Even NICER having our little autism-concert sesh at the garage Always a good having y'all come over to the garage
Though im kinda bummed i had to miss Ebisu due to no running cars
but eh, the next time i'll be there for sure!
Speaking of Ebisu, that X110 has been going through HELL ON EARTH i must say, but its still sturdy. Goes to show why old Toyota's are so hailed
And as for your US daily, tbh i'd say go for the C4 vette. Definitely the coolest one of the bunch (though you'll look like a divorced boomer rolling around in a C4). And if not, the G8 GT is an excellent choice too!
Even NICER having our little autism-concert sesh at the garage
Always a good having y'all come over to the garage Though im kinda bummed i had to miss Ebisu due to no running cars
but eh, the next time i'll be there for sure!
Speaking of Ebisu, that X110 has been going through HELL ON EARTH i must say, but its still sturdy. Goes to show why old Toyota's are so hailed
And as for your US daily, tbh i'd say go for the C4 vette. Definitely the coolest one of the bunch (though you'll look like a divorced boomer rolling around in a C4). And if not, the G8 GT is an excellent choice too!
Thanks for everything Kiddo, just you forgot one major thing, my R33 is not a grip only car for a long long time basicaly since I bought it, I made it RWD by phisicaly removing every 4WD sistem component and making it tail happy
Cars in RP:
Lamborghini Aventador
Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R
Nissan Skyline R34 GT-T
Toyota Supra A80 (EU Spec)
Nissan 180SX
Click here to go to my RP!
Make sure you visit our store as well, press on banner below!
Lamborghini Aventador
Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R
Nissan Skyline R34 GT-T
Toyota Supra A80 (EU Spec)
Nissan 180SX
Click here to go to my RP!
Make sure you visit our store as well, press on banner below!
That was the most intense Ebisu sesh ever!! Especially cause it's the first time i tried the R33, and i didn't run the touge circuit that often. Both our big boats were definitely not the best for that one! You handled the Mark 2 pretty well but you gotta watch out on the downhill turns, you saw that you can quickly get thrown out of the line! Well, despite that minor incident you carried on just fine, Toyotas are pretty much bulletproof but regardless, you're pushing that thing to the absolute limit!
You handled the Mark 2 pretty well but you gotta watch out on the downhill turns, you saw that you can quickly get thrown out of the line! Well, despite that minor incident you carried on just fine, Toyotas are pretty much bulletproof but regardless, you're pushing that thing to the absolute limit!Man I really love your garage, I guess I gotta stay longer at the lounge sometime!Niatross wrote: ↑09 Dec 2019 09:03it was nice bumping into y'all at Burger King that day
Even NICER having our little autism-concert sesh at the garage
Though im kinda bummed i had to miss Ebisu due to no running cars
but eh, the next time i'll be there for sure!
Speaking of Ebisu, that X110 has been going through HELL ON EARTH i must say, but its still sturdy. Goes to show why old Toyota's are so hailed
And as for your US daily, tbh i'd say go for the C4 vette. Definitely the coolest one of the bunch (though you'll look like a divorced boomer rolling around in a C4). And if not, the G8 GT is an excellent choice too!
Looking forward to another Ebisu run with you and the boys! I myself also can't believe how the Meme Machine has stood through quite a lot of abuse. I guess it's actually a Hilux by heart but eh, all that matter is that it survives and it still can go sideways!
I'm not sure if it'll fit the Ebisu touge course (not size-wise since Ziga's could, but more to the power side), but nevertheless you're welcome!
I know I should've played 1700s Sea Shanties when we ran thereLagano wrote: ↑09 Dec 2019 22:01That was the most intense Ebisu sesh ever!! Especially cause it's the first time i tried the R33, and i didn't run the touge circuit that often. Both our big boats were definitely not the best for that one!
Yeah I gotta keep an eye on my leadfoot tendencies, and it's a good thing the Meme Machine survived! That's dedication and passion for you and I
Glad you like my Kaede (the S13 vert), looking forward to see yours as well! 
Fun fact: I actually surpassed the reply character limit when I made the latest update so I had to trim it a bit
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NotPerfect
- Gangster
- Posts: 193
- Joined: 24 Sep 2019 21:59
- Location: Japan, Utsunomiya
OwO ayyyy Big smoke damn that rx7 is so nice and the whole squad too And damn another ebisu action i really be missin all of the goodies and a time attack in 33 by benny damn. Ah the meme machine got rekt again that's really unlucky but it kept going lol
And damn another ebisu action i really be missin all of the goodies and a time attack in 33 by benny damn. Ah the meme machine got rekt again that's really unlucky but it kept going lolRoleplay cars :
1997 Mitsubishi Colt 1.6 - One day
1996 BMW 3 series E36 316i - Seat time drift car
Nissan 180sx #1 - No engine YET, drift car
Nissan 180sx #2 - flooded, fake type-x, daily
Nissan S13 - D1GP spec drift car
R o l e p l a y
Yeah i know you'll love our maestro @Niatross's work on the RX7!NotPerfect wrote: ↑10 Dec 2019 14:42OwO ayyyy Big smoke damn that rx7 is so nice and the whole squad too
He's been eyeing for one for a looong time, and the wait is indeed worth it. Don't worry, the Meme Machine is fine -
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