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Fuji Speedway April 16, 2006
Spring fever in Japan has many different ways of direction. We have the magnificent cherry blossoms appearing in full bloom, the sense of a new fashion, but most of all for us auto enthusiasts, the chance to bring out our most pride possessions, our vehicles.
With emphasis on Japanese historic vehicles, there is a special historic vehicle society called the JCCA, Japan Classic Car Association. This group holds various venues through-out the spring, summer and fall seasons, which showcases both track events and classic car shows for enthusiasts alike.
The season opener for this season was held at the ever impressive Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka-ken. Naturally, I was in attendance for this event along with our friends from Hi-Octane RS and more importantly, the Tomei race car engineering crew. Tomei had several company backed and sponsored race vehicles on hand, with the most important vehicle being the 1972 Hirota-Tomei powered, Nissan Sunny.
Gaining focus on the vehicle classes, this particular event had 5 classes in total. Starting with the most historic would be the S65 class, next being the TS cup class, P68/75 class, historic formula class and last, but not least the F race class.
Now being a Japan classic vehicle event, I suspected there to be a large array of Nissan, Toyota, Mazda and even a few European made vehicles. And for the most part, I was correct. But the array envelope opened even further as one of most classic American made muscle car was present, the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. Unfortunately this car wasn?ft original, as the original 327 cubic inch power plant was replaced with a late model 350 cubic inch crate motor. None the less, this monster still hauled ***.
Another classic on hand would have to be the popular Nissan Skyline, AKA the Hakosuka GTR. There were roughly 30 in attendance, ranging from all original classics, to full blown race demons. For the most part, the race versions were near original, but some had gone well beyond that with their state of the art braking combinations and custom front-end aero components. I personally believe that the Skyline based vehicles were overall, the best in performance due to there high rpm capabilities and broad power band characteristics. This isn?ft to say that motor isn?ft the only meaningful thing about them, but there suspension was also very beneficial for the era.
In closing, this day was a very memorable moment for myself and many others. I was able to gain a considerable amount of knowledge about the classic vehicles from vehicle owners and various drivers alike. And as always, there will be many more the season, so stay tuned.
Here are a few photos from the event, and more are attached to the link below.
Cheers to all,
Adam @ Feast AE/RS
Spring fever in Japan has many different ways of direction. We have the magnificent cherry blossoms appearing in full bloom, the sense of a new fashion, but most of all for us auto enthusiasts, the chance to bring out our most pride possessions, our vehicles.
With emphasis on Japanese historic vehicles, there is a special historic vehicle society called the JCCA, Japan Classic Car Association. This group holds various venues through-out the spring, summer and fall seasons, which showcases both track events and classic car shows for enthusiasts alike.
The season opener for this season was held at the ever impressive Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka-ken. Naturally, I was in attendance for this event along with our friends from Hi-Octane RS and more importantly, the Tomei race car engineering crew. Tomei had several company backed and sponsored race vehicles on hand, with the most important vehicle being the 1972 Hirota-Tomei powered, Nissan Sunny.
Gaining focus on the vehicle classes, this particular event had 5 classes in total. Starting with the most historic would be the S65 class, next being the TS cup class, P68/75 class, historic formula class and last, but not least the F race class.
Now being a Japan classic vehicle event, I suspected there to be a large array of Nissan, Toyota, Mazda and even a few European made vehicles. And for the most part, I was correct. But the array envelope opened even further as one of most classic American made muscle car was present, the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. Unfortunately this car wasn?ft original, as the original 327 cubic inch power plant was replaced with a late model 350 cubic inch crate motor. None the less, this monster still hauled ***.
Another classic on hand would have to be the popular Nissan Skyline, AKA the Hakosuka GTR. There were roughly 30 in attendance, ranging from all original classics, to full blown race demons. For the most part, the race versions were near original, but some had gone well beyond that with their state of the art braking combinations and custom front-end aero components. I personally believe that the Skyline based vehicles were overall, the best in performance due to there high rpm capabilities and broad power band characteristics. This isn?ft to say that motor isn?ft the only meaningful thing about them, but there suspension was also very beneficial for the era.
In closing, this day was a very memorable moment for myself and many others. I was able to gain a considerable amount of knowledge about the classic vehicles from vehicle owners and various drivers alike. And as always, there will be many more the season, so stay tuned.
Here are a few photos from the event, and more are attached to the link below.
Cheers to all,
Adam @ Feast AE/RS