mil
19-Feb-2013, 13:52
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The 2009 Tuning Festa was held recently at Okayama International Circuit in Okayama Prefecture, Japan and was a great day of racing which any JDM car enthusiast would’ve enjoyed. Okayama International Circuit (OIC) is a fantastic track to watch racing with it’s “stepped” layout on the side of a slight hill giving spectators many excellent viewing points. The only downside is that it’s remote and quite far away from the big cities. Nevertheless, there was plenty of eye candy on display for anyone interested in Japanese tuned cars.
The Tuning Festa is a little different from the AE86 Festival we went to at OIC recently, the main difference being the size of the event and the absence of off-track entertainment. The purpose of the Tuning Festa is to give garages and tuned street cars (registered and unregistered) an opportunity to race against each other in strictly controlled classes. Even if drivers aren’t competing to win the actual race, the goal is there to improve on their previous lap time and to learn a thing or two from other competitors. This being the case, it’s obvious that all attention in on the circuit with not much else happening elsewhere in the way of trade stands or demonstrations. That’s not a bad thing though because it’s racing that we want to see!
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As is usual, once we arrived at OIC we headed over to the pit area to see which cars would be contesting the different categories. Sun Line Racing was an instant stand out, their quartet of R35 GT-R, S15 Silvia, Z34 Fairlady Z and Z33 Fairlady Z shop demo cars were very well presented with the R35 GT-R sporting the just released C-West R35 GT-R body kit! Not only that, but Piers Dowding was there with his matte black carbon fibre R34 Skyline GT-R which looked absolutely stunning on and off the track. Auto Select were another well known garage present and one which has contested practically every Meister Cup since it started. Their famous “Yellow Shark” R34 Skyline GT-R looked as fresh as ever despite being raced continuously since around 2002. Other famous tuners like Pit Road M with their Mitsubishi GTO, Fujimura Auto (Rocket Dancer) with their R34 Skyline GT-R and Lancer Evolution IX and Factor Racing with their awesome R32 Skyline GT-R were there also. A lot of teams were pretty vague (ie: “It produces more than last year…”) about how much power their cars were putting out but I did manage to find out that a few of the top Nissan Skyline GT-Rs at OIC were producing between 700 – 800hp at up to 2.0bar boost.
Probably the most surprising aspect of the day was the dazzling array of racing categories. Not only was there Round 2 of the Meister Cup, but also the Super Tuner’s Battle, the Z-Challenge West Japan and the VTEC Cup! The “Meister Cup” was divided into 3 categories with different classes in each including Meister-Pro, Meister’s 2WD and 4WD, Master’s 2WD and regular 2WD and 4WD, which were contested by big power Skyline GT-Rs, Mazda RX-7s, Nissan Fairlady Zs (350Z/370Z) and Honda S2000s among others. To clear things up, let’s have a closer look at the different categories and classes in the Meister Cup:
Category/Class
Regulations
1. Master’s 2WD – FF NA or FI engine, S-tires, 4-point harness, tow hook, oil catch can
2WD – FF – Big As above but above 1996cc engine
2WD – FF – Mid As above but 1599 – 1995cc engine
2WD – Small As above but under 1599cc engine
2. 4WD NA or forced induction engine, S-tires, 4-point harness, tow hook, oil catch can
2WD – FR – Big (Turbo) As above but above 1996cc turbo engine
2WD – FR – Big (NA) As above but above 1996cc NA engine
2WD – FR – Mid (Turbo) As above but 1599 – 1995cc turbo engine
2WD – FR – Mid (NA) As above but 1599 – 1995cc NA engine
3. Meister – Pro Pro driver, shop demo car (unregistered), free modifications, S-tires, 4-point harness, roll cage, tow hook, oil catch can
Meister 4WD Shop demo car (unregistered), free modifications, S-tires, 4-point harness, roll cage, tow hook, oil catch can
Meister 2WD As above
Master’s 4WD NA or forced induction engine, S-tires, 4-point harness, tow hook, oil catch can
Master’s 2WD – FR As above
*”Meister” and “Master’s” classes are different with Meister cars being unregistered race-only cars.
There are 3 categories with up to five classes in each covering all types of driveline and engine sizes. Needless to say Category 1 had the most entries by far being the “budget” category consisting mainly of old Honda Civics and Integras.
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First up was the time attack (qualifying) events for Categories 1, 2 and 3 in the Meister Cup. In Category 1, the #31 PS Niigo DC2 Honda Integra dominated with a 1:44.661 lap time, almost one second faster than the rest of the field. Second fastest was the #8 Trybox DC2 Honda Integra driven by Yoshitake Tani with a 1:45.558 and in third was the #1 Kanagawa Engine Works EG9 Honda Civic with a 1:45.611. In Category 2, the #3 Stillway CT9A Lancer Evolution 8 was fastest with a surprisingly slow 1:46.478 lap time when compared with the Honda Integras. In second and third places were the #8 Nagisa Auto BNR32 GT-R with a 1:47.071 and the #15 Tsudako MAX RPS13 Nissan 180SX with a 1:47.412 respectively. In Category 3 the times were a lot closer together with the #10 Grandslam BCNR33 Skyline GT-R clocking a 1:39.394 to net first position, followed by the #16 Factor Racing BNR32 Skyline GT-R with a 1:39.846 and the #7 Fujita Engineering FD3S Mazda RX-7 lapping with a 1:40.013 to take third place. There was an unexpected smash involving the #11 Zenoway BNR34 GT-R when there was some kind of driveline lock up which sent the car into the wall at high speed. Debris was strewn across the track so the accident meant that category 3 qualifying had to end early. The driver was unhurt but the car was an instant write off with quite extensive front and rear damage.
Next was the Super Tuner’s Battle time attack event with Auto Select, Pit Road M and Sun Line Racing making up 4 of the 7 entries, which also meant it was the smallest grid. As expected, Auto Select’s #38 Yellow Shark R34 GT-R came out on top with a very quick 1:38.485 lap time, followed by Sun Line’s #4 S15 Silvia with a 1:39.263 and in 3rd was the #1 D2 Motorworks RPS13 180SX with a 1:41.699. So there was a fair amount of time between the cars in the first three positions with Auto Select reeling off yet another 1:38 lap time which turned out to be the fastest lap of the day.
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Just before lunch the qualifying event featuring the Z-Challenge and VTEC Cup cars was held with the wild #13 J’s Racing AP1 Honda S2000 taking first spot with a relatively slow 1:48.634. Not far behind was the #8 Emi-R Original Z33 Nissan Fairlady Z with a 1:48.912 and then the #2 AP1 Honda S2000 driven by Yoshiro Kuwabata in third with a 1:49.646. Just 4.5 seconds separated the entire field in qualifying so the Z-Challenge and VTEC Cup cars offered the most exciting racing so far… and the rain hadn’t even started falling yet.
From 1pm to 2pm the spectators had an opportunity to do a pit walk and see all the cars up close with some teams even opening the hoods of their cars to show off their engines. Some teams such as Auto Select and Sun Line Racing took part in a “tire change challenge” where they raced to see who could change a full set of tires the fastest. Auto Select actually won but a few spectators noticed that one Auto Select mechanic started undoing wheel nuts well before the starting alarm rang, meaning that they forfeited the competition! I guess the mechanic should relax a little more next time? As mentioned before there was only a couple of trade stands there and no off-track entertainment so if you weren’t interested in viewing the cars in the pits there was nothing else to do other than eat lunch, wonder around the (very interesting) car park areas or take a nap!
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Straight after lunch the rain came down. The Z-Challenge and VTEC Cup cars took to the circuit again for their 7 lap final race which was the only one to have a car go off the circuit. After the start all cars were lapping cautiously in the rain but it was a little too wet for Yasuhiro Satou in the #14 Sun Line Z33 Fairlady Z who spun off on the second lap. His car was eventually dragged back onto the circuit and he managed to finish the race 1 lap down. Although the J’s Racing Honda S2000 took pole position at the start, “Dekato” in the Emi-R Original Z33 Fairlady Z eventually won the race by overtaking Yoshiharu Kusumoto on the last lap and winning by 0.9 seconds! You could see the frustration on Kusumoto’s face after the race for making a simple error to let Dekato through for the win. Dekato’s team mate Kouki Morigaki took third place in another Emi-R Original Z33.
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The next three races were for the Meister Cup series and all three races were over in less than an hour with barely 5 minutes in between! The rain finally stopped and Category 1 was won by Yasumasa Hirose in the PS Niigo DC2 Integra 2 seconds ahead of Yoshitake Tani in the Trybox DC2 Integra. Toshiyuki Inatsugi took third place in the Inatsugi Engineering EG6 Honda Civic. Almost immediately after the last Category 1 car left the track, the Category 2 cars were out doing their formation lap. “Office” (his nickname) Yamao in the #3 Stillway Lancer Evolution 8 was on pole for the race and he eventually won convincingly by a whole 4 seconds in front of second placed Norimasa Horio in the #8 Nagisa Auto BNR32 GT-R. In third, and exactly the same as his grid position, was Isamu Yasutake in the Tsudako MAX RPS13 Nissan 180SX less than a second behind Horio. No sooner had the category 2 race finished when the Category 3 cars were out and ready to start. After an uneventful race Shigeo Ota in the #10 Grandslam BCNR33 GT-R eventually took the class win followed by Hidehiko Hatori in the Factor Racing BNR32 Skyline GT-R and Shingo Mikami in the BOSS CP9A Lancer Evolution V in third.
Finally the Super Tuner’s Sprint Race was held over 6 laps and unsurprisingly the Auto Select R34 GT-R driven by Seijiro Sawa stormed home after completing full distance with a 6 second lead over the second placed Pit Road M Mitsubishi GTO driven by Samohan Nakajima. Shougo Shigemori in the Sun Line S15 Silvia managed to overtake the D2 Motorworks 180SX to take third place a whole 10 seconds behind the Pit Road M GTO. There were 7 cars in qualifying but only 6 turned up for the race as the Judas Ridge FD3S Mazda RX-7 didn’t start due to mechanical problems.
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By the time the last race had finished it was getting quite dark and it also started raining again so it wasn’t a very pleasant experience waiting for the winners to take the podium. All in all though it was a great day of racing and it was a lot of fun seeing heavily tuned GT-Rs, Z33 Fairlady Zs, Mazda RX-7s and the like all competing together. Sun Line Racing contested their R35 Nissan GT-R too which was great to see on the track, although it wasn’t as quick as some of the more modified GT-Rs there, it performed very well considering the engine was basically standard netting a 1:41.728 fastest lap. If you can get out to OIC to see the Tuning Festa it is well worth the effort and is definitely a JDM car lovers dream come true. Just remember to pack lots of mosquito repellent!
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The 2009 Tuning Festa was held recently at Okayama International Circuit in Okayama Prefecture, Japan and was a great day of racing which any JDM car enthusiast would’ve enjoyed. Okayama International Circuit (OIC) is a fantastic track to watch racing with it’s “stepped” layout on the side of a slight hill giving spectators many excellent viewing points. The only downside is that it’s remote and quite far away from the big cities. Nevertheless, there was plenty of eye candy on display for anyone interested in Japanese tuned cars.
The Tuning Festa is a little different from the AE86 Festival we went to at OIC recently, the main difference being the size of the event and the absence of off-track entertainment. The purpose of the Tuning Festa is to give garages and tuned street cars (registered and unregistered) an opportunity to race against each other in strictly controlled classes. Even if drivers aren’t competing to win the actual race, the goal is there to improve on their previous lap time and to learn a thing or two from other competitors. This being the case, it’s obvious that all attention in on the circuit with not much else happening elsewhere in the way of trade stands or demonstrations. That’s not a bad thing though because it’s racing that we want to see!
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As is usual, once we arrived at OIC we headed over to the pit area to see which cars would be contesting the different categories. Sun Line Racing was an instant stand out, their quartet of R35 GT-R, S15 Silvia, Z34 Fairlady Z and Z33 Fairlady Z shop demo cars were very well presented with the R35 GT-R sporting the just released C-West R35 GT-R body kit! Not only that, but Piers Dowding was there with his matte black carbon fibre R34 Skyline GT-R which looked absolutely stunning on and off the track. Auto Select were another well known garage present and one which has contested practically every Meister Cup since it started. Their famous “Yellow Shark” R34 Skyline GT-R looked as fresh as ever despite being raced continuously since around 2002. Other famous tuners like Pit Road M with their Mitsubishi GTO, Fujimura Auto (Rocket Dancer) with their R34 Skyline GT-R and Lancer Evolution IX and Factor Racing with their awesome R32 Skyline GT-R were there also. A lot of teams were pretty vague (ie: “It produces more than last year…”) about how much power their cars were putting out but I did manage to find out that a few of the top Nissan Skyline GT-Rs at OIC were producing between 700 – 800hp at up to 2.0bar boost.
Probably the most surprising aspect of the day was the dazzling array of racing categories. Not only was there Round 2 of the Meister Cup, but also the Super Tuner’s Battle, the Z-Challenge West Japan and the VTEC Cup! The “Meister Cup” was divided into 3 categories with different classes in each including Meister-Pro, Meister’s 2WD and 4WD, Master’s 2WD and regular 2WD and 4WD, which were contested by big power Skyline GT-Rs, Mazda RX-7s, Nissan Fairlady Zs (350Z/370Z) and Honda S2000s among others. To clear things up, let’s have a closer look at the different categories and classes in the Meister Cup:
Category/Class
Regulations
1. Master’s 2WD – FF NA or FI engine, S-tires, 4-point harness, tow hook, oil catch can
2WD – FF – Big As above but above 1996cc engine
2WD – FF – Mid As above but 1599 – 1995cc engine
2WD – Small As above but under 1599cc engine
2. 4WD NA or forced induction engine, S-tires, 4-point harness, tow hook, oil catch can
2WD – FR – Big (Turbo) As above but above 1996cc turbo engine
2WD – FR – Big (NA) As above but above 1996cc NA engine
2WD – FR – Mid (Turbo) As above but 1599 – 1995cc turbo engine
2WD – FR – Mid (NA) As above but 1599 – 1995cc NA engine
3. Meister – Pro Pro driver, shop demo car (unregistered), free modifications, S-tires, 4-point harness, roll cage, tow hook, oil catch can
Meister 4WD Shop demo car (unregistered), free modifications, S-tires, 4-point harness, roll cage, tow hook, oil catch can
Meister 2WD As above
Master’s 4WD NA or forced induction engine, S-tires, 4-point harness, tow hook, oil catch can
Master’s 2WD – FR As above
*”Meister” and “Master’s” classes are different with Meister cars being unregistered race-only cars.
There are 3 categories with up to five classes in each covering all types of driveline and engine sizes. Needless to say Category 1 had the most entries by far being the “budget” category consisting mainly of old Honda Civics and Integras.
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First up was the time attack (qualifying) events for Categories 1, 2 and 3 in the Meister Cup. In Category 1, the #31 PS Niigo DC2 Honda Integra dominated with a 1:44.661 lap time, almost one second faster than the rest of the field. Second fastest was the #8 Trybox DC2 Honda Integra driven by Yoshitake Tani with a 1:45.558 and in third was the #1 Kanagawa Engine Works EG9 Honda Civic with a 1:45.611. In Category 2, the #3 Stillway CT9A Lancer Evolution 8 was fastest with a surprisingly slow 1:46.478 lap time when compared with the Honda Integras. In second and third places were the #8 Nagisa Auto BNR32 GT-R with a 1:47.071 and the #15 Tsudako MAX RPS13 Nissan 180SX with a 1:47.412 respectively. In Category 3 the times were a lot closer together with the #10 Grandslam BCNR33 Skyline GT-R clocking a 1:39.394 to net first position, followed by the #16 Factor Racing BNR32 Skyline GT-R with a 1:39.846 and the #7 Fujita Engineering FD3S Mazda RX-7 lapping with a 1:40.013 to take third place. There was an unexpected smash involving the #11 Zenoway BNR34 GT-R when there was some kind of driveline lock up which sent the car into the wall at high speed. Debris was strewn across the track so the accident meant that category 3 qualifying had to end early. The driver was unhurt but the car was an instant write off with quite extensive front and rear damage.
Next was the Super Tuner’s Battle time attack event with Auto Select, Pit Road M and Sun Line Racing making up 4 of the 7 entries, which also meant it was the smallest grid. As expected, Auto Select’s #38 Yellow Shark R34 GT-R came out on top with a very quick 1:38.485 lap time, followed by Sun Line’s #4 S15 Silvia with a 1:39.263 and in 3rd was the #1 D2 Motorworks RPS13 180SX with a 1:41.699. So there was a fair amount of time between the cars in the first three positions with Auto Select reeling off yet another 1:38 lap time which turned out to be the fastest lap of the day.
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Just before lunch the qualifying event featuring the Z-Challenge and VTEC Cup cars was held with the wild #13 J’s Racing AP1 Honda S2000 taking first spot with a relatively slow 1:48.634. Not far behind was the #8 Emi-R Original Z33 Nissan Fairlady Z with a 1:48.912 and then the #2 AP1 Honda S2000 driven by Yoshiro Kuwabata in third with a 1:49.646. Just 4.5 seconds separated the entire field in qualifying so the Z-Challenge and VTEC Cup cars offered the most exciting racing so far… and the rain hadn’t even started falling yet.
From 1pm to 2pm the spectators had an opportunity to do a pit walk and see all the cars up close with some teams even opening the hoods of their cars to show off their engines. Some teams such as Auto Select and Sun Line Racing took part in a “tire change challenge” where they raced to see who could change a full set of tires the fastest. Auto Select actually won but a few spectators noticed that one Auto Select mechanic started undoing wheel nuts well before the starting alarm rang, meaning that they forfeited the competition! I guess the mechanic should relax a little more next time? As mentioned before there was only a couple of trade stands there and no off-track entertainment so if you weren’t interested in viewing the cars in the pits there was nothing else to do other than eat lunch, wonder around the (very interesting) car park areas or take a nap!
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Straight after lunch the rain came down. The Z-Challenge and VTEC Cup cars took to the circuit again for their 7 lap final race which was the only one to have a car go off the circuit. After the start all cars were lapping cautiously in the rain but it was a little too wet for Yasuhiro Satou in the #14 Sun Line Z33 Fairlady Z who spun off on the second lap. His car was eventually dragged back onto the circuit and he managed to finish the race 1 lap down. Although the J’s Racing Honda S2000 took pole position at the start, “Dekato” in the Emi-R Original Z33 Fairlady Z eventually won the race by overtaking Yoshiharu Kusumoto on the last lap and winning by 0.9 seconds! You could see the frustration on Kusumoto’s face after the race for making a simple error to let Dekato through for the win. Dekato’s team mate Kouki Morigaki took third place in another Emi-R Original Z33.
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The next three races were for the Meister Cup series and all three races were over in less than an hour with barely 5 minutes in between! The rain finally stopped and Category 1 was won by Yasumasa Hirose in the PS Niigo DC2 Integra 2 seconds ahead of Yoshitake Tani in the Trybox DC2 Integra. Toshiyuki Inatsugi took third place in the Inatsugi Engineering EG6 Honda Civic. Almost immediately after the last Category 1 car left the track, the Category 2 cars were out doing their formation lap. “Office” (his nickname) Yamao in the #3 Stillway Lancer Evolution 8 was on pole for the race and he eventually won convincingly by a whole 4 seconds in front of second placed Norimasa Horio in the #8 Nagisa Auto BNR32 GT-R. In third, and exactly the same as his grid position, was Isamu Yasutake in the Tsudako MAX RPS13 Nissan 180SX less than a second behind Horio. No sooner had the category 2 race finished when the Category 3 cars were out and ready to start. After an uneventful race Shigeo Ota in the #10 Grandslam BCNR33 GT-R eventually took the class win followed by Hidehiko Hatori in the Factor Racing BNR32 Skyline GT-R and Shingo Mikami in the BOSS CP9A Lancer Evolution V in third.
Finally the Super Tuner’s Sprint Race was held over 6 laps and unsurprisingly the Auto Select R34 GT-R driven by Seijiro Sawa stormed home after completing full distance with a 6 second lead over the second placed Pit Road M Mitsubishi GTO driven by Samohan Nakajima. Shougo Shigemori in the Sun Line S15 Silvia managed to overtake the D2 Motorworks 180SX to take third place a whole 10 seconds behind the Pit Road M GTO. There were 7 cars in qualifying but only 6 turned up for the race as the Judas Ridge FD3S Mazda RX-7 didn’t start due to mechanical problems.
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By the time the last race had finished it was getting quite dark and it also started raining again so it wasn’t a very pleasant experience waiting for the winners to take the podium. All in all though it was a great day of racing and it was a lot of fun seeing heavily tuned GT-Rs, Z33 Fairlady Zs, Mazda RX-7s and the like all competing together. Sun Line Racing contested their R35 Nissan GT-R too which was great to see on the track, although it wasn’t as quick as some of the more modified GT-Rs there, it performed very well considering the engine was basically standard netting a 1:41.728 fastest lap. If you can get out to OIC to see the Tuning Festa it is well worth the effort and is definitely a JDM car lovers dream come true. Just remember to pack lots of mosquito repellent!
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