At the end of January I again found myself freezing my buns off at Tsukuba circuit. It was so cold that I nearly broke a tooth when I bit into my chocolate Pocky stick. Nads says I should be grateful that I don't have to endure a long, cramped flight to remote locales like Hawaii to cover import shows with sick cars and hot models. I know I get these cool and refreshing gigs in Japan because of my respected status as a Super Street contributor and not simply because I live here.
Keiichi Tsuchiya, aka the Drift King, announced his retirement from professional racing at the end of the 2003 season. For this 2004 season, he'll be heading the ARTA team as the general manager. To honor his glorious career, Hot Version, the Japanese video magazine that he hosts (Best Motoring International for all of you Yanks) organized a "Special Run in Tsukuba" event. For the 5,000-plus fans who showed up, it was their last chance to see Tsuchiya race in person.
Besides Tsuchiya, other Hot Version commentators like JGTC racer Manabu Orido, D1 drifter Nobuteru Taniguchi, JGTC and Formula Nippon racer Juichi Wakisaka, and motor journalist Piston Nishizawa were all there. The event was packed with attractions and hard-core performance tuning shops like Kei Office, Mine's, Nismo, Power House Amuse, Spoon, TRD, and Yashio Factory all had booths behind the paddocks.
Spoon put its Super Taikyu S2000 coupe on display. The Honda specialist also displayed its Honda Fit racer stuffed with a 1.5L engine. Honda recently announced that a 1.3L watered-down version of the Fit is planning to be introduced to the US. A Japanese OEM is going to offer a detuned version of one of its cars for the US? No, really? (Thanks for rubbing it in, Mr. Sarcastic.-JN)
Power House Amuse had its 350Z and S2000 with the new front spoiler that was co-developed with Polyphony, the producers of the PlayStation 2 Gran Turismo franchise. PS2 also set up its GT Prologue Experience. I took my turn at this GT4 preview, and after attacking Tsukuba I was feeling grand. I strutted over to the Yashio booth to take their Silvia for a couple of laps, but Okachan stopped me before I could climb into the driver's seat. He wanted to see some ID and was even less impressed when I told him I was with Super Street. I dropped names like Nads and Jonny, but they didn't work worth soybeans. (You should see how badly we get trashed here in the States.-Staff) I knew I should have taken that Option2 offer instead.
The event started off with preliminary rounds for a Hot Version Video time attack segment called "My Car Challenge." In "My Car Challenge," a viewer gets to challenge Tsuchiya and Orido to a time attack with his own cars. Tsuchiya may be known as the Drift King, but he can also grip well enough to be called the Grip King. It's always fun to see amateurs like me get their asses whipped, especially when they're cocky. That's the best part of the segment, but you can also learn a lot since Tsuchiya takes the challenger on a ride explaining how they can improve their techniques: driving lines, braking points, where to heel and toe, and so on. Also, tuning tips on how improving car performance are helpful. On this particular day, two challengers were chosen out of many hopefuls, and these lucky ducks will get their chance to topple the King of a later date.