Author: banpei (Page 43 of 318)

Friday Video: Fuji Speedway 30-degree high bank today

February 20, 2015 / banpei / 1 Comment

A few years ago I posted an photo of what the infamous Fuji Speedway 30-degree high bank looks like today. A few weeks ago someone in my subscription list on Youtube posted a video of the same thing: the Fuji Speedway 30-degree bank overgrown with grass, plants and trees.

The video can actually show you more details than one single photo: it shows details like old signs, banners, guard rail leftovers and overgrown tribunes. Really worth watching on a boring Friday afternoon at work!

You can watch the video below:

Direct link to video: 馬鹿が富士スピードウェイの30度バンクを見に行くと、こうなる。

Picture of the Week: Nissan RB26DETT cutaway drawing

February 15, 2015 / banpei / 0 Comments

I could stare for hours to this Nissan RB26DETT cutaway drawing and still not see every detail in it!

The black valve cover on this Nissan RB26DETT uncovers this engine as a R32 or R33 type and as the cutaway drawings got out of fashion in the 90s the drawing is probably made around the launch of the BNR32 in 1989.

The Nissan RB26DETT is/was one of the most awesome engines that Nissan made. The engine is an cast iron block with aluminum head, has 24 valves with double overhead cam, a parallel twin-turbo setup and six individual throttle bodies. Even though the initial power was “only” 280ps (276hp) the engine is able to output more than 1 megawatt (1,340 hp) after heavy modifications. I would say it is a good successor of the Nissan S20

Drawing via Autospeed

Friday Video: Mitsuoka BUBU 501 Ninja action

February 13, 2015 / banpei / 2 Comments

I wasn’t really aware of Mituoka’s past and assumed they started building kit-cars at first and then creating their own cars. Actually they did manufacture their own cars before that! May I introduce to you the BUBU Shuttle-50:

The Shuttle-50 is probably the most boring “car” you ever have seen, but somehow Mitsuoka managed to sell quite a few of them!

More interesting are the successors of the Shuttle-50: the Mitsuoka BUBU 501 (sedan) and Mitsuoka BUBU 502 (van)!

Both are nothing more than a fiberglass body on a tubular chassis and a Honda 50cc moped engine. As the BUBU branding was obviously not as appealing in Japan it was branded as the Honda Zoe Zipper overseas.

As the Honda engine lacked a reverse the BUBU 501 also features an electric motor connected to a bar that directly connects to the tire and rolls the car backwards.

Now the Mitsuoka BUBU 501 may not appeal to you but I can ensure you that you can outrun a couple of Toyota Hi-Ace Ninjas on roller-skates with it! You can watch it here in action: Continue reading

Games: Over Drivin’ Nissan GT-R review

February 12, 2015 / banpei / 3 Comments

Last week I featured the footage of the Over Drivin’ Nissan Skyline memorial game and I promised to do a follow up on the Over Drivin’ Nissan GT-R.

After rediscovering the Skyline memorial I started to search for in game videos and I stumbled upon BrutallyHonestGamer’s review of the Sega Saturn Over Drivin’ Nissan GT-R game. I must say I share his view on the game for a great degree. That is up till the point when he makes this remark on the Nissan Skyline GT-R PGC10: This rustbucket here… I mean… I guess they had to put something in there, but really did Nissan had anything better to put in a game? It looks like a Buick!

The car list of this game is as following:

Nissan Skyline PGC10
Nissan Skyline KPGC110
Nissan Fairlady 240ZG
Nissan 180SX Type X
Nissan Silvia K’s S14a
Nissan Fairlady Z32 (300ZX)
Nissan Skyline BNR32
Nissan Skyline BNR33

You can watch the remark in the video below at 3 minutes and 17 seconds: Continue reading

Family Album Treasures: my father with a Mitsubishi Cordia

Family Album Treasures: Mitsubishi Cordia on vacation

February 11, 2015 / banpei / 2 Comments

I scanned this photo from my fathers family album, so it is literally a Family Album Treasure. ;)
The photo features my father and my brother standing in front of a Mitsubishi Cordia at our first stop somewhere in Belgium:

As the driver side door is open you may think the Cordia is actually my father’s, but then you were tricked by the photo. The car in front of it (a white Peugeot 304 station) and its trailer both are actually my father’s. You can also find a Mazda 323 (Familia) sedan in the background and behind that something that resembles the rear end of a Toyota Celica TA40.

My father sold the Peugeot in the winter of 1985 and traded it in for a 1984 Toyota Carina wagon. I think this photo was taken in the summer of 1985 when we traveled to France with the Peugeot and the trailer. Presumably I took the photo as only the three of us went on holiday. So this really is a family album treasure. ;)

Brilliant: Nissan Leopard F31 keyless entry card

February 10, 2015 / banpei / 4 Comments

Nissan was forward thinking on their flagship the Nissan Leopard F31 back in 1986: it featured a keyless entry card! Earlier Glorias and Cedrics already featured pin-code like systems, but they keyless entry card is going way further than that!

This card has the size of a credit card and the thickness of a modern smartphone, but allows the wearer to open the doors and trunk without the use of a key!

The system was actually quite simple:

Two sensors operate this system: one in the driver side mirror and another in the rear bumper. Both sensors will unlock either the driver side door or the trunk separately from each other.The system was only available on the Ultima edition of the Nissan Leopard F31.

Via: Minkara