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Downhill on Irohazaka with an AE86

March 16, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

Hachiroku.com.au blog posted this amazing video of an AE86 chasing down the Irohazaka touge today:

This guy is almost as amazing as Takumi. Yes I do say almost: he’s sane enough not to jump. However Takumi is doing the same downhill twice in Initial D The Movie (Third Stage) and that is a cartoon and not in real life!

Irohazaka touge are actually two passages: one going uphill and one going downhill. This is quite unique and great for drifing unleashed: nobody can go uphill while chasing down the downhill! The video was shot around 2002, so that is about one year after Third Stage and they probably have speed bumps in this downhill like they did on Mount Haruna.

And for those sceptics who say you can go about twice as fast in Arcade Stage 3: that’s arcade! Did you ever see anyone from Street Fighter 2 alpha running around the streets then??

Random: Nomuken police special!

March 15, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

Some time ago I came across this bizarre video of Ken Nomura (aka Nomuken) in two situations with the police:

In the first part he’s driving his 180SX RPS13 Type X, second part is him a bit older driving a Nissan Laurel C33 police car in a Blitz outfit. The first part appears to be put into scene but is quite funny to watch and the second part is just hilarious: chasing a small drifting kei car with that big C33 Laurel!

The big questions are: why is he driving his RHD 180SX type X in the US when this car was not his professional drifter after 2000 and where can I buy a C33 Laurel? :P

Carina Sightings: Carina AA63 sedan at Meihan Sportsland

March 11, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

I found this video earlier this week on Sideways.cz:

The main attractions are of course the red S15, but you can see some other cars like an AA63, two hachis and some RPS13s in this video.

This video is shot on the Meihan kart track which is apparently a very popular track for Carina GT-Rs!

Rare Bosozoku cars: Toyota Corona RT132

March 10, 2009 / banpei / 3 Comments

This week we don’t feature a popular bosozoku car, but a rare bosozoku car! We thought that featuring popular bosozoku cars each week would get a bit boring after a while so we want to alternate between popular and rare from now on. ;)

This week we have a rare bosozoku styled Toyota Corona RT132:

Rare Bosozoku styled Corona RT132 coupe
Big fender flares, deep dish wheels and an oil cooler on this baby! Would the number 55 refer to an old Super Silhouette racer?

Rare Bosozoku styled Corona RT132 coupe
You may ask yourself how do I know it is a RT132? Quite simple: this Corona features the DOHC logo in the grille. The only engine with DOHC the Corona was delivered with is the 18R, so it can only be the RT132. Unless the owner rebadged the grille of course!

This car is the facelifted coupe version, which in my opinion is the best looking Corona T130.

Factory stock photos of the Toyota Corona coupe
The Corona T120/T130 was the successor of the Corona T100/T110. The T120/T130 got a new floorpan and got an increased 25mm in wheelbase. The bizarre thing is that the successor of the T120/T130, the T140, decreased 25mm in wheelbase!

The Corona was placed against the Honda Accord, Mazda Capella, Nissan Bluebird and Toyota’s own Carina/Camry. The Corona itself was, compared to the Carina and Camry, the more upmarket car offering much more luxury and options than the Camry and Carina.

Almost factory stock Toyota Corona RT132 coupe
The Corona T130 got a large variety in engines and gearboxes, but the main engines in Japan were the 12T-U, 13T-U, 3T-U, 18R-GEU and the 21R-U.

I did see a TT132 (3T-U) for sale some time ago and thought about getting that car instead of my own, but personally I do like the styling of my Carina a bit better. However the Bosozoku styled example is more tempting than that 4 door Corona TT132 I saw back then…

[I posted this article earlier today on Bosozokustyle.com]

Optionland Exciting Car Showdown 2009

March 9, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

I read on the Impulse blog that they are going to attend for the first time the Optionland Exciting Car Showdown on 4th and 5th of April 2009.
Optionland Exciting Car Showdown is indeed organized by Option Video and is a yearly carshow held in the first weekend of April in Nagoya:

Daijiro Inada and Tsuchiya opening the 2008 Optionland showdown

I immediately went to the Optionland Showdown page and looked through the pictures of 2008 and I surely did find a lot of great looking cars:

Great looking Trueno GT (2 door) from icode

Super clean Levin with widened fenders

And of course this N2 Levin AE86:

Beautiful N2 Levin AE86

Also this nicely tuned Nissan Crew, probably with a highly tuned RB26DETT engine:

Tuned Nissan Crew with RB26DETT
The Nissan Crew is the counterpart of the Toyota Comfort GT-Z, however it has got a bit more

And what about classic racers like this Corolla Levin TE27?

Corolla Levin TE27 racer

And an almost classic Nissan Skyline R30 tuned for speed:

Zenki Nissan Skyline R30
Its setup looks a bit similar to a well known DR30 racer.

The Impulse hachis are in my opinion a great addition to the Optionland Exciting Car Showdown! If 2008 was already that good I can’t wait till 4th of April to see this years showdown!

Drifting with automatic gearbox?

March 7, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

I saw this trailer of Drift Tengoku yesterday:

I was really amazed that drifting with an automatic is that easy!

Basically the technique behind drifting is very possible with an automatic: by limiting the automatic to go a gear up it will always keep the gearbox in the same gear (unless your revs go under something like 3000rpm) so the automatic becomes a bit manual this way. The only trouble is to prevent hitting Drive or Reverse accidentally but as you can see in this video they use a lock to prevent you from doing that.

Of course there are some techniques which are not possible: for instance a drift at high speed doing a clutch kick or controlling the drift with the clutch while going sideways. But who cares if you can’t Manji that easy with an automatic!

So there is still hope for my Carina! However… I do need some extra power first and I only have a 3 speed automatic, so shifting between 2nd and 3rd may be a bit far from each other. Think I’ll stick to the original plan then. ;)

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