I just got home from Fuji Speedway and had the privilege of being given a heads up on a track day that also coincided with the track testing of Mines and their R35 GTR and Fairlady Zed plus NISMO and their hotted up version of the R35 as well as their own Fairlady Z testing mules.





The weather decided to play ball today with only small traces of clouds to be seen. A great day to be out at the track.



Michiro Niizura, the president of Mines was present to over see the testing along with D1 ace and animal test driver "Tarzan" Yamada who may be known to some of you as the yellow haired Japanese guy that drove the Black Viper in Americas version of D1, Formula D as well as being the regular pilot for the Mitsubishi Cyber Evo, which held at one point a fastest lap of 55 seconds at the famous Tsukuba time attack meet a couple of years ago.

He is a monster behind the wheel and does not understand the meaning of mechanical sympathy. Something this video will attest to...

( Watch it in HD, its worth it - Yamada is only onboard for the first 2 minutes at Silverstone - he's mental. )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z63AQoCysGM

Heres another one of him in the Crawford STi around Long Beach race track

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bImLgl_-GIs

The cars were sporting a number of modifications - including a LOT of carbon fiber - these parts are not in production yet and are still being tested, so to be there and see it all before it goes on sale was pretty damned cool.



Tarzan taking some time out



The NISMO camp was testing some very interesting developments for the GTR

Look at the brakes!



There was also a very interesting development for differentials related to the 370Zed...no details were given other than to say, looking at this shot, you can tell there is some data logging going on here and that can mean only one thing...



Here is a closer up shot



Mine's spared no expense in developing what were mainly "cosmetic" parts for the GTR - nonetheless, saving weight and increasing speed along the way

Many of the parts on this car are not yet available for sale and as such these photos will be some of the first you will see with these parts on it.

*The photo below shows Mine's 1 GTR with its carbon bonnet on but its actually only sitting there for photo purposes beacause of an accident with the bonnet latches on only its second lap of the day*





Mine's had 2 of their cars out today - one of the cars had to stand in because an aftermarket maker of Carbon Fiber bonnets, who Mine's was testing on their car today had a massive structural failure ripping the bonnet clean out of the safety pins that hold it down at 260Kph on the front straight at Fuji, miraculously avoiding smashing the windscreen and roof in the process



Tarzan thought it was funny, even at that speed.

I can't wait till I get over there. I don't like Nissans in general, but can appreciate a fucking awesome car. I can't even start to explain how much I want to get into the circuit scene.

Mines and Nismo werent the only ones present though - plenty of people came out in what was a great day at the track.

I hadnt seen so many hardcore cars and 6 piston calipers in a long time.

The GT3 Porsche's heel and toeing at the end of the straight, doing 300kph, deep into the 200 meter braking point was awesome.

1000 yen, or the equivalent of 14 dollars got you in for the day.

WELL worth the trip.







This Z06 was blisteringly fast



But these BMW's were even better...

The little white 1 series with the black bonnet stripes is producing 450HP from its twin turbo 3.5 liter engine...



Also, this very VERY special Lotus 2-eleven was doing the rounds today as well...

It was so light, it only had single piston Brembos at the front!

$90,000 and its yours. 0-100 in 3.8 seconds. Roof not included.














Also a big thanks to Dino for the heads up on today - was a great day out for me

Also sorry for the shitty resolution and picture quality of the pics - they were all taken on my phone.

I have some videos of the day too, so I will post them up when I get a chance.

awesome, thanks for sharing

the nismo GTR "performance packages" are a joke though. close to 30k for suspension package which is merely a set of bilstein shocks and rays 20 inch wheels with run flats.

love the lotus

I am amazed an " I got egged" thread has more hits than this on a "car enthusiasts" forum...



You are welcome mate - yeah I got a shock when told the prices...

People pay them though so you have to wonder.

great thread. what are you doing over in japan? i was there on holidays in 07 and i was a very intresting place.

awesome stuff!! impressed you went to the effort of all that write up and pics for everyone

im also lolling that people are looking at the egging story more than this lol.

why would there be wiring to the diff? just for speed readings or some kind of adjustability?

Ive been here for a few years now - currently reigniting things lost, automotive, lol.

It is interesting. I think everyone should come here for a bit - and there is so much t do for all sorts of things...



Tanks for the comment. It wasn't really so much effort..It is what I love anyways, so its not too hard but yeah, it may seem like a stretch at times which it is but only when I haven't had any sleep!!

So much fun out there today.

I like to post this type of thing up so others can see what I've seen! Makes me feel good.

Yep, the LSD... It turns out it was being monitored temperature and electronic VDC ( vehicle stablity ) wise - telemetry that helps them understand how the car performs when grip is limited or being transferred but obviously they are still in preliminary testing...

The car was actually on jacks when I took that shot being fed air to aid cooling...

that's awesome, those wheels look fucking mean
rest looks kinda shit imo, the way they put those black stripes on the bonnet etc...but eh that's nt mandatory i guess
$25K for an exhaust!!!

lotus 2-eleven us my favourite; parents are looking to test drive one for possible purchase if all goes well.

love that GTR

Those 1 series Ti's are little bullets!

That youtube video of the R32 is insane......................

god dayum... that is some awesome stuff... thanks for sharing..

But 25k for the exhaust system... ouch..

love all the mines car.
even without that car coming with a roof, i still want it.

Some awesome cars!! All amazing in their own right. They are great shots of the Maserati Granturismo, capturing it's lines perfectly!

Sexy car.

that first utube vid is insanely wild, that tarzan driver is nuts

awsome vid thx for sharing buddy

wow awesome, thanks for sharing!

god dammmmmm!!!

thanks for sharing pics mate.... very jealous!!!

fantastic thread, great read thx for sharing.

Tanx for the replies guys, you are all welcome - that's one of the good parts about living here because I can let you all in on whats going on

Also a little hint - If you want to see high resolution shots of these two GTR's and its little brother the Mine's 370Z check out the coming installments of HPI ( high performance Imports ) magazine - the guy I was with yesterday shot the pics for a number of different magazines HPI being one of them...

I have a bunch of vids that im compiling now so ill load up once Im done.

Tell Dino to cover more of the GT-ROC and old school Japanese cars ...

pretty please

Haha, will do

Bump

lol, can i bump my own topics?

must... keep... it... in... my... pants...


those cars are insane, if only people had them like that over here..

Im envious....and as everyone else has said thank you for taking the time to post

Maserati FTW

Thanks for the replies.

Moderators can you please also move this to the Japan section for me?

Thanks.

As you can see this is no copypasta jobbie.

You make me so FUCKING JEALOUS!

holy crap, I think i have a sweet day when i see a r34 gtr roll past, you get to roll with the kingpins!!! That woulda of been a most memorable day mate!!

Its not my fault!



Living here definitely has its moments and for sure, that was on of them.

i like this thread... many sexy cars

$ FTW....Exotic GTR 35 FTW!