I’ll wrap up this year’s coverage of 86 Day with this pit walk video from Fuji Speedway. It starts off in the parking lot and then winds through all of the vendors that were present. It seems the Toyota GT-86 / Scion FR-S / Subaru BRZ has already been well embraced by the Japanese aftermarket tuners. There’s a couple of N2 cars from Crystal Body Yokohama and Tec-Arts and D1 FT-86’s from Up Garage and HKS.
Best Motoring is a Japanese organization that puts out DVD’s where they review both factory and aftermarket tuned cars. Their roster of drivers and presenters consists almost exclusively of world class professional drivers that compete in the Japanese Grand Touring Championship (JGTC). One of the reasons I enjoy their DVD’s so much is that they test everything through wheel to wheel racing. The car lineups are always varied and interesting with themes like Turbo vs. NA, Lightweight vs. Power, AWD vs. 2WD and VTEC club battles to name a few. One of their favorite races to set up is Japan vs. the World. It works just like it sounds. They’ll take the fastest car that the Japanese automakers have to offer and put their oldest and craziest drivers behind the wheel. The rest of the guys will fall in with the latest and greatest from Europe and America. For many years, the Japanese cars were handicapped by the gentlemen’s agreement between all of their automakers that limited power output to 280hp. During this period, the Japanese had to try and hold their own against powerful European super cars with chassis balance since power wasn’t an option. Being represented by the driver most willing to take risks on track didn’t hurt, either. This Super Battle at the Twin Ring Motegi is the best example of one of these Japan vs. The World races that I can find: