I say it every year, but for me there is nothing more exciting on the Japanese event calendar than the Tsukuba Super Battle (TSB). For over two decades now this has been the place to come at to prove what your car, shop and driver are capable of. This is where tuning gets pushed to extremes, where function takes precedence over looks and pretty much everything else. So you can imagine how disappointed I was when I arrived at a very wet and cold Tsukuba circuit the morning of the event.
The weather forecast was saying there was a small chance it would all clear up in the afternoon, but with snow starting to fall at 8 am, everyone at the event was looking pretty bummed out.
Despite this however, most people tried to stay positive, setting up their pits and prepping their cars.
The TSB is organized by Rev Speed, a magazine that has always focused on the more technical side of the JDM tuning scene. They always manage to invite some of Japan's most impressive cars, regulars like the ARMS S15 from Nagano…
…or ones I have personally never seen before like this sweet sounding Laptorr E90 M3.
Despite the rain continuing to fall, the organizers allowed the cars to go out on track…
…hopefully helping to disperse water from the surface and hoping that the weather would miraculously improve.
Nobody was going for record braking times obviously, but it did make for an entertaining few sessions. After all it's not every day that you see powerful tuned machinery sliding around in the wet.
Nice Power House Amuse tuned R35 heading out for a few laps.
Drifter Naoki Nakamura was invited to compete in the event, entering his D-Max S15 in the Open Class. Surprisingly enough, after a couple of sessions the rain stopped and the sun began to peek through the thick cloud cover. The organizers asked everyone to go out on track for as long as possible to help dry the surface and Nakamura was the first one out. He started drifting the S15 at every corner and it seemed to be doing the job!
It was still slippery but the times were coming down significantly. Here is the J's Racing CRZ on the limit of grip as it makes its way around the final corner.
Over the years the TSB has been attracting a lot of shops that specialize in imports like Hashimoto Corporation, who brought this mean looking Golf.
Here is another regular, the Autobacs ASM Yokohama AP1 which was entered in the unrestricted Open Class
The Street Car class had tons of entries this year and this was one of my favorites, Autech Tsukada's new R35 demo car.
Much like Under Suzuki, Horikoshi-san, the owner, builder and driver of the Exceed Moat S14 is getting pretty well known in time attack circles. It was great to see a privately built and run car make it into the TSB.
Pan Speed never miss out on an opportunity to get their cars on the track.
I can't get over how damn cool the R-Magic RX8 aero looks!
As lunchtime approached the driving got a hell of a lot more extreme…
…as the surface really started to dry up.
It wasn't long before the sun came out and began to get the atmosphere into gear! With surface temps rising there was probably going to be a chance for at least one or two hot sessions.
Tarzan Yamada, who was hired to drive the Garage Yawata R32 GT-R for the day, was looking very pleased once the sun came out and promptly got his shades on.
I'll get into the proper event coverage starting with Part 1 as I take a more detailed look at the coolest cars I came across in the paddock. If there are any particular cars you want to see let me know in the comments below!
-Dino Dalle Carbonare