You couldn’t have beaten the conditions at Tsukuba Circuit yesterday morning. Clear blue skies, a warm barely-risen sun and a nice and crispy -7ºC. Perfect time attack temperatures and with this being the final Battle Evome meeting of the season it was the last chance for a lot of participants to try for their fastest possible laps. After having heard that Under Suzuki had managed to break his record at the third round last weekend, I wasn’t going to take a chance and miss him getting into the 53-seconds. But would he be able to do it?
Before the first session got started it was time for a little group photo on the main straight. It’s also a good chance to show you guys the people behind the crazy cars that compete in this amateur series, all certified car nuts with a serious addiction to power and speed! Best part of it all is that they are all down to earth normal people, very welcoming and always ready to joke around.
With the action due to start at 9 am I had about half an hour to walk through the paddock…
…and take a closer look at the cars that had entered this final round.
With another soukoukai session due to begin right after, the paddock was divided into two, the area from Pit 12 to Pit 32 reserved for the Battle Evome entrants.
Most of the cars present were the same ones that came to the second round I covered three weeks back…
…but there were also a couple of interesting cars I hadn’t seen before like this R-Magic “05” FD, looking extremely aggressive with similar aero as used on Takayama’s D1 machine.
Horikoshi-san in the Exceed Moat S14 was the fastest car on the day, kind of hinting that Suzuki-san didn’t manage to better his own 54’162. The number 02 Silvia managed a 54’882, Horikoshi’s best time so far and proof that his continuous devotion to perfecting his car is paying off. These two Silvias are quite the attention grabbers as you can imagine and the Video Option cameras were out once again chronicling their adventures in time attacking.
A nice set of TE37s are always a great match for any GT-R!
It has been a while since I’ve seen the Arios Okuyama FD in action. These guys have created a pretty wild looking widebody RX-7 but haven’t yet managed…
…to extract its true potential.
No matter what angle you look at it from, it’s a wild beast!
Suzuki-san’s S15 was ready to go, propped up here on axle stands waiting for the RE30s to be fitted.
RX-7s are some of the most popular cars at these kinds of events; I spotted this particular FD sitting all by itself on one side of the paddock.
The “Pretty Teruteru” S15 with its unique front bumper was present as always, a car that is on the verge of braking into the 59-seconds.
More FD goodness.
The G.Work/Omega EG6 is a favorite of mine. It proves just how capable one of these little Hondas can be…
…when set up correctly. It managed a 59″743 yesterday and looked like it was glued down to the tarmac. I will have to hunt this down for a feature!
See, not all S13s are drift cars!
Aside from the most extreme cars present, most entries are street registered and are driven to and from the track, like this MKS Evo X.
Others, even if still sporting license plates run pretty wild aero which is a tad too extreme for the street. Wouldn’t want to get pulled over by the cops because your wing looks like it was borrowed from a Super GT car and risk arriving late at Tsukuba!
That’s it for this first part of the Battle Evome final. I’ll leave you with this picture of a nice A-spec FD I saw at the entrance of the main paddock. It looks so mean all caged up!
Stay tuned for Part 2!
Battle Evome coverage on Speedhunters
-Dino Dalle Carbonare