Time for some more Battle Evome action from Tsukuba now with this final look at the event I attended the other weekend. You can think of this as a kind of preview of what's to come, as I will be meeting up with all these guys once again at the end of this month for the final session of the year. You can expect Under Suzuki and Horikoshi-san to push their cars even more, fine tuning engine settings and aero details to shave off as much time as possible from their already blisteringly fast laps.
The first corner at Tsukuba is one place I really like to shoot from as you see cars heavy under brakes on corner entry and then struggling for grip on the exit like this R34 GT-R is showing us here. The driver got on the power early, as you do in GT-Rs, and controlled the resulting powerslide with a little bit of opposite lock as you can see above. And yes, it was running a bit rich; the rear end was covered in a thick layer of soot when I saw it later on in the pits.
This low angle shows just how low the splitter on the Top Fuel Racing FD sits…
…but not quite as low as the long protruding wooden lip on the Exceed Moat S14 which, as you can see from this image taken on turn 1 entry, scrapes pretty much all the time.
Still you've got to get those front wheels to stick to the tarmac as much as possible right!
That's why it looks so mangled up when you look at it close, but everything is functional here, so a few battle scars here and there add to the character of this self-built time attack beast.
One of the coolest aspects of this S14 is the half-cut rear bumper and that massive GT-wing! No underbody covers or diffusers are used so potentially there is still a lot that could be done with it. As I mentioned in Part 1, Horikoshi-san was still getting a feel for his new 2.2L stroked motor and Hollinger sequential.
Aerodynamics is where a lot of these cars are looking towards to improve their times. When there is enough power, response and mechanical grip it's the way the car cuts through the air that needs to be addressed next, as is shown here by the M-Technic CT9A Evo 9 RS. On top of wider vented front fenders…
…there was a lot of aero magic going on at the back on the riveted on overfenders!
Evos have always been very well suited to Tsukuba circuit, their explosive power, magic AYC-system and short gearing making them perfect for the tight and challenging turns. The Evo 8 MR above was the "slowest" Evo of the day with a best time of 1'01"760…
…which is impressively fast for a street car. Looks good blasting around the track too!
The Varis/Cyber Evo/Garage HRS CP9A with Satoh-san of Asso/BE-Circuit driving, managed a 59'339. I'm sure we will see him getting into the 58-seconds soon!
The fastest Evo on the day was this Unlimited Works VI, posting a 58"787.
The Technical Auto Work 0.1t FD3S set the fourth fastest time, a 57"950.
More FD goodness with this RE-Amemiya car. When not out on track this FD was parked up in one of the pits making it very hard to get a decent shot of it. I'll be hunting this down at the next Battle Evome session!
And just because I love BNR34s of every color, especially when fitted with TE37s, here are a few more gratuitous shots of this beast.
The rear end doesn't actually look that dirty in the above shot, but it was covered in a fine black film of oily unburnt fuel and miscellaneous carbon deposits.
More GTR love!
With only four 30-minute sessions on offer, two for each class, the action was over pretty quickly.
While the remaining cars on track completed their cool-down laps…
…most were already beginning to pack up. You will be hard pressed to find a more action packed 2-hours than Battle Evome, which is why I can't wait to go back at the end of the month for the final soukoukai of the year. Make sure you don't miss it!!
Battle Evome coverage on Speedhunters
-Dino Dalle Carbonare