Hisashiburi is one of those awesome Japanese words that condense a whole sentence’s meaning into one simple term. The literal translation would be something along the lines of ‘long time no see,’ but it also brings more with it. In this case I feel it’s been an eternity since I’ve covered an Idlers Games event, and as I was checking out the paddock at Tsukuba Circuit last weekend, it’s the word that popped into my mind.
Idlers events bring all the otaku of the Japanese track day scene together, which results in some amazing sights.
The best thing about it though, is that everyone seems to want to do it their own way. The more unique of a base car you build up, the more attention you will get in the paddock.
Take this late-’60s Mercury Cougar sitting among Hakosukas and Fairlady Zs for example.
This car was built to extract as much track potential as possible, and despite not being the sort of car you’d expect to see at Idlers, it fit in as much as it stood out, if that makes any sense.
It doesn’t matter what you drive at Idlers; as long as it’s the right choice of chassis for you, it’s perfect.
The mix of old and new Hondas was also great to see. There was a good showing from the DC2 guys, too.
I just couldn’t keep my eyes off this EG Civic; it has an aggressive and functional look, but doesn’t take things too far. This is the way I like to see cars prepped for the track.
The variety continued…
Shooting this event is always an exercise in car spotting. It was nice to see a new GR Yaris in amongst it, too.
As I moved to the main section of the paddock, I spotted the RWB 249, Nakai’s latest 993 build.
This thing is wide, and that whale tail finishes it off beautifully.
Still RWB related, albeit not directly, is the Real Of The World S15. Remember this Nojima-painted Silvia from back in the day? It’s great to see it still being used on the track.
The Nojireal crew was in full force, and of course the man himself never misses the chance to drive at an Idlers event.
While there were quite a few RAUH-Welt Begriff 911s in attendance, Nakai-san did not make this one.
I was expecting to see him show up with the 997 Turbo he’s been building, but I guess that isn’t done yet. It only gives me another excuse to drop by the shop again.
This is the only glimpse I got of the Auto Gallery Yokohama wide-body R34 GT-R. It did a few laps and then was loaded back up on the AGY truck.
Thankfully, it wasn’t the only GT-R though.
As always, this area of the paddock was made up of 911s of every type, generation and state of tune. I had a hard time keeping my eyes off this 996 GT3; it’s so simple and to the point. For once even, the headlights didn’t turn me off either.
Here’s another example – so much eye candy.
The air-cooled stuff really hits the spot, though. I can’t help but like them all – fro narrow-body, well-sorted C2s…
… To older generations of the 911…
… To builds with a little more visual oomph.
This 964 Turbo sounded as angry as it looked. It’s a serious track build with stripped-out interior, gusseted roll cage, and Japanese touches like the Yokohama wheels and stacked rear wing.
It’s a great example of what you can expect to see at this event.
But if there was an award for the best car of the day, I think Promodet would have taken it with this 930 Turbo. It’s sensational, starting off with a Garage TBK front bumper – just like the legendary Mid Night Club 930.
Love it or hate it, there’s no doubting that this Japanese take on 911 tuning is quite inspiring. I honestly don’t care what the purists have to say.
I kept pacing past this particular car, because I knew sooner or later the rear deck lid would be opened and I’d be able to grab an engine shot.
This 993 was propped up at a curious angle for most of the morning. From what I could tell, there was some pretty involved engine work happening out back.
Of course, Idlers also means drifting and there were some nice builds that showed up.
When international travel resumes and you find yourself in Japan wanting to check out a track event, the Idlers Games at Tsukuba should be at the top of your list. You really get to see so much in one single day.
The SL 55 AMG would be one of the last cars that comes to mind when I think of track racing, but Japan is always great at proving me wrong.
And as we saw at the Speedhunters x Hardcore Track Meeting, which was being held in the inner paddock area, ACR Performance brought along a couple of their Aston Martins. One was entered into the Idlers event and pretty much stole all the attention when parked up.
The more dedicated Japanese track attackers like to skip the whole modifying and developing that goes into transforming a street car into a circuit racer, and just buy an old race car.
This ended up being such a great morning out at Tsukuba. Now, when’s the next one?!
Dino Dalle Carbonare
Instagram: dino_dalle_carbonare
dino@speedhunters.com