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| Throwing flames… |
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| …and a quick peak under the hood |
Kiyo-san made a couple of changes to the setup of the car and there were some main issues to resolve – final gear ratio, suspension and brakes. The car was fitted with new Endless NC30 brake pads and the owner was worried they wouldn't be any good, so he brought his old ones just in case he needed to change them back. They turned out to perform better than expected and combined with the adjusted damping force of the shock absorbers performance was very satisfying. Once he felt good about the brakes, he could push it more in the second run. Breaking the 57-second barrier was the goal and the fact that he did it with used tires, warming them up with a halogen heater before the race was amazing.
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Following it was the T-One’s car, also with a 57-second time. Few people would get out of bed as early as 4AM on a Sunday, but time attack enthusiasts are doing it with a smile, just as the owner of the orange RX-7, being sick on top of that. I guess racing fever is stronger than the real one. Can’t let months of work go to waste because of a cold, right?
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| There were some more interesting brightly colored rotaries… |
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| …like the RE Amemiya FDs, fastest of them being the blue Doraemon RX-7 with a best lap time of 58”4. |
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| The owner was not very happy with his time, he was hoping to be in the 57-second lap range. |
This concludes Part 1 from Tsukuba. In part 2 we have more pictures from the awesome cars at the circuit as well as some of the machinery on hand from the parking lot itself.
