Magic Black Box: Stillway's Time-Attack Evo
By Tatsunori Tsuchida
In the US generally three places come to mind when a person is asked about the capitols of performance: West Coast, hovering around Southern California; Detroit and the greater Great lakes region; and the East Coast, hovering around New York and New Jersey Area. Drawing parallels in Japan to those regions: New York would be Tokyo for its cool-straightforward attitude, and break-neck pace. So-Cal. would be the Osaka area for its laid back style. And Detroit's identity in Japan would be Nagoya for the sheer magnitude of automotive manufacturing that's done there.
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So imagine my surprise when an old boss told me about a shop called Stillway situated in the sticks of Himeiji. That's like finding a go-fast shop in Bozeman, Montana. Okay never-mind that analogy, it's more like finding one near Hearst Castle in California, which is a distant suburb of San Louis Obispo, which is a distant suburb of Los Angeles. So there is some semblance of civilization in these parts. But you get the point.
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| Did I mention Stillway's location is out in the sticks? |
Hidetoshi Seto, although young looking, is a slice of old world Japan; the eldest son of an agrarian family, he took on the family farm as is dictated by tradition. However, like many of his generation he was not happy with just farming and had other interests. So Seto built a tuning shop on the South-West Corner of the family plot. He takes a week off at critical times during the farming calendar to tend to his land, but otherwise spends the majority of his time tweaking on some trick rides.
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| Everything that bears weight on this car was relocated to the passenger area including various computers, fuel tank, relay boxes, and various fluid pumps. |
