I found another video of the Import Alliance meet that took place here in North Carolina. It was a two day event at the Z-Max Dragway in Charlotte.
I’ll wrap up this year’s coverage of 86 Day with this pit walk video from Fuji Speedway. It starts off in the parking lot and then winds through all of the vendors that were present. It seems the Toyota GT-86 / Scion FR-S / Subaru BRZ has already been well embraced by the Japanese aftermarket tuners. There’s a couple of N2 cars from Crystal Body Yokohama and Tec-Arts and D1 FT-86’s from Up Garage and HKS.
In Japan they like to celebrate days devoted to some of their favorite classic cars based on their chassis codes. August 6th (8/6) is AE86 day. The AE86 is a Japanese cult classic because it sticks to a simple formula of lightweight, rear wheel drive and a rev happy engine. It’s the spiritual successor of the Toyota GT-86 / Scion FR-S / Subaru BRZ. The AE86 champions the saying “It’s more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.” It’s a completely bare driving experience in that the car does exactly what the driver tells without any quirks. This has allowed allowed the AE86 to be adapted to several forms of racing including a freshmen racer’s cup, Group A, N2, rally and drifting. Here are some of my favorite videos of the AE86 in action.
This first video is from the Hot Version division of the Best Motoring company. It’s from a celebration thrown at the Tsukuba Circuit in honor of Drift King Keiichi Tsuchiya’s retirement as a driver in the Japan Grand Touring Championship (JGTC). I like this video because it explains Tsuchiya’s racing history with the AE86 as well as the N2 racing series by Toyota Racing Development (TRD). N2 was the highest form of racing for the AE86. The car is still popular enough in Japan that TRD resurrected the N2 series and got Tsuchiya-san to drive the factory race car.
I promise to make a post about the RX-8 I bought for the EV conversion soon. Until then the quick and dirty details are that I towed it home and it runs perfectly, so I’ve been driving it around and enjoying my first rotary powered car. It drives absolutely amazing which has piqued my interest in rotaries in general. This video has been the best explanation of how one works that I’ve found on YouTube:
When you’re talking rotaries, it doesn’t get much better than the Mazda 787B. It has a 4 rotor engine with variable length intakes mounted midship. The 787B was the first and still the only Japanese car to win the 24 hours of Le Mans. This video was taken at last year’s 24 hours of Le Mans to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the victory. Mazda got one of the original drivers to take the 787B around a full lap of the Circuit de la Sarthe.
Motor Trend stopped by the Monster Miata shop to chat with Martin Wilson about what has made is company so successful. Long story short, they build what is essentially a modern day Shelby Cobra. Take a lightweight rear drive roadster and stuff a Ford V8 into the front of it. The only difference is Wilson’s team has decided to start with a Japanese roadster instead of a British one. Monster Miata offers a kit that includes everything from engine mounts, revised suspension and a Ford 7.5 inch rear end to Monsterize your Miata. Turns out they’re also working on an LSx kit. Can’t wait to see that one.