Good weather, 3 drivers,  2 cars, 1 track.

The economy the way it is, front bumpers were removed as a cost cutting measure. 

AE86 lived up to its purpose, as we tweaked and (I) learnt more about handling throughout the morning.  Having a pro driver around is handy!

Ultimately no matter what we did, there was little too much grip for the 20V.  High speed slides were a bitch to keep on line. 

Some classic Australian suspension tuning was applied and problem ceased to exist. 

UPDATE: Video

The rest of the day was joy as we got comfortable and let loose.

Nobody else showed up so we had the entire track to ourselves which was perfect for photography from some unconventional positions at this track. 

S kept us drift newbies in our place.

Great company, great day. 

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Rain -> Wet -> Light Rain -> FOG -> Wet.
Everything but fine weather conditions throughout the race – Take home notes at the end of post.

The day was spent between the pit and the lookout over hairpin corner. 

UPDATE: Finally getting around to sort out video and Youtube.  Video of the startup and check procedure after last minute suspension changes (Only for the seriously keen). 

The amount of rain just after the start (Kageyama steering). 

Rain suddenly stops, but it’s still a pool. 

A little more rain to keep Tanaka on his toes.

Then the epic fog – safety car sees action. 

There are cars in there somewhere:

Fog lifts, Hoshino all out.

Although everybody expected the GT-R to walk away with the race due to the unexpected wet conditions on the weekend, qualifying and Sunday morning practice data already suggested that the race was going to be another day of data collection. 

In December, an earlier protoype of this car was running 3 seconds faster in the wet, on wet tyres, than the race winning BMW today.  So what went wrong?  The wet tyres provided for this weekend were of a different compound than those provided in December to cater for the vastly different track temperatures.  The tyres were so hard that the drivers were unable to get them into operating range. 

The clincher is that Hoshino elected to go out on full slicks and during his session and beat the entire field for fastest lap of the day. 

Gallery including some other randoms:

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No time for other photos today. 

Changing weather conditions meant struggling with the wets. 

End result 3rd. 

Previously not forecasted, it looks like it is going to be wet tomorrow too – oh the joys of racing at Fuji.

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Previous testing at Fuji already provided strong indicators of what time the car would do in qualifying.

Today, like yesterday, was used by the team to familiarise Hoshino and Tanaka (they have had the least seat time) with the car.

After getting a quick briefing, we went on lookout duty down near Dunlop and later at first corner.

The main rival for the day was this 911.  Blistering pace through the chicane.

Z3s were not as quick as the R35 or the 911s, but were probably sand bagging.

More photos of the R35 and a few others in action.

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Literally across the road from the hotel is this full spec racing kart course.

We had a go on the rentals before our afternoon meetings.

Damn professional race car driver.  Just over a second off his pace. 

SJ: 5X.546

Me: 5X.617

Auto Paradise Gotenba

http://www.apg-kart.com/

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Image: Nissan Motorsports International. 

Although only a test race, NISMO have pulled out the big guns – Kageyama, Tanaka and Hoshino. 

With rainy season due to start early next week, with a bit of luck and being the only AWD in ST1 it could be a walkover. 

http://www.nismo.co.jp/news_list/2010/motorsports_news/10003.html

Who is coming up?  Let me know.

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After no real dramas with the shake down of car #2 since early March, it was good to see the car out at Fuji for final data collection and competitive assessment.

With lap time pretty much the same as the top ST1 qualifying time at the Fuji round in 2009, I suspect an official announcement for entry into this year’s round soon. 

No time for photos, but GTR-World.net has some:

http://www.gtr-world.net/special-report/general/20100528-NISMO-FSWTEST.html

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Needed to get it out of the system.

Learnt a lot, picked up a few tricks, destroyed a front bumper. 

8 years since S had been out. 

They say you can never forget to ride a bike.

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Ready for shake down.  Pre-season, private this time.

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Mixed in amongst the Super GT cars during pre season test at Suzuka.

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