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Japan Log - Inside Mines, Omori Factory, Hks Privateer Day Sugo Sports Land - Sendai Highland Doricon - Top Secret, Apexi


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reetings from Japan people.

While Steve N1GTR snores his ass off behind me preventing me from sleeping (I have never heard anyone snore as loud as Steve and i now have video of him sounding like a blow off valve) i thought i would take the time to throw up a few pictures from the journey.

I have never bothered doing any picture logs or anything before though having brought Steve along with me i will share the antics and views that some may not ever get to see.

This trip: Captains log: Date 20th May

Arrived at Narita late and stayed in Shinagawa for ease of lugging the bags for the near month long trip.

Thursday we went to Nismo's Omori Factory and proceeded to buy them out of accessories which will be available upon my return.

Lanyards, Jackets, Shirts, R35 GTR Gloves, R35 GTR coin wallet, R35 GTR wallet, Alacantra registration and manual book cases (beautiful), R35 GTR Money Clips, R35 GTR Card Cases here: SHOP

Dealing with Omori and Ginza regularly we were welcomed into the workshop which is usually prohibited to guests and were able to get a look inside the workshop which rumors are correct, the place is clean enough to eat off the floor.

Omori Factory 21st May

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This poor girl below was in the corer of Omori Factory because there was simply no more space for it to go elsewhere so the mechs have a nice bit of memorabilia to keep them motivated and super fun happy mechanics.

We didn't have enough time to venture out to the main workshop as we were lagging from the flight. Will blame on Steve anyway, why not.

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^^^Tried to buy it...........Failed

Nismo is a bitter reminder of the 99.9% of shocking Australian workshops taking no pride in their surroundings.

If there was a target to try and achieve in workshop cleanliness Nismo take the prize clearly.

MINES 22nd May

We went to Mines so that i could get as many photo's as i could for the products soon to be listed for previous generations of Skylines as well as the GTR.

Steve wet his pants when he was introduced to Michizo Niikura (Mines CEO) who very kindly waited for us to arrive (we were late again, its hard to sleep for reasons already explained and below in a snipet :) ), which prompted all kinds of travel hysteria pre and post visit. Mines Sales and Marketing gun Noriaki Nagahama spent half a day with us going over new products and plans for the company and once again with Nismo, we were shown a comforting hospitality unlike any other country.

Below are some pictures of display, engine builds, storage etc.

Along with the Mines items we already stock for the R35 GTR a lot more are soon to come so stay tuned.

I also have thousands of pictures already from the cities and being in Japan for another 20 days there will be lots more so i will upload them as i have time.

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This would prompt some very exciting news and perhaps a hint at something being in the works very soon.

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And this RRR hiding in the engine holding room waiting for a powerhouse to be made by Mines:

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Spotted this little gem on the way

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Once again still no sleep from Steve snooring.

Will put up a few video's soon

One he sounds like a blow off valve - turbosmart

Darth Vader

Another one so loud it causes nightmares before i inevitably wake up wanting to jump out the window.

SUGO SPORTS LAND HKS PRIVATEER DAY

Arrived late again from Sendai, same reasons.

I was permitted to be in the SUGO guest lounge on the 4th floor of the main tower giving me a great view of the last corner and all up and down the straight as below in the photo's.

There were some very tough cars there and it was a very nice day given we were very few visitors so going around the pit area and track the guys made us very welcome to have a look at their weapons of choice.

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For Chris zee MXsuperfunhappyfanowner1memberclub, on a tow truck ready to be taken to the .... haha

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Bad Domo

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This white R34 GTR was the quickest of the closely followed by a time bomb i mean blowta ROTOR RX7

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As you can see.

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There are so many photo's and so much video, already in 3 days there is well over 1000 photos and 10gig of HD video.

So i will effort to get it up though maybe provide links instead of pictures in mass volume to avoid breaking SAU.

NEW Updated today 27th May

Sendai Hi-Land Raceway DORICON GP

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Shortly after arriving at Sendai Highland raceway we were confronted with a small amount of hysteria.

There was a private bike club drag way which has the over run trap at the end of the strip which directly joins onto the small drift track.

Sadly a rider over shot the drag strip unable to slow down and crashed into the tires and onto the drift track which held up the show.

I have a 1700 pictures form the day so i figure when i get back i will just shoot up an album instead of cluttering SAU as i explained above.

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Not being able to sleep i thought i would use the time to actually write some dribble about the trip.

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Again there is no escape the 24/7 Steve FM's top 100 snoring hits.

I am slowly sinking deeper and deeper into a state of insomnia that will only be cured by his departure from Japan........ I hope.

We were supposed to go to Top Secret today the 26th of May but actually getting to sleep at 7 in the morning the morning on the day i thought stuff it if we don't make it today i will simply go back when Steve is back in Aus at least then the 2 and a half hour train ride from Shinjuku will be one i won't hold a high amount of resentment for Steve for keeping me awake attuned to Radio Steve's greatest hits snoring 24/7. lol aaaaaaaaanyway So it was too late when we got there having a few wrong turns here and there. Namely shocking directions from our Hotel Supervisor which appeared to speak fairly good English and understood my Auction report and dealing Japanese though sadly it was just a ill hidden guise and she had steered us in the complete opposite f**king direction, which was ok because for the last 6 days i had been obsessed with a book i was reading and didn't care about the 5 hour stuff up finishing it. Steve on the other hand had the poopies. All in all though my reasons for going to these places are different to Steve so i cant hold it against him for wanting to drewl on the Super Fun Happy Mega Speed Highway Supra. Definitely though i haven't laughed quite as much in a long time and our antics will soon be shown on HD recordings to kill your monthly bandwidth allowances if you care to watch them.

Once again though, no sock is large enough to contain the snoring. Its f**king funny though, the sounds that come out, with the cast totaling around 8 different sounds from movies, cars, a lion, and an elephant its starting to get interesting. lol

Next will be putting things in strategic places to manipulate the sounds to see what sort of symphony performance i can put together at the end of it.

One chap that truly caught my attention was named Uno.

I had a sneaking suspicion that the camber on his front wheels was constantly changing when going over different gradients and from side to side. And with the thought of the technical advances coming through with suspension could this young driver of a beaten up car have something noone else had? It was falling apart at the seems literally you will see.

His 180SX had been with him for years and true to the code wore his car with a pride even though it looked like it had just been flown off a cliff which i was told it also had experienced.

By the looks of this car he had more than one life which does his name a lot of justice and what he had done to keep on getting out there was nothing short of genius in its simplest form.

The thing was held together with spanners. Literally.

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Amazing huh.

The funniest part is the way he gets the car to the track is with the Japanese version of a trade plate.

He has also never been pulled over and early next month i am hoping to meet up with him back in Sendai for some mountain drifting in his Chaser.

Whilst there i quickly befriended a French editor of his countries Drift magazine who was paid to live breath and eat drift/track days and report back with material and pictures for what he admitted to be a small but eager audience.

Apart from ^ Jason i was the only other person there with a decent camera which was a little surprising though i will be sure to meet up with him later on in the year for D1.

Another surprise was the arrival of D Style owner and crew for the finish which Jason quickly introduced me to as a crazed Australian drifting, performance parts owning kangaroo fighter that loves his barbecue's which confused him to the point that he fell over laughing. Again will be seeing him at a later date. I don't like barbecue's that much.

There were a few other friends of Jason that i had to meet and one was a master of fabrication the likes not many Australian's would strive for.

A completely modified chassis rail, cage setup, carbon fiber fused roof, quarters, pillars, the thing was a piece of art transformed from a drag car with its T51R SPL RR laying on the ground to a full out ground up custom circuit car.

These garages are rented a the track for 10000 Yen a year, like most of you i wish i had 11, no 12.

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It was funny with Hi-land the whole park.

It almost seemed as if to be owned by a father with a growing son.

"Dad i want a theme park." "Ok son" Bam here you go.

"Dad i want to ski down our mountain." "Ok Son" Bam here you go have a ski lift with lodge.

"Dad i like Gocarts can i have a track?" "Ok Son" Bam a couple of Gocart tracks.

"Dad im getting caught speeding can i have a drag track?" "Ok son" Bam Sendai dragway.

"Dad im sick of this straight line bullshit i want corners." "Ok son" Bam here is Sendai Hi-Land circuit.

"Dad i keep just spinning the wheels perhaps a drift track is in order as i keep going too fast and crashing into the walls maybe something smaller would be suitable?" "Ok Son" Bam a drift track.

"Dad im sick of the smell of rubber and i have been driving the cars through the bush a lot at the top of the Ski ramp that-" "OK SON TAKE THE KEYS TO THE TRACTOR AND PLOUGH SOME DIRT FOR A RALLY TRACK!!! Bam?

"Dad im si-" f**kit take the place and do what you want with it im sick of your shit son" Winner.

I thought about that for a while and actually laughed out loud at my innocuous mind joke as i was wandering around the place.

The walk back we got a lot of video and it literally would have taken half an hour to get from the drift track to the top so we did as any normal Australian's would, we took a short cut and crossed the drag strip :)

Video will be put up later.

At the staging lights the guys from this morning's bike crew were still around with Police answering questions and the Hi-Land staff quickly arranged a bus to take us to the train station. Amazing, the hospitality from a 1000 Yen ticket was to no end.

On another note we got a ride in a Police car to Shinjuku station where for some reason they had to slice through traffic at 5 million kph screaming excuse me GTFO of the way please on the loud speaker as we catapulted through intersections and up taxi's asses like a bear on heat.

All in all the last couple of days scare me with what is to come on this trip.

No comment on that.

Somewhere in there we went into the belly of Rupongi one night and if anyone ever wondered what all of those Nigerians do with the money they scam out of stupid humans hoping to score the inheritance of thier long lost 14th cousin on your mothers fathers side you need look no further than this buzzing little gem of a city.

There are more strip clubs and borderline brothels then you could poke a stick at and the majority are owned and operated by the bastards.

In the streets of even Shinjuku's red district they are like locusts grabbing you by the arm asking if you like girls.

Tonight was funny being fed up with the Nigerians as we were hoping for just a stroll to make us tired and to talk so we had a laugh giving excuses and speaking Polish until one caught me and told me he heard me speaking English down the road, I was thinking did this guy have bionic ears or what? And what a rude prick for questioning me.

So still walking away as he followed another Japanese living friend of mine and i, i mouthed off at him like a trooper questioning his mothers motives for breeding and having a parasite of a son. After that we ventured out to Shibuya had some drinks and up into some twistie's we went for some Touge and to watch others sacrifice their cars with another friend.

Thankfully we were not shot at while out, either his bionic ears were turned off or he silently agreed with me, another trip to the Police station would have been shit at this time of night so I went back to the hotel and friend went home before we were dead or never to be found again buried under some rice patty some where in the low lands creating a new taste of rice crossed between lime/lie and the other other white meat.

Top Secret / 27-5 NEW

Not one wink of sleep again though today we went down to Top Secret to speak with Hyobu Shibuki to discuss the new R35 GTR parts range and stock. (heaps more snoring video)

I also took the opportunity to get a bit of Top secret clothing which is now listed here:

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Ge...ts-t272073.html

Having wiped them out of stock as well for the clothing items listed there will be yet again more of a wait for stock after they recoup though a new list of parts will be up in the coming days for Top Secret and stock will soon be landing in AUS.

Unluckily the garage was closed at this time though it didn't stop us from being entitled to a close up of everything inside.

Upon entering we were led to believe only a couple of customers cars were inside but there was an obvious smirk of surprise on Hyobu Shibuki's face.

Once the doors were opened we were faced with the R35 GTR, Top Secret D1 350Z which is for sale if anyone is interested, please contact us. The super mega land speed Supra and other WMD's.

There was Shibuki-San's wide body supra which is an odd 800 hp and the combined total of wheel horsepower in the place could surely shift the Earth off its axis along with the cars outside.

There was also the old Supra relic down the side which i remember being there from years ago and still has not moved.

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Dirty old dinosaur

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Its the marble score of 20 Mr Wagyu himself.

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Kind of has the "i clean toilets look" about him. lol

Once again way too many photo's

The days are coming soon when these here pages are covered in Steve snoring.

Currently though a 2 minute caption takes up 400mb with the HD 1080 camera i have so a lot editing is required.

To take the unfair leverage i have over Steve and the mass amount of snoring video i have over him i think there should be a poll as to weather i should add him to the Internets vast black hole so everyone can lose hours of sleep a night listening to the ever changing snoring radio station 24.7 Steve FM. haha

  • 4 weeks later...
great read, awaiting snoring vids :)

Pfffft, a fly would wake him up

Awesome, I especially like the look of that Datsun 1200, it's hard to find pics of nice JDM ones like that!

You have no idea how clean it was

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