I went to Japan and it was awesome
01-02-20 | 05:09 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 18
Likes: 69
From: NL
I went to Japan and it was awesome
So last May, my gf and I went on vacation to the holy land – Japan. I wanted to go there for over 15 years but somehow never ended up seriously planning anything. Late 2018 we eventually said “F it” and started planning what resulted in an epic 3 week road trip and an overall awesome adventure. We decided to rent a car instead of using the (excellent) public transport for maximum travelling freedom (cost wise, a car is slightly more expensive though). The trip started in Tokyo and ended in Osaka. My gf isn’t really into cars and although my love for the JDM initiated this vacation, we enjoyed lots of ancient UNESCO world heritage sites with the most amazing castles and shrines, forests and mountain roads (yes, with loads of drift marks), rural areas and less pretty but equally impressive historical locations such as the Hiroshima A-bomb memorial site. Then add the friendly people we’ve met along the way and mouth watering food everywhere.. Japan is just awesome and if you haven’t been there yet I strongly recommend you to go if you can – you won’t regret it. Especially when you’ve experienced the robotic toilets!
But let’s not get carried away; the car culture is like no other. It still is very much the Fast and the Furious meets Midnight Club atmosphere you’d hope it is, even today. We visited various small and large tuners such as Top Secret and Pit Road M, race tracks near our route, and attended a weekend night car meeting at Daikoku Futo parking area off the Wangan highway. While sorting out pics over the Christmas holidays I thought I would be cool to share the Lexus F related highlights here. Not all photos are the same quality due to a mix of SLR and phone use, but I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
As said we started in Tokyo. Where, like everywhere we went, you see the coolest 90s era sports cars, fully kitted out casually sitting in a side little street or under a carport next to a tiny house. Straight piped supercars roaming with their pink and yellow neons on make Tokyo streets even more enjoyable. For both Lexus and Toyota motorsport history, we went to Megaweb. It’s Toyota’s “city showcase”, a mega showroom with current road and race cars, the latest tech and a “History Garage” with period race and rally cars as well as perfectly restored (not just Toyota) road going classics. In Megaweb you’ll find 1IS and LFA race cars:
Fast forward a few days and we find ourselves just over an hour west of Tokyo: Mount Fuji. Although hidden in clouds most of the time, we were lucky to enjoy the entire majestic spectacular volcano from the Chureito Pagoda view point. Quite a view indeed:
We happened to visit Fuji-san during the annual 3-week Shibazakura flower festival (which we only found out in the hotel the day before!). Like the cherry blossoms (which we just missed), the flower festival made an already picturesque location picturawesome:
Turns out there is a little race track in the area as well!
I had actually checked the track calendar for any events in advance and although there weren’t any races or events on the day we were in the area, I just had to get that picture. And then we’d continue to grab some dinner since it was a long day already. Except on the outer left of that photo above, there was one gate open. So we approached it and asked (with the Google translate app powered by our rental WiFi hotspot – the absolute life saving combo for the entire trip) if we could have a quick look around the track. “Sure!” was the reply from the guard, so we entered the holy ground of F. And it turned out to be the jackpot. Because not only was the paddock full of people working on P8 Starlet race cars (I had a P8 as daily in the past) which quickly got me in the “kid in a candy store” mode, when I went up the pit boxes I literally saw this:
F yeah! Turns out we walked into a practise session for the Inter Proto Series (IPS), where professional and gentleman drivers race the purpose built Inter Proto Kuruama. And besides those, 5 IS F CCS-Rs were belting around! So I went down to the pitboxes and after explaining why I was drooling (and showing photo evidence that I truly own an IS F) we were invited into the pitboxes and check out some pit stops and servicing. How cool is that!
The CCS-Rs were doing over 250 km/h in the speed trap which was up to 20 km/h faster than the Kuruamas. The CCS-Rs were also 5 secs a lap slower though, showing the limitations of a heavier platform I guess.
So these are the rotors used on the CCS-R. Up front Project Mu 2 piece slotted items (labels state: “ROR.9101/47 CCS-R FL 370x35mm w/slot” and “ROR.9101/48 CCS-R FR 370x35mm w/slot”) as well as Brembo rotors with the same dimensions (label on the box reads “09852855”):
Close-up of the Carbing coolant reservoir and large capacity (see wider bottom end) oil catch tank near the fire wall of the red CCS-R #10. The plate riveted to the firewall reads “12MY-CCS-R-NP”:
The trunk shows a large fuel cell and reveals that the wing fully sits on the trunk instead of the chassis. On the white tape the dates, times, and refuelling quantities are written. The trunk is held shut with 2 spring latches:
A quick peek underneath shows the titanium exhaust system as well as tags on the lower arms. The red one reads “ -->R 15” and the green one “S<-- 20” which probably are the preferred or neutral suspension settings:
Interesting enough the rear rotors are one piece (stock?) drilled items and appear to also use the stock calliper with Project Mu pads. In the back we see a TRD 2-way adjustable coilover:
Up front Brembo racing callipers hug the 2-piece rotors with Project Mu pads as well. To help counter lift, air expelling openings have been drilled in the side skirts:
But let’s not get carried away; the car culture is like no other. It still is very much the Fast and the Furious meets Midnight Club atmosphere you’d hope it is, even today. We visited various small and large tuners such as Top Secret and Pit Road M, race tracks near our route, and attended a weekend night car meeting at Daikoku Futo parking area off the Wangan highway. While sorting out pics over the Christmas holidays I thought I would be cool to share the Lexus F related highlights here. Not all photos are the same quality due to a mix of SLR and phone use, but I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
As said we started in Tokyo. Where, like everywhere we went, you see the coolest 90s era sports cars, fully kitted out casually sitting in a side little street or under a carport next to a tiny house. Straight piped supercars roaming with their pink and yellow neons on make Tokyo streets even more enjoyable. For both Lexus and Toyota motorsport history, we went to Megaweb. It’s Toyota’s “city showcase”, a mega showroom with current road and race cars, the latest tech and a “History Garage” with period race and rally cars as well as perfectly restored (not just Toyota) road going classics. In Megaweb you’ll find 1IS and LFA race cars:
Fast forward a few days and we find ourselves just over an hour west of Tokyo: Mount Fuji. Although hidden in clouds most of the time, we were lucky to enjoy the entire majestic spectacular volcano from the Chureito Pagoda view point. Quite a view indeed:
We happened to visit Fuji-san during the annual 3-week Shibazakura flower festival (which we only found out in the hotel the day before!). Like the cherry blossoms (which we just missed), the flower festival made an already picturesque location picturawesome:
Turns out there is a little race track in the area as well!
I had actually checked the track calendar for any events in advance and although there weren’t any races or events on the day we were in the area, I just had to get that picture. And then we’d continue to grab some dinner since it was a long day already. Except on the outer left of that photo above, there was one gate open. So we approached it and asked (with the Google translate app powered by our rental WiFi hotspot – the absolute life saving combo for the entire trip) if we could have a quick look around the track. “Sure!” was the reply from the guard, so we entered the holy ground of F. And it turned out to be the jackpot. Because not only was the paddock full of people working on P8 Starlet race cars (I had a P8 as daily in the past) which quickly got me in the “kid in a candy store” mode, when I went up the pit boxes I literally saw this:
F yeah! Turns out we walked into a practise session for the Inter Proto Series (IPS), where professional and gentleman drivers race the purpose built Inter Proto Kuruama. And besides those, 5 IS F CCS-Rs were belting around! So I went down to the pitboxes and after explaining why I was drooling (and showing photo evidence that I truly own an IS F) we were invited into the pitboxes and check out some pit stops and servicing. How cool is that!
The CCS-Rs were doing over 250 km/h in the speed trap which was up to 20 km/h faster than the Kuruamas. The CCS-Rs were also 5 secs a lap slower though, showing the limitations of a heavier platform I guess.
So these are the rotors used on the CCS-R. Up front Project Mu 2 piece slotted items (labels state: “ROR.9101/47 CCS-R FL 370x35mm w/slot” and “ROR.9101/48 CCS-R FR 370x35mm w/slot”) as well as Brembo rotors with the same dimensions (label on the box reads “09852855”):
Close-up of the Carbing coolant reservoir and large capacity (see wider bottom end) oil catch tank near the fire wall of the red CCS-R #10. The plate riveted to the firewall reads “12MY-CCS-R-NP”:
The trunk shows a large fuel cell and reveals that the wing fully sits on the trunk instead of the chassis. On the white tape the dates, times, and refuelling quantities are written. The trunk is held shut with 2 spring latches:
A quick peek underneath shows the titanium exhaust system as well as tags on the lower arms. The red one reads “ -->R 15” and the green one “S<-- 20” which probably are the preferred or neutral suspension settings:
Interesting enough the rear rotors are one piece (stock?) drilled items and appear to also use the stock calliper with Project Mu pads. In the back we see a TRD 2-way adjustable coilover:
Up front Brembo racing callipers hug the 2-piece rotors with Project Mu pads as well. To help counter lift, air expelling openings have been drilled in the side skirts:
Last edited by Meurz; 01-02-20 at 05:12 PM.
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Popular Reply
01-02-20, 05:10 PM
Thread Starter
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 18
Likes: 69
From: NL
Also interesting to see is that all cars were left hand drive and equipped with 2 seats:
After a quick photo with the fastest CCS-R driver of the day (Takamitsu Matsui, with a 1:51.081 lap) and leaving the crews with Dutch cookies to thank them for their time, we left Fuji-san behind. What a day.
But with an overload of cool JDM cars on the roads you can spot a fat Lexus everywhere. If not in traffic like this slammed LC500 (didn’t see much hybrid versions):
Then various Lexus dealers in larger cities have an LFA in their showroom:
And not just “base models”. I even spotted the tough as F Nürburgring Package on one in Hiroshima. Followed by a casual IS F on the streets 5 minutes later:
My luck apparently had run out when we popped by Novel though. Since they were actually 4 hours from my house at that moment – at the Nürburgring, for the 24-hour endurance race. I could see their mean USB RC F (demo?) through the window of a closed door though.
So, that’s it I guess. Japan was awesome and we will go back for sure to see more of it later. The tuners we visited were proud of their work and we found everybody happy to show us around and fire up some 1000+ hp engines just to smell high octane fuel and nod in international agreement on the awesomeness. Don’t be put off by the language barrier if you speak 5 words Japanese like me, there are ways around that problem. Driving was easy with respectful road users everywhere (and Google Maps, lol). And even with a small portion of the trip dedicated to car stuff, it was still better than I could ever hope for! I hope you’ve enjoyed my little travel blog!
After a quick photo with the fastest CCS-R driver of the day (Takamitsu Matsui, with a 1:51.081 lap) and leaving the crews with Dutch cookies to thank them for their time, we left Fuji-san behind. What a day.
But with an overload of cool JDM cars on the roads you can spot a fat Lexus everywhere. If not in traffic like this slammed LC500 (didn’t see much hybrid versions):
Then various Lexus dealers in larger cities have an LFA in their showroom:
And not just “base models”. I even spotted the tough as F Nürburgring Package on one in Hiroshima. Followed by a casual IS F on the streets 5 minutes later:
My luck apparently had run out when we popped by Novel though. Since they were actually 4 hours from my house at that moment – at the Nürburgring, for the 24-hour endurance race. I could see their mean USB RC F (demo?) through the window of a closed door though.
So, that’s it I guess. Japan was awesome and we will go back for sure to see more of it later. The tuners we visited were proud of their work and we found everybody happy to show us around and fire up some 1000+ hp engines just to smell high octane fuel and nod in international agreement on the awesomeness. Don’t be put off by the language barrier if you speak 5 words Japanese like me, there are ways around that problem. Driving was easy with respectful road users everywhere (and Google Maps, lol). And even with a small portion of the trip dedicated to car stuff, it was still better than I could ever hope for! I hope you’ve enjoyed my little travel blog!
01-02-20 | 05:10 PM
#2
Thread Starter
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 18
Likes: 69
From: NL
Also interesting to see is that all cars were left hand drive and equipped with 2 seats:
After a quick photo with the fastest CCS-R driver of the day (Takamitsu Matsui, with a 1:51.081 lap) and leaving the crews with Dutch cookies to thank them for their time, we left Fuji-san behind. What a day.
But with an overload of cool JDM cars on the roads you can spot a fat Lexus everywhere. If not in traffic like this slammed LC500 (didn’t see much hybrid versions):
Then various Lexus dealers in larger cities have an LFA in their showroom:
And not just “base models”. I even spotted the tough as F Nürburgring Package on one in Hiroshima. Followed by a casual IS F on the streets 5 minutes later:
My luck apparently had run out when we popped by Novel though. Since they were actually 4 hours from my house at that moment – at the Nürburgring, for the 24-hour endurance race. I could see their mean USB RC F (demo?) through the window of a closed door though.
So, that’s it I guess. Japan was awesome and we will go back for sure to see more of it later. The tuners we visited were proud of their work and we found everybody happy to show us around and fire up some 1000+ hp engines just to smell high octane fuel and nod in international agreement on the awesomeness. Don’t be put off by the language barrier if you speak 5 words Japanese like me, there are ways around that problem. Driving was easy with respectful road users everywhere (and Google Maps, lol). And even with a small portion of the trip dedicated to car stuff, it was still better than I could ever hope for! I hope you’ve enjoyed my little travel blog!
After a quick photo with the fastest CCS-R driver of the day (Takamitsu Matsui, with a 1:51.081 lap) and leaving the crews with Dutch cookies to thank them for their time, we left Fuji-san behind. What a day.
But with an overload of cool JDM cars on the roads you can spot a fat Lexus everywhere. If not in traffic like this slammed LC500 (didn’t see much hybrid versions):
Then various Lexus dealers in larger cities have an LFA in their showroom:
And not just “base models”. I even spotted the tough as F Nürburgring Package on one in Hiroshima. Followed by a casual IS F on the streets 5 minutes later:
My luck apparently had run out when we popped by Novel though. Since they were actually 4 hours from my house at that moment – at the Nürburgring, for the 24-hour endurance race. I could see their mean USB RC F (demo?) through the window of a closed door though.
So, that’s it I guess. Japan was awesome and we will go back for sure to see more of it later. The tuners we visited were proud of their work and we found everybody happy to show us around and fire up some 1000+ hp engines just to smell high octane fuel and nod in international agreement on the awesomeness. Don’t be put off by the language barrier if you speak 5 words Japanese like me, there are ways around that problem. Driving was easy with respectful road users everywhere (and Google Maps, lol). And even with a small portion of the trip dedicated to car stuff, it was still better than I could ever hope for! I hope you’ve enjoyed my little travel blog!
01-02-20 | 08:41 PM
#5
Driver
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 78
Likes: 41
From: PA
Super cool and thanks for sharing! How about the funky mini-vans?! We went 10 years ago and those were everywhere. I was able to visit Marantz (audio) in Kawasaki, it was a fun time and hitting various Stereo shops was high on the list, as well as scoping cars. We stayed at the Prince Hotel in Tokyo.
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01-03-20 | 09:42 AM
#9
Awesome pics and experience! You really got lucky at Fuji Speedway. I loved Japan so much when I visited last year. I can't wait to go back.
Looks like you spotted that T-Demand LC500 demo car in the wild.
https://www.instagram.com/delta.7000/?hl=en
Looks like you spotted that T-Demand LC500 demo car in the wild.
https://www.instagram.com/delta.7000/?hl=en
01-04-20 | 08:02 AM
#14
I just came back myself.. Can't wait to go back again!
Your trip looks great!
-Josh
Your trip looks great!
-Josh
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Orange County, CA
Email: info@merakiautoworks.com
Text/Call: 213 394 2886
Website: www.MerakiAutoworks.com
