Mazda Tuning Festa 2013 - 7s day

The Mazda Tuning Festa has become THE event for Mazda fans in Japan. The sheer variety of stuff to see, hear and probe is the real drawcard.

Tsukuba Super Battle 2011 - Panic Attack

It's time for the top two FD3s at Tsukuba's rev speed Battle. I think you can guess this car.

But it was a long wait until the big guns hit the track. Moist does not describe the weather.

Check the windows... a heavy breathing session...?

Laughing gas perhaps? No the Pan Speed car is like a space ship... It lives mostly in an anti gravity environment.

but when it touches down, it looks awesome!

Even doing 2 km/h it looks fast.

But on track it looks ballistic. Like a heat seeker.

Dunlop sponsored, the Pan speed car uses Direzza 03G tyres, which may be lagging a bit in the grip department compared to the other guys with super grippy GS compound.

Unlike those guys however, the TA2010 spec car is able to do 5~10 laps on each set. Providing a bigger reward for the driver.


That's probably the main difference in this car's times. so if you factor that in, it's probably capable of more. It's super reliable these days.

One of the few times I got the shutter speed and my panning speed to match the name's sake.

Back in the pits, some contemplation must be in their minds.

These cars run on a limited budget. You will notice pan speed use wheels from a while ago. SE37K etc

Rear brakes are ground back to make things work.

It's not your million dollar sponsorship deal from Mazda thats for sure.

Mazda spends more in America in a weekend on crap executives travelling to meetings and Mazdaspeed Demios and MX5 cup than it does supporting motorsport in Japan because there is ZERO tv coverage for any motorsport over here. The Sports car market is dead in Japan.

Has any tuner been given a Spirit R RX8 to promote the car...? NO!

The public is basically incapable of comprehending motorsport apart from F1 these days due to money going to a few tv execs who support the same tv actors for 30 years.

Mini-rant over, the Pan Speed team and all Japanese Teams need support...

Come on! Buy some genuine gear people! The AB-Flug / Pan Speed collaboration bodykit is now available.

Keep them near the front. They are fighting hard. '56.197 is awesome. But it's far from the car's true potential.

Tsukuba Super Battle 2011 - King St

I love this Pan Speed FD when it sits on the Regamaster EVOs. It's kind of takes me back to when I first got hooked on them.

 This is how the car arrived at the track. Dirty! Rain and brake dust do wonders for a yellow car...  like it was driven there.... hang on... it was driven there. Haha. Thats why this is called the "Street King"

Rain Rain, Choose the wrong camera setting on an overcast day and you get colour like this.

This is closer to the real hue, but this car's paint is a bit of a chameleon. Orangey Yellowey yellow. Check the ducting for the intake.

Anyway, the three beasts that form the Pan Speed demo car lineup these days push the envelope for tuning.

Water droplets and kevlar... Almost art.

As I wandered around in the rain. It didn't look like the car would see any where under 1 minute.

But then the sun came out!!!! BLING!

Swap the EVOs for CE28Ns and try some radial tyre times.

The track was still completely wet in the first session but a 1'02.532 seemed promising.

Small patches of dry line were starting to appear.

A swap to some stickier rubber saw the times drop as the sun rose behind the clouds.

Head out and try...

TE37 SL in flat offset and dish offset on the rear bring the car up to date.

And looking awesome...'59.741 is definitely fast for a street car. Now, I just have to work on my own camera pan speed.

Tsukuba Super Battle 2011 - Eat Bread!

WTF? Well, "Pan" is "Bread" in Japanese and 8 is whatever it is...

Hammer Down out of the 1st corner at Tsukuba! the NA sickness that is the rotor sound of the Pan Speed RX8 is unforgettable. Head towards the S curves at full throttle, the rear squat on this car is awesome!

The car is so low, that it seems to get sucked onto the track.

Through the infield under Dunlop corner, the cars require a balance upon turn in here with not too much brake and just a little lift.

I love getting the outside of cars in these shots as they roll a little on the suspension. Super low!

But when you are mid corner and there's still a little trail brake, maybe you missed the apex slightly. Time to reassess quickly.

The RX-8 is the unloved rotary. 4 doors were its life and ultimately death. the casual tourer but never the aggressive monster. Tuning companies have tried hard to change it's character. Both Pan Speed and R-Magic push the envelope.

Over fenders cover the CE28N nicely.

Squat and Tuck are words we could use here. Something about shooting in the wet brings great effect and reflection. But sometimes we still love that wet carbon shine.

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Tsukuba Super Battle 2011 - The Result.

 Tsukuba TC2000 played host to the Rev Speed Super Battle 2011. This event always brings the big guns out to fight for Tsukuba supremacy.

This day however, the weather would play a big part in the final outcome. Snow! Yes SNOW! at the start of the day meant temps were around zero. But the sun came out in the middle of the day to give an idea of what might be possible. But in the end a true time attack was not possible.

The early sessions were basically reserved for radial tyres and some sessions were all about creating a dry line with some entrants asked to circulate and create a dry line. There was a lot of drifting as cars struggled for traction.

I have some beautiful shots from this event. I was playing around with the DSLR, so you might see something different as I feature each of the main FD3s and some other competitors.

But for now here are the times. Remember these are on a wet track with only a semi-dry line. Revolution says there was 2 seconds in the track. So these times represent huge potential for smashing records within the year. Tyres again have raised the bar with many using two sets of super sticky compound in their main session. 1~2 laps of best performance.

Revolution TA2 - '54.713  (Best time ever 53.9)
Pan Speed T/A 2010 - '56.197
Pro Shop Screen D2 GT35 - '56.413
RE-Wing Street '57.651
Fujita Engineering Feed Advan FD3s 58.051
Pan Speed Street King '59.219
Pan Speed RX8 '59.741
Leg Motorsport RX8 1'03.847
R-Magic RX8 1'04.886
I's Factory RX8 1'05.367
Real Tech RX8 1'06.648

As the time attack season in Japan is only just getting started, you can expect some great times over the season.

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7's Day 2011 - Eco UN-friendly

Something tells me this FC is not driven much at night.

Or on the street for that matter. Lack of registration number, the odd bonnet latch, massive splitter and serious rubber all point to a capable circuit machine.

Cage and stripped interior in this very clean FC and that green colour does not mean Hybrid....It means GO! Wheels are gram lights with S-tyres for good measure. I must say, being 10 years since I last owned an FC, I'm a bit out of date with parts makers, but the front bar, bonnet and mirrors work well on this car. Rear wing looks like a garage BB item.

Just one of the cool FC3s at sevens day.