Remembering Japanese cars from the past

Month: April 2009 (Page 2 of 4)

5th gear on drifting

I’ve become a bit of a 5th gear fan since Discovery Channel is broadcasting it around “just got out of work” time in the Netherlands. So I was just watching a few videos on drifting by 5th gear.

Just compare these two videos by 5th gear:

And this one:

I suspect the first video is dated from somewhere near 2002 or 2003 and the second video is dated from 2007. Just look how much drifting has changed in those 4 or 5 years! The winning car of the first video would have been blown away by the Soarer Tiff Needell is driving in 2007!

Freak accident with a Toyota Corolla Levin AE86

It is no surprise I’m following the tuner Impulse for a while now and I spotted some videos by them on Youtube a while ago and subscribed to them on Youtube as well.

Anyway, they just posted this really old footage of an AE86 race (no date given) in which a freak accident happens:

The hachiroku right in front of their car just drives its normal lines and another hachi just does some weird action. Either the driver was very inexperienced (breaking while turning?? 😮 ) or he freaked out on the hachi in front of him and did a quick evading maneuver (couldn’t tell from the video) and bumps into the hachi in front of the Impulse hachi. The wheel of the hachi in front of the Impulse hachi gets smashed first into the bodywork and then on the rear wheel of the other and gets launched a few meters and flipped over! The Impulse driver keeps his head cool and keeps his distance…

Couldn’t see how bad the damage was on those two hachis, but it states that the race continued after this incident. Hopefully the driver of the launched hachi came out okay…

Densha Otoko would be proud

Densha Otoko would be very proud on this guy: he built a giant beetle robot in his garage all by himself:

The robot is shaped after kabuto-mushi (also known as the rhinoceros beetle) which has a big antler on its forehead to be used in mating battles.

His controller looks pretty complex:
RX-03 control box
RX-03 control box

However when we zoom in on the title of the controller:
RX-03 control box zoomed in
RX-03 control box zoomed in

Kabutom Ragio Controrea? Maybe that’s how it is supposed to be pronounced by a Japanese… 😀

He named his robot Kabutom RX-03 since it is the third incarnation of his robot. I wonder what Kabutom RX-07 looks like… Maybe something like the RX7 on the right?
Kabutom RX-07?
Kabutom RX-07?

Rumor: Toyota Subaru 086A may feature two different body styles

I really found this exciting news by 7Tune.com: the Subaru/Toyota 086a compact sports car is rumored to have two different bodystyles based upon the Legacy floorpan. There are two styles: a very sleek look (Celica T230 lookalike?) and a more serious boxy version.
Toyota Subaru 086a sports car bodystyles
Toyota Subaru 086a sports car bodystyles

Why is this exciting news? Well, quite simple: the Toyota AE86 already featured two bodystyles! There was the more sporty Sprinter Trueno with the popuplights and the more serious Corolla Levin and both shared the same monocoque and bodystyle after the nose. This to improve the reuse of parts between the two cars. This caused a lot Levins to feature Trueno taillights and vice versa.

Then there was the Nissan S13 platform which did the same trick as well but differentiated between the two cars by creating a sporty hatchback and a sleek coupe for touring. After a short period people started to do swaps between the two different cars, mostly because of damaged frontends, and most of these swaps involved a Silvia S13 front to be mounted on a RPS13 180SX and creating the Sil80. The opposite of this was called the OneIva but was a bit more rare because it involved a bit more work. (I know: in the US the OneIva came rolling out of the factory, but it is Japan I’m referring to…) Nowadays we also see a lot of Silvia S15 fronts mounted on S13s and S14s as well.

Nissan Stagea C34/R34 hybrid
Nissan Stagea C34/R34 hybrid

Also the Nissan Skyline GTR (R34/R35) front gets mounted on several cars, like the Stagea. Also let’s not forget the Bee*R R324 and R334 bodykits which allow you to mount a R34 on a R32 and R33. 😀

So, what will these two cars sharing the same 086a monocoque bring to us? Hopefully we’ll see the hybrid bodystyles soon enough! 🙂

Picture of the 086a bodystyles belongs to 7Tune.com and you can find it here: 086a rumors on 7Tune.com

Carina Sightings: Carina AA63 Sedan on Suzuka

Yesterday I found this video of an AA63 sedan racing on Suzuka circuit (west course). The engine is probably almost bone stock with a few small modifications like an open airfilter.

He does a quite good run but then runs into some slower (probably pit out) Hakosuka Skylines and then gets passed by a very quick 280ZX. Quite fun to see him trying to chase the 280ZX for some time but then he gets engine trouble.

You can hear around 4:12 some metal sound in the engine note and the driver probably broke something in the engine. Also in the comments it states that the engine broke, but it doesn’t say exactly what broke. He then tails the Ken-meri and another Hakosuka Skyline and when he enters the pit lane he immediately leaves the track.

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