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Densha Otoko would be proud

April 20, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

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

However when we zoom in on the title of the controller:

RX-03 control box zoomed in
Kabutom Ragio Controrea? Maybe that’s how it is supposed to be pronounced by a Japanese… :D

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?

Games: Super Auto Salon on Nintendo DS part 2

April 19, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

Remember the Super Auto Salon game I wrote about a few weeks back?
I just found it at play-asia.com:

Super Auto Salon for the Nintendo DS
Since I already needed a composite to VGA converter I couldn’t resist to order this as well. ;)

Now all I have to do is ask that friendly colleague if I can borrow his DS for a while… :D

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

April 16, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

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

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
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. :D

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

April 15, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

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.

Rare Bosozoku cars: Toyota Crown S6/S7

April 14, 2009 / banpei / 0 Comments

This week we have a real oddity: a Toyota Crown MS65 sedan carbio:

Rare bosozoku car: Toyota Crown MS65 sedan cabrio

I only saw one picture of a bosozoku styled Toyota Crown before, but that was the same car before it became a cabrio:

Rare bosozoku car: Toyota Crown MS65 sedan

This is just the same as with the Galant Lambda: the car looks bonkers, as the Brits would call it, and it really makes a beautiful Bosozoku styled car. Als the MS75 hardtop is a good counterpart for the superfluous Ken-Meri Skylines we see too often… However it just doesn’t make it as a typical Bosozokus styled car because the car is lacking something: it wasn’t really meant for sports and racing!

Factory stock Toyota Crown hardtop coupe MS75
The Crown S6/S7 was the fourth generation of the Toyota Crown, however it was the first Crown to be marketed as Crown in Japan: previous generations were called Toyopet.

Factory stock Toyota Crown sedan MS65

This new crown featured the new 4M 2600 engine, which was the 2.6 liter version of the M engine. The older 2 liter 1M was also still available.

The Crown was meant as a luxury car and the Hardtop coupe was meant as a “personal luxury car” before that term became a hyped thing in the late 70s.

Factory stock Toyota Crown Estate (van) MS63

The Mark II (and later on the Chaser) were meant as the sporty cars between the Corona and the Crown. The Mark II did feature the 4M engines later on so it is understandable why the Crown hardtop coupe never really became a sporty car.

[I posted this article earlier today on Bosozokustyle.com]

Random: Google maps knows where Mt Akina is

April 11, 2009 / banpei / 2 Comments

Yesterday Hashiriya Exports posted a video on Mt Hakone and commented that Mount Hakone is well known as being Mount Akina in Initial D. I thought this statement was wrong and looked it up since I did find some footage of drifting on Mount Hakone some time ago and also remembered Mount Haruna being Mount Akina… I feel a bit like an otaku correcting someone living in Japan when I never visited Japan myself!

Well, apparently I was not really thinking well and I accidentally entered Mount Akine as search phrase on Google maps and I was amazed I actually got a result and even could get directions from Hakone to Mount Akina:

So which Initial D freak working at Google Maps did enter Mount Akina as synonym for Mount Haruna?? :D

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