So, this year I’m 19 years old which to me feels daunting. Up until now I’ve done some pretty exciting things as a teenager, as most of you know I visited Japan last November. Over the 18 day period the memories will be imprinted in me until the day I pass on. Meeting random Japanese people from Daikoku PA and ending up in their cars smashing up the mountains the night after was truly breathtaking. Visiting dozens of tracks, workshops and shops was overwhelming for all of us, as I still sift through the images I find it hard to believe I was there only a few months ago.

The last week of the trip we were settling in at Nihonmatsu, Fukushima for the G1GP and Autumn Ebisu Drift Matsuri held at Ebisu Circuit. Travelling with 9 drifters from Melbourne, Victoria, 7 had purchased cars to compete in both the Gaijin Drifting competition and the Matsuri. The only 2 people that didn’t purchase cars were myself and Nigel Petrie. As we had 8 long days and nights at Ebisu, Nigel and I thought it would be more than ideal to drive the 167km’s back towards Tokyo to a little town by the name of Utsunomiya which is where the ever so famous Nikko Circuit is located.

On the Sunday night we arrived to Nihonmatsu, everyone except Nigel and I had planned to head to Ebisu to pickup their cars and begin work. However our schedule was a little different, we had planned to attend the JZX day at Nikko the next morning. Driving along the highway keeping our eyes peeled for the exit I noticed the humungous power lines sticking up beneath a number of trees on the opposite side of the highway. We literally screamed our lungs out. After getting f*#%d by the GPS we randomly ended up out the front a small workshop with the characters “IKEYA FORMULA” printed. Our days just kept getting better and better, we must have done a few good-deeds to deserve the things that come in our path. After driving in, parking and being introduced to the President of Ikeya Formula we sat down, had a drink and looked over the Presidents hill-climb 350Z and a few customers cars. Shortly after we were Nikko bound.

As we arrived a little later than expected, we only caught about 3 or so hours of the 1 and 2J’s screaming around the tiny circuit. After the day concluded we met up with Alexi Smith and Manabu Mitsumori once again to tea up a feature on his JZX 100. After shooting the car all I wanted to do was to lock up my camera and make sure nothing could happen to it to loose the data I had stored on that little SanDisk Extreme III 8GB memory card. As I was finished shooting both the JZX and Manabu-san I sat back, had a talk to Nigel and Alexi and watched everyone pack up their belongings and head home for the day. This time of the day is truly spectacular, I say it so often and I’ll say it again, I really wish it lasted longer than it does. The light is even, the air is crisp and the atmosphere is silent, at the specific time at Nikko I honestly couldn’t think of anywhere else I would of rather been.

I’m not sure if these images give the same impression as they do to me but I’ve tried giving you a detailed description to help. As these are some of my favourite images I’ve come across I’d like each and everyone of you to have the access to widescreen, high resolution wallpapers.

First image: 1920×1200. Second image: 1920×1200.

Casey.

Whilst visiting Wonder we couldn’t help but notice this glamorous JZX90 Mark II Chaser, which happened to be a clients car. The young fellow rocked up with his girlfriend and spoke to us for hours along with Manabu-san and a few other workers. This car looked and felt like it had just come off the floor, it event smelt new. There was simply not a thing out of place on this.

I am in love with the front LED headlights. I took this photo just as the car rolled out of the garage. It may be a little difficult to see the Midnight Rose emblem on the top of the windscreen. It was quite funny I spotted this, as the previous night street drifting in Yokohama Bay the majority of the cars had the exact same emblem, quite a coincidence!

An aftermarket shift knob, set of gauges, cup holders, DVD/GPS system, Car Modify-Wonder dished steering wheel with extended boss kit and a Bride seat. And, to top it all off, a girlfriend in the passengers seat. What more could you possibly want?

Manabu-san informed us that the car had been in for body work. The body-kit had been fitted and painted. The final result after a bath.

The car sounded unbelievably tough leaving Wonder.

Crossing paths with the ever so famous Wonder was completely unexpected.  Our last day in Shinjuku motivated us even more to explore around the city area before we headed to Daikoku PA later that evening.

The previous night, well I should say morning was a late one. After Daikoku PA we managed to get invited to a drifting meet at the docks of Yokohama Bay. As a result of this we were back in Shinjuku asleep at about 4:00AM. We had all agreed to get some rest that morning as it was our last day in Tokyo before beginning the journey up north to Tsukuba and Nihonmatsu for the D1-SL series and Matsuri. Waking up just after lunch time we lazed around the hotel for a couple of hours gathering our belongings and packing the tiny hire-cars to the absolute brim, by this time our stomachs were calling!

Driving straight into the city on the search for a noodle bar Nigel managed to spot Manabu Mitsumori-sans JXZ100 parked out the front of Wonder. At the time Nigel mumbled a few words unbelievably fast and twitched… Somehow I understood what came out of his mouth so I immediately went crazy in the back seat and we pulled into the next street.

Jumping out of the car, grabbing my camera I sprinted a couple of hundred metres back up the main road and saw this… A kouki S14 slammed on Origin DNA-02 wheels and a pair of R33 GT-R’s on the rear. The parks out the front of the workshop were filled with customers cars…

…Another customers car being this white C33 Nissan Laurel. In all honesty I can’t explain how much I fell in love with this car in person, this styling just screams out 80’s/90’s, I’ve always LOVED 15’s on larger cars. The C33 is powered by a RB25DE which is described as a Kaido Racer by Manabu-san.

I love it how the rear of the bonnet has been raised. Check out the 15″ SSR mesh.

I didn’t manage to get a photo of the back of the Laurel, but I noticed I had a video of the car and grabbed this screen shot. Take note of the exhaust. I wish I got to hear this thing.

And finally the Team Spirant AE86 driven by Manabu Misumori-san.

I am really looking forward to Spring Matsuri this year. I’ve been speaking with Manabu-san and by the sounds of things he will be driving the hachi-roku at this years Spring Matsuri in April along with a small group of drivers!

Casey.