Twin 2011, more to come.

As I’ve stated in previous Japanese posts. The moment you set foot on the aircraft there is non stop thoughts about what Japan is going to look like, what cars you’re going to witness, what people you’re going to meet, more so on the first time you go. However, the second trip for me was no different, I was just as excited and will be every time I board a flight to Japan, period. There have been 3 AE86’s in the past that I think everyone are familiar with, the BRIDE AE86’s.

Our first drift day, only 48 hours on Japan soil I met the car in person. I’m unsure if you know but this car was actually purchased off the original owner a few years ago but still gets driven regularly. The current owners name goes by Kuniaki Konishi-san.

The car seems to be in the exact shape it was when the first owner built and drove it. I have to say it was quite a day seeing this little thing running around Motorland Suzuka. To see the full feature on this car, click here.

Here is a photo of Team ISE Works ☆ on the trailer after a full day of drifting at Motorland Suzuka. One thing I was surprised with was the amount of stickers and signs I saw around, especially on cars “PRAY FOR JAPAN”, “HOPE FOR JAPAN” etc. I even bought a few at the Wreck `Em Meihan Drift Day to show my support which is still stuck on my Pelican hard-case. As a matter in fact we managed to raise over $800.00 for the Japanese earlier this year so for those who donated I really appreciate it, well done.

Here is the entrance to Suzuka Twin Circuit off a main road just outside of Suzuka.

Last Thursday – 7 days ago I sent 10 sheets of negative 35mm film and 1 roll of black and white film to film guru, Christopher S Cain in Northern New Zealand. Day in, day out I have been annoying the hell out of Chris asking if the film has arrived and I’ve gotten the same reply the past 5 days, no. Today he sent over a file which was 0.5gb in size and asked for me to download it. He said he hasn’t exposed thing to anyone so I was eager to see. It turns out it’s one of the very first rolls of film I shot in Japan, in other words, the film has landed in New Zealand and Chris has started scanning and processing my images to the computer. From here on in there will be a lot of misc photos from Japan, still plenty of cars and drifting but also sights. First up we have this gorgeous shot of Fumihiko Ogita-sans Levin Coupe from Team ISE Works  ☆. Have a fun and safe weekend everybody. Casey x

On my last trip our first destination drift orientated was a little circuit known as Motorland Suzuka, which of course is located in Suzuka. You might remember my little post on our late night journey from Osaka to Suzuka, if not check it out here. On arrival we were greeted by the track owner and officials and 3 AE86’s, this one really caught my eye, however we arrived a little late and missed out on seeing it in action.

After the drifting had finished I was lucky enough to get all 3 AE86’s on the track for a feature, you might remember seeing them on Speedhunters. In saying that, I never posted any of this subtle one. Up front were a perfect sized pair of SSR Mark II’s.

Under the bonnet was still the standard 4-AGE 16 valve.

The interior had it’s rear end stripped out and filled with tires, a full roll cage and a deep corne Nardi steering wheel.

On the rear were a pair of 14″ Watanabe’s which I think were still on from drifting earlier that day.

Was very happy I got the opportunity to shoot such a authentic Japanese automobile on a little short and tight circuit in the forest.

This was the second night into our Japan trip with K-Tours. Here we are after a big night of preparing the cars for Suzuka for 2-3 nights. Right after leaving Shane’s we stopped into the local convenience store to grab some treats for the 3 hour driver and then some fuel. Here are some photos I snapped during the trip. Here is John Dollison filling up his PS13.

Erin Sykes from JDM Garage in his Kouki S14. The car has had a huge transformation and can’t wait to shoot it when I head back over to Japan, the new R33 GT-R guards on the rear give it a fat ass appearance.

Here I am hanging out the window leaving the service station after filling up. This photo is the back of Todd’s Type-X and in front half a dozen drift cars on a road trip to Suzuka.

Here we are on the way riding behind Todd’s slammed RPS13. This was before our first stop and before I took over driving from Buckna in his SR20 C33 Laurel.

Finally we have Shane and Matt in the Joy-Pop keeping at the back of the pack to make sure everyone sticks together through the toll points etc. I really do miss this.

After a full day of drifting in Suzuka we found this super low white EK Civic downtown. Before we knew it we were already good friends with Tamaki Ryuji and even got to feature his car. After shooting we decided to head from the UP GARAGE to the local Yoshinoya, I was even lucky enough to ride shotgun in his car.

Honda Civics are common cars in the drifting scene due to their lightweight and agile nature. Many enthusiasts also modify and tune their good used civic with performance parts and suspension upgrades to enhance their drifting capabilities.

Here is some footage from inside the car, listen very carefully as we cross some intersections on the normal road. For those wondering the car is static so it’s sat on coilovers and coilovers only, no air bag suspension or fancy setups like that. Enjoy

Continuing sorting through more photos from Motorland Suzuka I came across this particular one of TJ Waldon in his HotRoad Type X RPS13, this image could almost sum up why I love the Motorland circuit as much as I do, the surroundings and the amount of trees and natural things you have to work with is absolutely awesome. It took a few attempts to get this photo as the camera had a few focus problems with all the trees in the way, but this is pretty close to what I was aiming for.

I couldn’t help myself but to post another photo of John entering the tight, left hairpin down the back of the Motorland circuit. Here he is locking up the fronts managing to create some smoke through the wet bitumen.