Sifting through the photos from our first track day in Japan – Motorland Suzuka, I came across this image of John Dollison tucking the ripple strip down the back end of the circuit. One thing I loved about this course was the amount of natural things I could use to enhance and compose my images. I’ve always been a fan of John’s car since I first saw it at last years Autumn Matsuri at Ebisu Circuit, Nihonmatsu. I’m hoping to attend the same Matsuri at the end of this year too.

The first time we experienced Tamaki-san’s crazy Honda EK Civic. Rolling along the streets of Suzuka with half a dozen drift cars and this shakotan EK. After a full day of drifting, things couldn’t have gotten any better, I’m really missing Japan. I still talk to Tamaki-san on Facebook on a regular occasion which really cool, I look forward to catching up with you soon sir.

There are so many different positives to Japanese drifting however I think this is a major. Picture this. Arriving at a tight, short circuit based in the middle of a forest and hearing the high pitched revving of a carbureted 16V in a little hachi-roku. This was our opening drift day at Motorland Suzuka which is based in Suzuka itself, about 2.5 hours drive from Osaka city. The drivers name is Fumihiko Ogita and is in a team with another two AE86’s which goes by the name of Ise ☆ Works. Check out the feature here.

Over the past few days things have been relaxed, we didn’t end up going to Bihoku yesterday but we are tomorrow which I’m really excited for. Yesterday was spent recovering in bed after a big night on Friday, followed by dinner at the local Hard Rock Cafe downtown Osaka. Things got out of hand really quickly! Thanks to everyone who came! All the boys, Shane and Jesse with their wives, it was definitely a night to remember. Tonight we are heading to the owner of Car Produces’ house for dinner and then for a few drinks afterwards as it is Zac’s, Glen’s, Andrew’s and Luke’s final night in Japan before they head back to London (Zac) and Australia. I’ll leave you with this scenic shot of a beige 86 from Suzuka Motorland a few weeks ago.

Today being our first day was pretty full on. As soon as we woke up from only a couple hours of sleep we headed straight into the heart of Shinsaibashi whilst the remainder of the group headed to Shane Bingham’s workshop to work on their cars in preparation for the events coming up. We started the day off with a mouth watering bowl of rice and shredded beef which was amazing, keeping us filled until the mid / late afternoon a set of Gyoza’s went down perfectly. Japanese food is by far my favourite, I’m looking forward to experiencing some different things on this trip! After wondering around Shinsaibashi for the majority of the day Erin from JDM Garage picked us up to head to Shane’s to meet up with the rest of the crew. After a few hours at the shed we began the trip from Osaka to Suzuka with a total of 9 cars, 7 of them being low, loud track cars. We arrived in Suzuka about 45 minutes ago (5:00AM) and the sun has just risen. In a few hours we will be visiting Suzuka Twin Circuit for a practice track day. We are set here in Suzuka for the next 3 nights so I’ll do my best to keep you up to date! x