shirtstuckedin meeting, daikoku parking area late 2018 x

三重県にカムカム旧車フェスタのトヨタ。フィルムで x

Following off my last blog post on the first day of driving the new S13 in Motorland Mikawa. Onwards from that Keisuke and myself were tossing up a few other circuits on the outer regions of Kansai to pick and drive. It was a decision between Bihoku Highland in Okayama Prefecture or Tokushima Kart Land in Tokushima Prefecture.

With stupid loud cars it was quickly decided to drive TKL over Bihoku due to their noise restrictions. Not to mention almost every single day of the week and year TKL is open for フリー走 which basically means free practice/running.

With another afternoon & almost all-nighter of preparation and over-looking on the cars we left Izumiotsu area super early after an hour or so of sleep and headed towards Tokushima. The showed route on google-maps said between 3-3.5 hours pending traffic which can easily make a simple-straight forward trip turn for the worst in Japan.

For the very few times I have been to Tokushima I have always thoroughly enjoyed for a few reasons. Wrapping around Osaka City, through Kobe and towards one of the longest and strongest suspension bridges in the world – Akashi-Kaikyo which links off the main island of Japan Honshu to Iwaya on the small, beautiful Awaji Island. Driving over it you receive panoramic views looking down towards Okayama on your right and Osaka on your left. The only thing that is a little depressing about this little stretch of road is the price you pay in tolls to go on the bridge however it’s an amazing experience in itself.

Directly after you’ll reach a parking area on the left called Awaji Service Area which gives you some spectacular views looking back towards Honshu and Kobe City. We stopped here to stretch our legs and grab some horrid-tasting Japanese black coffee and a cigarette.

As expected there were a few cars that rolled in just after we pulled up so fired off a few shots of this beautiful R31 Skyline on Hayashi Streets and XR-4s.

I once again rented a truck to bring my car. With a drive of 3-4 hours it’s always nice peace of mind having a truck in the group just incase anything goes wrong. Keisuke however decided to once again drive his street registered S15 closely behind.

Awaji Service Area is definitely a large parking area that is always beyond busy. Huge ferris wheel and plenty of souvenir shops.

After a 20 minute break enjoying the view and grabbing breakfast it was time to keep pushing on the Kobe-Awaji Expressway towards Tokushima. I enjoy this photo of all the cars ready for a fun day of driving.

A couple hours of driving, merging into one-lane highways, getting lost and getting stuck behind old Kei-Car drivers constantly we made it to Tokushima Kart Land. This circuit along with many others in Japan is really in the middle of nowhere and has an extremely interesting, tight and technical entrance especially in a truck.

I remember many years ago before I really ever came to Japan or knew where certrain places were or circuits consisted of this course has always stuck in my mind as a place to not only shoot but to drive. The gallery corner view. Looking straight down onto the circuit with a wide hairpin and a tiny palm tree planted in the middle. This wasn’t the first time I had been to TKL but usually with seeing courses for the first time in Japan it’s always so much more dramatic to see how steep and or tight the landscape really is.

If I remember correctly this course has been year around 40-42 years. I had a brief conversation with the owner sitting in the office and believe he has been there since day dot so there is definitely some old buildings, stickers and memorabilia around if you keep your eyes peeled. This is the little drivers meeting / briefing office painted in a contrasting pink offsetting the green hills pasted in the background.

The few cars we saw at Awaji Service Area on the way just so happened to be driving this free practice day also. It was basically 4 other cars plus Keisuke and I and drive as you wish. 8am-5PM for 4,000¥. You also have the option to start drifting again from 6PM-10PM for an extra 2,500¥. I know plenty of cheap circuits to drive but I think TKL takes the win.

Just like Motorland Mikawa this day was unbelievably hot, around 38-40 degrees if I remember correctly so Keisuke and I were pretty cautious in terms of drive time. With only a very few pit-bays undercover we were taking terms each session to get the cars under cover, pop the bonnet and poor a few solid litres of water straight onto the radiator. As cold as this climate gets in Japan it does the same in reverse, extremely hot and humid and can easily see why a lot of the cars that drive in this country have water jet sprayers installed on their cars.

Escaping the extreme humidity we jumped inside the ice-chilled office / restaurant for some lunch and a look back through TKL’s past. All over the walls are photos from a long time ago with specific events and meets that had been held there. I don’t think I got any shots of the photos framed and hung on the walls so you’ll just have to go and look for yourself.

After a few more solid sessions after some lunch back to back Keisuke ended up giving me a little nudge in my perfectly aligned and straight rear end! 6 or so hours of driving on and off with minimal sleep and next to no car issues again. Watching temperatures and letting the car cool down when it needs to is definitely worth it.

Stopping in Kobe for a coffee on the way back to Osaka. Will never get sick of drift cars loaded onto trucks in Japan. Simple things.

Thank you to Rob-San for driving, as always (L)

Another circuit ticked off the list in Japan, there are definitely a lot of closer courses within Kansai I want to improve and consistently practice on however it’s nice to get out of the area and drive places you’ve been living through online photos and videos for years and years. Below is a few minute video I put together of driving TKL, enjoy. F: 235-40R17 TOYO R1R R:265-35R18 KENDA KR20. casey xxx

in the night of DAIKOKU FUTO parking area. early 2015 x

october/november two-thousand-eighteen – now available online – CLICK to shop now x

the SHIRTSTUCKEDIN online store will be re-opening this SUNDAY 28th 9PM PST / MONDAY 29th 2PM AEST. more information to come x

information for our largest and most recent collection of inventory. full list of items that will be available for purchase in the next few weeks. all of this plus a large re-stock of all previous, popular items will be available also. date to be announced sometime next week. your patience is greatly appreciated. casey xxx

Building or renovating a house is an expensive proposition as every little thing adds up, whether it’s the material or labour costs. It pays to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve so that your budget is not wasted on redoing elements. Recycling old material or opting for D-I-Y features is another way to keep the costs as low as possible.

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i miss this car. fujiyama deep 2015 x

On one of my most recent photos on Instagram I asked you as an audience what you would like to see more of from Shirtstuckedin. A large majority of you asked for more photos and detailed blog posts so let this be a start of many years of photos to catch up on.

Just over 2 months ago I set off for Japan for a short 10 day trip to pickup my new car and attend a few events such as the annual Kansai All Stars GP in Meihan Sports Land. Returning over 7 weeks later, here is a little scratch of the surface as what unfolded. 

My previous purple S13 was sold in order to get into something a little more setup and not so cosmetically sound to ensure confident driving which was replaced by this yellow S13 that I purchased off Naoki Nakamura.

The first day I was there I began fixing and replacing a few things and getting it somewhat ready to drive with the help from the boys at Stacked.

Shane, Jamie, Naoki, Ryota all donated a bunch of left-over aero from previous cars that were no longer running which made the car look a little neater.

I bought this car purely for the reason that most of the engine and driveline were mechanically A+. Time is always limited in Japan which lead me to such. The engine is a rebuilt S14 SR20DET with a metal headgasket, step 1 cams, HKS GT3037 with a high mount TRUST manifold, intercooler, oil cooler, radiator, RB25 fan, 2 way, b-knuckle and that is pretty much it. I have driven a few previously owned turbo cars but never enough to get into the groove so this was all still relatively new.

From my trip last year with the beige car I ran TOYO R1Rs up front which definitely was the pick for this car. 235/40/R17 on a 9J +12 Rays 57D.

Including all the aero off Naoki he also granted me with his X-D1 Origin Labo bonnet off his old S13 which quickly founds its place on the S13. Here it is the night before somewhat looking like a car.

Alongside my new purchase Keisuke Nagashima from New Zealand purchased another car off  Naoki Nakamura with all means and hope to start driving with friends and relations we have met over the past decade from traveling and shooting in Japan. Keisuke bought one of Naoki’s previous street cars which happens to be a S15 with a few very simple and efficient mods.

After a solid week both of the cars were somewhat ready to go and we got the word from Takumi Yokota-San who is the owner of the N-Body S14 and newly opened Sky Motors Drift Garage located in Higashi Osaka area that there was a practice day on at Mikawa Motorland held by Garage Dual.

Keisuke’s S15 looking pretty under the gas stand lighting.

The course is located in Aichi-Ken which is a solid 3-3.5 hours away from Osaka. On this route you pass through many beautiful mountain ranges from Osaka Prefecture into Nara and Mie. Being so far away we both opted for transporters. Keisuke’s S15 was riding above Takumi’s S14 in the N-Body truck whilst mine was on a separate truck thanks to Ryota and Imamaeda. We left early enough to get a few cool shots on the expressway, simple stuff like this always rocks me about Japan.

Always plenty to see along the way.

First PA stop…

…surreal situation for Keisuke and I.

Once off the expressway through Shinshiro you climb a dramatically steep mountain to get to the top where Motorland Mikawa is located.

In a way this was and wasn’t the best day to do a shakedown. Middle of summer in Japan or typically before Obon (national holiday) is unbelievably warm and humid. I think the temperature topped out at 41 or 42 degrees celcius however it was a good test to see if the cars would survive or not.

With no expectations of how many people would be there driving or spectating we were greeted by many local members such as MCR Factory who are very good friends with the Garage Dual family. Some of these cars setups are getting wild, 255/R18 up front, higher and even more grip all-round.

There were a bunch more famous cars and drivers around the pits and on the circuit however I’ll save that for another post down the track.

Perfect street car.

It was a nice feeling having Takumi-san with us on the day who wanted to do some car testing prior to Kansai All Stars which was the following weekend. 

Being a strong competitor in D1 Street Legal / Lights Takumi is an experienced, talented driver and mechanic. With 12 years of Nissan mechanics under his belt as I previously mentioned above Takumi has now owned his own garage in East Osaka (Yao) to be precise. 

After a few sessions back to back with Keisuke without any faults this car was probably one of the funnest things I have been behind. With the car tuned by Neo Style in Wakayama Prefecture it was somewhat making around 350-360HP on around 1 bar of boost. I decided to run radials on the rear – KENDA 265/35/R18 to begin with before jumping into a stickier, grippier tyre just to feel the car out. 

After a bunch of driving all morning post lunch it was time for an unexpected ドリコン mini-drift-comp in which Takumi mentioned to Keisuke and I if we wanted to be apart of it. Having had 3 members with cars ready to go we happily accepted. 99% of the cars entered. It basically consisted of 3 cars in 3 runs back to back, super simple and fun and a great way to break up the regular classed, practice runs throughout the day.

Thankyou for the photo Kurt!

Following the mini-drift-comp we had a few more short sessions before calling it a day. With about 45 minutes sleep and temperatures breeching 40 we filled up at the bottom of the mountain and slowly made our way back to Osaka. Moments as such will always be amazing.

My original intentions for this trip was to pickup the car and slowly do a few things to it in order to get ready for the end of the year when the weather in Japan would be slightly more enticing to drive. In saying that after this first day of driving Keisuke and I both knew what we wanted to do and were pretty set to maintain the cars and get driving again ASAP.

Besides Keisuke’s car getting a little warm after back-to-back runs and my dump pipe wiggling loose it was well and truly a trouble-free day. Here is a little clip following Keisuke and his mid-mounted JAZZ manifold. I also have a little bit of onboard footage from this day which I’ll have to get around to and edit!

More to come xxx

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