Team Mouse AE86 – YZ Circuit, MSC x

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 was huge! We arrived at Suzuka Motorland just before lunch time and before we knew it the boys were out smashing the track. To sum up today’s happenings I’ve chosen this above image, I managed to have some one on one time with these specific sprinters after the day concluded so stay tuned!

Straight from Motorland we headed into town to the local Autobacs and HotRoad car superstores, picking up some goodies. Just as we walked back to Autobacs from HotRoad we noticed a little EK hatch parked right next to our large group of beated up drift cars, we ended up speaking with the fellow and ended up having dinner all together! This car was fucking rediculous, I even went for a ride in it. Having to use 3 lanes to get across a train track in the middle of Suzuka was pretty interesting. Off to Meihan in 4 hours and possibly a USDM meet with over 500 cars in Suzuka! I LOVE JAPAN. Goodnight x

Now that I have completed my Behind The Scenes articles for Speedhunters, I can spend some time catching up on photos for the blog. Having a look through the MSC images, I found two photos of the Run Free Hachi-Roku’s engine bays. They both sounded unbelievable and gave the 400ps cars a run for there money around Mobara Twin.

My poor camera hasn’t been touched since I’ve been back from Japan. Next week there is a local bash on and I’m really looking forward to shooting again, although I seem to be lacking motivation of course, after Japan. Let’s see how I go!