For most, it is seen as a lovely picturesque mountain with a gorgeous white peak. For me I wasn’t so lucky. As we ventured to one of the worlds best race tracks, Fuji Raceway I captured this image of the ever so popular Mt. Fuji. I love this photo of the mountain just because it’s not cliche. My point I’m trying to get across to each of you is how large the mountain actually is. Take a look at the mountain at the bottom of the frame, that itself is quite large. Looking beyond that is the base of Fujiyama hiding it’s beauty beneath the clouds. For my next trip to Tokyo I plan to climb it.

Building nothing but unbelievably well balanced cars, John Dollison from Ausoku rocked up with this midnight purple PS13 at the previous Autumn Matsuri.

2 weeks prior to the Autum Matsuri, the car was looking far from this, in fact it wasn’t even a rolling shell. The Kansai boys worked continuously day and night in preparing the car for 3 days of non-stop drifting I’m sure John got to know the car quite well during the 11 hour drive from Osaka to Nihonmatsu.

I remember working on some images one night at the Urban Hotel and hearing a couple of rumbling cars enter the street. Looking down from the 5th level onto a side street in Japan with this PS13 alongside Shane Bingham’s 180SX and Erin’s C33 was pretty surreal. Shortly after they parked up, a group of guys with a 100% standard AE86 parked at the local 7-11 sprinted over and were completely loosing it over the cars! I feel so privileged that I was able to not only shoot the car, but have access to the West course 西 回路 at Ebisu Circuit. It will definitely be a day to remember. I look forward to seeing it hit the mountain again in 3 months time for the Spring Matsuri!

As Nigel and I arrived at Nikko Circuit for the second time within 48 hours, we were greeted by an un-countable number of gorgeous s-chassis smashing around the track. Along with the SB Corporation S15 this aggressive, candy, apple red zenki S14 caught my eye as it dropped 3-wheeled entries into the first corner at Nikko. The car looked extremely mean as it clicked 3rd gear to link the back section. If only I could explain how this SR sounded against the giant cliff-face at the back of the circuit, so raspy and so responsive.

In the sun, the candy red paint sparkled a pretty orange colour. This is really what I was planning on seeing in Japan, I am really glad Nigel and I took the time to drive 170km/s south from Nihonmatsu to Utsunomiya. It was quite a shock seeing the circuit whilst travelling along the highway.

Right before the car reached the tighter section, the car was well on full boost, as you can see.

On the first day, we made our way into the centre region of Tokyo City, planning to visit both garages and shops such as Super Autobacs. The previous night, being our first night in Japan we were unable to find any accommodation, therefore we slept in the car in between a number of rice fields. Definitely one to remember. Arriving in Tokyo earlier than expected, it turned out we had about 3 hours to kill before anything opened. Most shops open around 11:00am in the morning, rather than 7:30-8:00 here in Australia. We took the time to walk a few kilometres around the city. Crossing paths with thousands of businessmen and women this image captured the early morning rush perfectly in my eyes.

On the way home from Nikko Circuit, Nigel and myself came across this card yard on the side of the road. The first car that caused us to pull over was this FC RX7, so we parked the car and had a closer look. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. It’s honestly unbelievable how many cool cars you see anywhere and everywhere in Japan. There where a number of cars throughout the yard, but it wasn’t particularly large. A number of JZX’s and a couple of RX7’s which I snapped off with the last couple exposures of film.

Jumping back in the car about to leave, out the back was the old BN Sports FD parked up amongst a huge amount of carbon aero. It’s so amazing seeing a car this famous just parked up in a car yard late at night. I didn’t have a pop-up flash or even an external flash on me at the time, so I’m really happy I had my little film camera handy to capture these amazing machines.

Having some spare time on my hands over the Christmas break means I can now sort through my images from Japan. To be honest I haven’t even had the chance to look through even a quarter of the photos I captured.

The first event we had planned to watch was the final round of the MSC Challenge for 2010. For years and years I have dreamt about spectating a specific team that generally take part in MSC, which of course is Team Magician. Early in the morning during the practice sessions I setup my camera and positioned myself in a spot to which allowed me to shoot the entries. Looking through the viewfinder, tweaking settings to suit the conditions, the Team Magician R32 suddenly made it’s way into my frame.

I immediately swiveled my camera around and took this photo of him exiting the final corner, almost clipping the pit wall.

After the first practice session came to an end I made my way up to the pits to see what other cars were competing. The first car that I saw was the Team Magician JZX110. There is no other explanation other than that I was lost for words. I literally stood there swearing inside my head. It is just a completely different feeling seeing these machines in person.

I really do have a thing for stickers, I purchased quite a collection during the trip. Check out all the stickers on the rear window!

As I wondered around, I noticed the R32 had been driven off on a truck. I was really thankful I got some shots of it before it left. As one team car left, another entered. This S13 was now the second member representing Team Magician.

After paying 500Y and receiving my media vest I climbed 4 flights of stairs to the top of the office building. From here you have such an amazing view looking down onto the last corner. This is by far one of the most favourite shots I’ve ever taken.

After some Yakisoba, the Tripple Class began. One of my mates from Melbourne was off borrowing my big lens to shoot girls. At this point in time I was stressing as I only had my 24mm on me. I also noticed another Magician team member in the middle of the pack, being the ever so famous S14.

I eventually found him and my lens. Here is a shot with the 400mm of Team Magician showing how it’s done. I tried my best to achieve the ‘MSC’ style photograph. Bit of a higher shutter and tight in the frame, this image is pretty much straight off the camera.

In between sessions I ran across the track into the infield along with the official MSC photographer. I introduced myself and we chatted for a little while before the competition began. I couldn’t believe my eyes, I watched a couple of laps and just couldn’t get over how close I was to the action. I was standing on the inside of the competition corner. It was actually really scary, but it was all worth this shot!

Lap after lap, getting closer and closer.

Both silvias got knocked out quite early in the competition, which was unfortunate for them. On the other hand the JZX was powering on.

The sun had began setting behind me which gave me some really even lighting! Here is the JZX in one of the final battles of the afternoon. In my previous post I was talking about the Run Free AE86’s which did extremely well in the competition knocking out the JZX from Team Magician. This was the best battle of the day.

This would of have to be one of the best days of my life. Shooting a MSC round in Japan at Mobara Twin Circuit with teams such as Team Magician. It really doesn’t get much better than this.

Casey.

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!