モーターランド鈴鹿で中村直樹WTACマシンのシェイクダウン
October 4th, 2018
You might remember a few weeks ago some videos going viral from Nakamura Naoki’s newest S15 being tested for the first time. Being there and driving with Keisuke, Jamie and Nishio I decided to have a small break when Naoki and Miki showed up just to get some shots of the car prior being loaded to Australia for this years WTAC drift challenge next week in Sydney Australia in which he will be competing in. The initial plan was to head down to Okayama Prefecture to Bihoku Highland Circuit so the car could get up to speed and under some pressure properly however due to the multiple typhoons that hit Honshu over the last few months it was Motorland Suzuka that managed to stay mostly dry.
The newly painted S15 chassis – a 3 color fade painted by Naoki himself welcoming red up front for his newest and largest sponsor VALINO tires fading into pink and purple for the true N-Style feel. This is the same body that he has previously been driving in such as Kansai All Stars in 2017 etc. A few months prior to this day the SR20DET was removed and a 1000HP T88 2JZ that was purchased straight out of a Toyota Aristo, backed up with a holinger gearbox all tuned and set by Garage REMS.
Enjoy the images
This was the first time Nishio from Otokichi Family in Mie had seen the car also.
Shane Bingham from Stacked Inc always by Naoki’s side helping wherever and whenever he can maintain and prep cars.
A strong combination of grippy Valino tires, soft and forgiving Stance coilovers and Naoki’s insanely aggressive, snappy driving this car lifting wheels off the ground everywhere.
Apart from a water hose popping off after 3-4 sessions and whatever tires were bought there car was somewhat faultless. I have been shooting and spectating Naoki drive for around 8-9 years now and this was one of the fastest and grippiest cars I have probably seen run, period. I wish him all the best at WTAC! If you didn’t get a glimpse of the videos check them out on the SHIRTSTUCKEDIN instagram x
Panning will always be a technique that takes decades to master, after 6 years of shooting I wouldn’t consider myself being anywhere near to as good as I want to be, but practice makes perfect! That’s exactly what I’ve been doing the past few days out at Queensland Raceway, not only the drivers testing for the WTAC, but also myself with the camera. This particular photo was taken at 1/4th which was pretty surprising. Canon EOS-1D MarkⅡI EF400mm f2.8 ISUSML
Today was a great day, I had the honour of hanging out with the guys from Mercury Motorsport and to document a day of testing for this years World Time Attack which is only just over a week away, how scary! The R35 GT-R is currently on a safe tune at 500 KW at all 4 wheels, pure aggression. The only thing I could relate to seeing this machine on the track was a GT500 car, to me that’s impressive! Tomorrow I will be covering the Annual Nissan and AWD Time Attack shootout, stay tuned for articles on Speedhunters.