NPTC, Vintage Racers and Nismo Festival Tickets

This was a busy week with visits to both NPTC and Omori Factory.

First things first: I had to go and pay for a few parts that Yamazaki-san gave me, but forgot to include in the original invoice. So I quickly headed towards Setagaya and was pleasantly surprised when I found out that a new Starbucks had open just opened between NPTC and the station. This is a nice addition as Sakura Shinmachi definitely needed a wider selection of coffee shops.

Anyways, I quickly stopped by as Sugimoto-san was carrying out the final touches on this very nice BNR34 V-spec II with a S2 engine. Bit of a nostalgic moment as I realized that my car used to be finished in Sparkling Silver too. 

I paid for the parts and checked on the status of one missing interior panel (the MFD front cover) which apparently won’t be available until end of January! Oh well, the car won’t be either, so I got time.

The visit at Omori was a lot longer and, while I didn’t take as many photos as I’ll be back again next week, I thought I’d share a couple of shots I took during my last visit.

The selection of classic BNR32 racers was simply phenomenal.

This also reminded me that Nismo Festival is literally three weeks away and a huge thank you goes to the guys at Omori for gifting me two tickets! 

Not many info this week, but I hope you enjoyed the shots. I am working on a couple of special posts that hopefully will make up for it. I wrapped up the weekend by visiting my absolute favorite ramen shop...where I usually do not eat ramen!

Their chahan (Japanese fried rice) and gyoza are ridiculously good and the restaurant follows the golden rule of all ramen shops: the dirtier, the better.

Until next time.

Rare JDM Hunting at Omori Factory

Over the past few months I visited Omori Factory almost on a weekly basis and was lucky to run into quite a few cool cars. Some of these, like Z-tune #15 or the 1 of 1 QT1 Pearl White V-spec II had their own dedicated post, but they aren’t the only ones.

One of my favorites has to be the Z-tune Proto: in my personal opinion this is the BNR34 with the richest history around. Not to be confused with P-001 this is the development mule used to test all the components of the final car and, at one point, was fitted with the 600ps Z1 Concept Engine and a 8 pot brakes setup. The body construction of this specific model is like no other GT-R.

Based on a pre-production V-spec II model, it was also fitted with a roll-cage for circuit duties as well as an unique version of the Connolly leather interior bespoke for the UK-only models (minus the Bride carbon-kevlar bucket seats). Test runs at the Nürburgring and a small documentary of this car were also featured on an old Nismo DVD that I was lucky to find on Yahoo! Auctions.

The parking area alone is also a great place for car spotting.

A couple of weeks back I encountered one of the few Fairlady Z33 S-tune complete car.

This package that was offered many years ago and included a mildly tuned S2 engine, revised aero, Brembo F50 brakes, S-tune suspensions, semi-bucket seats and a Nismo steering wheel.

On the other hand the Nürburgring lap time of the Nismo truck is still undisclosed...

Lastly, the Stagea 260RS Autech edition is a tru emblem of old school JDM. Hard to imagine today’s Nissan fitting the R35 engine into a production model station wagon, but that exactly what they did back in the late 90’s. 

They transplanted the same RB26 engine found on the BCNR33 into the Stagea as well as the ATTESA E-TS all wheel drive unit.

One of these cars recently received the 1,000th Nismo engine (an upgrade form S1 to S2) and the owner of this particular model surely must love his car as it was in absolutely spotless condition and featured R35 brakes and a set LM GT4s.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Until next time.

Life After Crashing

And just like that it’s already November and while it seems that it will take several months before my car will be ready at least I’ve kept myself busy with the latest GT-R Magazine issue. This one actually explores a really interesting topic: repairing and salvaging cars after accidents.

Crashed cars carry an universal stigma on the second hand market, but Japanese culture truly embraces the ideals of preserving and taking care of prized possessions, even if sometimes it means going against (financial) logic. Months ago the editor’s very own Dark Metal Grey MY07 R35 GT-R was involved in a major accident during a track day that pretty much left the car as complete write-off. 

The issue covers the repair process of the car as well as other RB26 GT-Rs and the philosophy behind not letting die something that, while almost damaged beyond repair, still has so much meaning for its owner. The amount of work (and cost) behind the final result is incredible and it was fully documented with fantastic photos as always. This is the same car that went through a complete overhaul at Omori Factory in 2014 (first R35 ever, the process was documented in a special double DVD) and has now covered over 200,000km. It was on display at R’s Meeting and looked better than new. 

Hard to believe that 2018 is almost over, but finally temperatures have dropped a bit and I have been enjoying capturing autumn’s colors in Tokyo while playing with my iPhone filters.

Tokyo has truly some of the best architecture you’ll find anywhere in the world.

And, as always, makes it for a great playground for car spotting - catch of the week: a super rare Lexus LFA Nürburgring Edition in a very bright orange.

Until next time.