We planned the trip back August for the 20th of September and got some other friends of mine together for the trip.
The cars that came were the following.
BNR32
BCNR33
BCNR33 V-Spec
FD3S RX7
GD WRX 2003 V-Limited
It all started at 6:00am at the Mini Stop convenience store near my house, where I met the co-planner for the event, Tetsuya Nakamura. He is an employee at Nissan and owns the white BNR32 GT-R.
Waiting for Nakamura to show up.
While waiting, a nice AE86 Corolla drove by. The guy lives in my area and has had the car for quite a while.
Nakamura san arrives about 6:05am.
So, we head out to Moriya parking area to meet with the other guys coming up.
We arrive at the parking area about 30 minutes earlier than we had expected. It was a major holiday weekend here in Japan, and traffic usually gets out of control. But, we got lucky and didn't have any traffic.
This second gen Soarer was sitting in the back, all by its lonesome. This particular model has the 1G-GTE 2.0L twin turbo.
Some randoms of mine and Nakaumura's GT-Rs.
First to arrive is Myles in his FD3S.
Next was Jason in this rare Subaru 2003 V-Limited WRX. Jocelyn and his wife arrived shortly thereafter in his Super Black 1996 BCNR33 GT-R.
With everybody arrived, we went in and got a quick bite to eat, some beverages and hit the toilet before out trip to the mountain.
I take lead as we head out on the highway with Jocelyn behind me, followed by Nakamura, Jason, then finally Myles.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vou0gBT2Sx0[/youtube]
We get off the highway and drive for about 10 minutes before we come to the start of the uphill climb. Unfortunately, at the early part of the uphill, the road had speed bumps which we didn't know about. My friend filming the climb dropped the camera so we just deleted the video. But, from the second part of the climb...got a pretty nice video of me following Nakamura and his R32 up the mountain.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjp1qxWMNys[/youtube]
Unfortunately, there is only one really good road worth driving. There are others, but not as twisty and technical that the drifters use. We opted for this one as it really tests out our cars. Lots of elevation changes, off-camber corners...overall, lots of fun.
We arrive at the parking area and get parked. As you can see, Jocelyn thinks he's better than us, and parks a couple spaces away...lol.
Here is karma coming back to haunt Jocelyn...lol!!
Time for the required facial and booty shots of our cars.
Nakamura.
Me.
Myles
Jason
Jocelyn
Some more randoms.
Now, during the uphill, we passed a guy in an R33 Skyline sitting on the side of the road. I didn't get a good look but I saw a GT-R badge on the front. After arriving at the parking area, he showed up about 10 minutes later. Verdict: Not a GT-R, but an R33 Skyline GTS with an RB20E under the hood, 4 lug wheels and GT-R front bumper and rear badge. He also had lots of stickers on the doors, one of which was a Toyota Racing Development sticker. Also had two on the front bumper lower valance. Kid was a bit naive, but was interested in our cars.
We decide to head back down to a different parking area we passed on the way up, with the young kid following us down.
My friend rides shotgun in Nakamura's R32 and films me in the lead on the way down.
Part 1
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIToDJ5Csbc[/youtube]
Part 2
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo6buO6PYa4[/youtube]
We arrive at the other parking area and sit and BS for about an hour while my friend snaps some random photos.
A red Ferrari 348 TB popped in for a toilet stop, smoke and coffee before heading back down. I still get a chubby every time I hear a Ferrari wind out...shiver...
Two of these four guys were Porsche owners, one with an older 911 Turbo, the other a GT3 RS. Both very nice cars.
As the morning turned into early afternoon, Jocelyn and his wife decided to head back home to take care of their dog. Myles had other things to do as well, but he said he'd follow us halfway back to the first parking area before heading back.
With only three cars left, we head back to the parking area for a lite lunch and to take the cable car up to the peak of Tsukuba mountain.
You can see our cars parked there in the lot...
Me enthusiastically drinking my bottled water.
Kai, starting to look a bit sleepy. He'd been up since 5:00am and it was now pushing 1:00pm.
The common area at the top of Tsukuba.
Was a bit foggy up there, but still had decent visibility.
Here, the cafe sticks out over the mountain a bit.
Time to head back down. We are all getting tired and want to beat any potential traffic jams that may occur on the last day of the holiday weekend.
We get back down to the parking area, hit the toilet, grab some souvenirs for friends and family, then head back down the mountain.
Unfortunately, the camera guy fell asleep as we took a nice leisurely stroll down the mountain and stayed that way all the way back to Moriya Parking area. Nakamura and I were both heading back to Yashio, but Jason had about another hour or so drive back, so he decided to stay there for a bit and catch a quick nap.
We arrived home about 4pm or so, stopped by our friends tire shop, then went our separate ways from there.
All in all, was a fantastic trip and can't wait to do another one. Had a great time with some good friends and some nice cars.
