You’ll have seen my protection of the Last Bout pre-event meet final week – a small gathering of some competing automobiles, laid out properly in a pictures studio. This week we’re at Nikko Circuit for the primary occasion: Last Bout Particular Stage Japan 3.
Final weekend’s turnout was one of many greatest I’ve seen at a Japanese drift occasion within the time I’ve been right here, so to do it justice I’ll be splitting my protection up right into a pit stroll (as we speak’s story), adopted by some on-track motion.
The occasion was divided into groups, most comprising of three to 6 automobiles that have been styled in matching colours, liveries, or each. Some groups had quite a lot of makes and fashions, whereas others had simply one. JZX chassis-oriented groups have been plentiful.
Ryohei, the occasion organizer alongside Last Bout, talked about they obtained over 150 competitor functions inside the first 24 hours of opening. With demand like that to enter, you possibly can assure the calibre of automobiles was at an all-time excessive, with some groups even making the journey over 24 hours from Fukuoka – the identical journey that they had simply accomplished the week prior for the pre-event get-together.
The Workforce Notice trio from down south was a favorite from the day. Having seen these automobiles earlier than at each Wekfest and Dori Dore, it was nice to catch them once more extra regionally at Nikko.
Rob’s S15 Silvia is at all times a standout. Having undergone a current refresh, the automobile was wanting its very best on the day, and unmistakable by its rainbow mirror tints throughout.
The day had no scarcity of AE86s with each Workforce 4AGE and Workforce NGWIRC bringing out the Skittles assortment of automobiles. Not solely are these Hachirokus present items, but additionally a few of the hardest pushed. Workforce NGWRIC ended up taking residence the ‘Finest Drivers’ award, and the pictures I’ll be sharing in my monitor motion story will present why.
It wouldn’t be a drift day with out one fireplace scare. Fortunately there have been no car casualties this time round.
Yuya’s Mark II is one other automobile I’ve shot a couple of instances at earlier occasions. It continues to show that the easy recipe of a low journey top and good wheels is at all times a winner.
This zenki and kouki S14 pairing was one other favourite of mine. With this top and fitment, I’ll proceed to be impressed by the best way these automobiles carry out.
Leaping ahead to lunchtime, we managed to get all automobiles on monitor for a park-up and parade lap of kinds. This was a primary at Nikko Circuit for me, and I actually hope it’s one thing accomplished extra usually. Seeing all of the automobiles wrapped round the primary nook gave a very good perspective of what number of have been competing on the day.
You’ll have seen Suzuki-san’s McLaren MP4-12C coated earlier than; it’s made waves on the web since he began bringing it to Ebisu extra often. Overcoming a number of points with the clutch and having had some customized knuckles developed for the automobile, it’s turn out to be fairly a dependable drift machine. Suzuki-san nonetheless introduced alongside a backup, nonetheless – his manually-gated, drift-spec Ferrari 360 no much less.
That’s it from the Nikko Circuit pits – subsequent up is all of the on-track motion from Last Bout Particular Stage Japan 3. Till then, take pleasure in a couple of extra scenes from the day beneath.
Alec Pender
Instagram: noplansco
