Imagine that you had a horrible week at work, that nothing happens as you would like and that in addition you even managed to screw up your pasta time to find the words to answer this chick who had once again Postponed your date... Whatever? This weekend you have that! And what it is? An amateur race on one of the cutest track in Northen Japan, aka Link Circuit! 1500 meters of bitumen on the mountainside, a place that could almost make us think of a mountain road on the outskirts of Grenoble (near the Alpes). A straight line of 230 m with 8.6% slopes and a difference of elevation of 21 meters in  mountainous surroundings typical of the region, you don't need more to forget everything else... Action!

Imaginez que vous aillez eu une affreuse semaine au boulot, que rien ne se passe comme vous le souhaiteriez et qu'en plus vous avez même réussi à rater vos pâtes le temps de trouver les mots pour répondre à cette nana qui aura une fois de plus reporté votre rencard... Qu'importe ! Ce week-end vous avez ça ! Et ça c'est quoi ? Une course entre amateurs sur l'uns des tracés les plus mignon du Nord du Japon, aka Link Circuit ! 1500 mètre de bitume à flanc de montagne, un tracé qui pourrait presque nous faire penser à une route de montagne en périphérie de Grenoble. Une ligne droite de 230 m avec des pentes de 8,6% et une différence d’élévation maximum de 21 mètres dans un cadre montagneux bien typique de la région, il n'en faut pas plus pour tout oublier... Action !

I know I've already talked to you many many times about these track days in Tohoku, but I think those are so much under rated and in the shadow of many other events in the japanese car scene (Tsukuba, Fuji Speedway), that I wanted to spotlight this again (and I probably will more and more... ). Just check how all these cars are tuned for a function ! Look how tight is the battle in front... This is not just about killing the clock in a single lap, it's about tuning your machine to be in pole, then, to hold a proper pace and a great reliability for all the race long ! I mean, you have to be powerful, well balanced (to not kill the tires) AND reliable ! Then... it's all about the driver to not make contact. This is racing... After having done one of these race in Japan, I want it so bad in France... 

PS: I feel bad for this dude gearbox, and for N/A cars here in Sugo as well. 

It's been a long time since I've not drove the MR2, what better idea to make a road trip with it ? So here we go for a little spin to enjoy it at its best ! From Metz to Lyon, with a stop near St-Amour to go to the Onoz lac, not that far from Switzerland and back home. 

   

To enjoy the MR2 at its full potential (OEM Specifications) I've decided to fit the Corolla excellent tires instead of the Vredestein Snowtrack 3 (not less cool in winter conditions) as you can see on the pictures. Also because of the winter drivings, the exhaust was broken because of rust. So I could enjoy the 4AGE on "test pipe mode" What a noise ! And what a big difference on the performance side. That's why I couldn't resist to replace it by an OEM like silencer... The noise is now quite good, and the performances as the fuel efficiency made a great improvement.

LYON :

At my friends home, we were not that far from the Street Races I used to witness at as I was a kid. It was a strange feeling to come back there almost 20 years later ! 

First, a bit of typical french "gastronomie" ! Ho ! Wait... 

I can't remember well what kind of car were there as I was a child, but they used to race hard whatever the cops where here ! Lot of BMW's Golf and Peugeot 205. Nowadays many many many Japaneses car are here, of course lot of Civics and a very cool upgraded Nissan GTi-R (Pulsar in Japan). Nobody raced this night at this place, but there were a huge amount of cars ! For some of them even coming from Switzerland, and many cops as well. Surprisingly the atmosphere was cool, some cars where great but we of course, couldn't avoid the "Stance phenomenon" with Civics and Bimmers slammed to the ground with load of typical "Stance" stickers. I think this... replaced the "rice" fashion with extravagant paints and body kits. I think I've enjoyed the meeting ! (Maybe because it reminded me my childhood ?) And just like some Japaneses famous meets, it was free and nobody gave it a stupid name or was the organizer. This is just a weekly spontaneous car meet...

The day after it was time to head out to St Amour to have a cool barbecue, but we had to make a stop in Lyon first.

What a nice city ! (note that this Mini features a 120 db horn coming from japan playing the Godfather them in a typical Zoku fashion. Of course my friend abused of it !)

The eighties shapes are still very cool nowadays don't you think so ? (yes I know this is a temporary parking area). 

Another friend jointed us to enjoy the party. "Here come a new challenger !"

Heading to near St Amour. (the mini has a very noisy exhaust !) 

Barbecue time ! And another Scooby jointed us, but only to have a great lunch. The Forester owner has a very... strange project you can see ==> here (Monster Babar, Japanese friendly, contains horsepower and vintage stuff) 

Sunday ! Enjoying a barbecue (again) before heading to the Lac !

And this happened... 

Daaaamn ! The car was great on snow... but on dry with the proper tires, the MR2 is so much fun ! The OEM power allows you to take great amount of speed on little roads, the brakes never fads, and on top of that you can do almost whatever you want with the AW11 in a great confidence. The noise of the 4AGE reving is so cool as well... I've never noticed this sticker on Subaru's. Great advice largely applied by its owner !

And it was time to come back home...

On highways the car is LOUD ! And it's not because of the exhaust but because of the OEM intake system that sound like a sport induction intake !

By the way, next time I take the AW11 for a long trip, I'll do it by the little roads ! It was made for it...

Okay, so here we are with Ammoprod, just about to go to Hi-land for the first time not without a kind of emotion.

Well welcomed by this kind of stuff. As you can imagine I was like a kid. The famous SS Works AE86 ! 

And of course, this very eclectic parking area, each car you see is purely modified to be the quickest !

And still wondering why the hell we can't see this kind of beauty kicking BMW M3 asses on French tracks. Such a well balanced car, it's a real shame that's they are only famous for drifting here in France. 

Here, you can also see this very "grifty" S15 (use to grip and to drift as well) aggressively driven by a cute girl. 

And this incredibly FAST Infiniti Fuga ! What a FAST VIP ! The noise from its exhaust was just pure eroticism for our ears !

And just like my first time in Japan, I had this strange sensation of being part of one of my Favorited internet pages. Such a strange feeling ! 

And finally the EK4 arrived ! 

Ammoprod got this very exclusive stuff ! 

And this is how you manage to run almost 200 cars for Free practices sessions, Qualifications and Race, in a single day !! 

The famous J-C Pepino from Work wheel Japan made a very very very long trip from Osaka to have a final run on this track, which was a huge part of his life for many years ! And it's also thanks to him that I could have this incredible chance to race at Hi-Land, I would never thanks him enough for this ! (I'm not sure, I was probably thinking about something like that in this picture "If Only we could make the DOHC ZC turn clockwise to bolt it in the 86...  " )

Okay, it's now time to get behind the wheel to make it done ! And still strongly jet lagged here I am for the free practice. 

This track is SICK ! It's a strange mix between Charade and the Nürburgring Nordschleife . An oldschool track with some fast and technical sections. Lot of places where you can overtake safely. (I'm saying this like I had the opportunity to overtake someone ! ). Hi-Land could have been the perfect track for the SB1. The EK4 was very cool to drive, well balanced, with good brakes and with a helpful LSD. But as I was as tired as excited, I made few mistakes without damaging the car. 

After having qualified for somewhere next to the last place, I really had to have a rest, and it's exactly what I did. (The most Otakus of you have of course noticed the "Garage M" sticker on the trunk. ) 

Things are now getting serious ! Static start, and "IT'S LIGHTS OUT !!! " (you can imagine the voice of Simon Lazenby commenting the Formula 1 if you want.) 

^

After having mad a pretty good start, even overtaking few cars in the firsts corners, I made few "shifto misu" that cost me lot of time and many places as well !  But the most important fact, is that I didn't touch someone, which was the most important ! After few laps, the pace difference between the other cars and me, was so important that I quickly lost them to be "Forever alone" The Only car I could manage to fight against was this EG6. Little Civic well driven by a girl about 2 seconds quicker than me. She went out of track after trying to overtake me haha ! BUT but but but... After one lap, she managed to catch me again and to accomplish the move very well... 

The fact now, is that I was single, in that way I didn't have to look the most of time in the mirrors, so I could improve my lines in every single meters of the track, and that what I did ! Sometimes going a bit beyond the limits ! 

Finally in the lasts laps, I've seen few cars crashed into the walls, (probably because of the rain beginning) So at least, I wasn't the last ! According to Taro San, Kawasaki San over-classed me a little bit. I can see that ! And it was now time to say to the EG6 driver how sorry I was about my bad driving ! "Matta Sugo ne ?!" No problem !! 

It wasn't about winning the race of course, impossible ! But surely the fact of racing at Hi-Land. Something that I couldn't even dream about few months ago and thanks to J-C Pepino, Taro San and of course Shin San from SMAC Garage in Sendai, the dream came true ! m(_ _)m  

  

Here is the start of the big guns final race ! (Sorry for the quality, I was looking at the real life stuff instead of trying to catch the perfect video. ) 

A Japanese track day couldn't be one without the very famous Shan ken pon ! I can't tell you how bad we were, but that was pretty bad ! At least I manage to win 5kg of rice !! 

Good by Mister Kawasaki ! And thank you very much for this unforgettable day ! 

Good by mister Kondo ! (And thank you very much Koike San for my INRACE lap times printed !) 

Thank you Taro San ! 

Sayooonaaraaa Hi-Land Raceway. 

Don't forget to check this blog for badass pictures ! http://ammoprod.blogspot.com