I went to Fuji Speedway to watch the Super GT race.
Since Orido Manabu is racing the Eclipse Advan Lexus SC430 in GT500, we spent quite a bit of time in his area. Before the race, he performed an exhibition drift with Taniguchi Nobuteru. Orido-san drove his Toyota Supra and the drifting on the straightaway at what was probably close to 100mph was incredible - inches away from either side, cutting it at about 45 degrees each way.
The race had lots of excitement with a few cars catching fire and many familiar faces in the cockpits of the race cars. Inoue Shin from Zele International was also hanging out. The photo below is Yamada Kenji and me.
Unfortunately Orido-san's Lexus blew an engine after running as high as 6th despite a 10th place qualifying position - he was really on a roll to the front.
But the race result was marvelous - the #23 Nissan Fairlady Z Z33 won with the #22 Nissan Fairlady Z close behind in 2nd. This puts Nissan at the top so far this season. The professionalism of the NISMO team is at the top within the GT500 paddocks, with error-free pitwork and flawless and cool-headed driving by the drivers - Michael Krumm, Richard Lyons, Motoyama Satoshi, and Matsuda Tsugio.
For the gallery, visit: http://files.automotiveforums.com/media/v/Events/SuperGT-Fuji-May2007/