More photos in the gallery

More photographs have been added to the racing gallery.

Visit the main page here: AF Photo Gallery

Or see the new photos: FCJ Fuji.

2007 SEMA Show - セマショー ラス・ベガス

今年のLas　Vegasで行われるSEMA Show　セマ・ショーに行く予定がありましたら、こちらのページを使ってH.I.S.のパッケージを調べる事をお勧めします。パッケージに当てはまらない予定でも、H.I.S.にたずねてみて下さい。

H.I.S. SEMA ショー　ラスベガス　ページ

H.I.S. は今年の僕のモータースポーツスポンサーになってとても良い関係が出来上がりました。　H.I.S.は価格やサービスなど、いろんな面でお勧めできる会社で、スポンサーとしての関係を生かすのがとても気楽です。エイチ・アイ・エスは今年がモータースポーツ世界の経験が初めてですので、大変気合を入れています。もータースポーツ関係の方には得にチャンスだと思います。　SEMAだけではなく、どんな旅でもH.I.S.に連絡してみて下さい。H.I.S.を使った方が安い可能性は大分高いですし、毎回同じ方が案内をしてくれますのでカスタマーサポートの上級さにもびっくりすると思います。

あなたがモータースポーツ関係の方であれば、H.I.S.の法人・団体営業部の村松さんまたは高橋さんまで連絡してみてください。S耐久関係の方で使う人もいきなり増えました。

H.I.S.は僕が素直にお勧めを出来る会社だからこそスポンサーなので、H.I.S.を貴方の旅のパートナーとしても安心に関係をいかせることが出来ると思います。きっと喜びますでしょう。

Super Taikyu Fuji - Race day

Well, it was a high followed by a low.
The race got to a good start with Maejima-san as start driver with plans to switch after either one or two stints for me to finish off the race.
We were 3rd on the grid and after a short drop to 4th place, Maejima-san climbed to 2nd with about 2.0 seconds gap to the #113 Karura Ings Z. But Maejima-san reported cramps in his legs with about 15 laps to go in the first stint. The heat was tremendous during the race and even though the car was equipped with a cooler full of ice and water that gets pumped through the underwear coolsuits and a motorized drink cooler, I imagine it would have been difficult to maintain focus for over an hour. Maejima-san ended up pitting 8 laps early. We topped the car off with fuel and just changed the rear tires. But on my out lap, two Class-2 cars had a major collision at the exit of the final corner to the right and I immediately knew it would cause a full course yellow. And as our luck would have it, the pace car came right out.



The pace car continued to let the cars by until it caught on to the race leader - Class-1 BMW Z4, so I was able to make up a lap, but it still put us one lap behind the class leader. The course went green again on lap 42 and I carefully began going through traffic. The tires got back to temperature and all seemed going well. On the next lap however, we had a race-ending event.

I was passing the #43 BMW M3 into the brake zone of turn 1, as I began making my move, the #43 blocked by veering to the right with some traffic up ahead in the brake zone. I veered further to the right - my brake line did not have any traffic ahead as I was quite a bit on the inside and I knew the #43 BMW would brake early. The H.I.S. Z's usual brake point is at 150m mark, but the BMW had already gotten on the brakes before the 200m mark and so I followed right around the 200m mark - I knew I was going to make the pass and do it safely into turn 1.

As soon as I got on the brakes however, the ABS engaged and it's as if the car lost brakes - I didn't slow anywhere close to making the corner and ended up t-boning another BMW right before the apex of the turn. As soon as I felt the impact I knew the race was over, and the dent on the door of the BMW was also pretty deep.
I quickly veered off course to the left into a safe spot. Front-left side of the car had visible damage, but surprisingly little - I don't know how but the oil-cooler, which usually goes first and the radiator were just fine.

All the arms on the left front were broken, and the left apron was about 3cm in.

For some time afterwards, I could not comprehend what happened, but the more our team learns of the incident, the more it appears to be an ABS problem - it most likely engaged when it should not have and was so active that it rendered the car nearly brake-less. We'll see what the conclusion will be.

Looks like our race win is going to be delayed until the next race at Okayama International Circuit at the beginning of September.

Super Taikyu Fuji - Qualifying

We had qualifying for the round 4 of Super Taikyu at Fuji Speedway today.

Best result so far this season - 3rd!
On pole is an RX7, which posted a ridiculous 1:51.1 lap time by running an incredible amount of boost, breaking the previous lap record for our class by one tenth. In 2nd place is a Z, with both drivers posting a 1:52.6xx lap time.
Maejima-san got a 1:53.3 despite a huge oversteer slide in the 100R corner and some other minor mistakes. I was completely ready to best his time but ended up posting 1:54.0. Unfortunately, I ran into traffic from the same class out of nowhere (cars came out of pits in front of me) and the only clear lap I had was the first hot lap when the stickers had not yet gotten enough heat into them so I got a huge oversteer slide in the 100R and then some understeer beyond B-corner on the back side. However, the entire team is really happy with the result. After looking over the in-car video, which I hope to post here in the future, and the data-log, we should be able to comfortably run a 1:54.xx pace the entire race tomorrow. If we get a little bit of luck on our side, a podium finish is absolutely feasible, maybe even that middle spot.

今日はS耐久の第4戦レースの予選が富士で行われました。結果は今までのベスト：クラス3位。前島さんも僕も予選のトップラップは結構大きい失敗がありましたが、このスタート順位では明日は本当に期待できます。前島さんはスタートドライバーで僕は後半、チェッカーまで走ります。このレースは確実に表彰台に乗るつもりです。

Super Taikyu Fuji Qualifying Result