Oh press pass, I love you.

 With all the hustle and bustle of life in the city, never mind all the traffic, track days are a great way to relax with the machine you love with other like minded individuals.  Whether you are a weekend warrior, seasoned veteran, or beginner, anyone can sign up for one granted they have a set of wheels and a license.  They are held throughout the country all through the year at most tracks and range from cheap to expensive to participate.  This one was around $100 for a half hour stint with the lap timer and around $200 for two half hour runs and a half hour race at the end.  With money the limiting factor for me I went with just one round just to try the track out and see how I would do.  I choose to join the Dog Fight Pro track day rather than the more expensive PitRoad M one that was being held the same day. The latter was much bigger and has a more famous tuner shop attached to it but I wasn't going to enter the real race anyway so it didn't matter to me. 

If you like the Japanese car scene you have probably seen the yellow and green sticker on the left of this car.  Maybe you even know it means "beginner driver" and must be on your car for the first year of holding your drivers license.  If this driver is really a "beginner," which he probably is, then big props for getting out on the track so soon!

 This little Cappuccino was bugging the hell out of me on the track.  Of course I had him on the straights and in the larger corners but he would out brake me everytime and stick to my butt like glue.  Not bad for a car with about a SIXTH the power of mine!

I think its impossible attend a track day in Japan without seeing an 86.

Beautiful AE111 engine with ITBs.

This S2000 was ripping it up before the track days even started-

Time to line up-

The award for most bad ass car and driver goes to this old(er) man in his checked shirt with his Nissan Primera.  Big props to him.

Taken at a small track in Aichi that I can't remember-

I occasionally check out the events section on Minkara and saw that there was a RX-8 owners meeting being held at a parking area in south Osaka so off I went in the EVO.  An hour later I arrived but didn't see one in sight.  I figured they must be on the other side of the highway and luckily there was a bridge connecting the parking lots.  Unfortunately, I was let down.  I was expecting some high end tuner cars thrown in the mix but it seemed to be mostly stock cars with a few with modifications.

Just a normal parking lot day for the friendly TRIAL in Osaka.  Can you spot some of the goodies in the back?

Have waayyyy too many pictures from this day.  Gonna take a while....

I would use this as a family hauler any day-

Ready for the track with a RB26 transplanted for boosted goodness-