Annual Alfra Romeo Orque Advan Racing School at Fuji Speedway

This year Kasuya-san again invited me to instruct at the racing school he organizes every year at Fuji Speedway. Orque is a tuner for Italian cars, with primary focus on Alfa Romeos. Kasuya-san has been running the company for several years. Prior to that, he was a factory Toyota TOM'S and NISMO driver in various series including JGTC and Le Mans.



We started with basic classroom instruction and immediately followed by hands-on exercises - slalom and braking. Ability to consistently brake at the tires' limit is as basic as it gets and is of course the most important to be able to begin to drive a car at its quickest.



The students had a lot of sessions throughout the day to drive on the short course at Fuji Speedway, and Kasuya-san and I were available to jump into their own cars and have them experience the proper driving techniques and what they feel like directly from the passenger seat. We had many drivers who had zero prior track driving experience, but just like last year, every single student made huge leaps forward in his driving ability by the end of the day. The repetition of driving the student in their own car and then having the student drive it right after is so effective it's astounding. After each outing I would explain what I was doing and why, to specifically accommodate that car's characteristics.



One of the drivers who got his first-ever experience on a race track was in his fifties, but by the end of the day, I would have never guessed that. And of course the joy on everyone's face was just contagious.

It's never too late to start ;-)

Rd. 9 Super GT - Motegi Race

After a Saturday plagued with mechanical problems, we were hoping for a good Sunday.


In the morning warm-up session we confirmed that the clutch issue was resolved, but at the end, a rear brake caliper began to leak fluid and lose pressure.

The team did their best to fix the problem before the race.


I started the race but almost immediately the car began to lose pedal pressure and the rear was getting upset and squirmy under heave brakes.
I had to pit after a few laps. The team fixed the caliper issue in about 30 minutes and let Ito out near the end of the race to get some laps in and check the car.

All in all, a disappointing weekend after a mid-week test that gave everyone a lot of promise.



Once the team can get the mechanical issues sorted I think the car could show solid competition next year.

This officially ends my 2009 racing season.
I am already thinking about 2010 and am in touch with several top-level GT300 teams.
The battle for next season begins on the day following the season finale Sunday!

I am also beginning to learn more about opportunities in the United States. If you hear of anything interesting, do let me know!

Super GT Qualifying

The Wed/Thurs test went great with the car - we tried out a combination of two different Yokohama compounds and got the car to a good balance with a competitive time.



Friday was a roll-in day to the track as we changed pits and got ready for the weekend.

For Saturday, we had 1 hour 45 minute free practice session in the morning followed by combined qualifying at noon (both drivers pass the minimum time) and then knockdown Q1 (10 mins), Q2 (7 mins), and Q3 (7 mins) sessions.

For morning practice, the plan was to test out two softer compounds to see if they would last the race duration and to figure out the qualifying setup/tires.

Unfortunately, a clutch problem allowed me only 2 laps in the morning practice. Within the two laps I knew the direction in which to take the setup to work with the softer tires, and we proceeded with those changes.



Then qualifying came, and at this point we knew that the clutch was still going to be a problem due to some circumstances. We just had to muscle through it. I posted a time in 1 lap and got my partner, Ito, in the car and he had struggle with a slipping clutch but did pass the standard time threshold.

There was enough time until Q1 to get the drivetrain cooled down again and go for the attack, and we knew that Q2 would not be possible as it was right after Q1 with not enough time to allow the car to cool.

The objective was simply to get to the top 16 out of 22 to pass Q1 and start the race in 16th.

But before Q1, the race officials came by to check the car's compliance for the air restrictor specified for this car in the rules. This was rather unusual timing for such a check, but we had to comply. The mechanics did their best to disassemble the air-box in time to get to the very deep-in-the-car air restrictor. It took them about 35 minutes to get it out. But at that point, we only had 15 minutes to the start of Q1 (10 minute long session). I barely got out of the garage with 2 minutes and 30 seconds to go, which meant I only had one lap for the attack.

I warmed up the tires as best as I could, but the Boxter being a mid-engine car, the fronts have always taken at least 2 laps to get up to operating temp during our tests.

With just one warm up lap, it was not enough, and as I went into the brake zone at turn one I had a strong front lock up that cost me time, and as the tires continued to gain temperature, the grip was getting better throughout the lap, but the lap time was just not enough to get us in the top 16 to continue into Q2. We needed at least 3 laps to post a competitive time.

Being forced to qualify on cold tires is rough!

Hopefully the clutch engagement problem will be solved by tomorrow morning's practice session so we can at least do a little bit of setup tweaking before the race.

The race should be 48 laps (GT500 is 53 laps), so it's pretty short, so the only good chance we have of finishing significantly higher than our start position will be a no-tire-change strategy.

I will start the race with a full tank and go the maximum allowed 2/3 distance (32) laps and pass the car on to Ito, minimizing our refuel time to our practiced 16 second driver-change time. With that, we will hopefully make up around 30 seconds on most other teams that do plan to change tires. Our tire compound will be harder than the rest, but if I can keep the avg race lap time to about 1 second below the top runners we still have a chance.

Getting ready for Super GT Motegi

I will be competing in the GT300 #4 Bomex Lian Porsche Boxter in the season finale for Super GT at Motegi on November 7/8. I will be developing the car for use with Yokohama tires as this car has been competing with Kumho for the last few years. It was raced just once this year at Suzuka as a shakedown and I was not there, but we have high hopes for its performance at Motegi.

Within the rules, the Porsche Boxter is a lower downforce / higher top-speed package, which should be advantageous for a track like Motegi - with many long straights and lots of stop-and-go corners.

The primary purpose of our testing on Wed/Thurs will be to tune the suspension to match the new Yokohama tires and maximize braking efficiency despite its short wheelbase. I have a few ideas so far.

I recently went to the Lian factory to get fitted in the seat and get a little familiar with the car.




Check out the entry list for 2009 Motegi Super GT race.

If you happen to attend the race please do stop by!

USAC Sprint Car test - Oval racing?!

Through my good friend Bruce Ashmore, a world-class racecar designer/engineer currently working out of Indianapolis, I had the good fortune of getting introduced to Ken Pierson.

Ken has been racing on ovals as a team owner for over 30 years and has - wait for it - 139 main event victories and 5 championships. One of the cars he races is a USAC Sprint Car. This car boasts an enormous V8 engine generating 750hp and weighs in at only 550kg (1300lbs). The end-result? Acceleration that is FASTER than Formula One! The rear tires are just ridiculously wide in an attempt to maximize traction. More on that attempt later....

Here's how they look when they fly by -





I have never before driven on an oval, with the closest thing being the Motegi exhibition race in an N1 endurance Nissan 350Z set-up for road-racing. This fun event took place on the Motegi oval, with chicanes built in at the end of each straight, and in the RAIN...

So I prepared as well as I could, talking to drivers and engineers with experience with this kind of car.

All in all, I got about 50-60 laps on the 1/4 mile oval - where one lap is 12~13 seconds. Driving this monster is something else. I have never experienced the rush of acceleration that this car can deliver.

The sound is a little off in the video unfortunately.



Let me first describe the machine.
No clutch or flywheel, one-speed transmission, solid-rear-axle (no differential), staggered left and right tires, seating position is very upright with the driver almost on top of the steering wheel that is closer to being parallel to the ground than at the usual 90-degrees in road course cars.

The end result? Absolutely the biggest rush I have ever felt! Each straight was probably just a little over 100 yards, since the entire oval was only 1/4 mile. But, the due to the power delivery of this engine, there is no point on the track where you could actually put all of that torque down without lighting up the tires - including at the end of the straight going around 100mph.
Think about it - coming out of the corner, concrete everywhere, adding in the throttle and the car just bolts forward, jerking you back, but you can only continue to add throttle at a pace to where even after going around 100mph, the car is still traction limited. I've definitely spun those rear tires plenty of times in an attempt to inch toward that 100% throttle. NOT POSSIBLE on a track this short!

My thanks go to Scott Pierovich and Kevin Urton for helping me understand the car and how to drive it. Scott raced in the Sprint Car that weekend and finished in 3rd place on the podium. Kevin, now retired, boasts an incredible career of having won over 100 races both of asphalt and dirt.

Here's a video of the Saturday night rolling start for the USAC Sprint Car race:


I continued to get faster every session I went out as I got more comfortable with the car, and now I cannot wait to get in it again! I've had a chance to think over all of the dynamics of the car.
One of the biggest things that did not click initially - the left-right stagger. The fact that the circumference of the tires is smaller on the left side of course means that the neutral state of the car is turning left, not going straight. This makes the cornering easier, but the disconnect I had was how that affects the available traction - both for braking and acceleration. Normally, in a car that is symmetrical, maximum brake/acceleration traction is available when the car is pointing straight with no steering input. In a staggered car however, the car's neutral state with maximum longitudinal traction is actually when the car is turning at that exact angle when the steering wheel is straight - which occurs twice during the corner - as the steering wheel is released from essentially turning right during the straight, and then when it is getting unwound but the car is still turning at the exit.
I was just throwing the car into the corner to where I was not losing any time at the entry and the middle, but I was still down by several hundred engine revs compared to Scott at the end of each straight - because of my conservative initial throttle application while the car is still turning, coming out of the corner. THAT is when the car has maximum traction for acceleration! Well.. that and I did not want to stick Ken's car into the wall on my first-ever drive on an oval. Probably would have left a sour taste for everyone.



I am hoping that next up is another test in the Sprint Car, with Ken's blessings, at Irwindale 1/2 mile track in November.

Where is all of this going? Ken Pierson and Bruce Ashmore are involved with the Silver Crown series and the next-generation Gold Crown - a new series slated to debut in 2011. The Silver Crown car is very similar to the Sprint Car, but with an extended wheelbase to accommodate a larger fuel tank for longer races, and another 100hp, just for kicks.

I have had the most fun pressing on the throttle in this monster and just waiting for it launch off into space at every straight. Thank you Ken!
Ovals - here I come.

Visit Bos Sheet Metal for any A/C and heating needs in the Sacramento area!

Visit Ashmore Design for information on Bruce Ashmore and the Gold Crown Series.

FCJ Season Finale - Rd. 13/14 at Sugo

On September 26/27 weekend, we had the final two races for the 2009 season in FCJ.
Sugo is a high-speed, high-guts track where one must pair aggressiveness with smoothness, and sometimes the end-result is being in the wall - very little run-off and a lot of uneven places on the surface with varying degrees of grip.

The three days brought about fantastic excitement.

On Friday practice, we had three sessions of one hour each. Seeing how this was the very last practice, we figured to do a little experiment that would otherwise be frowned upon.
Since I am 10 kg (22 lbs) overweight with the FCJ Series rules, I figured it'd be good to run without the handicap by taking out the fuel to see what happens. The conditions were good for the experiment since I could eliminate tires and track variables by comparing the time differentials and data in acceleration/braking forces over two sessions - one session full tank and then the second session with less fuel.


We were able to take out 7 kg of fuel (15 lbs) for the final third session. With all things being equal, I was over 0.5 seconds faster.
The car was so alive - the rear felt so much more fluid and responsive to all of my inputs, and it was a blast to drive. Of course nothing can be done with this info, but I figured it's good to have - 22 lbs is probably around 7/10ths of a second at this track. We run 1:22:xx lap times since it's pretty short.

For qualifying, I got 13th for Q1 and 12th for Q2. The 0.7 second weight handicap would have placed me in 2nd position for both sessions.


The race in the afternoon got off to a good start - I passed 4 cars by the entry to turn 4... as I got on my brakes, I caught a car still accelerating in the back in my left-side mirror, after that instant, I had to get back to being busy dealing with the cars next to- and around- me. Then I braced myself, knowing the car in the back could very well hit me.
Sure enough, I felt a little hit from behind, and then the next moment was stunning - I saw a car pass right to the left of me at my height and continue to fly above diagonally over my car. I saw the entire bottom of #11 car from the front to the rear as it continued to climb up beyond my car. My car was still drivable but I just parked it, knowing there was nothing to gain but possibly only more things to break.







The tire marks that the #11 car left me by its right-front were about 4-5 inches away from my helmet on top of the left side of my cockpit. CRAZY.

Looking at the data, the driver of #11 got a bit too eager, and he broke later than is normally possible for that corner, but to add to that, on cold tires, and worse of all, on the very inside line on the left of the track where nobody ever drives, guaranteeing layers of dust and sand. Combine all that, and he ended up with a 25mph speed difference at the instant of hitting my car from the left rear.

On the Sunday race, I was starting 12th on the grid.
I got off to a good start from the line and got past three cars, getting to 8th position on the first lap. The entire duration of the ~40 minute race after that was rather uneventful as the car in front was not close enough for me to challenge and the car behind me was in the same kind of position relatively to me. The Sugo track is so narrow that, in reality, the only places for passing are braking into turns 1/2 and the back-straight.
I finished 8th. I made two small errors in turns 1 and 3 over the duration of the race where I lost a few tenths, but overall it was a good, solid race.



Visit the FCJ Media Gallery for Rd 13/14 at Sugo.

I want to sincerely thank everyone that has helped me this year - all of our series sponsors, and my personal sponsors - Avanzza and Bomex.

Lola F3 with turbo 300hp engine and Karting

A few months ago I had a chance to experience an F3 car at Infineon Raceway. But this one was no ordinary F3! The engine comes straight out of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, tuned to over 300hp. The turbo gives the engine so much torque that even in third gear you could make the car stand still with white smoke.

The performance of the car was incredible. To get maximum braking out, you have to press down on the brake pedal with over 1200 lbs of pressure, and up to 1500 lbs.
Even in a 3rd gear corner, the peak cornering G was close to 3.0. The straight is rather short at Infineon Raceway, but the car got to over 130mph after a dead-stop final corner.

Man! Did it feel great to be in a bigger car with real horsepower.

Photos by David Reite.





Here is my onboard footage of one-lap around Infineon. Pole position!


Here is an onboard lap at the New Tokyo Circuit in a shifter kart:

140 km/h on the straight.

2009 FCJ Round 5/6 - Twin Ring Motegi

Wed - May 27
We had 4 hours of testing today. On the 2nd session, I actually posted the fastest time out of all competitors - my first such feat in the FCJ Series.
But that did not last long - by the end of the day, I dropped down to 0.8 seconds below the all-day fastest driver.



Thurs - May 28
Another 4 hours. We actually had time for lunch today, which was nice. My fastest was 1:53.9, 0.9 seconds off the top, putting me at 13th out of 18 drivers for the day. This competition is tight.



Fri - May 29
4 more hours of testing! The weather was nuts. On again and off again rain - anything from drizzle to absolute downpour. It was awesome - started one session on slicks and then the rain began to drizzle, and more.. and more. But then it stops, and the warm temperature and the 18 cars on the track dry it off almost immediately in places. Every turn I approach is in a different condition then before - at some parts of the track it rains while in others it doesn't, as the clouds move with the wind. So, as I approach each turn, I have to feel how much water there is on the braking line before getting to it. Seeing if there are any new drops hitting the visor is the biggest indicator. One moment, clear visor, next moment, it's getting hit by water like crazy! Really have to become one with the car to feel the surface underneath the tires. A ton of cars went off or spun out, lots of yellow flags waving around. In the last session, I ended up 4th in these mixed conditions, although at the end it was nearly dry again.



Saturday - May 30
Qualifying and Race #5

For Q1, I was 0.7 seconds behind pole, putting me in 12th place.
For Q2, which was interrupted about halfway with heavy rain, I got 14th position.

The first race was nothing spectacular - I got several good passes in on the first lap - but then could not get up to a good pace - consistently driving close to a second behind the pace of the leading pack. I finished 14th.

Sunday - May 31

I woke up to a pleasant sight of rain. Today's race was 17 laps. I was struggling with understeer at corner-entry, which I later found was due to a slight miscommunication I had with the mechanic in adjusting pre-race tire pressures once we were on the grid. But the race went well - as the track began to dry slowly over the entire race distance, my lap times continued to shrink and I was catching up with the cars up ahead. I was in 10th position for a large part of the race after having started 14th. The championship points leader, Naoya Gamou, had a poor start, so he ended up right behind me for the 2nd half of the race. The two of us were closing in on the 8th- and 9th-place pack at about a second per lap, but the race time was running out. As we were dicing it out at almost every turn, I finally made a strategic miss - coming out of the final turn onto the main straightaway, he was going to get in my slip, so I went to the inside to protect turn 1, but the simple fact that the inside line would be way more wet and slippery somehow escaped me. As we got into the brake zone right next to each other, I ended up spinning after locking all 4 tires as I hit a patch of track that was even more wet near the apex. I quickly recovered, losing only 8 seconds, but that caused me to lose 2 positions. My race ended in 12th place but it was definitely lots of fun and I felt satisfied with my performance.



Visit the photo gallery from Motegi.

2009 FCJ Round 3/4 - Suzuka Circuit

May 13-17, 2009

We got in to Suzuka on Tuesday and had a ton of track time between Wednesday and Friday, getting in over 10 hours in 3 days.



This track is so exhilarating to drive!
Especially on old tires. With the budget cuts in the series, we are getting less tires this year. For the first two days (7 hours) we get to use 2 old sets from the previous Fri/Race and one new set. So Wednesday was exclusively used tires, and then we got to run the new tires for Thursday.

130R, the 6th gear, full throttle, left-turn has been exactly that in the past - full throttle at 150mph. But on these tires that came from the Fuji race, where the tire wear is radically different, it was not to be! I must have run wide while going full throttle 10 times, every time my heart skipping a beat. Accordingly, the times were not that great during these sessions either.

I got things back together with the new set that came on Thursday and was somewhere mid-pack.

Then on Friday, we got another new set and got 3rd place overall for the day (4 hours). This is so far my best position in a practice, which was great, and now all I had to do was recreate my performance in qualifying the following day.



I woke up to a pleasant rain on Saturday - I love rain. It was not too strong, but definitely meant the track would be wet.



Then Q1 came. Some drivers actually decided to go on the wets, but most stuck with the slicks. I went out on slicks and as I was getting as much heat in them as possible, I also wanted to get good position on the track. There was one car directly in front of me but a good gap beyond. As I was climbing the Dunlop turn after the Esses, my rear just went out and I spun out on to the sand. With the help of the corner workers, I got back on the track, but lost about 4 minutes out of the 15 minute qualifying session. Every flying lap, my times were going up like crazy as the tires got heat into them - 5 seconds, 5 seconds, 4 seconds faster than the previous lap as each lap passes by. But then I ran out of time - most got their best time on the 7th and final lap. Due to my spin, I only had 5 laps, and the result was a 14th place grid.



The Rd. 3 race was in the wet and as is usual with our series, especially at Suzuka, there were barely any position changes, and I finished in 13th.



The Sunday Rd. 4 race was feeling good though - the track was drying up quick but not completely dry just yet. At the start, I had an awesome run to turn 1 and into turn 2, passing around 4-5 cars already. But then the #13 car in front of me hit the rear of the #15 car while locking the front brakes, which caused #15 to spin. As it was spinning in front of me from inside to the outside (in what is essentially a long right-hand turn), I went low and successfully avoided #15. As soon as I passed this car though, the #13 car was going around on the outside and started spinning behind the #15, but from the outside to the inside, collecting me in the side of the nose. It was a racecar guillotine! So, my race unfortunately ended after the first 2 turns and I parked the car in a save place on the grass.

Visit the photo gallery from Suzuka

2009 FCJ Round 1/2 - Fuji Speedway

This year's field in Formula Renault in Japan has shrunk to 18 entries from last year's 26, but the level competition appears to be higher from the get-go compare to the previous year.
I got in to the circuit on Tuesday and we had nearly 10 hours of track time from Wednesday through Friday.

I have not been in a formula car since last year's season finale at Sugo, and getting back in the car felt awesome.

Our tires for Wednesday were unknown used from car calibration sessions that the series had before the start of the season, so there were some gaps in times, but once Thursday came and we got a fresh tire set, the entire field got really tidy and close together time-wise.

On Thursday, during the end of one session, I got a few red sectors (fastest of the session), but ended up with the 9th fastest overall time of 1:42.4.

But then Friday did not go so well - with the Formula Nippon and F3 cars running on various tires (Bridgestone and Hankook), I did not anticipate the drastic balance shift to understeer, and my adjustments in tire pressure were not enough. It was all in 100R - I could not get it down full throttle with the nasty understeer.




Fuji Speedway has three sectors. Sector 1 is pretty simple - the straightaway and turn 1. But Sector 2 and Sector 3 are drastically different in corner characteristics - Sector 2 has only fast corners (A-Corner followed by 100R, followed by the Hairpin), and Sector 3 is made of a a whole bunch of 2/3 gear corners. So setting up the car balance is always a big sacrifice - either make it work for Sector 2 or Sector 3. With other cetegories, the gain/loss is pretty even, but with FCJ - it all has to be in Sector 2. It's easy to lose 0.5 second by a small lift when there is understeer in 100R since the cars have little power and the 2nd part of the turn is uphill. 100R lasts for over 6 seconds in 5th gear (120mph+), and it feels great when you get some oversteer to get it go full throttle and still make the turn.



My inability to get the balance right continued into qualifying on Saturday - the rear tires just did not get up in pressure at the pace they had during the previous days and there is no time within the qualifying session to pit to readjust it. For Q2, I added more pressure to the rears but it still did not work - leaving me with understeer to fight in 100R.

For Round 1, I was 15th on the grid with 1 second behind pole.
All of my practice starts out of the pits went great, but then ... we go through the warm up lap and get to our grids for the standing start, but as I am approaching mine and press on the clutch while braking and staying in 1st gear, the car just dies - the clutch did not get engaged due to some clearance issues, effectively stalling the car. I fired it back up after green and went on to chase the field. My pace was not bad - same as those that finished in 6-10 positions, but with the delayed start, I could only manage to pass a few cars and finished 15th.

I started 16th for Round 2. The team adjusted the clutch clearance the previous day, so that was out of the way.
I got off to a very good start and picked up about 4 positions in the first few corners, but then made some untimely misses and drove in a train with several other cars for the rest of the race, finishing 14th.



Next up is Suzuka. My best results last year came from Suzuka, so I am looking forward to it. The track is long and technical, and is an absolutely blast to drive.

As of now, I am stuck with carrying an extra 10kg in body weight in this series, since the rules set the minimum driver weight including all gear to 70kg. The gear weighs 5kg, and I am 75kg, for a grand total of 80kg. The total weight of the car, fuel, and driver is 590kg, so this probably equates to about 30-40kg in Super GT GT300. I am always training and have 8% bodyfat, but have so far been unable to drop the weight in the last 2 years.

For this year, I need to eliminate driver errors and ensure I drive each and every race to the level of my own satisfaction, and it definitely starts with the qualifying. It would be great to get on the podium a few times.


FCJ 2009 富士　開幕

2009年のＦＣＪの開幕はＦｕｊｉ　Ｓｐｅｅｄｗａｙで開かれました。　今年は参加台数が１８まで減ったんですが、競争レベルは最高!
火曜日にサーキットに入り、テスト走行は水曜日から金曜日の三日間で10時間弱ありました。

去年のＦＣＪ最終戦以降はフョ?ミュラは載っていなかったので、とても久しぶりで本当に気持ちよかった。
水曜日は不明の中古タイヤで走ったため、みんなのタイムに多少ばらつきはあったが、木曜日はみんなにニュータイヤが出ました。　
木曜日は途中で１と２セクターで赤で走れて（その時点で一番早いタイム）1:42.4で9番手のタイム。
しかしその後、金曜日は路面の変化にうまくタイヤ圧を調整できなく、１００Ｒのコーナーのバランスでアクセル全開で走ることが出来なく、かなりタイムにつながった。

Ｆｕｊｉはセクターが３つあって、セクター1は別に単純で直線と1コーナーなんですが、セクター2とセクター3は車のバランスはいずれかに合わせて、もうひとつの方は我慢して走る感じです。　ほとんどの状況ではＦＣＪの場合は2セクターの100Rにあわせなくてはならないです。　5速（190km/h+)で走るコーナーで6秒以上続くので、少しでもアクセルを抜くとタイムロスがその分激しく、ずっと続いてしまう。　よって１００Ｒは結構オーバーステアが出ないと全開は無理。　そのバランスで3セクターはリアのトラクションをとても丁寧に扱って、低い速度で少しでもハンドルを切る料とブレーキを踏む料を減らして、アクセルを０．１秒でも早く、ゆっくり踏むことが勝負です。

１００Ｒに前後のタイヤ圧のバランスが合ってないとあっという間に０．５秒ぐらいそんしてしまう。　土曜日の予選はそういう状況になってしまい、悪い流れのレースウィークになった。
予選１はリアが全然上がらなく、１００Ｒがとても強いアンダーだった。　予選２までには10分の間があるためプレッシャー調整ができる。　しかし、そこで、もうタイヤは完全ニューではない。　そこからのプレッシャーの上がり方もちょっと遅くなって、リアは得に上がりすぎるとグリップの落ちが非常に激しい。　予選１で路面でフロントは思い通りに上がってリアが上がり足りなかったから、その分調整をしたのだが、最終的にはまだリアが足りなかった。

Ｒｄ．１はトップから1秒落ちで15番手スタート。
テスト中は数回だけスタートシムレーションをしてクラッチの切りが良かった。　しかし実際のレーススタートになってびっくり！　グリッドに付く前に何回かのスタート練習でクラッチの設定でペダルを一番奥まで押しても1速のままで切れなくてグリッドで止まれなく車が進みすぎてストールしてしまい。なんとかスタートできたが、ビリになってしまいみんなを追う展開になった。　なんとか他の車に追いついて、いいペースで走れたが、結局15番手のままフィニッシュ。　レース中のペースは６?１０番手あたりと同じぐらいだったため得に悔しかった。

Ｒｄ．２は16番手スタート。　前日はレース後クラッチペダルの設定を変更して、ペダルトラベルを深くし、二度とクラッチディスクが焼きつかないようにした。
スタートはかなりうまく行って、順位をいくつも最初の数コーナーで上げた。　その後は前の集団とちょっと差がついていた為スリップが使えなく、抜いたばかりの車が何台か僕を逆抜きし、とてもタイミングの悪いミスをしてしまい、それ以上勝負できないまま、レース終了。　14位で完走。

次は鈴鹿のレースです。　去年も最も良い結果が鈴鹿で二回とも出たので、とても楽しみです。　サーキットが長く、テクニカルなので、非常に楽しいし、やはりドライバーの腕の差もでます。

僕は今のところＦＣＪで＋１０ｋｇのドライバーハンデーで走っているからこそ「鈴鹿がチャンス！」と思っています。
ＦＣＪのルールで装備品付最低ドライバー重量が７０ｋｇなんですが、装備品は５ｋｇで僕の体重が７５ｋｇ。。。合わせて８０ｋｇ。　ＦＣＪ車体のドライバーと燃料込みの重量が約５９０ｋｇなので、馬力と重量を考えて割合的にはＧＴ３００の＋３０ｋｇ?＋４０ｋｇぐらいです。
トレーニングはもちろん沢山やっていて、体脂肪率は８％ぐらいです。

僕の今年の目的はミスの無くして、自分が毎回レース終了後に満足できるようなパフォーマンスを出して、何とか表彰台に上れることです。
そして来年はＦ３で勉強をしていきたい。　レースはどんな状況でも結果が全て。

2009 Season - Super GT Rd 1 at Okayama

2009 Race Season



The '09 racing season is here. A lot of things got decided quite late this year but in the end it all came together. For this year, I will be in Formula Challenge Japan (Formula Renault) again, in #6 Avanzza x Bomex car and finally - Super GT GT300!
In GT, I am with Ishimatsu / Arktech Motorsports #111 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.

This last weekend was the season opener at Okayama International Circuit. This is the first Porsche racecar I had ever been in and have been excited about it ever since the ride was confirmed in early March. The week preceding the weekend was a heavy schedule -

Sunday - Super Taikyu test at Motegi with Sequential Endless Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIIII - last year's Class-2 champions. The test ended prematurely since there was a burning Porsche GT3 Cup in the tunnel at turn 5 (sector 2) during my first flying lap, with me having to return to the pits and ending the run. Despite that, my Sector 1 was rather good and hopefully I will get a chance to drive the car for the team sometime this year. Maybe Tokachi 24hr?


Tuesday - Karting at New Tokyo Circuit with Manabu Orido-san in a 125cc shifter kart - over 2 hours of clean driving time made my body ache for the next couple of days. The new engine was so fast we hit over 100mph on this short track's straightaway.


Wednesday - Fuji test in the GT300 Porsche RSR - due to some trouble only got to drive the car for 8 laps but I felt pretty comfortable and was not far off the veteran driver Tsubobayashi-san. On the final lap of my session in the car, I continued to push the car into large slides in entries and exits of slow corners to get more feel of the weight balance of a rear-engined vehicle and how it behaves. As I was incrementally increasing the drift angle, I finally spun at turn 13 - a slow and safe corner.


Thursday - Drove Kubo-san's Super Taikyu-spec Honda S2000 at the Tsukuba 1000 track the entire day. Thank you so much Kubo-san! This was a private event with Kageyama Masami-san, my FCJ advisor and also NISMO's GT500 Champion, instructing just a handful of people - way cool.


Friday - Left for Okayama in my car at 3 am.

Sat/Sun - My first-ever GT race weekend!

Our team does development for Kumho tires, which is really exciting as I have not yet been involved in tire testing.



With the new schedule format in Super GT, we barely have any test time before qualifying - 90 minutes, so after Tsubobayashi-san tried out a couple of tire compounds and did basic setup changes I finally got a chance to drive the car a bit more - 7 more laps.



Then qualifying came and I got about 8 more laps in on used tires after Tsubobayashi-san went for the time attack on new tires and qualified for 17th on the grid.

The weather forecast looked rainy for Sunday, which was a good turn for us since Kumho had not yet had a chance to develop the right tires for the 911's weight balance, giving us a very small chance in dry conditions for this race.



On Sunday morning, we had time for a few laps and final setup tweaks for the wet race. This was my first time driving the car in the wet, and it actually felt pretty good and stable.

Tsubobayashi-san was the starting driver for the 77 lap race. He continued to gain positions before the pitstop and we were in 12th when I got in the car after the pitstop. The driver-change is actually relatively easy in the Porsche compared to many cars so we only needed to run through it several times beforehand on Saturday to get it down to under 20 seconds.


I got a new set of wets for my stint and got on my way. The radio line somehow got pulled out of my helmet plug during the pitstop so my radio did not work from the get go. I tried to plug it back in but with gloves on and in race conditions it was impossible - not enough time even on the straights with the short gearing. The drinking water pump did not seem to work . With the heavy rain, it was pretty low visibility. The environment was pretty extreme - all this on cold tires in a car I had driven 15 laps to this point. The GT500 cars are ridiculously fast and in low visibility especially, they show up seemingly out of nowhere.




I just buckled down and focused on my driving. It went great - my pace continued to pick up for the first 5 laps while I got the tires warm and then stuck to it. I was overly cautious with letting the GT500 cars pass making my time loss a bit more than necessary, but with this being my first GT race, it was important to ensure I did not get into any accidents.

Up until about 10 laps to go, my times continued to go up into the 1:49:xx as the rain weakened and we were in 11th position.

While on the front straightaway in 5th gear, the transmission buckled before the braking zone putting me in neutral, at which point I got into a car-saving mode and tried to get the car back to the pits, but the location of the failure was pretty bad - one entire lap to go to actually get back to the pits. As I was cautiously cruising back, I was left with nothing but neutral by the time I got to the uphill Atwood turn, and the car came to a stop.

Despite this, because we reached the lap threshold for race completion, we still placed 17th. My times were actually only about 0.5 second off of the Lexus IS350 on Kumho tires and the pace at the end of the race was pretty similar to the Taisan #26 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR on Yokohama tires.

Although we did have a mechanical failure, with this kind of grip levels and toque, sometimes it is just unavoidable. I definitely feel comfortable in the car and am looking forward to round two at Suzuka next month.

Super GT is a different level of racing and I feel like the preparation over the last few years has definitely paid off. The necessity to hold narrow and wide focus in low visibility situation in an unfamiliar racecar on an unforgiving race track was paramount - and I pulled it off.




Congratulations to Bandoh Masataka (坂東正敬), Orido Manabu (織戸　学), and Kataoka Tatsuya (片岡 龍也) for winning the GT300 race in the WedsSport Bandoh Lexus IS350.
Visit Racing Project Bandoh and Orido.jp.



Next up is Formula Challenge Japan season opener at Fuji Speedway - going to the track on Tuesday night and will be there through Sunday.

Satoshi and his girlfriend made this awesome banner to commemorate my entry into Super GT GT300. Thank you Satoshi!!

Super Taikyu finale at Motegi - A Dream Win

After going back to the United States for over a month, I came back to Japan for the season finale of the Super Taikyu series at Twin Ring Motegi. Actually, I should date myself a couple of weeks back to when I was still in America - I had a dream. I dreamed in vivid detail the exact way that our team was going to win the race at Motegi. Here it is: Kazuomi Komatsu would start the race and I would get the second stint. Then, our team owner and driver would keep me in the car for the third and final stint to save time on the pit-stop since it would be a splash-and-go after two full-tank stints. In my dream, we won the race with a huge margin - something over one lap.

Now back to reality -

I had not been back in the Z for about 2 months since Okayama, and our first outing was on the Twin Ring Motegi oval just for the fun of it it seemed... The sanctioning body setup 2 chicanes at the end of each straight to keep the speeds down. I had never driven on an oval before, it was a lot of fun - almost feeling the extra push forward from the low-pressure area created between the car and the wall inches away. I did a few laps and then my team mates got in the car. Out of my 8 flying sub-one-minute laps, my best was my last lap and it was over 1.5 seconds faster than anybody else from our class over that practice and the Thursday practice, which we did not even attend. It was pretty cool.

On to business. The next practice was on the road course. I immediately get right to setting up the car for the track. The car as it came out of the rig was just bad - the front too soft, rear too stiff, plowing at corner-entry, no traction at exits, and pretty bad on brakes. One by one I ticked off the deficiencies starting with the shocks adjusting bound and rebound to where my final touch was just one click on the front bound and 2 clicks on the rear bound - in return direction since I overdid it. Then I moved on to the wing since Motegi has many long straights, but I also wanted to get turn 4 just right, since it's full throttle in 3rd gear in a well-setup Z even on old tires and an empty tank. With that done, the car also gained about 3km/h on the straights in top speed. The proper posture in turn 4 also translates to great balance at the exit of the esses, which is crucial for the endurance race since any understeer there would kill the speed not to mention the tires over the four-hour duration. I also dropped hot tire pressures by 0.1 bar to 1.85 to help with the front grip.

The race format for the weekend was different than usual, with the race to be held on the Saturday afternoon after morning qualifying. The qualifying was not spectacular, with us in 6th place after an NSX, an M3, an RX7, and two Zs. The race setup was coming together though, but I still did not like the corner-entry-understeer after the initial steering input in slow corners. For the race, I had the team change to stronger-biting rear pads to keep the rear down on entry and prevent too much weight-transfer to the front.
Without my input at all, Kazuomi Komatsu was selected to start the race and I was to take over the reins for the 2nd stint. Exactly as in my dream. Then as the race got under way, our car was just great - very quick pace and in no time Komatsu passed the leading car of our class. He pitted a few laps earlier than planned and I got in the car at lap 39. I got a full tank of gas and four new tires. Since we were one of the first teams to pit, we had to wait for the others to finish their pit-work before we could gauge our position on the track. Several laps later, with everyone done with their pits, I was radioed that I was in 3rd place with about 30 seconds to the leader - both of the cars in front opted not to change all four tires - with one changing just the rears and the other keeping all four from the previous stint. This just meant that we would get our position back after the 2nd pit-stop, since we would not need new tires and the other teams would. I slowly reeled them in, then passed them during this stint even before the 2nd pit and was getting away at something like 1 second per lap. It all felt just right, and slightly surreal - everything was going just as it happened in my dream.

The car balance was just awesome - I could see the cars that I passed were strugling in various corners as their tires wore off, but I was driving with a very subtle oversteer at the exits and great neutral balance into the corners, so my rears were actually getting just slightly worn more than the fronts. In a front-engine car like the Z, the opposite is the norm, with front tires going away and understeer increasing with wear. As my stint was coming to an end, the lightness of the rear without the fuel was causing a little more oversteer. After my initial full tank stint, I am getting ready for the pit and I learn that I will be staying in the car for the final stint - about 20 laps out of the 100 lap race.

The chief asks me if I want new tires, and I consider it for part of the lap - we had a margin of something close to one lap - 2 minutes - compared to the second place car which had already finished its final pit earlier. I finally decide that making up the 15-20 seconds it takes to change the rear tires in 20 laps would be difficult, and so I stick with my current set of tires. The pitstop goes without a glitch and I am back out on the track - with close to a half-tank of gas again, the car was perfect through all the corners, just as I had hoped, with the rear nice and settled. Gap to second place - over 30 seconds and growing by the lap. Easy cruise to the finish - 18 laps to go, 17 laps to go, 16... and that is when reality and my dream diverged.

As I hit the brakes going into turn 1, the car just does not decelerate at its normal rate. Then turn 2 - same thing, and worse... now I am braking way sooner than usual to make sure I can stop for each corner, but it just gets worse with every turn. The pedal goes to the floor everytime and pumping it does no good. I radio the pits and tell them that we have a brake problem. They ask to me keep on top of it for now and see if I can manage it since we have 15 laps to go and have a margin of over 30 seconds. The next lap, I have to brake at 2.5 times the usual distance from the corner and still am barely slowing down in time. I report back to the pits again and tell them I am coming in - the brakes are just not there anymore. I pit and the team swaps out the front pads on both sides and get me back out - we finish 6th.

The feeling was just surreal - both when it all was going exactly according to my dream and then after the brake problem began. I just thought it was not real. After the race ended, I found out that the pads were completely worn on the front and that the master cylinder in use actually cannot push enough fluid to get the pistons extended enough to allow the pad backplate to hit the rotor. I literally drove without brakes for 2 laps.

With this, my 2008 race season has ended, although the final race result was disappointing, the performance was great throughout the year, and I am very fortunate to have been with Okabe Jidosha race team this year - the entire team was awesome. Altough we did have mechanical troubles exactly when we were leading and most likely going to win the race at both Tokachi 24hr and the season finale at Motegi, that's how it happens in racing.

With the year over, I am now looking for a Super GT GT300 seat. I will probably race in the Formula Challenge Japan series again next year. And Super Taikyu? Racing in three series within one season has been done before, so I have my fingers crossed - sponsors needed - if anyone has any leads please do contact me.

I feel like I am living a dream afterall!!

Motegi Formula Challenge Japan race and Hokkaido

I traveled to Motegi in Tochigi prefecture for the 11^th/12^th races in Formula Challenge Japan. The track is about an hour and forty minutes away from my house, and I left at 8:30 am for a 12:00 meeting time. Our first on-track test session was scheduled for 1:00pm. Things did not go well however, as I left the house and saw multiple traffic jam warnings on the freeway, one was 20km long, and another was 30km long ? both segments I had to pass. I ended up having to wade through Tokyo traffic on city streets and was late for the first session by about 10 minutes, arriving at 1:10pm!

JRP, our sanctioning body, changed the rear-wing setting to generate less downforce, which made the car slightly faster than before due to an ability to eliminate more understeer on corner-entry, especially for the fast corners, and also yield a faster straight-line speed. The wing-change also generated a lot of spins, which was not something I had seen in this series in a while. The heat over the entire weekend was incredible ? air temp at over 35 Celsius and track temp near 60. That’s 95 and 140 Fahrenheit, respectively! I recall I was 0.6 seconds from the top time during a practice session and was 19^th out of 26 cars. The time gap in the series further diminished, which is incredible. A difference of 0.2 seconds was a difference of 10 positions, and this on a long track with near-2-minute lap times. This has got to be one of the most competitive Formula Renault series in the world right now. I botched Saturday qualifying ? worst result yet this season of 22^nd/23^rd for the two races. I set the initial tire pressure too low and was unable to get the right set on the tires for the few laps when the fresh tires are fastest. Both of the races were an entirely different story however ? I was catching and passing people left and right, finishing 9 positions up in 13^th the first race and 7 positions up in 16^th the second race. In the second race I passed more cars than anyone else (5), despite the track being known for its difficulty to pass, just like Suzuka.

My race lap times were also near the top of the field ? less than 4 tenths from the top in the first race and less than 3 tenths from the top in the second race. My fastest lap in race 12 was identical to Kunimoto Yuji’s, the current points leader for the championship, who finished both races on the podium. Despite a poor overall result, the progress is considerable, and my next point of improvement is qualifying ? if I can qualify near the top, I can finish at or near the top. I have not had any misses or lapses of concentration or any problems in recent races, and that in itself is a great confidence booster. Also, back in Suzuka, I had captured some fastest sectors during the rain qualifying, so I know I can compete in any condition at any track now. There are only 2 weekends and 4 races left in the season ? next at Fuji and the finale at Sugo.

After the race I finally got a few days to travel with a friend of mine from back in high-school, Kim Meyer. Her stay was only for 10 days, and the Motegi race took 5 out, leaving just 3 before her departure back to Kentucky. On Monday, on the way to Tsukuba, the city I grew up in while living in Japan as a child, I mentioned to her that the Tokyo Disney Land is nearby, and our destination immediately changed accordingly.

We actually went to Disney Sea; a separate new park from the Disney Land geared more towards adults, with things like BEER! In the evening we got to Tsukuba and spent the next morning there, and then we traveled to Nikko, an old Japanese capital and also the city where Tokgawa Ieyasu, the first Japanese Shogun, was imprisoned, although he had some freedom of movement within a temple he himself built.

On the same day Kim flew back home to Kentucky I had to fly to Hokkaido for a grassroots endurance race. Kubo-san, a friend of a good friend of mine, invited me to race with him in one of his cars. The 135 minute race was a blast ? I was in a modified Mazda RX7 and Kubo-san drove an S13 Silvia race car (supposedly over 500hp!).

This endurance race has been known to favor fuel-efficient naturally aspirated cars since we have to literally drive over to the regular gas station within the track complex for refueling, and the regulations only allow refueling up to the full gas tank. So, one loses a few minutes just by having a gas tank that’s a bit bigger for every time one refuels, and everyone has to refuel at least twice. On a track with 1:30.00 lap times, those few minutes lost for every refuel cost many laps. Kubo-san and I started the race in our respective cars and battled through a few corners but then the Silvia experienced a throttle-body failure - it became open full-time, forcing Kubo-san to drive an entire lap with full-throttle, even in braking. In the RX7, I drove for two stints and after having finished the second and last pit stop, we were still in the lead, and my co-driver, a Hokkaido local and a Sunday racer, had some trouble and we finished in 5^th place overall, behind some Honda S2000s. The race was really a lot of fun and the absence of pressure that I usually feel in Super Taikyu and FCJ was great. Driving a Mazda RX7 on the track for the first time was very cool ? this is a production car that most resembles the movement of a formula car in my experience so far.

Kubo-san, himself a highly-regarded animal doctor, owns a chain of animal hospitals in Hokkaido, called Hokuai Animal Hospital (北愛動物病院). As a huge car enthusiast, he owns an entire stable of race-cars, including a copy of the infamous R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R raced at the Nurburgring 24 hours, Toyota Supra (old and new), Honda S2000, and many many others. Some of his doctors and nurses also race and go to track days in his cars. Saito-san, a veteran doctor at his hospital has been racing for a few years now, and her first race was actually with two nurses, and they won!

After the endurance race, we packed up and drove back to Sapporo in a mini-bus. For the following few days, I was thoroughly pampered by being shown around the beautiful scenery, such as a huge lake next to a volcano in the mountains, and to finish the trip off, a company barbeque in a very nice park.

Kubo-san’s story is incredible: He started from zero after graduating from Tokyo University. He had a friend with a breeding business, so in exchange for a little bit of space in the corner of the building, he provided free examinations to the breeder’s stock. From there, as the number of clients grew, he was able to continue to purchase equipment that he needed and expand the services he offered. Now, Kubo-san employs around 35 people in his three hospitals and a research laboratory. He is 42.

http://www.vets-labo.com

Best finish yet in FCJ and Tokachi 24 hr endurance race

A few weeks ago was the FCJ race in Suzuka. On Thursday practice, my engine failed with nearly no load when a red flag came out due to a crash and I was cruising back to the pits. The time to change the engine limited my track time to less than an hour for that day, although we had three 1-hour sessions. Friday practice passed without any further issues. For qualifying on Saturday, the temperature was already around 35 Celsius at 9:30 AM, which posed a lot of challenges for tire pressure setups. The extreme track heat mandated that we run a lower-than-usual pressure, but needed to ensure that we could get the temps up in time during the 15 minute qualifying. I gradually worked the tires for 3 laps as the cold pressures were so low there was risk of damaging the actual construction of the tires. As I got on for my first flying lap, a yellow came out in one of the turns, forcing me to abandon the attack. Then the following lap, again, the same thing happened with another car off of the track in a dangerous area. Finally on the third flying lap I got a clear lap but encountered debris and lost time. My position for Q1 was 20th. Then for the 2nd qualifying, I easily beat my Q1 time despite the tires already having gone off and secured a 10th position start for the Sunday race. My best qualifying yet in FCJ. Gap from the top was 0.6 seconds.

The Saturday race was a throwaway anyway due to my qualifying position, but the engine ignition failed on the first lap and I became a spectator for the next 11 laps.

Sunday was incredible however. I got a great start off of the line into turn 1 and passed 2 cars, but then was pushed nearly off of the track out of turn 2 and had to lift off. This brought me back to 9th. Over the next 17 laps, I managed a very fast pace and passed the car for 8th position, a 3rd-year FCJ veteran from Honda who has even been testing for F3. I was catching up to the 7th place car by nearly a second per lap but ran out of laps, finishing in 8th place. My top time was around 2nd best in the race and looking at the pace, the qualifying position was the largest determinant of the finishing position. If I can qualify somewhere around the top in the next race I am confident I will have a chance to finally get on the podium.



Up next was the Tokachi 24-hour endurance race in the #15 Okabe Jidosha Dixcel Nissan Fairlady Z. Our team flew in on Friday morning. For this race, the team added a 4th driver, who we gave lots of practice time to get used to the car and the track. I coached him throughout and he was able to make the necessary changes pretty quickly.
Since I had raced at Tokachi in a Z last year, I only made a few laps before the race just to setup the car - a little tweaking of shocks and a small wing adjustment and the car was perfect. It was an incredibly easy car to drive with no understeer at any of the corners. Most corners at Tokachi are mid-speed (3rd gear) 90 degree turns and the track is rather bumpy. Having watched in-car videos of other cars in other classes, our car was definitely hooked up.


The strategy for the 24-hour race is all about speed and fuel efficiency. I tested a variety of driving styles, including driving a gear up and short-shifting at several different RPMs. By short-shifting several hundred RPM sooner than usual, we were able to extent a single stint from 42 laps to 47 laps, thus eliminating one pitstop at the end of the race.

The race started on Sunday at 3PM to finish at 3PM on Monday. Komatsu-san and I split the night-time racing with Nagashima-san and Furuta-san driving during daylight. When I got into the car at the 2nd pitstop (3rd stint), we were right there with the #333 Z driving in 1st/2nd positions. I drove a double stint as the sun went down, with a full course yellow in the middle, which extended my drive to over 4 hours. By the time I was done, I opened up a gap of over 1.5 laps to the 2nd place car. At 2:18 per lap, this was a great cushion to have.

Then Komatsu-san maintained the lead with a double stint and I got back in around 2 AM. Another 1:50 later we were comfortably ahead by over 2 laps.

Then Nagashima-san got back in when the it began to get slightly lighter and began his stint. Shortly after we got into the 13th hour, with 5 points already under our belt for leading the class at the 12-hour mark and with a huge lead to the 2nd place car, left-front wheel bolts failed between turns 1 and 2, forcing a pitstop for repair. The cause is not yet known, but over-torquing is suspected, since no other Zs experienced this problem over the course of the race.

Essentially, this ended our race for 1st place, since by the time that car got out of the pits we were down by 6 laps. Then during the next stint, the same thing happened to our left-rear wheel bolts, and we got further down in laps.

At this point I decided getting some sleep was the best remedy to such an unfortunate event.

I finished the race off in the final stint, with a huge margin to 4th place, so I cruised more than anything to ensure nothing else failed.

We took the checkered flag in 3rd place, another podium finish, but having been so close to running away with the win, we were all quite distraught.

I was able to demonstrate my extraordinarily fast pace for over 4 hours in a row, and without any errors, so I am extremely content with my personal performance, and will aim to win the next race in Super Taikyu at Okayama next month.


Sakai Mizuho-san and myself before the 24-hour race.


Another podium - three podiums out of four races so far this year in Super Taikyu.

Super Taikyu Round 3 - Fuji Speedway

Onboard video (Part 1):


Onboard video (Part 2):


Both of these videos are available in high-quality (perfect for full screen viewing) at these links:

Super Taikyu Fuji Speedway Nissan Fairlady Z race onboard view (Part 1)

Super Taikyu Fuji Speedway Nissan Fairlady Z race onboard view (Part 2)

These videos only show the start and the 5 passes.


Last weekend was the third round of Super Taikyu at Fuji Speedway. It's a rather different setting compared to last race's Sendai Hiland track, which is a decades-old track in the middle of a mountain range. As a Formula-One host track, Fuji Speedway is all that a driver can want - the smoothest surface, good track width, challenging configuration, and safe run-offs. The garage facilities are also more than twice the size of any other track, allotting each team plenty of room with private offices, lots of TV monitors, and even a private-use restroom. Shower rooms are also scattered around every 100 meters through the pits.

Due to the proximity of the track to my house in Yokohama (only about an hour), I arrived on Friday morning and got on with the car setup. The car was pretty good from the get-go as it remained unchanged from the Hiland race, but I knew that we would have to minimize rear drag to take advantage of Fuji's long straights.

Between the three test sessions on Friday, I was able to come up with a pretty good setup. But for the Saturday qualifying, I wanted to go a bit further, which meant lowering the car 2mm F/R and lowering the rear wing even more.
This backfired however, with the car losing its good over-steering characteristics. I was really surprised, but there could be no mistake that the lowered rear-wing was actually generating more downforce/drag. 100R, a very long right-hander in 4th gear around 140-160km/h made me struggle with an impossible understeer (too much rear-traction and not enough front traction). When the rear generates a lot of downforce compared to the front, all that force actually pushes downward on the rear so much that it unloads the front a bit, making the balance problem even more severe. A bare 2mm lowering of the ride height in the front and rear also had very bad side-effects. The suspension was no longer able to function properly with a lot of bouncing and severe understeer in slow corners.

The reason that one can make both suspension and aerodynamic adjustments (to an extent of course) and still distinguish the cause-and-effect of each is actually pretty simple - downforce only comes into play at high speeds, and is rather significant in the balance of the car, but in lower speeds (2nd gear/3 gear corners) the effect of downforce is nearly null, so at lower speeds, one can safely attribute the balance of the car to the suspension.

Of course, this is not the case in formula cars and prototypes, as they generate significantly more downforce (even at low speeds) and are much more sensitive to all adjustments.

So, I ended up butching the qualifying with a time of 1:54.2, around 1.5 seconds slower than the top car in the class. I made four attack laps in hopes of getting some kind of miracle time despite the poor balance of the car, but all four were within 0.2 seconds of the above top time, so it was pretty clear this was near the limit for this setup.

I looked over the data and saw that we lost over 6 km/h of speed on the straights, and combined with my feeling of strong rear downforce and the front lifting up, there could be no mistake that the lowered rear wing was not working as intended.

I used our third driver's qualifying session as a test since the C-driver only needs to pass a standard lap time and the actual time does not count for position, not that I could do any worse than I had already done. So we raised the car back up 2mm front/rear and tried 2 wing configurations - just raising the front of the wing which makes the distance the air travels above the plane and below the plane more equal, and also reverting to Friday's wing configuration.

Sure enough even on old tires and a full tank of gas, Komatsu-san easily drove in the mid-1:53s. The data also showed a regaining of 7km/h with the new adjustment, while the Friday's configuration did not show that gain in speed.

Although our qualifying was horrible, we finally found the right setup for Fuji.



We decided that I will be the starting driver, followed by Nagashima-san, and Komatsu-san the anchor.

With an 8th place start, I had to make up lots of positions for us to get on the podium again.

I did. My stint was 42 laps, and I passed 5 cars to pit in 3rd place.



After my stint, Nagashima-san and Komatsu-san maintained the position and we finished the 4-hour race in 3rd place.



Next race is this coming weekend at Fuji in Formula Renault.
The next Super Taikyu race is on 7/20 in Hokkaido, the northern-most island, and is a 24-hour endurance race.

Visit the photo gallery for: 2008 Super Taikyu Rd.3 at Fuji Speedway (#15 Okabe Jidosha Dixcel Nissan Fairlady Z)