Posts Tagged nissan
Tokyo Auto Salon 2013: Race Cars
Posted by stocjoe in Uncategorized on January 30, 2013
The big draw for me at the Tokyo Auto Salon was all the amazingly modified cars that are on display. But those aren’t the only vehicles that show up at show. As it turns out, to my surprise and delight, some pretty cool race cars from the past and present were on display this year. Two of Honda’s 1960’s Formula One cars were on display, one from 1967 at Honda’s booth, and one from 1964 at the NGK booth. What I love about these cars are the elaborate twisting headers sprouting from the rear mounted engine. And speaking of F1 there was also a 1996 Ferrari Formula One car on display.
Super GT cars were also out in force, ranging from Toyota Prius, to Honda CR-Z, to GT-R, and the lamented HSV-010. The HSV was what came of the remains of Honda’s canceled NSX project. The plan was originally to have a V10 mounted up front for the next generation NSX, but economic conditions led Honda to cancel the project. The Super GT HSV was developed from the stillborn NSX. As many of you know, the NSX will return, but instead with a mid-mounted V6 hybrid. I still look forward to the newest interpretation of the NSX, but I still wonder what a front engine V10 NSX would have been like.
Le Mans cars also showed up, and this probably excited me the most. Last year marked a serious return of Japanese cars to the big prototype leagues at Le Mans. Toyota fielded two LMP1 prototype cars, both gasoline hybrids, against Audi’s nearly invincible entries. Although they were not victorious, it was still a big deal to see them on track and being reasonably competitive. One of those Toyota racers was on display this year. Almost more exciting was seeing the DeltaWing (powered by Nissan) race car at the Nissan booth. The DeltaWing is one of the most radical race car designs to come up in many years. It’s design involves a very narrow track up front with a wide section at the back. The idea is that the car is half the weight and half the aerodynamic drag of its competitors, and as a result, only needs half the power and half the fuel of its competitors. It’s proven to hang well with the established racers, but how to classify it has been a major issue, with the car being relegated to experimental classes. The other issue has been completing a race without wrecking. Through no fault of its own, the DeltaWing has had unfortunate incidents where other cars have taken it out of contention. Ironically, at Le Mans 2012, it was taken out by a Toyota. The other Le Mans racer on display was Mazda’s new diesel powered LMP2 car. This car is brand new and marks Mazda’s return to Le Mans this year. Mazda is the only Japanese manufacturer to ever win Le Mans overall, and the only one to do so with a rotary engine. Since Le Mans is generally dominated overall by the LMP1 class, I doubt that we’ll see Mazda take an overall win, it will be interesting to see how it does in the LMP2 class.
And besides all of these, there were race cars of a slightly more stylized persuasion. Inside the show there were a handful of drift cars scattered about, but it was outside that you could see some D1 Grand Prix drifters putting their cars through their paces in a small course marked out in the exhibition area. Each driver had two solo runs, one a warm-up and the other a scored run, and then they ran tandem drift runs. Though I’m sure it wasn’t quite as spectacular as at a full scale race circuit, it was still brilliant to see some pretty impressive car control, and a healthy (unhealthy?) amount of smoke in such a small area.
Also, be sure to check out the videos linked to YouTube down below for a taste of the drifting action at Tokyo Auto Salon:
Tokyo Auto Salon 2013: Wow!
Posted by stocjoe in Uncategorized on January 29, 2013
I love cars, and I love all types of cars, but I do have a personal fondness for imports, and especially modified imports. I have little doubt that growing up with the Fast and Furious movies and games like Need For Speed Underground, and Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition. I’ve had a lot of exposure to modified cars and especially modified imports. As such I’ve always followed coverage from car media outlets about these kinds of cars and some of the biggest shows featuring modified cars.
Two of the big shows that stood out to me over the years have been the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, and the Tokyo Auto Salon in Chiba. Of course both shows had some inherent obstacles for the average person to overcome to see either show in person. SEMA (Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association) is closed to the public so only members of the industry and press can go to the show. Tokyo Auto Salon, although open to the public, has the issue of being very, very far away from central Indiana, so is expensive to go to. However, in a fortunate convergence of events over the past year, I was able to earn enough money, as well as be able to take time off from school in order to go to the Tokyo Auto Salon. And let me tell you, the trip was worth every penny.
The show is at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba and lasts a weekend in January from Friday to Sunday. Friday is reserved for press and people who have purchased special preview tickets, and Saturday and Sunday are open to the public. So I set off Saturday morning for the first public day of the show. Fortunately that day, as well as the next, had quite nice weather. In fact it was right around 50 degrees fahrenheit so I was unencumbered with heavy jackets or coats. Immediately upon stepping off the train and into the main part of the station, I saw signs pointing toward Makuhari Messe. All things being said though, I think I probably could’ve followed the very large crowd to where it was headed and still made it just fine.
The main path from the station to the convention center was mostly on an elevated walkway and on the roads below you could see the occasional Japanese sports car: a Nissan Silvia, a Toyota GT86, a Subaru Impreza STi. And as you got closer to the convention center, you could start to hear the sounds of engines echoing behind the building from the demonstration area.
After a short walk through the somewhat drab hallways I entered the first exhibition hall. Before me lay an enormous room covered in cars. Once down the escalator, all that I could think was, where should I start, and where do I go next? So without any sort of plan, I just started off with whatever was right in front of me, and sort of snaked my way through the halls, booth by booth.
And good grief was there a lot to see. At first, having not read the map, I thought that it was just going to be one major exhibition hall, maybe one other. However, it turned out that the first exhibition hall was just one of four, and that’s not counting the outside exhibition area. It was unbelievable, not just in size but in the fact that it was only a three day show. And the reality is, it would be absolutely crazy to try and cover everything I saw at Tokyo Auto Salon in one post. So over the next few days, I will be putting up posts that cover highlights and help show what this amazing event was like. So stay tuned!
Idling: A Car Blog 