This has always been a dream of ours, to take one bad ass nostalgic and go drifting, one of the few motorsports where style matters just as much as speed. The problem is, we’d never have the nerve to actually do it because 1.) we can’t drift our way out of a used kleenex and 2.) we couldn’t bear to see the toll this would take on hard-to-find body panels and trim. Luckily, Hideo Itakura and HDO Racing Service have no such reservations and have been campaigning this SR20-powered Celica Liftback in Japan’s D1GP drift series. Note the intercooler masquerading as a grille. That’s total awesome right there.

[Speedhunters]

Look what arrived in the mailbox at JNC HQ today. Nissan has finally begun sending out GT-R brochures to interested parties. In it, there’s a brief history of the Skyline GT-R and, as far as we know, it’s the first time that Nissan USA has ever officially acknowledged the 50-year history of these JDM models. And in case you were wondering: yes, we are very interested in the GT-R but no, we can’t afford one. You can get your own brochure by signing up for updates on Nissan USA’s website.

Just a quick reminder for those of you from or visiting NorCal this weekend. Be sure to check out the Z Owners of Northern California’s Blackhawk Datsun/Nissan Extravaganza in San Ramon on June 28. All manner of Datsuns are welcome - 510s, Zs, and Roadsters. Doors open at 10 AM. For more information, check out the ZONC website.

DMP’s Project X: Datsun Fairlady Z, tells the story of the iconic Japanese sports car in graphic form. Unlike Wangan Midnight, this is non-fiction and  has characters like Mr. K and Yoshihiko Matsuo. The description goes like this.

In 1960s America, the Japanese automobile was seen as a “second-class” inferior. In spite of it all, men dared to dream of building a world beating Japanese sports car. Through the innovative zeal of Yutaka Katayama (now reverently known as “Mr. K”) and the genius of designer Yoshihiko Matsuo, this dream became reality in the form of the legendary sports car, the Nissan Fairlady Z. Known as the Datsun 240z in America, this automobile was an unprecedented success and is still beloved today. The dramatic story of these men who refused to be beaten by the hardships they encountered will inspire all who read it.

It’s been around for a while but we’re not really hip to the whole manga scene. At least now we can sleep better knowing that the Z-car is among other hallowed cultural landmarks covered in the Project X series such as, um, 7-11 and Cup Noodle.

We dream of one day becoming as important enough so that Nissan will invite us to exotic, faraway locales and give us cars to test drive while showing us sneak peeks of upcoming releases. Kinda like they did with the writers at Inside Line when they took them to Portugal and let them see the upcoming Nissan Silvia successor. (more…)

This JDM Fairlady Z is a total track monster, built by a Mr. Kuni of Gunma Prefecture. The L-series motor has been stroked to 3.1L and puts out 337ps, which gets channeled through an R32 Skyline GT-R transmission to motivate the car and its 23-point rollcage and FRP doors around Tsukuba circuit in 1:02.911. Check out the details on Speedhunters.

Things have been pretty frantic here at JNC headquarters, so we’ve missed posting on an event or two. Most notably, from the Better Late Than Never Bureau, the Z Car Club Inland Valley’s Datsun & Nissan Car Show. Check out Dan’s fantastic pics here.

And from the Roo Bar Bureau on the other side of the world, Aussie JNCer Dave Carey attended last year’s Bay to Birdwood vintage car event with his Isuzu Bellet and wrote an excellent piece about it. Accompanied with some drool-inducing photos of Down Under J-tin that we don’t get to see in the States, we just had to post it up. Read all about it here. Thanks, Dave!