Kataoka Racing Service is a workshop in Hyogo, which is in the Kansai region of western Japan. For years, they’ve held regular trackdays for nostalgics (which they call Battle Royal), and the most recent one was last weekend. Here’s a terrific vid, which shows what an awesome variety of cars that KRS get at their events. There are Hakos and Zeds galore of course, but also Isuzu Bellett, multiple 510s, Starlets, RX3s and even a Sunny Truck mixing it up on the bumpy corners of Central Circuit!
More after the jump.
Here’s another vid, actually a cool slideshow of the action in the pits, which gives a better closeup of some of these cars.
…and here’s some snaps of the on-track action.
…now, where’s my helmet…
oooohhhh, so far my favorite movie Friday… yummy
So many cool cars in only 4 minutes 15 seconds.
what is the gold car? second vid 3:01
and what is the red one with the checkerboard?
love the orange Z looks very sleek!
That red, white and blue car (Datsun?) must have thought he was still on the street! You don’t normally use your blinker on the track!
Zukiru, that’s the ass end of a KP71 Starlet. In the mid 70s that was Toyota’s weapon against the hordes of Nissan Sunnys in the TS-b class.
The registration list says the Bellett GTR is a Aquarius built car. There probably isn’t a bigger name in Japan for building that make. It also has every carbon fiber panel available for that vehicle, which would cost somewhere around $7,300 USD. With the addition of the rear wing and the carbon fiber, that car probably has a 2 liter DOHC engine instead of the original 1.6. The results aren’t posted yet, but if the drivers are equal, that Bellett should rip through the rest, on that tight Central Circuit course, like a knife through butter.
But why did the Front Row Geminis sit out this season? Must be the economy…
Thanks, Kev. It’s good to see a Friday Vid where the cars aren’t smashing into each other and/or doesn’t end with Sgt. Daimon shooting someone in the face. 🙂
…not that there’s anything wrong with that 🙂
…the shooting, I mean 😀
I’ve never heard of Central Circuit before. It has an interesting track layout. Two long straights plus a crossover so it all fits into a tight area. I also like the fact that it doesn’t look overly sanitized.
I love the cars in action. Am I imagining things, or is that an AMC Hornet at the :50s mark?
Gold fastback car at the 50 sec mark in the top vid is the aforementioned Starlet KP71.
Oops…sorry guys, I meant Starlet KP47, not KP71 🙂
I would have left my spine somewhere on the track after all that bouncing around!
Not to keep whining about Toyota Crowns, but how come I never see any of them on a track?!