Living in the Past.

TV-Tokyo’s half hour weekly Super GT show today reminded me just how rubbish the weather was at Fuji last week. My Nismo hat didnt keep me warm, but the Nismo championship did keep me happy. Which brings me to two things, one of which I did last summer (heh – actually September, so autumn really, but so very much warmer) and another which happened ten years ago.

September was my first visit to KN’s Factory, ten years ago was the JGTC championship win for Masami Kageyama and Eric Comas in this Pennzoil Nismo GT-R. I saw the car as I passed by the store and almost crashed into a bridge. So returned with a camera.

If you were to drive by in September, you would quite likely have seen this.

As raced, with bugs.

The aero was a bit more extreme the following year, but this is still pretty tech looking. Perfect way to Sayonara the ’90s.

Somebody kerbed the wheels. Eric? Masami?

15 years of Nismo! The Nismo Festival at Fuji Speedway on November 30 will celebrate 25 years. Omedeto Nismo! Might be a bit chilly…

Eventually I noticed the sign asking me not to touch the car. Honestly – I didnt touch much of it…

Obviously no truth to the rumour that Japanese cars have smaller towhooks.

Quite a view that must have been. Dont worry – GT5 will have a cockpit view.

A Frenchman sat here. So did his Nihonjin buddy.

I was the freshest of freshy Gaijin at this stage & this was my first JGTC experience, so this image stayed with me until the racket of Fuji’s home straight concrete canyon blasted it out. I blame the VTEC’s.

Remember when SE Racing made those silver wing things, called Wing Things, that you could strap on you arm and be the BMX King of 7 year olds on your block? No? Yeah – Im old – I get sidetracked easily.

At the time, I thought that the Zexel signage detracted from the “purity” of the Pennzoil livery. I quite like it now. Ahh nostalgia… Yep. Old desu.

The products from this vending machine sell themselves. With help from the poster. I couldnt find a machine that vended posters. But the search made me thirsty. A cunning plan indeed…

They sure did. But this post isnt about Z’s.

Or is it?

As you would expect, the engine cover from a Nissan R90C was stashed in the window…

…along with the nose.

On a later sortie along Route 16, I noticed that something had changed here…

Blimey, I thought.

Why, isnt that a Nissan R382? With a 6 litre V12? This one is from 1969, a golden era for Japanese Group 7 sportscars. Any era that produced these Nissans and the Toyota 7 is golden in my book. Porsche turned up with a 917k for the Japanese GP, but Nissan took the top two spots. Gan-san was one of the drivers of the winning car.

If you werent already thinking that KN’s Factory was the best place in the world to be on this particular day, a Tommy Kaira ZZ was parked outside…