Sunako @ Yamanashi Sportsland

Here I am getting some feedback from Sunako-San. He is a Super GT driver in Japan. The event was organsied in order to improve driving skill. I don't have any driving weak points or bad habits but my level is just not at that of a Pro driver.

But it was fun finding out. (Thanks to Paul for this pic.)

A nice early start to a great day. As I passed Tokyo tower I wondered what I could and wanted to learn from race driver. Jukucho Sunako.
As I cruised out to Sportsland Yamanashi ( SLY), I thought about testing the roadster on the super tight course and learning it's limits. I have been to a couple of driver training sessions but nothing too focussed on race car handling at a high level.


As Aki's awesome Mines R33 pulled up behind me I knew I was close to the track. Time to get ready.
The blue tape on the headlights created a bit of an Ultraman image for the car. Thanks to Dai-san for the images of my car in the first session. As I struggled up the main straight hill being chased by higher power machines, the difference was clear.


But the downhill run was a different story! The Yokohama S Drive tyres for the circuit?
Understeer was the result in the first few laps as I tried to come to grips with the car, differences between the RX7, and the things that I was learning from Sunako san.

Well, I tried to improve and I guess I did as I had a pretty quick time in the 44.9 that slowly improved all day to 44.709. But it was when I was riding with Sunako-san that I realised the difference between 10 times on a circuit and 1000 times. He really is 100 times better.

With 60kg extra ballast and traffic he managed to run off a 44.8 the first time in the car. He also did things much differently. All day I was using second gear. But in the first tight corner, he grabbed 1st and the tyres screamed with wheelspin, but we went forward. The level of grip from my S-Drive yokohama seemed to improve imensely as he deftly balanced the car and simply went fast and slow! But the slow was only for a small period of time as he suggested.

As I didn't get a chance to attack the circuit after his drive in my car, I wish I had as I just wanted to try a few things. But then there is always next time. The other guys improved their times immensely as they learned from the master. Dai and Miguel will drive an EG6 soon in a 12 hour race so they needed some tips.

Party Race roadster runner Thomas had the bumble bee circuilating about the same time as my car, but I was not as consistent. Some video here. Unfortunately, I didn't have a full untroubled run to compare Sunako's times at the end but I'd imagine they'd be around the same. While the yellow bee runs sticky RE11 tyres, my car has a few Sus mods and Mu Pads that probably makes them similar.

With Sunako-san a the wheel, Nick's Mines Monster GTR34 caught up 200 meters in about 3 corners. Amazing!
Miguel was practicing hard to the end.

As we packed up our cars I'm sure everyone was refecting on speed.

As I returned to Tokyo, my driving has changed as lot already. But the main thing I learned is to try new things.

Enjoy your driving!

Russ.