Mini Meet with Nopro

Well, the day started early. I headed to the PA to meet the guys. Soon enough the bright yellow beast came along with some interesting stories.

After a chat, we headed off in a southerly direction. The pack was cool.

Hello Fuji san... weather was great for open top touring. But a litty chilly.

After about an hour. We came to Shizuoka. I didn't really care where I went today and I didn't really know the way. Just following along.

Gami-san had already fitted some chunky CE28N and good rubber to the NC2. It made all the difference as the wheel wells were filled nicely. The stance is high but he plans to review the suspension before embarking on an all out butcher job.

The galaxy grey twins today were 1 Soft top and my RHT. We both have the same bumper hole problem. a big sticker might be a good temporary solution for me too. We both have Fidanza flywheel but the softtop has many many mods now and it's single exit exhaust is loud.

We went up hill to the ropeway. The sun was out for some nice shots. Keitai is not so good for photo's I forgot my camera so the quality is not up to par for me.

The sky was awesome blue. Grey cars always gets good colour from blue sky.

Here is the clan. The yellow car really sticks out among the other dark cars.

The Yellow RHT is interesting. I think the car looks much better with the top down. There is a bit too much yellow with the RHT in the raised position.

But thats yellow. While talking to Gami-san, you realise he knows his stuff. His review on the sound enhancer.... "Cant tell the difference." There's a waste of development effort Mazda.

He also said response is very good compared to NC1. RE: Roll centre changes, it was too early to tell if there was much difference. After a few months of evaluation, the car will receive custom Ohlins and lowered height as well as a few "Special" mods. I think a Panda carbon bonnet would be cool and gami-san is thinking about developing something.

Nopro's FRP front bar for the NC1 is awesome. Rodopina's car is the same green as my FD was. The biggest pain in the arse colour to photograph ever. A few stone chips starting to pepper the bumper. That's FRP for you.

The lights look MUCH better in chrome than the normal soft top ones. Not as plastic looking. The indicators have a nice design.

4 RHT today, 3 equipped with Ohlins, and Rays Vs Advan. CE28N, RE30 Vs RS, RGII.

Rays wear 235FR and 225/235FR combos for in your face attitude. Advans are 205 and tuck under the cars nicely.

From the rear the new lights look good, but they do stick out a long way. They look great in reflected light from headlights. There is a horseshoe shape reflector all around the light that is very cool. In the tunnels today, the new car looked cool. It's a pity they cant be transferred easily.

Bird's stormy blue is so cool. Sounds great in the tunnels. Very raspy with it's HKS catalyser and header. His Gun Advan RS make my Gold RGII look very small. But they are the same size.

Time to head back to the Interchange. R16 drew many looks from the public.

200Ks at halfway. Some traffic on the way back... but that's the joy of Japan at new year.

Just had to get away for the day.

Russ.