This year’s Attack Tsukuba event was a different one for me. The main difference was having Der with me to experience Attack but the second major change was the fact that I actually walked around the track this year. In 2019, I was actually on assignment at TC2000 doing some work for Vibrant Performance and was busy following William Au-Yeung’s journey to breaking the FF record. My hands were full shooting both photos and video of Au-Yeung and his Civic that I didn’t actually get a chance to explore the majority of Tsukuba Circuit. Whatever free time I had was then spent covering what the boys from JDMYARD were doing with their Civic time attack car from Australia…

2020 was everything but “busy”. There were no foreign visitors other than myself and some friends and every competitor was a native of Japan. The one downside, if you can call it that, was that I wasn’t getting paid to be at Attack but I always look at it as a reason to just have total freedom to do whatever I wanted to. I brought all my GoPros and accessories just in case I was going to do some in-car footage but being that we weren’t particularly close to anyone who was competing this year, I felt a bit awkward asking, so I just kept them close-by but never really pushed the idea. Not having to worry about GoPros and charging multiple batteries during the day seemed nice so I wanted to just hang out with Der and Yasu while shooting photos. Der was so excited to be there that it definitely rubbed off on me. I sensed his enthusiasm and wanted to just see as much as I could, so we just spent the whole day walking around. The first day we didn’t go everywhere. We actually just stayed specifically in the pit area because there was already so much to see. On the actual day of the competition however, we wanted to get some photos of the cars in action so we started exploring the different nooks and crannies of Tsukuba Circuit in hopes of getting a good window to shoot. I assume we could have acquired Media Passes for more access but it just felt more fun exploring and being away from the areas where most photographers were posted. I should remind you that by this time, the Coronavirus had already started to spread in Asia so we were definitely more alert in terms of staying away from large crowds of people…

Today we are going to look at some of the photos that came from the second day. We start off in the pit area like usual because that is where we spent most of our time but towards the middle and end, you’ll see that we set off to different areas trying to get the cars in motion. I’ll try to give you guys an idea of how fast some of these cars were because the lap times are public on the Attack website. If you’re not familiar with Tsukuba Circuit and how fast a “fast” lap is, consider that the Escort CT9A Evolution was the quickest at TC2000 and it ran a 50.739-second lap time. So anything under a minute is considered “fast”, if you were wondering…

It’s always really cool to see an actual Rauh Welt build at the track. I know that Nakai has done plenty of track events over the years with many of the RWB builds but seeing the RWB “Phoenix” 993 at TC2000 was special for us…

Der and I both saw RWB Phoenix back in 2014 on one of our first trips to Japan at their annual RWB Meet in Roppongi. I’ve been going to that event ever since then so seeing this Porsche again in-person brought a nice feeling of nostalgia. I remember specifically going upstairs of the multiple-tiered parking structure at the Hard Rock in Roppongi back in ’14 and seeing this car on a trailer. There’s a photo of Der giving it a thumbs-up in my archives somewhere but I never posted it because it was dark and blurry…

There have been some changes to RWB Phoenix since 2014, most of it coming from the added aero designed by Voltex Suzuka…

The 993 wears a pair of BBS E88 wheels in the front wrapped in 275-wide rubber and what looks to be Work Meister M1 wheels in the rear with a 335-wide Hoosier compound…

A look at the front splitter and canard combo on RWB Phoenix…

I didn’t get a chance to get a shot of the engine when the rear hatch was open but it’s powered by a Promodet-built 3.8L turbocharged engine which makes over 600-horsepower…

While the Escort Evo 9 was unquestionably the fastest at TC2000 that weekend, the build that achieved the second-fastest lap was the full carbon fiber-bodied Autobahn JZZ30 Soarer. It closed-out the weekend with a blistering 53.866 best lap…

If I remember correctly, the Autobahn Soarer runs a hybrid JZ set-up with a 2JZ block and 1JZ cylinder head. The set-up uses the 1J head because it flows more efficiently while the block features HKS guts which bring the displacement up to 3.1-liters. Running a Garrett GT4202 turbocharger, the JZ set-up makes 950-horsepower…

Weight-saving is the idea throughout the Autobahn JZZ30 and its very apparent inside the car with all factory amenities removed. Replacing the dashboard is a carbon fiber sheet which has been shaped to have some semblance of a dashboard. In front of the single red Bride seat is a steering shaft, quick release steering wheel, and a MoTec digital display…

The centerpiece of this interior is the MoTec C185 engine management system mounted over the make-shift center console, also made of carbon fiber. There’s no passenger seat of course and replacing it is a large custom carbon duct which drives air to the rear-mounted radiator set-up…

The entire exterior body is remade in dry carbon by Sight Hound, with even the chassis-mounted rear wing brackets composed of the same carbon material. All glass has been replaced with lighter Lexan pieces and brings the total weight of the car down to about 2,590-lbs…

One of the cars I totally was not ever expecting to see in-person was the Scoot 4-Rotor custom RX-7. This car has been around well over a decade now and I remember first seeing it in print in (what I remember to be) an old Option magazine…

The custom-bodied RX-7 is the work of Koseki from Scoot with the front half of the car resembling a Porsche Carrera GT and the rear styled with lines inspired by the legendary Nissan R390…

With a full custom body, I guess it only makes sense to add even more extravagance with fold-up scissor-style doors…

The elongated rear of the Scoot FD which uses a set of Y34 Gloria taillights for a truly custom look. I wish they would have popped the hood to show-off the naturally-aspirated 4-Rotor engine but alas, it remained closed throughout the day. Interesting that it was even there considering it’s not exactly something you’d consider to be a race car. Seems more like a custom automotive art piece for year’s past…

The Reverse Seed BNR34 Skyline GT-R, looking pretty great in Bayside Blue with a livery and bright green accents. It’s fastest lap of the day was a 1’01.175…

Custom Reverse spoke decals on their TE37SL wheels…

The NOPRO NC MX-5 went off track and damaged the rear trunk and wing, but had a replacement which allowed it to finished the day with a best lap of 1’03.161…

Arvou Motor Sports Service, an S2000 specialist shop from Tochigi, brought out this unique white AP1 this year, wearing a customized C-West V2 front, front fender additions, and rear over fenders…

A close-up look at all the added vents to both the hood and fender, as well as a better look at the fender add-ons with bolt in-place and also has a small vent integrated…

Tomo and Tani from ASLAN getting their EG6 race car ready…

Eventually Der and I made our way over to a different section of TC2000, where we were able to find a small window to shoot out of by one of the flag stations…

The Garage Mak S15 looked a little different this year, opting to run with just their Type6 GT front bumper, no sideskirts, and no rear bumper…

The Total Car Service Usui NA Roadster ran a best lap time of 1’00.542 at TC2000, and looked great while doing so…

Very cool to see RWB Phoenix on the track pushing that 3.8L turbo engine to a best lap of 58.446…

The Garage Mak S15 flew down TC2000 with a best time of 59.229 seconds…

The Rauh Welt Begriff 993 utilizing all that Voltex-designed aero…

I tried to experiment with some shots, shooting through the netted section through the fence at Tsukuba, which created some interesting results…

It gave the photos this softer feel but the downside was it created some odd color-shifts due to the netting…

Material Auto Factory’s gorgeous Ridox A80 Supra…

The Supra ended the weekend with a best lap of 1’01.577…

Dragon Racing FD RX-7, featuring a mash-up of aero from TCP Magic and famed tuner RE Amemiya…

More of the Material Auto Factory Supra…

One of my favorites this year at Attack was this FD3S from Technical Auto Ones, looking very early 2000s with a rare RE Amemiya Facer N1 02 front and RE SuperG fenders…

I’m sure the rear bumper cut-outs were done for functionality purposes but it’s great that Material Auto Factory also made it look aesthetically pleasing…

The legendary Mid Night racing team presented us with this 991 GT3 RS which ran a best lap time of 58.674, just tenths of a second behind Kenneth Lau’s Integra Type R…

M’s Art Project CT9A Evolution with its front-staggered concave Advan Racing RG wheels…

LM Advance RX-7 running a rare C-West DRFT front and TCP Magic wide fenders…

Likely the fastest tuned F82 BMW in Japan right now, the ASSIST Kyoto M4 with its Laptorr front face, flying to a best lap of 59.369…

The Autobahn JZZ30 was so fast and dark that I couldn’t get a clean shot of it. This was the best I could do as it was on its way to the 53.886 lap I noted earlier in this post…

I had to get a shot of the esses of TC2000…

The vehicle that ran the most that weekend at Attack was the Tsukuba track scrubber, which ran a best lap time of 5-minutes-and-I-went-to-go-eat-some-icecream…

It was super interesting to see this lone Celica at Attack Tsukuba, naturally-aspirated and maximizing its individual throttle bodies to a best lap time of 1’02.143…

The Panspeed widebody FD3S RX-7 at rest in-between sessions…

More shaving of the Yokohama Advan A050s with the Makita Planar we so often see at Japanese time attack events…

And with that comes the final image of Part 3. There’s still one more section to come with some more action shots from a completely different section of TC2000 and more from the pits. I hope everyone is inside, staying safe, and being hygenic! This are crazy times but we’ll get on just fine in a few months. Just hang on tight folks! Stay tuned for the rest, some of my favorite shots of the day come from the fourth and final installment!…