Attack Tsukuba 2020 Coverage… Part 4…


Well, this is it! These are the last batch of photos from our adventure at Tsukuba Circuit for Attack. I didn’t even expect to take so many photos, or have that many photos come out good for that matter, but when I got home and transferred them to my computer, I realized that it was well over 1,400 photos! If anything, I imagined my workflow would be much lower this year considering it wasn’t particularly a paid job of any sort but it is just way too easy to be inspired to shoot seeing all these amazing vehicles at the track. It’s just one of those things that you have to do when you see these cars. If you have a camera in your hand, you better use it because who knows if you’ll ever come across these cars again. Like, what if something happens to them and the cars are destroyed. It’s history happening right in front of you. That was my mindset when I was at Tsukuba and thinking back now, I wish I actually shot more photos. A big part of me was worried at that time that I’d have TOO MUCH content and it would overwhelm the site or my Instagram feed. Last year when I went for the first time, I ended-up with five parts of coverage and I don’t know if its my demographic or maybe the photos weren’t good or something but the traffic definitely tailed-off a bit. All I really want to do is see and capture cool shit when I’m in Japan so it didn’t really bother me, but the curious side of me really did wonder what happened. Numbers of course don’t really matter in the long run as its more of the experience itself that holds value so I didn’t think too much of it. I guess it really is true that too much of a good thing can actually be bad, haha…

Having Ryan Der there really helped to get me in a more creative state-of-mind throughout the trip. I think a week after Osaka and capturing all the cool stuff there would burn me out but this dude was so excited about his film photography that it rubbed off on me. I’m happy to see that he’s posting more and really starting to develop some confidence in his photo work. If you haven’t had a chance to see it because you don’t follow his social feeds, which you really should anyway since he’s always with me doing car stuff, give it a look HERE and HERE. He actually posts way faster than me since he just posts specifically on his social media outlets so you’ll often get an early preview of what I’m seeing or what I’ll post before I actually get to it…

As mentioned, today is the last concluding portion of the Attack Tsukuba content. We pick-up right where we left off in Part 3 when we started to really explore Tsukuba Circuit to try to find new areas to shoot. Hanging out in the pit area was cool because you can watch the cars in a stationary setting while they are being worked on but I felt that it was important to try to get photos of the cars on the track to give this coverage more of a dynamic feel. I can’t say I’m a motorsports photographer but I’m always trying to learn and improve with my photography in general so I just kept shooting until I started seeing some stuff that I liked. It’s hard sometimes because I’ll capture a photo of a car in action and think that it looks great on the viewfinder but when I get home, I see it full-size and the fucking thing is blurry, lol. That’s just how it is though and that is why its important to continue to shoot and not get discouraged. What is unique about the photos today is that a bulk of them will come from a whole new area that I didn’t know I had access to last year by the “Dunlop” half-tire looking archway that you’ll probably recognize from video games since Tsukuba Circuit is so iconic. This section of the track was fucking beautiful, I swear. There are bleachers there for people to sit any watch but the surrounding area is just this grass field and there is even a small lake (pond?) that surrounds this portion of the track and there are whole ass fish just living there that you can see swimming around while you watch these cars smash down the track. It’s crazy…

My hope is that you guys enjoy the content and are using these updates to keep you guys occupied. I wish there was more I could do to keep you guys entertained during these tough times with all the COVID-19 madness going around. I’m always trying to come up with more content for all of you because I feel responsible as a creator to use this unique lifestyle of mine to help in whatever way I can. Thanks to all of you who have been around and supported for such a long time and those of you who may be new to the site, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the content here. Maybe you’ll even stick around after all this…

Here are the previous parts if you guys missed any of the previous three…

Attack Tsukuba 2020 Coverage… Part 1…

Attack Tsukuba 2020 Coverage… Part 2…

Attack Tsukuba 2020 Coverage… Part 3…

Here we go with the conclusion…

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The Car Shop Dream FD coming off the track and heading back to the pit area…

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Asami and the ATTKD R35 Nismo may look simple from an aesthetic standpoint but don’t let its subtlety fool you, this was actually the tenth fastest competitor of that weekend clocking in a best lap time of 56.875…

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Not too far behind the ATTKD GTR was this beautiful Porsche Cayman GT3 from M’s Machine Works which ran a 58.755

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After the major overhaul from a year ago, Kenneth Lau was trying to reach a goal lap time of under the 1-minute and the new aero enhancements proved to be fruitful as he more than met his mark, clocking in a personal best with a 58.662…

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The #30 Rauh Welt Begriff 964 Backdate ran a 1’00.616 best lap and looked really cool while doing so…

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I thought it was really cool to see the wrench and tool mechanism for the centerlocking BBS E07 wheels on the Mid Night 991 GT3…

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At one point during the day, Der and I grabbed some lunch and found the tunnel which leads to the bleachers on the opposite side of the pits. We sat right by the finish line to eat our France Dogs and saw the Auto Rescue Izu FD pull-up and park…

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We wondered what was going on since lunch time activities are pretty chill and then the rest of the FD RX-7s who were competing at Attack rolled-up and gathered at the finish line. I’m sure someone else could explain it to you but I believe they were gathering because it was someone’s birthday. Spectators and crew flocked to the track to gather while we sat down and ate…

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Such a cool moment to see all the FDs together and lined-up for photos. It was also awesome to see the Scoot FD out there with the race cars…

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After lunch, we ventured off to the section I was telling you about with the “Dunlop” tire arch. This section was really cool because it just looked so different than where we had spent much of our time that weekend. The Dunlop banners in yellow also lit up the cars really well as the sun bounced off of it. There’s a huge guardrail there to keep people away from getting too close to the action but I was just tall enough to be able to shoot over it and get some really good panning shots of the cars as they entered the turn through the archway…

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I didn’t see too much of the TS Factory AE86 Levin this year since it was pitting in a different area that didn’t have much access but that car is looking great as usual with its myriad of aero enhancements. It looked stunning going through this section as it ran its best lap time that weekend of 58.768…

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Its easy to get caught-up in all the crazy aero modifications of many of the cars at Attack but the K2 Racing R35 looked like an every day street car as it headed to a best lap of 58.496…

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The Mid Night Porsche 991 GT3 was right behind the K2 R35 on the time sheet as it clocked in at 58.674…

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This area of the track also had its own pit area where I saw this E46 M3 race car with a front splitter, bumper block-offs, and canards which were all paint-matched…

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The K2 Racing FD3S running the popular mash-up of RE Amemiya aero and TCP Magic fenders…

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I gotta say, it was really cool to see a Mid Night racing team car on the track. In all my years, I think this is probably only the third Mid Night car that I’ve ever seen in-person…

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The Pan Speed FD was absolutely stunning as it drove towards the arch before finishing the day with a best lap time of 1’00.283…

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More Tsukuba scrubbing action. Gotta keep that pavement nice and clean…

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I kept seeing glimpses of this Supra with full Ridox aero, carbon doors, and 57Extreme wheels throughout the weekend but had no idea where it was situated until we made it over to this section of TC2000…

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Oya G and the Koyo KBC Evolution V ripping down the track to a blistering 57.820 lap time…

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Dragon Racing FD RX-7 with the aforementioned RE Amemiya/TCP Magic aero combo. Friendly reminder that details and execution still matter and race cars should look as good as they run…

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Unfortunately, I didn’t get too many photos of the Super Way EK Civic but it looked pretty aggressive on the track in matte black with its carbon doors, Lexan glass, PCI wing, and custom front splitter. If you’re wondering what it ran, its best lap of the day was a 1’01.608…

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I really liked how this panning shot of the full dry carbon bodied CBY AE86 Levin came out. The lightweight body, big aero, and individually-throttled 4A-GE set-up was one of the fastest of Attack with a best lap of 58.225!!…

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The sun hit the green on the 964 Backdate RWB just right…

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Tamon Design widebody Supra prepped by Material Auto Factory clocked-in a best lap of 1’00.301…

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The DYU VAN Sakurai RX-7 wearing the popular TCP Magic aero kit ran TC2000 for the first time ever and easily hit the sub 1-minute mark with a personal best 58.334 lap…

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Following closely behind was the #76 RWB Phoenix 993 by Promodet which ran a 58.446…

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I soon pointed my dSLR towards a different area of TC2000 where I attempted to get some panning shots through the green fence and guard rail. The results were pretty good I think…

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Ironically the #7 FD RX-7 by Full Stage, driven by “Shark” Iiri, was the 7th fastest of the day running a 55.790 lap with its new OS Giken 7-speed sequential transmission. That’s a lot of 7’s….

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The Yellow Factory Racing K-EG looked every bit as great on the track as it did in the pits with its new rear quarter panels. I love everything about it from the color, to the custom aero, to the engine bay and ITB set-up. Just magnificent and most certainly one of my favorites at Attack…

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More of the Auto Rescue Izu FD just because I can’t get enough of it…

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Ton and the ASLAN EG6 Civic had some minor transmission issues which is totally normal of a K-series engine set-up making this type of power and running an 18×11-inch wheel…

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ASLAN figured it out though and Ton finished the weekend as one of the fastest with a 57.140 lap time. Who thought we’d ever see the day when we’d see an EG run a 57-second lap time at Tsukuba?…

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If there’s one car you want to hear at Attack, it might be the sweet sounds of this naturally-aspirated 4-rotor engine mated to an OS Giken sequential trans. It’s pure hell at its finest…

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Though the yellow GNR Civic crashed earlier that weekend, the other GNR Racing K-powered Civic was doing just fine as it finished just a hair faster than the ASLAN EG, running a personal best 57.100 lap…

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The king of Attack Tsukuba would be none other than Fire Ando and the Escort Evolution IX, running an unbelievable time of 50.739!! The next fastest car was the Autobahn JZZ30 and it was over 3-seconds behind!!…

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Even the Friends Racing S15 couldn’t keep-up and it ran a incredibly fast time as well at 54.857…

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Towards the end of the day, after all the results were in, Der, Yasu and I just spent our time walking the pit area where our weekend started. The Top Fuel Racing FD sat so well with its Panspeed wide fenders and Volk Racing TE37 Saga Time Attack Edition wheels. The TFR FD was actually the fifth fastest of Attack Tsukuba finishing with a best lap of 55.340…

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The Boost Up/Ready Go Next FD3S owned and driven by Oouchi Kouki at rest, closing Attack Tsukuba with a 58.214 best lap…

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The Full Stage FD propped-up on its air jacks for a tire change…

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Hiroki’s naturally-aspirated K-powered EF9 SiR from ASLAN was incredibly formidable, running no aero and just a meaty set of Yokohama Advan A050 to a best lap of 1’01.821…

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The Material Auto Factory Supra looks just about perfect with full Ridox aero and white Volk TEs…

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Blue skies and big wings at TC2000, probably no better way of spending a weekend in Japan…

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RE Amemiya aero, vents aplenty, and Ganador mirrors on the Boost Up FD…

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One more of the TFR RX-7 and its custom front end and front splitter set-up…

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Kenneth Lau took it easy the rest of the day, after already hitting his goal time early that weekend. The Integra Type R just sat parked as the event came to a close, looking great with the new M&M Honda Hyper Widebody kit tucking the Advan rubber on his TE37SL wheels…

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He admitted that if there were one thing he’d like to change on his ITR some time down the road, it’d be the cut rear bumper, which was a necessity just out of functionality. Lau said that he’ll probably put a clean OEM ITR rear bumper back on, since he has extras being a true ITR enthusiast who owns four of them back in Canada…

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Having a USDM ITR put together with the help of one of the fastest tuning shops in all of Japan, stored in Japan, and having the ability to just fly in whenever you want with your wife to race at some of Japan’s most renowned race tracks—sounds like a pretty great life for K. Lau. I doubt many would argue with that…

And with that said, we arrive at the end of our Attack Tsukuba 2020 coverage. Please everyone be safe out there, stay at home, take care of your loved ones, and enjoy your time on this Earth. Thank you so much for looking….

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