I will start this off by simply telling you the sole reason why Attack Tsukuba is one of my favorite events to attend anywhere in the world; Everything about this event represents the evolved version of everything I loved about the Japanese tuning scene growing-up. There isn’t another place, other than Tokyo Auto Salon, where you’ll see all these democars from famed tuning shops together with some amazing privateer builds you’ve never seen before. I mean, where else will you see some of the cars from the infamous Mid Night racing team out and about in the daylight? It’s overwhelming to be quite honest. There is just SO MUCH to consume all at once. This is my third time attending Attack here at Tsukuba Circuit and I still find it to be complete visual overload. You know how sometimes you go to an event and can’t wait to leave? Well this is the complete opposite of that. There actually aren’t enough seconds in the day to see everything…

And I don’t even really concern myself with the competitive-side of things when it comes to racing. I just don’t. I have absolute love and appreciation for it—it’s just not what brings me to this event. I just love Japanese car culture. I love how the cars are put together. I love the details of every build. I enjoy the stories that I hear about them and the subtle nuances of the cars I dedicate time to studying. It’s all encompassing for me. The lap times just help to give me an idea of what level many of these cars are at compared to the fastest at TC2000. Fire Ando is the man right now, he broke the 50-second lap barrier. That’s insane. All that documentation and attention to who is running what, what records are being broken, etc., that’s not my me. I’ll leave all the specifics to guys like Narita Dogfight and Shubox Inc. That is their niche and their specialty. I wouldn’t even attempt to be in that same space as those guys. It would be like them trying to cover Osaka car culture or how to build award-winning show cars. That’s just not their bag. And I appreciate that. So I always step into this environment with the utmost respect and purely as an observer on the outside looking in. I just wanna see cool shit—with all due respect. To me, everything is fucking fast here, lol. I just want to experience it and see highly-modified Japanese cars…

So these photos are actually from both the Zummy Racing event and Attack Tsukuba. I originally was just going to label it as “Attack Tsukuba 2023 Coverage” but I don’t want to mislead anyone. Typically around this time there will be a number of different time attack events being hosted here at Tsukuba Circuit. I think it’s mainly done so that the competitor cars can get some more seat time in and get their cars running correctly. The roster that competes at Attack is pretty deep so there really isn’t that much time (ironic, right?) to get more than 2-3 hot laps in per session. And there are a lot of different classes as well so the day ends up feeling really short. To ensure that these cars are running at their best and that they have everything dialed-in for the actual competition, smaller events are organized by different people. Just think of them as test-and-tune events. This actually works out great for spectators like myself and Der who want extra time to shoot photos because Attack sort of becomes a two-day event because the Zummy event is the unofficial ‘practice day’ for Attack. Some cars come only for Attack so you don’t see them until the end of the day…

This can all be summed-up with me saying that I fucking love this event and I thoroughly enjoy being at the legendary Tsukuba Circuit. Enjoy the photos…

It’s been a few years since I’ve seen Yabatan Ando and the Auto Rescue Izu/Scoot Sports RX-7. Ever since I first started seeing photos of it circulating online, it became one of my favorites. Little did I know that it’d become a car I’d regularly see whenever I returned to Japan annually…

Some things have changed for 2023, one of the most obvious being the new carbon fiber front fenders and rear over fenders. They’re so new that they weren’t even painted yet in time for Attack Tsukuba. One of the other big changes, though not immediately apparent visually, is the addition of the iconic “Mid Night” decal, signifying Ando’s membership to the legendary racing team…

As mentioned in the Vlog episodes, 2023 marked Kristian’s first time traveling to Japan with us for automotive activities. Particularly everything he saw was interesting or exciting in his eyes. During our adventures, we developed a fascination with the Toyota Probox/Succeed. These are the ultimate workman’s vehicle of choice in Japan and they are EVERYWHERE. Like you can’t get in a car and drive around for five minutes without seeing at least one. They’re slow and generally pretty boring cars, as you’d expect it to be, but guys like Kristian and I are all about making boring slow cars interesting so we started coming up with ideas to make them cool…

Upon arriving at Tsukuba Circuit that morning, one of the first cars that caught our eyes was this silver 50 series Succeed. It was lowered, sitting on 15-inch bronze Volk CE28 wheels and had a paint-match aftermarket front lip. Imagine how cool it would be if there was a K20A under the hood of one of these things, haha…

I did some filming first but eventually pulled-out my Canon EOS R5 to shoot photos. One of the first shots that came to my mind was of this angle of the N-One Racing BNR32 Skyline GTR. I liked the different elements in this shot and how they’re layered in this specific frame; the 32GTR is the focus of the shot, the Tsukuba Circuit tower lets you know where I am, serving as the background but the photo is made more dynamic because of the two 18-inch TE37SL wheels in the foreground. The beefy Advan A050s provide some extra depth to a very linear the shot…

We’d be at Tsukuba Circuit for two days but were surprised when we saw Atsushi Komiya from Garage Work loading-up his EK9 Civic Type R. I haven’t seen this build in a couple of years also and was excited to see more of it…

As it turns out, the guys from Garage Work were only going to be around for the day because they had to go to Suzuka Circuit the following day to assist a customer at a One-Make Race. They took the opportunity to get some testing done at Tsukuba but left early to prepare…

The Garage Work Hondas are always insanely aggressive when it comes to aero modifications. I enjoy Komiya’s Civic because it’s literally all-white and void of a colorful livery, which allows you to see all the different details of the aero…

Just look at all the pieces used in just the front end alone and how various pieces are riveted together. The hood is equally as elaborate with various vents and ducts added…

If you’ve never seen this car and was wondering what was under the hood, that’s actually a B16B in there that has been stroked to 1.8-liters by Tsuneo Sonoda from Impact Magic. There’s also a set of TODA Racing individual throttle bodies and a coil-over-plug direct ignition set-up replacing the factory distributor…

It was a bummer seeing it drive away so soon but I’m glad I was able to get some good photos of it…

For the life of me I can’t remember why I didn’t get any photos of the GNR RISEUP EK9 Civic Type R. I must have been distracted by something after I captured photos of the engine bay. Trust when I tell you that it doesn’t look too different than in year’s past, though it does have some revisions to the aero package. All the goodies are what’s going on inside the heavily-altered engine bay…

What you’re looking at is a 4Piston Racing “K480” 2.7-liter K24 powerplant. These custom race engines, which utilize a 4Piston CNC cylinder head, 4Piston valve train components, Skunk2 BMFx billet camshaft, Wiseco forged pistons, and so much more, are capable of revving beyond 10,000 RPM…

With the old core support cut-out and a tubular one in place, you get a clear view of the custom turned-down velocity stacks which connect to a set of Kinsler individual throttle bodies. At the Zummy event that day, if I remember correctly, it ended the afternoon resetting the NA FF record at Tsukuba Circuit…

As we made our way back to the parking lot at Tsukuba to go see some cars in the parking lot, I snapped this photo under the guardrail of Kato Masayoshi’s Wacky Mate BNR32 Skyline GTR…

The lightweight 2200lb S-Complete REMS PS13 Onevia and its carbon widebody is one of the current fastest competitors of the Attack Tsukuba series. Mitsuo and his Onevia are so incredibly fast that it is second only to Fire Ando and the Escort Evo. This year, it actually finished with a best lap time of 52.983. For reference, anything generally under the 1-minute mark is pretty fucking fast…

One of the mainstays of this series is Takanori Seyama aka ‘Seyamax’ and the VOLTEX★ADMIX R32 GTR. It also happens to be one of the fastest utilizing a billet RB26 engine to propel the Skyline to a best lap time this year of 54.993…

The aggressive custom front end and splitter of Ryo Kaneko’s YF☆RKEW Yellow Factory Racing EG6 Civic. This EG has evolved significantly since the last time I encountered it and I’ll show you some more of it later in this post…

A spare set of Volk Racing RE30 Club Sport wheels on the Kyushu-Danji Mitsubishi Evolution VII. The faces have actually been sprayed gold as you can still see the original gunmetal finish in the hub area. They likely painted the wheels gold to match the TWS Forged T66-F wheels which are the hero set for this car…

From this angle you can now see the new carbon fiber front face on the Auto Rescue Izu RX-7. Everything has since been painted and it’s all back to blue/yellow complete form…

It has been 3-years now since Ton has driven at Tsukuba Circuit in the ASLAN Spirit EG6 Civic. It was going to be interesting to see what he ran with the addition of a new Quaife sequential gearbox and tune…

The DS/RISE Scoot FD3S RX-7, also from the famed Mid Night racing team, propped-up and awaiting a new set of Yokohama Advan A050 rubber…

Yuichi Sato was one of the few at Attack still running the almighty B-series engine in his ACHIEVE Gulf OS EG3 Civic. It represents a much more traditional Civic race car with minimal aero, 225-wide front tires, 16-inch wheels, and naturally-aspirated powerplant. What does a set-up like this do at Tsukuba Circuit? Sato ran a very respectable best lap time of 1’04.273…

Extensive custom front aero work on the Admix 32GTR paired with a Carbon Junkies dry carbon hood. Wheels are Enkei RS05RR with Yokohama Advan A050…

Off away from the paddock garages were Ando and the ESCORT team hard at work putting the built 4G63 engine back into the Evo IX. Ando had just recently achieved his fastest lap time to-date at TC2000 with a blistering 49.897. That lap time actually reset the tuning car record at Tsukuba and they were looking to go even faster that weekend…

All hands were on deck fine-tuning even the smallest of details on the ESCORT Evo…

A peek into the cockpit of Ando’s Evo IX with the rear doors removed, revealing a Nitrous Oxide bottle mounted to the passenger-side floor…

Crazy that it was basically a shop-on-the-go just outside at Tsukuba Circuit and people were just walking around while they were doing an engine install…

The entire car was basically in pieces just hours before Attack was set to take place. Fortunately for them, they had plenty of time since no one was going to come near that 49-second lap time any time soon at Tsukuba Circuit…

A close-up of the wear and tear on the centerlock nut on SK’s 991.2 GT3 Cup…

There was no shortage of Yokohama Advan A050 at TC2000 as it remains the true tire of choice for many time attack competitors in Japan…

Rear spoilers of all varieties were available at Attack Tsukuba…

You’d think that being away from TC2000 for three years would mean that Ton and the ASLAN Spirit EG would be slower. In their return after a long hiatus, the Civic was absolutely dialed-in and Ton actually hit his new personal best with a lap time of 55.240…

To put that into perspective, Ton was the 8th fastest overall that weekend piloting a naturally-aspirated 300-horsepower K24 set-up…

Nagao’s Tuning Factory Quarter Mile BNR34 Skyline GTR running an Auto Select ‘Devil’ front lip, ‘Devil’ Canards, Auto Select carbon fiber hood, rear spoiler, Craftsquare mirrors, Volk ZE40 wheels and much more…

I honestly took these photos of the 34GTR because I thought it was funny how it was just casually stopped in front of the restroom…

This 700-horsepower GTR finished Attack-2 category with a best lap time of 1’01.675…

Japanese SUPER GT championship driver Shinichi Takagi piloting the T-Tec Porsche 991 GT3RS from Mid Night racing team…

This GT3RS is actually one of the fastest competitors in the NA Class with nothing more than T-Tec original suspension, T-Tec wing extensions, muffler, and a race seat. Yes, it’s essentially stock…

Simple visually but with so much allure being a part of one of Japan’s most famed car clubs and piloted by a multi-time Super GT GT300 champion. Takagi’s best lap time at Attack Tsukuba was 56.550 with just suspension and exhaust!!…

Chonan Shinji and the NA K20-powered Garage Rise Up x GNR EK9 Civic Type R outfitted with a M&M Honda widebody kit, Rise Up dry carbon hood, and dry carbon rear hatch. The wide front fenders with the high arches allow for 18-inch wheels and 295-wide tires…

Hirofumi Motoda and the BE CRAFT ☆Uchikawa Regular Group☆ RX-7 with a massive custom chassis-mounted rear wing, TCP Magic widebody aero, Advan TCIII with some deep hubs, and 550-horsepower 13B set-up. Motoda finished the weekend with an impressive 57.519 second lap time…

The DECIDE 226 BCNR33 Skyline GTR might look simple on the outside but it’s actually quite serious underneath the Midnight Purple shell. The R33 has a Decide-built 2.8-liter RB26 running a Borg Warner EFR9180 turbocharger and OS Giken 6-speed sequential transmission…

Shoya Okumura from Techical Factory BE CRAFT and his wildly aggressive FD RX-7 with custom chassis-mounted Voltex wing and Garage Rise Up GR Model-16 widebody kit. The front bumper is the only part of the kit that isn’t from Rise Up as Okumura instead utilizes a RS Pantera front bumper. From this angle you can see the extensive fabrication work done to the rear underside of the FD3S chassis with the entire spare tire trunk area cut-out to save weight. Cutting even more weight off the RX-7 is a set of carbon fiber doors, a carbon rear hatch, and Carbon Junkies vented hood…

Here you can see a little bit of the hood as well as the incredibly deep hubs on the 18-inch Advan TC4 wheels.

The ACHIEVE EG3 Civic lined-up in preparation for its next session. It spent most of the afternoon rotating between a pair of 16-inch SSR Type-C up front and a matching pair of bronze Volk TEs. Random observation, but the custom-mounted Craftsquare mirrors are a nice touch…

If you haven’t seen the Yellow Factory EG lately and wonder why something feels a little off or looks slightly different than most EGs, other than all the custom aero of course, it’s the roof. The entire roof line has been cut and shortened so the Civic has a much lower, more sleek, profile…

Here’s Hiroyoshi Shimada and the Kyushu-Danji (which literally translates in English to “Kyushu Boys”, Kyushu being the region where they are from) Evo 7 with the gold TWS Forged T66-F wheels I referenced earlier…

(From left to right) Koji Asai, driver of the GNR★RISEUP 2.7L EK9, Ton from TEMPLE Racing, and Ryo Kaneko who pilots the YF☆RKEW EG6 sharing a moment of conversation toether…

Volk TEs and Advan rubber usually results in an immediate photo even when they’re not on a car…

The two fastest Skyline GTRs at Attack Tsukuba; The VOLTEX★ADMIX 32GTR and Kunihiko Bando’s yellow/black AutoBahn 33GTR…

There’s just something particularly menacing about being able to see the entire rear suspension and rear 295-wide A050s on Okumura’s BE CRAFT FD…

Here’s a better photo of the YF☆RKEW EG6 and its chopped-top, shot with a 70-200mm lens to give it a flatter look from a distance…

Sometimes when you forget the belt-sander at the shop and need to shave some tires down, the best option is to mount the wheel onto your track support vehicle. Take a large file to it and let the engine do the work…

Not even going to lie, this bronze Volk ZE40 looks pretty fantastic on this Honda Stepwgn. With Seyamax’s 32GTR in the background, this photo is kinda hard, lol…

If you’re wondering what front lip is on the ACHIEVE EG Civic, it’s actually a pretty rare 5Zigen lip with a custom splitter attached to it…

Kristian and Yasu talking Hondas while Der and I were off shooting photos of everything. You know how you can tell the roof has been cut on the Yellow Factory EG? Yasu can see over it LOL…

The 900HP SR20 set-up on the S-Complete REMS Onevia, which again, was the second fastest overall competitor that weekend. From a quick glance it looks like it is running a SR20VE head. a Plasmaman intake manifold, Garrett turbo and direct-port Nitrous Oxide…

Caught the Auto Gallery Yokohama Gr.A Calsonic R32 Skyline GTR passing through…

SK piloting his 991.2 GT3RS towards the Dunlop Bride on TC2000…

The ACHIEVE Gulf OS EG3 in action…

A couple more of the Kyushu-Danji Evo 7 with the Voltex Racing Cyber  front bumper, GT hood, front wide fenders, rear wide fenders, chassis-mounted Voltex wing, and side panel with the dry carbon canard from their Ultimate Time Attack G-Force Aero Package…

One more hero shot of the T-Tec GT3RS from Mid Night…

And another of the ADMIX R32 with its custom Voltex Racing aero and Work Shop TAKUMI dry carbon hood…

Towards the end of day one at Tsukuba, we headed back to the parking lot and realized that there were even more cars that were pitted there. One of them was Satoshi and the UTEC Sunbeam BMW E46 M3. Upon until the moment I’m typing this we still can’t figure out what wheels are on the M3. They look like BBS E88 but the faces are slightly different in that they don’t have the usual BBS engraving on the faces, the lip is different, and the hardware is reverse-mounted compared to a traditional E88…

As we were getting ready to leave, we also caught a glimpse of Takuma Okayasu and the ‘Silent7’ FD3S RX-7. His team had likely just arrived as we were leaving and were about to put the cover on the car as it would be parked there overnight for the Attack event the following morning…

On that note, I’m gonna close Part 1 right here. The second and concluding set will feature even more competition vehicles that showed-up just solely for the Attack event. There’s some really good stuff in there so stay tuned!…