4th Place #12 Nagisa auto...
4th Place
#12 Nagisa auto bnr34
Nissan Skyline GT-R
Best Lap: 56.510 sec
Top Speed: 227.082 km/h
The big favorite for winning the battle again was the CyberEvo Lancer Evolution that had won the contest last year. And quite a few of the previous contests as well. Things didn't quite go their way this year despite a blazing quick 55.864 second lap time that was only 1 tenth of a second off of its best time last year. While that was enough to give it 2nd place, it was not enough for the gold. That belonged to the M-speed Skyline GT-R with an ice-cool 55.230-second time! These are times that used to be only seen by dedicated race cars! More big news came up right behind them; only a tenth of a second (and some change) away was the CyberEvo Lancer. Not only was it the only Mazda in the top 15, the R Magic RX-7 also laid down an incredible 55.914-second lap and was the fastest rear-wheel-drive car of the day.
The rest of the positions were filled out by a variety of Skyline GT-R's, with the closest Subaru placing 19th. This was the Tomei/Prova car that actually did fairly good compared to last year with a 59-second run. The reason for the poor showing by the Subaru contingent was due to a lack of cars in contention-CyberEvo didn't bring the Cyber STI, and their main competitor, the ZeroSports STI, turned in a quite pathetic 6-minute lap due to engine troubles. This also qualified the ZeroSports car for the coveted last place position, behind the Overdrive RX-8 with it's 1m09sec lap. Needless to say, this took quite a bit of drama out of the usual Subaru/Mitsubishi showdown, which will now have to wait till March of 2007.
5th Place #16 decide bnr33...
5th Place
#16 decide bnr33
nissan skyline gt-r
Best Lap: 56.630 sec
Top Speed: 233.615 km/h
Another record was also set on this day by the ASM Honda S2000. Naturally aspirated, with no turbocharger or supercharger, it cranked out an amazing 57.398-second lap. ASM managed this by redesigning the outer body entirely to increase handling. The aerodynamic changes did such a good job that, despite having one of the lowest top speeds on the circuit at 188km/h, they placed 7th overall, a fantastic placing for a car that probably had 200-300 less horsepower than the other competitors. They accomplished this by having to slow down the least in the corners, keeping their average speed up quite high as they sliced through the circuit. Originally built back in 2003 under the direction of Shinichiro Kanayama, and with a goal of breaking the 1-minute barrier by a naturally aspirated car, the ASM S2000 is slowly climbing up towards the top of the overall lists. ASM, by the way, is the short name of Autobacs Secondhand Market, which is famous for selling second hand parts across Japan. There is a separate division within ASM that was created by Kanayama that creates and sells the ASM S2000 parts. Which are not secondhand, and are actually famous for their high quality and, well, high prices.
6th Place #14 garage kagotani...
6th Place
#14 garage kagotani bnr34
Nissan Skyline GT-R
Best Lap: 56.833 sec
Top Speed: 227.416 km/h
Finishing it all up was the traditional five-lap battle. The top competitors from the different classes were put together for a five-lap, wheel-to-wheel contest. While it was probably just for fun, it was possibly a good excuse to see if the cars could run more than just one fast lap. Given that this ranged from the pure street FWD classes to the AWD-with-over-800hp dominators, it was a bit of an unbalanced battle. After a rolling start it was quickly decided that the M-Speed GT-R was going to own that contest as well. It easily walked away from the nearest competitor, which itself was quite a ways ahead of the 3rd place vehicle. Everything was a bit more interesting mid-pack, which quickly became more interesting to watch as the drivers did all they can to place higher than their natural competitors. It was especially interesting to watch the two last place cars, a Honda S2000 vs. a Honda Civic, with the Civic managing to hold the S2000 off for the entire race.
A great end to the year, and possibly the last time for the traditional Skyline GT-R's to hold the top spot. For next year, we will see the introduction of the all-new Nissan Skyline GT-R, which should be even faster than the R32-R34 series that made the name so famous internationally. Which means that Mitsubishi and Subaru will really need to step up to the plate with even better models soon as well. Next year promises to be quite interesting!