Time attack race events did not begin in Japan, to the best of my knowledge, but their current popularity started there. It's become legendary, tuner-fueled battles with the hottest domestic (to Japan) metal strained to the limits of man and machine. Not only do the top tuning houses compete, but the top drivers in Japan are the ones driving those built machines as well. And the biggest crowd-pleaser of the entire year is also the first event, held in early spring at Tsukuba Circuit near Tokyo. This is one of the oldest and most popular circuits in Japan, a favorite of the drivers as nearly all have competed on it at one time or another.
What makes this the big event of the year isn't simply the timing, but it's the featured machines. While other events are usually open to all sorts of machinery, the Evo vs. Impreza meet is about the two biggest rivals in Japan in a blood (well, oil) soaked battle for top honors. There is also the recent addition of Subaru Legacy models to the mix, but they are more of a crowd pleaser added because of the peculiarities of the Japanese market-the single most popular tuner car in Japan is officially the turbocharged Legacy. Not the fastest, just popular. All the top tuners of Lancer Evolutions and Subaru Imprezas were on hand to prove that they are the best, or at least, amongst the best.
The event itself has also evolved a bit, with the emphasis shifting away from the single-lap time attack to a more fun-to-watch, 10-lap battle of tuner cars. Divided into the "Open" and "Street" classes, this sometimes lop-sided contest adds the element of time. Just one fast lap would not be enough to win, especially if the car couldn't go the distance. This allowed the tuners to show that they could do more than build a motor good for only 5 minutes. In fact, it showed that some couldn't.
There were quite a few DNF's. Half of them were due to mechanical problems, the rest down to, well, driver error. One of the most spectacular was during the Open Class battle, where two Lancer Evolutions took each other out in dramatic fashion around the Dunlop corner. Pro Super Touring Car Driver Maejima Shuji was in the AVO car immediately behind them, and saw it all unfold literally inches away. The two were fighting for the best line through that corner, which is pretty exacting even under the best of circumstances, and one car simply pulled into the other at high speed, sending both off with big damage. Thanks to his experience in dealing with large and very aggressive crowds in the Super Taikyu series (Super Endurance), Maejima deftly extricated himself and was able to motor away without a scratch, though he did lose a little time.
The winner in the 10-lap battle Open Class was the Prova STI with a time of 5'02.821. In case you are wondering, no, Prova did not manage 30-second laps around Tsukuba Circuit, where a sub one-minute time is considered noteworthy. For various reasons, the Open Class 10-lap became a 5-lap battle. Perhaps due to the numerous cars that either blew up or crashed out. Right behind the Prova STI was the JUN Lancer Evolution 9, a bare four-tenths of a second behind the Prova car. Four seconds behind them was the Hirano Factory Evo 6, doing quite well despite its age. The next nearest cars were nearly 20 seconds back, mostly due to a choice to run street tires instead of S tires. This class showed how things could change from year to year as well, with the ZeroSports Impreza finishing at the back of the pack, behind Australian/Japanese tuner house AVO turboworld Japan in their new widebody STI project.
In the 10-lap Battle Street Class there was more variety than usual, with a host of newer names entering the fray, some of them being quite hard to pronounce to be honest. The top time went to the Inbuma Buroken Impreza with a full 10-lap time of 10'43.263. The real big battle was for second place, with Garage G-Force finishing at 11'02.315, their Evo 8 a bare four tenths of a second ahead of the Original Randuce Impreza STI. As the G-Force Evo's fastest lap was nearly a second and a half faster than the Randuce STI, this was really a battle of power versus consistency.
There was, of course, more to the event than the racing. Every tuner on-track had a booth off-track for visitors to see their latest and greatest parts. Rays wheels was a major sponsor of the day, and displayed their latest wheels at the event. They even debuted their upcoming wheel on the AVO race car, a titanium-lipped creation that will be available in June. Subaru and Mitsubishi Motors also were on hand to show off the newest models available, along with displays of the WRC cars and Super Taikyu race cars. Unfortunately, neither the upcoming Evo X nor the new Impreza were on display, something everybody is waiting to see in the flesh.
D1 Grand Prix's Team Orange also arranged for some entertainment, doing several passes around the circuit with their 3 vivid orange Imprezas. The latest addition to the fleet is a GC8-based 2-door widebody coupe, based around the legendary 22b. They tore up the circuit in true drift fashion, first going around individually, then going out with all three cars together. Running three cars together slideways is always an amazing feat, and quite dangerous as well-there were a couple of times when they nearly lost it. But one of the hallmarks of a D1 professional is keeping it together when all appears lost, and they recovered from every near miss with style.
All too soon, all too fast, it was all over. This was quite an event on its own, and it will be quite historical as well. Both the Lancer Evolution and the Impreza STI will be replaced by this same time next year. So this event is possibly the last where the current STI and Evo battle it out. Soon they will be as outdated as the last generation STI and Evo arrive, and the new cars will be the kings of the road. It will make next year all the more interesting as shops try to prove if old or new is best, something sure to be argued for many years to come. But for now this battle is over, with the Imprezas coming out ahead. Next year? Ah, that will be interesting to see...
 #2. Garage G-Force Lan Evo...  #2. Garage G-Force
Lan Evo 8 |  #8. Super Autobacs Hamamatsu...  #8. Super Autobacs
Hamamatsu Impreza |  #3. Original Randuce Imp...  #3. Original Randuce
Impreza |
Sun Automobile/Cyber Evo | 
Garag'e Km1 | 
Garage Kagotani |