Japan says Sayonara to Motorsports

As Y’all know, most likely from your Primary Schooling, today is “A Day of Infamy.” As countless reports tell us how the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour at 7:55AM Sunday morning, some 68 years ago…

Recently I received some flak for calling BMW AG’s decision to hastily withdraw from Formula 1 a Knee-jerk reaction, in lieu of our current economic climate… To which was some light weight 40mm AA Flak and I managed to avoid the ensuing shrapnel, but I digress…

As we’ve already learned, we’ve now had a total of three Auto manufacturers pull out of Formula 1 in the past twelve months, while Renault’s future is somewhat cloudy.

And as we all know, it was Honda who set the dominoes falling, as they simply couldn’t stomach being such a back marker anymore, while BMW suddenly decided to Quit after having one bad season, before Toyota decided it was also time to “Punt” as the red ink steadily flowed from Toyota’s books…

Having indeed decided to withdraw from Formula 1, they’ve (Toyota) just laid off a massive 500 employees from the Team’s Cologne HQ, leaving a staff of 150 for other various projects; perhaps an Hybrid “Sin-ergy” attack upon Du Circuit de la Sarthe?

Not to mention Japanese Rubber Giant Bridgestone withdrawing from Formula 1 at the end of the 2010 season, while Japanese Auto manufactures Mitsubishi, Subaru and Suzuki all walked away from the World of Rallying at the beginning of this year.

Yet my claim to BMW’s Knee-jerk reaction was made over the fact that BMW AG’s Board of Directors saw the perfect opportunity to cut costs on a suddenly losing proposition, since they’re still heavily advertising on Television, sponsoring Non-racing Sporting events and planning to compete in GT & WTCC Championships next year, along with the continuation of their Formula BMW Series…

While all of the above Japanese manufacturers with the exception of Mitsubishi also decided to “Save Face” by cancelling their poorly performing Motorsports activities under the guise of financial difficulties…

As let’s examine the following: Honda didn’t have a sponsor for two dreadful seasons under their “Planet earth” scheme, as they had a grand total of one victory during their third “Official” foray into Formula One. (BAR-Honda 2000-05; Honda F1 2006-08) Even being outperformed by the supposed “B” Team of “Super Best Friends,” (Super Aguri) not to mention their two race Ban for running illegal fuel tanks at the San Marino GP in 2005.

Meanwhile Toyota, who’s NEVER won a Grand Prix during its eight seasons in F1, was reputedly spending $500+ million per season, and having suffered the first ever Operating loss in the Companies 71yr history, upon reporting a $2.5 Billion loss in the winter of 2008, followed up by more losses, it decided the potential $150 million fine from failing to show-up for the 2010 Formula One season was far less expensive; (even including the 500 employees severance packages…) i.e.; ten times less then the projected budget to fulfill its Concorde obligations thru 2012. Yet notice how they’re still in RASSCAR, eh? ) Where they continue winning… As recall how Toyota bolted from the Indy Racing League after getting their ARSES kicked by rival Japanese auto manufacturer Honda)

And both Subaru and (especially) Suzuki have been getting their ARSES kicked in the World Rally Championship (WRC) by Sebastian Loeb in his Citroen for the past six seasons, while I’m guessing “Mr. Bitchy” (Mitsubishi) simply decided it was better to walk away from the DAKAR after multiple wins and facing increased pressure from Volkswagen, a la Audi who quit racing in the American Le Mans Series as there simply wasn’t any competition for them to compete against.

So, while yes, the Economy is at its WORST since the Great Depression, possibly worse since it’s a Global dilemma, I still suggest that these manufacturers simply walked away from the table in order to Save Face while trying to improve their bottom line, as after all, one of the first things cut during a Recession is Entertainment, which ultimately Motorsports is…

Another Racing Team Bites the Dust

“Kuhnichiwah” Suzuka Circuito

So the Japanese Grand Prix returned to its traditional (and rightful) home of the wonderful Suzuka Circuito this year for the first time since 2006, after a massive infield complex upgrade, including brand new Pit garages, Media Centre and extensive track repaving, which thankfully the circuit was NOT neutered by Herman Tilke, while reputedly Uncle Bernaughty was overly quick to point out to the BRDC how he’d asked the Japanese to spend money and they’d done it…

As memories came flooding back (Pun intended) as Friday’s practice session was an extremely soggy affair due to a fast approaching Typhoon, of which I’d encountered upon my wonderful outing to Suzuka way back in 2004… (Can it really be already 5yrs ago? Since seeing the TERMINATOR score another glorious victory…)

And I sat there pondering just how well would the Laser ride height sensor that Steve Matchett had pointed out its red light during the Singapore event function in the abysmal conditions.

Interestingly, it was originally pointed out by Bob Varsha that nine of the current twenty F1 Piloto’s on the grid had never raced a Formula 1 chassis in anger at Suzuka, which seemed pretty high to Mwah, as it was later pointed out during the Qualifying pre-amble that there were six “Freshman” debutants at this year’s Japanese GP event, with obviously half of these being the three Formula 1 Rookies of Renault’s Romain Grosjean and both Scuderia Toro Rosso Drivers Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi.

The other three debutants are none other then reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton and McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen and Toyota’s Timo Glock.

Meanwhile Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel and Force India’s Adrian Sutil have only participated as Friday Third Driver’s back in 2006, while Williams home grown talent Kazuki Nakajima had previously run at Suzuka countless times, just not in a Grand Prix.

Thanks to F1 Fanatic for doing the heavy lifting on this, as I got tired of SPEED blathering on ‘bout it all weekend long with never saying the names out loud!

F1 Drivers relish Suzuka challenge

And according to Inside Grand Prix, the hardest braking spot is the Casio Triangle corner just prior to the start/finish straight, where the drivers must bleed off a massive 204kph and resist a “Mega” 5.9G deceleration force.

And I’ve already scribbled about the wild ‘N wacky Qualifying session in Utterly chaotic Qualifying in Japan.

While the race seemed to be a somewhat more sedate affair, with Pole Sitter “ZEBB (Vettel) basically rocketing off into the distance on his Monza Renault Lump which will be utilized in one of the final two races, with Toyota’s Jarno Trulli getting jumped by the KERS powered McLaren of Lewis Hamilton on the start and BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld moving up to fourth place, while once again ‘JENSE struggled mightly to get into the points from his tenth place starting position.

As the race was fairly dull from the leader’s perspective, although I was happy to see Trulli-Scrumptious get back around Hamilton, who would finish 2-3 respectively, while Button’s points lead was shaved once again, with great infighting occurring mid-pack, while Vettel simply “Walked-it!” For his third victory of the season and fourth of his young career, and thus, the Championship rolls onto Brazil, with button on 85 points, leading teammate Barrichello by 14 (71) and Vettel by 16, (69) with a maximum of 20pts up for grabs; meanwhile BRAWN GP is all but assured of wrapping up its very first Constructors Title at Interlagos, as it leads Red Bull 156-120.5 and both cars would have to retire from both races with a maximum of 36pts available in the Constructors chase.

Race Drive of Suzuka
Although I was hard pressed to choose between Jarno Trulli and a very impressive outing by “Quick Nick’s” (Heidfeld) resurgent BMW Sauber, my choice goes to the German wunderkind Sebastian Vettel, who simply dominated the weekend and is always a pleasure to listen to in the interviews and especially on his in-car radio when celebrating victory! As ‘Hobbo (David Hobbs) said again; Vettel like Michael Schumacher just seems to enjoy winning...

Top 3 - Qualifying
Pole: Sebastian Vettel
Second: Jarno Trulli
Third: Lewis Hamilton

Race Results
Winner: S. Vettel; 2nd: J. Trulli; 3rd: L. Hamilton; 4th: K. Raikkonen;
5th: N. Rosberg; 6th: N. Heidfeld; 7th: R. Barrichello; 8th: J. Button.

Utterly chaotic Qualifying session in Japan

Whale I’ve just finished watching the most chaotic F1 Qualifying session that I can recall in a very long time from suzuka, Japan… And although the rain has stopped for the time being, with reports of another Typhoon heading towards the Philippines, the accidents certainly did not!

The morning’s final practice session saw Mark Webber write-off his RB5 chassis upon ripping off the steering rack in a brutal crash and therefore didn’t take part in today’s Qualifying.

Then, a most bizarre three red flags were issued during a Qualifying session fraught with five crashes involving four drivers, with Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi crashing twice and causing a Yellow flag which would ultimately effect the final grid positions of four drivers, who were deemed to have not lifted off of the throttle in this area, as both BRAWN GP Drivers ‘JENSE & Rubino, along with Fernando Alonso and Adrian Sutil would all receive five grid spot penalties for this infraction. (Which makes it pretty funny to see how animated Fredrico was after the Q2 “Quallie” session…) While Buemi was docked five grid spots for driving back to the pits in his damaged car from his second incident and impeding the progress of his competitors.

But oh no, we weren’t done yet with the grid penalties, as adding insult to injury was McLaren’s Heikki Kovalin, one of the red flag crashers… And Force India’s Vitantonnio Luzzi both being forced to take five grid spot penalties upon replacing their gearboxes.

Meanwhile, Toyota’s Timo Glock who was flown by helicopter to Hospital with back pains and a cut leg, who hopefully will race tomorrow, joined Webber on the final row of the grid as his TF109 chassis also needed to be replaced, with SPEED now reporting that Glock will NOT participate tomorrow and there will only be a single Toyota participating.

Hopefully the race will be a little less chaotic with no more accidents, eh?

Revised Starting Grid

Veterans Day - 2008

Imagine a time when it all began
In the dying days of a war
A weapon that would settle the score
Whoever found it first would be sure to do their worst
They always had before...

(Lyrics” RUSH; Manhattan Project, Power Windows, 1985)

Time Stands Still (2008)
Nagasaki photographs

Although I try to refrain from the topic of mainstream politics, I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’ve been voicing my opinions a little bit lately, and I’m quite happy that this will be the final Veteran’s Day under the Bush regime...

Thus, it’s hard to believe that it’s already been one year since I had those most appalling thoughts while sightseeing in Japan, now having been to both World War II Atomic Bomb sites; Hiroshima, 2004 and Nagasaki, 2007. Obviously both sites are different, yet both were civilian targets with Hiroshima being a larger city than Nagasaki. Actually Nagasaki wasn’t the primary target on that fateful day, it was a back-up target picked when Kokura was blanketed by dense clouds, obscuring the city.

With Boxcar, the second B-29 bomber assigned to carry a nuclear bomb, being low on fuel and making only one pass over the target before dropping its lethal cargo at 11:02AM. As the bomb detonated above an unsuspecting tennis court...

Thus, I suppose it’s ironic, that the Hanford Nuclear facility, here in the state of Washington, which was built in 1943 specifically for the Manhattan Project was responsible for producing the very plutonium needed for the “Fat Man” bomb...After driving from Sasebo to Nagasaki, Tanja, Albin & I hopped aboard a Tram (Street Car) and rode to a nearby Atom Bomb museum stop. The museum is of an interesting design, as we walked down a continuously spiraling carpeted walkway, into the bowels of the museum. There are several artifacts on display, beginning with pictures of the city prior to the blast. There’s a picture of an entire city street, a school, temple, farming, horses, etc. Then there’s the clock with its hands frozen at 11:02AM, retrieved from a house approx. 3 kilometers from the blast. There are several items of glass & metal that are either twisted, bent or fused together from the bomb’s massive heat. There’s even a piece of roofing you can touch, which shows the affects of the intense temperature afflicted on the ceramic tile. There’s a single wall left of the church that was destroyed in the holocaust, as well as a counterpart of the horrific plutonium core bomb of the original “Fat Man” weapon used on Nagasaki. It’s gigantic and I think it weighed 4,000 tons. Reports differ over the total effects of the atomic wasteland, as Nagasaki like Hiroshima three days earlier was pulverized. And although it was known that the bombing could instantly kill everyone within a 4 kilometer radius, the then unknown effects of radiation were not understood. As countless scores of people simply died in other towns listed as; Dying, causes other than Atomic bombing… There are several gruesome pictures of dead bodies and injured people, as Nagasaki’s population was approx. 240,000 at the impact of Fat Man. Imagine in just 30 seconds, the bombs horrifically radiant heat killed over one-fourth of the population. Another one-fourth was injured along with countless thousands left homeless! Blast damage occurred as far away as 15 kilometers, with shrapnel flying as far as 8 kilometers. The city was leveled 2.6 miles approx. (radius) with anything black catching fire up to 4 kilometers away. As all of the telephone poles left standing were charred on the side facing the blast! On display, a section of wall recovered is quite intriguing. It too was also 4 kilometers away from the blast. Yet the bombs flash and heat was so bright and hot that it fused a man’s shadow and piece of leather into the wall! There’s also the shadow of a picket fence on the wall along with the image of leaves fused into a piece of wood… Various exhibits with time lines of the history of the Manhattan Project are interspersed with other related events. There’s current day Atomic statistics, like every Nations projected nuclear arsenal with Russia listed at 16,000 weapons followed by the US at 10,000. And there’s a display listing every Nations atmospheric and underground Atom bomb tests since WWII. Yet the most chilling display to me was the current day Nuclear weapons facilities, since this included Hanford, WA. I suppose why it sent a chill up my back was because it was the only video playing in English, as person after person discussed the devastating health effects of the “Down-winders.” Ranging from damaged Thyroid’s, cancer and multiple birth defects! (40+ years after being built) Which the U.S. Government is still denying, although supposedly it has now actually admitted that it did indeed release “Mega” amounts of radioactive toxins into the surrounding environment, as Hanford is now the nation’s WORST Nuclear site, containing 53,000,000 gallons of radioactive waste; the nation’s largest amount!

Hanford was responsible for producing the majority of plutonium utilized for our nation’s 60,000+ nuclear weapons, before being decommissioned at the end of the cold war and is currently the nation’s largest toxic waste Super-fund clean-up project...Next we walked to the adjoining Peace Park, which features an elaborate display at Ground Zero, with the grass lawn being interspersed with concrete rings leading inwards to the huge 10 meter tall peace statue adorned by a black marble vault containing the names of the atomic bomb victims and survivors who died in subsequent years. A plaque gives the following statistics:

Dead: 73,884 Injured: 74,909 Sufferers: 120,820 Houses burned down: 11,574 Houses half-ruined, 5,509 Houses partly damaged 50,000
At the south end of the park is a giant flowing water fountain. This Fountain of Peace was created in 1969 giving prayer to all of the people who perished in the bombing while vainly searching for water. At the base of the fountain is a black stone plaque with Lines from a poem carved into it. They were written by a girl named Sachiko Yamaguchi, who was nine at the time of the bombing, It reads:
"I was thirsty beyond endurance. There was something oily on the surface of the water, but I wanted water so badly that I drank it just as it was."

Hiroshima-Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Exhibit (2000)

Japanese Open Wheel warriors

Interestingly while the mighty Auto manufacturers of Japan have reigned supreme in all forms of motorsports, including Formula 1, CART/Champ Car and the IRL; Japanese drivers have never quite attained the success of their country’s industrialists.

With this year’s Japanese Grand Prix having just been contested once again at Mount Fuji, the Toyota owned circuit, and having already panned the Formula 1 driver’s landscape previously in Japan and Formula 1, I thought I’d continue on with a very brief look into the Stateside racer’s, to whom I’ve had the privilege of viewing live in action.

Hiroyuki Matsushita (1990-98)
As far as I can tell, the pioneer for Japanese talent to test the waters of Open Wheel Racing stateside was none other than Hiroyuki “Hiro” Matsushita, who made his foray into CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) in 1990.

Yet, Matsushita began his racing career on two wheels instead of four, racing motorcycles in Japan between 1977-79, before moving to the United States, where he made his Formula Ford debut in 1986. Hiro then work his way up the ladder system, culminating with capturing the 1989 Toyota Atlantic crown, (Pacific Division) where he crushed the competition by recording the largest point’s margin along with four victories.

And as the grandson of Konosuke Matsushita, founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, (1918) which is more commonly known today as the Panasonic Corporation, Hiro enjoyed the might of financial backing from Panasonic throughout his racing career.

Hiro also was the very first Japanese driver to race at the Indianapolis 500 in 1991, yet quickly garnered a reputation as a “Tail Gunner Charlie,” by continuously running at the back of the field, as he was always outperformed by his teammates at Dick Simon Racing, Walker Racing, Arciero/Wells and Payton/Coyne Racing, in which he made a total of 117 starts for, with a career best finish of 6th in the 1994 Marlboro 500 at Michigan.

And for years I thought a friend of mine(?) was “Ah-so” very clever by always telling me the following story of how he earned his nickname “king Hiro.”

King Hiro:
“Matsushita earned the nickname "King Hiro" from Emerson Fittipaldi, who was complaining about Hiro's reluctance to cede track position when getting lapped by the leaders.[ The nickname came about as a result of Emerson's habit of pressing the "talk" button on his radio about half a second after he'd started speaking, thereby cutting off the first syllable of the first word he used. Fittipaldi, allegedly, had intended to say "F%%king Hiro!”
(Nickname source: Wikipedia)


Naoki Hattori (1999)
Unfortunately, I simply do not remember this driver, who is also an Automotive Journalist, yet Naoki must have some talent as he was the Japanese Formula 3 Champion in 1990, before very briefly trying to make his mark in Formula One, where Naoki made two unsuccessful attempts to Pre-qualify for races in the minnow-esqu Coloni team in 1991.

He then subsequently spent time sharing a second car with Memo Gidley alongside Walker Racing primary driver Gil De Feran in 1999 without any major results, before dropping out of Champ Car racing.

Naoki is not related to Shigeaki Hattori.


Shigeaki Hattori (1999-03)
Another of the unknown to me Japanese faces in Open Wheel Racing, as Shigeaki had a less than stellar career in CART, where he earned the dubious distinction of having his racing license revoked by Chief Steward Wally Dallenbach Sr. upon having pirouetted his Bettenhausen Motorsports entry a massive 18 times in only seven starts during 1999.

Shigeaki then moved to the IRL in 2000, driving for Treadway-Vertex Cunningham Racing and later Bradley Motorsports and AJ Foyt Enterprises; Huh? (I didn’t know that ‘Ol Super Tex liked Sushi…)

After his brief Indy Racing League career, which included two starts at Indy, (2002-03) Shigeaki spent one unsuccessful season racing in the Craftsman Truck series for Germain Racing, before retiring in 2005.


Shinji Nakano (2000-02)
Not to be confused with the current MOTO GP rider Shinya Nakano, Shinji Nakano like most current Open Wheel racers, cut his teeth in go-karts and won several Karting Championships before moving onto single seater racing, where he competed in Japanese Formula 3 & 3000, along with the European Formula Opel series.

Joining the revolving door of aspiring Japanese Grand Prix piloto’s during the mid 1990’s, Shinji made his Formula One debut in 1997 for the Prost team, which was powered by Mugen/Honda engines that season. The following year, Shinji was forced to take refuge at Minardi when Prost elected to campaign Peugeot engines instead and struggled with the perennial back markers. For 1999, Shinji occasionally tested for the Jordan Grand Prix team, who were using Mugen/Honda “lumps.”

In 2000, Shinji tried his hand in Champ Car racing, driving for Derrick Walker in CART as a paying driver, yet Shinji did quite a respectable job before moving onto Fernandez Racing, where he scored his career best 4th place finish in Toronto in 2002, ultimately making a combined 56 starts, before capping his Open Wheel career with a one-off drive at Indy in 2003 for Beck Motorsports.


Toranosuke Takagi (2000-04)
Billed as the next great Japanese hope in Formula 1, Toranosuke “Tiger” Takagi was spotted by Satoru Nakajima as a future F1 star in 1994 and spent considerable time racing for Nakajima’s race team, before being selected as a test driver for Tyrrell in 1997. Tiger then graduated to a full time race drive for “Uncle Chopper’s” (Ken Tyrrell) squad in 1998, becoming the sixth Japanese driver to compete in Formula One.

For 1999, Tiger joined Jos “The BOSS” Verstappen for his second and final season at the faltering Arrows Grand Prix team, before leaving F1 and contesting the 2000 Formula Nippon series for mentor Nakajima.

Following a very successful campaign in Formula Nippon, He copied fellow countryman Shinji Nakano’s example (literally) and moved onto racing stateside, where he replaced Nakano at Walker Racing from 2001-02 and scored a career best 4th place Champ Car finish in Houston.

For 2003, Takagi moved onto the Indy Racing League for Mo Nunn’s squad, and starting seventh and finishing fifth, was named the 2003 Indy 500 Rookie of the year. His second season in the IRL was less fruitful and he returned to Japan in 2005 to contest the Japanese GT series.


Roger Yasukawa (2003, 2005)
Roger Yasukawa began his racing career in go karts in Southern California, winning the state Junior Championship in 1991, before progressing to single seaters, where in 1998 he won the Barber Dodge 2.0 liter title. Yasukawa has also spent considerable time “Across the Pond,” where he raced go karts in Italy along with competing in Formula Vauxhall and contesting the inaugural Formula Palmer Audi Championship in 1999, before returning to compete in Skip Barber and the Toyota Atlantics Championships.

In 2003, Aguri Suzuki chose Roger to drive for the newly created Super Aguri/Fernandez Racing team which was making its debut in the IRL that year and would ultimately become Yasukawa’s best season, upon finishing runner-up in the Rookie of the year Championship behind some spiky haired, shiny tooth dude named Dan Wheldon...

Yasukawa then spent a fairly unproductive year in 2004 with Rahal/Letterman Racing, where he only competed in two events, before finding a full time ride at Dreyer & Reinbold for the 2005 IRL campaign. Since then, Roger has struggled to find sufficient funding for a full time ride and has largely become an Indy 500 “Specialist,” as he raced at the Speedway in ’06 for Playa Del Racing, was the third Dreyer & Reinbold entry in ’07 and attempted to make this year’s race for Beck Motorsports second week program, but failed to qualify after having raced in Motegi as a tune-up for Indy.

An interesting tidbit is the fact that Roger is the son of Minoru Yasukawa, who worked as a Marketing executive for the McLaren and Leyton House Formula 1 teams.


Kosuke Matsuura (2004-07)
Having won the Formula Dream title in 2001, Matsuura gained the attention of Aguri Suzuki and was immediately placed in Suzuki’s driver development program, where he competed in Formula 3 and Formula Renault with good results before being selected as Roger Yasukawa’s replacement at Super Aguri/Fernandez Racing for the 2004 IRL season.

In his debut IndyCar season, Matsuura won both the leagues Rookie of the year honours as well as that year’s Indy 500 Rookie of the year and spent the 2004-06 seasons driving for Super Aguri/Fernandez before joining Panther Racing alongside Vitor Meira in 2007 after Aguri Suzuki had transferred allegiance’s. Yet, the 2007 campaign was a rough slog for Matsuura, as persistent rumors about his career future dogged the likeable Japanese driver, who got my vote for dropping the “F-Bomb” of the year when the IRL censured Kosuke for his post race antics on the IMS Radio Network. Adding further insult to injury, Dario Franchitti rammed the hapless Matsuura at Kentucky on the cool down lap, upon failing to realize that the chequered flag had been displayed...

With the arrival of new Honda “Golden Boy” Hideki Mutoh at Andretti Green Racing, Matsuura’s time in the IRL spotlight had come to a close and Kosuke has returned to Japan to take up residence in the Formula Nippon series.


Hideki Mutoh (2008-Present)
Like earlier aspiring Japanese youngsters, Mutoh was fortunate enough to be signed to the Honda Formula Dream driver development program and ultimately won the Formula Dream title in 2002, before progressing up the ladder of single seater racing.

In 2007, it was announced that Aguri Suzuki’s Autobacs Racing Team Aguri would contest the Indy Pro Series Championship in conjunction with Panther Racing and Hideki as the team’s driver. With Mutoh winning that year’s IPS event at the Speedway and at the end of the year, Hideki made his Indy Racing League debut at the Chicagoland season finale aboard a third Super Aguri Panther entry and finished impressive eighth, further fueling rumours of Matsuura’s IRL demise. And in what seems a perfect irony, Hideki was announced as 2007 IndyCar Champion Dario Franchitti’s replacement at AGR on Halloween, as Franchitti was off to greener(?) pastures in NASCAR…

Hideki finished 10th overall in his rookie IndyCar series season and held off Justin Wilson for the series Rookie of the year honours, helped in part by his second place finish at the Iowa Speedway, the highest ever finishing position for a Japanese driver in the series history, besting Takagi’s third place finish in Texas in 2003.

On a trivial note, Mutoh (10/10/82) and Yasukawa (10/10/77) share the same birthday...

Toyota automobile Museum

While visiting Japan, my good friend Yutaka took me to the Toyota Automobile Museum, which was about an hour’s drive from his home in Nagoya, as I’d previously learned about the museum while watching an episode of Car Krazy with Barry McGuire.

And what a wonderful museum it is. Very nicely designed, it features three stories, spaciously laid out with escalators in a sun lit atrium running up the middle of the floors. Stepping off the escalator you’re able to view the fast collection of automobiles (120) housed on either side of the building.

The entry features a replica of the very first Toyota automobile, the 1936 Toyota AA, which was re-created from original drawings. Stepping off of the escalator, on the second floor is another replica, this being the very first “Horseless Carriage,” better known as the Benz Patent Motorwagen of 1886.

The floor starts with an offering of vehicles displayed in diorama style with various period related artifacts, i.e.; magazines, books, photos, prints, paintings, etc. interspersed with various automobiles. There was an olive green US Army WWII Willys Jeep, Nissan Skyline, Porsche 911 and a Toyota 7.

Isn’t it interesting to travel around the world in order to discover an automobile you’ve never heard of or seen? As I was totally unaware of the fantastic looking Toyota 7, which seemed quite similar to the all conquering McLaren Can Am cars of the late 1960’s. As this beautiful “two seater” race car was built as Toyota’s entry for the Japanese Grand Prix, which were originally Sports Car races, (196x-7x) as the first Formula 1 race wasn’t held at Mount Fuji Speedway until 1976.

The Toyota 7 was built to Group 7 standards, which were the FIA rules for (Can Am) sports car racing; hence I suppose the simple moniker of “7,” as this was part of Toyota’s evolution of racing machinery.

And I have to say it’s a very beautiful car, as Yutaka and I stood transfixed at it while his daughter Riona wanted us to hurry up! This would be the first of two Toyota 7’s on display… As we were drooling over the original non-turbocharged prototype, which featured a 3.0 liter V-8.

Finally moving on, there were various Japanese vehicles along with an eclectic array of European and US pre-war vehicles, before we took the escalator to the third floor. This floor is totally dedicated to Japanese vehicles and it was here that I finally got to see a Toyota 2000GT in person! This car as well as the original Datsun 240Z thru the early model 280Z seems to draw much inspiration from the Ferrari 250 GTO…

The Toyota 2000GT was Japan’s first true sports car, which totally changed the world’s perception of Japanese automobile design. A bi-product of this extremely low produced vehicle (337 units) was Toyota’s decision to go motor racing with it. (Along with building two faux convertible versions for use by Sean Connery in the 1967 James Bond movie; “You Only live Twice.”)

Toyota hired some “Texan,” none other than ‘ol “Shel” himself, to turn the little cars into race winners. Although Carroll Shelby had run the tables during his long standing relationship with the Ford Motor Co. (Cobra, Daytona, GT40, GT 350, Trans Am) Shelby had mixed results in the SCCA’s C Production class in 1968 and simply ran out of Snake Oil, with Toyota pulling the plug after only one year of racing.

There was also a second Toyota 7 on display, this one being the twin turbocharged “Monster” 800bhp, 5.0 liter V-8 car built for the 1970 season, but was never raced. “Oh, What a Feeling!” The Toyota 7 is simply AWESOME…

Then we went back down to the main floor to have lunch at the museum’s restaurant, which even had silverware for us to use, as I’m quite rusty with chopsticks…

After lunch, we walked to the museum’s Annex, via a short bridge walkway, which led us into a cavernous single story room which was filled with every sort of item relating to the culture of the automobile and Japan. There was another Willys Jeep along with several “Micro Cars,” large 1/5th diecast models, bicycles, trucks, pictures, trinkets, etc. There were several diorama style settings with a single car parked inside “C” shaped rooms with related artifacts. There was even a large scale model of a “Series 100” Bullet Train engine… (As I’d ridden on my very first Bullet Train to go to Yutaka’s, informing me I’d ridden on a “Series 700.”) As we walked towards the final vehicle, it reminded me very much of a cross between a Shelby GT350 & Mustang II. It was a 1975 Celica lift back.

Next we visited the extremely “Pricey” gift shop, where Riona purchased a small RC mini-van, which we spent several minutes driving around the living room later that evening.

After the Automobile Museum, Yutaka drove us to the Toyota Introduction Center, which is a vast two story building nearby one of the company’s assembly plants. The center of the building is a large room with several new Toyota’s parked for people to try out. This reminds me of going to the Auto Show, yet it’s not nearly as crowded or rushed. There was even a mini-van which side doors close automatically!

Then Yutaka pointed out the two Toyota TF105 Formula 1 cars on display, which I was immediately drawn to. One was quite interesting as it had been turned into a “cut-away” car. For some strange reason the Jarno Trulli chassis had Ralf Schumacher’s crash bucket on its side pod…

After viewing these extensively, we walked thru a corridor which led to a monstrous room that was filled with floor to ceiling projection screens flanking all three sides of the room. There we stood watching the various videos played of the different sequences of producing a vehicle. There was: Painting, Assembly, Welding, etc. And I’m still trying to figure out how I can get a room like this for watching the Grand Prix’s!

There were further displays, like a miniature assembly line model, a prototype 4Runner Fuel Cell vehicle, A smashed up Lexus & Toyota, etc. All this just on the first floor as the second floor is closed on weekends…

Time Stands Still

Imagine a time when it all began

In the dying days of a war

A weapon that would settle the score

Whoever found it first would be sure to do their worst

They always had before...

RUSH; Manhattan Project (Power Windows, 1985)

Although I traditionally refrain from the topic of politics, I simply cannot avoid the most appalling thoughts I had while sightseeing in Japan recently. You see I’ve now been to both WWII Atomic Bomb sites; Hiroshima, 2004 and Nagasaki, 2007.

Obviously both sites are different, yet both were civilian targets with Hiroshima being a larger city than Nagasaki. Actually Nagasaki wasn’t the primary target on that fateful day, it was a back-up target picked when Kokura was blanketed by dense clouds, obscuring the city.

Boxcar, the second B-29 bomber assigned to carry a nuclear bomb, was low on fuel, making only one pass over the target before dropping its lethal cargo at 11:02AM. As the bomb detonated above a tennis court…

After driving from Sasebo to Nagasaki, Tanja, Albin & I hopped aboard a Tram (Street Car) and rode to a nearby Atom Bomb museum stop. The museum is of an interesting design, as we walked down a continuously spiraling carpeted walkway, into the bowels of the museum.

There are several artifacts on display, beginning with pictures of the city prior to the blast. There’s a picture of an entire city street, a school, temple, farming, horses, etc. Then there’s the clock with its hands frozen at 11:02AM, retrieved from a house approx. 3 kilometers from the blast. There are several items of glass & metal that are either twisted, bent or fused together from the bomb’s massive heat. There’s even a piece of roofing you can touch, which shows the affects of the intense temperature afflicted on the ceramic tile.

There’s a single wall left of the church that was destroyed in the holocaust, as well as a counterpart of the horrific plutonium core bomb of the original “Fat Man” weapon used on Nagasaki. It’s gigantic and I think it weighed 4,000 tons.

Reports differ over the total effects of the atomic wasteland, as Nagasaki like Hiroshima three days earlier was pulverized. And although it was known that the bombing could instantly kill everyone within a 4 kilometer radius, the then unknown effects of radiation were not understood. As countless scores of people simply died in other towns listed as; Dying, causes other than Atomic bombing…

There are several gruesome pictures of dead bodies and injured people, as Nagasaki’s population was approx. 240,000 at the impact of Fat Man. Imagine in just 30 seconds, the bombs horrifically radiant heat killed over one-fourth of the population. Another one-fourth was injured along with countless thousands left homeless!

Blast damage occurred as far away as 15 kilometers, with shrapnel flying as far as 8 kilometers. The city was leveled 2.6 miles approx. (radius) with anything black catching fire up to 4 kilometers away. As all of the telephone poles left standing were charred on the side facing the blast!

On display, a section of wall recovered is quite intriguing. It too was also 4 kilometers away from the blast. Yet the bombs flash and heat was so bright and hot that it fused a man’s shadow and piece of leather into the wall! There’s also the shadow of a picket fence on the wall along with the image of leaves fused into a piece of wood…

Various exhibits with time lines of the history of the Manhattan Project are interspersed with other related events. There’s current day Atomic statistics, like every Nations projected nuclear arsenal with Russia listed at 16,000 weapons followed by the US at 10,000. And there’s a display listing every Nations atmospheric and underground Atom bomb tests since WWII.

Yet the most chilling display to me was the current day Nuclear weapons facilities, since this included Hanford, WA. I suppose why it sent a chill up my back was because it was the only video playing in English, as person after person discussed the devastating health effects of the “Down-winders.” Ranging from damaged Thyroid’s, cancer and multiple birth defects! (40+ years after being built)

Next we walked to the adjoining Peace Park, which features an elaborate display at Ground Zero, with the grass lawn being interspersed with concrete rings leading inwards to the huge 10 meter tall peace statue adorned by a black marble vault containing the names of the atomic bomb victims and survivors who died in subsequent years. A plaque gives the following statistics:
Dead: 73,884
Injured: 74,909
Sufferers: 120,820
Houses burned down:11,574
Houses half-ruined, 5,509
Houses partly damaged 50,000

At the south end of the park is a giant flowing water fountain. This Fountain of Peace was created in 1969 giving prayer to all of the people who perished in the bombing while vainly searching for water.

At the base of the fountain is a black stone plaque with Lines from a poem carved into it. They were written by a girl named Sachiko Yamaguchi, who was nine at the time of the bombing,

It reads:

"I was thirsty beyond endurance. There was something oily on the surface of the water, but I wanted water so badly that I drank it just as it was."

Plucking strings

Interestingly I ran across an article about the new way of doing business in the Pit lane, with a String Quartet being hired to Perform during a Formula Nippon event held at Mount Fuji earlier this season.

Funny thing, I didn’t notice this quartet serenading any of the F1 circus during their recent visit to Mount Fuji…

And why all the “hub-bub” about Honda and Japanese F1 drivers? Well I’ll let you try and guess where I’m off to spend another Holiday…

while having my capable blogmeister fill in for me.

(You may wish to also check out his site: Sporty Blog)

Japan and Formula 1

Have you ever wondered why no Japanese drivers have truly succeeded in Formula 1? And while Japan still awaits a maiden Grand Prix victory from one of its driver’s, Honda has thus far carried the torch while the verdict is still out over its rival Toyota…

Although this season’s results have been horrific for Honda and its “Planet Earth” theme, nevertheless Honda’s storied history in Formula 1 now spans over four decades. With Japan’s first success coming during Honda’s original foray into F1 in the early 1960’s.

The burgeoning team began life with a relative unknown American driver by the name of Ronnie Bucknum after Honda was unable to acquire the services of Phil Hill.

Bucknum debuted the Honda RA271 1.5 liter V-12 in the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring in 1963, with Honda’s single car effort wallowing about the rear of the grid during 1964 before Honda decided to add a second American pilot to its line-up in 1965.

This driver was fellow Californian Richie Ginther who was known as a very good development driver, which Honda was looking for. Ginther scored Honda’s very first Formula 1 World Championship point with a sixth place finish at Spa. Then in the very last race of the 1.5 liter engine era held in Mexico City, Ginther scored Honda’s maiden F1 victory with Bucknum finishing fifth.

From 1966-68, Honda struggled to come to grips with the new 3.0 liter engine formula as both Bucknum and Ginther left the team at the end of 1966. They were replaced by 1964 World Champion John Surtees for the ‘67 season. Surtees would give Honda its second F1 victory at Monza, Italy in the RA 300’s racing debut before falling out of favour withSoichiro Honda over the portly RA 302 not being ready to race.

Thus in the summer of 1968 the unwieldy RA 302 magnesium chassis, air cooled V-12 race car was given to Frenchman Jo Schlesser to race in the French GP instead. Unfortunately Schlesser lost control of the vehicle, rolled and burst into flames before loosing his life, thus effectively ending Honda’s first foray into Formula 1 at the end of the 1968 season.

Interestingly when the movie Grand Prix was made in 1966, I suspect it was viewed as preposterous that a Japanese entry would ever win the World Championship. But in 1983 Honda began development of a new style racing engine, a 1.5 liter twin turbocharged V-6 running in the back of the minnow-esc Spirit Racing team before jumping to Williams for the 1984 season.

Honda’s World Championship winning ways began in 1987 with their mighty engine propelling Williams Nelson Piquet to his third and final driver’s crown. This began a streak of five consecutive championships with Williams and McLaren, as the two rival British teams wrestled for Honda “Works” status during this time period.

Three Japanese drivers participated in the inaugural Japanese Grand Prix at Mount Fuji (1976-77) with a fourth joining the following year before switching venues to Suzuka owned by Honda in 1987. The fabulous Suzuka circuito was originally built as a test track in 1962 near by Honda’s immense factory.

Suzuka saw many fierce battles between championship rivals Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. It was also here where Senna had his famous punch-up with rookie Eddie “Irv the Swerve” Irvine.

Although Suzuka hosted the Japanese Grand Prix from 1987-2006, ironically this year’s event will revert back to Mount Fuji which has been owned by Toyota since 2000 and heavily updated.

Yet with Honda’s return to Grand Prix racing in the early 1980’s, the resurgence of this Rising Sun manufacturer as a championship winning engine supplier allowed Honda to flex its powerful influence upon Formula 1. Thus triggering a new influx of Japanese drivers with Satoru Nakajima spearheading the charge, as Nakajima’s close ties with Honda helped him land the second Lotus seat alongside Ayrton Senna in 1987, after testing a Williams “mule” chassis with Honda power prior to becoming the very first full time Japanese driver in F1. He also became the first Japanese driver to score World Championship points in only his second race outing…

To continue reading, see; Japan and Formula 1 (Part 2)

Singing’ in the Rain?

Holy Downpour Batman!!! Wasn’t that the MOST DIABOLICAL racing conditions you’ve seen in years? As I’m flabbergasted that the FIA actually squeezed in the entire race distance at the rain drenched Mount Fuji circuit…

Talk about earning your paycheck, as I simply couldn’t believe that those F1 pilot’s were capable of hurtling their race cars around in such HORRIFIC weather conditions. As the race seemed eerily reminiscent of the inaugural Japanese Grand Prix held at Mount Fuji 31 years ago!

You may recall that this was the race that Niki Lauda abandoned due to heavy rainfall, claiming the weather made the race too dangerous and there by handing that year’s Driver’s title to James Hunt.

The following year’s event was little better, with the first and second place drivers (James Hunt, Carlos Reutemann) skipping the podium ceremonies in favour of catching their flights. And with Niki Lauda having already wrapped up the 1977 Driver’s title for Ferrari, before departing the team as his relationship with Enzo had faltered. Lauda was replaced by Gilles Villeneuve whom had a tragic accident that killed a Marshal and photographer!

And although I know I watched it way back when? I simply don’t remember seeing the abominable race Down Under. As the 1991 Australian GP was Red flagged after only 14 laps with Ayrton Senna being declared the victor and half points awarded. And what was that race when Senna rammed into the back of whom in the rain…

Of course I suspect holding a motor race near the base of an extinct volcano in the fall will always be prone to inclement weather, eh? Although overall this is supposedly the better portion of the year to visit the Orient. So I can only ponder what this week’s conditions at Shanghai will be?

And if you think the organizers are NUTS for running at Mount Fuji so late in the season, my way back memory machine faintly recollected the 1994 Japanese GP as Professor Matchett was waxing eloquently about it. As the Suzuka race was held on November 13 and was also Red flagged after Martin Brundle struck a marshal attending a previously stricken race car in the exact locale and broke his leg! Yeah, you guessed it; it was RAINING that day too…

As for the racing, it seemed quite hard to follow this weekend, as there seemed to be a constant parade of race cars throwing up huge rooster tails behind them. And I’m still quite bemused over how Ferrari will indeed spin its wet weather tire advantage. Err excuse me Mr. Todt! Didn’t you get the memo? But who says that the FIA doesn’t play favourites?

And without doubt the star of the weekend had to be German “hot-shue” Sebastian Vettel, who took the Scuderia Toro rosso to never seen before performance heights… As it was pointed out that the last time a Minardi Tail-gunner Charlie” had led a Grand Prix was Estoril, 1989!

As Vettel became the very first driver to push a Toro Rosso into “Q3” Final Qualifying. Although he gave the Williams-Toyota team a bit of a surprise when he attempted pulling into their pit stall at the end of the Q2 session…

And Vettel’s weekend long “High” continued into the race, when the young German found himself leading his very first Grand Prix. Unfortunately the entire weekend would be for naught as catastrophe struck during the second Safety Car period. With “Big Brother” Mark Webber (Red Bull) second and Vettel third behind race leader Lewis Hamilton, young Sebastian rammed into the rear of an unexpecting Webber…

Mark Webber (DNF, Accident)
"That was a completely disastrous finish. We were in very, very good shape to challenge Lewis for first today. We were strong and I didn't make any mistakes despite the tricky conditions, cars were aquaplaning and the visibility was very poor. Fernando's crash caused the second safety car stint, which bunched everyone back up again. That wasn't great; I would have liked to have continued to the end of the race. Vettel was a bit wild behind me during the first safety car period and then did a very good job of hitting me very hard under the second safety car. I think today he will have learnt a very valuable lesson."

Adding insult to injury was the fact that Vettel’s teammate Vitantonnio Luzzi was deemed to have passed Adrian Sutil’s spyker under a yellow flagged corner for the final points paying position.

Which made me very happy to learn as I’m most impressed by my “Rookie of the Year” candidate Messer. Sutil, whom was elevated to eighth place upon the stewards giving Luzzi a 25 second time penalty which dropped him to ninth. Thus Toro Rosso is now the only constructor to have not scored points this season.

And as further penalty to Vettel’s errant ways during the second Safety Car shenanigans… Sebastian has been docked a ten grid spot penalty for China…

Meanwhile the race ending saw a terrific tussle between two Finns, as Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Raikkonen frolicked about in the monstrous spray while challenging each other for second place. This would see two Finns on the podium for the very first time in history.

And rumours suggest that Lewis Hamilton’s father (and manager) Anthony has hammered out a new five year $110 million deal to stay at McLaren. That’s a paltry $22 million per season for all of you math whizzes out there.

Yet I found myself having a new found admiration for the young “Louise Jaguar Hamilton.” As not only was he fast, nor put a wheel wrong the entire race, he’s also tremendously smooth. As I marveled at his mannerisms of thanking the Japanese crowd for enduring such ABYSMAL weather conditions during the post race interview.

And speaking of memo’s, I seemed to have missed the one noting that the Japanese Grand Prix will alternate venues between Suzuka and Mount Fuji beginning in 2009…

Sayanora Suzuka

Holy Smokes! I still just CANNOT believe it! With 17 laps remaining, final pit stops completed and Michael Schumacher on his way towards his record 8th World Championship. Schumacher’s Ferrari V-8 engine goes “KABLAMOE!” while leading the race! Amazingly this was Schumacher’s first detonated engine failure in 6 years… (France, 2000)

Sadly this past weekend’s race in Japan appears to be Suzuka’s final race for the foreseeable future. This extremely popular circuit with F1 drivers has always had a very loyal fan base. This year’s sold out event hosted 160,000+ spectators sitting patiently through rainfall at 8AM of Friday’s practice session to see the race cars navigate the famous course.
After 20 years of hosting the Japanese Grand Prix, this wonderful circuit owned by Honda will be replaced by the massively upgraded Mount Fuji circuit owned by Japanese rival Toyota…

“The Pen is mightier than the Sword?” I can only imagine what its like to be a TV commentator under the scrutiny of a nationwide audience… Yet again I found myself frequently catching SPEED’S Bob Varsha making many ’“blunders.” During Friday’s practice session, “Messer’s” Varsha pointed out the BMW-Honda… Later during the broadcast, “my friend” Mr. Varsha further “misspoke” once again. As I sat ruing about his blunder that Lamborghini’s foray into Formula One was during a period when it was owned by GM. I always enjoy how they simply go to commercial break and continue on as though nothing wrong has happened…At least I wasn’t the only person to notice the blunder. Varsha corrected himself during Saturday’s qualifying show after an astute viewer emailed to correct him that it was Chrysler who’d owned Lamborghini instead of GM…

During Sunday’s race, Varsha commented on how Bridgestone will become F1’s sole tire supplier next season. Claiming that not only will Bridgestone provide “equal” tire’s for all competitors, but has asked the FIA to utilize it’s current Champ Car philosophy of “Alternate” red sidewall tires. This strategy would require all drivers to use the alternate (softer) tires for at least one stint during a race distance. I presume this is Bridgestone’s idea to “spice-up” the show a la Champ Cars…