Saturday night was unlike anything I'd done before...
Through a friend of mine, a fellow DC2 driver I was invited to observe an underground, high-speed drive through the winding, twisty roads of Hakone mountains otherwise known as "TOUGE"
I was told that I should expect the exact same situation as that portaited in a japanese manga known as "Initial D" and that the only difference between this particular gathering and what's known as "mountain drifting" was they would be doing high-speed grip driving as opposed to high-speed drifting.
This was meant to be my rare opportunity for exposure to the underground, japanese street racing culture and it certainly felt like that ...
Without giving away too much info for obvious reasons, we met in a carpark with this particular night's participants (hashiriya). The cars were definitely highly tuned, majority I'd say illegal as far as shaken regulations were concerned and surprisingly very low key in terms of what was shown to the outside world. The drivers I would say your typical car racers ranging from 22yo all the way to 63yo!
About half an hour past midnight I was told that "the boss" and his "2nd in command" would arrive and I was told every member of this team had to be very respectful to these 2 folks and the rules they had instilled within the team.
The boss arrived in an STI (he was 63yo) and his 2nd in command arrived in a Skyline GT-R (he was in his 40s). Suddenly I was told by my mate to wait by my car as they quickly gathered around the boss to go over some rules. 30 mins later they spread out and everyone was told which "group of cars" they'd be running in and in which order to prevent faster cars catching up to slower cars and to maintain order and safety.
It seemed very well organized ....
Shortly after, my friend said he would try to introduce me to the boss but I only got to meet his 2nd in command, a short, stalky guy but with a very strong aura around him and definitely a likeable character. It was then when I took a closer look at his car and noticed something I had heard of before, a small writing on his door saying "Midnight Club". I was told that he was one of the still remaining original members of this infamous street racing gang and that really took me by surprise because I thought the gang had long discipated. The way people talked about him I sensed the gravity of this guy's experience and authority.
At around 1:30am we all left and headed for Hakone mountains ...
On saturday I had the pleasure of visiting SEEKER and SPOON Type One, two well known exclusive Honda tuners in the Tokyo area.
SEEKER (here is a link to their online shop) is located in Suginami-ku and is run by two ex-SPOON guys who not only tune but also regularly race an S2000, a Civic Type R FD2 as well as (and that's the most important part to me) an Integra Type R DC5. Ryo the manager speaks good english and gives honest, relevant advice and doesn't try to sell you something you don't really need or care about.
I didn't take any photos as I spent a lot of time getting advice but since I will be going back for some work I will take photos next time.
SPOON Type One doesn't need much introduction. The photos below tell the story I hope. Their shop is located just down the street from SEEKER.
Entrance to their shop (see their racing cars' bonnets...unfortunately not for sale)
Customer's FD2 being worked on (had some parts from Mugen and J's Racing mixed in there though)
My DC5 amongst all the beasts!
SPOON engine + customers' engines waiting a SPOON tune. Their work is meticolous, they pay such attention to detail! We could watch them work on an engine block for a while and take some pictures.
Yours truly (the guy on my left is working in an enclosed room on engine tuning)
More customers' cars on their 2nd floor
NSX Type-R
Their Type-R DC5 race car
This should make my friend Mikey happy ! A CRX! Also belonging to a client.
Customers' S2000s being worked on. One of them had a gearbox recondition job done on it. Each car tuned by Honda is stamped with a metal plate in the engine bay giving it "Tuned to its premium by SPOON" wording with a serial number !
If you have any questions about either one of these two tuners or Honda TwinCam (FEEL's) which I visited last year feel free to send me an email.
