Qualifying is good for NISMO; Richard Lyons places the Xanavi 350Z on pole, the NISMO-constructed privateer Calsonic Z is second, the Motul Z fifth and the G'zox Z eighth. The All-Star race is the first in JGTC history to be run at night, and the team manager is quick to point out the headlights weren't designed to cut a 150-mph swath through the night, but to signal slower drivers of a pass or intimidate competitors. The front of the cars light up like Pachinko parlors, bulbs popping and flashing in fanciful patterns.
Just days from the winter solstice, dusk comes early and a good portion of the 32,500 or so attendees move to the front straight. Twenty-two cars sit in formation on pit road, with umbrella girls in front of each and samurai-style banners on long poles announcing team allegiance. The announcement is made to clear the row, and fans stream out to the stands as close to 10,000 hp greets the night.
The mood in the trackside pits is no more welcoming than the garages had been the day before. Flat-screen monitors displaying car position and a live camera feed sits at the center of the pit. Retinas are already moored to the array of networked laptops that digest the data downloaded at every pit stop.
Moving out on cold slicks, the cars weave into formation, which they hold for one restrained lap. The flashing yellow lights of the Nissan 350Z pace car round the final turn before the front straight, and it dives toward the bottom of the track. The pack stays tight as they near the start/finish line, then explodes forward like so many colored fireworks when the green flag is dropped.
Vibrant and mottled flags snap in a stiff wind of fire and power, lapping at an average speed of just under 100 mph. Organizers place a slow chicane of stacked tires at the end of the brightly lit front straight to keep a handle on velocity and, presumably, to present the audience with some inevitable carnage. Flames lick the Inconel headers that exit just aft of the front tires as the Z, elegant as a brushstroke, slows for the chicane. One hundred and fifty mph is quickly dispatched as white and orange rotors burn through the haze of 1,000 mercury vapor suns.
The lead group remains bumper-to-bumper tight through slower corners, with the number one Xanavi Z, driven by Motoyama, in the lead. The second-place Supra hits the strobes going into the chicane, attempting to psyche out Motoyama.
Rivalry makes for good press, close racing and the ever-profitable divisive fan split. NISMO's Z's have battled the high-revving TRD Supras all year, with the championship falling barely into Nissan's hands.
As the leading pack of cars stream past, the Z's 3.0-liter twin-turbo engine grunts in reply to right-foot orders, and barks with every flat-foot upshift. The Supra's V8, in contrast, sounds like a malformed kazoo.
Ten laps in, 30 headsets in the NISMO pit crackle with the same bad news: three-car pileup in Turn Seven. The second-position Supra bumped and spun Motoyama's Z, landing it directly in the path of the fourth-place NSX.
Back in the pits it's quickly decided that the damage is terminal. The car is lowered onto rollers by a host of mechanics and pushed out of the way. The machine is stoic, win or lose, and attention turns to the number 22 Motul Z.
Those wowed by NASCAR pit cowboys will not be disappointed by the JGTC pit norikumiin (warrior). Helmets are donned, goggles slid into place, and the pit grows silent. The crew hops the wall when familiar HIDs bob down pit lane. The crack of the carbon/Kevlar splitter slamming into metal placard looses the crew on the car. The scene is more parlor trick than pit stop, slicks and drivers swapped with absurd rapidity.
The SCCA official monitoring the stop is just as unprepared for how fast the team dispatches a normally lengthy process. She's escorted aside by a crewmember as air jacks are retracted and fresh slicks chew into textured concrete, the Z howling back into the night.
Two hours after it began, the night reclaims its silence. The cars scattered in the garage post-race look like they've just finished a short track feature race. NISMO replaces every body panel on both Z's with new bits made of pre-impregnated carbon fiber, each one costing as much as a small German car. The team manager, Hitoshi Mizuki, describes the All-Star race best: "Very expensive evening."
The next morning a new winner is announced. The twin-turbo Epson NSX that crossed the line first did not complete the requisite number of pit stops in the time allotted. This gives the win, unofficially, to the G'zox 350Z.
We corner Richard Lyons in the afternoon because, well, he speaks English. Affable, young and collected, NISMO and JGTC would be hard-pressed to find a better spokesman. Lyons had fun, but was disappointed that the high-downforce, high-grip potential of the cars was mitigated by a dusty, low-grip track surface and a preponderance of low-speed, bumpy corners.
GT500 cars generate up to 2.3 sustained g and peak as high as 3.0g on some courses in Japan. In this environment the Z's could only muster 1.9g. This sentiment is echoed by others who described the course as an unhappy compromise. Most are frustrated by their inability to show America the full dynamic potential of their cars.
The show is still impressive. We've been waiting for years to bathe in such mechanical bliss and, ignorant though we might be, remain damn impressed.
Over the course of four days in the NISMO garage, what we initially perceive as contempt changes to indifference, then amiable acceptance. The NISMO mission statement reads, "Win," not "Be nice to journalists." And we learn, slowly, how to deal with the situation. Stay out of the way, respect the mission and be amazed by the precision. This is a well-oiled machine of victory and we are, understandably, grit.
Return to GloryRacing series come and go, but success for the longest lasting and most successful series traditionally lies in close racing and huge sponsor support. The JGTC, or All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, has both. It was born from a declining motorsport market. In the early '90s, the highest level of racing in the island nation came in the form of high-dollar and high-tech Group C prototypes.
These awesome machines used sophisticated electronic controls, active suspensions, electronically controlled transmissions, carbon composite body structures and monstrous turbocharged engines to put on a show that was technologically impressive but hardly relatable to street cars of the day. For all of their sophistication, prototypes had nothing for fans to identify with. They were also too expensive for any but the largest manufacturers to race in the depressed economy. Fields dwindled and interest in racing declined.
JGTC rose out of this dilemma as an effort to save racing in Japan. It was conceived from the beginning as a series to please fans, be exciting for the media to cover and to attract sponsorship. The rules are written to allow a large degree of sophistication, yet hyperexpensive technologies are banned to help control costs. These bans give smaller, less wealthy, independent teams a fighting chance, ensuring larger fields.
To maintain identity with the fans, the cars must maintain the silhouette of the factory car they represent. Use of portions of the factory unibody is required, ensuring further similarity to the car's original shape. Racing is split into two classes, GT300 and GT500. In addition to the general class rules, substantial model-specific modifications are allowed on a per-car basis.
JGTC cars have engine rules limiting the GT300 class to approximately 300 hp and the GT500 class to about 500 hp. GT300 cars tend to be smaller four-cylinder turbocharged and naturally aspirated six-cylinder cars while the GT500 Class allows more exotic turbocharged engines or larger displacement.
The power rules breed diversity so the JGTC has engine types as varied as 12-cylinder Ferraris, V10 Dodge Vipers and four-cylinder turbocharged Toyotas competing together. Even the small-block Chevy competes in JGTC. Power is governed by the use of mandated restrictors in the inlet tract.
Aerodynamic aids are limited in size. Front splitter size and undernose venturi size is restricted. Rear venturies are limited in overall size and height. Between the axles the bottom of the car must be flat. The rear wing size and configuration is also heavily restricted. Pit stops for refueling and driver changes are mandated to add strategy to the racing. This makes teamwork and strategy critical for a winning effort.
Finally, to further ensure close racing, a weight handicap system is used. The top three qualifying cars in both classes are assigned a weight that they must retain for the entire season. Finishing in the top three also earns cars a handicap. Finishing poorly means teams are permitted to remove a portion of the race handicap weight.
This ingenious system helps privateer teams compete with the higher-funded factory efforts and ensures closer racing. Combine that with the huge sponsor dollars rolling into the series and the growing fan base and we'll see the JGTC for years to come.