JGTC California 2004

[Takumi Fujiwara]

I was pretty sure the PIAA NSX won...

By the way, JGTC does attract "that" crowd, at least in Japan. At any given race, there will be hundreds of "camera boys" who are there soley for the purpose of taking pictures of the Race Queens.

Edit- the PIAA came in first, but was given a 60 second penalty for an early pit stop, making the Hasemi 350Z the winner.

 

[Thio]

I went to the show yesterday, and it was okay. I just wish they were more organized! I was walking around, asking for a program of some sort and the information stand didn't even know what was happening! As a result, I almost missed the Falken Drift Demo, but I managed to catch the JGTC qualifications We had to leave around 3 in order to get through the fog on Highway 5.

My dad kept on doing the autocross thing so many times! Haha, it was funny. They let anyone with a license test drive the cars on the course. I got some on tape, but I was more excited about the JGTC race than the autocross and the car show. Haha, and I even saw an STI do a donut in the parking lot when I left.

I just hope if they do this event again, they would be more organized.

And the crowd, well, Solid Lifters said what I wanted to say.

 

[drift punk]

pic's from event...........drifting, JGTC.





http://www.digitalgaming.net/images/chiang/JGTC2004/

 

[TheSquidd]

Here's my pics, enjoy and lemme know what you think.

Day 1 Pictures.
Day 2 Pictures.

 

[drift punk]

can someone please tell me when the 2004 JGTC coverage begin's on SPEED channel please??

 

[suzq044]

http://srtforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1427807#post1427807 <-- my post is #21 & #22; i wish i got the US v. Japan thing; damn batteries died

 

[pimp racer]

Hey nice pics all of you guys and gals! Thanks!

 

[JohnBM01]

This is great. The JGTC has an all-star race in California, some good drifting action (I hear), and a sort of "world challenge..." and only the underground racing fans know about this! But, that's okay. I'm pretty sure the JGTC will receive a bit more attention. If they're going to race elsewhere in America, let the tracks be Portland (the road course, not the NASCAR "short" track), Road America, Sebring, Mid-Ohio, Barber Motorsports Park, Road Atlanta, you know, give America a look-see. And if you may remember what I've said in the past, you know I'm missing a track. Laguna Seca would have been a better choice to have even an all-star race. Us GT gamers raced Laguna Seca with JGTC machinery, so why not give it a go at 'Seca?

I hope the exposure of the JGTC will one day be recognized nationwide so we can all at least know what the JGTC is all about. Sure, I love the Race Queen cuties that are in the pits and in the paddock and in victory lane, but... I guess I'll say it like this. If you love NASCAR for drama, I think you'll love the JGTC for its drama. Racing isn't about drama, but last year and the year before, GREAT racing. Also great drama, like the dramatic finish to the 2003 JGTC championship at Fuji between the WoodOne and Esso Ultraflo Toyota Supras at the final turn on the last lap. I would really love to see this series to be at least recognized. Pretty soon, it will probably be mentioned a lot about as much as an F1 race or a WRC rally. Once the JGTC gets to be popular, I'd like the Australian V8s to get a little more exposure.

Hope you all had fun for those who went. I had Finals.

 

[Blackbird.]

Nice pics. I would have loved to have been there.

 

[McLaren]

I went Saturday, but came back the next day. Was sort of worth it. My friends in Cali. captured all on camera for me. I say its sort of worth the coming back due to the fact that I saw some of world's most amazing cars!

 

[Solid Fro]

Sounds like the drifting killed the event. If the event was held by the JGTC, then it should have been a JGTC event only.

That Taisan Viper in Thesquids's photo gallery. Mmmm Mmmm good.

 

[TheSquidd]

Sounds like the drifting killed the event. If the event was held by the JGTC, then it should have been a JGTC event only.

That Taisan Viper in Thesquids's photo gallery. Mmmm Mmmm good.

Too bad it handled like a sack of dead babies. He ended up cutting thru the S curve we were sitting by 5 times!

 

[pimp racer]

Too bad it handled like a sack of dead babies. He ended up cutting thru the S curve we were sitting by 5 times!

Yeah that beast has too much tourgue and horse power I believe.

 

[911_Carrera]

Did any of you guys see each other?

 

[suzq044]

personally.. its like ... i can only watch those jgtc cars go around the track SO many times, then i'll get bored of it.. the drifting has a little more suspense in it.. fun stuff to watch .. it was my first drift event (sunday nights' D1 v. Japan)

 

[TheSquidd]

I could watch those things 24 hours a day, they're such awesome machines and the racing was intense. Sucks it didn't count though, they probably weren't racing at their limits.

 

[Thio]

Did any of you guys see each other?

I believe TheSquidd and I were in the same vicinity when the Falken Drift cars were rolling out of the area into the garage. I was farther up the road, I believe. I will try to upload some video clips.

 

[pimp racer]

Oh man Videos! Now thats what we want!

 

[Takumi Fujiwara]

Yeah, I didn't get bored at all watching the GT cars. There were so many things to watch about their driving that it took many laps to truly see the details. And that backfire, I could watch those cars backfiring into the corners for hours...

 

[LoudMusic]

That was cool. I'm so damn tired. More later. Including a few pictures and a couple videos.

 

[JohnBM01]

GTs at California = boring?

Boring because it's on a "roval" or because this racing didn't really excite you? I know I'm going to get hated on for it, but at least it's better than NASCAR and Grand-Am at that track. I love those machines. I still have two tapes of the 2002 and 2003 JGTC seasons on the 30-minute show "On the Limit." If I find any pictures, I'd surely like to see how the event went down in California. And about that Viper, I guess the downtuning of that Viper was probably so that it could better compete on the JGTC circuit. Of course, 500 horses isn't easy to tame!

I'll look around for pictures. Should have been good fun for all the fans who enjoyed the experience. You'll probably enjoy more of it if they start doing some sort of American tour.

 

[LoudMusic]

Actually JGTC didn't run on the oval - they used about 1/3 of the oval and a bunch of the infield. It wasn't a great course, but it wasn't bad either.

And yes, JGTC is essentially the NASCar of Japan. That doesn't make it any less cool, though (:

 

[livemusic]

Videos!!!

 

[Takumi Fujiwara]

He said Roval, not oval. Roval refers to the part oval, part road course.

 

[LoudMusic]

Ah, I was unaware of the term "roval" - sounds kind of dumb to me (:

 

[livemusic]

He said Roval, not oval. Roval refers to the part oval, part road course.

I didn´t know that, nice.

 

[LoudMusic]

For now there are these pictures. I will begin attaching them to this thread. Also, my friend has a bunch more good ones that I'll get from him tonight.

 

[LoudMusic]

A large batch ...

 

[LoudMusic]

A larger batch ....

 

[LoudMusic]

And the largest batch .....