START-TOH ! It is probably no exaggeration to say that this has become one of my all-time favourite phrase. "Start-toh" is used to announce the start of 0-400m drags and Tsukuba track duels in my all time favourite car magazine, BEST MOTORing, from Japan.
Like all car fanatics, I buy a lot of car magazines. So mags like the now extinct Performance Car, or Motor Trends and Sports Compact Car are taking up their share of my shelf space. While the articles are always great to read, a common thread with magazine reviews that have always been nagging at the back of my mind is the question of how valid their verdict and assessment of a car is; eg, how accurate is their assessment of the car's performance? How accurate are the critical test figures like 0-100km/h and 0-400m times ?
Things are not helped when different magazines can give greatly different evaluations of the same car. Sometimes it's particularly heart-breaking to see our favourite cars being judged to have failed - a judgement often made entirely subjectively. For eg, in a Super-Hatch group test, UK's Performance Car tested an original JDM Civic Type-R. Dissapointingly they subjectively rated the Civic Type-R at the bottom half of the group. Despite delivering super-car test times, Performance Car reported that various European hot-hatches were able to leave the CTR for dead on windy mountain roads. But the Civic Type-R is very fast, supercar-fast, so questions of European hot-hatches leaving the CTR till it's a tiny white dot in the rear-view mirror seems highly unusual. Most of all, the nagging question in my mind was : how much of the defeat was due to the car, and how much to the drivers ?
 | Enters BEST MOTORING |
I think these questions get asked by all car fans, and many times over too. For this reason, nowadays my reference for car reviews and judgement, especially assessments of its performance and competitiveness against rival cars on the road and race-track, is solely provided by BEST MOTORing.
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| BEST MOTORing drivers happily pitting a stock EK4, a BOSS-SPEED EK4 and a full SPOON SPORTS modified EK4 against cars like S14 Silvia K, Mazda RX-7, Toyota Supra and even a R33 Skyline GTR. The SPOON EK4 bullied the R33 while the BOSS-SPEED EK4 outdragged the SUPRA in the straight. |
BEST MOTORing can be accurately said to be a true performance car magazine presented in the audio-visual format. The actual contents are similar to the paper based magazines; new cars are introduced, then tested on the road with judgement given on its feel and usage, then the straightforward performance are evaluated. However, in my opinion, what puts BEST MOTORING on a level above (way above) the regular car magazines and what makes them very unique is they dare to race. In every issue, and often with the simplest of excuses, cars are pitted against each other on the 0-400m drags, gymkhana (obstacle) course, or raced flat out in the racing track. But what is it that makes BEST MOTORing authoritative, so much so that I dare put forward the opinion that their judgements are superlative ?
The foundation of BEST MOTORing and the very factor that allows them to judge a car's merits and failings very accurately can be directly linked back to their team of reviewers, or more accurately, professional race drivers. Each and every one of the regular BM reviewer is an established and often legendary professional race driver in his own right. Often they are champions in their class. In this short article, I hope to cover in just a little detail some of the more established reviewers from BEST MOTORing. At the end, I'm sure readers of TOVA will understand and agree with me that when in a BEST MOTORing 'battle', a Toyota Supra RZ-S fails to overtake the 96Spec Integra Type-R at an all-out Tsukuba race, it is the car and not the driver that is at fault.
Before I look at the BM reviewers, it is useful to take a look at the Japanese racing scene and its relationship to the racing scene worldwide. Most racing in Japan have strict homologation requirements. This means that most of the cars raced in Japan are based on street cars available in the Japanese Domestic Market (including the fully imported ones). This in turn makes the racing scene in Japan very interesting. Serious professional racing in Japan starts in the N1 series. As far as I know, cars that races in N1 are almost fully stock with only minimal modifications allowed. Turbo-charging is allowed and the Nissan Skylines are king in this series, the top teams frequently racing with 400-500ps machines. N1 is also divided into several classes and I have seen Integra Type-Rs, Preludes, even Civics in N1 races, probably racing in the smaller capacity classes.
The equivalent of Touring Car Championship in Japan is the Japan Touring Car Championship or JTCC. The Honda Accord has always been very competitive in this class. One of the most popular series is the All-Japan Grand Touring Championship (or JGTC) featuring supercars of all types. The Honda NSX has been most competitive in this series, frequently fighting it out with cars like the MacLaren F1 GTR and Ferrari F40s. Adding to the excitement of seeing regular street supercars going flat-out on the race-track is the fact that modification rules are quite relaxed, so JGTC-cars comes with fully striped interiors, sequential shift gearboxes and wild bodykits. The JGTC also sees famous aftermarket brands in the competition mix with names such as MUGEN, Mobil-1, EIBACH etc featuring prominently as sponsors of major teams. The JGTC is the equivalent of the 'Sports-Car Championship' outside of Japan, the most famous race being the Le-Mans 24-hours.
The highest level of racing in Japan is the All-Japan Formula-3000 which like F-3000 all over the world is taken to be just a level below the ultimate of Formula-1 racing. On a higher level than F-3000, practically equivalent to Formula-1 will be the CART championship in the US. CART engines are typically 2.65l V8 turbo-charged and will deliver in excess of 850hp and revs to 16,000rpm, rivalling the 800+hp/20,000rpm engines in Formula-1 !
With each major BM reviewer, all I am attempting to do in this article is to list down whatever little I have of their professional racing qualifications. They are not comprehensive and are not meant to be so. I just hope to give readers an idea of just how totally qualified they are to judge and evaluate a car's merits, be it objectively or even subjectively. At the end of this article, I feel confident, with apologies to the regular car mags, that readers will agree with me that there is simply no other way to test a car except with BEST MOTORing !
The Drift King. Simple mention of this title will immediately tell car fans just how utterly qualified Keiichi Tsuchiya, or Dori-Dori as he's known, is. Ever jovial and playful and easily breaking into infectous laughter, Tsuchiya can probably be considered the most experienced and accomplished driver in the BM staff. Drifting, a form of controlled oversteer cornering, is a very popular sport in Japan. It certainly requires a lot of driving skills to drift and Dori-San is the acknowledged King.
In the racing scene, Tsuchiya's success in his earlier days was with racing Porsche 911s and Skylines in the N1 series. In a specially organized "Motorsports Show" a few years ago in Malaysia, I saw first-hand the black TAISAN Nissan Skyline that Tsuchiya droved to his South Pacific Championship title. Currently Tsuchiya is very active in the JGTC series. He drives mostly Honda NSX - turbocharged versions - in the GT500 class which produces around 450-500ps. In the coming Sepang leg of the JGTC, Keiichi Tsuchiya will be driving an AUTOBACS NSX.
At the international level, Tsuchiya has been racing with great success in the famous Le-Mans 24-hours race in France. In the mid-1990s, he raced a GT2 Honda NSX for Le-Mans 24hours. He was infact the GT2 class champion in the 1996 race. More recently he raced a MacLaren F1 GTR and last year in 1999, Tsuchiya was overall runners-up in the Le-Man 24-hours, driving a GT1 prototype Toyota.
As a measure of Tsuchiya's popularity and success, there are in fact a few SONY Playstation racing games dedicated to him. One even includes a video clip of Tsuchiya drifting around in a Nissan S14 Silvia as the introduction !!
My first introduction to Naoki Hattori was as the "long haired guy driving the Integra Type-R" in the 0-400m drag duels of the BM Integra Type-R review. Soft-spoken and very cordial in the Tsukuba races, Hattori is a very experienced racer. Even with my very limited references, I have already established Hattori as past 2-times JTCC champion, driving a JACCS Accord (close to 300ps). Hattori also races in the JGTC, at one time driving a MacLaren F1 GTR. He has raced a GT1 Honda NSX in the Le-Mans 24-hours and also in Formula-3000 for some years. Most recently, in 1998, Honda recommended him into the US CART Fedex championship where he drove a Reynard-Honda (2.65l V8 turbocharged delivering in excess of 750hp !!). Unfortunately he crashed into another competitor and was sidelined for some time with a broken leg.
Therefore, don't let his soft-spoken character misled you, Hattori is a very qualified driver. In the Sepang leg of the JGTC for this year, Hattori will join Tsuchiya to drive another Honda, the RAYBRIG NSX. There is also a Tamiya plastic model kit for Hattori's winning JTCC JACCS Honda Accord.
Takuya is a very famous F-3000 and JGTC racer in Japan. Son of another BM reviewer, Motoharu Kurosawa (or Gan-San as BM calls him), Tak-Chan drives a PIAA Accord (290ps) in the JTCC and a PIAA NSX in the JGTC. Takuya is now attached to TOMs and droved the CASTROL TOMS SUPRA in last year's JGTC.
This year in 2000, Takuya followed the footsteps of Hattori to become a rookie in the US CART Fedex championship. To give you an idea of the sheer experience of Takuya Kurosawa, the following is the direct excerpt of Takuya's resume taken from the official CART web-site !
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Son of well-known Japanese driver Motoharu Kurosawa, Takuya began his racing career in 1987 and by 1993 he was a test driver for the Jordan Yamaha F1 team. He had gotten to that point by competing in British Formula Ford 1600, the All-Japan Touring Car, All-Japan Formula 3, All-Japan Formula 3000 and All-Japan Endurance Championships. Since then he has also competed in the Formula Nippon and All-Japan GT Championships and in 1998 was in the 10th-place car at Le Mans. Last season he was the runner-up in the All-Japan GT Championship. |
Hmmmm.... test driver for Jordan Yamaha F1 team ?! For enthusiasts of plastic model kits, check out Tamiya's PIAA JTCC Honda Accord. That model is a replica the one that Takuya drives. His name "TAKUYA" will be plastered on the windows of the rear doors.
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| The current team of BM drivers. Left to Right:
Hattori, M. Kurosawa, Tsuchiya, Takuya, Takeuchi, Kinoshita, Nakaya and Hara. Takeuchi often guest-drives for BM. |
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| The team of BEST MOTORing professional race drivers from severals years ago. As can be seen, almost all of the same team remains now. Second from right is Katsura. The last guy on the right is T. Ohi who was BM's editor. Ohi raced with Nakaya in their N1 PUMA GTO. He is no longer with the BEST MOTORing team. |
I will cover remainder of the BM reviewers together, not because they are very much less qualified, but rather because the infor I have of them is very much less comprehensive. Yet, even with what little I have, it can still be clearly seen that any one of them is highly accomplished. The most famous of the BM drivers is probably Motoharu Kurosawa or Gan-San as they call him. The oldest driver in the team, M Kurosawa is now retired but he used to race and was a champion with the Nissan Skyline. Takayuki Hara, the plump but joyial chap races a RAZO Nissan Skyline (circa 500ps) in the N1 races. Hara also raced in JTCC and in this year's Malaysian leg of the JGTC in the Sepang F1 circuit, Hara will be driving a GT300 Toyota Celica. The other soft-spoken and even more reserved BM driver, Katsura was twice N1 champion driving an ALTAIR Skyline GTR.
Of the remainder, Akihiko Nakaya, BM's resident car expert used to race in F3000, JTCC and in N1 driving a green PUMA Mitsubishi GTO (390ps). Nakaya was also one of the co-driver of Keiichi Tsuchiya when they raced a MacLaren F1 GTR in the Le-Mans 24-hours a couple of years ago. Finally T. Kinoshita the driver with (as the commentator often jokes) excessive expressions, races in JTCC. For owners of Hyper-Rev magazines, both the Civic/CRX No.2 (Vol 31) and Integra Vol-27 have their evaluations of the Civic Type-R and Integra Type-R done by him. In Vol-27 it was listed that Kinoshita raced in the JGTC GT300 class as well as N1 driving a GT-R.
Many other professional racers often participates in the BM Tsukuba races though not on a permanent basis. In the BM sister video "Hot Version" which is based on BM but looks entirely at modifying the stock cars, BM often invites current JGTC racers because souped up cars in Japan frequently possesses scary levels of power. Thus when Hot Version took a look at turbo-charging the R34 Skyline, professional race drivers currently driving in the JGTC GT500 class were roped in for the track-battle. This is of course how it should be : racing super-light machines delivering in excess of 500ps, these drivers are far and away almost the absolute best judges of the performance of any hot cars, just short of an actual Formula-1 driver !
On matters close to home, ie VTEC and Honda, it is very heartening to note that Hondas, especially the VTEC'ed models and the Type-Rs have always done well in BEST MOTORing. The NSX-R used to be judged by BM to be the ultimate (stock) supercar in Japan. Now the NSX Type S-Zero fights it out with the R34 Nissan Skyline GTR for this title. The 96Spec Integra Type-R was BEST MOTORing's elected 'Battle Car of the Year' for 1996 because of its sheer competance.
In the hands of BM drivers, the S2000 and Type-R Hondas have conquered all challangers. All pretenders that came over the past few years have been vanquished - often conclusively. When the FTO first came out, it defeated the Prelude Si-VTEC soundly. Within a brief period, the 96Spec Integra Type-R appeared and since then there has been no looking back. Newer competitors, all expressively targetted at the Integra Type-R have since appeared and almost all have perished at the hands of the Integra Type-R driven by a BM driver. The Toyota Altezza, new Celica, MR-S, the Nissan Pulsar, all have failed to take on the Integra Type-R on the race-track. While the 250ps S15 Nissan Silvia did manage to defeat the Integra Type-R, it too was eventually put back in its place by the S2000.
I will readily admit that most of my opinions with regards to the strength and weaknesses of cars and all of my recent mods to my own car have been almost totally influenced by BEST MOTORing. This is an indication of my level of respect for them and I now eagerly look forward to new issues of BEST MOTORing at every opportunity !
WongKN