Over the past few months I have covered car events of all types and each time I get a better grasp on the vastness of Japan's love affair with the automobile. This past weekend I got the opportunity to cover one of the most unique and exciting events I have seen here thus far.
Where can you see everything from vintage Mini's and Honda S800's to fully tuned Porsche 911's and Skyline GT-R's engaged in full-on sprint racing? Welcome to the Idlers Games. The Idlers Club is a Tokyo-based organization built on the tradition of European clubman-style sports car racing. The Idlers organization includes a network of car owners groups and tuning/restoration shops for everything from Porsche and Alfa Romeo to Caterham and Volkswagen.
Throughout the racing season, Idlers hosts a number of racing gatherings. Among these are both sprint races held at Tsukuba Circuit and endurance races held on the road course at Twin Ring Motegi. Ever since I had first become familiar with the Idlers events a few years ago, I was anxious to see one for myself. With the date of March 16 set for the opening of the 2008 series, I made plans to head out to Tsukuba to have a look.
The scale of the event became obvious as I pulled into the parking lot and saw empty car transporters parked everywhere. Tsukuba has a two relatively small paddock areas and both of these were literally jampacked with racing machines of all types, old and new. The air was filled with the smell of racing fuel and the sounds of engines being ran through one final check. The weather was overcast most of the day but the track was dry so conditions were not bad. The temperatures were in the pleasant 60 degree range. It was to be a good day for racing.

Porsche parade into the Dunlop.

The Kagotani R32 would have a good chance at fighting off the Porsche army but it developed mechanical trouble and had to retire early.

More Japanese fighters trying to defend their turf from the German invasion.

Another 930, this one from Pro Shop HIRO.

The fastest Porsche of the day. It was running in the 59 second range.

The SEYA-MAX BNR32, one of the fastest Japanese cars of the day.

This 964 , one of the top runners from RAUH-Welt would also end up retiring early with mechanical issues.

It sure had presence on the track though.

Here we see an R34 GT-R attempting to chase it down under the Dunlop bridge.

A more subtle, but no less beautiful Carrera RS from RWB.

This RWB 964 RS was one of the top finishers. Lap times were in the 1:02 range.

The Idlers car was running well into the 1:01 range.
Now the GT class race where Japanese metal gets its chance to battle it our on the track.

The field enters the first hairpin led by an FD from Dream Factory.

Rush hour in the S-curve section.