JapShow 2011 Report
Sunday 19th June at Santa Pod Raceway
Sunshine and showers welcomed thousands of Japanese car fans who all made their way to Santa Pod Raceway for an action packed weekend at the track for this year’s JapShow.
Saturday started bright as everything from Suzuki’s to Subaru’s began to fill up the site with hundreds of owners hitting the strip for some track time before the main show day on Sunday. Unfortunately the wet stuff soon began to disrupt the days racing but did not dampen the spirits of many of the weekend campers staying for the main show day on Sunday, and boy did it not disappoint as thousands of gleaming Japanese masterpieces piled through the gates.
Around site the London Rally School was demonstrating just how fast it’s possible to drive off road, giving passengers the chance to experience what it’s like to go super sideways around a dirt rally course. In the live action arena Terry Grant was demonstrating his amazing driving ability whilst over in the drifting arena there were some equally extreme examples of car control taking place. Martin Hill rocketed down the quarter mile in his Fireforce 3 jet funny car whilst Santa Pod’s very own 2 seat dragster gave a lucky few the rides of their lives.
The Show & Shine competition opened on Sunday morning and saw some fantastic examples of Jap metal go on display all competing for the best in show award along with a host of other trophies which were up for grabs. As always judging was an almost impossible task with such a variety of high quality cars to choose from making for a super – tough competition, it was eventually decided that the following cars should take home the honours:
Show & Shine
On the track the fastest Japanese cars in Europe were running in the Jap Drag Series, with a strong entry list the stage was set for a memorable event and again the series did not disappoint. John Bradshaw in his 350Z again raised the bar achieving a new p.b of 6.75 at 206mph during qualifying the fastest speed to date for any Japanese Car, but was ultimately beaten in the final by Leon Green in his Toyota Supra. The FWD, Street and FAC MOD classes all put on an equally impressive displays with some fantastic races taking place, the following drivers managed to take the event wins for their individual classes:
Jap Drag Series Winners
Read a full Jap Drag Series race report at www.japdragseries.co.uk/report_jds11js.php.
For those drivers that preferred a few corners and lateral G-s there was something to please them too in the form of the handling circuit, with everything from skylines and civics and even a transit van taking to our circuit it made for some great entertainment. The top time was set by Annalese Ferrari in her Peugeot 206 who managed a time of 22.56 seconds. Full table on the Handling page.
As always the drag strip was open for business right throughout the day with stacks of Run What Ya Brungers all tearing down the strip with some impressive times being posted. Again at this year’s JapShow the search was on to find the quickest car from each Japanese manufacturer with the following cars taking home the honours:
RWYB Winners
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Class A - Nissan
Attique Sami - Skyline
10.4424s @ 130.66mph
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Class B – Toyota
James Pattinson - Supra
12.5624s @ 111.51mph |
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Class F – Mazda
Brian Tiley - RX7
12.9691s @ 111mph |
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Class X – Non Road Legal
Tony Bizjak - Toyota Supra
9.7014s @ 137.8mph |
We hope that everyone who attended the show had a fantastic day here with us at Santa Pod Raceway and we look forward to having you back for Marangoni Ultimate Street Car on 5th – 7th August, Rotorstock on August 20th and JapShow Finale on September 18th. Thanks to everyone who attended the show and made it what it was, be sure to come back next year on June 24th for JapShow 2012.
View photos from JapShow 2011 on the JapShow 2011 Gallery page. |
