When Scion offered us an opportunity to get a first-drive of the FR-S, we jumped at the opportunity. Learning that the event would take place at a racetrack in Japan topped off the excitement. While the original itinerary called for 21 hours of flight time and just 29 hours in Japan, we decided to extend our stay for some much needed vacation. Two additional days would be great to enjoy Japan.

Then we learned that there was a Super Lap Battle the day following our test drive of the Scion FR-S. How could we say “no” to that? At least we’d have a day of rest and relaxation before heading back to Huntington Beach to make our deadline on this issue. At the Rev Speed Magazine Super Lap Battle, we encountered a number of the vehicles featured in DSPORT. The quickest lap of the day was set by the Revolution Motoring RX7 featured in the October 2011 edition (#107) of DSPORT. Unfortunately, wet conditions in the first two sessions kept a number of teams from setting personal bests. As we made our way in and about the pits, we bumped into Eiji “Tarzan” Yamada. We had met Tarzan over 10 years ago when he first came to the US to drive the A’PEX Integration R33 GT-R that ran mid-8s in the quarter mile. As we caught up with Tarzan, we learned that he recently test drove the 2013 GT-R, along with the 800-horsepower HKS Kansai demo car. He commented that both GT-Rs were exceptional and that R35s were definitely the platform of choice in Japan. In fact, Tarzan was heading to Fuji Speedway the following day to make some top-speed shakedown runs in the 1,200-horsepower TRUST/GReddy top-speed project. Tarzan asked, “Would you like to come and see?” Once again, we couldn’t say “no.”

We arrived at Tama-plaza the followingmorning. This stop was about 45 minutes from our base in Tokyo. Tarzan greeted us as we hopped into his right-hand-drive PT Cruiser for the trek to Fuji Speedway. Normally, the drive is 50 minutes to an hour long. Unfortunately, we hit some serious traffic and arrived at the track nearly two hours after our targeted time. The TRUST/GReddy team hit the same traffic and arrived at the same time. The team scrambled and had the car off the trailer and ready to race in just 30 minutes. Tarzan would be shaking down the vehicle after the installation of some custom aero parts. The previous aero parts caused instability above 200MPH. With the boost set to 1.8 bar, Tarzan managed a best of 327KPH (203MPH). Gone was the shuddering and instability from the previous aero but drag had also increased. The result was shy of the 330+ KPH realized before. However, the data would be useful in optimizing the aero before the boost is raised to 2.0 bar (which delivers an additional 100 horsepower) for its future record-setting attempt.

While we never got to see any part of Japan besides racetracks and we had little, if any, rest, it was still a trip that ranked among our best ever. After all, there’s plenty of time to rest when you are dead. I’ll catch up on my sleep then. For now, it’s full throttle until the turns.