NEO Circuits are in Kita Kashiwa and occupy two levels of a medium size building. The Diorama circuits are THE best around and therefore was a must first stop for us in Japan.
Welcome to NEO!
Over the next ten or so Blog Posts, you;ll get to know the cars we are using but basically.
White Rx-7 - .RSG. DRB-REW V1.2 Russell Gander
White R32 - .RSG. DRB-REW V1.1 Russell Gander
Black R32 - Driftline DL-Zero V1 : James Redman
Blue R32 - Driftline DL-Zero V2 : Dave Redman
Blue S14 - Driftline DL-Zero V3 : Dave Redman
With various drivers at the controls.
If you do this the fiorst lap on track... The locals know it's game on.
So it's just natural they want in.
I think within 10 minutes, It was an ALL IN drift train.
I stepped back to take some pics but basically, the first time we put our cars on track, we were so relieved that we were on 95% on pace and not out of our depth.
The local guys at Neo definitely had the edge though by by the end of our short visit, I think we had things dialled in a bit better.
Neo is as much about the track as it is about the driving though. The detail is soo good and the undulating circuits are so involving that everything adds up to a perfect experience.
It was great to catch up with some old drift friends from MAX-ONE days and although the chassis have changed, the fun certainly hasn't.
As you look through these images, pay attention to the backgrounds.
Because with places like this, the "scale" oriented drifter can really see the rewards in photography.
The Lower level Night Mode track is a dark place but very well lit.
Darker images result and sets a mood.
It was awesome to drive here and the P-Tile, Plastic Tile surface was a very similar feel to Epoxy concrete on Topline TDT-002PE tyres
At this stage we were still running round tyres on our cars, simply for drop and go, although this would change during our tour.
This track has constant speed corners with a nice flow, but only two switch points.
Level 2 is a Day theme circuit with a country side slow meandering track with a dual personality.
It has a tighter section and faster section with different spacing required.
There's a few bumps and humps and elevation changes are awesome.
You can see a hill section here that heads into a small Alpine style tunnel
before returning downhill onto kink that can basically be straight-lined into a deep corner
Before a small rise and fall again.
While this track is more a following on the rear tyre or rear bumper type circuit, it offers so much more when you can link it all.
It's fantastic that this venue offers more than one option to get your "team on" or your car perfected.
Depending on how you feel or how populated the tracks are.
I certainly could spend days after days on these small circuits as the track involve you so much.
one minute you are doing fast tandem entries into a deep corner side by side
5 minutes later, you are just playing on the track.
Iishida-san and I were back to our old tricks. The first chassis I picked up and drove was of course a full tune DP with OD and more custom items than you can point to.
Something you notice very quickly is how well the Japanese cars turn into a corner. Something that I would chase for the remainder of my trip.
The ability to eliminate under-steer and trace a line is something that is a "Must Have".
Typically my setups have has a little wash in the front for massive entries.
But eliminating this, simply turn right into the corner, even at angle.
Once your setup changes, you can then completely turn around your driving style.
But this was just the start of our journey, and it was a long one.
In a few hours, we battled... and battled
and battled more.
Joined by female drivers, company representatives from Topline & Oahu. Staff from RE-Amemiya and more.
Simply an amazing experience for a first outing , especially for the Driftline boys.
As our departure time grew closer, I headed upstairs for one more crack at the Day circuit.
Deep cambered high speed entry corner was fun fun fun!
Over the hill gets your suspension working.
But the "scene" is what is most inviting
Do this with 10 cars in a row and it's amazing fun.
Everything adds up
and blows your mind.
Our drivers in our cars, really impressed and I think we will see some added to the Japanese scene.
To everyone at NEO. Thank you so much! We thoroughly enjoyed our experience.
Definitely include NEO in your itinerary.
Russ.
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