2017 Review

A year that was intense in many ways. To get this far there were 10500! photographs I sifted through edited and captioned.


This year was a mix up, but there were still many highlights caught through the lens.

A big start to 2017 was the introduction of the S13 Dantai (group) Project leaving the R32s behind.

With cars targeted right at the meaty Meihan style drift cars with around 4~500hp these would capture the imagination of 13 machines finished in the livery.

Street spec cars were somewhat left behind this year.

An attempt at lower power drift class was made, and it worked pretty well,

Detail was there and the focus on scale sounds and layout was fun.

The missing piece was actually less speed from less power.  

I really did enjoy the AE86 style that made you think about driving differently.



And you couldn't get more different than these comp style machines. TWIN D1 Spec. A team within a team.

More S13s joined the group project. most of which I had helped mask and start paint then left to owners to complete their colours. The complex design definitely meant more work for me. haha.

100% happy with how they all came out.  Including those non-S13s

The imagery started to get pretty exciting.

the trains became longer and longer.

evenly spaced and smooth.




Throwing back to 2016, the R32s came out occasionally.

and still looked just as good, but the proximity was now off the chart. All members had improved off the page! When I look back at the old 2015 / 2016 images it's obvious that the rear wheel drive layout and some hard coaching has brought proximity of all drivers up to pro level.

This was confirmed when I returned to Japan in 2017 

WINS - The land of tight proximity, I was able to slip into these trains easily.



I found a new style here... D1 style Weight Shift (roll machines)


And immediately started to develop my DP-REX into a Formula D / D1 roll machine on Return.



WARU displayed that OI FUTO 4 door style .


Building my own IS-F on return as a tribute.

Circuit Dr. is a strange place because the "sniper" softer tyre showed me the crazy potential my DRB REW (Rear Evolution Weightshift)

This was in direct contrast to the AE86 project that should be slow pace. It gave me more ideas. 

The DRB-REW machines are all still working very well. More recent additions have been made.



Ahh NEO!!!

With our track needing some extension! I took inspiration from here too.

While not having access to the same materials, upon return we eventually came close with an effective gradient.

And we pushed hard.



the Dantai Project was growing and a new raised track section was rocking.


 

The intensity of the year took a big toll on all of us. Actually way too much drifting was required to keep the venue operating. A definite 2nd job for most of us and many burned out.

After 70 continuous weeks on track... The fun was there, but the intensity had taken it's toll.

My real MX5 got some attention and a small one was a minor distraction.

About the same time a long twin build for me culminated in these awesome R35s but run time has been less due to bad timing.

just recently the Plastic DP was moved back to it's real home on my RF-Concept turned RWD and the fun was cranked.

Tight proximity is the norm these days



But when alone. The limits are exploited.

I worked on this a fair bit to get it near perfect. It's just needs that Dr. style tyre grip to fall into a new category. Maybe 2018

Getting everyone on track at the same time and constant numbers as proving difficult. So we decided to close the venue for the new year.

Without these pics it would all be all a bit ... boring. I worked pretty hard to edit and load and take as many as possible,

A huge thanks to Martin Frener ( who was always there to capture my own driving )
To see more of the best of them... put aside a few hours and review GCRCD 2017

Additional thanks to all the GCRCD members, The Sliders, RC loving guests & RC crazy visitors and those I have visited that battled and trained with us. Also thanks to RE-Xtreme RC blog readers and my Japanese Blog viewers. Japan Manufacturers and track owners that inspire and RC friends and sponsors like RC Mart for Yeah Racing, OOSpeed for Speedline, P!PES Scale Exhausts and lights.

It's been a wild ride in 2017.

.RSG.