Tokachi

The Tokachi-bound R35 Nissan GT-R is on a carbon-rich diet, as evidenced by images captured by our new friends at GTR-World. On the outside, the trunk lid, hood and side mirrors have been replaced with carbon fiber bits and the rear-quarter windows have been swapped out in favor of lightweight acrylic pieces. The stripped cockpit gets a c

Just a day after Nissan's formal announcement that it plans to campaign a race-prepped R35 GT-R in the Tokachi 24-hour race, GTR-World has procured a few pics of the coupe undergoing its transformation. The GT-R appears to be getting aligned at the NISMO Omori factory (about 60 miles from Tokyo), equipped with a full roll cage and a set of the same Volk TE37s Damon Lavrinc

We're shooting from the hip this week for Podcast #71. Rather than prepare, we're going with gut reactions. Starting it off, we mull over the loss of the USGP from Indianapolis, and postulate on where else F1 may pop up in the US. An F1 race on the Vegas strip would be the bomb. Staying with motorsports, we marvel at how Team SARD Dan Roth

Toyota can now lay claim to having fielded the first hybrid vehicle to win an endurance race. The Denso SARD Supra HV-R won the Tokachi 24-hour race in convincing fashion, finishing 19 laps up on the sec

Al Gore III's 100 mph police-interrupted ride in his Prius? Pfft. Boooo-ring. While media outlets all over the place got breathless over a Prius' ability to hit the century mark, there's been some serious hybrid performance stuff going on in Japan. No, not with Lexus. The Alex Nunez

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The Mainichi Daily News has a story in yesterday's edition that the hybrid Lexus GS450h sedan will be put through a bit of a test in Japan's only 24-hour race later this month. The race, the Tokachi 24-hour race on the northern island of Hokkaido, takes place from July 15-17 at the Tokachi International Speedway and this year marks the first time a major automaker is entering a gasoline-electric hybrid in the