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Mar 10-11, 2007
A massive crowd of some 95,000 fans and spectators enjoyed the NISSAN MOTORSPORTS EXHIBITION 2007 last weekend, held at the Red Brick Warehouse and Shinko Pier area of Yokohama. Now in its third running, this year's event took place on March 10th and 11th. Despite some light rain on Sunday morning, fans thronged to the site to savor the excitement of the motorsport spectacle.
At the entry to the Red Brick Warehouse, a Z car from the Super GT Series was on display, people seemingly amazed at the sight of a real racing car making an appearance in the middle of the city.
Behind the car, the 'Champion Area' was located as an attraction for both parents and kids to enjoy. Among the attractions of the area were the: 'Kids' Circuit Challenge Corner', for kids to have fun on battery-powered and pedal cars, the 'Choro-Q Tomica Challenge Corner', the 'Gran Turismo HD Nissan Version Challenge' corner, and on the 'Champion Stage', talk and game sessions were held with various drivers and team managers.
A real GT car, complete with genuine impact wrenches as used in actual racing, was brought for use in the 'Pitwork Simulation' where participants could experience the excitement of mid-race wheel changes.
In addition, young kids were given the opportunity to sit in actual GT cars in the 'Kids Ride'. There was also a retail area for NISSAN Collection merchandise located beside it; and both parents and kids spent a lot of time choosing what goods or apparel items to take home.
At three locations throughout the site, there was a stamp rally. After all three stamps had been collected; participants had the opportunity of winning a cap signed by Satoshi Motoyama, who is one of the Japanese top racing derivers of GT. In this area, there was a long queue right from the early part of the day.
The area between the two Red Brick Warehouse buildings had a display of Nissan cars and cars fitted with NISMO tuning parts. Many fans looked in awe at the new 'Fairlady Z Version NISMO', which was just introduced in January; and also at the 'Fairlady Z Version NISMO 380RS-Competition', the base model for the racing cars. The 'Skyline Spirits Area' was located behind these cars; and it wasn't only dedicated fans, but also many regular fans, who took pictures with the present Skyline. There was also a rare exhibit of the original Skyline GT-R, symbolizing the motorsport activities of Nissan, and the 2nd-generation Skyline GT-R, of which only 194 units were built.
After having a look at the range of racing cars from the 1960s to the '90s displayed in the 'Spirits Area1', it was a 7-minute walk from the Red Brick Warehouse to the 'Spirits Area2', which displayed five racing cars representing the period from the 1960s to the present decade. The cars featured in the demo-runs, three of which were held each day, were the R381 (1968, driven by Tetsuya Tanaka), the Tomica Skyline (1983 Super Silhouette Series, driven by Masahiro Hasemi), the Calsonic Skyline (1993 Group A, driven by Satoshi Motoyama) and the Xanavi NISMO GT-R (2003 JGTC, driven by Tomonobu Fujii). A huge crowd gathered to see these real racing cars run in the city, right in front of them.
The fans were most excited when the MOTUL Autech Z (2006 Super GT, driven by Satoshi Motoyama on the 10th and Kazuki Hoshino on the 11th) did a series of 'donuts', with tires smoking. Many spectators who had never seen a racing car seemed stunned in amazement at its exhaust noise and the excitement the car's presence created.
"I read about the event on the Red Brick Warehouse website" said one local resident who brought his family along. "I've only been to a race track once, but I think it is much more convenient if these events are held in urban areas."
Another fan, who made the journey from Hiratsuka, came with all three generations of his family. "My friend told me about this event. I'm not that interested in racing, but since we all drive Nissans, I wanted to see the Skyline. We spent some time at the Kids' Circuit and I think our kids enjoyed it a lot. Maybe they'll become interested in motorsports someday soon!" The event had definitely drawn all generations, regardless of their interest in motorsport.
Between the demo-runs, Tetsuya Tanaka, a tutor at the Nissan Racing School, and driver Tomonobu Fujii, gave taxi rides to fans twice a day in March Cup passenger-ride cars.
A total of 40 fans per session enjoyed the rides, a young boy who attends the local junior high school one of the lucky fans who shared the excitement in the car driven by a racing driver.
"It's my second time to have a 'taxi-ride', at first I was a bit scared but it was very exciting. My favorite Nissan car is the Skyline GT-R. I can't wait to be old enough to get a driver's license so I can drive one of these race-type cars myself."
"I love watching motor racing and I heard about this event on TV." said a high school girl from Hachioji, who came with her father, "It was my first time to ride beside a racing driver, but it wasn't as scary as I thought. In the beginning, I was a bit nervous, but I became much more relaxed when I was able to talk with Mr. Fujii, the driver."
N-FORCE, NISSAN's strategy headquarters vehicle, always present at Super GT races, and a March Cup Hospitality Car, were both displayed in an effort to help present the atmosphere experienced at race tracks.
The event was successfully concluded after sharing so much motorsport excitement with the crowd of appreciative Nissan fans. After the fantastic amount of support and expectations shown by its hometown fans, Nissan kicks off to the new Super GT season at Suzuka Circuit on March 17th. Its aim is for nothing less than to win the championship.
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