Tsukuba, Ibaraki

Tsukuba (つくば市, Tsukuba-shi) is a city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, in the northern Kantō region of Japan. As of September 2015, the city had an estimated population of 223,151 and a population density of 787 persons per km². Its total area is 283.72 km² (109.54 sq mi). It is known as the location of the Tsukuba Science City (筑波研究学園都市, Tsukuba Kenkyū Gakuen Toshi), a planned science park developed in the 1960s.

Geography

Located in southern Ibaraki Prefecture, Tsukuba is located to the south of Mount Tsukuba, from which it takes its name.

Surrounding municipalities

History

Mount Tsukuba has been a place of pilgrimage since at least the Heian period. During the Edo period, parts of the what later became the city of Tsukuba were administered by a junior branch of the Hosokawa clan at Yatabe Domain, one of the feudal domains of the Tokugawa shogunate. With the creation of the municipalities system after the Meiji Restoration on April 1, 1889, the town Yatabe was established within Tsukuba District, Ibaraki). On November 30, 1987 the town of Yatabe merged with the neighboring towns of Ōho and Toyosato and the village of Sakura to create the city of Tsukuba. The neighboring town of Tsukuba merged with the city of Tsukuba on January 1, 1988, followed by the town of Kukizama on November 1, 2002.

Honda Type R

Honda Type R models are special performance editions of their respective model families.

The design of Type R models was originally focused on race conditions, with an emphasis on minimizing weight, and maximizing performance potential (e.g. engine tuning, suspension set-up). Thus, Type R models were first conceived for racetracks. However, due to Honda's increased focus on their highly regarded VTEC engines, Type R vehicles were eventually designed for a much wider market.

Type R vehicles traditionally have a red Honda badge and Championship White paint as an option, as a tribute to their first winning F1 car. Honda's racing and F1 cars often feature a red Honda badge.

NSX Type R

Honda produced a very limited number of NSX Type R models from 1992 to 1995 for Japan. Major changes include a more aggressive suspension and an extensive weight reduction to 1230 kg from the normal NSX weight of 1350 kg. The NSX Type R was track oriented and, to reduce weight, lacked sound deadening, audio, electric windows and air conditioning. The NSX Type R's role was fulfilled by the NSX Type S Zero in 1997.

Time attack

A time attack is a type of motorsport where the race cars compete against a clock, and not directly against each other. Each car is timed through one circuit of the track, and there are no other cars on the track at that time. The car makes a preliminary circuit, then runs the timed lap, and then finishes with a cool-down lap.

Time attack and time trial events differ by competition format and rules. Time attack has a limited number of laps, time trial has open sessions.

Unlike other timed motorsport disciplines such as sprinting and hillclimbing, the car is required to start off under full rolling start conditions following a warm up lap where they will have to accelerate out as fast as possible to determine how fast they enter their timed lap. Commonly, as cars consist of modified road going cars, cars are required to have tires authorized for road use.

Time attack events began in Japan in the mid-1960s. They have since spread around the world. An international event known as World Time Attack Challenge has been held at Sydney Motorsport Park, Australia since 2010 attracting the fastest time attack teams from around the globe to compete.

Keiichi Tsuchiya

Keiichi Tsuchiya (土屋 圭市, Tsuchiya Keiichi, born January 30, 1956) is a professional race car driver. He is also known as the Drift King (ドリキン, Dorikin) for his nontraditional use of drifting in non-drifting racing events and his role in popularizing drifting as a motorsport. He is also known for touge (mountain pass) driving.

The car he drives, a Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno, has become one of the most popular sports cars; the car is also known as "Hachi-Roku" in Japan (hachi-roku meaning "eight six"); his car is also called "The Little Hachi that could." A video known as Pluspy documents Tsuchiya's touge driving with his AE86. He also is a consultant for one of the popular comic books and manga, Initial D, of which the main character Takumi Fujiwara is a character which describes him.

Biography

Tsuchiya started his career through the Fuji Freshman series in 1977. Unlike many drivers who came from wealthy families or motorsport backgrounds, he honed his skills from street racing and became an underground legend.

Honda Civic Type R

The Honda Civic Type R is the highest performance version of the Honda Civic made by Honda Motor Company of Japan. It features a lightened and stiffened body, specially tuned engine and upgraded brakes and chassis. Red is also used in the interior to give it a special sporting distinction and to separate it from other Honda models. In Japan, there is a one-make series of Honda Type R cars where privateers can purchase an off-road Type R and compete in a series championship which is a stepping stone for many aspiring racing drivers.

1st generation (EK9 chassis) (1997-2001)

The first Civic to receive the 'Type R' name was based on the 6th-generation 'EK' Civic. The contributing base model was the JDM Civic 3-door hatchback called SiR, code named EK4. Like its big brother the Integra Type R DC2/JDM DB8, the Civic SiR's transformation into a Type R was achieved by working on the base model and improving it to Honda's idea of a car capable of high performance on the circuit.