Rev Speed Tsukuba - 20th Annual Event

Tarzan Yamada was also the driver of the third-position car (56.667-second lap time), the Tomei/Cusco Impreza, which after winning the '08 Super Lap Battle series in the U.S., has returned to Japan to take on its highly competitive JDM rivals. After chatting with the guys at Tomei, we discovered the Impreza was still set up to run the close-to-slick tires it was running in the U.S., but wasn't getting the desired amount of traction around the cold Tsukuba circuit, with Tarzan struggling to keep the car in line when powering out of corners.

In the Open-4WD class, Varis is now the builder of the fastest EVO X around Tsukuba. The company's white CZ4A, which graces our cover this month, is the first road-registered car to go under the 58-second barrier with a time of 57.963 seconds, just behind Pro Shop Screen and its FD3S RX-7. The other fast EVO X, from Koyama Racing Labo, managed a 58.368-second lap, landing in seventh position. Koyama's car looks like one of the most highly tuned CZ4A out there with an incredible engine bay sporting an aluminum billet intake plenum and a carbon airbox.

5Zigen was back from the U.S. with its CL7 Honda Accord Euro-R, which after competing in the Super Lap Battle stateside, came to Tsukuba with a series of new modifications that include a 420hp turbocharged engine. The car wasn't able to get under the 1-minute mark, but there's still a lot of work needed to get it to perform to its full potential.

After the Z34 debuted at Tsukuba last year, with both MCR and Mine's showing off their brand-new demo cars, the new 370Z has really come a long way in the JDM tuning scene, with cars like the Prostock Motor Sports demo car lapping in 1:03.048 seconds with Nobuteru Taniguchi at the wheel. Euro cars are always growing in popularity at these events and this year Swift showed up with a Ferrari F360 Modena, which turned out to be the fastest NA car in the Open class. That spot is usually taken by the mighty ASM S2000. ASM decided to leave the extreme widebody demo car at home this year and instead participated with its other AP1, but were unable to brake the 1-minute barrier. Hot on the tail of the Ferrari was the Outer Plus Lotus Exige with an excellent time of 59.712 seconds, a time achieved due to extreme weight reduction thanks to a fully custom dry carbon body and doors.

The 2010 season will no doubt bring even more time attack craziness as tuners push the limits of their cars to achieve that all-important lap time. More SLB events are set to be held in the course of the year at tracks like Fuji and the brand-new Sodegaura Forest Raceway, so we should get our fix without having to wait until next December.