Thanks again for checking out our 5th installment of this EPIC Japan trip. Once again, If you missed the other few parts, here are the links to get you caught up: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.
Day 8: We left the Ojikaen spa, went to lunch with the Yokohama Tire guys, went to Yokohama Tire’s D-Parc proving grounds, Tetsu’s shop, checked into our new hotel in Utsunomiya, and went to dinner with the Japanese Z CraZies.
Here is the Ojikaen’s beautiful garden the next chilly morning.
What a view!
Here is the view while driving even farther north to meet the representatives from Yokohama Tire. We had lunch with them at a country club and then headed to their testing facility – D-PARC.
The sign outside their facility. This is where Yokohama Tire tests all of their tires on various production cars. The facility has every surface you could ever dream of to test tire performance. There were no pictures allowed of the track or facility. They showed us a video of what goes into testing tires and it was very impressive. The test drivers are skilled professionals who can feel the slightest difference in road feel, comfort, noise, grip, etc.
Two test drivers took us out on the test track in this Bentley Continental GT and this Mercedes Benz C63 AMG. It was a heck of a ride around their circuit. After we left Yokohama Tire, we headed to Tetsu’s shop – Ultimate Z. Tetsu is a Z freak.
Here is the 3rd floor of his shop
This is the main floor of his shop, truly amazing! He owns all of these cars.
It had been a very long day and we ended the day by having possibly the best dinner of the trip in this tiny little family restaurant. The Japanese Z club members were amazing hosts and I really got a chance to get to know several of the members better. The next day would be our last full day in Japan so we got back to the hotel early. Stay tuned for the final part of the Japan coverage.
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