This past Wednesday, November 11th, marked the final round of the 2009 Super Lap Battle series at Buttonwillow Raceway. Behind the wheel of the GT Channel/GTI Nissan 350Z convertible, Daijiro Yoshihara also debuted his new personal race team in the US. While no stranger to the glorious podium at drift events, Dai is excited to branch out to on this new venture in other motor sport arenas.

Reminiscent of the amazing build of the Discount Tire themed s13 between Formula D Seattle and Formula D Sonoma, the "To Do" list was long and the window of time short in order for this 350Z to be track worthy. Fortunately, Dai had the help of Costa from GTI (Gialamas Technical Innovations) to supply all the required wrenching and fabrication. In addition to the limited time, very little budget was allocated to this event, so the main goal was to shakedown this fresh build and get some solid baseline figures by the end of this time attack.

After the cage was built by GTI, suspension was sorted out with KW Suspension coilovers, Whiteline bushings and swaybars, and custom suspension arms from SPL. A Jim Wolf clutch harnessed the power to be put to the ground through an OS Giken 1.5 way LSD. Wide Falken RT615's mounted on Rays TE37's made sure every last bit of traction was available. Seibon carbon fiber hood, trunk, fenders and doors alleviated some weight while a Sparco race bucket held Dai in place through the high speed turns of Buttonwillow.

The lack of time could not be emphasized enough for this build, with the last few items having to be installed the morning of the event at the track. The Z ran great overall throughout most of the day with a lot of baselines established, and it wasn't until the second to last session that two cracked rotors forced Dai to retire the car for the day.

This feat would have been impossible if it wasn't for people like Taro from GT Channel, Costa from GTI, Mike from MotoIQ, Chris from KW Suspension, and Dai's other great friends and sponsors. While bringing home the top time would have been great, the main objective of shaking down the car was complete. Satisfaction was achieved with the outcome of this event and the Super Lab Battle finale was a great way for Dai and the rest of his team to get a jumpstart on the 2010 motor sport season.

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