HKS Premium Day 2013 at Fuji Speedway. January 27, 2013. [also posted on MotorMavens Reader's Blog]

No question about it, Tokyo Auto Salon was every bit as exciting and massive as you have read about or seen in magazines, newsfeeds, or your frenzied youtube searches… it was a dizzying mixture of eclecticism and unadulterated performance, with a dash of innovation and requisite high speedlight-to-girl ratios. So where do you go when you’re bursting from 3 days of glut and glamour? If you were looking for relief from the bloated 7-course meal that was TAS, then HKS had the answer.

The 40-year old marque set things straight by ending January with their high-performance HKS Premium Day, inviting both tuners and enthusiasts alike to come out and play at Fuji Speedway for a day. In the end, I came away a little sunburned and exhausted, but the eyegasms were priceless… here’s Part I of the journey:

The Japanese are no strangers to dedication and the day started early for most – many having left the warmth of their beds to beat the traffic, making their way…

…to the iconic east gate to watch the sun rise.

Once the gates opened, I quickly parked and felt my way towards the energetic buzz of a morning already deep in progress…

…In the paddock area, tuners had already unloaded many of their machines…

…HKS brought out a bevy of R35s showcasing their extensive line of products…

… and tuners started prepping booths, vehicles, and organizing the day’s activities…

…Top Fuel’s S2000 receiving some suspension service…

… and 1 of HKS’s many race-prepped 86’s.M

Many of these cars were driven to Fuji Speedway and so a quick wash…

…and some prep-work were in order…

…Pentroof x Abflug brought out their polarizing pair of R35s.

Meanwhile, the Hiper Challenge attendees were readying their own cars in the parking area…

… just behind the paddocks, as others drifted towards the displays and booths…

… BNR32s in all states of dress…

…and rows upon rows of privately-owned monsters begging to be throttled…

…with the mighty Mt. Fuji just a breath away…

By 0900hrs, booths were ready to go, displaying their latest wares, like this matte 86 outfitted with the subtly tasteful 5-piece Vertex ground effects kit…

…or the angular and louvered AVEST kit…

…or a murdered wide-body Subaru shod with Prodrive GC-012Ls…

…Yokohama’s display BNR34…

…Yokomo came ready with their line of R/C cars and bodies to entertain the masses…

…Pisto Racing’s BNR33…

…Revolfe S.A. ventured up from Yokohama with their Z32 demo car…

…with no shortage of historical documentation of the venerated GT-R…

…to the chiseled Abflug x Pentroof’s Aloof 01-R…

Wandering through the paddocks, I stumbled upon C&Y Sports’ Toyota XE10 with a Nissan RB26 transplant and…

… vice versa. A Nissan Z32 with a Toyota 2JZ GTE 3000…

…this pair of Top Secret vehicles seemed more at home in the garage than sitting on a convention floor just 2 weeks earlier…

…one of two G-Force Evo X’s in attendance…

I just couldn’t stop walking back and forth like a madman…

…it seemed that every time I turned the corner…

…and into a new paddock…

…there would be another beast to share…

…Garage Mak’s Varietta on BBS LMs…

…and S15 on Enkei RPF1s…

…Garagemak Z33…

…from the rear…

…Esprit’s incredible NSX, sporting what seemed to be an automatically retractable engine hatch cover to assist in air flow at speed…

…Reverse’s BNR32, which ran a 7th best time of 1’49.866 in the 4WD Super Lap Time Attack session…

…FAMSPEED’s FD3S…

…Auto Gallery Yokohama’s BNR32 which ran the best-in-class time of 1’42.78 in the 4WD class of Super Lap Time Attack…

…from the heart of the matter…

…to her all-business exhaust…

…Garage Ito’s BNR34, which ran the 2nd best-in-class time of 1’43.847 in the 4WD category of Super Lap Time Attack…

…RevYou’s Z34 with a 9th-in-2WD-class lap time of 1’51.709…

…Rasty’s GSR184…

…RS Pantera’s FD3S…

…Esprit’s outrageous NSX waking from slumber…

…as Noboteru Tanaguchi enters his 86 for a traipse around FSW, I’ll leave this post to work on the next iteration of photos from HKS Premium Day 2013… Hope you enjoyed Part I…

Tolls suck and gas isn’t cheap!  Please support this 1-man operation by purchasing a print (watermark not included):

http://photos.backfromleave.com/Cars/HKS-Premium-Day-2013/

Get more up-to-date coverage from this, and other events, at my Automotive Facebook page at:

http://facebook.com/BackFromLeaveSpark

-Rob