In Japan, time attack tuners and owners spend years or even decades fine tuning a specific car where they’ll be able to extract every ounce of power and downforce they can to clock in their fastest lap times possible. This can be said with time attackers from other parts of the globe as well but the difference in Japan is that they do it with aesthetics in mind… of course there’s the handful in the States, Australia and other parts of the world that keeps the aspect of aesthetics on top of their list but let’s be honest, bare sheet metal doesn’t really score well in style points if you know what I mean. But comparisons aside, there’s one aspect of a car (build) that we seldom talk about, and that’s the engine and exhaust notes. I wanted to emphasize this because as I was walking around Tsukuba during Attack, there was one car that really stood out to me. It wasn’t because of how it looks or how much power it made, although it does look pretty menacing, but it was the sounds that echoed from its exhaust that really drew the attention of not just myself, but many. The car that I’m referring to is none other than the Full Stage “Shark” FD3S.
Photos by MoMoHitsTheSpot!
They say a photo can speak a thousand words, but let me tell you, it can’t speak a 3-rotor symphony that resonated from the exhaust of the Full Stage FD. Also of note, you’ll notice that they’re also utilizing the same spoiler setup as the Escort Evo… although it does look a tad better here on the FD.
Like with all top-tier time attack contenders, the Full Stage FD has received its fair share of aerodynamic upgrades through the years such as added canards and of course the notable rear spoiler that were absent last year.
A closer look at the splitter and canards combo. Last year it was only running one set of canards but an additional set as been added this year.
Heading out for an afternoon run.
Bypassing the pit lanes.
A shot of “Shark” Iiri before his run.
Not something I see too often here in the States, but to extract every second out of the car, tire shaving is a must!
Cooling down between sessions.
Not the most extravagant engine bay, but the noises that it produces are quite extravagant! That’s such a great and unique thing about the RX-7… there’s so many paths that you can choose in how you’d like to tune the car, but if you choose the path of adding displacement to its 13B motor, extraordinary things can happen.
Fine tuning?
Of course, this post wouldn’t be complete without a hover car photo.
One more shot of it coming in pit lane during their last session. They were not able to best their fastest time of the day with this last session which was a 55.599 that they hit earlier. But that lap time is just a few thousandths of a second off their personal best which I’m sure they’ll reset in the near future…
I’ll probably have another dedicated post on a certain Impreza coming up on the site next, so stay tuned for that. Until then, I hope you enjoyed this post of the “Shark” FD!
MoMoHitsTheSpot! 
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