On Friday, January 27th, on his second session on track, Yoshiki 'Fire' Ando broke the 50-second barrier at Tsukuba Circuit with a record 49.897 second lap time set on Advan 295/35/18 A050 GS - the first ever tuning car to do so. A truly incredible moment for motorsport enthusiasts world wide and a massive breakthrough in Japanese time attack.
It was just a few months ago that, after Ando had taken the record at Motegi, we had finished writing an in-depth recap of Team Escort's campaign of taking every international circuit record in Japan. Remaining on that list was Hokkaido's Tokachi International Speedway full course, and of course the goal of breaking the 50 second barrier at Tsukuba's TC2000. Although not an international circuit, TC2000 has always been considered the home of time attack, and as of the past decade, the sub-50 lap has been observed as a goal of the elite.
When we last spoke to the head of Escort, Shiobara, we were in the engine room of Escort's first shop. In the conversing about the motor that was being built for this season, he said:
「今年は筑波49秒に必ず入れます。」
"THIS YEAR, WE WILL DEFINITELY ACHIEVE 49 AT TSUKUBA."
A man of his word, on the morning of the 27th, we saw that statement come true as Ando crossed the line with an incredible 49.897 second lap around TC2000; leaving no doubts about what the team is capable of. This wasn't something that happened overnight, however, as Ando and the Escort team have spent an enormous amount of time and money to achieve what was once thought to be unreachable. In a sense, it sort of makes the 50.366 second lap time that Under Suzuki clocked in 2017 that much more impressive. It also gives us an idea of just how difficult it is to shave tenths, even hundredths, of seconds off of times this fast.
Enjoy the in-car video of the record lap, as well as some video of the morning leading up to the super lap and the celebration. Thank you to Ando for the in-car video.
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