We started the season with the #333 H.I.S. (a big travel company in Japan) Nissan Fairlady Z Z33.

I am racing with Maejima Shuji. We just came back from Suzuka with a 5th place finish in class - had some pitstop mishaps with wheel lugs, and next up is the Tokachi 24hr in Hakkaido in July.

Some pictures and story:
http://www.igorsushko.com/

 

nice story and great pics

 

Cool!!

 

very nice...looks like a lot of fun, good luck this year!

 

very nice and must be lots of fun!

 

That's awesome dude.

How is it that one goes to get started in something like this? I've always wanted to do it.

 

i envy you and that's all i have to say . good luck with your remaining races.

 

Very nice site....I'll be bookmarking this to keep up with ya....

Z33 Longnose FTW!

 

Good to see things are going well.
I'll get in touch w/ you late summer I should be headed your direction.

-Will

 

Thanks for all the good luck wishes! We need them.

The route for me was through racing the GT-R in World Challenge in 2006. I was approached by the manager of this team at the SEMA Show in November and it worked out very well with my parallel application to be accepted into the Formula Challenge Japan formula development program in Japan for '07.

The start is at the grassroots - NASA/SCCA.

One detriment for doing the GT-R World Challenge program was the amount of potential seat time that I lost in 2006, not only because of many problems that we had with the car, but just in the format of the series itself - 50 minute sprint races.
I only had a few opportunities to get into other cars for testing/racing.

In retrospect, the best possible route to becoming a successful race driver on a baller budget would be grassroots racing any and every possible weekend - in as many different cars as possible - my philosophy is both open-wheel and tintop, although some may argue. With enough track time, anyone will get very fast - that's what separates the good drivers from not so good - track time. But that of course means extreme dedication of not only money but time. Once you get to that point, which can take years, you will be noticed and the break will come.

My co-driver and team owner Maejima Shuji is in his mid thirties and I'd wager is one of the fastest drivers in Japan - I'd bet his times will be comparable with those in Super GT. He has been racing for 20 years and there was a period of a few years where he was literally on the track every weekend - not in anything fancy though - Toyota Altezza, Honda Integra, and the like.

The first time he ever got into the 350Z we are racing right now at Suzuka back in March at the series official test, he put down the top time of all the other Class-3 cars (Zs, RX7s, M3s, and NSX) in thee laps I think. Everyone was stunned, including the guys at NISMO.

He has had so much track time, that even though this is probably the fastest race car he has ever driven, he was completely at home in it from the get go.

He tells me it takes 10 years to get to the point of being able to do that with any race car at any track (that you've been to previously).

In the United States, I'd think that doing Formula Vee, Spec Miata, and go-karts would be a good cost-effective start.

 

Very nice and congrats. Good to see a nice storyline

 

Very impressive results in a tough series. You are being considered for a GT300 ride? Wow!