Getting Lost With Rob and Wagon R
After Feed, we had a quick stop by a shop called Racing Service Factor. They race in the one-make Civic series and the Vitz cup, and both cars had won the league races not too long before we arrived.
The owner was proud to show them out on the street as we started taking photos. He popped out to explain how successful both cars were. 
How cool is the Factor logo on the side of their race cars?
This is their winning Virz from the cup series. It’s road legal too!
What a view…
I love their logo.
I bet this Skyline looked good, a shame it was up on the lift.
They had an R34 up on the lift and various other Hondas and Nissans around the garage. The place was busy, so we didn’t want to hold them up. We grabbed a few snaps, I bought a sticker, and we hit the road.
Later that night, we hooked back up with our mate Rob who let me drive his 86. I had purchased a Goodline bonnet for my own 86 from Rob, and we were bringing it to JDM distro in Tokyo to send it back to Ireland.
Rob needed it gone from his apartment as it was taking up space in the kitchen. His girlfriend was sick of looking at it.
This big lump of gold-painted fibreglass would live with us for most of the journey. It barely fit in the Van; thank fuck, we bought an Alphard!
I could tell the lads were a little bummed on this coming along for the ride, but I had no other way of getting it back to Ireland. It was too awkward to ship! It was hilarious playing Tetris to make it work, but we did it. Goodbye, rearview window.
We got some grub with Rob and drove around the city for an hour or so, getting kicks out of how low his static Suzuki Wagon daily driver was.
You could only get away with something this low in Japan. Rob had already gone through a few oil pans, but damn, did this thing looked fantastic.
It didn’t even look like real-life driving around the Osaka streets. The tiny 660 turbos spinning those Equips in the rain was top tier fun.
I’ve always had a soft spot for these cars, and the Kei culture is fascinating. I’d love to have something like this back home, but I don’t think you’d be able to have something this insanely low in Ireland or any other place outside of Japan. Their high-quality roads and lack of speedbumps allow for this kind of stuff.
We drove up along the elevated loop around Osaka, which looked like something straight out of Gran Turismo or Ridge Racer. Watching Rob rip his little Wagon R enjoying thought the streets we were racing on a few nights before was an incredible experience.
Look how low this thing sat.
After hanging out with Rob for a few hours, it was pretty late, and most hotel places were closed. Rob managed to get his girlfriend to call a capsule hotel which we were more than happy to try, something I’m sure anyone who wants to visit Japan would love to do. Surprisingly they were a lot comfier than we expected.
That would be our last time with Rob, and we would say goodbye to Osaka as we planned to head for the hills in Nara the following day.