On September 29th (Mon), the Knight Sports RX-8, which will be competing at this year’s Macau Grand Prix, undertook its last domestic test at Fuji Speedway where the crew carried out a complete check menu. The machine has been painted a crimson soul red, giving it a further unique façade, and has been equipped with a Knight Sports tuned 13B turbo engine, the unique sound of which reverberated throughout Fuji Speedway.

Driving the car was Tatsuya Tanikawa, who has been recuperating from injuries he suffered at the Super Taikyu on September 7th.　Tanikawa was dragged into a crash that happened during the race and sustained fractures to his clavicle and lumber vertebrae. Following this he received surgery in hospital and has been focusing all his energy on recovering and regaining his strength. As a result he has been able to get back into the driver’s seat of the race car a mere 3 weeks after receiving his injuries. The test items included points such as checking the gear ratios in the straights, confirming the operation of the fuel system and evaluating the engine’s performance. In the morning the RX-8 carried out two 30-minute runs, ticked off each menu item and completed the test exactly as planned. Night Sports representative, Eiji Nakamura said, “This year we’re aiming to grab that long coveted victory and so we’ve progressed with the vehicle’s development, focusing on increasing the engines output and raising its acceleration out of slow corners. With Tanikawa suffering his injuries it looked like a wrench was going to be thrown in our plan but Tanikawa contacted us to say that he was already ready to drive and would be thrilled to carry out the test for us. So we’ve requested he drive the car for today. It wasn’t just us that was dreaming of victory, but Tanikawa as well, so we were over the moon. However, we don’t want him pushing his body too fast so until Macau we will be keeping a close eye on his condition.”

After completing the test Tanikawa related, “in regards to my injuries, I’m really sorry to cause concern to all my supporters. I’m still not able to remove the support from my clavicle and lower back, and there is still some enduring pain, but seeing as I was able to drive the machine for this test I think I’ll be able to make a full recovery by November’s race. The engine’s power has been significantly increased and I feel that the alterations to the gear ratio has had a definite effect on the car’s rising acceleration in the hill-side sections. We’re thinking that we will catch up with the competition on the Melco Hairpin and overtake them on the seaside straights. Last year we were 2nd in qualifying and 3rd in the race so I think we are capable of aiming for better this year.”

Representative Nakamura elaborated, “After completing the overhaul of the gearbox and engine the machine will depart Japan at the beginning of August heading for Macau. We want to raise the flag of the rising sun on Macau GP’s center pole. I hope all the fans will give us their support.” The final race of the Macau GP Road Sports Challenge will be held on November 15th (Sat)

Photo by MZRacing