March 1999
Shutoko C1 Loop
1:20 AM
The highway is nearly empty as nobody is seriously driving in such times. Except for some racers, known as the High Noon Club. The club is famous for its powerful modified cars and the top speed figures recorded on public highways.
A red Ursula was driving by at that exact time. Inside, Matsumi Izuhara, the driver, is cruising the car in high speed. On the wheel, she droves calmly as she tries to avoid any obstacle, while her right foot is heavily pressing the pedal. The sound of the V10 roars over the highway.
And yet, she found peace in her mind, on this exact highway.
Matsumi, who was 20 that time, is the only daughter of the Takeshi Izuhara, a wealthy businessman who owns the largest banking company of Japan and reportedly has ties with the Yakuzas. At that time, she was just graduated from University of Tokyo and being a bright student, she aced all her studies. Of course, like her father, she is also a car nut, driving cars since 14 and always having new cars to drive every month before the recession hit.
Of course, her father was against her ideals, as he is worried about her daughter being well, bad. Her rebellious nature strained her relationship between her dad, and nearly have their relationship broke. Luckily, nothing serious outside that happened, and calmness has prevailed since then, as she became more mature by then.
Yet, her love for speed retains till then. However, what happens next on the highway, is a mystery.
1994 Ursula R1 600S x4 “Midnight Racer”
The Ursula R1 was launched in 1991 as the successor to the V7 convertible GT. Unlike the V7, the R1 is only available as a coupe in its lifetime (although convertible versions were considered, but ended up being not available). The car was initially available with inline-6 and V8 engines, but in 1994, a V12 model, the 600S was released as the flagship of the series.
The car was purchased in 1994 by a rich businessman in a Ursula showroom located in downtown Shibuya. Since the car was the guy’s daily driver, it was kept stock in its first few years, before the owner decided to sell the car due to the economic downturn in 1997.
Matsumi bought the car (with cash gotten from her father) in 1998, as she is impressed with the car’s potential and comfort, despite the vehicle had just stopped production at that time. Of course, despite loving the car she felt the car “a bit too soft”, which means that modifications will come next.
Over the months, the car’s original 5.2-liter V12 was swapped with a twin-turbo V10 from the Altus XR-10 supercar (which was modified again for more power), alongside some serious modifications such as better brakes, carbon body parts, a race ECU system, race suspension, magnesium rims, semi slick tyres, and all the other stuff that make the car more fun to drive.
The result? 722 horsepowers moving the car from zero to 100 in just 2.8 seconds, an unbelievable figure at that time. Despite all those power the car still retains most of it’s creature comforts (save for the deletion of 2 rear seats), and the all-wheel drive system still remains intact. Of course, rumors stated the car could break 350 km/h, but even then the car is often rarely seen, even within the group.
And the best of all? It’s a one of a kind. It’s probably hard to recreate another one again, since there’s no way we could find out.
