OV9

Doing a separate post for this one - car nerd heaven. I'll do the other Japan stuff all together.

If you're in Japan and going to the Fuji International Speedway circuit, I highly recommend you put aside a few hours to go to the new hotel just behind the circuit. (So new it's not in Gran Turismo's version of the circuit.) If you're feeling flush, staying there has additional benefits for the circuit itself, but the main draw card to car nerds like us is the museum within the hotel itself. It's about £7-9 to get in (note, you can't go out and back in again, so take your time.) The exhibits change constantly, but on the day I visited, here's a quick taster of what I saw inside the stunning building.
































































There was a fair bit more to it, I spent maybe three hours going around. There are some static exhibits, notably the 787B and GT-One, but the vast majority of it changes pretty frequently. There was a 2025 Haas F1 car on the top floor by the gift shop. Gift shop had a lot of lovely wee things in it, as well as a cafe with a balcony which overlooked the final turn of the circuit and down the main straight. My only gripe is whoever did the lighting in the place had obviously never used a camera - bloody nightmare to take pictures in.

In short - if you're in the area, GO!!!

Sadly Dave, the photos aren’t visible in the U.K.

Imgur shenanigans looks like it's stuffing up UK access.

Love the shallow dof old racer exhaust, they're all spectacular photos. N24 LFA looks amazing and I'm hugely jealous you got to see the (1 of 2?) Group S MR2 prototype.

Opera is your friend…

Awesome pics again Dave!!

dinny_g wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2026 7:27 am Opera is your friend…

Ooh thanks Dinny - I had downloaded it but discovered the VPN is a paid add-on so didn't bother trying it. However, the built-in protection does the job it seems. I should have persevered.

Toyota GT-One used to be the car to have in Gran Turismo. You'd get the road version and put a fuck off turbo on it and crush everything.

Great pics Dave.

Jobbo wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2026 8:38 am

dinny_g wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2026 7:27 am Opera is your friend…

Ooh thanks Dinny - I had downloaded it but discovered the VPN is a paid add-on so didn't bother trying it. However, the built-in protection does the job it seems. I should have persevered.

I downloaded it earlier, but still couldn’t see the images?

Also tried Startpage - could not see images

mik wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2026 9:57 am

Jobbo wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2026 8:38 am

dinny_g wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2026 7:27 am Opera is your friend…

Ooh thanks Dinny - I had downloaded it but discovered the VPN is a paid add-on so didn't bother trying it. However, the built-in protection does the job it seems. I should have persevered.

I downloaded it earlier, but still couldn’t see the images?

Also tried Startpage - could not see images

I've only used it on my Windows PC. You need to click on the VPN icon in the address bar, then turn it on with the big button above the word 'Unprotected' - by default it's off.

ETA: tried it on my iPhone and it works, but didn't appear to at first. After some fiddling I had 'VPN is on' pop up, and I went to the main index then back to this thread and could see them. Refreshing didn't work.

On phone I just used Proton VPN app as recommended on here, works great.

Bugger...

I was hoping not to upload these to my Flickr account, I'll have to try somewhere else...

Updated to host the images on Flickr

Thank you.

Love the one with the tail fin. Looks like a scaled up toy.

Nice pics mister. Love the fading-focus 4-tailpipes shot.

Although I quite enjoyed the mysterious intrigue of many many unseeable images too

That looks like a fantastic place to visit.

KiwiDave wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2026 10:51 pm Updated to host the images on Flickr

Excellent stuff!

Did you also manage to get to the Toyota museum in Tokyo?

Wow, how cool is that! Cheers Dave

Do we even have anything close to that (IE a dedicated, licked clean, well maintained place, not a shed on an industrial estate with aspirations of adequacy) in the UK? You'd think given the motorsport history the UK has, we would.

Beany wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2026 1:03 pm Do we even have anything close to that (IE a dedicated, licked clean, well maintained place, not a shed on an industrial estate with aspirations of adequacy) in the UK? You'd think given the motorsport history the UK has, we would.

Brooklands Museum? McLaren Technology Centre?

I think the McLaren one is focussed more on themselves, and Brooklands from what I've seen doesn't feel as sophisticated as that, though. It's not quite 'industrial estate', but it doesn't feel that much above it. It's also a mixed motoring and aviation museum as opposed to dedicated motorsport.

That Fuji museum looks like it doesn't live off funds from the Arts council, either (although it may well do, locally)