Japanese Super GT 1996: Time For Coffee?

Lark McLarens, Calsonic GT-Rs, Castrol Supras, 911 GT2s and more - this is an hour well wasted!

Hands up, we’ve not watched every minute of this 81-minute video. So there may be a dull period in here somewhere but, from what we’ve already seen, there’s little reason to think there would be, it’s fantastic.

This video is a season review of the 1996 Japanese Super GT championship, something of a golden year if this footage is anything to go by. Not only are there Lark-liveried McLaren F1s out front - see here for some fabulous Fuji downshifting, but also all the Japanese mid-90s icons in race form: Skylines, Supras, NSXs and more. Heck, there’s even an MR2 there. These are joined by some 993 GT2s and the odd random racer too. They are, in case you hadn’t guessed, fine grids of GT cars.

More than that, the racing is fantastic. There are still some manual gearboxes in use, the top cars seem evenly matched and nobody is prepared to concede an inch. There are side-by-side duels, spins, smashes and suspect overtakes throughout. In these cars!

So take some time out of your Thursday or perhaps extend it over a few working days, else people will suspect something and enjoy some classic sportscar racing from Japan. What would you race?

Watch the video here.