20,000 visitors and 4500 club cars filled Japfest Silverstone to bursting point on Sunday, April 30. It was the second time the home of the British Grand Prix hosted Japfest; with heritage in mind, several storied marques celebrated important anniversaries in the UK.
Japfest Silverstone marked the 25th anniversary of the Honda Type R range in Blighty – bolstered by a display from Japanese domestic market import specialists Torque GT, which showed off both generations of the NSX-R, a model never sold in the UK but that helped cement the Type R.
Classics World’s sister title Retro Japanese exhibited for the first time at Silverstone, paying tribute to the most sought after, rare and obscure Japanese classics with magazine stablemate Banzai. Among some of the more unusual retro cars on display included a Daihatsu Applause (three currently extant in the UK) and an Autozam (Mazda) AZ-1, a former magazine cover star and one of the most collectable ‘Kei’ cars on the market.
Event Director, Phil Weeden, said: “The number of cars and visitors that attended Japfest this year goes to show how popular and diverse the Japanese car scene has become over the past few years. Japfest 2017 was packed with visitors, and it was packed with action, too. It’s also great to see Japfest develop at its new venue; thanks to Silverstone’s excellent location and top facilities, there is scope to make Japfest even bigger and better in future years.”
