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Originally Posted by driftwood
Are you saying that Kazato bought the car new and then sold the car in 1972 to USA after he bought T280 car ?
then the car was then sold back to Japan?
i know the car sat at Fuji museum for many years
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Hiroshi purchased the T222 new and raced it in the USA. I have edited my previous post to be more clear. I don't have any particular knowledge of the T-280, that was not the focus of my search.
Kazato Lola T222 #HU-8 was raced in the USA Can-Am series by Hiroshi Kazato in 1971 with tech help from Carl Haas, in 1972 purchased by Bobby Rinzler Can-Am team and driven by Charlie Kemp with Holiday Inns sponsorship, painted orange.
After the 72 season it was sold to Larry Johnson who raced it in SCCA class A sports racer.
Larry Johnson was contacted by Carl Haas about selling the car to Minoru Koybayashi, for display in japan Haas acted as agent.
The car was sold to Minoru Koybayashi shipped to Japan and was on display in his Restaurant Pit-In located in the city of Yamanashi. Remained there from some time from 1974 through the late 90's where it was sold at the Monterey Auction. The Lola went through two more US owners who did not do any work on it or drive it. The car is now owned by John Church of Carmel Valley CA, who is doing a full restoration on the car, but will probably leave the bodywork in the Kazato configuration as it is now. The car is in remarkably original condition and very complete down to the battery it raced with.
David
Here is a quote from the internet I found referencing the Mr Koybayashi and his cars.
"Porsche 908-024
908s were initially built in coupe form, and were first run in 1968. The 908s were powered by Porsche's first three-liter, flat 8 motor. However, success with the coupes was initally hard-won, and in the first year the only win was in Germany at the April Nurburgring race. Development continued on the car, and for 1969 the factory chose to run long-tail 908s for long rances and the new open-body Spyder (908/2) for short races.
The 908-024 coupe was initally sent with a group of four other long-tail coupes to the 1969 Daytona race. Ousler and Lamm report that 908-024 was driven by Dick Attwood, Udo Schutz and Gerhard Mitter, and this is the car that carried race number "53." The 908-024 had a forty-five minute lead 18 hours inte the race when the intermediate shaft failed between the camshaft and crankshaft.
A young Japanese driver named Hiroshi Kazato purchased the car in 1970. The 908-024 had new suspension, brakes, wheels, a zero-time drive train, and the new Spyder flounder body. In 1970 Kazato raced the 908 five times at Fuji in the Japanese Grand Championship series. He had mixed luck at Fuki, with two first overall wins and three DNFs. He was unfortunately killed in a racing accident in a Chevron-BMW on June 2, 1974.
John Lamm reported that Minoru Kobayashi acquired Kazato's racecars including his 908 after his death. Kobayashi was both a friend and sponsor of Kazato. Kobayashi built a restaurant in Yamanashi, Japan called the Pit-In. The restaurant had a racing theme, and housed Kazato's 908, his Lola Can-Am car, his FII car and his Chrvron. An attempt by Gerry Sutterfield to by the 908 in the 1980s was unsuccessful, because Kobayashi was still using it in the restaurant and didn't want to sell it.
By the late nineties, 908-024 became available for purchase and because of its storage history in Japan, remains virtually unchanged since 1970 and is the most complete 908 in existence.
More information on 908-024 can be found in articles in these publications:
Porsche Panorama November 2001
Excellence April 2002"