Part 2 of my TAS report and we begin with 1 of the better R35 GTR's on show, respray in orange,very subtle bodykit and carbon inserts in the bonnet vents
1 of the bigger tuning suppliers in Japan,
GReddy/
Trust had their R35 GTR on display. I liked the vinyl livery (all the black/red bits are stuck on!!) , many didnt!!
Like the majority of R35's there, GReddy had already made a new exhaust system for the car
HKS had made a bigger effort though, as their R35 had new suspension, exhaust, Bride seats aswell as the bonnet up....
The VR38DETT engine already has been fitted with new air filters and blow off valves aswell as HKS making their FCon V engine management system compatable. Not much (yet) but Id imagine they were busy in the 2 months leading up to TAS, and with the cramped engine compartment of the R35 you will agree HKS had made the biggest effort so far in tuning the R35
MiNES have also been busy with their R35, new exhaust,suspension, brakes but more importantly they are the 1st tuner to crack the factory ECU so are now offering their own VX-Rom, which delimts the car aswell as it being able to run on different octane fuel if required
Still has a long way to go until its at the level of their R34 GTR N1 though!! Still the ultimate street tuned GTR for many including myself
HKS also had the latest version of their
Zero R on display. The Zero R began in the early 90's and was a complete tuning package for the R32 GTR offered by HKS, with various updates over the years. This is the 2008 version. Good to see the R32 is still held in high regard
The famous Cyber Evo Time Attack car. This car can lap Tsukuba circuit in around 55 seconds, which is very quick, and is the 2nd fastest Evo around Tsukuba, with the HKS Carbon Evo being the quickest
Another thing better at car shows in Japan - the food. Some warm yakisoba (roasted noodles) for lunch, which I queued up for 30 seconds beforehand, paid an excellent price and which kept me going for the entire day, unlike soggy burger and chips that you pay a fortune for back home!
The best R32 GTR of the show for me was
Phoenix Powers example, just immaculate. Apologies for the poor photo but it had people around it the whole time
Although the image of the Japanese tuning scene is for GTR's,Evo's,350Z's etc the new trend is for more affordable compacts with similar levels of modifying, carbon,wheels,engine tuning,brakes,suspension etc. This is
Sunline Racing's very tidy Suzuki Swift GTi
and
Mugens new Honda Fit (or Jazz). Still plenty of tuning options for these smaller and less powerful cars and certainly more affordable
Many feel that the new GTR is proving difficult to tune and that the Fairlady Z (or 350Z) is the last truly tunable Nissan. The
Amuse car was 1 of the best at the show, not overdone either
Back to drift cars and
BN Sports pair of JZX100's,a Mark II and a Chaser both with 2JZ-GTE transplants and the most powerful cars in D1 at present with over 750bhp each!
Another new D1 car, Toshiki Yoshioka will use this Lexus SC430 (or Toyota Soarer) in D1GP in 2008 instead of his AE86. No idea of engine spec yet, hopefully the 3UZ-FE 4.3 litre V8 will be retained
Another impressive new car
ST Garage/
Wedsport Lexus IS250 with a 2JZ-GTE transplant, maybe D1 bound too
And to finish, my personal favourite cars from Tokyo Auto Salon 2008:
The
RE Amemiya carbon widebody Mazda RX-7 with the Porsche style front
Another RE Amemiya car,RX-7 with widebody conversion and 20B triple rotor engine conversion. This car won a trophy, but until the TAS website is updated I dont know which 1!!
Finally my favourite car of the entire show
WELD JZX100 Mark II. 2JZ-GTE engine transplant,massive Trust T88 turbo....
and the engine has been moved back for better weight distribution. A lot of work has been done under this car, including a custom differential carrier, new alloy floor panels to reduce weight,the shell fully seam welded and all excess metal removed
not to mention Welds trademark foward opening bonnet aswell as their wild graphics
and lots of carbon!! This car also won an award at the show,ill update when I find out!!
So that was my 1st Tokyo Auto Salon and what an introduction! Ill certainly strive to return in the future as it was a new experiance compared to any other car show Ive ever been to!!
Santa Pod was the venue for Round 4 of the European Drift Championship, where Phil Morrison in the Driftworks 2JZ powered S15 Silvia was definatley smoking things up!
This was the second of 2 rounds that Team Orange from Japan attended with their RWD converted Imprezas. After a strong competition it was Nobushige Kumakubo (on the right of the photo) that came 1st, and his friend and team mate, Katzuhiro Tanaka (left) that placed 2nd
But it was not all plain sailing from Team Orange, when Tanaka spun during the final, then again Kumakubo spun on the previous run, it took 6 runs for Kumakubo to win
Not so much luck for Chris 'Paz' Parry in his S2000 powered AE86, suffering this bad crash during qualifying, but the damage is not as bad as it looks and the car will return
Mark 'Sidewaysbuff' Luney takes the Santa Pod R32 GTS-T out for a few demo runs, and gave me a passenger run in 1 of them, Cheers Buff!!
The next day there was a team comp, Team Orange took a well fought victory, practicing with the other drivers, above and below but even though they are regarded as the best in the world they still faced good opposition
Team Green will be more impressive next time round after making a big improvement
Team Driftworks fielded the only 3 car team
