TRIAL

Most tuning companies in Japan are a little bigger than ones you would find in the UK and Ireland but there are a few which are huge and the biggest in Japan is TRIAL in Osaka. Think of a premises the size of a large main dealer except its purely for tuning and modifying cars and your getting close. After a quick meeting with the company founder/director Makihara san, then being smitten with cheif racequeen Chihiro it was time to take it all in, and there was a lot

Heres a shot of a small part of the car park, most of these are customers cars. I love the palm trees

10 work bays, an inhouse engine dyno, a set of rollers and a dynapack, almost everything is done inhouse, all thats missing is a circuit. Not to mention the massive showroom

Im standing just inside the doors here and the 1st thing you see is this smart NSX, also for sale, bit too much for me at the moment!

Also you can see some of the extensive parts displays in the background


Most tuners/garages probably have just a small kettle or its a case of go to the shops for refreshment, but TRIAL have their own bar, and thanks to me and Chris, theres some proper Irish whiskey behind the bar now too!!

In the corner of the showroom, 1 of TRIAL's original R32 GTR's is on display

While outside their PS13 Silvia track car and a R34 GTR for sale can be found

Aswell as some of the latest TRIAL demo/development cars, a FD2 Honda Civic Type R and a MY2008 Subaru Impreza STi

A 350Z convertable on the ramps getting alignment work done

TRIAL will tune any car, from a Suzuki Kei car to a R34 GTR

or 2......

Getting ready to lock up for the evening, or maybe a spot of racing around the kanjo highway.......

Extra special thanks to Yuichi Ikegami and Keisuke san for their help and hospitality, not to mention Chris for his amazing organising skills

Buying a car??

Back home, most car dealerships have 1, if not 2 high performance models on display, but not in Japan where they tend to be more common...


While on the way back from Signal Auto with Chris we saw this used car dealership called GT Net, so the rather inviting looking forecourt led us in for a closer look

The forecourt was jammed, cars everywhere, making it hard to get a clear shot, here are some Imprezas...

And some Fairlady Z's (or 350Z's) along with some Mitsubishi Evos, a Honda NSX and S2000

A small line up of R32 and R33 Skyline GTR's, Skylines were the most common car there

A pair of R34 GTR's

And my favourite car there, a factory red R32 GTR


Random Japan Part 2. The Japanese police are a bit like their American counterparts as this police station not far from GT Net conveniently has a Mister Donut shop right across the road aswell as the obligatory Toyota Crown patrol car parked outside.....