Well with the global car market currently in freefall, its good to see that tuning is still very much alive. Instead of long drawn out paragraphs Im going to let the pictures do the talking... This is only a tiny oveview of what you can see as TAS
Drifting is still big in Japan and one of the 1st cars you saw on walking in the door was Daigo Saitos 2008
D1GP Championship winning Toyota Mark II...
...along with his 2009 D1GP car, a Ford Mustang, will it be as competitive or as consistant as the Toyota? A supercharger should keep the power up anyway
Another all new D1 car and another import - Takahiro Uenos
T&E /
TP Checker BMW335i, Id been following the build of this car on Uenos
blog, an amazing build but Im not madly impressed with the colour, looks a bit too WTCC for my liking, but as anyone in motorsport will tell you, keeping the sponsors happy is vital
But under the (carbon unsurprisingly) bonnet lies a Toyota 2JZ engine with a HKS T51R turbo, good for 650bhp. Many people have said Uenos driving was held back by the big heavy Soarer he used to drive, lets see how he does in the slightly more lightweight BMW...
Apart from import mania, the return of
A'Pexi was big news. With HKS and Trust/Greddy giving the show a miss, A'Pexi picked a good time to relaunch themselves onto the market. A good sign considering the company were rumoured to be on the verge of closing a few years ago and are now back, stronger than ever
Moving on...... (its
DAD-Co's crystal clad Mercedes SL, worth $1million)
Evil graphics on
J's Racing Honda S2000, a week after AutoSalon I visited J's so a few more photos of this car will be seen
Any
Best Motoring DVD fans will know this car,
MCR R34 GTR. With the overload of R35's there were not many older GTR's to be seen
The bodykit designs are getting worse it would seem, with this
URAS R34 GTT
Or are they?
Origin Labs OneVia
Wasnt just new stuff either, this immaculate C110 Kenmari Skyline drew many glances
As did
Impulses spotless AE86. Subtle carbon, every nut and bolt replaced, toomuch to mention
Zele 370Z, not many 370Z's at the show but this was probably the best 1 there
Rauh-Welt 's Porsche 930. A lot been done to this 1 as it is the boss's own car ie the testbed. Personally I feel Porsche tuners like RuF, Gemballa,Cargraphic and Techarts stuff is overlooked unfairly in favour of Rauh-Welt. Maybe if Rauh Welt were not Japanese....
Sticking with the Porsche theme,
RE-Amemiya had this Porsche nosed Rx-7
and this High Speed Lotus Exige themed example which won car of the show for RE-Amemiya for the second year in a row
TM-Squares pair of Suzuki Swift Sportd, I adore these cars
D1GP demo outside
R35 GTR on the
Nismo stand, where the stupidly overpriced R35 V-Spec was announced
And finally for now, my personal car of the show,
Mugen NSX RR-Concept
A B310 Nissan Sunny, I remember these on the road as a kid, but until recently I didnt know they were a popular racing car in Japan
An Aston Martin/Maserati influenced Nissan 350Z. With the R35 and 370Z, the old 350Z was a bit overlooked at this years show
A Mazda Biante van, shame vans have not really caught on outside of Japan
Its not Japan without Engrish
Nice parts on display, these are HKS Kansai parts. I could easily post thousands of part photos, its what Autosalon is all about
The Calsonic Super GT R35
and a very pleasant surprise just outside my hotel in Yokohama after the last day, a Hakasuka Skyline GTR, not sure if it was genuine but it sounded great as it pulled away.
