As a nation famed for its patience, discipline, and peace of mind, the Japanese appear to have a habit of restoring essentially the most unforgiving and uncompromised race cars to the road.
Probably essentially the most famous – or most documented, at the very least – is Takeshi Moroi’s Porsche 962C featured by Dino back in 2012. Many years earlier, this is able to’ve been thundering down the Mulsanne Straight at over 200mph. Nevertheless, seeing it parked in front of a Tokyo Family Mart is in some way much more impressive.
For those who prefer your race cars more suited to anything but smooth tarmac, Junya Matsushita’s S4 Subaru Impreza is the epitome of ’90s WRC. Built by Prodrive for the 1998 season and imported from the Netherlands in 2010, Junya spent years painstakingly restoring it to its former glory. Expensive, but value every penny.
And for those without the budget to sink right into a legitimate ex-racer, all hope isn’t lost. Simply ditch all of your automotive’s comforts and spend a terrifying period of time sourcing period-correct parts like wheels and spoilers, and the result’s your very own road-going replica. A passion shared by Mashahiko Yamazai and his friends as they rip across the streets of Saitama of their Super Touring-inspired builds.
Race cars will all the time be cool. That’s a press release every Speedhunter could be united on, and their appeal for being converted from track to road use almost all the time comes back to the identical reason: to create the rawest, most unfiltered and visceral driving experience conceivable… without having to go to the track first.
Is that this all the time enjoyable? Absolutely not. The truth of owning a real race automotive for the road – versus a road automotive tweaked for the racetrack – could be so much more painful. And I say that as someone who owned a road-going Ferrari 360 Challenge automotive for nearly five years, which subsequently spent lower than 12 months actually fit to be used.
But from time to time, something so unhinged comes along that surprises even essentially the most seasoned Speedhunter, something so obscure and ridiculous it goes beyond the how is it on the road and firmly into the why. Because in the sport of road-legal race automotive Top Trumps, Syuichi Kinoshita has an almost unbeatable hand…
The Lamborghini Diablo wasn’t exactly wanting a special edition. Between 1990 and 2001, a complete of two,907 were produced in Sant’Agata, with 18 different versions available over that point. The majority of those (873) were 2WD Diablos between 1990 and 1996, followed by the VT and VT Roadster (including the later 6.0 in 2000/2001), which between them account for nearly two-thirds of Diablos produced.
Delving into the more limited models, the SE30 accounts for just 157 units, followed by the GT with just 81 being built between 1999 and 2000. Then, there are the 2 racing editions – the SV-R and GTR – limited to 30 units each and exclusively built for racing. Although, in keeping with Instagram, most of those now look like road-legal and residing in Japan, too…
Nevertheless, all of those numbers look positively mass-produced in comparison with what’s tucked away in Kinoshita-san’s garage. Not only is it one in every of two REITER Engineering-prepared Diablos built for competition within the GT2 racing class, however it’s also the one one which’s road-legal. And that wasn’t a requirement for competition use or REITER feeling particularly spicy; that’s all on Kinoshita-san who, after obtaining the automotive in a reasonably bad state, decided he might as well throw in the additional bits needed to get it legal for its shaken (roadworthiness) inspection while reassembling it.
“A friend of mine spent nearly three years tracking down and obtaining the automotive, but once it arrived, the dimensions of labor required was an excessive amount of for him to handle,” Kinoshita-san explains. “On the time, I already owned a Gallardo LP560, so I understood the appeal and theatre of a Lamborghini. It could take an extended time to rebuild and reassemble the REITER GT2 Diablo – around 10 years in total – and lately, the parts are almost not possible to search out. And for the parts you may obtain, values have skyrocketed!”
REITER was formed in 2000 by racing engineer Hans Reiter, and the GT2 Lamborghini Diablo can be the primary official REITER-prepared automotive to compete within the FIA GT championship. Taking the already potent Diablo GT as a base, REITER extensively modified each cars to satisfy the GT2 regulations, with the 6.0-litre V12 engine producing nearly 600hp.
This GT2 Diablo would mark the start of REITER’s Lamborghini journey, as for the following 14 years, they’d be accountable for developing and preparing all of Lamborghini’s race editions, including the Gallardo GT3 and the brutal Murciélago R-GT.
“I actually have all the time loved cars from a young age, and as soon as I could drive, I’d enjoy modifying whatever I owned to make it feel more like a race automotive on the road,” Kinoshita-san recalls. “At first, I began with an EP71 Starlet, then a JZX90 Mark II and even a GX71 Cresta. I purchased my first Lamborghini – the Gallardo LP560 – in a while because I loved how rough, powerful and attractive it seemed. It had the looks and performance of a racing automotive, however it was still very easy to make use of on the road. Quickly, I became obsessive about all things Lamborghini, and when the chance got here to purchase the REITER GT2, I couldn’t say no.”
With only two cars in existence, the predominant issue Kinoshita-san faced was trying to interchange any missing or damaged components – lots of which required custom-making and took months to reach. Thankfully, the 6.0-litre V12 and Holinger sequential gearbox were still in good condition, and despite its racing history, the all-carbon exterior was complete, including the GT2-specific components corresponding to the diffuser, rear adjustable wing and front splitter. Kinoshita-san knew early on that he desired to get the GT2 road-ready, so during this process, he took several measures to attempt to make it a little bit easier to take care of in the longer term.
“In racing form, there aren’t any exhaust restrictors, so it’s crazy loud!” he adds. “I installed several silencers and an exhaust valve to maintain the Diablo quiet at low speed, which I believe my neighbours were very comfortable about. For racing, the fuel tanks are a bag in a Kevlar case, but these expire every few years and are very expensive to interchange. So, we created an aluminium tank as an alternative, and at the identical time added a front nose-lift system; otherwise, it might be too low to drive into most gas stations.”
“The one thing I’d still like to vary is the steering rack because attempting to get around Japan’s tight roads takes many attempts, however it is a small price to pay to get to make use of such a crazy automotive on the road.”
Watching Kinoshita-san thread the Diablo through Tokyo is nothing wanting jaw-dropping. Aside from the warmth – which Kinoshita-san has tried to combat with a token 12V fan within the footwell – it’s surprisingly well-mannered and unusually quiet. Until the exhaust valve flicks open…
The least amount of throttle will easily light up the 310-wide Michelins. Don’t be fooled by the grooves; these aren’t typical Pilot Sports or Cup 2s; they’re a full wet-weather competition slick as an alternative. But with indicators, number plates and the power to crawl over speed bumps, it’s fit for the road… nearly. And Kinoshita-san doesn’t hide it away either; he’ll repeatedly join Lamborghini owner days at any opportunity. While its lack of track use might seem to be a waste, before he took on the project, it was just one other ex-race automotive in a thousand pieces unfit for any use.
“Along with the Diablo GT2, I replaced my Gallardo with an Aventador, which is a totally different experience,” adds Kinoshito-san. “The mixture of the Lamborghini look and a naturally aspirated V12 is something I believe lots of us dream of. They’re two completely different cars, but additionally they share numerous the identical DNA, which I believe could be present in all Lamborghinis, recent and old. But what I would really like to do greater than anything in 2025 is to take the GT2 back on the racing track to see the way it performs. It will not be as fast as modern race cars, but I don’t think there are lots of other cars on the market which is able to provide the identical form of feeling – and that feeling I won’t ever get tired of.”
You’d think that after a road-legal 926C, a WRC Impreza and a GT2 Diablo, the streets of Tokyo couldn’t get more outrageous. But Kinoshito-san is already eyeing up the following REITER project – a Murciélago R-GT. In the case of Japan, you never rule anything out.
Mark Riccioni
Instagram: mark_scenemedia
Twitter: markriccioni
mark@speedhunters.com
This Article First Appeared At www.speedhunters.com
