In a little bit over a month’s time, not less than a few hundred thousand individuals are expected to make their strategy to Makuhari Messe for the 2024 Tokyo Auto Salon. The most important modified automotive show on the planet is a bucket list event for a lot of, and since Speedhunters got its start in 2008, we’ve attended religiously. It’ll be no different this coming January, with a giant team on the bottom in Japan’s capital city to capture the newest and biggest tuning trends from the JDM motherland.
With this in mind, we thought we’d revisit TAS from 10 years ago for this week’s Throwback Thursday post. How far have things evolved during the last decade? You is perhaps surprised… When you’ve finished up with this post, you may as well take a look at Dino’s top five automotive picks from Tokyo Auto Salon 2014 here.
2014 Feature
It’s 9.00am Friday morning in Japan and the doors have just swung open on the Makuhari Messe, allowing a monstrous crowd of media to spill into the halls of the 2014 Tokyo Auto Salon. Since I figured you wouldn’t wish to wait a complete day for a taste of what this 12 months’s show has to supply, yesterday I paid my usual pre-show visit to TAS while the tuners, manufacturers and parts makers were busy organising their booths.
My first port of call was a fast stop at the large 13-car-strong Liberty Walk display. After seeing the success its US demo automotive enjoyed on the SEMA Show in Las Vegas a few months back, I just had to see an LB Works kit-equipped Ferrari 458 up close. After weeks of trying out Kato-san’s Instagram feed I knew exactly what a few of the cars looked like, but irrespective of what number of pictures I’ve seen, nothing quite prepared me for the visual impact his wild kits had on each the Italia and the candy blue R35 parked next to it.
I’m glad the entire red wheel thing is catching on too… With the roof down, the Ferrari’s rear three-quarter view is just mouthwatering; those fender flares just containing the aggressive offset of the wheels.
If the Spider isn’t for you, the black 458 hardtop Kato also brought along to the show is sure to satisfy. I just can’t stress how rattling low these cars sit! Once the rear diffuser is fitted (it was yet to be installed on black automotive on the time I grabbed this picture) there may be lower than one centimeter of ground clearance…
What was I saying about ride height? Liberty Walk is on a real roll. It had one of the talked about cars of SEMA and now it’s well on its strategy to being a stand-out exhibitor at this 12 months’s Auto Salon. While this pink Murciélago was great and all, it was Kato’s two Kenmeris that I used to be really itching to see. Nevertheless, as a result of some delays they weren’t going to be dropped off until later within the night, so that you’ll must wait for my next post from the show to see them intimately.
And yes, when you’re one among the fortunate people heading to the show over the weekend, you’ll get to see greater than one among LB Works’ GT-Rs too!
It’s difficult to face out amongst a sea of prohibitively expensive exotica, however the moment I spotted the S & Company Maserati Gran Turismo MC Stradale I just needed to go in for a better look. The automotive sports S & C’s latest satin wrap, which looks and feels remarkably like real paint.
The KM4SH 86
It looks like a protracted time ago since we began chatting to Miura-san of TRA Kyoto about collaborating on a novel series of aero parts. After much discussions, translation, and various 3D renders, I used to be blown away by how good the KM4SH 86 turned out. I really like how aggressive it manages to be, without being excessive, and that front lip spoiler looks even higher than it did in digital concept form. The soon-to-be-released 6666mesh wheels from Enkei are only what the doctor ordered for a kit of this nature – you simply can’t argue with copious amount of lip mated to a classic center.
The blokes at S & Company were ensuring the black body shined like a mirror because of a collection of Kleers detailing products. You may read more in regards to the KM4SH project here.
I can have to ask Miura-san what number of cars at this 12 months’s show are fitted along with his aero parts.
It’s not a lot the 86 kits that I’m talking about – there have been loads of those including the Rocket Bunny V2 on the Trust booth – but his style has really influenced a big slice of the JDM aftermarket.
That features exotic imports, time attack machines and high speed cars.
But in fact, there’s quite a bit more to TAS. It’s such a mishmash of styles and ideologies, with a definite must shock.
It’s all the time interesting to see how quickly trends arrive and are applied to the very latest crop of cars.
In The Mix
History is rarely forgotten – which is a excellent thing – but to date I haven’t seen quite as many old style rides as I’d have liked to.
That said, I will certainly be on the hunt for more today!
As you may imagine, the new-gen baby Lexus sedan has quickly change into a well-liked platform for aesthetic modifications. That is Tommykaira’s takes on the refreshed IS.
Lexus’s spindle grille meets the Works overfender look on the Aimgain ZN6. Could this be considered a luxury drift automotive?
Over the course of the weekend I’ll be spending plenty of time within the adjoining halls that were added to TAS last 12 months. That is where the large Option display is situated, in addition to the RH9 guys with their crazy-powerful cars. It’s these machines that add a more ‘functional’ aspect to the show, where power still rules above style and where the cars are engineered for purpose. Oh yeah, that’s a twin turbo, four-rotor rotary engine that Kawato-san at Total Automobile Produce Magic might be fitting in a brand new FD3S RX-7 drift automotive. Mad Mike Whiddett must be pleased as he gets to drive it!
Who said hybrids should be boring? It could be an over-the-top show automotive, however the Kuhl Racing Prius sports probably the most unique roll cage I actually have ever seen – something to do with it being fabricated out of exhaust piping. Okay, so it’s not functional, nevertheless it’s cool and that’s all these kinds of cars try to perform.
The 2014 Super GT season is barely a few months away and there are many GT500 and GT300 cars to ascertain out on the show. That features the Nismo GT-R which we first saw last month in Fuji on the Nismo Festival. It’ll be exciting to see how this 1000kg, 2.0L turbo, DTM-rule-based racer does agains the Honda NSX and the Lexus RC.
I really can’t get enough of the Ferrari F12. I can’t recall a automotive that has done ‘it’ for me as much because the R34 GT-R, as this one.
And talking of GT-Rs, Top Secret, together with a bunch of Japanese tuners including Phoenix’s Power, Screen and JUN, had enough R35s between them to carry a single-make race series!
Each time I have a look at a Varis automotive I can’t help but shed a tear. Its cars are a few of the best-looking in the entire Japanese tuning scene and it just makes me sad that they never did anything for the R34. Guys, seriously, please give you something nice and functional made out of carbon for us forgotten san-yon owners. Onegaishimasu!
The Varis name was being repped within the RAYS booth too with the Bulletproof Scion FR-S all the best way from California. Originally unveiled at SEMA, the ZN6 was sitting pretty on Volk Racing G25s.
Modelling a set of brightly-colored 20-inch TE37s was the all-dry-carbon Overtake GT-R – a machine that completely balances function with form. Weight reduction and a couple of chosen engine upgrades are all that’s needed to make this thing perform.
I’ll wind up this preview from TAS with one last surprise – the BenSopra Z33 in-built collaboration with RYO in Hiroshima. The automotive was still being assembled as I grabbed this shot, so you’ll have to attend for the total coverage to see more. Its flat-white sister automotive might be on display on the Trust booth from today, together with what could be the highlight of the show. I might need to treat you guys to a highlight in a while that individual automotive tonight as I know you’ll wish to see it!
Dino Dalle Carbonare
Instagram: dino_dalle_carbonare
This Article First Appeared At www.speedhunters.com
