We blame the movies. Not the entire industry, but two specific films in particular. These two insufferable strips of celluloid have washed over our scene like some sort of infectious epidemic, creating a pestilence for which there is no cure. We thought we had it contained, like SARS, or the bird flu, when, suddenly, a new strain appeared: international distribution.
We witnessed the devastation this plague wrought at the 2004 Tokyo Auto Salon. The horror made us turn our heads in disgust. Grotesque graphics, disfiguring door treatments, and unbearable bagged suspensions: Doth we protest too much? Possibly. Doth we rock the Bill Shakespeare speak too frequently? Most definitely.
We know these flights of fashion have a special place in this scene, the same way a loveable fat kid fits into those teen buddy flicks. Hey, don't get us wrong, we wish we were that loveable fat kid, but this kind of "2 Bashed" style has always been more the exception rather than the norm at TAS. The hottest rides at the Makuhari Messe have always been the high school quarterback-type with the letterman jackets and the perfectly feathered hair, muscular beasts with the singular purpose of humbling everything in their paths. Since when did geek chic rule this roost?
But not everything at this year's show was crafted from Uncle Ben's finest blend. Between the tasty obento box lunches and the even tastier race queens, we found some time to sift through the trash in search of the treasures. To make things easier for you (and because we're just lazy like that), this year's report is presented as a random collection of thoughts and observations.
The Good, The Bad, And The UglyHKS calls its carbon-fiber Hipermax Evo VIII the TRB-02. We call it one bad mamma jamma. The 542hp track attacker obliterated Tsukuba's tuner car record with a 55 flat before the show. That wasn't enough for the HKSers, as they put their own record further out of reach after the show (sidebar alert!).
The Option Stream Z was vying with the HKS Evo for car of the show honors. The major difference was that the 789hp 350Z looked like something that fell off Fred Sanford's truck. The car (featured pre-waddage in our Feb. '04 issue) suffered some kind of mechanical failure after hitting warp speed (well, 334.69 km/h, or 207.97 mph, but that's close enough). A bank of flat-screen monitors playing the Option Video footage of the shunt accompanied the post-apocalyptic display. Much like everyone else, we originally attributed the cause of the wreck to a tire failure, but there are numerous conflicting reports that suggest otherwise. Rather than invoke any attempt at investigative journalism, we'll just chalk it up as one of life's great mysteries and leave it at that.
Aside from the Big Wreck and the Big Record, our fav' tuner car was the Big Golden, Top Secret's GT Z33. This gold-membered phat boy lays down 690 hp with the aid of a single HKS GT turbo. Top Secret also debuted a 424hp turbocharged Skyline V35 coupe (our Infiniti G35 coupe).
The ASL (Autobacs Sports Laboratory) Garaiya is a lightweight SR20DET-powered MR. The Super Autobacs Toda Garaiya pushes it real good with an HKS 2.2L stroker and GT turbo that makes 444 hp.
The show has been awash in weaves with an increase in CF cars as of late. The HKS Evo, C-West's S2000, and Power House Amuse's 571 hp GT-R34 were just some of the blacked-out beauties on display. Not surprisingly, all three of these carbon-laid cars were built as time-attack specials.