For us, the walk through the halls of the Makuhari Messe during the Tokyo Auto Salon gets better every year-or worse, depending on your point of view. Our feeble little minds can't grasp everything that's thrust upon us in a carbon-fiber-wrapped, ball-bearing- turbocharged blur. This isn't just a sensory overload; it's a combination of sucker punches and body blows stunning us at every turn. Matching Mugen Civic and Integra Type Rs-slam! A VeilSide wide-body Lancer Evo pushing 562 hp-bam! A 900hp Skyline R34-thank you, ma'am, may we have another?
The Tokyo Auto Salon is the place where Japan's top tuners show off their wares. Unfortunately, Japan's current economic state is not in the best shape right now. Well, it is if you consider the smoldering ashes of an economic superpower gone awry to be a good shape. This weak economy conspired with the global consequences of 9/11 to make for a smaller Auto Salon than usual (ask us if we cared-it still rocked). There were noticeably fewer exhibitors this year, but this decrease was offset by a tremendous increase in OEM participation. Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, and Subaru all had a large presence at the show. But none of these exhibits could rival Toyota's digs. Japan's largest carmaker went big with a production that rivaled an MC Hammer stage show (before he lost everything including the MC). Toyota's Auto Salon exhibit looked more like a Toyota dealership spanning almost the entire length of one of the halls.
Car Of The ShowIn the U.S., tweaked Hondas are like Starbucks-you can find one on every corner. Things are different in Japan, and the TAS show floor normally doesn't sport too many Honda-powered cars. But 2002 at the Auto Salon proved to be the year of the DC5 Honda Integra, or the Acura RSX as we know it. Part of this blossoming tuner love stems from Japan's N1 Endurance series, which features an N1 Plus class. N1 Plus has been a spec-class for the Civic-until this year when, you guessed it, the Integra Type R will be the star. We found a few N1 Plus Integras from such tuners as Mugen, Signal Auto, and Top Secret. Regardless of the N1 Plus involvement, the DC5 still proved to be more popular than that girl in junior high who "developed" early.
There was a grip of other notable Integras at the show. Alpine's blue Type R was loaded with I.C.E. VeilSide successfully captured the DTM look with its Integra Racing Edition. Top Fuel also incorporated the VeilSide widebody treatment in conjunction with one of its turbo systems, boosting output to 320 hp.
Always On TopThe new Integra may have caused a splash this year, but the perennial stars of this show continue to be the Supras, Skylines, Silvias, and RX-7s. Top Secret's R34 Skyline made our jaws drop, and its RB26-powered Supra made our pants drop-then we touched ourselves while imagining a drive in this freakish crossbreed. Signal painted its 597hp S15 in a beautiful bronze to match the DC5. RE Amemiya stayed on top of the RX-7 game with a pair of high-powered FDs locked in an apparent pose-off with bulges, wings, splitters, and flares-neither car giving an inch to the other.
Then there were the products-every hard engine product you could imagine, turbos in a virtually unlimited number of sizes and combinations, and coilovers and brakes that didn't look as if they shared race car technology. These pieces looked as if they had been snatched directly from the parts shelf of a top-flight team.
If you have the means, we highly recommend a trip to next year's Tokyo Auto Salon. It is so choice.
Gals Paradise: Race Queens Gone WildIt's impossible to move through the crowd during the Tokyo Auto Salon, and when the models come out, forget about moving-breathing gets difficult. This is not only because the crowd crushes your chest but also because these models are so breathtaking. (Ha! Did you see how we moved so effortlessly from the literal to the figurative? We crack ourselves up.)