Ah, the Tokyo Auto Salon-it's the one trip we long for all year 'round, the flavor that we savor. It's where we, as American journalists, subject ourselves to 10-hour flights, the bitter cold and royally screw with our internal body clocks so we can rush the halls of the Makuhari Messe, which is home (for three days at least) to Japan's top tuners and tuning part manufacturers.This is where all the kids congregate for a first look at the parts that'll add power or looks, not to mention the cars that rock 'em. This year we noticed fewer participants overall, but that the quality of the products are improving- always a good thing! Hot on the list of things to see were the new D1 drift cars for '06, wheels from Yokohama and Rays Engineering (check the super limited edition TE-37s), HKS' ever-expanding parts list for the VQ35 and CT25 engines and the K20-powered MR2 Spyders from Halfway. However, noticeably absent was A'PEXi and the usually extravagant Hironao Yokomaku and his company, VeilSide, and its fleet of stylish super cars. Maybe we should be expecting something huge in the months to come? Possibly-but for now, let's take a look at what really got our attention.
Time Out
In not-so-shocking news, the Tokyo Auto Salon is also a hot spot to catch all the latest Time Attack cars in person. Even the ones that haven't yet challenged the Tsukuba circuit can be found here. Sun Line Auto (shown) just happened to have the fastest S15 Silvia in the world on hand; NOB Taniguchi drove it to an amazing 57.291 lap time at Tsukuba. The ASM Honda S2000, which is powered by a Toda-built F20C, set the fastest lap time in the FR/MR-NA class for the third year in a row with a 58.063 lap time. Top Fuel brought on GT driver Tetsuya Yamano to take their stroked and boosted S2000 to a time of 57.711. And if this doesn't sound crazy, Takero's Super Lap Odyssey-yes, a Honda Odessey mini-van-had a turbocharged K24 swapped into its engine bay and ran off with a respectable and quick 1:08.465.
Sidetracked
Nitto, which has huge support from many US segments, announced its recent move to the Japanese market. They also held a private track event for those who went on the Turbo TAS tour at Twin Ring Motegi, where readers were given ride-alongs with Pacific Rim's Dai Yoshihara and Super GT driver Yasukichi Yamamoto (no relation to Yamz) in the Razo Z, as well as a host of other cars, including a DC5 Integra Type R, Mazda FC3S RX-7, and Honda S2000, to name a few. We were also shown around Twin Ring's operational facilities and snooped around the Honda Collection Hall. And while the others weren't looking, Nads, JDM and our official Spanish-to-Japanese translator, Tetsuya Ogushi, went head to head at the go-karting track. Tetsu still thinks Nads' win was a fluke. For more information on how you can join the Turbo TAS tour next year, contact Kintetsu International Travel at 888-245-5874 or log onto www.kintetsu.com/autosalon.
 Playing the role of gracious...  Playing the role of gracious host once again was our favorite sukebe guys and girl (Hi Yumi-chan!) from Signal Auto out of Osaka. This year's booth car is a follow-up to last year's Fairlady Z, a Z-car of a similar look and SR20-power, which will be campaigned in Time Attack events throughout the year. Sharing booth space with Signal, we also gave out these extremely limited edition Super Street X anniversary shirts that are rarer than finding a pair of Marvel Bapestas from Nigo. We couldn't even score a shirt for ourselves! |  Mugen dominates with the Civic...  Mugen dominates with the Civic Dominator and shouts "Dynomite!" with the successor to the Fit Dynamite, the Spec-D. Both rely on super- charged power, a route previously untraveled by the leader in naturallym aspirated Honda performance, and will be featured in both this and next month's issues (see the Spec-D elsewhere). Mugen also released a new 17- and 18-inch wheel, the GP, which comes in either a bronze or gun metallic finish. |  Rays Engineering always comes...  Rays Engineering always comes up with hot wheel designs every year, so it was no surprise to see that they added to the GT series with the GTM and the GTS, which can be ordered in a variety of special colors (check the gold GTS). They've also revamped plenty of classics, giving the Gram Lights a polished face with a titanium lip, and the TE-37s and CE-28Ns now come in either a matte black with a red lip or titanium silver finish (no red lip). |
 Falken, which came out huge...  Falken, which came out huge this year at TAS, brought the Tamon Designs RX-7 (see the cover story on page 66) and the first Japanese car driven by an American-Mr. Calvin Wan-to win a Formula D event, or any American drift event for that matter. Calvin performed numerous dance routines for the eager Japanese and sang love ballads for anyone who requested. |  This belongs in the "you've...  This belongs in the "you've got to be kidding us" pile: G.shape's R34 body kit is probably the most expensive body kit we've ever seen-period. At a whopping $8,429 (current exchange rate as of press time, if you want to talk real numbers), we'd guarantee you a cover if you put one of these onto your GT-R. Ha! That's just as silly as someone who'd actually pay that much for the body kit in the first place. |  HKS represented in a huge...  HKS represented in a huge way, bringing back the TRB-02 carbon fiber Evo VIII in a brand new red color along with its D1GP Altezza, perfect for its driver, NOB Taniguchi. It also unveiled superchargers, turbochargers, and twin-turbo kits for the VQ, along with the F-CON iS, the F-CON SZ replacement, which connects directly to your ECU to adjust fuel and ignition timing. |