Scene: Tokyo Motor Show; Makuhari Messe, Japan
Every two years, Japan has this little car show called the Tokyo Motor Show. There, every major manufacturer brings out its Sunday best, as it relates to the Japanese automotive market. 2007 marked the 40th anniversary of the Tokyo Motor Show and also a pivotal time for enthusiasts in Japan and around the world. TMS takes place at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan-the same place we visit for Tokyo Auto Salon. Henry happened to already be in Japan to get his helmet polished in Kabukicho, so we figured, what the hell-might as well get some work done on the company dime and have the guy shoot while we hit on hot Japanese chicks.
On a serious note, more so than years past, the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show proved to be a who's-who of high-horsepower, factory-tuned machines, including the Nissan GT-R, Lexus LF-A, Lexus IS-F, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Each and every one of these vehicles would have been considered a highly-modified car 10 years ago, and soon you'll be able to purchase each one of these as a showroom-stock vehicle.\
'09 Nissan GT-R
Nissan President Carlos Ghosn introduced the '09 Nissan GT-R, but didn't spend much time on the numbers that define the new monster. He was more interested in talking about the Pivo-2. Good thing we went to the GT-R Seminar days earlier (more on this elsewhere); now, if only we had taken notes. God bless overachievers; we managed to steal Sport Compact Car Editor Joey Leh's Hello Kitty notepad-he was busy hitting on the GT-R's data acquisitions engineer. The red crayon was difficult to read, but we got the gist of stuff. The '09 GT-R is powered by a 3.8L twin-turbo (VR38DETT) that isn't related the VQ37. Nissan has chosen Borg Wagner for its twin-clutch system (similar to the new Evo X) and the new GT-R is the first vehicle in the lineage to use a transaxle (with integrated diff and clutch assembly).
'10 Lexus LF-A
While Justin conned his way into Lexus' IS-F driving event at Laguna Seca, the much manlier LF-A was on display at Tokyo Motor Show. The word is that this will be the Lexus answer to all the European supercars and Nissan's own GT-R. The vehicle looks like it's all concept, but with the current trend of other design studies like the IS-F becoming reality, we can expect this one to appear in about two years as a 2010 vehicle. Nothing is confirmed, but we hear it'll be powered by a super high-revving V-10 powering all four wheels.
All Access: 2009 Nissan GT-R Seminar`
Against better judgment, Nissan invited 250 of its closest friends to an abandoned underground parking structure to see the unofficial unveiling of the '09 Nissan GT-R. We weren't invited so, naturally, we crashed, sneaking in as the hired help. And good thing we did. While the official unveiling would be days later, Nissan gave select media not only a look under the skirt of the new Godzilla, but the proverbial reach-around. The garage had no less than a dozen GT-Rs, both Black Mask and unmasked production models, as well as full cut-aways of the engine, transaxle, suspension and unibody.
By far, this was the most informative event Super Street hasn't been invited to. A GT-R fanboy's dream, the seminar was five solid hours of information with every person on the GT-R development team, including access to engineers, designers and GT-R suppliers. We wouldn't be exaggerating if we said that every piece of the GT-R was disassembled for the sake of having it on display. Nissan also had new, not-yet-leaked footage of the GT-R testing, as well as the G35-esque test mules we saw at Nrburgring in early '07. We have a boner just thinking about it all again.