Tokyo Auto Salon 2008

It’s only the beginning of January here in cold mid-winter Tokyo but the motor sports calendar has started the year of with a sizzling bang! We have only had enough time to re-cooperate from the freezing New Years temple visits and celebrations here but without even a blink we were invited along again to Chiba’s Makuhari Messe for a very delecetable event. 7Tune’s Peter Horniak went back to the seaside city of Makuhari just outside of Tokyo to check out one of the biggest tuning, ‘dress up’ and custom car shows in the world; Tokyo Auto Salon.Tokyo Auto Salon, one of the largest custom car shows on the planet is a three day event held here in Japan every year on the second weekend of January. This year from the 11^th to 13^th of January the halls of Makuhari Messe (Nippon Convention Centre), a 30 minute ride from central Tokyo by train were filled to their brinks. After wading through the peak hour rush on an early Friday morning train, with all of our gear in tow, we were very happy to be back for another year of the wildest, craziest and fastest modified machines Japan had to offer.

Tokyo Auto Salon or TAS for short, is an absolute Mecca for anyone who is interested in tuning and modifying their car, particularly if it’s of the J.D.M. flavor. At the show this year there were displays from all the big tuning companies and shops including Blitz, Greddy, RE-Amemiya, Mines, Impul and Top Secret. HKS was also on show celebrating their 35^th birthday this year in big style. Each company had on exhibit their massive range of products, bolt on/bolt off tuning parts, electronics and accessories. Other shops were also on hand for anyone who was looking for more ‘specific’ parts or those rare hard to find bits for your Nihon-sha (Lit. Japanese Car).

In each and every corner manufacturers and shops were also proudly showing off their slickest and most radical demo cars for this year. (Some with the vinyl still being painstakingly attached and paint drying!) One by one, they all had their own line up of parts jam packed into and under the hoods of their cars displaying what they’ve been busy working on and developing for the past year. RE-Amemiya had on display and army of Rotary and Mazda cars all tuned and worked on in house by the company. Near Amemiya, PANSpeed had their new Rotary “Attack 7″ on display with its super wide body kit, fresh back from Tsukuba Circuit. Another crowd favorite was the Top Secret stand and some of the V.I.P. brands rounding off an very interesting and colourful show.

In addition to the demo cars and to keep all the boys happy snapping away, most companies had campaign girls to go along with their displays! Through out the whole day, campaign girls, flier girls and other ‘assistants’ were being shot by the very ‘eager’ crowd. Some of the girls drew bigger crowds than the drivers with crowds five or six people deep! Whether the cars were photographed with the ladies is another question though.

So, what was big at this years show?Well, with the heavily anticipated GTR now on the market, tuning shops haven’t wasted a second getting new parts and accessories made for the GTR. The Mitsubishi Evolution X and Subaru Impreza have also been booked in for some serious tuning this year by Japanese parts makers. Of the 3 vehicles, the GTR seemed to get the most attention with most big workshops displaying their own slightly modified versions of the car. Though it has only been out a short time and only available to tuning houses for much less, many companies have already developed front lip spoilers, air cleaner kits, stiffer suspension and soon to be completed, exhaust systems for the car. Top Secret was one such company with their GTR sitting next to their famed V10 Supra and V35 Skyline.

Following in the GTRs’ foot steps was Mitsubishi’s Evolution X. Most companies have also taken to tuning the Evolution with great enthusiasm and along with the Nissan, have taken it upon themselves to release new parts, electronics, air intake kits, suspension parts and exhaust systems for the car. The Subaru Impreza and STI Impreza have also received the same treatment with a host of bolt on parts being released by the same tuners and companies.

Next to the big name tuning brands, automotive manufacturers and their own in house tuners were also on hand displaying some of their concepts and possible future releases. One of them, Mazda, had on show some of their favorites but with a dash of new vibrance and a few face lifts care of Mazda speed. Mazda Speed’s Atenza, RX-8, Roadster and Demio have all been given new interiors along with bucket seats, bigger brakes and sportier front masks to round off a more aggressive and tougher stance for the 4 cylinder and rotary cousins.

Honda as well, through the care of Mugen, brought out their Honda Civic Mugen RR/Experimental spec. Civic. The car featuring an all carbon front end, upgraded brake packaged and interior took center stage at the Mugen stand taking away some of the limelight of the new Mugen S2000. Over at the Honda stand (in a different area) there was also the Sports Modulo Type R which has been modified from a base Type R Civic and slightly improved with larger 19″ wheels and other interior parts in preparation for the street and circuit battles.

In another corner of the huge 3 halls taken up by the show, was by far some the most creative and funky cars ever developed. Whilst TAS covers many big name, big brand companies and tuning shops, Japans automotive technical schools are also on display at the show. This year Nihon Automobile College or NATS for short, put out some great cars and designs adding a little more creativity to the show. The NATS horizon, built by a team of College students and their professor, put together a Mazda Roadster with a totally redesigned and rebuilt tubular front end, drastically remade rear end and a V8 from a JZZ30 Toyota Soarer! They also had on show a posse of other redesigned and modified cars, all made by college students and their professors at the school in Narita, Chiba.

In total this year’s show brought out over 600 different vehicles and over 300 different companies, raising the bar again for sheer the sheer number and variety of vehicles on show. The show also brought along many a visitor in spite of freezing and bad weather with a large increase of foreign visitors again in 2008. It seems that the tuning scene here in Japan is alive and well and with the help of the new GTR, Evolution and Impreza. The future looks bright for tuning companies and their fans, not only in Japan but around the world. For now though, with another year over, a few hundred dollars left behind on parts and pieces at the show, we say good bye and we look forward again to Auto Salon in 2009!

 

Words: Peter Horniak

Photos: Peter Horniak

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