Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Pure Pornography

One of, if not THE most beautiful cars ever made. The Tipo 33 Stradale. Just so sexy.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Tokyo Auto Salon Singapore 2013 - The JDM Connection II

Following up on the previous post of the cars which made their way down from Japan, we now have probably the most nondescript looking car that was brought down. It might not look like it, but this "Mugen RR Advanced Concept" is a very rare machine indeed. A one-off creation from Honda's in house tuners, Mugen. Full of (probably really expensive) Mugen parts, the real appeal of the RR Advanced is, you guess it, all body panels have been replaced by parts made out of CF. Keeping the weight on the down low, and the expenses on the high up. I'm sure Honda fans wouldn't mind having one in their garage though. Another Honda, but this time from Spoon. Built to celebrate Spoon's 20 years of race entries, this NSX-R GT was shortly after, entered in the Macau GP. A race car through and through, this NSX has had it's internals fully worked over and it's weight reduced to 980 kilos. Here's a video of the NSX-R GT's Macau outing. Another heavy hitter but this time off the tracks and onto the streets. The warriors of the wangan, Abflug brought out a GTR with their signature wild aero. Although not as radical as their 90's creations, this GTR still looked tough and battle ready. Speaking of aero, you can't mention aerokits without the name Varis popping out. Also bringing along a GTR. Those race inspired slats behind the front wheels are apparently catching on as the new "in" thing. Do you like it? It's quite strange to see Veilside having such a small display area, especially if you have seen their stands over in Japan. Shown in pretty much all corners of the internets, no prizes for guessing the base car beneath the extensive bodywork of the Veilside 4509. An odd but still welcomed addition to the show is RK Design's Corvette. Odd because well, there's no chance a street legal Corvette will ever be running on our roads which makes totally zero commercial value for bringing it over. But welcomed because there really is no harm for us to look at a ZR1 right?

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Veneno goes vroom vroom!

What's the matter? Veneno got your tongue?

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Tokyo Auto Salon Singapore 2013 - The JDM Connection I

You can't call an event like this the Tokyo Auto Salon without a fair share of Japanese tuning houses attending right? While some (to be honest, me included) might feel that there just were not enough of these heavyweights having a stronger presence at the show, i do applaud the considerable efforts of the organising team for being able to bring them over in the first place. I'm guessing a whole load of work was involved just to convince these shops to attend the show, so big props to them. Although i wish they brought down more cars or at least their flagships, i guess we have to start somewhere right? Since this year's show in Makuhari was the year of the 86, let's start things off with a pair of 86's. The first one, courtesy of Top Secret, sports Kei Miura's Rocket Bunny kit but with interestingly smoothened off fenders. A slightly different look from the (if you can call it) regular Rocket Bunny 86s you see on the internets. The only exposed rivets were on the front bumper. The rear wing adds a slight change from when the car was presented earlier in the year. Power wise, we have no idea. But according to sources, it's been boosted with a Greddy Turbo kit and knowing Smokey Nagata, it'll probably be back into the shop for more serious hardware before hits the wangan. Another 86, but this time from the masters of style at DAMD. It's pretty clear where the inspiration's from on their demo 86. All in, it's a pretty detailed take on remodelling the 86 after it's much bigger brother, the LFA, they even replicated the tiny opening on the bonnet. I think it's not bad at all, what about you? One of the stars of the Auto Salon last year, RE Amemiya's Super NA 7. With a very wild reshaping of the FD's body, it's somewhat peculiar why it was given the NA treatment. But as with all Ame-san's creations, it ain't no slouch. Big turbo power gives way to a screaming NA rotary unit and lightness instead. Some say, it's good for 300 horses. Don't need much intro of these 2 track regulars. A pair of S2000s from Power House Amuse and Top Fuel. Though interesting, we sort of wish they brought out something more recent instead. Another RX7, this time from Zesty Racing. Looking very similar to a certain very quick Suzuki Jikou Racing FD, we wonder if it's the same car. Let's just say, i'm not a fan... Another oddity, this Fiat 500 had all the looks of a vintage racer. But it's trump card isn't in it's appearance. It's what's under that fat rear hatch. A peak at the spec sheet reveals a 1000cc Aprilia motorbike engine. Good for 190 horses at just over 12,000 rpm. Best part? Street legal. A look at some of the goodies Vertex brought along to the show. Perhaps to make up for the lack of a showcar, their 2JZ powered BMW is probably currently busy on the D1 circuit, so we can't really blame them. They had quite a number of cool stuff to buy as long as you are willing to part with your hard-earned!