By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

How about this 800-horsepower Bentley Continental-based Tetsu GTR, built by ASI of Japan? Full details from Toyo after the jump.

By Ben Schaffer

Bulletproof Automotive

I’ve been holding back the rendering and the press release until Toyo released it. Here it is. The car will look a little/LOT different, but this is just a rough idea. Full press release after the jump.

By Ben Schaffer

Bulletproof Automotive

I miss Japan days of old. These days I see less and less of this hardcore stuff on the street in Japan, but back a few years ago I’d be amazed often while just walking down the street. I took this picture in a parking lot in Japan and that's all that really needs to be said. The car pictured is a beautifully done Monocraft widebody ZZW30 Toyota MR-S. It even has a bag over the seat, so I think the owner just had it serviced or detailed.

Anyway, the Monocraft widebody is always a classic. It was kits like this and the natural light weight of the MR-S that always made me want to get one. This setup with a 300hp turbocharged engine would be a whole lot of fun.

By Ben Schaffer

Bulletproof Automotive

I just got an email from Japan on this. Apparently in Japan Trust/GReddy filed for bankruptcy. I only have one source on this at the moment, but it's a reliable industry source. It is obviously really sad news; not just for the company and their many employees world wide, but also for the industry as a whole, within which TRUST/GReddy has been one of the oldest and most stable companies for decades.

I hope this news is false, but my sources are deep in the industry and are almost never wrong.

By Ben Schaffer

Bulletproof Automotive

There is nothing JDM about this car by the classic definition of the term (products produced/for sale in Japan only). This car is all French. It's an OEM limited-production model by Renault. Yet there is no denying the connection between this car and the tuning techniques often talked about on the blog and utilized by top tuning firms like Amuse, Top Secret and the like. One look at this car and you get the feeling of a quality tuned car deserving of the same instant respect that would be given to the latest creation from Japan’ s best. Continue reading...

By Ben Schaffer

Bulletproof Automotive

I wanted to blog about a company that is always behind the scenes but often not recognized. Do you know the name Tracy Sports? If not, you soon will…

I met Yamamoto-san from Tracy Sports nearly three years ago. At the time I was so impressed, I instantly decided that I wanted to become their North American distributor despite them being entirely unknown outside of Japan. This happens from time to time, I get lucky and find a great company that nobody has ever heard of and then I make it my goal to let the world know. Over the past three years, I’ve ended up distributing Tracy Sports products to clients all over the world and people are now starting to see first hand what I’ve seen.

You might recognize some of their products on my S2000, and if you read this blog you’ve seen their parts on various clients cars as well. I’m going to focus now on what you haven’t seen. Lets start with one picture of one of my favorite cars of theirs and then tomorrow I’ll dig deeper into it. I hope you love this car as much as I do, it’s one of my all time favorite NSX’s.

Want to know more about Tracy Sports? Read Part 2 and Part 3 of this article at The Real JDM.

By Ben Schaffer

Bulletproof Automotive

As you can see, this exquisitely modified GT-R uses a Zele rear under spoiler produced in carbon fiber along with a Mines titanium exhaust. Stay tuned next week for more of this car along with some updates from some of our other high profile client cars. More pics after the jump.

By Ben Schaffer

Bulletproof Automotive

I first saw this car a couple of years back in a full feature spread placed in UK’s Evo Magazine (easily the worlds best car magazine written in English). When I first saw it I was extremely impressed but it appeared that it was just a concept car designed to show off Lotus race prep capabilities. It was meant to be their vision of a GT racer using the Exige chassis, but they didnt seem to have any further plans for it. They ultimately called it the Exige 300R. At the time it looked to me that the car would do the show circuit as a fancy Lotus concept car and that’d be the end of it. A damn shame that would have been if my thoughts were correct. Here are some of the specs:

1580 LBS
Full dry carbon widebody
400hp DTM spec 3.0L V6
Hewland sequential transmission
Motec M8, Ohlins custom suspension, AP brakes, etc.

Now, a high revving 400hp 6cyl and a sequential transmission in a 1580 package--that just sounds like an insane death machine. How insane you ask? Continue reading...

By Ben Schaffer

Bulletproof Automotive

Voltex just recently announced on their website that they are stopping all production of their wet carbon CT9A Lancer Evolution 8/9 hoods. Why? Because they learned that Seibon made a knockoff of their hood and that people were actually buying the knockoff. Out of concern that people could accidentally mistake the Seibon quality for Voltex quality if they saw it on a car at a race/street/show, Voltex made a statement on their website that they will no longer make that hood in wet carbon.

Here is a picture of the Voltex hood which they wind tunnel tested and did extensive R&D with the Cyber Evo over the years, at their expense of course, with the hope that they’d be able to sell enough to recoup their expenses so they could continue on making more innovative original parts. Continue reading...

By Ben Schaffer

Bulletproof Automotive

At least I think these are the wheels that Nismo will offer. Whatever they end up on (Vspec, Nismo Aftermarket or whatever), am I the only one who thinks they are really disappointing visually? I know that’s blasphemy and all to say that about a Nismo product, but seriously, how many of you can look at them and tell me they are not ugly.

Maybe the looks will grow on me in time, but I don’t think so. There is some chance that they have a center cover for the lugs that changes the design and makes it look like something entirely different--that’s the only hope I have for this design.

Sometimes I say things and look back and feel really stupid for saying them. I might feel that way about this post if these rims end up growing on me. But for now, I gotta call it like I see it. Two more pics after the jump.

By Ben Schaffer

Bulletproof Automotive

I must admit, I started my craze for JDM tuning like most Americans who were never so lucky as to have the classic early Evos, Subys and GT-Rs... I started with Honda. Maybe if I grew up in Japan, I would have been all about Nissan from my birth, but being an American in the mid 90s, Honda were IT. The first car I modified was a '93 Prelude VTEC and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Mugen was the pinnacle of JDM (and still could be, depending on your perspective) and the exotic and impossible to access nature of Mugen’s parts was the kind of story reserved for legend or urban myth. I don't think I ever felt as cool as the day I bought a set of Mugen pedals for my girlfriend’s Honda Accord. We were both crazy excited about that purchase (looking back... some stupid overpriced pedals). Those pedals were like JDM gold back then, and they cost about as much as well.

Recently, I stumbled across this vintage 1991 Mugen catalog and it brought back so many memories of the ultra-elusive Mugen tuning parts of that era. Just looking at it now, it still feels really special to me, in a way that modern times with our widespread internet access will never allow me to feel.

Enjoy my random internet find, and credit is ultimately due to someone named Romeo who has these on his google picassa account. Hopefully he doesn’t mind me sharing this now historic gem! More pics after the jump.

By Ben Schaffer

Bulletproof Automotive

All I can say with certainty is that this NSX was/is a client of Top Secret and that Top Secret had some involvement with the build/tuning of the car. Unfortunately, since I was just walking around the office and snapping pics, I wasn't able to get a spec list on this car. Spec list or not, it is quite clear from the pictures that this is a serious street/circuit tuned NSX. Some of the key points are found in the engine bay picture. Any car with a custom carbon roof scoop feeding air through a lexan hatch to a six individual throttle injected NSX engine must indeed be a serious car! Off of memory I think that may be a Mugen hatch setup but I could be wrong.

This car is clearly a member of "Top End" a wangan crew in Japan with some really hardcore cars and members. If you look up and can find more info on Top End you’ll undoubtedly see some other nasty NSX wangan attackers and maybe even a Porsche or two! I hope you enjoy the pics which I’ve been sitting on for years and are released here for the first time. And here's a video of other team Top End NSXs from my buddy Mike’s old Grip Video, and a link to some of the team Top End’s rides. More pics after the jump!

By Ben Schaffer

Bulletproof Automotive

I need to do a little explaining as to why I’m posting a topic that isnt as JDM original as my usual posts. The SL65 AMG Black Series by Mercedes-Benz is not JDM by a classic definition, yet the way the car was tuned embodies what high end JDM tuning is all about, which is indeed what my blogs are all about. If you owned an already great car and wanted to modify it, what could be better than a widebody with 70mm wider fenders and integrated diffusers, a dry carbon roof conversion with a seamlessly integrated roll cage, a V12 Twin Turbo engine, a 550lb weight reduction, and all of the countless other sick nasty modifications that Mercedes-Benz unleashed on their already crazy SL55 and 65s? Continue reading...