At Tokyo Auto Salon (TAS) this week. For those that have not attended before, you should enjoy it if you like the “JDM”, cars, and or girls. Much more like a smaller SEMA than PRI or Autosport. The show is cool to attend as a spectator, but I am a bit disappointed in the fact that most people appear to be here for the girls rather than the cars. I am sure that is because I am more of a car geek rather than a girl geek. I at least have a good idea about what works well on cars, as to where I have no idea what works well with women…kind of. I look forward to the new products being offered by various Japanese manufacturers…and I was not that impressed this year. No offense intended for them. I think that all aftermarket industries are having a difficult time right now with new emissions regulations (not necessarily the regulations, more the enforcement of laws that have been “overlooked” in the past), and the Japanese are not excluded. The trends I saw were straight forward; what parts can be offered that do not increase the emissions of the vehicles…not much. I saw tons of accessory equipment; wheels, suspension, minor body modifications, after-cat exhausts, etc. and some focus on ECO friendly products. One nice trend I saw was the manufacturers moving to lighter materials such as titanium for exhaust manifolds, turbo manifolds, intercooler piping, & intakes. This means (hopefully) that they are able to better their titanium manufacturing abilities…making a car lighter will make it perform better. This should only bring down the costs of these items if the markets can be competitive enough, this is a good thing for us common folk.
Here is the JDM EVOX Turbo Part # for those that need it.
This trip has been my most diverse indulgence in food while in Japan. I have eaten…fugu (poisonous blow fish), nato (fermented soybean), Katsu (style of breading and frying a protien and eating it with rice that has tea poured over it), Japanese soju (Japanese version of a Korean liquor), jelly fish, shark fin soup, abalone, curry, raw squid, great Indonesian food…a very diverse menu thus far. The fugu has to be a prestige thing, the meat itself is just a white fish and does not have much flavor or texture…at least I did not croke. I am not a fan of ordering any type of shark fin, they way those fins are harvested is downright cruel. The sharks are basically caught, brought up on deck, then the dorsal fins are cut off and the sharks are thrown back into the water…where they drown. Nato is something that I can say I have eaten, nothing I really enjoyed, but I tried. Japanese soju taste as if it aged in barrels…the Korean version is a bit sweater and easier to pound down like they do. Visits to a curry house are a must. These places (and many other business eating establishments) are all about getting it done. Your order consists of what curry you want, how much rice you want, and the level of heat you can tolerate. The food is delivered quickly and piping hot. I personally cannot eat as fast as most locals do, but you have to be respectful about eating quickly so you do not take up a seat as you often see a line of patrons waiting outside. I can usually handle the heat pretty well, but I sure as hell am not going to try the hottest. I have eaten enough of this stuff to know that anything above 7 will eat through paint. I may have also put a hurt on Billy…I don’t think his stomach is accustomed to the heat. We tracked down a great Katsu restaurant in Shinjuku that offered a side of thinly sliced cabbage with a dressing that we super good IMO. I need to figure out a translator so I can order the dressing to enjoy at home.
The show was a great opportunity to get up close and personal with some Japanese race cars. I always find it interesting to observe what others employ to give them a competitive advantage. One thing that was killing me was the fact that just about all R35s appeared to have chromy bling wheels rather than proper lightweight wheels, hopefully this was simply due the the little preparation time they had.
The latest R35 GT500 car appears to have a totally different aero package and it will be interesting to see how this car continues to develop. I am no aero expert, but it was obvious that this car is employing a much different approach to aero than the previous Nissan models.
Sign me up if the Nissan Dualis comes with the bot.
By far the sexiest car of the show was a IS F “race prototype” that Lexus was showing. I have some shots of the underside that show what the aero was doing and it appears that the car has been run…then very carefully (and beautifully) cleaned up. The car is LHD and looks like it could fit in ALMS, Grand-AM GT (except I don’t think these aero mods are allowed), or even DTM. Regardless, I will follow this car around just so I can absorb some of the sexy that was dripping off the car. The super clean, white Nismo accessorized R34 that Brembo had in their booth was a very close 2nd IMO. The problem is that I would sell one of my children (if I had one) for either car and I would daily drive both of them…which would leave me without a significant other and shot by several of my friends.
No Comments »
The whole reason for this post was to wish him the best on his new endevor, EFILogics.com.
