Drift King

page 2 : skyline

page 4 : nissan gt-r r34

page 6 : toyota supra mk4

page 8 : smokey nagata

page 10 : honda nsx

page 11 : senna and the nsx

page 12 :

mazda rx-7

page 13 : nissan silvia s15

page 14 :

toyota ae86

page 15 : subaru impreza wrx

The Nissan Skyline GT-R (Japanese: GT-R, Hepburn: Nissan Sukairain (GT-R) is a sports car based on the Nissan Skyline range. The first cars named “Skyline GT-R” were produced between 1969 and 1972 under the model code KPGC10, and were successful in Japanese touring car racing events.

The Nissan Skyline GT-R (Japanese: GT-R, Hepburn: Nissan Sukairain GT-R) is a sports car based on the Nissan Skyline range.

The first cars named “Skyline GT-R” were produced between 1969 and 1972 under the model code KPGC10, and were successful in Japanese touring car racing events. This model was followed by a brief production run of second-generation cars, under model code KPGC110, in 1973.

After a 16-year hiatus, the GT-R name was revived in 1989 as the BNR32 (“R32”) Skyline GT-R. Group A specification versions of the R32 GT-R were used to win the Japanese Touring Car Championship for four years in a row.

The R32 GT-R also had success in the Australian Touring Car Championship, with Jim Richards using it to win the championship in 1991 and Mark Skaife doing the same in 1992, until a regulation change excluded the GT-R in 1993. The technology and performance of the R32 GT-R prompted the Australian motoring publication Wheels to nickname the GT-R “Godzilla” in its July 1989 edition. Wheels then carried the name through all the generations of Skyline GT-Rs, most notably the R34 GT-R, which they nicknamed “Godzilla Returns”, and described as “The best handling car we have ever driven”.

In tests conducted by automotive publications, R34 GT-R have covered a quarter of a mile (402 metres) in 12.2 seconds from a standing start time and accelerated from 0–100 km/h (0–62 mph) in 4.4 seconds. It was one of the fastest accelerating production vehicles at the time.

toyota supra mk4

The A80 featured two new engines: a naturally aspirated Toyota 2JZ-GE having a power output of 164 kW (220 hp; 223 PS) at 5,800 rpm and 210 lb ft (285 N m) at 4,800 rpm of torque and a twin turbocharged Toyota 2JZ-GTE having a power output of 206 kW (276 hp; 280 PS) and 318 lb ft (431 N m) of torque for the Japanese model.

The twin turbochargers operated in sequential mode instead of parallel.

Initially, all of the exhaust gases are routed to the first turbine for reduced lag. This resulted in boost and enhanced torque as early as 1,800 rpm, where it already produced 300 lb ft (407 N m) of torque.

For this generation, the Supra received a new six-speed Getrag/Toyota V160 gearbox on the turbo models while the naturally aspirated models were equipped with a five-speed manual W58 transmission, revised from the previous model.

The Toyota Supra (Japanese, Hepburn: Toyota Sūpura) is a sports car and grand tourer manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation beginning in 1978.

The name “supra” is derived from the Latin prefix, meaning “above”, “to surpass” or “go beyond”.

The initial four generations of the Supra were produced from 1978 to 2002.

The fifth generation has been produced since March 2019 and went on sale in May 2019.

The styling of the original Supra was derived from the Toyota Celica, but it was both longer and wider. Starting in mid-1986, the A70 Supra became a separate model from the Celica. In turn, Toyota also stopped using the prefix Celica and named the car Supra.

Owing to the similarity and past of the Celica’s name, it is frequently mistaken for the Supra, and vice versa. The first, second and third generations of the Supra were assembled at the Tahara plant in Tahara, Aichi, while the fourth generation was assembled at the Motomachi plant in Toyota City.

The 5th generation of the Supra is assembled alongside the G29 BMW Z4 in Graz, Austria by Magna Steyr.

The A80 program began in February 1989 under various teams for design, product planning, and engineering led by Isao Tsuzuki.

By the middle of 1990, a final A80 design concept from Toyota Technical Centre Aichi was approved and frozen for production in late 1990.

The first test mules were hand-built in A70 bodies during late 1990, followed by the first A80 prototypes being hand-assembled in 1991.

Again using subframe, suspension, and drivetrain assemblies from the Z30 Soarer (Lexus SC300/400), pre-production of the test models started in December 1992 with 20 units made, and official mass production began in April 1993. The fourth generation of the Supra again shared its platform with the upscale Soarer coupe, sold in the U.S. as the Lexus SC.

Although the two cars looked similar dimension-wise, the new Supra was more than 13 inches (340 mm) shorter than its luxurious cousin.

Fast-forward 20-odd years and the perpetual nature of social-media algorithms has propelled that grainy footage to a new generation.

Two decades on, Top Gear’s come to Japan to learn a bit more about the man, the myth and the truth behind that highly dangerous night.

“What do you want to know?”

Smokey says, crossing his legs while exhaling a thick cloud of smoke in front of one of his iconic cars.

Indeed, he’s a proper, old-school habitual chuffer; it’s rare that the 57-year-old doesn’t have a cigarette loosely hanging from his lips.

smokey nagata

Around 4am on November 4, 1998, Kazuhiko ‘Smokey’ Nagata pulled off the hard shoulder into lane two of the A1(M) and came to a stop.

With rain falling and the mercury hovering just above freezing, he pinned the throttle, dropped the clutch and performed a monstrous burnout in the middle of the road. Satisfied the Midlands were suitably sluiced in tire smoke, he gunned his heavily modified, 1,003bhp, Japanese-registered, gold-painted Toyota Mk.4 Supra with one aim in mind: hitting 200mph.

Due to some complications (the engine running lean on one run, the car wanting to jettison its bonnet at 190-odd on another), he had a few attempts but ultimately fell short of the double ton, clocking 194mph. More than enough to unofficially claim the dubious, dangerous record of the fastest speed ever reached by a car on UK public highway. It wasn’t long before the winter darkness filled with blue lights: the police made chase and arrested him, resulting in Smokey having a night at Her Majesty’s pleasure (a remarkably lenient sentence which wouldn’t happen today) before going back to Japan, worried his tuning company was going to go under. In reality, quite the opposite happened. His escapades hit the headlines, and the grainy footage of him illegally squirrelling down the motorway from the cameras gaffer-taped to the car went VHS viral – instantly catapulting him to legendary status within the tuning community.

It was the ultimate ballsy PR tool for his company – Top Secret – proving that his cars were the real deal.

Considering his infamy as a 200mph maniac,

Smokey doesn’t have the look of a menace to society.

He’s softly spoken and anxiously fidgets in conversation, often cowering back into a shell of introversion that wraps around his stunted, slight frame. But it’s unwise to judge him by his mannerisms. Inside, there’s a burning extrovert.

One that doesn’t stand for social suppression or authority, a trait only exercised in and around cars. “I grew up on a farm in Hokkaido,” he says, dragging in a hefty toke from his cigarette. “It’s Japan’s northernmost prefecture, so there’s not much going on.

But my father loved driving fast, so I became obsessed with the sensation of speed and started tinkering with cars. I bought my first when I was 15 years old – a Mitsubishi Galant GTO. But I struggled to fix it, so a local boss at Toyota helped me get it running. When we did, I started driving it to school. But, being only 16, it was illegal. So when the teachers found out, I was expelled.”

This, as you’ll learn, won’t be Smokey’s only tussle with authority in his life.

“The boss from Toyota felt responsible, as he got the car running, so gave me a job at Toyota when I was just 16. I’m probably the youngest employee they ever had and worked really hard as a mechanic for four years. Then I got fired. I bought a Celica and started modifying it during work, so they said I had to go. ” Ah, yes.

Outside work, Smokey was spending his spare time thrashing his Celica around the mountains of Hokkaido. But with a non-existent race scene, he packed his bags and moved 800 miles to Tokyo to try to fulfil his dream of becoming a race driver. Hence a day of burnouts anywhere he could; next to a field of cows, on a busy roundabout and, eventually, in the middle of the A1(M), just before the 194mph run. “I did what I did, and what happened happened.

I know it’s morally wrong, but it is what it is. I got sent to the police station but, not speaking any English, I had to wait in a cell until I could get a lawyer and a translator and go to court. I admitted to doing 120mph and was banned from the UK for 10 years, had a one-month international license suspension, a 155 fine and 35 court fees. I was lucky; I thought I was going to prison. I returned to my hotel and there were paparazzi and press everywhere, so I sneaked out the back door to the airport. I was worried all the way until take-off where I thought, ‘I’m free – banzai!’”

HONDA NSX

The Honda NSX, marketed in North America as the Acura NSX, is a two-seat, mid-engined coupe[1] sports car manufactured by Honda.

The origins of the NSX trace back to 1984, with the HP-X (Honda Pininfarina eXperimental)[2] concept, which was a mid-engine 3.0 L V6 engine rear wheel drive sports car.

Honda committed to the project, with the intention of meeting or exceeding the performance of the then V8 engine Ferrari range, while offering reliability and a lower price point. The concept thus evolved and had its name changed to NS-X, which stood for “New”, “Sportscar” “eXperimental”, although the production model was launched as the NSX.

the designer of the McLaren F1 supercar, stated that he used the NSX as the inspiration for the F1 after test driving many high performance cars and finding the NSX chassis performed the best.

Murray stated that the design was “monumental” to sportscar design. He found that the car could easily have handled more power and attempted to convince Honda to develop a more powerful engine, but they declined. This resulted in Murray developing the F1 with a BMW engine, but he was so fond of the NSX that he bought one for personal use and drove it for 75,000 km.

Murray stated that the NSX was “dear to his heart”.

senna and the nsx

Most of you likely know about the one and only NSX, Honda’s 1990s JDM Legend.

There are dozens of reasons this car has attained the cult status it has today, but one you may not know is that Ayrton Senna, the late F1 legend, put his input into the design and owned 3 in his personal collection.

During the production of the NvSX, the goal was to produce an exotic, but reliable supercar to compete against the monopolistic Ferraris and Porsches at that time. It was a godsend to the Honda team to have Ayrton Senna be part of the McLaren-Honda team. What’s better than working on a car with one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers, right?

It was a summer day in 1989 when Senna was testing his McLaren out in Suzuka. It also happened that the prototype of the NSX was also out on the track.

So Ayrton, in his loafers and white socks, hopped in and took the NSX for a spin around the circuit. His initial feedback on the car was that “It feels a little fragile.”

Eight months later, the Honda team engineered the NSX to have a 50% stiffer chassis.

Senna took the improved car for a test in the Nurburgring as well as in Suzuka and helped the team develop a better suspension, making the car handle and drive better, making the NSX a much more balanced machine. Therefore making the Honda NSX finally - Senna approved.

The Mazda RX-7

is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, rotary engine-powered sports car that was manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1978 until 2002 across three generations, all of which made use of a compact, lightweight Wankel rotary engine. The first generation of the RX-7, SA (early) and FB (late), was a two-seater 2 door hatchback coupé. It featured a 12A carbureted rotary engine as well as the option for a 13B with electronic fuel injection in later years.

The second generation of RX-7, known as the FC, was offered as a 2-seater coupé with a 2+2 option available in some markets, as well as in a convertible bodystyle. This was powered by the 13B rotary engine, offered in naturally aspirated or turbocharged forms.

The third generation of the RX-7, known as the FD, was offered a 2+2-seater coupé with a limited run of a 2-seater option. This featured a sequentially turbocharged 13B REW engine. More than 800,000 were manufactured over its lifetime.

In 1999, Japan saw a new version of the Silvia, the S15, now boasting 250 PS (247 bhp; 184 kW) at 6,400 rpm and 275 N m; 203 lbf ft (28 kg m) at 4,800 rpm of torque from its SR20DET Inline-four engine, thanks to a ball bearing turbocharger upgrade, as well as improved engine management system.

The non-turbo SR20DE produced 165 PS (163 bhp; 121 kW).

The S15 Silvia included aggressive styling inside and out, updating the previous Silvia styling in-line with modern car design trends. The body dimensions were reduced from the previous generation so that it would comply with Japanese Government compact class, which had an effect on sales of the previous model.

The S15 Silvia model lineup was initially simplified to just Spec-S and Spec-R, with both models offering an “Aero” variant with a large rear wing, side skirts, valances and front bumper.

This generation of the Silvia was only sold new in Japan, Australia and New Zealand. In Australia and New Zealand the car was sold as the Nissan 200SX.

As of August 2002, Nissan stopped producing the S platform with the S15-series Nissan Silvia being the final variant. Production of the Silvia ended amidst Nissan’s efforts to reduce its myriad of platforms.

The S15 Silvia was therefore the last car to use the Silvia name, as well as the last sports car with a true FR layout offered by Nissan.

Nissan’s current worldwide sports car platform is the front midship FM platform, which underpins the Z33/34 Fairlady Z (the 350/370Z outside Japan) sports car and the V35/37 Nissan Skyline (the Infiniti G35/37 in North America) luxury-sport sedan and coupé.

toyota AE86

The AE86 series of the Toyota Corolla Levin and Toyota Sprinter Trueno are small, front-engine/rear-wheel-drive models within the front-engine/front-wheel-drive fifth generation Corolla (E80) range—marketed by Toyota from 1983 to 1987 in coupé and liftback configurations.

Lending themselves to racing, the cars were light, affordable, easily modifiable and combined a five-speed manual transmission, optional limited slip differential, MacPherson strut front suspension, high revving (7800 rpm), twin-cam engine with oil cooler (e.g., in the US), near 50/50 front/rear weight balance, and importantly, a front-engine/rear-drive layout—at a time when this configuration was waning industry-wide.

Turbocharged versions of the 2.0- and 2.5-liter engines were offered in the WRX and WRX STI models.

STI models featured a more powerful 2.0-liter (2.5-liter outside of the Japanese market) turbocharged engine. WRX models featured a 2.0-liter turbocharged boxer engine until 2005, after which they switched to the 2.5-liter turbocharged engine.

At the Australian Wheels Car of the Year, the car won the overall COTY award in 2000. At the American MotorWeek Drivers’ Choice Awards, the Impreza won the Best Sport Sedan in 2002 and the Best Performance Car in 2004.

Subaru impreza WRX

Subaru introduced the “New Age” Impreza to Japan in August 2000.

Larger in size compared to the previous iteration, the sedan increased its width by 40 millimetres (1.6 in), while the wagon notably increased by just 5 millimetres (0.2 in)—placing the two variants in different Japanese classification categories.

The coupe body style from the first generation did not reappear for the new series, and the off-road appearance package that included contrasting-colored bumpers did carry over forward.

Marketed as a separate model line, this North America-only variant was, as before, badged the Outback Sport.

Naturally aspirated flat-four (boxer) engines comprised the 1.5-liter EJ15, the 1.6-liter EJ16, the 2.0-liter EJ20, and the 2.5-liter EJ25.