2 weeks ago
For nan past 15 years, I’ve owned a shop successful Auckland, New Zealand, servicing, building, and tuning Japanese title and roadworthy cars. JTune, and immoderate of nan vehicles I’ve had a manus successful creating complete nan past decade and a half person antecedently been featured connected Speedhunters. After a fewer engaged years, I yet decided to return a break from full-time astatine nan shop and embark connected a fewer adventures successful Japan.
My first travel this twelvemonth was for Tokyo Auto Salon, at which clip I also travelled down to Fuji to meet pinch HKS astir a typical Toyota GR86 project. I returned successful nan mediate of summertime to check successful connected nan advancement of nan build, and besides sojourn immoderate other shops. One of those was Car Shop Glow.
Though I missed 7’s Day (7/7) successful Japan by a week, I was wished to sojourn and study much astir 1 of Tokyo’s astir renowned RX-7 shops. Car Shop Glow is coming astir good known for its civilization LED lights, but it besides does servicing and afloat car builds from a humble building successful Nerima-ku adjacent nan bosom of Japan’s superior city.
Car Shop Glow was established successful 2006, pinch its owner, Yukimitsu Hara, initially trading his LED ray products online. By April 2008, he opened a showroom, focusing chiefly connected customising American and European cars.
In 2009, a customer – who was a head astatine Super Autobacs – offered Hara-san his ex-Knight Sports Mazda RX-7, which he was nary longer driving, astatine a hard-to-refuse price. Not wanting to walk up nan opportunity, Hara-san bought nan FD3S, signalling nan opening of nan Car Shop Glow demo car.
Taking nan RX-7 to Tsukuba Circuit successful nan aforesaid spec he purchased it, Hara-san clocked a 1:06 thigh clip connected 17-inch thoroughfare tyres, mounting a benchmark for early upgrades.
At that time, galore of nan different FD3S RX-7s successful nan Tsukuba paddock were equipped pinch RE Amemiya widebody kits, truthful Hara-san had 1 installed and vanished nan exterior disconnected pinch a caller overgarment occupation and a brace of his civilization tail lights. The kit upgrade allowed for wider tyres, prompting a return to Tsukuba astatine nan earliest opportunity, wherever Hara-san trim his TC2000 PB thigh clip down to an awesome 1:02.
From that moment, he was hooked connected clip attack.
As Hara-san continued competing successful clip onslaught events, proudly flying nan Car Shop Glow flag, nan institution began receiving tail ray orders from Japan and abroad, further boosting its profile.
On nan backmost of this, Car Shop Glow expanded its scope to see lights for different models – nan Toyota Supra, Honda S2000 and NSX, and Subaru Impreza, among others – and ventured into aero parts, exhausts and suspension, each of which are coming sold successful Japan and abroad.
Over nan years, Hara-san’s FD3S evolved done various clip onslaught seasons, becoming lighter, much aerodynamic, and much powerful. You tin publication each astir it Dino’s 2015 feature.
The RX-7’s champion clip astatine Tsukuba Circuit is an awesome 56.4-second thigh – achieved pinch OEM-based brakes and nan mill ABS removed. That setup mightiness raise immoderate eyebrows, but fixed TC2000’s way layout – short pinch only a fewer dense braking zones – it makes consciousness that balanced and easy warmed-up brakes could beryllium much effective than a large brake kit. Sometimes, simplicity wins, particularly erstwhile you don’t want to walk excessively overmuch clip fine-tuning brake equilibrium and bias.
Currently, nan RX-7 is afloat stripped back, pinch large plans connected nan horizon. When I asked Hara-san astir his extremity for nan car, he shared that he’s eager to push nan limits and spell moreover faster; a 53-second lap is the dream.
In Tokyo and different Asian cities, beingness abstraction is simply a existent luxury, but erstwhile it comes to modified cars, that doesn’t mean that build value is compromised. Many enthusiasts build awesome machines correct successful their driveways aliases location garages. Case successful point, different Car Shop Glow RX-7: Tani-san’s chaotic ‘GT title car for nan road’ arsenic precocious featured by Toby.
To coincide with our visit, Car Shop Glow arranged for a fewer customer-owned cars to extremity by nan shop and past caput retired for a thrust successful convoy.
Given Hara-san’s penchant for clip onslaught racing, erstwhile seeing immoderate different aggressively styled RX-7s extracurricular Car Shop Glow, it would beryllium easy to presume it’s a title car, too. While immoderate of these builds do deed nan track, astir are exclusively thoroughfare cars heavy inspired by Hara-san’s FD3S. Regardless of really modified they are nether nan hood, seeing these cars retired connected nan roadworthy is beautiful cool.
I want to springiness a large acknowledgment to Hara-san and the Car Shop Glow unit for opening up their doors to us, and for everyone who brought their cars out. Stay tuned for nan nighttime cruise!
Jacky Tse
Instagram: jtune_nz
Photography by Ash Bechan
Instagram: pixeltoon_media
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