After yesterday's preview post it's now time to dive head first into the Exciting Car Showdown coverage. As Mamina Inada, the organizer of the show said "we need to keep moving for the JDM tuning world" which is why the event went on as planned. After the earthquake, events and motorsport championships have all been postponed or cancelled, but Daijiro Inada and Keiichi Tsuchiya though it would be the perfect opportunity to collect funds to help the victims in the northern part of the country, thus turning the show into a charity event. As the banner the two held up as the show opened its door to the public said, "Let's do all we can to support rebuilding." Needless to say it was great seeing this spirit in such times of crisis.



Out of all the yearly shows this has to be the one with the most authentic feel, in that what you see here is an accurate interpretation of the styles and trends that are in vogue out on the streets and tracks of Japan. The guys from GP Sports had this cool drift and time attack spec RPS13 they have just built. Way too clean to drift!



You may remember I did a spotlight on this Global Auto R34 last year. The Auto Select tuned beast is now fitted with TE37SLs, which are turning out to be a runaway success for Rays. The owner of Global Auto, the biggest GT-R reseller in Japan, is now cruising the streets of Osaka in a badass R35 so the R34 now only gets used for track duty.



What better way to emphasize the current Honda theme we have going on this month than with this nice line up of NSXs from Weisse. If this wide-body GT-racer looking example is a little too extreme for you...



...the stock look never fails to impress, especially when sporting a great stance.



White on white goodness.



The guys at motorFIX have been very busy over the last year. On top of fixing their "sedan to wagon" KE70 that was rolled at the Drift Matsuri, they have created one of the most memorable cars of the show, this 1UZ-powered Corolla sedan.



The individually throttled 4L V8 engine is still stock so good for about 265 HP but there are plans to get a little more power out of it with some ECU mapping and maybe some cams.



Next to the C&Y Z32 was this Z31 from Garage Dyu-van...



...running an almost factory looking RB26 swap.



Looks like your normal R32 time attack car...



...except Line Up Car Service, who built the Skyline, have preferred to take the naturally aspirated route by dropping in an individually throttled RB25DE. They aren't sure on the power yet but it sure sounds great when it was revved in the demonstration area during the show.



You just don't see cars like this up in Kanto! This S13 from Nagano Koubou is rocking the kind of bad-ass street-drifter style that only those living in Kansai can get away with. The car rides on brand new 2011 Work Meister CR01s in 9Jx15" front and rear.



They also had this car on show, the drift-lowrider S13 "Miovia" which since last year seems to have been perfected even more.



RPS13 on 19-inch Work Varianza T1S. Funny seeing 19s running relatively skinny 215 section rubber. A show-only set-up I'm sure.



Since taking a look at the Phoenix Power R35 demo car last year the guys at the Kyoto branch of the shop have been busy extracting more power.



Output has risen 10 HP to 780HP but it's the response that has massively changed since adopting the JUN intake plenum. Torque now stands at 723 lb/ft, that's almost 1000 Nm!! Everything that is visible in the engine bay has been either polished or chromed, making it the prettiest VR38 I've seen so far.



Kobayashi at MCR showed up with his R35 demonstrator...



...now running 18-inch Yokohama TCIIIs wrapped in massive slicks. Is he getting ready to break some lap records? I certainly hope so!



There so much to take in at the show, not only the cars...



...but also all the gadgets and parts on display at the various booths. Doriten tape anyone?



Or maybe some dora-yaki cakes which were appropriately renamed dori-yaki by the Drift Tengoku crew.



L28 powered GC10.



Nice FD3S from Looking running on repainted Z33 wheels. Under the hood the modded 13B develops 480 PS thanks to a TD06.



Not sure what banned D1 driver Nakamura is going to do this year but I'm sure we will be seeing him up in Niigata for the first round of Drift Muscle.



Another car in Team Kazama's entry in D1 this year is this 2JZ powered Lexus IS which will be driven by Nishio-san.



Stance win.



I'm liking Ueno's 2JZ BMW 3-series without the livery, looks like a mean streetcar! The T&E team will be back in D1 this year despite loosing the Yokohama sponsorship.

Stay tuned for more...

Dino Dalle Carbonare

Let's swiftly move on with the coverage of the Exciting Car Showdown and what better car to get things started for Part 2 than Goto-san's new crazy ride! You may remember his matte green AE86 I did a spotlight on at last year's Spring Drift Matsuri, well he's stepped the game up when it comes to originality with this slightly unfinished KP61 Starlet.



But who cares if it's not 100% yet, this thing deserved to be show and not only for it's cool matte mint-green overfendered exterior...



...but especially the very original engine swap. That's a 1,100 cc GU74A from a Suzuki GSX, complete with sequential bike gearbox! Might only have 135 HP at 9,500 rpm and a puny 74 lb/ft at a rather high 8,500 rpm but it will fit Goto's style perfectly. The car looks like it's light enough anyway!



At the URAS stand Nomuken was trying to keep up with all his fans and was autographing t-shirts, caps and other various monkey-man gadgetry through the weekend.



He brought two of his demo cars, a 4-door R34 Skyline with full D1 livery...



...and the very cool ER34 2-door that we saw back at TAS in January...



...running the Infiniti 4.5L V8. While for some it might be sacrilegious to see such engines replacing the mighty RB line up of motors you can't ignore the coolness factor. At least it's still a Nissan lump!



And on the subject of Skylines, here is Tezuka's new ER34 Bee-R D1 machine.



It carries over the unmistakable Bee-R style with a very original wide body kit...



...and a massive rear spoiler on which Imai-san let me place a couple of Speedhunters stickers!



Hoshino Carstyle FC3S going for the Drift Samurai look!



These "Power Up Higashi-Nihon" magnets were selling like hot cakes and no doubt contributed substantially to the money the organizers raised for charity. Gotta love Dai-chan's caricature!



I think Ueno at T&E must have used one of the best mixes of pearl white when painting Taniguchi's Vertex Edge S15 as every time I see the car it just seems to pop.



Under the bonnet is a special HKS-built engine good for 460 HP thanks to the GT2835R turbocharger. I think a feature of this car is in order!



More slammed to the ground street drifter goodness from Paint & Cutting Make Nagano Koubou. Like the S13 we saw in Part 1 this 180SX was on 15-inch Work Meister CR01...



...as was this Garage Number' SIXX NA6. The extreme lowering is achieved through a set of Buddy Club racing spec dampers. You just got to admire the simplicity of the car, which also stretches to the engine, only running HKS cams and a full exhaust system.



We saw the Phoenix Power R35 yesterday but their Z34 demonstrator was hard to ignore riding on those massive 20-inch BBS LMs!



The 600 HP Wacky Mate R34 was sporting the sort of extreme time-attack style we've come to expect from them.



Massive GT-wing complements the front aero treatment.



FF drifting anyone? This cool 4E-powered EE-A Honda City on the Doriten stand proved to be quite the attention grabber as people tried to get a better look of the engine conversion.



Here is one for the rotor-heads, Girls Collection FD3S on Gram Lights 57Accelerate-Pro. The widebody aero is from R-Magic with a few other bits and pieces through in for originality. The car is built for grip and response retaining the stock turbines, good for about 350 HP.



A Daihatsu Mira built for drag racing, something that really can't get more Japanese. The guys at Line Up Car Service managed to extract 205 HP from the JB-JL motor, stroking it to 720 cc and force feeding it with a rather large IHI turbine. Best time it has achieved is a 13.6 sec pass which, considering the stock car probably takes about a minute to cover the quarter mile, is quite impressive!<



The king of FF drift and oni-camber!



Here is Manabu Suzuki showing off the money that was collected during the charity auction. Great work guys!



Got wing? This Fierce Racing 500 HP widebody time attack S14 really grabbed my attention as it looks like something you would see at a Battle Evome meet in Tsukuba. The car is privately owned and competes in the Meister Cup and can often be seen lapping Okayama Circuit.



I spotted this R31 House Skyline Wagon RC-car body for sale in one of the shops at the show. Wagon RC drift anyone?

Next up is a look at the parking lot of the Nagoya Port Messe!

-Dino Dalle Carbonare

Moving swiftly along with the Exciting Car Showdown coverage it's now time to head outside the Nagoya Port Messe exhibition center and check out the parking lot, for an equally diverse selection of top notch JDM rides. The best thing about taking a look in the parking area of shows like this is that you know you are seeing an authentic selection of rides, cars that are driven on Japanese roads, not just prepared for display at shows. So sit back as I take you through some of the coolest ones I came across.



A60 Supra on vintage rims.



I'm sorry to all R33 owners out there but here are my two favorite GT-Rs, the BNR32 and BNR34, both exhibiting a high level of aesthetic tuning.



Toyota Altezza, a model we don't get to see quite enough of on here.



Old school RA21 Celica. Love the color matched rims.



Tec-Art's tuned AE86.



As I was walking down towards the main entrance of the parking lot the Silvia club guys started arriving.



Autozam AZ-1, one of the coolest Kei-cars ever made. Gotta love the 90's graphics.



The Ise-Wangan that crosses the Nagoya-bay is one of the most expensive stretches of expressway in Japan. With so many bridges connecting the small islands built on reclaimed land it's not surprising they charge so much for tolls. They do make for some very nice backdrops!



Of all the Eunos Roadster conversions out there this has to be one of the most curious looking!



Z10 Soarer 2.8GT.



How about something modern for a change like this Top Fuel CR-Z with a unique center exit exhaust system.



More oldschool Soarers...



...this particular example I run into tuned for some drift action with a fully stripped out exterior.



Every time I head down to the Nagoya and Kansai areas of Japan I'm always surprised how popular Fits and small Hondas are. Seems the Kanjo racer image is still very much alive. The purple itasha S15 next to the Fit adds a bit of a contrast.



More GT-R goodness.



Vintage JDM wagons can't be beaten.



All we needed here was an MR-S and we would have had the complete MR-2 generation lineup!



You might have noticed the stunning selection of Toyota sedans in the opening shot...



...well here is a closer look of the brown Mark II and the dark green Chaser.



A lonely S13.



The Lightening S15 we first saw early in the year at the Tokyo Auto Salon.



S15 front S14 Silvia from Masa Motorsports



T200 Celica with a couple of drift spec Skylines.



Kaminari 260ZR



Not sure which is cooler, the panda Levin or the S15 Silvia Varietta cabriolet next to it!



I ended up finding quite the Supra gathering on one side of the vast parking lot...



...with quite a lot of special cars. Check out this wide body example...



...or how about this one tuned by Esprit.



And another one!



This guy came all the way from Sodegaura in Chiba-ken to show off his show-spec Mazda Axela...



...sporting igns aero and a very catchy colored body and wheels.



Oldschool R30 Skyline on Hoshino wheels...



...and more modern E34 4-door Skylines with GT-R front conversions.



It is Honda month after all so I thought I'd better show at least a few S2000s!



This Z34 proves the stock look can really work when the car is lowered appropriately!



More Honda perfection with this NSX from Weisse



Darn drifters!! LOL



In Part 4 I'll be heading back into the main show area to continue the coverage. Back with more from Nagoya soon!

-Dino Dalle Carbonare

With the Formula D weekend now over it's the perfect time to return for a few more visits under the roof of the Port Messe in Nagoya and indulge in some additional JDM goodness from the Exciting Car Showdown. I'm not joking when I say this, but pretty much every single car present at the show deserves to be shown, such was the level of awesomeness from this relatively small event. I've picked this white Silvia to get things going, yet another perfectly executed ride from the guys at 326 Power



There was a strangely low number of AE86 at this year's show but this Power Sports F22C powered Levin was definitely hard to ignore.



A few of you requested to see some more shots of the super clean BNR34 drag beast...



...from Friends.



Here is the RB26 powering it, running a pair of Trust TD06-25G blowers. 1650 cc are used to keep the fuel supply in check while a Motec ECU handles ignition & timing maps.



Yes that is a Mercedes Benz grill! Not sure what to say about this S15 apart from the fact that it is very different!



It is a drift car so I guess experimentation with different front ends is something that is easily done.



This S14 from Taikou had a perfect combination of power, 440 HP...



...and unique graphics of Mario drifting his go-kart!



SHP Engineering RPS13 on color matched SSRs.



More ER34 Skyline style with this 4-door on 17-inch RS Watanabe's from YS Factory and Fuzzy-tune.



That is one stunning looking engine bay! This RB25 develops 500 HP thanks to the top-mounted TD06-SH 25G turbine



GX71 on Hayashi Street 15-inch rims.



This BN Sports kitted EG6 from T-Company is actually used as a FF drifter and is built to D1 Street Legal regulations.



Yokomaku-san of Veilside was there with his latest creation, the 4509GTR based on a JZA80...



...and the little Veilside iQ with Nissan GT-R-like front end.



Here is one car I've always really liked, the DeTomaso Pantera. It was surprising seeing one at the Exciting Car Showdown, and quite the example too. How can you not love that old Lotus F1 gold on black look.



And the engine bay was a drool-inducing concoction of hand built headers and polished engine parts.



There are always cars at shows like this that have you coming back time and time again for a second, and even third look. One such ride was this V Factory C33 Laurel on 15-inch Longchamp XR4s. No doubt the 450 HP SR20 powering it really makes it a fun car to drift...



...but it would be such a pity to ruin such pure drifter looks! Ah wait, someone has already done that!



And check out the artwork on the hood!



Honda specialist J's Racing brought their new CR-Z demo car sporting their full Type-S aero treatment. Thanks to high compression pistons, larger throttle, titanium exhaust system and a special ECU the little 1.5L develops 140 HP. Then there is the additional 10 HP of the IMA motor to help things along.



Drag specialist Avance Meito showed up with this 1000 HP drag BNR32...



...proving that drag racing is far from dead in Japan. The engine bay stunned for its simplicity and I was quite impressed at the intercooler and radiator arrangement. Best run for the car has been an 8.483 sec pass.



GP Sports kitted 180SX...



...from V-Factory demonstrating just how good this kit looks from pretty much every angle!

Stay tuned for Part 5 and another selection of sweet rides.

-Dino Dalle Carbonare

I hope you have all enjoyed the coverage from this year's Exciting Car Showdown in Nagoya. It's an event that continues to impress with its amazing selection of cars and trend-setting styles. But it isn't over yet. I've put together this final post where I will go through some rides I may have left out, or others worth checking out in more detail.



The Pit Road M Mitsubishi GTO has been a constant presence at these shows and seems to evolve every year. The TE37SLs are a great new addition!



Someone was complaining I haven't been showing enough rotaries. Well here you go, a front view of the R-Magic kitted Girls Collection FD.



The Garage Gan-san S15 wearing a one-off GT300 inspired widebody kit. It's definitely the widest S15 I've come across!



And on the subject of widebodies...the Special Body Okada widened JZA80 Supra.



Wait, this must be a trend for 2011...is everyone going widebody?



The Abflug R35 GT-R we saw back at the Tokyo Auto Salon was present in Nagoya too, showing off its widened rear rump, finished off in true Abflug style with plenty of louvers, air intakes and diffuser fins. Engine tuning has been handled by Pentroof in Tokyo who also took care of the custom titanium exhaust.



Keeping the R35 company was their Z34 demo car wearing the full 2011 Vanguard aero kit comprising of front & rear bumpers, side skirts and a carbon rear GT wing.



Thought I'd throw in another shot of the slammed Garage Number' SIXX NA6. This little Roadster looked impossibly cool on its black Work Meisters.



Nagata-san from Top Secret was also present at the show this year with its two most important demonstrators, the R35 GT-R development car and the turbocharged 300 HP CR-Z.



Next to Goto-san's GSX-powered KP61 starlet was this really cool Nissan Pao, a car not many people have probably heard of. The little awkwardly styled Nissan was built back in the late eighties on a Nissan March platform...



...except this particular example from Car Choice Jade runs a few unique touches like an SR20DET and an FR driveline from an S13 Silvia!



Mean S30 overfenders and a massive exhaust hint that it isn't your regular Pao city car! Would be cool seeing this out drifting in Nikko!



And another pink car in the Doriten area, Sacchans rather overly decorated JZX100.



Someone asked to see a front shot of Kawashima-san's Celica FF drifter, not for another look at the ridiculous camber...



...but for the equally silly stretch on the tires. Holding them in place is quite a generous application of bead sealer literally gluing them to the rim.



How low can you go?



Never low enough it seems. Push, push!



We have been seeing the Magic/Red Line Oil FD ready to go for almost a year now...



...fitted with this beautifully built 550 HP 4-rotor NA engine. Question is, when are we going to be seeing it in action at a D1 event?



Yet more slammed awesomeness from Garage Number' SIXX.



The Looking FD.



Gotta love the Do-luck like low mounted spoiler.



The Chivic Type-R, a mean time-attack Suzuki Alto Works given the Type-R look. "Chibi" in Japanese means "tiny" so it's kind of like a miniature Type-R haha



Nakamura's S13. Expect to see this car at Round 1 of Drift Muscle next month!



Late on Sunday afternoon I thought I'd head out yet again into the parking lot to see what other cool cars I could hunt down. As always I was not disappointed!



Most people were leaving the Port Messe but there were still quite a few cars left to admire.



The drift spec Genesis.



The GT-R conversion to this ER34 4-door was done so well I will be posting a spotlight on it. The attention to detail was incredible.



What a great choice of color; I am biased however.



Get that air-suspension as low as it will go!!



What a line up of Corollas....



...of every generation!



In keeping with the Honda theme this is another car that is pretty much spot on, a Type-R look Honda Beat!



How can you not like this!!



That's it from this year's Showdown, I leave you with this nice group of GT-Rs. Until next year....

-Dino Dalle Carbonare