The 86s of Tokyo Auto Salon

This year's Tokyo Auto Salon was so jammed full of 86s and BRZs it blew our minds, so here's a selection of some of our faves, including some you may not have seen. Bee Racing is a Japanese tuning legend and its 86 is a true showstopper, not just because of the wide-body, but the overall level of modification, including a beautiful, raspy exhaust. The engine remained mildly modified for TAS but after the show it saw a very decent turbo kit dropped in. Naturally, expect the full story in Performance Imports.

In terms of ‘stance’, this example from a VIP Modular customer had it down pat. Funnily enough, some tuners went the opposite way, downsizing wheel size from stock for a more vintage, AE86-based look. Note the Rocket Bunny kit, which has been highly modified for this car.

We saw the Blitz R&D car at the Tsukuba Super Lap time attack event, but it was given a chrome wrap for the show. It’s powered by a bolt-in Blitz turbo kit that will soon be made available to the public, one of probably 50 or so on the market.

Varis has been in the aerodynamic game for yonks and their extreme wide-body kit for the show stunned onlookers. We love the gold and black, too. Expect this, along with the TRA Kyoto kit, to be very popular indeed.

With Advan TCs and a Tommy Kaira kit, the Project Mu demo car was more subtle than most, but it did see some interesting products. Expect Mu to be one of the first out with epic mono-block and multi-piston big-brake set-ups for the 86/BRZ.

Here’s an interesting one from TRD, dedicated solely to race duties and development. Surprisingly, all that research is for naturally aspirated products, which may well appeal to the purists out there in J land.

This is the spare D1 HKS car, believe it or not, far from the 500hp monster that will run. It still looked great on those RGs, which we think are almost a perfect wheel choice for the 86.

Naturally, you can check out more coverage in upcoming issues of Performance Imports Magazine.