Yashio Factory Nissan 350Z - White Hot

The red tow-hook is in place to help track hands drag the car off course should things go awry, not to score points with the car show judges. Other than some HKS Hypermax suspension, the exterior of the car looks clean enough to be an untouched stock 350Z, with a subtle Vertex body kit accentuating the natural muscularity of the sloping fenders. Inside, Bride Gias seats are big enough for a single butt cheek and part of one American leg, in traditional Japanese fashion. The Vertex steering wheel is also a business item. It's got a rally stripe through top dead center, so Mr. Okamura can see how sideways he is out of his peripheral vision. Twin Neko A/F-700 boxes relay detailed information about the air/fuel ratio.

Though the engine certainly looks innocent enough sitting in between the shock towers, it's actually a Nismo unit that produces 307bhp. Whether you're in Japan or not, picking up this engine at your local Nissan dealer isn't an option. Nissan selects the racers and tuners it gives these engines to, and you need a reputation like Okamura's to even be considered. Prototype forged pistons pump on a forged Nismo crankshaft, and a 0.7mm head gasket pushes the compression up further. High-compression milled heads feature Nismo 284-degree camshafts on the intake sides and 268-degree bump-sticks on the hot sides. Nismo titanium valvesprings ensure everything remains float-free when Oka-chan is banging off the 7500rpm redline, and a Nismo oil cooler keeps the lube from boiling come race day. Finally, Yashio Factory's own stainless steel headers carry all the spent gases from the VQ heads and out through a proprietary exhaust system.

A good tuner is more than someone who can slap a throng of parts together and call it a day. A well-tuned car must drive as smoothly as stock, yet manage to raise the limits equally in each category; improved handling matched with higher horsepower, for instance.

Yashio Factory has gone a step further and dialed the car in for precise handling characteristics on the track in addition to displaying civil road manners. Perhaps such cars wouldn't be possible if their creators weren't so deeply passionate about driving them.