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Posted
May 26 2011, 11:30 AM
by
Linhbergh
with 26 comment(s)
This month, Top Secret and Smoky Nagata planned to come to the United States to compete in this weekend's Texas Mile event at its new venue in Beeville. But once again, all the chess pieces didn't fall into place. Top Secret had to once again postpone their Stateside visit. Thankfully, the reason this time around is not due to natural disasters, but instead because the V12 Supra did not clear US customs in time. We will keep everyone updated on the Stateside movement of the V12 Supra and...
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Posted
Mar 18 2011, 01:00 PM
by
Linhbergh
with 36 comment(s)
News has just reached us that Mr. Top Secret himself, Kazuhiko "Smoky" Nagata, will not be able to make it to the Import Reactor, in Houston, as well as the Texas Mile this up coming weekend. I'll let Smoky explain: "As you all know, Japan was hit by a big earthquake a few days ago and my company is north of Tokyo. Closer to the quake site and nuclear power plant. Until today, I was packed and still scheduled to go to Houston. I did not want to cancel the trip. It has been a very...
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Posted
Jan 27 2011, 02:30 PM
by
Linhbergh
with 48 comment(s)
You've read the headline right. After conquering so many different countries, Smoky Nagata will be heading to the United States for the Texas Mile (March 25-27) with his infamous V12 supra and hopefully blast his way into the history books once again. The car is currently being prepped for shipment out to the States in the next few days. Seeing how the car currently set up for top speed (about 260 MPH), Smoky and his team are in the process setting the car up for standing mile runs. It's...
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Posted
Jan 24 2011, 10:00 PM
by
Linhbergh
with 47 comment(s)
The day after Tokyo Auto Salon ended, John Leigh and I headed to Top Secret. Smoky Nagata told us to come as late as we can, as the shop would be disarray because of their return from the week at Tokyo Auto Salon. We showed up in the late afternoon. John had a meeting with Smoky to discuss a few things and I had a shop to rummage around with my camera. This is the sight that welcomes you as you enter the Top Secret complex. If this was what I saw everyday going into work, there would be very little...
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Posted
Jan 04 2011, 04:30 PM
by
Linhbergh
with 18 comment(s)
Last April, I had the opportunity to check out the Houston, Texas car scene by attending their biggest car show of the year: Import Reactor . It was a car show which ran in conjunction with Anime Matsuri, Houston's annual Anime convention. Those two coinciding events were a great celebration of Japanese culture. During that time, I had opportunity to photograph two Top Secret tuned 370z's and also the opportunity to interview and photograph the legendary Top Secret tuner himself , Kazuhiko...
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Posted
Apr 27 2010, 10:00 AM
by
Linhbergh
with 93 comment(s)
Kazuhiko "Smoky" Nagata is a gentle and soft spoken man. He's not a particularly tall person, nor is he a particularly short person. He's rather skinny. He wears clothes that fit loose on a man of such a small frame which in turn makes him even smaller. He smokes a lot. He'll steal any chance he can get to smoke. He smokes when he has his coffee in the morning, he'll smoke outside the balcony of his room, he even smoke when he's tuning cars. It's a part of his character...
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Posted
Apr 27 2010, 03:03 AM
by
Linhbergh
with 41 comment(s)
When you hear of the name Top Secret, or of the legendary tuner, Kazuhiko "Smoky" Nagata, you'll conjure thoughts about cars with million-billion horse power and are driven at massively illegal speeds in various countries. If you're unfamiliar with the name of Top Secret or Smoky Nagata, let me direct you to this youtube video . Your education will thus be complete upon viewing. You'd be hard pressed to believe me that these two Nissan 370z a far fetch from the legendary titans...
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Posted
Mar 05 2010, 08:57 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 31 comment(s)
I hope you guys enjoyed Skyline Week on Speedhunters and found it to be a somewhat eye opening experience. I had a sense that the Skyline community was a global massive, but seeing all of the reader's rides submissions has deepened my understanding of this international scene. One key cultural flashpoint for all things GT-R related is the UK -someone once told me there are now more GT-Rs in the UK than in Japan itself! It's a statement which very much could be true given the strength of this...
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Posted
Mar 05 2010, 06:06 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 8 comment(s)
... and what do you get? 205 mph... We'll talk more about this car in a little bit, but first I want you to watch this video.
back in a bit...
:Rod
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Posted
Aug 28 2009, 04:30 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 36 comment(s)
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Kazuhiko “Smoky” Nagata for many years now. Nagata-san is of course the founder of the legendary tuning shop, Top Secret. Going beyond that, he is also a bit of a worldwide motorsports celebrity, in fact he is a rather unique example of a motorsports star. Not many people can claim celebrity driver status while having no professional motorsports affiliation as a driver. To understand the mysterious Nagata-san it may be a bit easier after some background....
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