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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
May 14 2011, 01:00 AM
by
Alok Paleri
with 17 comment(s)
This is a shape that needs no introduction in the automotive world. It's the sister show car of the world famous twin turbo V12 Toyota Supra dreamed up by none other than the legendary Smoky Nagata of Top Secret . But that's not all of it. The tarmac that the car is sitting on is the old Waldgerade, or Forest Straight at Hockenheimring, abandoned since the 2001 modernization. Hard to imagine while I was there, how a decade ago it used to be the fastest bit of Hockenheimring Formula 1 circuit...
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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 22 2011, 05:30 PM
by
Linhbergh
with 38 comment(s)
I've liked Daihatsu Copens for a few years now. Like many in States, I was first introduced to these cars from video games. When I landed in Japan, got into Tokyo, and started seeing these tiny, tiny cars all around, I fell in love. So it was natural for me to fall in love with this tuned Copen that was at Top Secret's shop. Just as we arrived at Top Secret, one of the guys was moving this Copen out of the garage to make room for the white R34 (next to the Top Secret CR-Z in the back of the...
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Posted
Jan 21 2011, 07:00 PM
by
Linhbergh
with 9 comment(s)
When you think of the tuning shop Top Secret, you normally would think that its prized shop cars, like their gold GTR, would be locked away deep somewhere deep in the garage. But instead, its kept outside in front of the shop for any passerby to see and maybe get curious enough to investigate the car, and the shop it belongs to. Head on over to the desktops section to grab this photo of the Top Secret GTR in both standard and widescreen formats. -Linhbergh
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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
Oct 14 2010, 08:00 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 18 comment(s)
The little Honda CR-Z is definitely getting a lot of interest from tuners in Japan. On a recent visit to Tsukuba Circuit I stumbled upon a test session that Top Secret and HKS were having with their respective demo cars. It looked like they were all pretty much done when I got close enough to take some pictures but I did manage to find out a little bit of information. Smoky from Top Secret has boosted the little hybrid 1.5L engine with a Trust TD04H turbocharger, which at a very mild 0.4 bar can...
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Posted
Sep 21 2010, 04:34 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 16 comment(s)
Smoky has been a busy man! This is the recently completed Top Secret R35 GT-R, wearing the new 2012 GT-R inspired front bumper and the signature gold color everyone knows and loves. The car made its first appearance at the 2010 R's Meeting this past weekend in Fuji Speedway, hinting that Top Secret has gotten serious about the R35. It's taken a few years but finally there are more and more tuning parts coming out for the VR38DETT... ...so a lot of people are assuming that the choice to paint...
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Posted
Jun 11 2010, 07:30 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 40 comment(s)
There is no doubting that Daijiro Inada, the father of the Option family of publications, D1-GP and of course the Tokyo Auto Salon, likes to stand out from the crowds. He prefers to do things differently, probably what originally attracted him to the modified car word in Japan. He can be usually seen rocking up to events and D1 rounds in his new Z34-front Dee's Club RPS13 built by Top Secret, but at Fuji on Sunday he was behind the wheel... ...of the Top Secret Super G-Force 996. Originally built...
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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 14 2010, 03:00 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 30 comment(s)
Did any of you watch the F1 race today? I'm a bit irritated to be honest, as I think the new "no refueling" rules have really spoiled the show and made F1 even more processional than it already was. Ergh DISAPOINTED!!!... Anyway moving on, I wanted to share some photos with you that I took a few weeks back in the UK. All of you now know that the Top Secret Drag R II Skyline R33 is alive and well in the UK with its current caretakers: G Man and the Skyline specialist shop: TR Racing...
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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
Mar 04 2010, 04:34 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 25 comment(s)
I thought I'd show you guys another cool BNR34 which after the Garage Ito/ProStock time attack monster proves just how versatile the Skyline GT-R can be. As the name suggests, this is a complete Top Secret project, a car that one of my friends here in Tokyo had built with a specific set of goals in mind. It didn't need to be the fastest R34 out there, nor the most extreme looking, it just had to be the kind of supercar that you wouldn't think twice about using on a daily basis. Every...
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Posted
Nov 12 2009, 12:00 PM
by
Linhbergh
with 91 comment(s)
From the moment, I pulled up to the Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport in a Z11 Nissan Cube and met Rod Chong in a stripped Jacket followed by a ‘dude-awesome-rice’ comment by Linhbergh, I knew an adventure had begun. I grew up in London and moved to Houston nine years ago. For the past 4 years, my wife Deneice and I have owned a Japanese Arcade here called Planet Zero Anime Center; a place where video games, cars, anime and Japanese pop culture come together. I love what I...
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Posted
Aug 31 2009, 09:00 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 22 comment(s)
Few tuners can rival Top Secret’s global popularity. For over a decade, Smoky Nagata and the Top Secret team have rewritten the book on modified car culture by constantly developing cars that are ground-breaking, innovative and inspiring. Indeed, many of the spectators who flood into the annual Tokyo Auto Salon dash straight to Top Secret’s stand to see what insane demo car they’ve come up with this time. While Top Secret’s cars are often synonymous with gold paintwork and...
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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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