We have them all – videos that have fueled our love for cars or have channeled our interests in a certain direction.
I could name a few, but one that stands out is a clip of 21 seconds of a bright yellow MKIV Toyota Supra built by Jun, Power-Liding on Tsukuba Circuit. I am not sure where I saw it online for the first time, but in 2001 – four years earlier YouTube Was one thing – you can bet that I have the prospect of 25 to live Riskerere by downloading the bootleged clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7GFT2Z1PQW
Fortunately you don’t have to do that.
So imagine my joy, when a few years later I caught a glimpse of what seemed to be the same car in a gravel party across Jun’s Irma Shop.
What I didn’t know at the time was that this was the same supra that the covers had adorned Max Power And Super street Magazines at the end of 2001, with a somewhat different appearance. A supra that had reached the spirit-killing top speed of 401.20 km/h (249.292 MPH) on the Salt flats of Bonneville in Utah, vs.
How did I end up here? In 1999 I met Jun Auto Mechanic Head Susumu ‘God Hand’ Koyama in Nieuw -Zeeland when he traveled here to compete in the Option speed test With the Jun Super Impreza GC8 – a 580PS (572 hp) beast that struck 309.1 km/h on a long and straight but bumpy and wet rear road. I knew I had to visit Jun, and in 2004 I came to Japan and I could let it happen.
More than 20 years later I was still humiliated to have received personal tours by Jun’s Nerima store in Tokyo and Jun Auto Works/Auto Mechanic in Saitama of the founder of the company, Junichi Tanaka.
I couldn’t spend much time with the supra – it was the end of the day and I had a train to catch back to Tokyo. But I was lucky to get the car in a small open space in the parking lot for a few photos.
Jun was founded in 1980, but the history of the parent company dates from 1946. After the Second World War, the father of Tanaka-San Tanaka Industrial Co. On, re-spending machines used for automotive applications for Japanese war aircraft. For his access to the Japanese auto-consolation industry, Tanaka-San Koyama-San, a talented young mechanic, hired to lead operations and Jun as we know them, was born.
The newest Turbo Charger technology was the heart of Jun’s activities, and the company quickly built up a name for itself by building some of the fastest and most powerful cars in Japan. Tuning Car Top speed Tasting held in the now defeated Yatabe test track by Option Magazine In the 1980s became an early focus for Koyama-San. Then, in 1990, he brought Jun to the global stage with several performances in Bonneville in different cars. In 2001 Jun returned to the Salt Flats with his ‘Akira Supra’ -A Demo -Auto -Buildd started three years earlier at a Stock 1993 Toyota Supra RZ.
Unlike most cars in the 200 MPH club of Bonneville, Jun’s Supra was not a specially built racing car with tube. It was an adapted street car with some extra go-fast bits added (and deleted) to have it reached 400 km/h-one number that Koyama-San had seen on the salt with earlier builds.
Around the same time Jun was in the US with the Akira Supra, the bootleged clip of the Auto-Stroomgeing in Tsukuba found its way online, now known to have been torn Video option full. 76who came out in 2000. Thinking back, this might have been the right one First ‘Viral’ video that comes from the tuning scene of Japan, which at the time was still largely a mystery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ9RM9AOFPK
Fortunately, the option officially uploaded the entire three -minute segment to YouTube a few years ago, so that you can view it by pressing the play button above. It appears that the Akira Supra had been taken to Tsukuba to see how quickly it could estimate the circuit, and on a warm-down round, Option Test Driver Eiji ‘Tarzan’ Yamada decided to have some fun …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC23H0-LZEY
Not long after I saw the power-slide clip for the first time, a friend borrowed me one Video option VHS -Tape of, I think, also around 2000. In the granular images, the Akira Supra was filmed by the gears along the Tokyo Aqualine with more than 300 km/h – the Wangan Benchmark of the Golden Age. It just got better.
Even before I knew the Bonneville exploits, the Akira Supra embodied everything that was great about the Japanese coordination scene at the time. It was a street car that could easily hit 300 km/h And Drift. It had built a 2JZ-GET engine up to 3.2L with Jun-Prototype parts-it-crankshaft, forged bars and pistons, performance cams and a T88-turbo. Gear shifts were made by a successive gearbox, practically unheard of street cars, and it was unmistakably a Jun creation with functional outdoor mods and that characteristic yellow paint.
The 2JZ engine was fully overhauled for Bonneville’s attempt. In addition to strengthening and changing the engine for more power, Koyama-San Twin Trust/Greddy SPL T78-29D-14cm added turbos, a prototype Jun Intake distribution piece and a fuel system to the task. That system included a 120L tank, five Bosch Motorsport -fuel pumps and a dozen June 890cc injectors. Caused via a HKS F-Con V Pro Engine Management System, the setup made almost 1,400 hp (1,380 hp).
The powertrain retained the same 6-speed gearbox Holinger-subsequent gearbox with which it was previously equipped, but a 2,238: 1 last drive ratio was used on the back to ensure that the Supra mechanically could hit 400 km/h. Combined with its aerodynamic adjustments and a full flat steel lower bottom drawer, the Supra was on average 240.192 MPH (386.55 km/h) for two runs in the E/BGCC class. Hetting 401.20 km/h on one of the runs, however, is for which it is remembered.
When it returned from Bonneville, the Akira Supra was returned to his street car setup, with a single trust/greddy T88-34D-22cm turbo, a milder specification of the cylinder head, a pared-back fuel system and a more road-friendly diff ratio. In this form the power was up to 950 hp (937 hp), around 1.7 bar (25psi) boost. That is the specification you see here.
The street version of the Akira Supra-the original look of Jun for the car weather perfectly mirrored the Japanese tuner style of the end of the 90s/in the early 90s. The front bumper, ventilated and protruding hood, aero mirrors and GT wing were all Jun parts, while the rear diffuser was a piece of Re Amemiya. Completing the vision were Golden 18-inch Advan Model 6 wheels used in Bonneville-Watelde in Yokohama Advan Semi-Slicks.
Because the Supra was not cut in his transition from Road Car to Salt Flats Racer, it was easy for Jun to bring it back to Street-Spec. Despite its racing upgrades, such as a welded Cusco 10-Point Roll Cage and a Recaro SPG chair, it took advantage of a few comfort, such as a full dashboard, for carpet and door tickets. Also held in place was the originally appropriate suite of excavations, plus the then state-of-the-art stack 8100 Digital Dash display.
In the years after my meeting in 2004 with the Akira Supra, not much was heard about the car, so I assume it spent more time parked in the lot. Then, in 2011, Jun gave the Supra a complete overhaul – the re -painting silver with new yellow and orange graphic images and the refreshing of the powertrain for circuit use.
Two years later, early 2013, Jun brought the car for sale, but it took until the end of 2014 before a purchase was made. For a long time, that seems to be the asking price for which you may want to sit: ¥ 6,000,000 before tax – that is only US $ 40,000 in today’s money.
I would like to know where the supra ended up. It is online that Australia mentions, but I cannot confirm it. Hopefully someone there can shed some light on the location and the current form.
One thing is certain: of all the tuner cars that have been built in Japan over the years, Jun’s Supra is perhaps the best. It was an all -rounder like no other.
Unfortunately, Tanaka-San died in 2019, 76 years old, after an illness, and Koyama-San, who fought for years, died in 2022, after he found Koyama Racing Labo in 2009/2010. Although these icons of Japanese performance have unfortunately disappeared, Jun’s Legacy will forever live on through cars such as the legendary Akira Supra.
Brad Lord
Instagram: Speedhunters_brad
