When Hironao Yokomaku Started to work in a French restaurant of 16 years, he knew little he would influence Japanese autoculture in the decades that followed.
Now 63 years old, the Tsukuba-based tuner does not show any signs of delay that is just revealed A new project next to Fast & Furious Actor Sung Kang. Because Yokomaku-San has led the iconic Japanese coordination brand auctioneide for almost four decades.
Most readers will be familiar with the work of Veilside in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Almost 20 years later, Han’s Orange and Black Mazda RX-7 remains a poster car for the entire film franchise. But long before Hollywood was in the spotlight, it had been established as one of the most advanced tuners in Japan and it built the fastest cars in the country with the outside almost as loud as their exhaust.
Veilside’s distinctive look was originally inspired by the sixties designed by George Barris Batmobile of all things. Now it is synonymous with the Japanese car culture from the nineties and 00then to huge, sculpted rear wings and curved, single-breaking splitters.
During this time, Yokomaku-San wanted to make cars that he thought was ‘complete’ packages, in contrast to focusing on a single element, as most Japanese tuners did. But a veil car needed sizzling performance, sharpening handling and tailor -made Aero before it could ever bear the holy ‘fortune’ or ‘combat’ name, depending on the level of work involved.
The look not only inspired other Japanese tuners; It even crossed continents, with veil -like body kits that are adjusted to European cars during the Max Power era. Everyone wanted a piece of the veil tail. And although the Good Times felt like a perpetual party, the difficult times that followed brought the company on the edge of collapse.
Now, enjoying a revival in 2025, Yokomaku-San wants to remember the world of 35-year history of 35 years.
“In the beginning I started driving around on adapted motorbikes, and of course I thought mine was the fastest,” Yokomaku-San explains. “That was one day with a coordinated engine with a Nissan Bluebird. I lost easily. And then I knew my tuning -life had started. When I started driving at the age of 18, I immediately got a job in a car shop to feed my obsession with speed. ‘
Auto -Coordination In the 1980s was not exactly the colossus it is today. If the owner of an S30 Nissan Fairlady Z set up for dragracing, Yokomaku-San agreed by trial and error, which led to many rebuildings. Towards the age of 22, he had tightened his craft to establish his own business – Yokomaku Racing Service – tirelessly working to build the fastest S30 in Japan. His pièce the resistance was against the L-series engine of Turbo Charge Nissan, who immediately led to more victories while competing in Zeroyon (0-400m) Competitions. Then, a year later, he focused his attention on the new Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R.
At the age of 28, Yokomaku-San broke tuners in just about every discipline. Yokomaku Racing Service wanted to show its skills, but just go fast. side and ‘maku’ meaning veil.
“Between 1990 and 1990 I set up many Japanese plates, including top speed, dragracing and the fastest 0-300 km/h time of 13.72 seconds in our R-1 Street Drag R32 Skyline GT-R,” “ Yokomaku-San adds. “Our cars were very distinctive, but also the fastest, so many requests for motor tuning came from owners throughout Japan. But it was not long before I was reminded of the dangers of coordination after frequent accidents in coordinated cars took place in Japan. I did not want this to happen, so I decided to make a car that could attract people’s attention without running with crazy speeds. After winning prizes at Tokyo Auto Salon for many years, the Sluiside cars and appearance became very popular. “
While the Tokyo Drift RX-7 is perhaps the most recognized Veilide Fast & Furious Auto, the Aero kits of the company have been present in all films of the franchise since day one. Do you remember your Dominic Toretto’s Red Mazda RX-7 in the original film? That is veil -sided. Oh, and Suki’s Pink Honda S2000 van 2 Fast 2 Furious? Yes, there is one too.
Unfortunately for Yokomaku-San, this popularity led to an overwhelming demand, which made a safety side unable to maintain the supply. It was not long, cheap replica kits flooded the international market, and while the coordination industry dropped in the mid-2000s, Veilside was in a poor financial way.
“During this time, Veilside went away from the spotlights with a focus on survival,” Yokomaku-San explains. “Only when Tokyo Drift had a big impact all over the world, people started to remind the veils and to expose a new generation to our designs. That was a good feeling. “
“I started to veil after many bad experiences with other tuners, so it is very moving to still make exciting cars for enthusiasts for enthusiasts. I am not getting younger, but for the future I only hope that Veilide can continue to inspire the next generation of tuning fans, just like me all those decades ago. “
Mark Riccioni
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Twitter: Marriccioni
mark@speedhunters.com
