Does anyone know anything about Tommy Kaira?

Does anyone know anything about Tommy Kaira?

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Discussion

whiley7

Original Poster:

35 posts

175 months

Monday 10th August 2009
quotequote all

I know they did tuning and parts for Nissans - moreso Skyline but does anyone know anything about their sports cars?

Played Gran Turismo with my son the other day, was stunned by the ZZ-II but struggle to find anything anywhere else. Does/did it exist?

If so anyone got/seen one at all much appreciated.

Love rare sportscars - Venturi, Ascari etc. Much less obvious than a ferrari!

Oh and while i'm here anyone recommend a decent kit car - to go with my last post!

Cheers

(any kit car for £4k/£5k looking for ideas please)

Emubiker

951 posts

179 months

Monday 10th August 2009
quotequote all
I remember there being a micra k11 based car they did, was basically a super s with extra oomph, always wanted one, still do lol

John D.

17,701 posts

208 months

Monday 10th August 2009
quotequote all
He/they did produce an Elise like car. I have a review of it in an old EVO mag. It is the same or very similar to the car featured in Gran Turisimo (where I first came across it too!).

Not sure if it was available outside Japan.

whiley7

Original Poster:

35 posts

175 months

Monday 10th August 2009
quotequote all
John D. said:
He/they did produce an Elise like car. I have a review of it in an old EVO mag. It is the same or very similar to the car featured in Gran Turisimo (where I first came across it too!).

Not sure if it was available outside Japan.
Yeah thats the ZZ - i would like one of those too, think the ZZ II must of been 'playstation only'
frown shame as would of loved to driven one!

Yeah vaguely remember the Micra as well!

Silent1

19,761 posts

234 months

Monday 10th August 2009
quotequote all
Mosler were involved iirc as when we did a factory tour they had posters up and spoke about It a fair bit

T89 Callan

8,422 posts

192 months

Monday 10th August 2009
quotequote all
I once saw one in the paddock at Brands Hatch, great looking little 'Elise Type' thing. Had a Nissan engine in the back looked like it was a 16v from a FWD car.

Jeffmaniac

524 posts

198 months

Monday 10th August 2009
quotequote all
Believe it was the high spec engine from the Primera but with such a light body was a lotus elise type of car but with no roof.

rilak

15 posts

175 months

Tuesday 11th August 2009
quotequote all
According to japanese wikipedia it was made in the UK and the engine was
based on the primera SR20DE as mentioned. 185PS and 710kg...

The ZZ concept document has the usual stuff:

As close to a racing car as possible
Has to be mid-engined
Adjustable suspension
etc.

...and then the claasic:

If you ride in a ZZ you'll feel 10 years younger

cool

If you want to buy there's 3 available here..in japan

some more stuff about the zz (in japanese) here

mybrainhurts

90,809 posts

254 months

Tuesday 11th August 2009
quotequote all

dudleybloke

19,717 posts

185 months

Tuesday 11th August 2009
quotequote all
nice car but can you imagine the hassle of getting replacement body bits if you needed them.

whiley7

Original Poster:

35 posts

175 months

Tuesday 11th August 2009
quotequote all
mybrainhurts said:
Yeah thats it! The blue ZZ II i thought they would have made one!

Would happy to have that as my car for the rest of my days, in black please! lick

Edited by whiley7 on Tuesday 11th August 09:58

Trommel

18,980 posts

258 months

Tuesday 11th August 2009
quotequote all
Autobacs (the Japanese Halfords) bought the rights/went into partnership with/took them over and the Tommy Kaira ZZII became the ASL RS01, but it never went into production. 1000 kg, 500 bhp RB26DETT and ATTESA 4WD:







Tommy Kaira ZZ-S, with a Nissan SR20:



ASL Garaiya:



They mainly made modified versions of existing cars, the first being this:


whiley7

Original Poster:

35 posts

175 months

Tuesday 11th August 2009
quotequote all
Trommel said:
Autobacs (the Japanese Halfords) bought the rights/went into partnership with/took them over and the Tommy Kaira ZZII became the ASL RS01, but it never went into production. 1000 kg, 500 bhp RB26DETT and ATTESA 4WD:







Tommy Kaira ZZ-S, with a Nissan SR20:



ASL Garaiya:



They mainly made modified versions of existing cars, the first being this:

thumbup

shirt

22,506 posts

200 months

Tuesday 11th August 2009
quotequote all
the zz2 made production in altered form as the autobacs garaiya. its an odd looking thing though.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/firstdrive...

never understood why the zz2 wasn't made, looks awesome and had proven mechanicals.

cheesesliceking

1,571 posts

239 months

Tuesday 11th August 2009
quotequote all
http://www.tommykaira.com/


Always a good place to start.



LHD

17,000 posts

186 months

Tuesday 11th August 2009
quotequote all
I remember the ZZ doing the rounds in the magazines, must be over a decade ago infact about the same time as the Elise.

Built in the Land of the Rising Turnip and finished in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Nissan 2.0 Twin-Can out the hot Primera if my memory serves.

I have no idea what it was like to drive but most writers at the time gave the nod to the Elise.

Still an intresting Japanese curio.

shirt

22,506 posts

200 months

Tuesday 11th August 2009
quotequote all
the norwich built one was the zz1 wasn't it - marketed as the leading edge rt240? iirc their first attempt wasa bit crap, the revised version much improved [got a fairly good review in evo] but they then folded.

LHD

17,000 posts

186 months

Tuesday 11th August 2009
quotequote all
shirt said:
the norwich built one was the zz1 wasn't it - marketed as the leading edge rt240? iirc their first attempt wasa bit crap, the revised version much improved [got a fairly good review in evo] but they then folded.
Could well be.

A lot of ex-Lotus people involved if i remember correctly.

Gizmo!

18,150 posts

208 months

Tuesday 11th August 2009
quotequote all
shirt said:
the zz2 made production in altered form as the autobacs garaiya. its an odd looking thing though.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/firstdrive...

never understood why the zz2 wasn't made, looks awesome and had proven mechanicals.
That RS-01 looks gorgeous. I'll take one in Japanese Racing White. biggrin

shirt

22,506 posts

200 months

Tuesday 11th August 2009
quotequote all
LHD said:
shirt said:
the norwich built one was the zz1 wasn't it - marketed as the leading edge rt240? iirc their first attempt wasa bit crap, the revised version much improved [got a fairly good review in evo] but they then folded.
Could well be.

A lot of ex-Lotus people involved if i remember correctly.
managed to find a test report. be careful of the link though, site looks well dodgy.

http://www.pistonheads.com/roadtests/doc.asp?c=112...