When Hironao Yokomaku started working at a French restaurant aged 16, little did he understand how a lot he’d affect Japan’s automobile tradition within the many years that adopted.
Now aged 63, the Tsukuba-based tuner exhibits no indicators of slowing down having simply unveiled a brand new mission alongside Quick & Livid actor Sung Kang unveiled at this yr’s Tokyo Auto Salon. As a result of for practically 4 many years, Yokomaku-san has led the long-lasting Japanese tuning model VeilSide.
Many youthful readers will probably be acquainted with VeilSide’s work in The Quick and the Livid: Tokyo Drift. Virtually 20 years on, Han’s orange and black Mazda RX-7 stays a poster automobile for all the movie franchise. However lengthy earlier than Hollywood thrust VeilSide into the highlight, it had established itself as one in all Japan’s most superior tuners, constructing the nation’s quickest vehicles with exteriors nearly as loud as their exhausts. One thing Speedhunters has coated up to now right here.
VeilSide’s distinctive look was initially impressed by the George Barris-designed Sixties Batmobile of all issues – a automobile Yokomaku-san first set eyes on whereas visiting an amusement in Los Angeles. Now it’s synonymous with Nineteen Nineties and ’00s Japanese automobile tradition – suppose large, sculpted rear wings and curved, ankle-breaking splitters.
Throughout this time, Yokomaku-san wished to create vehicles that he felt have been ‘full’ packages, versus specializing in a single ingredient, as most Japanese tuners on the time have been doing. However a VeilSide automobile wanted blistering efficiency, sharpened dealing with, and bespoke aero earlier than it may ever put on the hallowed ‘Fortune’ or ‘Fight’ identify, relying on the extent of labor concerned.
The look didn’t simply encourage different Japanese tuners; it even crossed continents, with VeilSide-style physique kits being tailored on European vehicles through the Max Energy period particularly within the early 2000s. Everybody wished a chunk of the VeilSide pie. And whereas the great occasions felt like a perpetual social gathering, the tough occasions that adopted introduced the corporate to the brink of collapse.
Now, with VeilSide having fun with a resurgence in 2025, Yokomaku-san is eager to remind the world of VeilSide’s 35-year-long historical past.
“At first, I began using round on customised motorbikes, and naturally, I believed mine was the quickest,” Yokomaku-san explains. ” However sooner or later I raced towards a machine with a totally tuned engine in a Nissan Bluebird and misplaced simply. That’s after I knew my tuning life had began. Once I started driving at 18, I instantly obtained a job at a automobile store to feed my obsession with pace.”
Automotive tuning within the Eighties wasn’t precisely the behemoth it’s at the moment. Because the proprietor of an S30 Nissan Fairlady Z arrange for drag racing, Yokomaku-san tuned its engine by trial and error, resulting in many rebuilds. By the age of twenty-two, he’d honed his craft sufficient to determine his personal enterprise – Yokomaku Racing Service – working tirelessly to construct the quickest S30 in Japan. His pièce de resistance was to turbocharge Nissan’s L-series engine, which instantly led to extra victories whereas competing in zeroyon (0-400m) competitions. Then, a yr later, he turned his consideration in the direction of the brand new Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R.
On the age of 28, Yokomaku-san was beating established tuners in nearly each self-discipline. Eager to showcase his expertise past merely going quick, Yokomaku Racing Service turned VeilSide – a reputation primarily based on an English translation of his household identify – ‘Yoko’ which means facet and ‘maku’ which means veil.
“Between 1990 and 1990, I set many Japanese data together with high pace, drag racing and the quickest 0-300km/h time of 13.72 seconds in our R-1 Avenue Drag R32 Skyline GT-R,” Yokomaku-san provides. “Our vehicles have been very distinctive, but in addition the quickest, so many requests for engine tuning got here from homeowners throughout Japan. However earlier than lengthy, I used to be reminded of the hazards of tuning after frequent accidents in tuned vehicles occurred throughout Japan. I didn’t need this to occur, so I made a decision to create a automobile that might entice individuals’s consideration with out working at loopy speeds. After successful awards at Tokyo Auto Salon for a few years, the VeilSide vehicles and look turned highly regarded.”
Whereas the Tokyo Drift RX-7 is perhaps VeilSide’s most recognised Quick & Livid automobile, the corporate’s aero kits have been current in each one of many franchise’s movies since day one. Bear in mind Dominic Toretto’s crimson Mazda RX-7 within the authentic film? That’s Veilside. Oh, and Suki’s pink Honda S2000 from 2 Quick 2 Livid? Sure, that’s one too.
Sadly for Yokomaku-san, this reputation led to an amazing demand, which left VeilSide unable to take care of provide. Earlier than lengthy, low-cost reproduction kits flooded the worldwide market, and because the tuning business slumped within the mid-2000s, VeilSide discovered itself in a nasty monetary manner.
“I wished to create a automobile that might entice consideration even whereas not working, which is the place the concept for the Fight Supra got here from” he explains. “I used to be honored to win the Full Automotive Grand Prix on the 1993 Tokyo Auto Salon in addition to the Costume-up Automotive Grand Prix and the Finest Tuner Grand Prix. VeilSide‘s 3D-modelled aero components turned common throughout Japan. On account of all of this, the provision couldn’t sustain with the overwhelming demand. It was very tough to extend the variety of molds and workers to supply aero components and improve provide to fulfill demand. We had additionally elevated the variety of product gadgets equivalent to aluminum wheels, mufflers, engine components, and suspension too.”
“Throughout this time, VeilSide moved away from the highlight with a concentrate on survival,” Yokomaku-san provides. “Many producers went bankrupt and the customized business was in a hunch. VeilSide was additionally affected by the collapse of this bubble, as subcontractors went bankrupt one after one other. It wasn’t till Tokyo Drift made a huge impact all around the world that folks started to recollect VeilSide and expose a brand new technology to our designs. I first realized in regards to the Nissan L-type engine at Yokomaku Racing Service, after which tuned GT-Rs and Supras with VeilSide earlier than shifting into the aero components and showing in movies. To remind a brand new technology of automobile followers about VeilSide’s historical past was an excellent feeling.”
With a last installment of the Quick and Livid franchise set to reach in 2026, Yokomaku-san hopes his legacy will proceed to encourage future generations after him.
“Individuals ask me why i began VeilSide, and I feel it was the numerous bitter experiences i confronted as an fanatic and tuner that led to the institution of the model. I had a imaginative and prescient that others didn’t supply, and it has been a privilege to make these goals a actuality via VeilSide. The way forward for customized automobile tradition is at all times unsure. However what I do know now at 63-years-old is that VeilSide makes vehicles for lovers – whether or not that could be a few or lots. For this yr’s Auto Salon, I created VeilSide78 primarily based on the S30, which united my ideas with Sung Kang. It was a really shifting automobile full of love that can stay a part of VeilSide’s legacy. I want to present the way forward for automobile making, the place vehicles made with high-level know-how, stunning design, and a love for vehicles shared with prospects will stay of their hearts eternally as treasured treasures. As a result of i’m not getting any youthful, however for the longer term, all I hope is VeilSide can proceed to encourage the subsequent technology of tuning followers, similar to myself all these many years in the past.”
Mark Riccioni
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mark@speedhunters.com