Japan's Most Insane Tuning Shop

This is Japan's

most

famous tuner Turbos Coilovers pistons and rods HKS did anything in the name of going fast, and in the process, they went from two humble men in a shed to one of Japan's

most

famous tuner brands, but by manufacturing only parts As cars were not enough, they set out on a journey to build their own supercar. The HKS Zero-R That is, until that plan came to a complete halt. And HKS had to fight to keep him alive. But to understand why they would want to build a car, we must go back to those two humble men...

In 1973, a young Hiroyuki Hasegawa had just left his job as an engineer at Yamaha. He was finally going to pursue his dreams. to open his own

tuning

work

shop

. At his side was his close friend Goichi Kitagawa, and although they both had different talents, the only thing they had in common...was that they were broke. So they took seed capital from Sigma Automotive. A

tuning

company you may know today as SARD or Sigma Advanced Racing Development. Then it was Hasegawa, Kitagawa and Sigma. HKS. Now, the initial money they got wasn't much. They actually started in a small shed at the back of a dairy farm in the foothills of Mount Fuji, but it was the humble beginning they needed to begin making their plans a reality. to the life.

What plans, you ask? Well, the most important one was creating the largest engine Japan had ever seen. They called the engine HKS-74E and well…we don't know much else about it because it never happened. HKS ran out of money before they could finish construction, so they had to pivot. They thought they could make some money by making high-performance parts, the kind of power add-ons that manufacturers were too afraid to make commercially. So in less than a year after it was founded, HKS produced and sold the first aftermarket turbo kit. The kit was designed for the C110 Skyline, also known as the Kenmeri generation with the L20 inline 6-cylinder engine.

And well, the HKS Turbo L20 generated 40% more power than the original, boosting the output from 113 HP to 158 HP! Performance was impressive, to say the least, and Skyline owners began purchasing HKS kits left and right. And less than 5 years later, cars sold around the world tended to have turbocharged engines from the factory, proof that HKS was ahead of the curve. When it comes to sports car trends. In 1977, turbos were being mass produced for a wide range of cars, and these turbo kits were better than anything Japan had at the time. But, you might ask, how did Hasegawa and his team get there?

Did the team even figure out turbo engineering in the first place? Well, you can thank the Americans for that! You see, America was first at the top of the turbo game, making some of the most reliable turbocharged cars. So HKS bought some American-made turbos and reverse engineered them to make their own. A bit ironic, considering that most current HKS turbos are made by Garrett, an American company. But anyway, in 1981, HKS took these newly built turbos and expanded to the US. And while the overnight parts from Japan sound good, the overnight parts from Japan are expensive. So HKS did something many of its competitors couldn't, and warehoused its parts in the U.S. to sell in North America.

And that was a big step for them, because that move is what led them to be able to expand their parts catalog, Piggyback FCON ECUs, Twin Power ignition systems, turbo timers, VPC, anything that would improve their car. HKS was now a full-fledged tuning company, but there was an obvious caveat to HKS's history at the time... Unlike many of their competitors, they did not have famous

shop

cars to support their products. It may seem unimportant, but every great tuner had his own car, with every part he made bolted to it, trying to break records and win races.

HKS realized this a little late, but that was okay, because HKS's product line was extensive and they knew they could build something great from the beginning. Thus, in the early 80s, they presented the HKS M300, an internally modified Toyota Celica XX. And with the complete catalog of HKS parts, that Celica reached 301.25 km/h in the famous Yatabe Max Speed ​​event, being the first Japanese car in history. exceeding 300 km/h This was a great achievement, which gave HKS recognition throughout the world. But along with that recognition came expectations. If HKS was so good at building trams, then surely they could compete on the track.

And well, HKS agreed, the time had come to get into motorsport. They started with rallying and endurance racing. HKS developed the 134E, an engine that started with a Mitsubishi G54B engine block and then used in-house HKS parts for everything else. That engine ran under the Ralliart brand for Mitsubishi, and it was pretty decent, which you can find out by looking at our Lancer Evo linked below. Just below the link to purchase our Pluspy and Chill merchandise. Anyway, by the mid-80s, the HKS catalog was growing. It was creating a huge demand and they were opening more factories just to keep up.

In fact, HKS sold so many exhausts that an entire factory was dedicated to just that. But before there were HKS carbon titaniums on all supras, there were exhausts called "Aluminum Muffler", "Riding Sport Muffler", "Turbo Muffler" or my favorite, "Legal Muffler", depending on your preference and the car application . But silly names aside, these HKS exhausts were absolutely hot and selling out. And if high-speed racing and rallying weren't enough for racing fans, HKS decided to get into grip racing, specifically the Grand Champion series in Fuji, Japan, HKS. He used this series as an experiment to study 5-valve engines, namely his 186E, a 2-liter DOHC 4-cylinder engine based on BMW's M12.

And once they mastered the intricacies of that engine, they said, "Fit it out, let's race some motorcycles." 200E. A 600cc DOHC 2-cylinder motorcycle engine. And an engine that was so good that not long after, every motorcycle in Japanese paddocks had a 200E. Still not satisfied, they returned to drag racing and built their legendary MK3 Toyota Supra. A car that broke a long-standing obstacle, the 8-second quarter-mile record. The supra produced 826 horsepower from its 7M engine...in 1990! HKS had absolutely every aspect of motorsports in its hands, and if there was a JDM sports car on the market, HKS made it go faster.

And the face of JDM sports cars at the time was Godzilla, the R32 GTR. The R32 was a beast in its own right, the legendary RB26, ATTESA AWD and a growing list of championship wins under its belt. It made sense for HKS to use the GTR as a canvas to go fast, but there was more to it than that. Remember how HKS initially set out to build the ultimate engine? Well, they had built so many fantastic engines since the days of the dairy farm, so now it was time to fulfill their second founding goal: now it was time to create the ultimate sports car.

The idea was simple, everything they learned, everything they developed, tested and sold to the world would be used to tear a GTR down to the bone and build an entirely new car from that base. They called the project, the Zero-R. And this car was going to be so special, so radically different from the Skyline on which it was based, that it would be marketed as a car made by HKS, not as a Nissan. But that also meant that HKS would have to follow Japanese car manufacturing laws, they would have to crash test several Zero-Rs and then pass a rigorous inspection.

And well, crashing hand-built cars with custom parts is expensive. So expensive that, well, just like the first engine they set out to build, they had to take a step back from the Zero-R. They built a few of them, 10 to be precise, but there was no way to stretch the budget enough to crash test them. So they were reluctantly forced to shelve the Zero R project... For now... And HKS was left wondering what they could do to grow the company enough to bring the Zero-R Project back online. The aftermarket parts business was growing steadily, and in the motorsports arena, they were already doing top speed racing, drag racing, rally racing and drag racing.

What even was left for them to test their engineering limits? OH RIGHT, FORMULA 1 Yes, in 1992, HKS decided to start developing F1 engines. Screaming V12s revving to 13,500 rpm and making 670 hp! HKS made engines for the pinnacle of motorsport. Well, something like that. To be completely transparent... HKS was not very successful and their engines were never raced... BUT their engines were fully tested and developed to Formula 1 specifications. And the R&D that went into that project was invaluable in helping the development around the world. its product line. Hell, it was even enough for them to compete and be competitive in F3.

But if I'm honest, there was something much cooler than F1, a racing series that was indigenous to Japan and featured my favorite Japanese Touring cars from the 90s. Car racing! And HKS was involved in every step. JTC was Japan's premier racing series. We made a video about it, linked below. But to compete here and win was to say you had one of the best cars in Japan. And for HKS, well, that was their goal all along. So they took an R32 Skyline and put all their spin experience into it, within the Group A regulations of course.

But those Group A regulations were very strict: engine blocks, cylinder heads, connecting rods, connecting rods and turbos had to be factory-supplied parts. And with the grid full of GTRs, all powered by the NISMO-derived Reinik RB26 engine, HKS didn't have much room to make adjustments, did it? After all, HKS was an engine manufacturer and had experience that the rest of the network did not. So instead of replacing parts, they “tuned” them. The internal parts of the engine were lightened and balanced, the block was carefully machined for lightness, even the turbo blades were cut for better flow. Hell, even the oil they used was specially formulated.

They called it 087 and said it was “like vegetable oil.” So thin that there was minimal friction, it just had to be replaced every time they ran the engine. This was the magic of HKS, they were the tuners who would do everything they could to create a better product than their competitors. And the result? A green and orange Godzilla, one with an engine that generated enough power to be the fastest on the grid. Enough horsepower to take first place at Sugo in 1992. The following year, when they competed again, they abandoned the previous livery and opted for a new design.

It was still orange and green, but now with blue and black, in the design they printed on their 087 oil cans. They called it the oil spill livery, and it was from here that this design became synonymous with JDM tuning Worldwide. HKS also built another R32 GTR for the racetrack. And well, GTR won every series it entered, extending Godzilla's dominance to the drag racing scene. Am I becoming a Nissan fanatic? Of course not, get that garbage out of your head. In the mid-90s, HKS was consistently in third place in Formula 3 racing, proving that the period in Formula was at least a little worth it.

And also, the HKS livery on a formula car? COME ON, NOW IT DOESN'T GET COOLER THAN THAT Or maybe it does, because HKS entered the World Endurance Motorcycle Championship and was in British Formula 3... Oh, and they made an ultralight aircraft engine...? At this point, HKS was making its mark anywhere that had stage lights, while its products were still flying off assembly lines and becoming tuned cars around the world. It was a success beyond their wildest dreams, and yet we're still not getting to the good stuff. . Because in 2000, HKS introduced a new monster, the HKS Altezza. This was a big step in proving that the Zero R was still viable.

A racing car, based on the Altezza, but designed from scratch by HKS with one purpose: Yes, to break records in Tsukuba. It was completely built, with all the suspension and chassis parts they could dream of. And it may have had the 3SGE it came with from the factory, but HKS took advantage of all the parts it had. The final product was an Altezza that set a lap time of 55.853 s at Tsukuba, surpassing long-standing supercars and racing records at the time. They followed up that performance by entering their HKS Hyper Silvia into the D1GP in 2002, eventually adding drifting to their resume.

And then there was the TRB-02... a fully built HKS Evo 8 that did 55 flats at Tsukuba, setting another record, only to be surpassed the following year with 54,739 Y aFrom there they built another Altezza, the IS220R, a D1 grand prix car that came second in the season. At this point, HKS could have caught a murder case with how much he was killing it. the track And as you can imagine, their catalog of pieces was no different. Every 350Z at the Tokyo Motor Show had the new HKS Supercharger that appeared on the scene immediately after the launch of the Z.

Every MitsuBitsu had to have HKS Hipermax coil-over shocks thanks to the Hipermax EVO 9 that dominated Time Attack in 2006. One car was doing sub 54 in Tsukuba while setting records. in Sugo, Fuji and circuits throughout Japan. And finally, all this success culminated in the one thing they had been waiting for for almost two decades. They grew the company and, with it, their budgets. Which meant, enough was enough, it was time to finish the HKS Zero-R. Automotive regulations in Japan were much more lenient now than they were in the early 90s when they started. Japan no longer required crash tests to be carried out for approved cars.

And this meant that HKS wouldn't have to spend $145,000 per car just to destroy them. So they pulled the Zero-Rs out of storage. All 10 to be exact. But only four were worth saving and finishing. And as soon as JDM enthusiasts sensed that the Zero-R was coming back to life, they lined up to buy one. But there was a problem, the car was already too outdated. They had designed it almost 20 years ago and HKS wouldn't even be caught releasing an old product. Not with all the new knowledge they acquired from motorsports and R&D over the last two decades.

The original Zero-R made 450 horsepower and 363 ft/lbs of torque... respectable numbers in the early '90s for sure, but that wasn't going to be enough these days. The old T04E turbo was ripped out. .. along with the 2.7 liter engine. In its place was a new Nismo block from JGTC race cars and the coveted HKS race kit, one that took the rb26 up to 2.8L Plus, increased compression, incorporated its internal variable valve timing system, and then finally added a pair of HKS GT2530 turbos to the equation. All mated to a modified Getrag 6-speed transmission. They even took out the back seats and moved the fuel tank there, just so they could build a very complex custom dual exhaust system.

When all was said and done, the final numbers were 600 hp and 477 lbft... much more in line with what HKS was known for. Of the 4 Zero-Rs made, 1 was sold to the Sultan of Brunei for a car collection. The public will probably never see it. The other 3 actually didn't sell. They were always in the HKS factory, just displayed... Well, that was until a few years ago. When the Zero R #3 showed up in the wild at an auction. The car sold at the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show auction for nearly $400,000. I'm not sure who bought it or where it went, but as with the Sultan's car, we will probably never see it in the wild.

And that's a shame, given HKS' history of making some of the coolest cars on the planet. But the fact that this car exists is something worth celebrating. HKS finally managed to build the car they had dreamed of for years. And in the process, they become one of the most impressive tuning houses in the world. As for HKS's story after the Zero-R, it certainly didn't end there. Hell, it never stopped at all. They continued to sell their now extensive catalog of parts for almost all Japanese tuned cars, and expanded into European and American cars as well. In 2010, HKS introduced a new proprietary line of turbos, the HKS GT II.

And for some cars like the Lancer Evo, it was a true upgrade, fitting directly into the factory manifold. It was OEM quality and equipment that very few other tuners could achieve, and for HKS, that was the reputation they built their brand on. But just when things were looking up, the economy in the United States was turning a corner. The exchange rate against the yen was deteriorating and that meant that in 2011, HKS announced that it would close its US facilities. It was a serious blow to their business, probably the biggest setback they faced in their entire history.

And honestly, it was indicative of a broader trend in the industry that Japanese tuning houses were struggling to make ends meet. Trust, one of HKS's biggest competitors, had filed for bankruptcy years earlier. The then-president of HKS, Jun Toyoda, even said that he did not foresee new Japanese tuning companies reaching the heights they used to occupy. Times had changed and the only way to remain relevant was to adapt, which meant cutting costs and even shifting its focus to the emerging markets of India and China. However, despite those setbacks, they held on! And slowly but surely, they rebuilt the company.

They even reestablished their US operations in 2017. They remained committed to drifting, Time Attack, and even the occasional jet ski race. And as for Hiroyuki Hasegawa, the founder of HKS, he remained an integral part of HKS history until his passing in 2016. One of the visionaries who pioneered an entire automotive movement. One who saw the car as a blank canvas that could always be improved. All from his humble little shed and his undying love of cars. Thanks for watching! If you liked this video, you'll love our video on the rise and fall of the Lancer Evo. Don't forget to subscribe and support us by getting the merch link below or becoming a patron.

See you at the next one.