Motor Australia – September 2019

justinthemostdiscreetofways.

Ourstorywassupposedtoendhere,butata looseendthe

nextdaywedecidetodrivenorthtoTopSecret,thefamed

JapaneseGT-Rtuner,toseeif wecanmeetitsfounder,a man

calledKazuhiko“Smokey”Nagata.TopSecret’sbuildinglives

uptoitsname.Likeanaircrafthangar,thebigverticalfront

doorisajarwhenwearrive,throughwhichwespya bewinged,

whiteR35.Smokey,comingovertogreetuswitha smile,isjust

oneoftwopeoplepresent,andhe’stinkeringawayunderthe

bonnetofanoldBluebird.Havingtoweavethrougha bunch

ofdustyGT-Rsofeveryvintage,packedinlikesardines,sadly

thelanguagebarrierisveryrealandtheGoogleTranslateapp

canonlygetussofar.Butweareabletogleana fewimportant

things.Thosebeing,heplansondoingmorehigh-speedruns

atsomepoint.Thatbusinessisgoingwell.HeknowsHiroshi

Tamura,thecurrentbossofGT-RatNissan.Andthathewasnot

a memberoftheMidNightClub.Curiously.Hisfriendswere.

Wehavetocutourtimesadlyshort(thiscouldbea whole

featureonitsown)andheadbacktothehotel.AsI’mdriving

downtheWanganFreewayinourownnear-600horsepower

GT-R, though daylight, a clear stretch opens up and the

temptation,afterallthistalkofspeedandignoringthelaw,

isstrongtoofferaMOTOR-styletributeinhonouroftheMid

NightClub.Butthefearofspeedcamerasisstrong,asthere

areapparentlymany,andthemotorwayspeedlimitsevenby

Australianstandardsarefarcicallylow(andalmostuniversally

ignored).We’renotgoingtoendupina Tokyopolicestation

today– well,notforspeedinganyway.

➜

BELOW

Foundedin1991,

TopSecretinChiba,

Tokyo,isnirvana

forGT-Rlovers,but

it’salsotunedits

fairshareofother

makes,including

buildinga V12Supra.

Nagatausedthiscar

tohit358km/hat

Nardo,Italy,in2008,

hispersonalrecord

126 september 2019 whichcar.com.au/motor

WHOISSMOKEY NAGATA?

AddictedAddictedto speedtospeed–andandGTGT-RsR

KAZUHIKO“SMOKEY”NAGATAis the

founderoflegendaryJapanesetuninghouse

TopSecret.A small,quietmanlookingto

bein hisforties,heis friendly,hasa loveof

cigarettesandhasa cheekyattitude.You’d

neverguesshealsoloveshorsepoweras

muchasanyStreetMachiner, enormous

burnoutsandflippingthebirdatthelaw.

Infamousforhigh-speed,late-nightfreeway

anticsofhisown,thereis a videoon

YouTubeofhimin a mega-horsepowerR33

GT-R,doingthemostenormousburnoutin

themiddleofthemotorwaybeforeclocking

328km/hin a Tokyotunnel.Anothervideo

depictshimdoing317km/hin theUK,lateat

night,in a highlymodifiedToyotaSupra.He

wascaughtanddeported.He’salsobeenat

it in NewZealand.WeinvitedhimtoVictoria.

“SMOKEY” SAYS HE PLANS ON MORE HIGH-SPEED RUNS