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JDM Legends - EP.40
About this episode
A deep dive into the world of legendary JDM tuners, featuring Mines, Spoon, and Top Secret. Bobby and Aaron discuss the understated brilliance of Mines, known for their ECU tuning and subtle builds, before moving on to Spoon, celebrated for their iconic Honda parts and racing pedigree. The episode culminates with Smoky Nagata of Top Secret, whose daring top speed runs and unique builds have made him a celebrity in the automotive scene. The hosts share personal anecdotes and insights, making this a captivating exploration of JDM culture.
Topics:
mines tuning
spoon sports
top secret builds
ecu tuning
jdm culture
top speed runs
honda performance
legendary tuners
In this episode we speak on the JDM legends who help shape the scene.
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Nissan R32S
"Yeah. And I have seen a few interior parts for R32s pop up that have been made by mines, likethe shif..."
Car
Honda NSX
"...rs. They designed the interior of the type R, the NSX, all of that. Then they went and did their own th..."
Car
Honda S2000
"...mean, if I had to pick a car, probably one of the S2000s, something like that. Yeah."
Car
Toyota Supra
"...been a few famous ones, right? I mean, mainly the Supra, I would say is really like what? Like the Supra,..."
Select text to request an explanation
Welcome back to Right Hand Drive Guys.
I'm Bobby.
This is Aaron.
And we're back again this week and we figured why not just have a little chitchat about likethe most badass like legendary JDM, tuner, builder, whatever you want to call it but theguys you know have put in serious work and made a name for themselves.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.
So we figured, hey, let's do it.
We worked up like three guys.
We didn't want to really spread out like super far.
We want to kind of keep it narrowed down to just three guys that we probably always admiredin one way or another.
Yeah, absolutely.
So, we're going to start off with Nikira Sond from Mines.
What I like about Mines personally is like in my mind, my mind, my mind, my mind.
Yeah, it's kind of like he's always been more like low key.
Yeah, yeah.
And it shows what they're builds.
Right.
They're not as like in your face.
They're not as wild and crazy.
They're more like reserved but like well done.
Right.
Settle but like very, very well done.
Yeah.
Like for instance, probably like a lot of people, you probably came across Mines playing GranTourism on the video games.
They had the skylines, the evos, I think a few other cars but they never were my favoritebecause they didn't have a crazy paint job or a livery or anything.
They just had that one little stripe down the side or whatever it might be.
Yeah.
And that was kind of boring to play a video game.
But once you started tuning it and you're like, holy cow, this thing has over a thousandhorsepower.
Like that's when they became cool.
Yeah.
So not the I appeal wasn't there.
Right.
Right.
They're like, oh, this is just a stock car.
Yeah.
But then once you get into it, like you said and you know what really shines at Mines, right?
Is there ECU tuning?
Yeah.
And that's kind of what they, as far as I know, that's really what they built their name offfrom.
Oh, 100%.
But the first guys back in '85 to offer pre-programmed ECUs for cars.
Yeah, because a lot of the times these Japanese cars, if you ever had, if you ever got an SRswap or an RB or maybe even the B series back in the day, they had a speed cut at whatever100 and 110 mile an hour or something like that.
That's annoying.
Right.
Yeah.
Tough speed runs aren't fun when you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
So that was probably like one of the main things that people would try to get turned off as wellas well as, you know, a little bit of extra power, a little bit of rest of the tune andmic for what they could even do in '85 on an ECU.
Right.
Right.
Right.
I just like, what do you mean?
Yeah.
Like that seems like crazy.
But, you know, they started there, but they have obviously expanded quite a bit.
And now they do just so much more than that.
Right.
They've really, you know, really expanded that into carbon fiber full motor builds like thewhole deal, different interior projects.
Right.
It's really pretty cool.
What would you say if you had to pick what's like your favorite mine's car?
Any of the skylines.
Yeah.
And nowadays, like any of the skylines they do, like because they're just so simple, subtle,clean, but like monsters underneath.
Oh, for sure.
Yeah.
So it's hard to, it's hard to hate on that.
I mean, yeah, like I said, back in the day, it was kind of boring to me, but like nowadays,I guess, you know, grown up.
Yeah.
That's like the thing.
Right.
The clean, like simple, like you said, but complete beast under the hood.
Right.
Yeah.
And I mean, you know, they, they do a lot of cool little interior, interior upgrades withtheir, like, Emerald Green Swade.
Right.
And then the same with the carbon fiber parts having that, like green tint to it.
Yeah.
Like when you see a mine's car, it's like, oh shit, that's a mine's car.
Yeah.
And I have seen a few interior parts for R32s pop up that have been made by mines, likethe shifter bezel and things like that.
Pull out your purse because you're the pay for it.
It is expensive and just like any other quality Japanese brand, you're going to pay for thatquality.
Right.
Oh, 100%.
I mean, right.
When you get these things from the actual manufacturer and they are the legitimate parts,they're not cheap because they're not made in this Chinese mass warehouse.
Right.
It's not like that.
One cool thing though, that mines and also our next guy that we're going to talk about, they'vebeen working with an outfit called built by legends.
Right.
And you've heard of that.
Yeah, obviously.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm sure a lot of guys have.
And it's, but if you haven't, basically, it's a group that works with different, basically,legends like this.
Right.
Yeah, whether it's mines or spoon or, you know, I don't know who they'll do next, but thenthey go through it with garage, Yoshida, right.
And they'll strip this car and whatever you bring to them.
So far, we've seen what R33, R32, R34 they're doing now.
They've done EG6 with spoon.
And, you know, you pay really crazy money for these, right?
They are like complete restorations and then modifications.
Yeah, 100% and like, do those cars are sick?
Yes, they are.
Yeah, at the end of the day, it's still 90s Nissan, but it is the pinnacle of the 90s Nissan.
A fully built mines motor built by hand, like, that's legit.
Yeah, and kind of updated along the way too.
Yeah.
So, and on old parts, it's kind of updated with the times, whether whatever material theyuse or whatever it might be.
It's, it doesn't say period correct to the 90s.
It's kind of updated.
Yeah.
And they work with this studio to do the full interior and the guys that work at the studioused to be Honda interior designers.
They designed the interior of the type R, the NSX, all of that.
Then they went and did their own thing.
And now all of the interior is completely redone by these guys.
Headline, like everything.
That's wild.
Yeah, you're, like, you're paying triple digits.
Like a lot of triple digits.
But you really are getting like, like you said, like top tier, the pinnacle.
I would, I would do it if I had that type of money.
And right.
If I wanted like the perfect whatever R34.
Right, right.
That's where I would go with it.
I mean, or I guess you could also do the whole Nismo, like a more a factory.
That's what I was going to say.
I mean, between them and the more a factory, like who else is doing it?
Yeah, not like that.
Right.
It's not like that.
Yeah.
So like, yeah, go ahead and name your price because it's like, yeah.
If you're the only one doing it, you make the market.
It is.
And so yeah, mine's definitely, definitely dope.
I've always looked up to him.
Curacao, OG in the whole game.
But the next guy spoon everybody's seen everybody's.
Yes, yes.
Yes.
Yeah, Texas exhaust.
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
T3, T4 turbos, whatever you need.
No, they didn't do the turbo stuff.
But, yeah.
So it was founded in '88, a few years after mines.
And of course, they super, super Honda guys, right?
Like if you've had your EK9, your EM1, whatever it is, you wanted something spoon at onepoint.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's just part of--Even if it's the little swan sticker on your door.
Yes, exactly.
Or the type one down on the side.
Yeah.
And so Tetsaru Iccima, he worked for Honda as a race car tester and driver.
And so I guess when he decided to leave Honda, he had both Honda and Mugans support in creatingspoon.
Right, correct.
And yeah, that's a whole other different story.
Like those, that triangle, like they did some work.
Right, a lot of data, a lot of stuff.
For sure.
And that was--Honda would be what it is today, and especially in motor sports, if it weren't for those dudes.
100%.
Yeah, right, way back in the late '80s.
Yeah.
So it's pretty cool how-- so basically, Honda wanted the data, kind of like with whatyou're saying.
They wanted them to just create race cars, race and push these motors to the absolute limit.
Because that's not something Mugan was doing.
Mugan was more on the parts accessories side, right?
As far as not racing racing.
Right.
You know, they're not letting--They're just two different things.
Yeah, for sure.
Which is smart, right?
Right.
You know, you got your arrow, you got your motor people.
I mean, that's pretty much two of the biggest things when it comes to going fast.
Yeah.
So yeah, I mean, what's one of the iconic spoon cars that comes to your mind when I'm likeyo, spoon sports?
It's not even the car.
It's really just that blue and yellow livery.
Yeah.
But I mean, if I had to pick a car, probably one of the S2000s, something like that.
Yeah.
With those big fog lights in the front.
Oh yeah.
That's like the sweetest bumper for that car.
Yeah, for sure.
And like, change is the car more than the only other bumper.
For combo, light setup, that I can think of that changes the car like that is the FD.
You know, when it goes to the in set headlights.
Right, right, right.
They get rid of the pop-ups and all that.
Yeah, exactly.
That's the only other car that I can think of that really changes like this changes thecar.
And we get to see one in person.
Oh, yeah.
We went to type one.
Which is a whole another thing, right?
Type one is basically the workshop.
Yeah.
Slash like headquarters for spooom.
Right.
And they've been there a while.
Yeah.
And I could be wrong, but I think Honda headquarters is also somewhere close by which also kindof played a part in like their development and stuff like that.
And like, that shop is insane.
Like the engine building room.
Like, yeah, it was cool.
We could just see like, guy working on like parts.
Like, it was like, it was definitely sweet.
And yeah, that place is unique because like we went to J's racing, which is also dope.
But insane.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like, and you can see inside the shop.
Right.
But like different.
Yeah.
Like Spoon was very intimate.
Like it was like I literally could have nibbled on this dude's ear while he was working onthis DC to.
Yeah.
And he just he wouldn't like it was just crazy.
How close we could be to him while he's working on this car.
Yeah.
And dude, that place like, I remember one of the first videos that I really looked at likea lot of Honda's like, or one of my favorite Honda videos from back in the day.
There was I forget who it was as one of the Spoon guys in that engine building room talkingabout their blocks and their heads and like the machine work they did to get it to rev,you know, to 10k plus.
Yeah.
The best.
And like then it cut to the clips of them comparing the EK 9 type R. Spoon built and then
the stock one and how, you know, revving to 10k really opened it up.
And I don't know.
That was just one of my first experiences like with Spoon as a as like a heavy tune orother than like video games.
Obviously.
Yeah.
So just seeing that and seeing like the technical aspect of it and like how they pull the absolutemaximal amount of this like 1.8 liter, 1.6 liter engine.
Yeah.
Always blew my mind.
I always thought that was so cool and had the utmost respect for those dudes because notmany other tuners are doing it like that.
Yeah.
I would always, always love seeing the videos, you know, on the DVDs or whatever of the Spooncars like on ITBs would like the exhausts and they're just hammering through the trackand you're just like, man, like I have a headache.
But no, for real, it was always was they, yeah, no, they and they do it with style.
And like you said that that blue and yellow livery and just like even just the blue when theydo the like they always do things again, just like mine's kind of simple, but like withtheir style, right?
Like, yeah, maybe bright, but it's still like simple.
You know, and I really admire that because I feel like a lot of companies, especially onthis side of the world, have to be in your face and like busy and it's almost like they'retrying too hard.
Yeah, exactly.
Those dudes, it's like, we're so natural.
It's just so natural that they're not forcing it at all.
Yeah.
It just comes in like people behind that livery would you be like, what?
Really?
What?
It's just the hat like you guys just, you know, yeah, something silly, cracked an egg on it.
No, but yeah, being haunted dude, especially at the beginning of like getting into cars,right?
Spoon was always like and then they started coming out with all the fake spoon shit.
I did.
And that's what that kind of like killed it a bit for him because yeah, you just get playedout with all the fake stuff, right?
Right, right, right.
And it doesn't make it as rewarding to have the real shit.
Yeah, in a sense, but then again, like it's one of those things like, I don't know, wewent to type one.
Dude, they didn't have anything for sale, right?
Nothing.
Not even a sticker.
No, nothing.
Couldn't get a share of stuff.
So like, dude, super exclusive.
Yeah.
In that sense.
So like a lot of the shit you do see out there probably is going to be knock off.
Yeah.
You do have the real thing.
That's just like a flex for yourself because you know it's legit.
Yeah, you know, it's through the extra like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Do it for yourself.
You know, it's since it is so limited like you said, right?
Yeah, that does make sense.
So yeah, spoon everybody loves spoon.
I would think, you know, in that sense, but and so we have three guys.
We got one more guy.
This guy is my favorite.
Like, I think this guy has to be, this guy has to be everybody's favorite.
Dude, how can he not be like?
So you know, of course we did a little research on this.
Like, it's not like we just know all this stuff.
You know, we know of it, but we don't necessarily know all the details, right?
And so we're researching this and I'm typing in, you know, everybody I'm typing in Mr.
Itchishima.
I'm typing in everybody else.
And when you type in smoking that gotta, dude, just like he's a celebrity.
Seriously, you see his face everywhere.
Yes, it's not cigarette.
Yes, like you type in any of these other companies.
You're not seeing a face.
Right.
It's not like my, my come across one.
Oh, okay, that's, that's him.
But no, dude, you type in top secret or smoking a gala.
You are seeing that guy.
Yeah, you're seeing him.
Glasses in a cigarette, dude.
Like 100%.
Somebody's grandfather.
For sure.
Nowadays, yeah, yeah, yeah, but like when he was younger though, right?
Like, yeah, and so I'm not saying mines and spoon don't have like this like cooler, inspiringstory, right?
I'm not saying that.
But smoking a gala is just so cool.
He's got a little more grit to him.
Oh, right.
Yeah, feels a little.
Yeah, feels a little more like he said, like grit or raw.
Yeah.
He's gone into some trouble.
Yes.
He's like a thug in that sense, you know?
Yeah.
He, uh, he definitely paved his own way.
Right.
He didn't follow anyone's rules.
He was his own man.
And that is why we're talking about him, right?
Yeah, that's why we saved him for the end because again, his story is for sure, like justlike cool.
So he starts out as a mechanic for Toyota, right?
Right at 16.
At 16.
At 16.
Yeah.
So long story short, uh, his dad bought him his first car at like 15 and his mechanic from Toyotahelped him get the car running.
So the car was running.
He's 16.
He's driving it back and forth to school.
School finds out expels him kicks him out for driving a school drive.
Yeah, kind of weird, right?
Yeah.
The boss from Toyota felt bad, hired him on as a mechanic.
Wow.
And then a few years later, uh, he got fired from Toyota for working on his own car.
So he was starting then?
Yeah.
So in about, I think he was around 20.
He moved to Tokyo because he was born and raised in Hokkaido, which is up very north, partof Japan.
Not a lot of racing scene going on up there.
So 20 years old, he moved to Tokyo and started working for trust.
That's cool.
That's like, Gready, right?
Yeah, yeah.
That's the parent company of Gready.
So I guess at that point, um, you know, once he got in there, they realized that he was justso like such a great employee.
His knowledge was so vast and he was so quick to pick stuff up that they really like valuedhim as an asset.
And so he's working on his own stuff like in the trust shop, his own side projects.
Yeah, yeah.
They had hired him on to work on like exhaust systems and turbos, but like he was working onhis own stuff after that work was done.
Right.
And so the, the boss is kind of new, but he didn't really want him to know.
And so that's where top secret comes from is because those projects were top secret.
Exactly.
Like, and so he must have with his buddies or whatever he must have been like top secret,you know, like, and then it just becomes a thing.
And that's pretty interesting.
This was like, you know, in, in the very early 90s.
And I guess at some point, you know, he realizes that he's got something going.
Right.
Right.
I think it was like 91.
Yeah.
He split from trust and started his own.
Yeah.
And Chiba and I guess he kind of did his own thing.
And then in 93, they entered into their first Tokyo autos along.
Nice.
That's crazy.
Yeah.
That's a long time ago.
Yeah, that is so long ago.
Like, he has been in it.
Like imagine what it was like in 93.
Yeah.
And now what it's like in 20 or 32s brand new.
Yes.
Like, but now in 2023.
Yeah.
Like how different it is and how much of a, again, a little celebrity is, you know, he is.
He was just hanging out with whatever that F1 driver's name is.
Like, it's just like, it's just like crazy.
But so what he's really known for is like, I mean, quite a few things, but his top speedruns, right?
Right.
Right.
That's like his thing.
Yep.
So I know he did a bunch of like legal ones that he participated in, like zero to 249 milesan hour.
Yeah.
Like, wow.
That's fun.
Right.
Like dang.
And then, but he did some like, he's, he gets in trouble, right?
Yeah.
He's definitely got in trouble in multiple countries.
So he went to the UK to do a top speed run.
And I forget how he got caught, but he ended up getting put in jail.
He couldn't speak any English.
So they had to wait on a lawyer slash translator.
Wow.
But he ended up getting banned from driving in the UK for 10 years.
That's crazy.
Yeah.
And he's like, I don't want to come back here.
And there's, there's been a few times in Japan as well where the high speed cameras, there'sa, there's a bunch of option videos that cover that type of stuff too.
Yeah.
him in his ways. Yeah, I guess he's also done it in Italy and got in trouble. Yeah. Yeah. He
always did a huge smokey burnout before he did his work. Yeah. Yeah. That was always the
sickest thing dude. He would do this crazy burnout. I'm like, oh, he's warming up his tires
for his launch. No, that burnout was his launch. Yeah. He took it out and just like taken
ride off on it, cause it's like an empty highway with like a bridge and he just starts justhammer it. Oh, dude, it's iconic for sure. I think he did one in one of the tunnels around
Tokyo as well. Oh, dude. That was sick. Could you imagine the sound of that thing? Just
dude, he must have been so pumped. Yeah. It's just dude. You see him. They show like, like
said, these are in a bunch of option videos, but he just looks like this frail little Japanesedude. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. College shirt. It's way too loose on him. Yeah. Yeah. He's
cigarette. Dude, he's just ripping 300 kilometer per hour. Like just ripping. Yeah.
He's like, hang in there. 100%. Yeah. That's why he's he's hard as hell. I mean, like, I think
that's why everybody likes him. Yeah. But he's also probably super friendly and cool. Oh,
yeah. So like, yeah, no. And then, you know, the top secret cars though, what makes those
so special? Man, there are always some kind of there's always something to them, right?
It's not just like a super build. It's a super with an RB 26 or a super with a V12 toy
out of engine out of like the century, right? That's a century, right? Yeah. And yeah,
that's pretty dope though, right? Like though it's the one JZFE out of the century. And he
he just like, nobody else was putting century motors in these cars. You know, nobody else
was doing all that. Right. No, yeah. No one because like, I don't know. That's like a huge
engine. There's not much aftermarket support for it. But like he is smoking a gotter. Yeah.
You are the support. Yeah. Yeah. That's your door. Right? Like, so yeah, he's the man for
that. They also had a bunch of other like weird one off things like they had the R35 swapped
R32 with like full interior and everything. Yeah, that must have been so dope. Yeah. Like
to just like that car so small. I want to know how they got the dash to fit. Because like
35 is so huge. Like how do they fit the dash at all? I'll have to see some pictures of
that. Right. Right. But we got so we got to see his car. Yes. It was pretty cool. Very random.
Yes. We was our last day pretty much. Yeah. And we had left our camper in Japan. We left
the camper at a parking area somewhere around Tokyo. Yeah. It was like underground. It was
like, yeah, it was under the highway. Pretty sick. So pretty much we go to pick it up on
our final day. And we're just hanging out in the parking lot. And all of a sudden this
hauler pulls in with a gold R35 on it. And I'm like, holy cow, that's sick. So I've I've
immediately like check it out. Right. And I see it has top secret wheels. And I'm like,
whoa. Yeah. What even is that? Like I didn't know they made wheels. And then I just got to
look and it has like top secret badging. It has like this weird tennis club sticker on the
side. Yeah. And I'm just like, what is this? Is this is this the one? Yeah. And I look
at it up. And yeah, I show you the picture. And it it's him with his car, which is the one
with the little tennis club. Yeah. Yeah. It's like literally he brings it to the tennis
club. Right. Right. Right. I'm like, holy cow. Dude, that was like literally smoking
to God is R35. Like the top secret R35. And like, there's two of them. There's one his in
Japan and another one. I believe in Malaysia or one of the other one of those other Asian
countries. Yeah. But so sick. And like the dude driving it was just like not driving it,
but driving the carrier was just like, what do you? What are you guys doing? You guys doing
what are you sitting there? Like drooling just like man, taking pictures from every angle.
Pictures from every angle, dude. Like it was sick. And like, I just never will forget like,
what are the odds of that happening? Like that particular parking area at that particular
random Monday morning to transport it even. Yeah. Like what are the like what are the odds?
That was sick. It was meant to be. No, seriously. And then I don't know, just Japan's magical
in that sense. Yeah, it really is. And you know, you yeah, I felt like that a few times. Like,
wait, what? This is sick. Right. We're lucky right now. And so part of his thing though is he love,
like you mentioned, he loves that gold. Yeah. Like that. Like supposedly he won't put that gold on
any car that is in the best of the best. Yeah. Like if you see that car, like that color, that's like
cream in the crop. Yeah. And there have been a few famous ones, right? I mean, mainly the Supra,
I would say is really like what? Like the Supra, I forget what front end has on it. Like what
headlights, but the whole front end on it has been changed. That one's pretty famous. Yeah.
As well as he sponsored an S15 in D1. Oh, he did. Yeah. And that car actually is in America.
A guy named on the internet, his name is JDM Supreme. He buys pretty much all these classic race cars
from Japan, retired drift cars, whatever it might be. But he has the S15. And I believe the R34.
Wow. Yeah, it's pretty wild. Like to think that those are in America just in this guy's warehouse.
Chillin. Is that the guy in Connecticut? Yeah. Yeah. Wow. That's cool. Yeah. That's that's legit. I mean,
he did have the Supra, didn't he? That's what I thought he had. Is it the Supra? Yeah, I think it's
the Supra. Not the R34. Yeah. Okay. But either way, he probably has all he probably has that too. But
so yes, smoking it got a definitely a legend. Yeah. 100% if you don't know who we're talking about,
just type it in. You're gonna be like, oh, yeah, find some old option videos with a minute because like
those are classic. Yeah, it won't be disappointed. He actually has his own DVD from back in the day
called Midnight 200 MPH Blast. And so I guess if you look that up on YouTube, you can find it. That's sick. Yeah.
I'm gonna go do that after this. Yeah. No, no doubt. And so yeah, I mean, we figured we would just
chat it up about these guys. Like I would love to I would love to meet Smoky, but I would love to
meet any of these guys. It up to Chiba. Yeah. Yeah. No, you definitely good. I've seen a bunch of people
that strolled up to Top Secret. Yeah. He was there. You know, I mean, I don't know how accessible he is,
but they all seem pretty friendly. Yeah, I'd imagine it's not very hard as long as you're not a, you know,
a weirdo about it. Yeah, I mean, like mines and spoon, it might be a little bit harder. Yeah, that's a little
bit different, but like it's true. Like I said, Smoky, he's different. Yeah, he is. He comes from the hood.
Yeah. He's like one of us, right? Yeah, that's how it seems. It's kind of, you know what I mean? Whereas like,
yeah, mines and spoon, they're kind of like more corporate, I guess you could say. Yeah, that's how I feel.
He's like grassroots and top seekers at grassroots. Right. Exactly. So like he said, yeah, he was one of us before he was
ever he worked for them or, you know, he worked for trust, but just like one of those corporate type. Yeah,
companies and made his own thing after that. Yeah, he didn't want to be. He's the man. Yeah.
So yeah, this was actually episode 40. Nice. Yeah. So that's pretty cool. And for today, I'm Bobby. This is Aaron.
See ya, peace.
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