There was no doubting that I was eager to check out the weird and wonderful creations on display at Osaka Auto Messe, with everything from VIP to Kei cars represented throughout the event. However, there was one company’s stand that I was extremely excited to visit having seen a number of their drivers post on Facebook about their preparations for the show. After turning a corner in one of the exhibit halls and seeing Naoki Nakamura’s world famous PS13 sitting amongst a collection of other D1SL and D1GP cars, I knew the trip to Osaka was entirely worth it: welcome to the Origin Labo. stand.
Nakamura has piloted numerous PS13s over the years, each one being more extreme than the last. However, the standard concept has always remained: the classic Team Burst pink and purple colour scheme, fluorescent Rays wheels (the 17/18″ 57Ds having been replaced by 18″ 57 Valkyries all round), a hefty smattering of vinyl and of course, an SR20 up front – you wouldn’t need to think twice about who this car belonged to.
While his cars almost always used to be seen sporting D-Max Type 3 aero, Naoki’s recent move to Origin Labo. has seen the car kitted out with the company’s Aggressive Line kit, having also been equipped with their GT aero kit beforehand.
Once I’d managed to tear myself away from Nakamura’s PS (and had a photo taken with the man himself) I started to take a look around the other cars representing Origin Labo. Chunky Bai has been involved in Japanese drifting since day one, with his 180SX having spent an awful long time in the limelight and featuring in numerous classic street drifting videos.
Despite the scene moving forward leaps and bounds in the last few year’s, Bai has remained true to his roots and his trusty 180SX still remains SR20 powered. Saying that however, it does put out around 750PS – you could hardly describe it as basic!
To me the Origin GT kit is often a bit hit or miss on 180s but, as you would expect, Bai’s car is absolutely on point. Even the ducktail spoiler (a completely overdone and misused accessory on many modern drift cars in my opinion) is absolutely perfect here, working extremely well with the selection of canards and splitters that adorn the car.
You can see a more detailed feature on Bai’s car over on Speedhunters.
Next up was Kunihiko Teramachi’s S15. Having cut a name for himself in the D1 Street Legal series behind the wheel of his PS13, Teramachi has stepped up his game with this incredible S15. Sporting the full Origin GT catalogue finished in his traditional candy orange paint, this is one of those cars that is simply the epitome of Japanese tuning – I’d love to see someone try and replicate this look in the UK but I can pretty much guarantee it would look terrible.
With the car set to see action in D1GP and Formula Drift Japan, the 550PS 2JZ setup under the bonnet should keep Teramachi competitive against a field of quite ridiculous cars. As he’s proven in the past however, his battling skills are not in doubt whatsoever. Speedhunters also dropped a feature on this S15 very recently which you can check out here.
Last but not least was Takamasa Kuroi’s JZX100. Having made a name for himself in D1SL behind the wheel of his S15, the move to a JZX seems a somewhat odd one to me but fair play to him for switching to a massively different chassis.
I was so glad I got to see these cars and meet their owners in person, having spent the last few years watching countless videos online of them doing what they do best. While I lost count of how many mind blowing cars there were at Auto Messe (Part 2 of my photos from the show will be uploaded soon), these are the four cars that really stole the show for me.