Think of a daytime version of the Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift. Well… With more clothing and no Yakuza, but with more drag races, more drifting, more craziness and many, many more cars to look at. This was the very first edition of Fuel Fest Japan held at Fuji Speedway with more than 30,000 people in attendance and over 1,000 show cars gathered for just a day. Japan’s car culture always has had lots to offer from mind-blowing collections to incredibly unique customizations, but after two years of canceled events and tighter-than-ever measures towards any sorts of gatherings, the local car culture seems to have lost a bit of its shine. The cars may still be there, but everything is much less “out there” for automotive enthusiasts to see. And just as you’d think Japan’s car culture was starting to hide away, Fuji Speedway was busy and bustling again just like in the good old days, as it welcomed Fuel Fest co-founder Cody Walker along with Fast and Furious stars Tyrese Gibson and Sung Kang. The racetrack transformed into a scene straight out of Fast & Furious’ “Race Wars” car meet, which was a little chaotic in comparison to Japan’s usually orderly events. But after two years of monotonous and predictable car meets, this first Edition of Fuel Fest Japan proved to be a much-needed event to shake up people’s moods.
Both owners and tuners brought the best of the best with cars that can be broken down in two categories: Fast and Furious JDM movie car replicas on one hand, and modified American cars on the other. Japan being a huge fan of the franchise (which -for your information- is locally known as “Wild Speed”), the selection of movie cars did not disappoint with an impressive gathering of every single major JDM car appearing in the movies.
Brian O’Conner’s Iconic JDM Cars
Cars driven by Brian O’Conner, character played by late Paul Walker in the franchise, made up for an important chunk of the Fast & Furious display car area, from accurate replicas of the movie cars to unique wraps and cars imitating the style of the movie car.
The iconic orange Supra Mk4 that Dom and Brian built in the very first Fast & Furious movie made an appearance. You will notice that the replica was so accurate, that the Supra on display did not have a hardtop and was indeed a convertible, just like in the movie. A replica of Brian’s lime green Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 7 from the second movie followed the Supra into the racetrack for a lap around Fuji Speedway, as well as a Subaru Impreza WRX STi that Brian parachutes off the plane in the seventh movie.
Brian O’Conner’s GT-Rs… With A Twist
Japan does what it can to keep a large amount of GT-Rs within the country, making it not so uncommon to see R34 Skylines roaming the streets of Tokyo. These R34s are often tastefully modified, with new sets of exhausts, wheels, calipers, wings and so on, but nothing prepares you for what you can find at Fuel Fest Japan.
Out of all of Brian’s cars, the silver Nissan GT-R R34 Skyline with blue stripes seems to have marked the Japanese audience the most, more than the Wangan Blue R34. Not only were there a few silver R34s with blue decals, owners who did not own R34s still found creative ways to make their own cars look like the movie car. Look closely and you'll notice a silver van parked behind the new Supra, with blue stripes to make it look just like a taller, wider and boxier version of 2 Fast 2 Furious’ R34. Or walk past Work Wheel's booth and you'll stumble upon a completely reimagined, "Fast and Furious-themed" Hakosuka.
VeilSide Cars From Tokyo Drift
The VeilSide Mazda RX-7 rose to fame thanks to Han, played by Sung Kang in the third movie. Fuel Fest Japan was of course a golden opportunity for VeilSide to showcase its iconic movie cars, as some of their newer models such as the VeilSide Supra from the 2022 Tokyo Auto Salon have failed to gain the same momentum. The VeilSide lineup included the RX-7 body kit in various color declinations such as red, blue, yellow, and even magenta, and a couple of VeilSide Fairlady Z, with similar wraps as DK’s Z33.
As Sung Kang’s character Han comes back from the dead for the latest F9 movie, Han drives the new Toyota Supra in a black and orange design as a nod to the VeilSide RX-7 from Tokyo Drift. With the popularity of the new Supra in Japan, it was no surprise seeing rows of black and orange Supras on the Fuji Speedway grounds.
Suki’s Bright Pink S2000
As one of the rare female characters in the franchise to drive a memorable car, the replica of Suki’s Honda S2000 in 2 Fast 2 Furious was a great addition to Fuel Fest’s Fast & Furious themed lineup. In the movie, Suki races against Brian, Orange Julius and Slap Jack in a bright pink S2000 with a matching furry pink interior. Though this S2000’s owner simply kept the car’s original black leather interior instead of turning it into a furry one, the wrap was an extremely accurate and well accomplished replica of the movie car.
Roman’s Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder GTS
Roman Pearce’s purple and sparkly Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder GTS from 2 Fast 2 Furious is unique enough of a car that only one made an appearance during the event. The replica was incredibly faithful to the movie car, except for a black interior instead of an off-white one. The car appears in various scenes in the movie, including in the epic chase scene where the Eclipse escapes from the police alongside Brian’s Evo.
Supporting Characters’ JDM Cars
Though the cars talked about earlier were those driven by main characters, there were just as rich of a selection for supporting characters’ movie cars. To name a few, there were Morimoto’s gold Z33 from Tokyo Drift and the blue Subaru BRZ driven by Little Nobody in the Fate of the Furious.