If you happen to’ve ever visited Tsukuba Circuit, you’d be acquainted with the quite a lot of workshops scattered across the outskirts of the complicated. Among those, in an unsuspecting construction Koshimizu Motorsports hides some in point of fact outstanding gemstones.

For the uninitiated, Koshimizu Motorsports – extra often referred to as KMS – is synonymous with AE86 tuning, specifically inside Crew A, N1 and N2 racing circles. When Yoshinori Koshimizu based KMS 30 years in the past, he was once decided to refine AE86 tuning, and that’s led to vehicles which might be nonetheless actively raced to nowadays. In recent times, Koshimizu-san has shifted extra against AE86 recovery paintings however, naturally, many of the vehicles that go away KMS nonetheless obtain one of the most signature efficiency upgrades he’s well-known for.

I first stumbled throughout KMS again in 2018 on a vacation in Japan, catching a glimpse of an AE86 thru a half-shut curler door. Being the over-enthusiastic vacationer I used to be, I caught my head in to take a look and gained an overwhelmingly heat welcome from Koshimizu-san. I wrote about this transient seek advice from in my first-ever Speedhunters article.

However it was once a selected automotive at KMS that made a go back seek advice from so vital.

Taking me to his again garage space, Koshimizu-san pulled out an arsenal of keys, swinging open the storage door to show Keiichi Tsuchiya’s unique TRD N2 AE86. In a lot the similar model this time round, he defined how KMS are nonetheless the caretakers of this iconic system.

In this instance, I spent extra time taking in the main points – specifically the a large number of oldschool TRD portions and plaques, all nonetheless solely of their unique shape. It’s now not ceaselessly you get to spend a excellent period of time up shut and private with a relic like this, and different main points just like the particular TRD Nardi steerage wheel, Stack sprint and TRD striped seat are drool subject material for an AE86 otaku like myself.

Whilst the auto nonetheless does make very occasional outings, it spends maximum of its retirement tucked away at KMS. That being stated, it was once cool to identify proof of a few spirited using splashed around the rear fender.

Leaping again into the workshop, Koshimizu-san confirmed us thru one of the most present buyer AE86s he was once operating on. The vehicles are comfortably covered up so as final touch, supplying you with a good suggestion of ways a lot is going into those restorations. The furthermost two-door coupe had just lately been handled to a completely new entrance clip from a donor automotive after a small circuit mishap.

As discussed previous, Koshimizu-san’s motorsport-driven means approach every of those vehicles receives a seam-welded engine bay, reinforcing chassis that within the earliest AE86s are actually 40 years previous.

Every of those builds receives a fully refreshed 4A-GE, both 20-valve or a vintage 16-valve relying at the buyer’s choice and necessities. Those are normally paired with certainly one of KMS’s iconic exhaust manifolds.

With every of those restorations taking roughly 18 months to finish, it’s no wonder that just about each bolt, nut, becoming and phase is both changed or restored to manufacturing unit new. As AE86s start to call for even upper costs, stores like KMS have turn into increasingly busy, with many chasing that OEM+ recovery that we see on identical chassis just like the 240Z and GT-R.

When I achieve an AE86 of my very own right here in Japan (I promise, we’re getting nearer), I’m nearly sure I’ll be spending a while at KMS.

Alec Pender
Instagram: noplansco