Tomei Powered

In 1968, a young, bright-eyed man by the name of Seiichi Suzuki took to a dream of opening a company that was dedicated to all things motorports--a concept unheard of during that time period. Located across from the Tomei Expressway in a small residential neighborhood of Kawasaki-city in Kanagawa, Japan, Suzuki-san opened his humble establishment naming it Tomei Jidosha (automobile).

A historically rich company that prides itself on being one of the oldest and most highly respected companies in the motorsports world dates back to more than 38 years ago. The company quickly expanded, growing to recognition among top manufacters in the motorsports world as they began focusing their R&D towards motorcycle racing; eventually sponsoring numerous works teams throughout Japan.

During their early expansion, Tomei encountered a breakthrough with their engineering and parts division as Nissan Japan commissioned Suzuki and his handful of engineers as their exclusive racing factory. While Tomei was quickly blossoming into premiere tuners within the industry, Suzuki-san was no slouch himself; claiming superstar status among the top open-wheel drivers as Japans number one driver, also taking with him the grand series champion. Unfortunately, his life was cut short at Fuji raceway when he was involved in a fatal accident.

For the next 20 years, Tomei took to the evolutionary plane as strong supporters of sanctioned racing within Japan's F2 and F3 series. With growing demands from NISMO and BMW, a subsidiary division called Tomei Engines was developed. Tomei Engines streamlined the tradition of the late Suzuki-san as they continued to push the envelope; concentrating exclusively on building and producing purebred race engines in the Formula Nippon and GT series for manufacturers such as Nissan Motorsports, Mazda, MUGEN and Sanyo. "Its amazing that Tomei-built engines share more than half the competitors within those series," says Tomei General Manager Eiji Mihara.

By Scott Tsuneishi

Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!