A student of architecture and a practitioner of interior design, Naoko has learned to appreciate the aesthetic and practicality of balance between subject and surrounding. The Chinese term for this, Fung Shui, dates back to the Jin Dynasty around the year 300 A.D. The earliest recorded name for Japan, Wa, dates back even further, and for the past 12 centuries has come to mean "peace, harmony, balance". Whatever you call it, Nao tells us it's been the reigning principle of her build since the beginning.
"My theme with the car has always been 'form follows function', which means that a properly built car takes form around what it was built to do. When I got started, the dongara or 'gutted racer' look was popular with the hardcore performance guys in Japan. In the states, the major trend was JDM, or building a car to match its showroom stock counterpart in Japan-cool, but without much personality. And the ricey look of crazy paint jobs, excessive ICE, and over-modification was still winning shows here. Performance was still my first priority, but I planned to keep my RSX streetable while incorporating some aspects of the show scene. I didn't worry about appearance at first; I decided to let the form develop on its own.
I choose to stay naturally aspirated because the idea of releasing the trapped power of the K20A motor without adding an external power source enhances the RSX's original design. This is also why I decided to go with individual throttle bodies (ITBs), like the naturally aspirated circuit racers in Japan who need to get every last horsepower out of their setups. But because of ITBs' sensitivity to temperature, humidity, and elevation, I knew it would be difficult. This is probably the single biggest reason why ITBs are not popular in the Northeast, aside from the obvious fact that forced induction makes more power. The circuit racers in Japan can afford to re-tune before each race, but 4-thro (for 'four throttle') tuning is big even with the street crowd over there, and Japan's climate is a lot like NY's-I wondered how they were doing it with such success.
Yuki Imamura from Spoon Sports helped me immeasurably by tracking down hard-to-find parts and teaching me the tricks to VTEC tuning he learned over 20-plus years as an enthusiast racer. When I mentioned my concerns with ITB tuning to Yuki, he directed me to M&M Honda in Fukuoka. I went to their website and discovered their Super Intake Carbon Box, which fits over the velocity stacks of a TODA Racing Sport Injection Kit (ITB setup) to stabilize airflow like a traditional intake manifold. The first words I read about it were, 'Have you ever wished you could experience the power of 4-thro with the comfort of having A/C, on the street, at the circuit, anywhere you want?' I had found my answer! After placing an order (with a reference from Yuki) and a few months' wait time, John of Wired Electronics in NJ tuned a Hondata K-Pro to give me the turn-key reliability I'd been dreaming of.
I never really cared for vinyl graphics on cars. I always associated them with corny show cars or The Fast and the Furious (even though we all love that movie!), until Team Emotion's Minho Kim debuted his sakura-themed 350Z and created an entire show presentation to go with it. I remember thinking, 'this just looks . . . good!' I started researching traditional Japanese art and its crossover into the automotive world, and eventually became friends with Hiroshi Sawada, creator of Art Factory Graphics in Tokyo, whose artwork can be seen in Need for Speed Underground (1, 2, and Shutokou), on the iconic Kazama Auto, RE Amemiya, and J's Racing cars, in the giant Tokyo Auto Salon draperies, even in logos of Japanese manufacturers like Greddy, Weld, and Xanthic Design. When I mentioned Minho's car and that I was considering a graphics package for mine, he quietly said, 'I designed that for Veilside's Auto Salon booth in 2004. I can do something for you, too.'