Nissan S13 Silvia - Import Tuner Magazine

It's said that one man's treasure is another man's garbage, and this fishing-lure colored S13 is a prime example of that truth. Here in the United States, this weekend track machine would be the envy of every track whore in town. But at home in Japan, it lives a very unglamorous-sounding life as a "Junk Racer."

We have a sneaking suspicion that something must have been lost in translation though, because the idea of racing junk conjures images of demolition derbies, racing big orange busses on circle eight tracks, or NASCAR even. But if this car is any indication of the caliber of machines competing in the "Junk Racing" series, their junk truly is our treasure.

The car's owner, Koiso Takashi, tells us the term "Junk Racer" comes from the type of racing that he campaigns it in. The run-what-you-brung Taikyu series is similar to events held by organizations such as NASA or Speedtrial USA held on the mainland. Like its U.S. equivalents, the "Junk Racing" class has less strict regulations compared to many other sanctioned forms of racing--hence the term.

Sometimes, you've got to work with what you've got, and that's exactly what many tuners in Japan do. Without the easy access to the highly specialized tools that we take for granted here in the U.S., Japanese tuners are sometimes forced to use less high tech fabrication methods. But does that mean it's junk?

For the complete story on this S13 Junk Racer, pick up the October 2006 issue of Import Tuner, on newsstands now!