Much like the revered Statue of Liberty, the stunning pyramids of Egypt, and the glamorous Hollywood sign, the Toyota Corolla AE86 is a long lasting icon that has managed to transcend generations of tuners, and continues to lead the pack as one of the most regarded vehicles in the tuning community. Born in the mid '80s when performance and style were waning features in building cars, the AE86 represented the last line of Corollas that actually characterized values important to tuners.

The Roadster Has Played A Big Role in validating the racing merits of car manufacturers worldwide. Audi, BMW, Lamborghini, Mercedes, Porsche, and Jaguar: A venerable who's who of major manufacturers, all of whom have not only solidified their places in automotive history, but have also helped satiate the needs of automotive enthusiasts with enjoyable rides. Each has foregone practicality and focused on excitement by featuring a roadster at one point in their automotive history. Honda was also in the roadster mix earlier in their history. So early, that in 1963 its first production car was the S500, a lightweight roadster that helped produce quality successors including the S360, S800, and of course the S2000.

Much Like The Celtics And The Lakers, the chicken and the egg, or the much-maligned battle between good and evil, the race to win Best of Class in the all-wheel-drive market between the Subaru WRX and the Mitsubishi Evolution is as scalding as a turbo heat shield insulator. It makes Hagler-Hearns look as anemic as a game of Guitar Hero, with both cars one-upping each other-year after year-in power, aesthetics, and drivability. It's a war with a yet-to-be-determined winner, often coming down to personal taste, and at times, the flip of a coin with the deadpanned sedateness of Anton Chigurh.

The '04 Dodge Viper SRT-10 coupe. Powered by an 8.3L V-10 mated to a Tremec six-speed manual gearbox, this American supercar delivered 510 bhp and was capable of low 12-second quarter-mile times from the showroom. If you saw one on the road, chances are you were driving something slower...unless you were driving its chief rival, the Z06 Corvette. With an optional 405 bhp 5.7L V-8, and a lighter chassis, the Z06 offered nearly identical performance to the Viper, and did it for about $40,000 less. Low 12-second quarter-mile times? Check. Sub 4-second 0-60s? Check. Able to hold 1.0g on the skidpad? Without a squeal.

This year's Tokyo Auto Salon took place between January 11th and the 13th. For the event, 33-year-old Michihiro Takatori decided that now was the time to chase his dream of being a drift racer. More specifically, to take part in this season's Formula D series in the USA. Just one small hitch: He didn't have a car.

The most anticipated car this year is undoubtedly the Nissan GT-R. It's dramatically redesigned, a virtual newcomer to the stateside market, and sets off more commercial appeal than pictures of Kim Kardashian in a thong bikini. But it won't be the fastest car on the track, according to Susumu Koyama, the legendary tuner and vice president of JUN Auto (whose full interview was in the May '08 issue of 2NR.) He believes, with all his wisdom and proven track record, that another car will take the reins as the most tunable ride for 2008 and will hands-down beat the GT-R on any circuit. That car is the second most anticipated to arrive in the states, the '08 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X.

The Nissan you see glimmering across these pages was built by a former lowrider, whose first built ride was an '85 El Camino. But our hero's carbureted days of hopping, scrapping, and sending sparks flying reside only in his memories.

Kanye West's Graduation was a jam-knockin' album that quickly became my favorite of last year. It continues to get heavy rotation inside my car's CD changer, and it's a couple more plays from being cataclysmically ruined forever. This not only prompted me to buy an iPod adapter like everyone else in the 21st century, but it also made me the preeminent expert in quoting lyrics from this musical tour de force.

The Nissan GT-R shown here is subtle. Sure, it's one of the most anticipated cars to come out of the automotive world in recent memory. And, yes, that's definitely a Top Secret sticker splayed on the side doors-a sign that it's built by one of the most decorated tuners in all of Japan. Ignore, for a moment, the burly front fender deltoids, the lowered ground-shaking stance and the fact that it's essentially a Top Secret Nissan GT-R, and there is something missing from the line of vision. Obviously, Top Secret's signature gold and white markings aren't present, but that's not the much-needed DNA evidence to put the perp in jail. Those subtle nuances are, indeed, invisible to the naked eye because, for one, in this photo of the GT-R you don't get a look underhood. Needless to say that the tired old phrase, "Never judge a book by its cover," has never been so true.

In the showroom of JUn Auto in Iruma-shi, deep in the saitama prefecture, I sit next to model-turned-translator-who is pretty much as JDm as it gets-Eri moriyama. there we wait for the legendary koyama-san to finish lighting his cigarette. having met him for the first time at Auto salon just four days prior, I really only know him by reputation and what a reputation it is: what Angelina Jolie does for starving third world children is pale in comparison to what JUn and koyama-san have done for tuning.

It seems like everything that could be done to an EVO has already been done: Swapping out the suspension for Bilsteins or Konis, boosting the engine for horsepower verging on four figures, de-coupling the front differential to make it rear-wheel drive...it all boils down to variations on a theme. But what makes the EVO so endlessly appealing is that there's always something else to do, an extra bit of magic to conjure up.

It's amazing how Subaru continues to hold a significant part of the young tuner market with consistently rising sales of some of the more important cars in their lineup. Despite having its roots laid heavily on the obscure wilderness market and some of its cars attached to the alternative lifestyle segment where some have begun calling the car manufacturer a crass but rather humorous label of "Lesbaru," the youth still visits Subaru dealerships in droves, where ragged looking hipsters walk among rugged lumberjacks and Teva wearing Dads searching for a Subarus that range from woodsy all-wheel-drive sedans and wagons, to refrigerator boxes on four wheels.

If you've been following drifting, you've probably heard of him: a young Japanese kid drifting an AE86 Corolla before he was even old enough to have a license. Taught by his father, this rebel upstart would tear up the canyons, taking down older challengers, and making a name for himself. In case you were wondering, no, he isn't a fictional tofu-delivering Manga character, but rather Ken Gushi, the Toyo-sponsored Formula D drifter.

Ever since I've known Ben Chong, he's been into cars. To call him an enthusiast would be like calling Jessica Simpson a blonde--a severe understatement. Like a handful of us lucky enough to transition a hobby into a career, Ben started with RS-R in 2002. Now the director of business development, Ben has taken development seriously for the past five years.

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Bands and artists usually have one seminal song or performance that defines them to a generation. Coldplay had "Clocks", The Killers had "Mr. Brightside" and to the younger generations, Johnny Depp will forever to be known as Captain Jack Sparrow. These artists define themselves to legions of fans with one body of work that highlighted other achievements.

Few things stand the test of time. Something once hot, scrubbed by the scathing sands of time, quickly turns not. brigitte Nielsen for one, britney Spears another (no, we'd rather not hit you one more time).

In 1973, Tadashi Okuyama followed his lifelong dream and opened his own company in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. Rightfully naming his company Okuyama Co., Ltd., Tadashi- san ran his business as a motorsports team and manufacturer, catering to the hardcore Japanese race enthusiasts of that era. Heavily involved in the motorsports scene, Tadashi was considered a perfectionist by those who knew him well: He never settled for less than the best when it came to building and prepping customers vehicles. "it didn't take me long to fully understand the chassis physics of a race car, whether it was for rally racing or road racing. Any car that wants to compete and win in any category must be well balanced and possess a wellprepared chassis," Tadashi said.

I still remember the first time that I raced one of the four Nissan Skylines I've owned. It was my white R33 fitted with a Nismo exhaust and Ray's wheels; it flew past the competitors with lightning speed around the short bends of Deep Forest Raceway. I beat all of them with minutes to spare despite the fact I drove it with an automatic transmission; there wasn't even a scratch or dent on my car. I washed it afterwards, took a practice lap around Apricot Hill, parked it in my garage and called it a night. Granted, this all took place within the safe confines of the virtual world, but it was a fond memory, nonetheless, placed deep inside my mind because it was also the first time I played Gran Turismo nearly 10 years ago on the original PlayStation.

When I turned the ripe old age of-pause, for a moment of silence-30, a stark realization hit me. Well, several really, but all of them centered around one thing: Personal life goals. Specifically, me not hitting them, nor the likelihood of any of them coming to fruition. Hooking up with Jessica Alba? More likely to get hooked up to an IV. Flying into outer space? Unless Southwest's itinerary to Vegas entails crossing the Karman Line, it is very doubtful.

Few things stand the test of time. Something once hot, scrubbed by the scathing sands of time, quickly turns not. Brigitte Nielsen for one, Britney Spears another (no, we'd rather not hit you one more time).

What started off as a blip on the radar of sport compact competition later gave birth to one of the most looked-forward-to build-off events of 2007, as the enthusiasm Scion met with last year's first annual Scion Tuner Challenge prompted the company to present an even bigger opportunity for tuners the second time around. For 2007, Scion gave Southern California's Team Auto Concept Elite, Team Koshak and Team Hybrid each identical '08 xD's, and a budget of $15,000 to create a winning build to be judged by the NCCA. Accepting the challenge, each team upped the ante set by last year's competition. After consideration, it was Team Hybrid that took top honors at the this year's SEMA Show. Coordinated by James Lin, this year's car featured a custom Garrett turbo kit, INGS+1 exterior styling dressed in custom House of Kolor hues, a CREATiVE custom fiberglass interior and custom Air Runner suspension. www.scion.com

Aerodynamics is not simple. But tuners talk about it like they're talking about changing the oil in their car, like it's a common idea that we're expected to understand. We feed into this nave actuality when we begrudgingly nod if told that "aerodynamics" was the reason why we lost a race, or why we should close our windows when driving on the highway, and why the fuel economy of our car is gradually decreasing if we don't. "Aerodynamics." It seems to be the last and least understood word.

Turning the Ultrasonic Blue Mica Lexus into the small driveway, I am confronted by the most magnanimous sign I've only yet seen in video games: Laguna Seca Raceway. At the home of the infamous corkscrew and behind the wheel of one of the most powerful cars to come out of Japan stock, I'm starting to regret not dusting off the old PS2 and playing a couple of laps of GT4.

It's pretty much guaranteed that if someone says they work for an aerospace defense company, thoughts of UFO espionage cover-ups, heat-seeking missiles with poison tips aimed at Russia and secret POW life-saving missions automatically come to mind. It's immediately assumed that this person is part of, or perhaps, the sole contributor to all of the above. Of course, this is all subjective because, after all, is Russia still really a threat to America?