In 2007, Top Gear aired the “Polar Special”, documenting Jeremy Clarkson and James May’s Toyota Hilux racing against Richard Hammond and a team of sled dogs.

The Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 isn’t a cheap ride. Priced around $388,000, the race-ready Godzilla is a joint project between NISMO and JR Motorsports and comes with a detuned 3.8L V6 with 523 hp to meet GT3 regulations.

What better way to see what the amazing car sounds and looks like than through a video? Instead of the iconic blue shade previously shown when the initial announcement was made, JRM brought out a menacing gloss black model out for testing and let the cameras roll. Drop in some epic, over-the-top soundtrack and you’ve got yourself a video fitting for such a mean race car.

Watch the video below:

Another video of the highly anticipated Toyota GT 86 has emerged, showing off the process behind turning the rear-wheel drive sports coupe into a competitive rally car.

The 49 second clip doesn’t detail too much about the rally car, simply teasing us about the looks. However, the Toyota 86 looks like a superb specimen for rally racing.  The video mainly gives us a perspective into the focused engineers prepping their new rally car. Hopefully more clips will follow this one that will further explain how the Toyota 86 rally car came to be.

The vehicle will be entered in the Tour de Kyushu Rally Race. Check out the full video below.

Regarded as one of the greatest musicians and one of the greatest Ferrari fans of all time, Eric Clapton has owned a number of the iconic Italian supercars including the Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, Ferrari Enzo, and the 599 Fiorano.

Six years ago, Mercedes-Benz unveiled its new GL Class crossover, a full-size vehicle designed specifically for the North American market, at the 2006 North American International Auto Show.

The Toyota Prius GT300 race car debuted at the 2012 Tokyo Auto Salon, looking ready to compete in the 2012 Super GT season. But things didn’t go as planned when the team took to testing its race car out at Okayama Circuit prior to the season opener.

We’re sure all the Toyota haters out there would find this the perfect time to make fun of the Prius for catching fire, but let’s keep in mind this is a complete race car and can hardly compare to what we see on the streets. So don’t expect any Chevrolet Volt comparisons from us, especially since it’s already been revealed that the cause of the fire was from a faulty fuel line rather than any issues in the vehicle’s hybrid system.

Thankfully it appears that much of the damage is cosmetic and the driver was unharmed when leaked fuel caught onto the exhaust, igniting the fire. The team is confident that they’ll have their Prius race car ready to roll at the season opener in Okayama.

Watch the video of the Toyota Prius GT300 race car on fire after the break.

[Source: Hanzo Autobuzz]

RealTime Racing has become a staple of the SCCA World Challenge series over the last decade, racing some of the world’s top-bred Acuras to success. Now the team looks poised and ready to reclaim the manufacturer’s championship in the GTS class with their newly-upgraded V6 TSX race cars.

North American tuner companies were invited to  Toyota Headquarters in Torrance, California to measure the new Scion FR-S and take a closer look at the car to begin the process of drafting future tuning parts. Many tuners were present at the event and the response to Scion’s new sports car has been overwhelmingly positive across the board.

Each year, the city of Long Beach, California gets transformed into a motorsports-themed environment to make way for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. To kick off the festivities annually is the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race and this year’s lineup of drivers has just been announced.

One special Mitsubishi i-MiEV city electric car gets pumped up with performance enhancers as the Japanese automaker prepares to enter an all-electric race car into the 2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

Recently,  Nissan and NISMO announced its 2012 global motorsports program along with a video highlighting the joint companies past years of success.

For the 2012 season, the Japanese automaker will make their presence known worldwide in racing, competing in both the GT300 and GT500 classes in Super GT, in the European Le Mans Series, continue their support for the GT Academy program and endorse several series in North America including the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.

Four GT-Rs in total will compete in the Super GT GT500 class, fielded by MOLA, NISMO, Team Impul, and Kondo Racing. But more interesting is the GT-R competing in the GT300 class, where vehicles are limited to just 300-hp and will be fielding the likes of the Toyota Prius, Honda CR-Z, and Subaru BR-Z this year. And while the GT500 GT-R is powered by a V8, the GT300 GT-R will be more like the road vehicle but restricted down to 300-hp.

In America, Nissan will have their 370Z competing in the GS Class of the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series; while the Altima Coupe will be seen in the ST Class. In the Pirelli World Challenge, a GT-R will be driven by Mike Skeen in the GT Class, while Rick Bushey, Greg Shaffer, and Brian Kleeman will be competing in the GTS Class behind the wheel of a 370Z.

We will also see the Nissan Titan and the Nissan Frontier competing in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series and the Off-Road Championship Series.

And as we mentioned previously, the GT-R will be competing in the Australian V8 Supercars Championship.

Watch the promotional video on the upcoming Nissan Motorsports season after the break.

Mazda has a very rich heritage in racing and motorsports, and now they’ll be able to share highlights from their Mazda-centric series of races through the Velocity network.

Tenacious Hyundai — the company that refuses to quit edging into niches, entering new segments and surprising consumers.

Back in December we saw the Subaru BRZ GT300 in a promotional video showing off what it’ll look like on the track, and now we have some legitimate (as in, non-promotional) footage of the race car getting some shakedown test runs out at Fuji Speedway in Japan.

Can the meanest Lamborghini to come out of Sant’Agata Bolognese get even meaner? Whip out your inhalers because ASMA Design has the answer.

Built by Toyota Racing Development and RK Motors, this custom 2010 Toyota Camry NASCAR Edition is currently up for sale with a whopping $299,900 price tag, possibly making it the world’s most expensive Toyota Camry.

Driving down the boulevard in their Italian supercars, wealthy but genuine car enthusiasts face the difficult challenge of separating themselves from the typical playboys in fast cars. To solve this first world problem, HRE performance wheels proposed that there is no better way to add a touch of class to an exotic than by installing performance wheels with vintage flair.

In keeping up with the Corvette video we showed earlier today, we have  a Honda S2000 trying its hand at the drag strip.

Of course, with a little help from Real Street Performance, this S2000 really flies. Witness the car lift it’s front wheels at just about the 1:07 mark of the video.

The description of the video shows off the full range of the modifications, which interestingly enough retains its stock engine block.

Watch the whole clip right here.

It appears as though Honda won’t let Toyota hog the spotlight in the GT300 class of the Super GT racing series.

Increasing motorsports exposure, Honda announced its plans to enter its newly redesigned European 2012 Honda Civic into the 2012 FIA World Touring Car Championship ( WTCC).

Now that the 2003-2008 Nissan 350Z can be hand at a much more affordable price through the used car market, sports car enthusiasts nationwide are hopping behind the wheel of one for fun. Clearly the National Auto Sport Association (NASA) and Nissan North America were well aware of the abundance of 350Z enthusiasts, creating an all-new Spec Z series exclusively for those owners.

There was absolutely no surprised looks around here when we heard that TRD was hard at work on tuning the all-new Toyota GT 86. It’s been a while since Toyota had such a formidable sports car platform, but we have to admit we’re a little disappointed that a method of forced induction – like a supercharger kit – still hasn’t been announced.

We have already seen the video of the Nissan Juke-R taking on some Italian and German exotics in Dubai, but a newer version has surfaced which is much better quality and allows us to watch the super cars get whipped in high definition.

The Juke-R is seen competing with a  Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, a  Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 and a  Ferrari 458 Italia in a small circuit somewhere on the streets of Dubai. This video must have been staged by Nissan, so it is not a big surprise that the Juke-R takes the checkered flag, however rigged or not the Juke-R looks like it handles really well through those corners and takes off pretty quickly off the line.

Watch the new and improved video after the jump.

Lexus clearly has a winner on its hands with their new 2013 GS – read our review here – and it appears that they didn’t want to stop the customizing options with just the F Sport model. Toyota Racing Development (TRD) has come up with a lineup even more special parts and accessories for the performance variant.

Hyundai and Rhys Millen Racing deserve a round of applause for their recent video antics that spread through the Internet like a leaked photo from a celebrity cell phone.

This time around, the team took their Veloster Rally Car out to the golf course where it replaced the traditional golf cart. Almost everything you can imagine that shouldn’t be combined into a video, is. We’re talking golf clubs, golf balls, a 500-hp Veloster with 600 lb-ft of torque, and cows. Yes, we said cows.

Really there’s no reason behind this video, other than the fact that millions of people will watch it which means millions of eye balls on Hyundai’s little Veloster.

Check out the video after the break.

The Sports Car Club of America’s B-Spec class is growing in popularity as enthusiasts enjoy a relatively inexpensive entry into amateur racing while automakers are discovering B-Spec to be a great platform for grassroots motorsport marketing.   Honda, one of the early adopters to B-Spec racing, is committed to the series and hopes to gain even more fans.

Out in Charlotte NC, some automotive enthusiasts were gathering for the Wrong Fitment Crew Meet 3 that also celebrated Lunar New Year at the same time. Unfortunately the owners of these Nissan 350Zs are clearly not looking forward to The Year of the Dragon, as bad luck struck right as the New Year was around the corner.

Fortunately the collision caused no major injuries, but its cause is a bit of a freak accident. A caravan of vehicles were heading to the meet, and this Infiniti G35 had a camera on its dash filming the drive. Both 350Zs were traveling the speed limit when the black Vortech-supercharged 350Z tapped the gas and a brand new tire on the car broke loose. Combine that with the wet roads and the car went straight left, veering into the poor innocent silver Z.

Check out a video of the wreck after the break.

[Source: YouTube via Autoblog]

There’s a ton of buzz surrounding the return of HKS to drifting with Nobuteru Taniguchi behind the wheel of a Toyota GT 86. Now they were the first ones to throw the new sports car on the dyno, pulling down around 170-rwhp which has about a 15-percent drivetrain loss (200-hp crank), which is pretty impressive.

HKS also spent sometime showing off their excitement about the GT 86 and the return of Nobuteru Taniguchi, with footage of NOB driving a GT 86 and speaking about it. The video ends with the upcoming D1 Grand Prix competition drift car and Taniguchi putting it through its paces.

Check out the lengthy video after the break featuring HKS’s driver, Nobuteru Taniguchi and the Toyota GT 86 getting dyno’ed.

[Source: FT86 Club]

Kia Motors America’s motorsports program hit a new high last year grabbing the Team and Driver titles in the 2011 Street Tuner (ST) class in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. Now they’re looking forward to 2012 with new driver pairings for both the number-10 and number-12 Infinity Audio Forte Koups.

It’s been a while since Nobuteru Taniguchi (NOB) has been behind the wheel of an HKS vehicle at a D1 Grand Prix event. But his past accolades piloting the HKS Mitsubishi EVO in Time Attack and HKS Nissan Silvia S15 in D1 Grand Prix still makes him one of the most respected drivers in the world. Maybe that’s why he gives himself the nickname of NOB – No One Better.

Subaru announced the continuation of their contingency program, the Subaru Rally Sport Program, for the 2012 Rally America National Championship. The Subaru Rally Sport Program, which is managed by Subaru of America with Vermont SportsCar as a partner, will continue to be North America’s most lucrative contingency program for rally racing.

Driving a Chevrolet Volt could get even more guilt-free in the future as the company plays with ways to coax consumers into charging with renewable energy.

Subaru has announced that Andrew Aquilante and Bret Spaude will return as factory team drivers for their entry in the Grand Sport (GS) class of the 2012 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. The first round of the series will take place at Daytona International Speedway on January 27th, 2012.

The Toyota 2000GT was a limited production, front-engine, rear-wheel drive two-seater that was developed by Toyota in collaboration with Yamaha. It first made its debut in 1965 at the Tokyo Motor Show and proved that Japanese automakers could indeed make formidable sports cars.

Nowadays, the 2000GT is considered one of the first seriously collectible Japanese cars, having sold at auction for as much as $375,000. But given its rich tradition and history, it’s hard to imagine that when the vehicle was first developed close to 50 years ago, that they’d imagine someone would convert it to an electric car.

The crazy car project took a 2000GT, pulled out its 2.0L inline-six powerplant and outfitted it with a 35-kWh lithium-ion battery along with a 161-hp electric motor. What is really awesome though is that the hood has been modified with large photovoltaic solar panels while the rear windscreen has received translucent solar cells. So yes, this is a solar-powered electric Toyota 2000GT classic.

They even put some new modern touches in the interior, adding a new battery gauge, bio-fiber carpets and a rear-view mirror that doubles as a digital information screen.

Check out a video of the Crazy Car Project after the break.

[Source: Green Motor UK]

We just can’t get enough of the Nissan Juke-R project, and probably won’t until we get our grubby little hands behind its steering wheel. But until then, we’ll just have to continue living vicariously through those fortunate enough to experience the monster first hand.

While it was in Dubai to pace the 24 Hour race, Nissan took its Juke-R out to the Dubai International Marina where a makeshift course was created and the funky Japanese crossover was pitted against a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, a Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 and a Ferrari 458 Italia. You know, just some of Germany and Italy’s finest supercars.

Now it goes without saying that we’d expect the Juke-R to look mighty impressive in the video against the exotics since it was probably staged by Nissan. But there’s no denying just how remarkable its performance looks and how undoubtedly fun it was for Lucas Ordonez, the first GT Academy winner, to pilot it. And obviously by watching the video, the drivers were putting on a show more than they were looking for a fast lap time.

We just hope a better resolution video surfaces soon.

Check out the video below.

Hinting at a possible tuner version of the new March/Micra sub-compact, Nissan has revealed a NISMO concept model at the Tokyo Auto Salon. Standing alongside similar NISMO-tuned versions of the Leaf and Juke, the March NISMO Concept gets the expected goodies.

Perhaps the most bizarre of Honda‘s show cars at this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon is the Flash Box. Based on the brand’s new N Box Kei car, there’s a matte-gray paint job, reflective decals and an excessive use of LED lights – inside and out. And let’s not forget the custom rims that look like steelies.

To say there’s a strong tuner car culture for hybrids in Japan might be a bit too generous. Oh, there’s no doubt the Japanese love to modify the cars, but perhaps the term “customization” is more accurate.

At this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon there was the usual selection of Prius model with wild bodykits and big wheels. And while most take a step towards the extreme, the Lumiere Prius Hybrid Interceptor police car still looks pretty mean. At the opposite end of the we’d-drive-it spectrum is the DAD Prius v, complete with oversized wheels blinged out with Swarovski crystals.

Along with conventional Prius models, the aftermarket has expanded to include the new additions to the Prius family, like the Prius v wagon and even the smaller Prius c.

See all the cars below:

Love Nissan GT-Rs? Then you most certainly would love the Tokyo Auto Salon. Featuring the latest tuning trends and most amazing race cars, much of the content on the show floor was GT-R related this year – although to be honest, the show is GT-R heavy every year.

On display were plenty of modified GT-Rs from tuners like Kansai Service, JUN and even Tommy Kaira. And let’s not forget the race car content, with the outrageous Kondo Advan GT-R GT500 race car, as well as the Motul Autech GT-R (above), which won five of the eight races in Japan’s Super GT series last year.

Check out all the GT-R hardware from this year’s TAS below:

The team of racers assembled from the Nissan Playstation GT Academy earned themselves a remarkable honor at the Dubai 24 Hour race this weekend, finishing third in their class and 26th overall. All four drivers, Lucas Ordoñez, Jordan Tresson, Bryan Heitkotter and Jann Mardenborough, are GT Academy grads, having started out behind the wheel of virtual race cars to win the opportunity to attend the GT Academy racing program.

Ever wonder what the next Toyota Supra will be like? So do we.

We’ve seen a lot of strange things come out of Japan’s aftermarket over the years, but this might be the most ridiculous thing yet. Relax Cabin, a Japanese aftermarket company, specializes in camper conversions and apparently thought Toyota Prius owners would have a demand for such a thing.

With the launch of the CR-Z, Honda wanted to emphasize that hybrids can in fact be sporty, now the automaker is continuing to promote the idea in its home market with the Honda Sports & Eco Program.

As popular as drifting has become in America, the sport’s home will forever be in Japan and a quick demo out at the 2012 Tokyo Auto Salon gave us a reminder why.

While we have plenty of fun listening to V8-powered Ford Mustangs and Chevy Camaros go at it sideways, this year’s TAS played host to a Toyota GT 86 doing tandem with an old school AE86, only to be outdone by a Lexus LFA Roadster.

And as cool as it was to see the new Toyota GT 86 going sideways alongside its classic predecessor, what’s even more interesting is the fact that the LFA Roadster isn’t even supposed to go on sale until 2014, so how did someone get their hands on one? Either it’s a pre-production model or someone decided to chop the roof on theirs themselves. But leave it to D1 to put on yet another demo to whet everyone’s appetite for drifting, despite how controversial the series is out in Japan.

Check out the video after the break with various cars putting on a drifting demo.

[Source: Jalopnik]

At Japan’s annual Tokyo Auto Salon, they’d call our list of the Top 10 Worst Cars of SEMA tame. Sure we documented some atrocities during our time at North America’s largest aftermarket expo, but it’s hard to compete with a diorama of an army soldier apparently shooting baby dolls on the tonneau cover of a pink pickup truck. And have those babies been run over, or are those supposed to be tattooed?

Before the Toyota GT 86 was even officially revealed, the new sports car was out on the track competing. This particular car, on display for the first time at the Tokyo Auto Salon, was raced at the grueling Nurburgring 24 Hour Race in the Fall.

Built by Honda‘s Mugen tuning division in Europe, the on-again-off-again CR-Z RR concept is, at last word, off again. So weren’t we shocked then to discover not one, but two of the cars on display at the Tokyo Auto Salon.

Build by Toyota motorsports partner Gazoo Racing, the GRMN iQ Supercharger is just the sort of concept car that’s too wild to ever become a reality. Right? Wrong!

Aftermarket wheel manufacturer TWS Forged obviously liked what they saw when Toyota unveiled the Nurburgring Edition Lexus LFA. Sporting a more track-oriented aerodynamic kit and a functional rear spoiler, that package ( even in its shocking orange paint scheme) now looks tame compared to the modified LFA on display at the TWS booth at the Tokyo Auto Salon.

If you’re looking to make 53 mpg look a little cooler then Toyota in-house tuning division Modelista has you covered. The style-oriented arm of Toyota has just announced a new lineup of accessories for the Prius c, which is sold as the Aqua in Japan.

Living up to its name, Subaru tuning company and race team Prova has unveiled its “Black Edition” BRZ sports car at the Tokyo Auto Salon. The wild tuner-car-meets-race-car gets matte black ground effects with orange pinstriping, matched out back by a significantly-sized matte-painted spoiler.

The GT 86 will spawn a new legion of fanboys for the Toyota brand – a result it was purpose-built to achieve. And if there’s one thing die-hard automotive enthusiasts love more than spouting off engine and chassis codes, it’s factory performance parts. In this case: Toyota Racing Development… or TRD for short.

Just a few weeks after the debut of the GT 86, Toyota tuners are getting a crack at the new sports car and showing what modified visions they can dream up at Japan’s largest aftermarket expo, the Tokyo Auto Salon.

The TRD 86, or the Scion FR-S, what ever you wanna call it, it’s a hot car. This year at the 2012 Tokyo Auto Salon, the GT 86 will debut with some extra style thanks to the added TRD aero kit.

Honda has announced its lineup of vehicles for the 2012 Tokyo Auto Salon, the automotive aftermarket expo of Japan. The Honda exhibit will feature a variety of models including automobiles, motorcycles, power products, racing vehicles and other highlights in order to convey the joy of mobility and motorsport excitement.

Scion Racing has made its 2013 FR-S Drift Car official at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show. Less than a week ago, we spotted photos of the same car testing, and our assumptions proved correct: This is the Formula Drift race car for Ken Gushi and the 2012 drift season.

Toyota‘s upcoming GT 86 hasn’t even gotten in the hands of the consumers yet, and already some interesting tuning options are being dreamed up. We’ll be receiving Scion‘s FR-S as America’s offering from Toyota, and already impressed with how it performs stock (read our review here), we can’t even imagine what the aftermarket will be able to do with it.

Nissan Europe and JRM Racing will be campaigning this fantastic looking GT-R NISMO GT3 at the upcoming Dubai 24 Hours race. As an official entry for Nissan Europe, the GT-R will be driven by four of Nissan’s championship drivers in 2011.

A casual visit over to TRD Japan’s website reveals that the Toyota tuning arm will most certainly be bringing a modified version of the GT 86 to this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon. We’ve already had confirmation that a TRD GT 86 is in the works, but we’re pleasantly surprised that it’ll be making its debut so quickly.

We’re looking forward to grabbing the steering (wheel) in order to feel real excitement, though the Scion FR-S was pretty exciting even without TRD’s help. Again, we anticipate the standard offerings of suspension upgrades (lowering springs, coilovers) and styling accessories, such as a mild body kit, and an intake and exhaust from TRD. Rumors of a supercharger have not been confirmed.

We have no reason to believe that TRD would be working on a turbocharger kit for the FR-S based on their history, but times have changed and turbocharging has become a very cost-efficient method to produce more power without ruining gas economy. So maybe they’ll surprise us.

See AutoGuide’s Review of the Scion FR-S Here and watch the video below:

Fox Marketing has been building project cars for over a decade now, and it appears that Nissan‘s Juke-R project has inspired them to tackle the funky crossover themselves. They’re not in the mood to one-up the Juke-R project though, as Fox Marketing has always specialized in building projects any real car enthusiast could do also.