At the turn of the century Tommykaira was on the verge of building a Japanese supercar. Gran Turismo players may remember the Tommykaira ZZII as a super light, mid-engined, all-wheel-drive weapon that decimated the competition. Sadly, that was as far as the car got, because funds ran dry and the real car never progressed beyond the prototype stage. As it turns out, that one prototype does run and is still kept at Tommykaira HQ in Japan.
Known for its complete cars based on various Nissans, Subarus, and Toyotas. From March to Skyline GT-R, Tommykaira has been producing officially licensed tuning cars since the R31-based 1987 Tommykaira M30. In 1995 they launched their first all-original car, the Tommykaira ZZ, a mid-engined sports car with an FRP body and aluminum chassis, powered by a Nissan SR20DE.
The evolution of the ZZ was the ZZII, a prototype of which was shown in 2001. Taking lessons learned from the ZZ, Tommykaira’s intention was to build a truly world class supercar, powered by Nissan’s legendary RB26DETT mounted midship and cooled by rooftop ducts molded into the rear decklid that flowed into the intercooler.
It wasn’t just any RB26 either. Tommykaira had plenty of experience upgrading them for their Skyline GT-R-based cars. Bored out to 2.7 liters, the motors made 530 horsepower in the R34-based Tommykaira R-z. For the ZZII, they squeezed it to make over 550. All that in a car that weighed less than 2200 pounds.
As Tommykaira founder Yoshikazu Tomita tells Dino DC in his YouTube video, the ZZII was the first car in the world to use an aluminum tub with a curved sill rather than straight edges welded together. This allowed the interior to be more spacious, but was very expensive to manufacture.
Interestingly, though it was intended to be AWD (and was so in Gran Turismo), as stated in the video the prototype’s shafts were never connected to the front wheels and thus it is RWD. Other details shown include a carbon fiber center console and exquisite billet shift knob, handbrake, and various knobs and handles through the cabin.
The intent with the ZZII was to offer an FIA GT-class car that teams could campaign in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was advertised in Europe, built in at Tommykaira’s subsidiary in the UK, and left hand drive. Sadly, funding fell through and the ZZII was never made. However, all is not lost. As it says in the video, the company is still open to producing the car if it can find the right investor. Any takers?
The most surprising thing to me is that it’s basically a GT-R drivetrain mounted backwards, with the front diff driving the rear wheels and vice versa (I think he even mentions the shift pattern is reversed)
It would be great to see the ZZII finally developped and offered for sale, the looks are very McLaren-ish and still modern, but where would they find their engines?
Seeing as the exotic car market shifted from dramatic fast cars to speed-at-all-costs feelings-be-damned computer-controlled cars (yes I look at you R35 GT-R) I wish we could see content being made about the old-fashioned ZZII against the modern competition!