It really does just feel like yesterday that we were setting the tone for a big year of Speedhunting in 2020.

As always, expectations were high and we were kicking off the year the right way, with Speedhunters’ Japan Month centered around the 2020 Tokyo Auto Salon and backed up by a whole lot more stories from the JDM motherland.

Regardless of how the year ended up, January 2020 was brilliant on the Speedhunting front, and I know that a lot of us have been looking forward to doing it all over again this month. But then COVID restrictions claimed the 2021 Tokyo Auto Salon too.

But just because TAS 2021 has been cancelled doesn’t mean we can’t get our now annual Japan Month fix. And not only will we be bringing you a bunch of fresh features from Japan over the course of the month, there will be Tokyo Auto Salon coverage…

… from 2001.

Yes, it’s been 20 years since I first visited the Makuhari Messe (and Japan), and while I planned to be back in Tokyo to celebrate the fact this year, that just couldn’t happen.

The next best thing is a retrospective feature on TAS 2001, and I think you’ll be surprised at how much – and how little – has changed in the two decades since.

I’ll keep this brief as I not only have a lot of images to sort through, but there’s a new addition to the SH Garage for 2021 that you need to see right away. It has a nice Japanese connection too… Here’s a teaser.

From all of us here at Speedhunters, thanks for sticking with us in 2020, and here’s to a great year of Speedhunting ahead in 2021. Happy New Year!

Brad Lord
Instagram: speedhunters_brad
brad@speedhunters.com