Museums>>the Hks Collection Pt.2

As promised, here's some more photos from my visit last month to the small museum at the HKS factory in Japan. As I was reading through the comments section of the previous post, I noticed a lot of you guys wanted to see the HKS Mercedes Benz CLK JGTC car from 2002. Of course I didn't forget about this awesome piece of machinery from what many people consider to be the glory days of GT racing in Japan.

These days the GT500 class is made up only of cars from Toyota, Nissan, and Honda, but years ago you could also see "non-big three" competitors in GT500, such as this HKS Benz. This car didn't have much success in competition against the factory GT500 teams during the few races it entered, but that doesn't take anything away the impact this Japan-ized version of a DTM racer has.

Under the hood of the CLK is another carbon-covered race engine – this one a race-tuned Mercedes M119 V8 outputting 500ps, as per JGTC GT500 class regulations.

This is what the naturally aspirated DOHC V8 engine looks like when it's not in the car.

The interior og the CLK is standard JGTC-spec, with loads of carbon fiber all around. I don't think this car has seen a race track since 2002…

More center-locking Enkei five-spoke wheels and AP brakes. When I was looking at the HKS CLK, I thought about the fates of all the other "non-works" cars that have appeared in JGTC and Super GT over the years. Subarus, Corvettes, Ford GT's, Lambos, Ferraris, where are they now?

More HKS-tuned engines on display in order of increasing size and complexity.

This is another HKS-built formula race engine -the F3-spec 2.0L inline four cylinder known as the "HKS 310E".

About half of the cars on display are open-wheelers. This is a 4G63-powered Reynard chassis from the Formula Mirage series circa 1992-93.

Another HKS-tuned Mitsubishi formula engine. I've never really followed open-wheel racing that much, so this was my first time to learn that Mitsubishi actually built race engines for formula cars in Japan.

Does anyone know what kind of car this is?

It's known as the HKS Project 10, a high performance retro style concept built on a Suzuki Cappuccino chassis. The bodywork was done by a specialist company in the UK, and HKS originally planned to use an engine and transmission from a motorcycle (think modern day Honda S800), but unfortunatley they ran into reliability issues and Project 10 never made it past the concept stage. I imagine that it would have been a total blast to drive…

And finally, we have one of HKS's most recent ventures, the development of supercharger kits not just for cars, but also for watercraft like this Yamaha jet ski. I guess it's only natural that HKS has gone after the marine market after their years experience with motorcycles, cars, and even airplanes…

Big thanks to Saitou-san and Miyatsuka-san from HKS for accommodating us on our visit.

HKS

-Mike Garrett

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1

Sweet coverage! Cool getting to see some of HKS's past:D

2

"When I was looking at the HKS CLK, I thought about the fates of all the other "non-works" cars that have appeared in JGTC and Super GT over the years. Subarus, Corvettes, Ford GT's, Lambos, Ferraris, where are they now?"



The WRX is gone for 2009 =(

Ford GT was gone by the end of 2007.

The Lambos has some fair success in GT300 class since 2007 and three of them are still racing.

The Ferrari F360 scored one win in 2007, 3 Ferraris are competing in GT300 this year including a GT2 spec F430. The GT500 F550 didn't have much success though and ended up in Japanese Le Mans series.

A little yellow Corvette C4 raced several years ago without much success, and in 2007 a C6 also raced but it was terribly off pace.



...and you've forgot two of the most successful non-Japanese entries of GT500 class.

Two shorttail McLarens were entered in 1996 and basically smoked the GTR's and Supra's of the time. Scoring 4 wins out of 6 rounds(one car won 3 and the other came first in 1) it is the first and the only non-Japanese car to score the GT500 Championship.(I stand corrected) Two Longtail McLarens were raced from 1999 through 2003, and two single entry for 2005. The SOK car actually scored a win in the last round of 2001 and the Yellowcorn car had some consistent point finish in 2002.



The Porsche 962C also did well in the early days of JGTC.



Anyways great coverage, just remembered me how great JGTC was...

3

Project10 looks fugly to me, they would be better tuning a Cappu Ea11r instead of making up that ugly body. Any ideas on the powerplant used there Mike?



Those BDAs look hardcore!

4

@ AS-GTR - i think Mike meant what happen to the cars themselves, like, physically. Where are/were they stored?



I think it's a shame in some cases that these cars are scrapped or redone... Some really belong in a museum or something...



Nice tour of the HKS collection Mike, i thought it would be bigger though ^_^'

5

i just JIZZED IN MY PANTS

6

wow mitsubishi made formula motors!? More info please!!

7

yea project10 looks like crap. what do you expect from people from the UK

8

There's a DBR9 in GT500 this year. Sadly, as the coverage of qualifying at Okayama started today, it was shown having just found the gravel, hopefully will make the race tomorrow.

The JLOC Diablo was always a favourite of mine. It got stranger looking the longer it raced.

Konnichiwa AS-GTR!

9

I bet the bodywork on the Project10 was done by Mitsuoka. Am I the only one that thinks it looks like a shrunken 1970's Aston V8 Vantage?

10

As usual, great pics/ feature Mike.

In the last pic you can see the EVO CT230R with a "Racing Parformer" caption on it....Japanese need someone to edit their stuff (stuff like that is a common sight on Japanese mags)...

Keep up the good work Mike.

14

I would jizz my self having walked into there.



Awesome pictures.

good story

You rock!

15

HKS Project 10... Most Interesting, know much more about it? There is a UK place, doing a simular project, or was over here, and going to enter it into the gumball rally!

16

What about that cool old skool chopper in the 2nd and 3rd pics from the bottom??!!!!! I know SH is a car-focused site but I've gotta get some info on those cool bikes!

17

Spoiler alert from years later: there are no such thing as non big-three competitors in the GT500 class.
The last time that ever happened was the Rd.1 & 7 Aston Martin DBR9 - which didn't do so hot.
No sir, there's no sign of a foreign (car-wise) competitor near the door, and as long as the establishment keeps it that way (strict regulations dictating specific specifications), there won't be one any time soon.

R.I.P. Real competition - we rarely see you anymore

Oh ya, wonderful coverage. This site is so awesome, after all these years and so...
..long live SpeedHunters!

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