The Tommykaira ZZIII’s Unsure Existence Nonetheless Haunts Me

The ’90s had been a time of widespread world prosperity and optimism. And whereas there are numerous metrics on which we will base this declare, the one I are likely to go for is the sheer variety of sports activities automobiles that had been made, and the many more that almost got made.

The “nearly” class is unsurprisingly essentially the most fascinating, as a result of it features a forged of some actually formidable automobiles from the unlikeliest of sources. There was the mid-engined, rally-inspired Nissan MID4 — a testbed for the ATTESA all-wheel-drive system later made well-known within the R32 GT-R. Ford and Mitsubishi delivered some cryptic, otherworldly oddities within the type of the GT90 and HSR-II, respectively. Even firms that had nearly no enterprise constructing manufacturing supercars, like Yamaha and motorsport company Dome, threw hats.

On that be aware, immediately we’re speaking about Tommykaira — the Japanese tuning agency that made a reputation for itself modifying Nissans and Subarus within the late Nineteen Eighties. By the center of the next decade, the corporate determined the time was proper to strive its hand at its personal sports activities automobile: the featherweight, Lotus Elise-rivaling ZZ, which might go on to promote some 200 examples.

A bona fide supercar sequel, the all-wheel-drive, RB26-powered ZZII, was within the works, however improvement by no means progressed past a single prototype. Tommykaira’s car-making operations had been snapped up by Japanese auto components big Autobacs within the early aughts and rechristened as Autobacs Sportscar Laboratories — from which we obtained the oddly-windowed Garaiya — earlier than that, too, vanished.

If you’ve played Gran Turismo, you may already be familiar with Tommykaira; all three of those cars I just mentioned have been featured in the PlayStation racing series, even though only the original ZZ was ever manufactured in numbers. However, 1999’s Gran Turismo 2 included one more Tommykaira product with an even more nebulous existence: the ZZIII.

As far as I can tell — and believe me, I’ve been looking — there is not a single photo of a real ZZIII to be found anywhere on the internet. And while Gran Turismo does have a historical past of “inventing” automobiles, this wasn’t a kind of instances. The ZZIII’s description in GT2 suggests a automobile that Tommykaira totally meant to make. Courtesy the Gran Turismo Wiki:

In distinction to the “pure sports activities racing” picture of the ZZ-II, the ZZ-III affords a extra acquainted type of idea that is likely to be referred to as “pure sports activities lite.”

The result’s a two-door sports activities GT automobile. Consistent with the occasions, it’s a true sports activities automobile however additionally it is environmentally pleasant. It may be used for motor sports activities, however in some ways it’s a new form of sports activities automobile for the twenty first century, one which embodies new know-how that was collectively developed with one other automaker.

What different automaker did Tommykaira try to associate with to understand this ambiguous “new know-how?” We’ll by no means know for certain, however my hunch is Nissan. Tommykaira was planning to supply a “hyper CVT” as an possibility within the ZZIII in response to this, and only Nissan was bullish enough to deem its CVTs “hyper.” Right here’s extra from the sport description:

This machine boasts a tricky however gentle weight metal and aluminum body and a mid-mounted high-performance gasoline engine of 1.6 to 2.0 liters displacement. There’s a alternative of two transmission sorts: five-speed guide or hyper CVT (Constantly Variable Transmission).

The ZZ-III’s chassis options double wishbone suspension in each entrance and rear, with inboard push rod-type shocks and comes. Ventilated disc brakes are put in on all 4 wheels.

The goal weight for this automobile was a mere 700 kg (1,540 lbs), making the ZZ-III one of many lightest of its sort. Mix that with a robust engine and a great chassis and what you get is likely one of the lightest sports activities automobiles ever.

The fee can be not very heavy-about 4 million Yen (US$36,000) In fact, the automobile is just not solely sporty however comfy, full with air con and different anticipated facilities. No marvel ZZ followers are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the ZZ-III.

Gran Turismo quoted 184 horsepower and 146 lb-ft of torque, all in a automobile theoretically would have weighed some 650 kilos lower than an authentic Miata. Doesn’t that sound like enjoyable? Alas, the ZZIII exists completely on this planet of video video games, and the one photographs of the automobile I might find from exterior GT2 had been these design sketches on Japanese fanatic discussion board Minkara.

In all chance, Tommykaira in all probability had its plan for the ZZIII, identical to it did for the ZZII, however the realities of this merciless business obtained in the way in which. Or, perhaps it morphed into the Garaiya. As believable as both principle sounds, they’re not ok for me; I want closure. My seek for it continues, and I’ve reached out to specialists on the International Tommykaira Club for perception. Within the meantime, I couldn’t let the fading reminiscence of the ZZIII fully evaporate.