One-Of-One Japanese Supercar Makes Its First Appearance In Decades

What you’re looking at here is the only Tommykaira ZZII ever made: A rear-engined supercar that, from Gran Turismo 3 onwards, took on and beat the digital likes of Porsche’s 911 GT3, the Dodge Viper GTS-R, Lamborghini’s Diablo, and the Pagani Zonda. And, in the real world, came agonizingly close to production before falling at the last hurdle.

Long considered a myth, the only existing Tommykaira ZZII has been shown by the Japanese tuning brand’s owner Yoshikazu Tomita in a new video presented by Speedhunters co-founder Dino Dalle Carbonare. The ZZII was intended to be the successor to the original bare-bones ZZ, of which 220 examples were built between 1996 and 2001 (a second generation model briefly revived the model in 2014). And, as you’d expect from a Japanese supercar many believed could have been Japan’s answer to the McLaren F1, its origin story is an intriguing one.

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Inspired By A Desire To Race At Le Mans

As explained by Tomita, the ZZII was devised because the man himself wanted his company to enter the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but felt the original ZZ simply wasn’t up to the task. The starting point of the project then, as the man himself puts it, was “what we thought was the best engine,” a la the turbocharged straight-six from an R34 Nissan GT-R (the six-speed transmission also made the jump). Already more than familiar with the R34 ‘Godzilla’ Skyline, the Tommykaira team bored out the 2.5-liter unit to 2,700cc, simultaneously upping the power from 530-horsepower to 550-horsepower. For context, given that the ZZII weighs “probably one ton,” that means the power-to-weight ratio on this independent Japanese supercar is on par with Ferrari’s F50 and even the Jaguar XJ220. Well, not this one with a Ford GT engine anyway….

Engine tweaking complete, colossal ducting was the next step to feed cooling air directly to the enlarged straight-six and its enormous turbochargers. Ironically then, this F1-esque design actually started with those double bubble-like ducts on the roof.

Loss Of Funding Means Only One Proof Of Concept ZZII Was Built

The car itself, meanwhile, penned by Noriyuki Nishida who took over from ZZ designer Takuya Yura, was built on an aluminum monocoque rather than the more conventional carbon fiber. While that gave the design team more flexibility (Tomita notes the curved side sills, which freed up more room in the cabin), it was also ruinously expensive, and a logistical nightmare: getting the import paperwork completed apparently took more than a year! Sadly, an expensive build meant that, when Tommykaira’s production partner suddenly pulled out of the program, Tomita and his team struggled to find additional funding, and the project effectively ended with just one proof of concept.

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Interestingly, had the ZZII gone the distance, Tomita believes the independent supercar could have taken on Porsche, the Stuttgart brand having just revealed the Carrera GT. Oh, and in case you were wondering how meticulously this one-of-one model has been kept over the last two decades, it still dons the original Pirelli P Zero Asimmetrico tires with which it was fitted in 2001.

Source: Dino DC YouTube