I couldn’t get in, I couldn’t get out. It took 20 minutes for 3 grown males to seek out the gasoline flap launch. A sensible sports activities automobile the Tommykaira ZZ is most undoubtedly not.
However then, the ZZ was by no means meant to be a sensible sports activities automobile. And this instance – a uncommon manufacturing unit wide-body – is even farther from being a wise runabout.
As mentioned in my interview with Tommykaira founders Yoshikazu Tomita and Kikuo Kaira, the ZZ was designed and engineered as direct competitors for the Lotus Elise. If you’re taking over the masters of light-weight enjoyable, you need to make just a few sacrifices alongside the best way.
The automobile’s tiny fibreglass doorways are so fragile they’ll come off with the faintest sniff of any weight as you climb in. The clamshell roof – if even put in – provides no type of grip or help in any respect, and the area between the slender door sills and that roof isn’t any wider than the doorway to a fox den. As soon as you might be inside, nevertheless, all of it is sensible.
After I did that interview with Tomita-san and Kaira-san, I didn’t have an opportunity to go for a trip in a ZZ, so I’m glad I received to expertise it this time. And that is peak ZZ.
It does really feel loads like being in a small fibreglass fishing dingy, however in comparison with the inventory ZZ, the true goal of this specific automobile is obvious: Go quick, on a regular basis, all over the place.
The roll cage takes up some valuable inside area, and Tommykaira staffer Park-san and I inadvertently touched fingers with each gear change. It was probably the most sensual expertise I’ve ever had in a automobile throughout daylight.
However brushing your passenger’s hand is solely a byproduct of it being arrange for circuit racing use. A Stack digital sprint relays all of the important engine info alongside tyre pressures and system voltage. There are switches for the ignition, gasoline pumps and electrical followers, and a brake bias adjuster, which solely provides to the race automobile vibes.
The place do you discover such an lovable Momo steering wheel? From a go-kart retailer, after all.
Simply inches away from the little wheel is the primary trace at what makes this ZZ so particular. The uncovered shift linkage is a one-off piece, primarily based on the inventory ZZ element however re-engineered by Tommykaira for this automobile. The shift knob? That got here from a Honda Integra Sort R.
OK, let’s try to worm our method out of the automobile and go searching its exterior…
Designed and manufactured by KED (Kyoto Engineering Growth), the official provider for all Tommykaira bodywork and the principle workshop for mechanical repairs, the package consists of a full entrance cowl and rear fender extensions. Added to this can be a entrance underneath spoiler and canards, and a large wing and diffuser on the rear.
The wide-body package is delicate however crucial to suit a chunky wheel and tyre combo – on this case, WedsSport TC-005s wrapped in Kumho Ecsta V710s. Lifting the engine cowl reveals why all that further rubber is required.
There she is, a 2.0L DOHC iVTEC Honda K20A engine and its corresponding 6-speed handbook gearbox, dropped straight in, no rotation required. KED provides this conversion service for any ZZ proprietor with a loss of life want. With virtually twice the ability because the ZZ’s standard-spec Nissan SR20DE, the Ok-swap shouldn’t be for the faint-hearted.
Park-san informed me it’s a comparatively simple transplant. The principle problem is the K20’s bodily peak. If the Honda engine was dropped straight in, it could sit greater than the bodywork, so the area body is modified and a dry sump fitted to the engine, which permits it to sit decrease.
What does round 220hp really feel like in what is basically a 650kg go-kart? Properly, put it this fashion… With cabin area at a premium, I initially started to surprise if a single seat and central driving place can be higher.
However after a spirited drive round Kyoto, I believe the automobile in all probability advantages from the additional mass added by a passenger. If it misplaced any extra weight, the factor would by no means discover traction over idle.
The ZZ’s earlier proprietor used the automobile for endurance racing, which explains why the Ok-series engine remained unmodified. With its new proprietor, it should seemingly keep this fashion – not that it must be making extra energy anyway – however the concept is to in any other case restore the automobile to showroom-like situation.
Race automobile or highway automobile – I like it.
Toby Thyer
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