CARVERSAL

The man who drove 194 mph on a British public highway in an RB26 swapped Toyota Supra with no registration; yes, we are talking about the infamous ‘Smokey Nagata’, the face of The Top Secret. Although he later got arrested by British police, he sure left a mark on the JDM car culture after the stunt. For those of you who are still wondering who he is, he is the man behind the creation of the V12-swapped Toyota Supra that took the internet by storm.

Humble Beginnings

Kazuhiko ‘Smokey’ Nagata was a typical farm boy from a traditional farming family in the countryside of Hokkaido, Japan. Hokkaido was a place that was not a speck familiar with the racing culture of Japan and had a calm and settled atmosphere, which was soon going to be changed by a farm boy with a vision.

Kazuhiko was put into his family tradition pretty early in his age; his father was a car guy himself and used to fix his Farm Truck and equipment in front of the little Kazuhiko and also taught him in the process.

Kazuhiko’s first car was a run-down old Mitsubishi Galant GTO, which he bought at 15 years of age; the only problem was he didn't have the expertise to fix it; watching Kazuhiko’s project car, his neighbour offered to help him fix it; little did he know that his neighbour was a professional mechanic at Toyota. When the car was fixed, the first thing that Nagata did was drive it to school, which later got him expelled; why? because at 16 years of age, driving a car was illegal in Japan.

When his neighbour found out what happened, he offered Kazuhiko a job at Toyota; he took the opportunity and became the youngest mechanic in the company at 16-year of age; the job taught him about all the ins and out’s of cars and he became the first step towards his journey. Kazuhiko later decided to put his resources and knowledge to use on an old Toyota Celica on which he used to work on in his free time, but as time progressed, Kazuhiko used his work hours in racing and testing his Celica rather than actually working, he ended up getting fired from the job in which he worked for 4 years, but still this did not stop Kazuhiko.

After getting fired, Kazuhiko decided to go to Tokyo, the hub of the JDM car culture, knowing his talents would be recognised there. He got a job at the infamous GReddy (a.k.a Trust at that time) as a tuner and fabricator, where he learned how to tune and modify cars to their core. He worked at the company for many years until he realized his vision, “Showing the world how fast Japanese cars can be”, which later manifested into Top Secret, his very own tuning company.

Rise of The Top Secret

Kazuhiko’s first canvas was an R32 skyline GTR which he modified to compete against other tuners of Japan in a speed battle across the Aqua line tunnel. As his notoriety rose in Japan, his respect among his fellow tuners also increased; now, all Kazuhiko wanted was to show the whole world the might of JDM cars. So he decided to go to Britain to influence the famous tuner magazine of Japan, Max Power, which arranged car meets across Britain. The car that Kazuhiko took there was no ordinary car; it was a Toyota Supra with an RB26 engine swapped from an R32 Skyline GTR; the engine was inserted with forged pistons and rods to support its monstrous 1000 horsepower and was fitted with twin GT3037 turbos that produced around 30 psi of pressure which was insane at that time.

The 194 mph Run on the British A1 Highway

The press did not hold back when they saw this monster; Smokey took a reporter with him to the British A1 highway to show its capability. Kazuhiko was named Smokey at the run on the highway because whenever he performed a run, he used to perform a “Burnout as a ritual”.

Max Power challenged Smokey that he wouldn't be able to get this car above 200 mph; knowing the man Kazuhiko is, he took his car at 4:00 AM at the British A1 highway on a rainy day and performed 3 runs in an attempt to achieve 200 mph along the stretch, at the first run the car was a bit lean, at the second run the car’s bonnet started rattling at 190 mph, but this still didn't stop Kazuhiko from performing a Third Run, where he achieved a top speed of 194 mph, which “Broke the world record at that time” , but this didn't last as long when the police came into the scene and pulled Kazuhiko over for overspeeding. Kazuhiko was fined 155 pounds, got his international license suspended and received a ban from Britain for 10 years. But this stunt made Kazuhiko the poster child of speed across the world, Top Secret was all over the news across the world for breaking the world record, and Kazuhiko got what he wanted, hence marking the start of the Top Secret Brand.

V12 Swapped Toyota Supra and Other Builds

After that, Kazuhiko performed another run, this time legally across the Nardo Ring in Italy, topping the limit at 222 mph in his famous 5.0L V12 swapped Toyota Supra; it had an engine swapped from a Toyota Century combined with Twin HKS GT2540 turbos, a wet shot nitrous system, 2 ECUs and custom pistons and rods which resulted in 930 hp and 745 lbs of torque. Smokey should be given the title of “Sigma” among the JDM car culture for this specimen.By this time, Top Secret was now among the famous tuners like Jun, ScootSport, and Veilside and made a name for itself in 1999.

Ryuji Miki, one of the most famous drifters in Japan, performed in a Top Secret Silvia S15 in his 2004 DI Grand Prix and won. He performed in a Top Secret Nissan Z33 in the next year as well.

Smokey didn’t stop with his high-speed productions, he took a 2005 Infinity G35 and swapped its engine with a 4.3L V8, and twin-turbocharged it, making around 700 hp. He did a run in it as well and achieved 211 mph at the “No Speed Limit AutoBahn” in Germany.

Where is Smokey Nagata Now?

Recently a top-secret variant was seen in New Zealand, an R32 skyline gtr that looked normal from the outside but had a V6 swapped from an R35 GTR and had an interior similar to the R35 with all working components. Smokey is still in the same garage in Japan where he started his vision and is still producing high-end racing and drifting-level cars to this day.

Conclusion

These builds cemented the name of Top Secret, which is now recognized among folks all around the world for its legacy and contribution to the JDM car culture. All of which was started with a farm boy who had a dream of driving fast.