Brad wrote about the Tommykaira ZZ last week; a basic, lightweight Japanese sports car that made the Lotus Elise look heavy and soft in comparison. It was a cool look at a car that few people who weren’t obsessed with Gran Turismo knew about, but at the same time, it wasn’t necessarily the car Tommykaira fans were most obsessed with. No, that distinction goes to the Tommykaira ZZII, a mid-engine, all-wheel-drive supercar that never made it into production, even if Tommykaira only ever built a single example in real life.
And what do you know, just a few days later, Dino DC, the YouTube channel that made the original ZZ video, also released one focusing on the ZZII. Heck yeah!
Basically, the goal was to follow up the original ZZ with something that could compete with European supercars and go racing at Le Mans. Sadly, the example Tommykaira built for the 2002 Tokyo auto show was the only one ever built, and it wasn’t even clear whether or not that example was an actual running, driveable car or just a concept. As you can see in the video below, though, the ZZII definitely runs.
It also still looks fantastic, too, even if you can see influences from the McLaren F1 and other supercars from the time in the design. You also got two air ducts on the roof instead of one, so take that, McLaren.
Nissan GT-R power
Then again, you didn’t get the McLaren F1’s naturally aspirated V12, either. Instead, the ZZII used a GT-R-sourced RB26 engine that it bored out to 2.7 liters, as well as the GTR’s six-speed manual and all-wheel drive system. And while it didn’t have more than 600 horsepower like the McLaren, 550 hp was still nothing to laugh at back in 2001, and since it could send that power to all four wheels, it was also seriously quick. The aluminum chassis and carbon-fiber body certainly didn’t hurt in that regard, either.
Of course, Tommykaira could have used a carbon-fiber tub, but as you’ll hear in the video above, they wanted to use a curved aluminum chassis to give occupants more space. Getting that to pass the necessary tests, though, proved expensive, and ultimately, Tommykaira ran out of money. That led to the design being sold to a company called Autobacs, which ultimately pulled out before production began. So in the end, there’s only one ZZII, and it never had a chance to go racing in the real world.
But it did live on in Gran Turismo, where plenty of young enthusiasts got the chance to pretend to race it, so at least there’s that. And at the end, you do get to see the ZZII move under its own power, even if it’s just to move it, not take it out on a public road or put it through its paces on a race track. That’s probably better for ensuring the ZZII doesn’t get destroyed in a crash, but it still would have been incredible to see it really driven hard.
