Whether it’s off-road, on track or tuned for public tarmac, Toyo Tires leads the way at SEMA 2014.
The 2014 meeting of the Special Equipment Market Association was held this week in Las Vegas, Nevada. Better known as SEMA, the ultimate aftermarket showcase is a four-day business bender, seeing automotive media, manufacturers, buyers, builders and exhibitors suffering bouts of insomnia in the run-up to and during the event.
SEMA is where you will see automotive extremes: trendy, conceptual, weird or paradigm shifting. Every car on show is built with its own personal madness.
Think of it as New York Fashion Week for the car industry. Latest innovations are unveiled, big dollar deals are done, and tuners from every hot spot around the world scramble to have their latest builds on display. M/T shod Toyota Tundra’s with rear mounted BBQs, a 500 horsepower Ford Ecoboost, a gold chrome Corvette C7 and a Slayer-themed Scion tC parked in the same area as hot rods and muscle cars, trophy trucks and tuner weapons.
At its core, SEMA is about car enthusiasts and their enthusiasm – a lucky 60,000-odd punters descend upon Las Vegas to celebrate the lifestyle, innovations, new products and excesses of the international tuning scene.
Toyo’s presence at SEMA has always been substantial and this year saw the quality on show jump up a notch. In addition to multiple indoor and outdoor displays and the Toyo Treadpass section, featuring 30 show cars, Toyo’s Open Country and Proxes ranges were the choice of tuners as the finishing touch to a multitude of high profile, high-end builds throughout the Las Vegas Convention Centres.
The FD RX-7 is one of the latest classics to get the 6666 treatment.
The unofficial theme seemed to be wide-body everything. No car was deemed too new or exotic to avoid the rivet and FRP over-fender treatment. New Lamborghinis, BMW M4s, Lexus RCs, Porsche 997 GT3s and all manner of unique builds sported low offsets and angry stances.
Japanese tuning tastemaker and body kit virtuoso Kei Miura’s influence at SEMA continues to grow. Designing Kato-san’s Liberty Walk exotics and his own tuner favourite TRA Kyoto/Rocket Bunny/6666 Customs range, Miura has defined the width and offset-obsessed aesthetic of aftermarket tuning bodywork.
Joining Rocket Bunny’s popular kitted Toyota 86s this year were FD RX-7s, Honda NSXs, Hyundai Genesis, Lexus RC among other JDM and euro-tuned favourites.
Cars sporting air ride, particularly late model exotics, were also la mode in Sin City. Drivers of European supercars are evidently no longer satisfied with static or combined air cup systems ability to get their precious metal in touch with tarmac.
Despite the presence of millions of dollars in exotic metal, stanced showstopper, Rocket Bunny 2015 Lexus RC-350 F Sport spent the week surrounded by punters, jaws agape.
The Showstopper RC 350.
The bold design sees the new Lexus coupe’s much lauded spindle grill fade into the background, with canards, diffusers and a contrastingly subtle long duck tail spoiler setting off the package that was blowing up social media weeks before the show opened. Sitting beneath Miura San’s divisive overfender and aero treatment are six pot Brembos and custom built 19-inch Enkei mesh wheels, track ready with 265 front and 325 rear Toyo Proxes R888.
Alongside the RC-350 were fettled versions of Lexus’s other recent launches, RC-F and the NX.
Hyundai’s sporty Genesis was also among the line-up of late model cars receiving a thorough dose of customisation. Our favourite: Blood Type Racing’s show meets track car offering. With Hyundai’s turbocharged 2.0-litre elevated to a Genesis record busting output of 746kW (just over 1000hp in the old money). Putting the nitrous injected ponies to the ground is set of sticky Proxes R888, with grave fears held for the rear pair should a driver decide to put on a show.
BTRs 100hp Hyundai Genesis.
Power lords Bisimoto unveiled a smooth white Porsche RSR replica, with enormous turbocharger, wastegate, exhaust and screamer piping sitting in an unorthodox rear external location. Just the sight of it pains the ears, on full ‘gate it would strike fear into the hearts of men.
Noise bomb.
SCORE moved qualifying for the Baja 1000 to the first evening of SEMA in Las Vegas, with the race set to start in Mexico on Tuesday next week.
Team Toyo’s finest, Robby Gordon claimed poll position in his Chevy CK1500 trophy truck over a tight and technical six kilometre course starting and ending on the off-road track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Viral video vagabond and Team Toyo racer BJ Baldwin spun his Open Country M/T-Rs to grab fourth start, temporarily pulling the Chevy Silverado down from Toyo’s outdoor display for the evening to ply his trade.
The off-road antics are still not done. A round of the Clipsal 500 bound Stadium Super Trucks is set to run as SEMA concludes this afternoon, with set after set of Open Country A/T II’s being fitted as you read, readying for the abuse of the rubbin’s racin’ SST action.
Stay tuned for further coverage on the sights and sounds of SEMA as we receive more info and imagery from our man on the ground in LV.
In the meantime, check out #TOYOTIRES and #SEMA2014.
