How one Japanese tuner turned a tunnel, a Supra, and a v12 into global fame
- Smokey Nagata was the mind behind a Toyota Supra built for history
- This mad scientist even had a tunnel turned into a speed lab
- The Supra’s V12 was the thing that changed everything
Published on May 07, 2025 at 2:33 AM (UTC+4)
by Callum Tokody
Last updated on May 06, 2025 at 6:43 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
How one Japanese tuner turned a tunnel, a Supra, and a V12 into global fame is a story that rewrote the rulebook of street performance.
Smokey Nagata went from teenage troublemaker to engineering icon by taking outrageous risks and building machines no one thought possible.
From illegal test runs in Tokyo to a rain-soaked highway stunt in the UK, his career was built on going faster and further than anyone dared.
The result is a legacy that still defines what tuning can mean.
VISIT SBX CARS – View live supercar auctions powered by Supercar Blondie
The making of a Japanese tuner
Smokey Nagata became a Japanese tuner long before he earned global fame.
At 15, he rebuilt a broken-down Mitsubishi and drove it to school.
He was expelled the same day.
A local Toyota dealer took him in and gave him a shot at working as a mechanic.
That moment sparked a career built around obsession, precision, and rebellion.
In the early 1990s, Nagata started Top Secret, his own tuning shop.
It quickly became a place for experiments that pushed boundaries.
One of those experiments was a Supra like no other.
It would later become the centerpiece of his legend.
A tunnel and a Supra made history
Nagata tested most of his early builds inside a tunnel, specifically, the 14-kilometer Aqua-Line tunnel under Tokyo Bay.
It was long, flat, and perfect for high-speed runs.
This is where he started turning a Supra into something far more extreme than Toyota ever intended.
The defining moment came not in Japan, but in the United Kingdom.
On a rainy night, Nagata brought his gold Toyota Supra onto a public highway and launched it to 317km/h.
The stunt landed him in jail, but it also earned him massive attention.
That single event played a major role in his rise to global fame.
The evolution of a V12 project
Instead of stopping at the 2JZ engine, Nagata swapped it out for a V12 from a Toyota Century.
This was a luxury engine, not built for racing.
But with twin turbos and nitrous oxide, it produced 933 horsepower.
He paired it with a manual transmission and took the project to Italy’s Nardò test track.
The V12 Supra reached 358km/h on that run.
It was loud, aggressive, and visually distinct, with a new body kit and active aero features.
The build showed what a Japanese tuner could achieve when limits were removed.
Global fame through fearless tuning
Smokey Nagata did not follow trends, he made them.
By using a tunnel, building a Supra with a V12, and chasing global fame through bold performance goals, he created one of the most iconic tuning brands in the world.
Top Secret remains a name that still turns heads, and Nagata’s legacy is a blueprint for going all in.
See the full video here:
DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
Callum Tokody is a content writer at Supercar Blondie, where he covers the latest in the automotive world with a focus on design and performance. Callum has a background in automotive journalism and has contributed to a range of publications in Australia and the UK. Outside of work, he’s a design enthusiast with a soft spot for anything with a V8 and a good story.
