The most complete story behind the groundbreaking old school sportscar that never got its chance.
The Garaiya was set at 6.5 mln JPY, with a production target of 100 units and a rate of 4 units per month, but already 60 of them were signed before the official release.
Breckland Technology's Mark Easton and Mike Rawlings were appointed with the initial development, by reinforcing the ZZ chassis, and turning the 1/4 scale model realized by Nishida into a full scale FRP body, all done in a couple of months.
Kameoka’s complete-car development team was integrated with new staff, including Aguri Suzuki himself and other professional drivers, and in late August 2002 they completed testing and developing of the new car at Millbrook Proving Ground complex, located between Bedford, Luton and Milton Keynes.
It's around this time that, while having a factory tour at Lotus, Kaira was named "the japanese Colin Chapman" by the brand's commercial director.
The Garaiya is assumingly the continuation of the ZZ-III project: a revised ZZ for all-around usage, weighing 900kg to 950kg, equipped with an electronically managed 206PS-claimed SR20VE mated to a 6-speed box straight from the Primera P12 20V, featuring closed roof, glass windows, upgraded brakes with 4 pistons, radio, air conditioning, the mirrors and the taillights of the Alfa Romeo 147, blended in the styling by Design Apple. The car also has scissors doors, but they’re designed to clear a height of 150cm, so they can be fully opened in parking stores.
The new engine struggled to meet the claimed power output, maxing at 175PS, and the back window manufactured in Spain, by Star Glass like all the windows, could cause annoying glazes at night.
The Garaiya should have been manufactured in Portugal, but after 1 early prototype built in Kameoka, 7 pre-production units and 4 production cars built in Norfolk, it didn’t get to regular production.
While the car was being shown for several years at salons, motor shows, and SuperAutobacs Stores, in 2005 the project was abandoned and the Garaiya found its only real use as a prototype in GT300, scoring with the Autobacs Racing Team Aguri (ARTA, of Aguri Suzuki) significant results including four podiums in the final standings between 2004 and 2010.
The Garaiya only missed 2007 season: in 2006 Suzuki threatened to close the team if they didn’t win the championship. He actually did, but the next year they came back to GT300.
Brochure of the Garaiya
Garaiya special articles featured in monthly issues by Autobacs.
Some photos from the factory thanks to Kikuo Kaira.
12 is the amount of Garaiyas ever built: 1 prototype, 7 pre-production cars and 4 production cars.
The prototype and preproduction units feature the original split gauge cluster and have their fuel cap mounted on the roof pillar.
The production units feature the later one piece dashboard, NACA ducts on their rear quarter panels and the fuel cap moved next to the left hand side NACA duct.
The wheels of the prototype car were probably custom made by Tan-ei-sya, but for later units have been replaced by Rays Volk CE28N first and Emotion CR Kai then.
The wing was probably an option included in a sportier trim, and had its mounting point distanced for production cars in order to decrease the boot lid flexion under load and improve stability, although the wing was more of a styling feature than a performance one.
The last two pictures are a speculation on what are the 12 units like, assuming that none of them was repainted or had their key features changed (dashboard, fuel cap, wing)
