Meet VeilSide boss Hironao Yokomaku: the OG Japanese tuner

When Hironao Yokomaku joined a French restaurant aged 16, little did he know how much he’d influence Japan’s car culture in the following decades. Now aged 63, the Tsukuba-based tuner shows no signs of slowing down having just unveiled a new project alongside Fast and Furious actor Sung Kang. Because for nearly four decades Yokomaku-san has led the iconic Japanese tuning brand VeilSide.

Many of us will be familiar with VeilSide’s work from the Tokyo Drift edition of Fast and Furious – especially the ‘Fortune’ Mazda RX-7 which remains a poster car for the entire franchise. But long before F&F became a household name, VeilSide had established itself as one of Japan’s most advanced tuners, building the fastest cars in the country with exteriors almost as loud as the exhaust notes.

The company’s distinctive look was inspired by the Batmobile of all things, and in the decades that followed it’s now synonymous with 1990s and 2000s Japanese car culture – think huge, sculpted rear wings and curved, ankle breaking splitters. During this time, Yokomaku-san wanted to create cars that he felt were ‘complete’ packages, something missing from other tuners at the time who would only focus on a single element. But a VeilSide car needed blistering performance, sharpened handling and bespoke aero before it could ever wear the hallowed ‘Fortune’ or ‘Combat’ name depending on the level of work involved.

Photography: Mark Riccioni

The look didn’t just inspire other Japanese tuners; it even crossed continents with VeilSide-style bodykits being adapted on European cars during the Max Power era. Everyone wanted a piece of the pie. And while the good times felt like a perpetual party, those bad times that followed would put Yokomaku-san on the brink of shutting it down altogether. Now, with the company enjoying a resurgence in 2025, the 63-year-old tuning legend is keen to remind the world of VeilSide’s 35-year history.

“At first I started riding around on customised motorbikes, and of course I thought mine was the fastest!” explains Yokomaku-san. “That was until one day I raced a Nissan Bluebird with a tuned engine. I lost... easily. And that’s when I knew my tuning life had started. When I began driving at 18, I immediately got a job at a car shop to feed my obsession with speed.”

Car tuning in the 1980s wasn’t exactly the behemoth it is today. As the owner of an S30 Nissan Fairlady, Yokomaku-san tuned its engine by trial and error, leading to many rebuilds while drag racing others. By the age of 22 he’d honed his craft enough to establish his own business – Yokomaku Racing Service – working tirelessly every day to build the fastest S30 in Japan. His pièce de résistance was to turbocharge Nissan’s L-series engine which immediately led to more victories while drag racing. Then, a year later, he turned his attention towards the new Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R.

At the age of 28, Yokomaku-san was beating established tuners at just about every discipline. Keen to showcase his skills beyond simply going fast, Yokomaku Racing Service then became VeilSide – Yoko meaning Side and Maku meaning Veil. “Between 1990 and 1999, I set many Japanese records including top speed, drag racing and the fastest 0–300kph time of 13.72 seconds in our R-1 StreetDrag R32 Skyline,” Yokomaku-san adds.

“Our cars were very distinctive, but also the fastest. So many requests for engine tuning would come from owners across Japan, and before long I was reminded of the dangers of tuning after frequent accidents in tuned cars occurred across Japan. I did not want this to happen, so I decided to create a car that could attract people’s attention without running at crazy speeds. After winning awards at Tokyo Auto Salon for many years, our cars and look became very popular.”

Tokyo Drift may be VeilSide’s most infamous film, but its aero has been present in every Fast and Furious since day one. Remember Toretto’s red RX-7? That’s VeilSide. Oh, and Suki’s pink S2000 from 2 Fast 2 Furious? Yup, that one too. Unfortunately for Yokomaku-san, this popularity led to an overwhelming demand which left VeilSide unable to maintain supply. Before long, a rise in cheap replica parts had flooded the market instead, and as the tuning industry slumped in the mid 2000s the company found itself on the brink of bankruptcy.

“During this time, VeilSide moved away from the spotlight with a focus on survival,” Yokomaku-san adds. “It wasn’t until Tokyo Drift made a big impact all over the world, that people began to remember us and expose a new generation to our designs. That was a good feeling. I started the company after many bad experiences with other tuners, so to still be creating exciting cars for enthusiasts all around the world is very moving.

"I am not getting any younger, but for the future all I hope is VeilSide can continue to inspire the next generation of tuning fans just like myself all those decades ago.”