JDM Supreme: Check Out This 1,200-HP 1997 Toyota Supra RZ
A Varis widebody, a sequential gearbox, and a host of top-shelf parts make this Toyota Supra RZ one of a kind.
The only thing you need to know about John Lau’s Toyota Supra is that it’s fast. OK, not really, but if you’re reading this, chances are you may already be a Supra fan. You likely know this is a ’90s JDM hero car with a potent 2JZ engine, and you might know a few lines from the original The Fast and the Furious movie that was instrumental in making this car so famous. But this isn't your ordinary Ferrari-slaying, Race Wars Bomex Supra. This is a widebody Varis Supreme Supra that’s more likely to take on Bugattis and, well, anything else claiming more than 1,000 horsepower.
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This car began life as a 1997 Toyota Supra RZ that Lau purchased from a broker in Japan. It only had 97,000 verified kilometers on the clock, came in a Moonstone Pearl color, and Lau ended up paying a pretty penny for the stock vehicle—$80,000. It didn’t stay like that for long, though, as he only drove the Supra for a month before deciding to cut it up and make it into a widebody race car.
Lau reached out to his friend Johnny Grunewald from TRMNL Racing, who turned him onto the Varis Supreme body kit. Lau was particularly drawn to the wild hood design with a hood-intake vent that signaled a V-mount intercooler setup was needed. Lau spared no expense and opted for his kit to have the optional carbon-fiber parts that took a bit longer to make. About seven months later, a delivery arrived from Japan and all the body panels went straight to DTM Autobody in Los Angeles, where they were also painted Moonstone Pearl.
Lau’s 1997 Toyota Supra looked stunning—so good that it was on display at Toyo Tire’s Tread Pass at SEMA 2023—but it was a “pusher” and didn’t run. So, after SEMA, Lau spent another seven months putting together the pieces of the 2JZ engine puzzle, and reached out to Scott Birdsall at Chuckles Garage to work on the powertrain. In went an HKS 3.4-liter stroker 2JZ, a Garret turbo, and a host of other top-shelf power-making parts that brought the car closer to Lau’s goal of 1,200 hp. Meanwhile, inside the car went a Bride Stradia III carbon-fiber bucket seat and the shifter for the HGT sequential gearbox.
“The biggest flex is my race car has air conditioning,” Lau says, as he points out how he made sure he still had some creature comforts. Lau now plans to take his Supra to half-mile races.
For as long as he can remember, Jofel Tolosa has always had a passion for photography and writing. Being born and raised in the small town Delano, California the Filipino-American decided that Southern California was better fit for his lifestyle.
After graduating from Cal State Fullerton he landed a job at Source Interlink Media as an associate online editor. As an associate online editor he specializes in photographing and writing on the import car scene. Being a car enthusiast he is in charge of producing exclusive online content for Super Street magazine, Import Tuner magazine, and Honda Tuning magazine.Read More
