This Japanese sportscar never been reached the production lines once

Forgotten ONES - For those of you who were previously less familiar with the world of modification, especially in Japan, you certainly have never heard of Autobacs Seven Co., Ltd. or Autobacs. It's the name of a well-known Japan-based retailer of automotive parts & accessories with branches mainly in Asia and shops also located in France, even had reached America (currently it doesn't exist anymore).

The ASL RS-01 Garaiya, (ASL stands for Autobach Sports Laboratory) built in 2001 and is clearly engraved the styles adopted or inspired of the British sports cars. (Picture from: TopCarRating)

Once upon the time the mentioned company wanted to make a sports car. In short, then Autobacs launched its prototype sports car in 2001 named ASL RS-01 Garaiya, (ASL stands for Autobach Sports Laboratory).

As You can see, this ASL RS-01 Garaiya is one of the intact sportscar works made by this Japanese company. That's incredible, by considering that Autobach is only an automotive accessories retailer shop and not a car manufacturer, but is able to make 1 whole sports car that is not a modified result.

The ASL RS-01 Garaiya is powered by a high-potential SR20VE engine of the Nissan Primera which produces the power of 180 hp. (Picture from: Auta5p.eu)

This sports car has a physical size that is equivalent to the British sports car Lotus Elise. According to the Japanese company, although the Garaiya sportscar was built by using parts taken from the catalog in its store and also from some other Japanese cars, nevertheless it was designed in-house by Autobach and intended to rival for the well-known sportscars existed at the time like the British-made sports car Lotus Elise.

The ASL RS-01 Garaiya's front ends has similarity to Ferrari 360 Modena, moreover the taillights use cool lights from Alfa Romeo 147 coupled with the use of short windows and of course coupled with the scissor-style doors. (Picture from: Auta5p.eu)

As You can be seen on the Garaiya's figure, it is clearly engraved the styles adopted or inspired of the British sports cars. Why is that so? Perhaps this is as a result of environmental influences, considering the ASL is based in Norfolk, England and also the Garaiya's testing was carried out at the Milbrook Proving Ground, Bedfordshire England. 

Although the ASL RS-01 Garaiya has been designed to be spacious, due to it uses a scissor-style door, unfortunately makes it a little difficult for those of You with big body postures to enter its cabin. (Picture from: Auta5p.eu)

So it's no wonder, if the Garaiya has very thick of the feel of a British sports car has agile handling, while powered by a compact mid engine as well. Besides that, the Garaiya sports car was also built on the chassis of the Tommy Kaira ZZ-II, another Japanese-made 'English' styled sportscar whose the design had purchased by Autobacs.

It also has an effect that makes the Garaiya has a unique class in between the agility and compactness of Lotus Elise, but has the strength (almost) equal to the Noble M12 GTO. In another words, the Garaiya's design could be said like a reduced version of European supercar.  As seen from the silhouette of the front ends has similarity to Ferrari 360 Modena, moreover the taillights use cool lights from Alfa Romeo 147. Not to mention the use of short windows and of course coupled with the scissor-style doors!

The ASL RS-01 Garaiya has a unique class in between the agility and compactness of Lotus Elise, but has the strength (almost) equal to the Noble M12 GTO. (Picture from: Auta5p.eu)

As said earlier, Autobacs uses a lot of parts from Japanese cars. In addition to the Tommy Kaira ZZ-II's chassis, the company also took a high-potential SR20VE engine of the Nissan Primera which produces the power of 180 hp. That's more than enough, considering the RS-01 Garaiya weighs only 900 kg! Again, the design style refers to the benchmark of almost all British sportscars made by Colin Chapman with the design slogan of 'Less is more.'

For the cabin, many aftermarket parts from Autobacs are installed, such as the steering wheel, seats, gear lever, pedals to the speedometer. So in Our opinion, the Garaiya is like a TVR which also uses aftermaket parts in its cabin. Although it has been designed to be spacious, due to it uses a scissor-style door, unfortunately makes it a little difficult for those of You with big body postures to enter its cabin.😓

A modified version of the ASL RS-01 Garaiya called the Garaiya GT built by ARTA (Autobacs Racing Team Aguri) to compete at the JGTC racing arena in the GT300 class. (Picture from: Supercar.net)

Unfortunately, the Garaiya has a lot of problems. In addition to the non-functional design, the SR20VE engine, which is expensive to produce, Autobacs' own marketing plans are not in accordance with its market share, Europe, especially the UK. In the end, the ASL RS-01 Garaiya only ended up like the Tommy Kaira ZZ-II, which was only a prototype and sat on display at the ASL's headquarter which later changed its name to ASM, the Autobacs's racing and high performance division.

The Garaiya GT has a larger and aerodynamic body design, powered by a RB26DETT 542 hp engine combined with the ATESA ETS 4-wheel drive. (Picture from: Supercar.net)

Then was the Garaiya forgotten just like that? Apparently not! There's a modified version called the Garaiya GT built by ARTA (Autobacs Racing Team Aguri) which is a joint team of Autobacs and former legendary Japanese racer, Aguri Suzuki to compete in the JGTC racing arena.

The Garaiya GT has a larger and aerodynamic body design, powered by a RB26DETT 542 hp engine combined with the ATESA ETS 4-wheel drive, which both taken of the Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R to compete in the GT300 class.

Although not as successful as the Acura NSX GT, which was also used by the ARTA team, the Garaiya GT itself able to grab sympathy and support from fans, before being replaced by the Honda HSV-010 GT. We think that's a such pretty beautiful ending for the car had never been reached the production lines though! *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | AUTOBACS | TOPCARRATING ]

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