SUPRA TO SKYLINE — THE CONTINUATION OF THEFASTAND FURIOUS SAGA

Following on from the success of The Fast and the Furious in 2001, Universal Pictures greenlit a sequel featuring an immense amount of change from the first film

Titled 2 Fast 2 Furious, actor

Paul Walker continued in the role of fugitive ex-police officer

Brian O’Connor and was the only character from the first film to feature other than Thom Barry, who portrayed Agent Bilkins. Co-starring alongside Walker was Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce, in addition to rapper Ludacris, who played local garage proprietor Tej Parker, with both becoming mainstays in the franchise.

New director John Singleton joined existing producer Neal H Moritz, with the film now taking place in the flashy neighbourhoods of Miami rather than the rough setting of Echo Park, Los Angeles.

More important, new hero cars were injected into the film to provide a fresh appearance, and these featured on the theatrical-release poster alongside Walker, Gibson, and Eva Mendes, who played US Customs agent Monica Fuentes, and Devon Aoki as street racer Suki. In the film, Suki’s hot pink Honda S2000 is joined by the two models O’Connor drives — a Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34) and a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII. An array of other models features within the film, including a nice dose of American muscle, but the three models on the theatrical poster continued the JDM focus of the first film.

Suki’s S2000 may have seemed familiar to some fans of the first film because it appeared as villain Johnny Tran’s weapon, which defeated Jesse’s Jetta in the drag race at Race Wars.

The S2000 was owned in real life by RJ de Vera — a noted figure in the American aftermarket scene and now vice president of marketing for the SEMA Show — who portrayed drag racer Danny Yamato in the first film. This S2000 featured a Comptech supercharger based on a Paxton unit, with modifications including an HKS exhaust and suspension components in and an RE-Works strut tower bar. However, using the S2000 again was not the original choice, as the

Toyota MR2 Spyder (MR-S) was also considered, and, in fact, many were purchased before there was a change of direction.

The S2000 was painted House of Kolor Shimrin Pink and featured airbrushing by noted artist Noah Elias. The interior sported additional aftermarket gauges, a new sound system, and reupholstered seats.

The S2000 appeared only in the opening drag race and briefly in the warehouse scramble, with the original now located at the Petersen Automotive Museum in

Los Angeles.

One of Suki’s drag racing rivals, the Nissan Skyline GT-R driven by O’Connor, is introduced via a prelude to 2 Fast 2 Furious, acting as a link between the two films. Now a fugitive, O’Connor travels across the US racing and earning money in a Dodge Stealth (also sold as a Mitsubishi 3000GT in the US and GTO in Japan), before the police catch up to him in Texas. Leaving the Dodge behind, O’Connor purchases a rough Nissan Skyline GT-R from a dealer, before setting to work modifying and racing it.

In real life, this GT-R was owned by the film’s technical advisor,

Craig Lieberman (who owned the Toyota Supra and Vince’s

Nissan Maxima from the first film). Nicknamed the ‘Blackbird’, Lieberman’s GT-R was one of only 15 federally legal examples in the US, and this was the first imported by Motorex.

Following the prelude, 2 Fast 2 Furious kicks off with one of the best scenes in the movie franchise and introducing the GT-R to the audience. A drag racer pulls out due to working the graveyard shift, so Tej calls O’Connor to offer him a spot in the race, which is accepted. With only five minutes to arrive, O’Connor negotiates traffic on the freeway before descending on his rivals among purges of nitrous and the iconic sounds of the RB26 engine. Of course, O’Connor goes on to win the race before a short police chase during which he crashes into a parking meter and is arrested. This is the last time that the GT-R features in the film, as it is impounded.

The appearance of the GT-R was changed to the silver base and blue graphics, which was not loved by Lieberman. Also not appreciated by its owner was the lack of love for the nitrous system worth US$5K.

A private owner now has the GT-R and is considering returning it to its movie appearance after it was restored to black since.

Now, some JDM fans believe moving from a GT-R to a Mitsubishi Lancer

Evo VII is a backwards step, and indeed it’s probably the right assumption, so this begs the question: why did O’Connor go in this direction?

Simple: Mitsubishi paid for the screen time, hence why it became the main model featured. It could have been worse — a Dodge SRT-4 was also mooted for a starring role.

The Evo was yet to be released in the US, so Mitsubishi stepped in and sent four examples to the States that were destined for a European rally team. Being unavailable in the US made sourcing tuner parts for the Evo VII difficult, but Mitsubishi-affiliated Ralliart and ARC Racing came to the rescue, as did DAMD.

Gauges were added to the interior, but the major modification was restricting the Evo to two-wheel drive to make stunts easier to complete. Painted in House of Kolor Lime Gold Kandy, the Evo also had graphics replicating what was on Lieberman’s GT-R before it was painted silver. A further addition was made to the doors, which featured the Evo itself within the graphics.

The Evo debuts after O’Connor and Pearce are taken to US Customs to receive their instructions to take down drug lord Carter Verone. This scene formally introduces Fuentes’ character and the Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder that Pearce drives — ‘donk’ wheels and all. Many famous scenes involve the Evo, including the stare and drive, the race to Verone’s Ferrari (where O’Connor races it in reverse), plus the escape at the end.

Although the Evo VII is swapped for a Camaro, it’s still one of the favourite models from the franchise and ensured that the VIII was sold in the US from 2003.

Arguably, 2 Fast 2 Furious doesn’t have the allure of the first instalment, as it provides a hint of what was to come for the franchise. However, the cars continued to be the stars until the movies became more action and stunt focused following Tokyo Drift, which was released in 2006.

In real life, this GT-R was owned by the film’s technical advisor, Craig Lieberman (who owned the Toyota Supra and Vince’s Nissan Maxima from the first film)