Best Motoring International
Encyclopedia
was Japan
's preeminent automobile magazine
, video, and DVD series. Alongside Best Motoring were Hot Version and Video Special. With the first edition debuting in 1995 and the last in 2011, the videos were marked by non traditional races and challenges such as Touge
battles, in which one car tries to outrun another on a twisty mountain pass. The drivers were the premier racers of the various Japanese racing series, including JGTC (now Super GT
), the D1 Grand Prix
, and Formula Nippon
. Some of the regular hosts/drivers included the 'Drift King' Keiichi Tsuchiya
, Manabu Orido
, and Juichi Wakisaka
.
Best Motoring, Hot Version and Video Special were all produced by Kodansha
/2&4 Motoring.
has also appeared on the series.
The Japanese version of Best Motoring was a monthly video series covering mainly non-tuned factory cars, whereas Hot Version (ホットバージョン) was the bi-monthly video series testing mainly tuned cars. Video Special was yet another video series that was released irregularly and usually focused on a particular car model.
The other differences between the two are that the English version did not refer its series by volume number
Other spinoffs series included quarter-yearly Racing History, released in 2005, was dedicated to the historical aspect of Japanese motorsport.
Best Motoring International was an English compilation of various video clips from all three of the Japanese video magazines, Best Motoring, Hot Version and Video Special.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
's preeminent automobile magazine
Automobile magazine
An automobile magazine is a magazine with news and reports on automobiles and the automobile industry. Automobile magazines may feature new car tests and comparisons, which describe advantages and disadvantages of similar models; future models speculations, confidential information and "spyshots"...
, video, and DVD series. Alongside Best Motoring were Hot Version and Video Special. With the first edition debuting in 1995 and the last in 2011, the videos were marked by non traditional races and challenges such as Touge
Touge
is a Japanese word literally meaning "pass." It refers to a mountain pass or any of the narrow, winding roads that can be found in and around the mountains of Japan and other geographically similar areas, like the legendary Nordschleife in Germany....
battles, in which one car tries to outrun another on a twisty mountain pass. The drivers were the premier racers of the various Japanese racing series, including JGTC (now Super GT
Super GT
The Super GT series, formerly known as the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship or JGTC , is a grand touring car race series promoted by the GT-Association...
), the D1 Grand Prix
D1 Grand Prix
The , abbreviated as D1GP and subtitled Professional Drift, is a production car drifting series from Japan. After several years of hosting amateur drifting contests, Option magazine & Tokyo Auto Salon founder Daijiro Inada, and drifting legend Keiichi Tsuchiya hosted a professional level drifting...
, and Formula Nippon
Formula Nippon
Formula Nippon is a type of formula racing and the top level of single-seater racing in Japan.Formula Nippon evolved from the Japanese Formula 2000 series begun in 1973 by way of the Japanese Formula Two and Japanese Formula 3000 championships...
. Some of the regular hosts/drivers included the 'Drift King' Keiichi Tsuchiya
Keiichi Tsuchiya
is a professional race car driver. He is also known as the "Drift King" for his nontraditional use of drifting in non-drifting racing events and his role in popularizing drifting as a motorsport...
, Manabu Orido
Manabu Orido
is a Japanese racing driver who currently competes in the Super GT series for Toyota Team Tsuchiya in a Lexus SC 430 sponsored by Eclipse and AdvanOrido began his racing career as a street racer and then progressed to touge racing...
, and Juichi Wakisaka
Juichi Wakisaka
is a Japanese racing driver who was a 2002, 2006 and 2009 champion in Japan's Super GT series in the GT500 category. In 2002, Wakisaka raced the Toyota Supra GT with Akira Iida, in 2006 and 2009 Wakisaka raced the Lexus SC 430 with Andre Lotterer....
.
Best Motoring, Hot Version and Video Special were all produced by Kodansha
Kodansha
, the largest Japanese publisher, produces the manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon, Evening, and Weekly Shonen Magazine, as well as more literary magazines such as Gunzō, Shūkan Gendai, and the Japanese dictionary Nihongo Daijiten. The company has its headquarters in Bunkyō, Tokyo...
/2&4 Motoring.
Best Motoring International
In April 2000, Taro Koki founded Zigzag Asia and took international distribution rights for Best Motoring, creating Best Motoring International (BMI). Initial releases were dubbed entirely in English, and some might say suffered from poor voice acting/editing. From volume 3 onwards they settled on having an English narrator and retained the original Japanese audio for the presenters, using subtitles for translation instead of dubbing. International automotive editor Sam MitaniSam Mitani
O. Sam Mitani is a Japanese-American writer and author, best known for his work as International Editor for Road & Track magazine. Born in Tokyo, Japan, Mitani moved to the United States at the age of two....
has also appeared on the series.
The Japanese version of Best Motoring was a monthly video series covering mainly non-tuned factory cars, whereas Hot Version (ホットバージョン) was the bi-monthly video series testing mainly tuned cars. Video Special was yet another video series that was released irregularly and usually focused on a particular car model.
The other differences between the two are that the English version did not refer its series by volume number
Other spinoffs series included quarter-yearly Racing History, released in 2005, was dedicated to the historical aspect of Japanese motorsport.
Best Motoring International was an English compilation of various video clips from all three of the Japanese video magazines, Best Motoring, Hot Version and Video Special.