Option (car magazine)

Option
オプション

A typical Option cover
Categories Automobile
Frequency monthly
Publisher San-Ei Shobo Publishing
Year founded 1981
Country Japan
Language Japanese
Website Official Site
JDM Option site

Option (オプション, Opushon in katakana and subtitled Exciting Car Magazine) is an automotive magazine founded by Daijiro Inada in 1981, to meet the demand for enthusiasts of modified Japanese cars in Japan.

The magazine is published by the Japanese media giant San-Ei Shobo Publishing Co. Ltd., the parent company of Sunpros, a company owned by Inada, who is behind both the D1 Grand Prix series and Tokyo Auto Salon.

Description

During the earlier days, the magazines used to cover illegal street races held in expressways before it became illegal to do so. Also, it covers the exploits of Inada attempts at driving speed records, whether it was at Bonneville, at the German Autobahn or at the Silver State Classic, even by members of the magazine editorial team. Nowadays the series features Wangan competitions on closed roads and where it is legalised to do so.

Beside speed tests and modified car features, other regular features includes, a rate-my-car feature where readers send a photo of their car to be judged by Manabu Suzuki, with a comedic result; a monthly features, where Keiichi Tsuchiya solves readers' problems that concern with drifting, a monthly column called Sugoiyo Osaru-san (すごいよ！ オサルさん) by Ken Nomura. Also it has a D1GP mini-magazine. Other contributors includes Eiji Yamada and Manabu Orido. The magazine also covered the buildup to his Silver State exploits that he has become known for. Other magazines in the Option line are Option 2, a similar magazine but less emphasises on feature cars but more on technical bits and DIY modifications; Option Wagon for modified MPV, Drift Tengoku, a magazine and video series dedicated to drifting and Video Option. The Option magazine is known to be very popular amongst JDM enthusiasts and people who work in the Import industry who use it to gain knowledge on new parts.

Project cars

Option Stream Z, Silver State Classic 2006
For the following year, the car was modified at the rear suspension allowing the rear camber to be altered. Unfortunately in 2005, on the day before the race, during a 1-mile (1.6 km) speed run, Inada drove the car off course after not noticing the finishing line (which was a set of cones), misreading co driver Susumu Koyama's (owner of tuner, JUN Auto) signal to slow down, and failing to slow down before a corner 2 km after the finishing line, causing mechanical damages to the car and putting the co-driver in hospital for whiplash injuries. As a result they were forced to miss out on the main race, but he was the winner of the 1-mile (1.6 km) shootout race that caused such misfortune for him.
During and his attempt at the Nevada Open Road Challenge on May 2006 which he retired with a broken crank pulley after 57 km, Inada announced his retirement and the following event would become his last race. During that September, during a 1-mile (1.6 km) run a day prior to the main race, he blew his engine.

Both the magazine's project cars have made appearances in video games, its earlier project car, Option Speed Wagon have appeared in the 1998 Konami arcade game Racing Jam as a hidden car and the infamous Option Stream Z have appeared in both installments of the D1 Grand Prix game by Yuke's and the ver.2 in Gran Turismo 4 all as bonus cars.

See also

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