Best Motoring International
Best Motoring is Japan’s superior automobile magazine, DVD, and video series. The first edition was printed in 1995, and non-traditional challenges and races marked the videos.
The drivers featured are premier racers of Japanese racing series, including the Formula Nippon, JGTC, and the D1 Grand Prix. Some regular hosts and drivers include the ‘Drift King’ Keiichi Tsuchiya, Juichi Wakisaka, and Manabu Orido.
Taro Koki founded Zigzag Asia in April 2000 and owned international distribution rights for Best Motoring by creating Best Motoring International. Initial releases were poorly dubbed in English. They decided, however, from volume 3 onwards to have an English narrator, and they kept the original Japanese audio stream for the presenters. They also started using subtitles instead of dubbing for translation.
Best Motoring’s Japanese version is a monthly video edition that focuses on mainly non-tuned factory cars. Hot Version, on the other hand, is the bi-monthly series that tests mainly tuned cars. Video Special is also another series released irregularly, and it concentrates on a specific car model.
The differences between the English and Japanese version are that the English one does not call its series by a volume number. Many spin-off series’ followed, including the Hot Version Specials VTECT Club and the AE86 Club. VTEC focused on Honda VTEC cars, whereas AE86 Club concentrated on Toyota AE86 models.
Best Motoring International is the English compilation of some of the favourite video clips from all three of the Japanese video magazines Hot Version, Best Motoring, and Video Special.
