1970
Keika began officially exporting to America this year, building US spec cars from factory and being sold to a chain of dealerships on the West Coast. These cars sold reasonably well and were almost identical to their Japanese and European counterparts, the only difference being the front lighting arangement.
A US Spec Katana. Note the quad headlights and sidemarkers.
Meanwhile, back in Japan, Keika were contacted by TSR to help make final adjustments to a final edition TSR Ultra, the GTX. With Keika’s help, the price was reduced, handling refined, reliability improved and 0-100 time was brought down to 4.7 seconds.
In return for their services, TSR offered a factory, boosting production greatly.
1971
1971 marked the beginnings of the IMSA GT Championship. Keika entered the inaugural season in the GTU class, facing fierce compeition from Porsche. Also, historians claim Caliban showed up, but there’s no laptime evidence or finishing positions to back that up.
Cars used were simply the race varients of 1968, with the main driver for Keika being the owner of the dealerships selling them, Rachel Foust. With her at the wheel, Keika took the championship in the GTU class, narrowly beating Porsche in points.
1973
Back in the USA, Keika needed to update the cars. Regulations were getting tighter and while in Japanese and European markets the balanced handling and low cost was enough to gain sales, in the US there needed to be some refinement to keep up with the competition.
The answer to this problem? Race car.
To improve performance, the 4 barrel carbs from the race cars were added to the road cars. While not a huge amount of power was added, this was enough to bring the 0-100Km/h time to 7 seconds, and also improved fuel economy. The stroke was also increased back up to original specification, providing a small amount of extra torque.
This was fine enough for the base model Katana, but Keika was looking to expand their horizons. After taking back the feedback from the US magazine, a specific for US model was created, called the Katana 2000R. This featured wider, sportier tyres, updated safety, and a few other things. Unfortunately, this did nothing to help Keika in America, as the updated design wasn’t radical enough to impress the masses.
1975
This failure, and the resulting lack of sales would finally kill off the first generation Katana in 1975. While the Katana was initially successful, the lack of improvements in the budget chassis would lead to its end. A replacement was already in the works though…
Keika Katana US: Keika - Katana 2000.car (33.9 KB)
Keika Katana 2000R: Keika - Katana 2000R.car (35.1 KB)