Reimagined Without Compromise

MZR ROADSPORTS EVOLVES THE FAIRLADY Z WHILE PRESERVING ITS SPIRIT

- Benjamin Hunting

Sometimes all it takes to light the spark that will consume the rest of your life is an unexpected, chance encounter with a fleeting image. When Rahail Tariq first came across a magazine advertisement for the original Datsun Z in 2001, it would kick off a quest that would see him not only pickup his first S30 but also open up a shop that would transform how the rest of the world sees this most classic of Japanese sports cars.

“Our family business had always been automotive,” Rahail explains. “My father was a mechanic when he first came to the UK in the ’60s, and it’s been in our DNA for a long time. My brother, my brother-in-law, and I are living proof that once you become a petrol head, that’s it.”

Of course, Rahail has taken things a little further than the average automotive obsessive. It might have started with a picture on a page, but it was when he began to investigate how to modify his newly acquired 240Z that he encountered Martin Ryland. Martin would solve many of the issues Rahail was dealing with on his path to building the perfect Z, and he eventually became his business partner.

“The first time Martin came and picked up my car, it kicked off a conversation that quickly got very, very deep as to how far we could go in improving the S30,” Rahail says. “Ryland is quite technical-minded, and, as we began to work out a long-term game plan for the vehicle, we realized we were on the same page in terms of taste and philosophy—and MZR Roadsports was born.”

That shared outlook would shape the very specific concept that came to define MZR vehicles: a devotion to preserving the beauty of the original sheet metal while working fastidiously to upgrade the cars wherever possible without compromising on one of the most captivating designs ever to emerge from Japan.