Wolfgang Garza of Focus Works

Heart of the Machine

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I've known Wolfgang for many years, going back to Dallas, when he and his brother Tanner were regulars at the Dreamspeed Garage meets and two of the best drivers around. Their JZX90 was one of the coolest cars in the area at the time. The platform was already growing on me, but seeing that car drive, and attending a few events together, is what pushed me to get a JZX81 all those years ago.

Their cars and their driving carried a real part of Dallas drift culture in those years, and anyone who was around then can vouch for it.

As we know now, Dallas was never the end-all for Wolfgang. He traveled to Japan often, sometimes for leisure, sometimes to drive, and often for a Matsuri, the multi-day drift festivals held at Ebisu Circuit. He kept a car there through Power Vehicles, a long-standing shop at Ebisu that stores and exports drift cars for drivers abroad. Every trip pushed him, both as a driver and a person, and after many years of that, the visits were no longer enough. So he made the move, put in time working alongside Power Vehicles, and eventually set out to build something of his own.

Today Wolfgang lives in Fukushima as the founder of Focus Works and Japan Drift Rentals, and he drives a perfectly spec'd JZX100 that's easily one of my favorite cars around. When I asked why he started two companies instead of just driving, his answer got right to the center of it.

"I wanted to help people and make it possible for drifters to come experience drifting where we all grew up wishing we could someday."

So what's Focus Works, for someone who's never heard of it?

"Focus Works is my shop in Fukushima, Japan. We work on drift cars, help people source parts and cars, and support international drivers in Japan."

We use him for our own sourcing, and so do many of our friends. And for those lucky few who are able, it also goes further than shipping. He stores their cars at the shop, sources the parts, and does the installs. All of it through Focus Works.

The Car

His personal JZX100 is the reason I'd trust anything he builds. From the kit to the color to the wheels, the fitment and the power, that car is the epitome of the JZX chassis, and it drives like it.

Powering it all is a 1JZ VVT-i on a Garrett GTX3076R, making around 456 ps, and it sounds just as aggressive. The body is an Origin Drift Line kit with Ito Auto fenders front and rear, an ST Garage rear lip, and a Koguchi Power Emperor wing. For wheels, he runs two sets: chrome Gram Lights 57S Pro, and a set of Work XSA 03C in gold front and red rear that came off the WELD Mark II that many know and love.

We actually got to help put it back together. The car was fresh out of paint while we were there, and we spent part of the trip reassembling it with him.
See the photo section for it on the transporter right after we finished.

His driving is aggressive and fast, and just as consistent. JZXs are known for their big power, long sweepers, and full commitment to every turn, and his driving is as exciting as it gets. It's the type of driving that motivates you to go harder.

And from inside the car, it's something else entirely. Wolfgang took us on a few runs through the Ebisu Touge Course. I've watched plenty of that course in old drift videos over the years, but experiencing it in person was as exciting as it was scary. There isn't any amount of footage that prepares you for it.

And Japan Drift Rentals?

"Japan Drift Rentals is about making drifting in Japan easy. Rent a properly built car, show up, drive, and enjoy the circuit."

Anyone who's looked into drifting in Japan knows the wall of logistics standing between you and the track. Shipping a car, or buying one sight unseen, figuring out storage, none of it is easy from a continent away. What Wolfgang has built helps knock that wall down. He's done it for me, for my friends on the same trip, and for many others: a properly built car waiting at the circuit, and all we had to do was show up and drive.

When I asked him what pulled him to Japan in the first place, his answer was exactly as long as it needed to be. "Mainly drifting."
...We laughed, but I'm not sure I would have expected anything else.

more than the driving

What I didn't expect from the trip was how much of it had nothing to do with cars.

Wolfgang showed us around Fukushima. Our first day there we stopped at an izakaya, had some beers and good food, and talked with a few locals. Later that night he drove us up a mountain outside the city without saying much about where we were going. After a short hike we came through a clearing in the trees, and the whole city sat below us, everything in view. Absolutely unreal.

That's the part that stayed with me. The driving is why you go, but everything around it is why you'd go back.

I've been a customer in every way you can be. I've sourced parts through Focus Works, rented a car through Japan Drift Rentals, and driven his home circuit of Ebisu. He made sure we felt welcome the whole time. At the track, he wasn't standing by while I figured it out. He walked me through the layout, helped me get the line down, and pushed me to drive harder. He treated my progress like it was his own.

When I asked what feeling he wants his customers to walk away with, he said, "I just want people to feel welcome." That one he didn't need to share. We'd already felt it.

Thank you, Wolfgang, for allowing me to capture part of your story here. For everything you do under Focus Works, and for our trip to Japan, the driving, the sourcing, all of it. And for the years of friendship that came long before any of it. I'm excited to see where Focus Works and Japan Drift Rentals go from here, and I'll be a fan of both the whole way.