If you’ve ever wondered what retired Suzuki engineer Kunio Arase is up to in 2022, we have some fascinating news for you. The highly-regarded development engineer who helped bring both the Suzuki GSX-R family and the Hayabusa into the world may have stepped back from working directly on motorcycles—but it doesn’t mean that motorcycles left his heart.
On October 26, 2022, Arase Aizawa Aerospatiale LLC, consisting of co-representatives Yoshihiro Aizawa and Kunio Arase, unveiled their new drone project at the Fifth Nagoya Robodex exhibition. It’s called the AZ-1000, and it’s no battery-powered electric drone. Instead, it is an unmanned aerial machine that’s powered by a 1,000cc, inline four-cylinder engine built with a whole bunch of GSX-R parts by none other than Arase himself.
