It's not often that we see behind the scenes of SEMA builds, but Toyota is taking us there right now. Two builds are in progress, but the Supra project has the majority of our attention.

The main appeal is watching the roof be cut out of the brand-new Toyota GR Supra. You can see it happen in the video at the top of this post. Of course, the joy of removing the roof from the new Supra stems from the targa top option of the previous Supra. The fifth-gen Supra is only available in hardtop coupe form, but if you really want a Supra convertible, just buy a BMW Z4.

Kiyomizu Temple in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto has held a ceremony to mark the renovation of the wooden stage and the new roof of the main hall.

The Buddhist ritual at the main hall on Thursday was attended by 24 people, including the construction workers.

Way, way back in 2019 when SEMA was still a physical show, Toyota showed us a concept called the Supra Heritage Edition. The goal was to evoke the look of the beloved fourth-generation 1994-98 Supra on the fifth-gen 2020 GR Supra with the addition of a body kit, hoop spoiler, and iconic quad-element taillights. For the virtual SEMA 360 show of 2020, Toyota is modifying the Heritage Edition yet again, this time with an open roof.

Called the Sport Roof, the name recalls the removable top option on some fourth-gen Supras. Unlike the more typical T-tops of the era, the entire center section of the roof could be removed with no center spine connecting the front and rear sections. It's basically a Targa top, except Porsche holds the trademark to the Targa name.

I'm in the process of reviewing the new Yakima CBX Solar roof carrier. I've mounted it to a Subaru Outback and my own Audi Allroad, while a new Subaru Crosstrek Sport will be next. Alas, the 2021 Nissan Rogue SV currently in my driveway won't get the chance to ride around with Spock's coffin on its back. 

You see, the Rogue has fake roof rails. Although they appear to be flush rails at first glance, they are in fact made of plastic and lack the grooves necessary for rack towers to clamp onto. Instead, there are little plastic covers that pop off with a flathead screwdriver to reveal static mounting points. These are vaguely similar to what you can find on various BMW sedans and even the Porsche 911 that are hidden behind little doors in their roofs. 

There is only one vehicle on the market with a roof rack system like the 2020 Subaru Outback. Literally everything else has either flush-mounted or raised rails where some form of crossbars are connected with "towers" (OK, so there's whatever you'd call this on the 4Runner TRD Pro). While car manufacturers will sometimes include crossbars, quite often it's left to the accessory catalog or third-party companies such as Yakima and Thule. In any event, keeping crossbars on your car regardless of how they are affixed increases wind noise and can harm fuel economy. They can also sully the view out your sunroof, but that's obviously a lesser concern.

The Outback doesn't have to worry about any of that, including buying aftermarket pieces. Its roof rails are the crossbars.

Somewhere in Hiroshima, a parade of nearly finished Miatas glides along a track waiting to receive their beating hearts, the powertrains that'll let them ply their road-carving talents the world over. One – let's call him Fred – is eager to begin his new life as a 2020 Mazda MX-5 Miata, bringing joy to his future owner and just generally being awesome, even if the RF power targa-ish roof that's already been applied to him is a tad dweeby. Visions of hairpins and power slides and expertly executed heal-toe downshifts dance in his head … and then it happens. He is given the one thing every new Miata dreads: an automatic transmission. Poor guy.

This will not, entirely at least, be yet another diatribe in the ongoing Quixotic campaign to Save the Manuals(!). Automatic transmissions can be quite good and even beneficial in sports cars, especially on the track where removing the need to operate a clutch and expertly execute those heal-toe downshifts lets you better focus on the steering, what the chassis is doing and just going faster. That the computers can shift quicker than you can is another obvious advantage.