Vemac was set up in 1998 with the help of Ono's close friend Chris Craft, a racing driver turned engineer.

With the help of businessman Vernon Fotheringham, the three designed a car that would be become known as the Vemac RD180; the name "Vemac" came about as a combination of the names of the three individuals who were involved in the car's design (Vernon, Masao, Chris), while the company's logo represents the nationalities of the three individuals.

[2] The RD180 was first presented in 2000;[1] described as a "neo-historic sports racing car", it used a Honda-sourced powertrain and entered limited production in the United Kingdom and Japan.

The RD350R, a version of the RD320R powered by a Zytek ZV348 V8, was introduced by R&D Sport for their campaign into the GT500 class in 2003;[10] the team performed poorly, finishing 20th with two points and never competing in GT500 for a full season again.

The next year, the RD408R, a version of the RD320R powered by a Mugen MF408S V8, was introduced in 2004 for a single race in the GT500 class at Suzuka,[11] where it finished 13th.