On Friday, January 27th, on his second session on track, Yoshiki ‘Fire’ Ando broke the 50-second barrier at Tsukuba Circuit with a record 49.897 second lap time. A truly incredible moment for motorsport enthusiasts world wide and a massive breakthrough in Japanese time attack.
Three years ago when Yoshiki ‘Fire’ Ando and the expert team at Escort set out to claim the tuning car record at every international circuit in Japan, they knew it was a challenge that would demand perfection in all aspects of their operation.
One of the reasons I enjoy visiting Hayashi at his shop, Auto House Solid, anytime I’m in Gunma is that there is always a large variety of tuning cars on hand. Hayashi services a wide range of customers so there is guaranteed to be something interesting in the shop.
The ‘Kagayaki’ (かがやき) is a high speed train service that operates between Tokyo and Kanazawa on the Hokuriku Shinkansen line. It is jointly owned by JR East and JR West, and is the fastest train on this particular line reaching speeds of up to 260kph. It also served as the inspiration for the livery and overall appearance of Oya-Ji’s widebody Evolution 5.
Attack Tsukuba marked the return of Oya G, ‘The Prince’, back to the circuit in his newly rebuilt EVO 5. Backed by Koyo KBC, the car is back better than ever with a brand new engine to power it around the track.
Awhile back, if I recall correctly the day I was leaving Japan, I messaged Kaz to see if he was around the shop; I had 30 or so minutes to spare and was in the neighborhood. Things generally get pretty quiet throughout the summer in the realm of time attack, and I was curious to see if Unlimited Works had anything cooking for this coming season.
Yuta came over to my place this evening and we talked about a few things for a new side project we’re kind of working on with the Podcast; kind of a revamp of the old […]
If by chance you found yourself driving on the Hachioji Highway in Kitamachi, West Yokohama, there’s a possibility that you may catch sight of a bright red building in your peripheral […]
Garage HRS EVO IX spotted in the paddock of Tsukuba Circuit. The owner was competing in the Dunlop Challenge that afternoon.
Brake masters DIXCEL Japan and their Shinryo Auto built Super Taikyu EVO will be at Tokyo Auto Salon next week (Hall #6) – be sure to stop by and say hi, and wish them […]
I had to make a quick run to Akihabara one afternoon (I say ‘had’ because I don’t particularly enjoy going there) to pick up something from ヨドバシカメラ, a.k.a 12 story Mega brain hemorrhage electronic/everything […]
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If you were to imagine a specific car that, in your own mind, possessed the qualities of protector, or a guardian; what car would you choose? For me, it would always be the Mitsubishi EVO. Something about it just gives off a ‘sentry’ feel. Perhaps it’s the bold, boxy lines, it’s potential for great power or even it’s masculine stature. There is quite obviously a good amount of guardian like character in any EVO, but this one in particular, has more than most. I’ve never seen where Algier lives, but I bet I would feel pretty safe with his EVO standing watch over the neighborhood. Right, I’ll admit that the theme to this feature is a little far-fetched; but it’s still a bit amusing if you think about it. Modified cars coming to life to protect…the…people…oh my god I’m describing Transformers…damn. I knew I had heard of that concept somewhere. Anyway, all that aside, Algier has put together an extremely quality build that I’ve really taken a liking too. This past weekend I flew up to the bay area and made the short trip over to San Jose the next morning to meet up with Algier. He had just spent the entire previous day at HIN so I was thankful that he was able to make it out for a few hours the next morning. Click past the break to see more of this insanely clean 8.
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I’m going to try and roll everything else I have left into a third and final, massive leftovers post of AutoCon 2012. I can only imagine how cool it will be – especially since I’m kicking it off with this fantastic coupe on Panasport G7s. As far as the timeline goes, it’s still pretty early in the day, and definitely still in the morning. The show opened to the public at about 12 o’clock, and that’s just around the time I said that I’ve had enough. I was fortunate to have a good jump on the show without too much foot traffic, so I really got a good look at the lot in it’s entirety before the gates opened. The lot was so big though, that I think even if I hadn’t I’d still be able to get some good shots. Recapping the show, I must say the entire roll-in process and media handling was a gigantic improvement over last year. Thanks to the AutoCon staff for another good show and I look forward to seeing this event gain in popularity over the next few years. Take a look past the break for a grip of pics that wrap up my coverage.
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Man, I’ve been traveling a lot lately. I think I’ve flown about 3,000 miles in the past 3 days. Not normal, but I’ve been really busy at work recently. That’s probably the main reason that my coverage is so slow to come out – which I apologize for. I think just about all the other blogs have all but finished posting pics, but I’m lagging. I suppose that’s one of the side effects of doing this all on my own; I don’t have as much time as most people (running an airline is quite time consuming -_-;). With that said, let me quit wasting your time and let’s power through the rest of these photos. I’ll be making one more post after this and I’ll try to get the all edited and ready for upload in the morning. After 3 back to back 4am mornings, I have a feeling I’m going to be sleeping in tomorrow. I’ll start off round 2 with a few shots of this familiar Kouki S14 on Mag Blue Nismo LMGT-4’s – super clean build. Click past the break for more AutoCon 2012.
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I’m sure by now between the roll in post, and other blogs, you’ve all gotten a taste of what AutoCon 2012 has to offer – so let’s just jump right into this. I’m admittedly not the biggest fan of car shows in general, but the thing I like the most about these annual shows is the chance to see various cars transform from the previous year, as well as getting the opportunity to see totally new and fresh builds for the first time. It’s also a great opportunity to meet people within the industry. I always make it a point to introduce myself to a few new people during each show. Not only to make new friends, but to get insight into new feature cars and stories; I can thank a lot of good material just from random introductions. I can honestly say that it is easy to see the growth of NDF simply by the reaction of others when I drop the blog’s name. I went from virtually no one knowing what Narita Dog Fight was and getting blank stares, to a good percentage of people who support it – and that’s cool to me. Alright, enough reminiscing – click past the break to see part 1 of Auto Connection 2012 coverage. It’s worth noting that I’ve been out of town all day, and will continue to be for the remainder of the week. So if the coverage is slow to post, I apologize.
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When I think of MOD, I immediately hear “EVO”; and frankly, that’s all I need to hear. I’ve grown to have no particular interest at all in any Mitsubishi other than their Evolution line of cars. Not to discredit the fans and enthusiasts of Mitsubishi’s other great cars, I can definitely respect the work and passion that goes into any chassis (and there were actually some really cool builds with unique swaps), they’re just not my cup of coffee (I’m switching that saying up). So, I’ll tell you ahead of time, the only cars you will see in this post are of EVO’s – I suggest checking out Mitsubishi forums or other blogs for full coverage. With that said, I really enjoy MOD. It’s one show that I have a very laid back attitude towards. and feel no pressure to show up early and stay until everyone leaves. In fact, I rolled up over an hour after it started and had left within an hour. Parking is never an issue because it is in the business district of Cypress and the surrounding businesses are nice enough to let show goers use their lots. As a result of the show being sponsored by Mitsubishi itself, it is very well organized. Let me start my post out with a shot of the Monster Sport equipped LOT USA EVO 9 – one of my favorites. Click past the break to see more EVO’s at EVO..I mean MOD.
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After two straight weeks of work, I finally managed to squeeze in a much needed day off. This past Wednesday I had plans to shoot my friends Z32 but, due to a scheduling conflict, had to cancel. Not being one to waste a day off, I sat down and thought of some other things to shoot for the website. I had remembered someone telling me last month that COBB Tuning had opened a new facility in Southern California; I had also remembered reading about an open house for their grand opening. Well, after I had looked into it, I realized their grand opening had already past on the 22nd. No big deal, I figured I’d go ahead and stop by because I had plans on going that direction anyway – and I’m glad that I did. The brand new, 10,000 square foot facility that COBB Tuning inhabits is extremely nice. Upon my arrival I introduced myself to Ronnie, one of the cool dudes in charge of sales & marketing, and they gladly showed me around the facility. Check out more past the break.
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OK, so this STi technically isn’t a rally car; it’s actually a race car. However, I figured with Subaru’s ties to the WRC being so strong, I’d include it in the bunch. One of the coolest things about the Megaweb Festa was that show-goers could take turns riding shotty in all the rally spec cars – all smiles there I’m sure. If I had the opportunity I’d probably pretend to be the navigator, but I’d give all the directions in English so the Japanese drivers wouldn’t understand. They’d probably just get distracted and agitated at me – muhahaha. Check out some shots below the break.
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I’ll admit, while there were many great builds at MOD this year, there weren’t too many that were built for full track dedication. Maybe that’s why this particular one caught my eye as a possible feature. I really can’t tell you much about it though – I couldn’t find the owner anywhere. It may be built with the assistance of Massimo Power; a specialist in EVO tuning. So for a few minutes, disregard my lack of knowledge, grab the popcorn and enjoy the crispy shots I snapped of it past the break.
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Before I continue the coverage of the Skyline Festival, I figured I’d post up a walk around of the visitor’s lot, so you can get an idea of the caliber of the cars that weren’t in the actual show area. As usual, you can find some pretty cool stuff in these lots, as most enthusiasts pour their hearts into their own personal cars. You’ll see too, that even people who don’t own a Nissan can still appreciate the Skyline and what it has brought to the motorsports scene across the world. Click past the break for more.
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Welcome back to the second post of our MOD coverage. I’ll start of the next batch of pictures with this LOT built EVO IX. I remember seeing this at the It’s JDM Yo! Anniversary meet, but couldn’t grab a good shot of it. I’m glad I got to see it again at this meet, as it is a very well put together car. Click past the break to see a few more EVO’s.
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Disclaimer: Aside from the Evolution, I am not a fan of any model car that Mitsubishi has produced in the US. I respect the potential of a DSM engine, but as far as aesthetics go, ugly is the word. With that said, I should change the name of this post to ‘EOD – Evolution Owner’s Day’, because that is basically all that I shot. For that reason, some of you may get bored with this post. This meet had a full spectrum of Mitsu’s; everything from the cleanest built EVO’s to the worst looking and sounding Eclipses and Galant’s – no disrespect to the owners. So if you’re looking for shots of those or more complete coverage, check out Speedhunters in the next couple days because I know Mike Garrett was there clicking away as well. Click past the break to enjoy some shots of various Evolutions. This post is sponsored by D-Sport, the Import Tech magazine because they gave me free stickers. D-Sport!
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Let’s get on with some more Wekfest LA coverage from Long Beach, CA. I ended up writing this entire post before I even wrote the introduction. I never know how to start off the second part of event coverage. This second part has a huge variety of cars, which is pretty cool, but it made it look kind of sloppy. The grass section was gigantic and hard to cover methodically, so my pictures are a bit scattered. At this point I was also running purely on Red Bull and Skittles, so it’s likely that I got a little sidetracked. Oh well, enjoy.
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Up until Friday I wasn’t even sure if I was going to be able to attend Wekfest LA. Requesting days off isn’t as easy as it used to be with my new position. Somehow, last minute, I managed to get my shift covered; so what did I do? That’s right – I went to Las Vegas. Good idea right? I hopped on a flight out of LAX Saturday afternoon, chilled on the Strip for 10 hours, and made my way back to Long Beach in time to shoot Wekfest. Well, it turns out it wasn’t such a good idea. I ended up losing way more than I intended, got no sleep, and smelled like cigarettes all day. I gotta say though, Wekfest more than made up for it. On top of that, it was probably the most beautiful day in Long Beach this year. Unbelievable cars, good food, music, friends and great weather; can’t ask for much more. I’ll do my best to try and walk you through the show a little before I go ballistic with the pics. Click past the break for more.
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The stragglers. Leftover pictures that didn’t make it into an event post. This is what you’ll get with the final It’s JDM Yo! event post. Seriously, these events are getting so big that it’s near impossible to methodically post every car that was in attendance. It’s too bad too because some really good builds go unnoticed sometimes. Anyway, I’ve been working mad 12 hour shifts at work and haven’t had anytime to dedicate to the site in awhile. I wanted to finish up with the final pictures before I go out of town once again. With that said, on with the pics.
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Welcome back to the second part of the It’s JDM Yo! meet coverage. The sites traffic has been way up recently, I’d like to thank everyone who checks the site regularly. I’ll be getting some merchandise together soon too, so everyone that’s been interested in it, hold on just a little longer! Anyway, after we checked out what was in the outside lot, we ventured into the main warehouse building. They put up a DJ in almost every room in the warehouse, playing different music. I thought that was pretty sweet. Check out the pics past the break.
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Alright, let me just start out by saying that this meet turned out to be way bigger than I had expected. I had originally planned to stop by real quick, say hello to a few people, snap some shots and jam to Aliso Viejo to the Tamiya RC track. Despite my attempts to hurry, we ended up staying for about 2 hours. The layout of the meet was really cool, with multiple doors leading to new warehouses; all packed full of self-built cars. Some were track inspired, many were heavily VIP influenced, all were cool in their own right. I didn’t have my 28mm with me, so the majority of these were taken with my 50mm – forgive the lack of full car shots, but at a meet like this, and the lenses I had, it was all but impossible to snatch a frame without anyone getting in the way. Click past the break to see the first of the coverage.
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Describing RH9 in one word would be easy; Power. The Record Holder 9 club is exclusive to those cars capable of running 9’s in the quarter mile, the 1320, 0-400m; whatever you wanna call it, these things can do it fast. Once confined only to GT-R’s, it seems like they’ve expanded to other platforms as well; like the almighty Garage G Force X above. When you think of Japanese tuning, you’ll probably think of a few companies that take part in this club; and you’ll see some of their creations here. It’s not uncommon to see RH9 badged parts created by these companies as well. When I picked through these, I realized a lot were on the CF card that had failed on me. As a result I’m missing some (unhappy face). There are a few other sites though that have coverage of the RH9 too, so all is well. Enjoy.
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We were walking around some prefecture near Roppongi Hills in Tokyo one afternoon while my friends wife was getting her haircut. While crossing a pedestrian bridge I spotted these kids J-walking across this huge street. I thought it was pretty cool because you could see Mori Tower perfectly in the background, so I snapped a few pics. Later on I saw this Evo in the shot! I didn’t even notice it at first…
