The Top 10 Hondas of 2010…A retrospective…Part 2…
Back now with the second half of the Top 10 Hondas of 2010 retrospective…Yesterday we took a look back at spots 10-6 of the Top Ten and today we will be looking at the other 5 spots on the list. One interesting note to consider when I was putting yesterdays and today’s list is that there seems to be less change with the 2010 group in comparison to the Top Ten Hondas of year’s past. I don’t know what it is, maybe because these builds are in more of a completed state than the others but either way, as a whole, you don’t see very much of a difference. There are minor changes here and there but the guys on the 2010 list seem to be the types that hold onto their cars and aren’t in any rush to build something completely new. Of the guys from 2010, there’s just one person who has sold their car and moved on. You can maybe consider RC Chacon’s new project as him moving on, but he actually still has his white EG and I’m sure he’s planning on rebuilding it…
Moving on…
5. JDMYard/Yonas Liu’s “EGK24A”…
What he’s up to now: You’ll be very happier to hear that Yonas is still very active with his Civic build. While he probably has one of the most recognizable Civics in all of the world today, Yonas tends to keep to himself mostly and only posts occasionally on forums like NWP4Life. Thankfully, we have social media outlets that allow us to keep in contact with people like Yonas Liu who are on the other half of the world. I’ve been chatting with Yonas recently on Facebook and he’s been updating me on all the new things he’s been doing to his Civic. It’s good to know that after all these years of him owning his car and all the abuse that he puts it through that he is still excited to try new things with it and making his build better than ever…
He sent me a photo the other day actually of his latest major modification. It was a decent photo from his Blackberry or something and I was going to post it, but I promised him that I would hold off until next week to show everyone, since he’s planning on some major unveiling some time around the 10th of October. It’s a very drastic change from what he’s been running in the last couple years and I think you guys will be just as surprised as I am when you see it. For now, take a look at Speedhunters’ feature on Yonas’ EG which actually dropped today…
“GOLIATH, MEET DAVID” – via Speedhunters.com
4. Chris Sakai’s Civic/Angel Ramos’ S2000 (Tie)
What he’s up to now: Chris Sakai has taken a more subtle approach with the aesthetics of his Civic in 2011. After his cover feature in Honda Tuning and landing on the Top 10 Hondas list, he kicked off 2011 by ditching his wing, hood, and mirrors. OEM Civic Type R pieces make their way back onto Chris’ car now and he also went with a different set of wheels…
I wasn’t sure how the white Regas would look when I found out about the switch but when I saw it, I honestly felt that it was probably one of his Civic’s best looks yet. Other than those aesthetic changes, not much else has changed. Chris has continued to participate in all the major Cali car show events and picked up a couple new sponsors here and there… The car looks so good in it’s current state that there isn’t really any reason for him to have to do anything else to it…
What he’s up to now: In 2011, Angel Ramos has gone with the old adage; “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Other than a new set of brakes and a different set of Volks, Angel’s S2000 has remained exactly the same. There isn’t a whole lot he can do to it without having to tear down and start over. His S2000 has a very unique look and continues to stand out in the deep S2000 community…
I spoke to him for a while at this year’s Nisei Showoff and he does have one more major overhaul coming for his S2000. 2010 was the debut of Angel’s build and there was so much going on that I think he’s taken a step back this year so that he could breathe and just enjoy the fruits of his labor. There are definitely some big things that he plans to do to this thing but the ideas are still very premature. It’ll be interesting to see what actually happens to Angel’s S2000 but all we can do now is wait until next year…
3. ATS*Anh’s Acura Integra Type R…
What he’s up to now: Anh Truong has probably been the most active in the top 5 in terms of adding new stuff to his build… His ITR probably hasn’t even been in his possession much in 2011 because it’s spent a chunk of it’s time either down here in Southern California for events or over at ASC Speed Metal for custom fabrication…
Anh’s car has been down at ASC because they have been hard at work on fabricating some new catch cans and misc. things for his engine bay. They also added a custom roll bar/half cage to the ITR. I think as a whole in 2011, I probably have seen Anh’s ITR more than I have seen Anh himself… The exterior of the ITR has remained basically the same, with the exception of some brand new Almighty Grey Regamaster EVOs…
2. Bisimoto’s Honda Civic Wagon and Honda CR-Z…
What he’s up to now: Bisi currently is hard at work on a brand new 2012 Honda Civic coupe for SEMA. The wagon is exactly the same as it was last year and for the most part, so is the turbo CR-Z. Bisi is a mad man so he’s constantly hard at work on either his own projects or tuning customer vehicles but the spare moments that he’s had, he’s spent it cruising around in the CR-Z. I was just over at the Bisimoto facility last week and he was talking about how often he drives the CR-Z. If you’re wondering, the answer is “yes”, he does drive it around with the chute in the rear and everything, haha…
There are some minor kinks electronically here and there with the hybrid motor but he has taken the car out for test runs at the track. I doubt he really has any major changes planned for this thing because he’ll be busy finishing his 2012 Civic and campaigning it for 2012. Another thing that might prevent him for doing anything else to this CR-Z is all the different Porsche projects he’s working on. I haven’t had a chance to see his Porsche SEMA project but he promises that it’ll be one-of-a-kind. I don’t know how he has enough hours in the day to do as much as he does but I’m very interested to see the debuts of his new projects when the SEMA show rolls around in November…
1. Ryan Der’s Honda Civic and Big Mike’s Honda Prelude (Tie)…
What he’s up to now: Ryan surprised a lot of people in 2011 when he decided to take off his complete C-West aero kit. He usually takes it off to track the Civic anyways and with so many track events to go to this year, I guess it just made sense for him to remove it permanently and go back to a Mugen front lip and splitter. At the Wekfest event that occurred in early 2011, Ryan also debuted a new set of custom refinished Work Meister S1s..
There aren’t any other major changes. Under the hood he’s switched over to a C.O.P. ignition system and different valve cover but that’s mostly it. He spent much of the year attending car shows as well as beating up his Civic on the track at events such as Super Street’s annual FF Battle….
What he’s up to now: Big Mike is always busy running around all over the place but his Prelude is pretty much the same as it was in 2010. There aren’t very many builds that are as in-depth or as detailed as his and it showed in 2011 when he consistently continued to take home awards at shows all over Cali. His Prelude even appeared on the cover of Banzai magazine, which is a U.K.-based publication. There are many that are starting to think that he needs to switch things up because it’s remained the same for the last two years and Big Mike definitely has some cool new things coming for his Prelude.
While he’s busy working and collecting new parts for his Prelude, Big Mike has started on a Honda Accord side-project to keep him occupied for the rest of the year. 2012 looks to be another big year for Big Mike, so stay tuned…
That rounds out the list. Hopefully this has given you some insight as to what these guys are up to these days. All are very much deserving of being on the 2010 list and continue to be a force within the Honda community in 2011…
The only question that remains now is… who is going to make this year’s list?….
Thanks for looking…
Exclusive Content…Unpublished Photos of Bobby Taylor’s Amuse S2000…
With the new issue of Super Street hitting the stands, I thought I’d toss up these unpublished shots of Bobby Taylor’s S2K. Bobby is a cool dude and shooting his car was actually pretty entertaining. You can read all about it on the online Super Street page here. Pardon the photos because I feel like they really aren’t that great. I shot these a while back and it took a while for them to finally run in Super Street. It was my last time shooting with just purely natural light and looking back at them, I’m not really that happy with it. The location is a spot I’m very familiar with so I know how the light comes in, but I guess the processing afterwards made the photos come out especially dark. I was experimenting with some different things and being that the car had some significant scarring from being beat on at the track/regular driving, I thought editing them heavily would not only disguise the imperfections, but also create a more dramatic effect. The sunlight beating down gave some interesting angles and I wish I had the opportunity to shoot this car once again as I think that I have learned a lot since then and the new photos would come out way better. In any case, here are some of the unpublished photos that weren’t used as well as some of my personal picks without the significant quality cutdown from them being on the Super Street site. This particular S2000 was pretty interesting…purely Amuse-inspired, but supercharged and not having to conform to a lot of the more current trends that we see today with the crazy tire stretching and what not. Enjoy the photos, same rules apply as before…click on the links below for better sized images. And for those of you who want to repost these elsewhere, please do not cut my watermark off of the photos. I’ve noticed that a lot of people have been reposting my shit and cutting out the marking on the photos. It ain’t right, I don’t steal your content so don’t steal mine. I’d like to be able to share pics with everyone without having other people take credit for it. Thanks…
Widescreen Desktop Version (1920×1080)
Exclusive Content…Jared’s S2000…
Okay, finally finished up these pics…After a lot of thought and going over them once or twice over to make sure I was happy with them, I think I finally have the pics that I am satisfied with. I wanted to shoot Jared’s S2000 not because he’s a close friend of mine, but it’s honestly a beautifully well-executed S2000 build. The car is actually slept on within the community because of it’s simple outward appearance. Maybe because it’s black but it really deserves a second, third, maybe even a fourth look everytime you encounter it. The four rear NSX-spec Mugen M7s are amazing and cost more than most people’s entire builds but it’s something that Jared always wanted to do and he found himself in position to acquire them. The Mugen hard top, Amuse front bumper, and Mugen S1 buckets are great, but the absolute best feature of Jared’s S2000 is the immaculate finish of the paint. It’s been carefully maintained and the paint looks wet. It’s actually so clear and reflective that it almost looks like you could see right through the car. One of the main reasons I had so much trouble trying to figure out if I was satisfied with the images or not was because of the paint finish actually. The paint is so glossy and reflective that the wall that reflected off of it almost made the car’s paint look damaged. I know some of you guys are thinking that I could have just shot in a different location but it was getting late that night and Jared had to work the next day at 6am so we had to deal with time constraints. That and the opposite end of the Rywire facility was filled with all of Ryan’s harnesses and tools and what not. If there was something you could literally call a “mirror finish”, it would definitely be this car. Everytime I see it I learn to appreciate it more and it’s a great honor for me to get more shots of it for you guys. This car is also special to me because it was one of the first cars that I “shot” for The Chronicles over a year ago. Back then, I had no lighting, an older camera, and basically no experience and shot the car completely in natural after the sun had gone down. Those pics were cool, but there’s nothing like finally being able to shoot a black car under some lighting. Jared was pretty happy with the pics before and I look back at them and think they’re shitty so hopefully he enjoys these even more. Anyways, onward with the pics. Same set-up as usual….click on the larger links below for full-size images….Thanks for looking, thanks to Jared for giving me the opportunity to shoot it, and thanks to Big Mike, DPK David, and Ryan for helping me out during the process….
…and some random pics of Jared and Ryan…
Definitely most likely soon…
Almost done going through the images of Jared’s S2000…There were a couple that I went back and re-did just because I honestly wasn’t too happy with them. I don’t know how I’ll feel about the shots until they’re actually up on the site but they are definitely coming soon. I was going to try to get them up so you guys had something to look at in the morning but ehh, I guess I’d rather put them up when I’m completely satified with them…
Anyways, coming soon definitely most likely maybe for sure…
I call the S2000 “The Black Swan” because Jared is the Natalie Portman of the Honda scene, haha….
Before I go though, I gotta show you guys these two images that I stole from Jay from his JDMEGO Facebook page…one of the rare times, if any time, you’re gonna see the J’s Racing CR-Z on the public streets and at a gas station of all places…haha, awesome…thanks to Jay for finding these from wherever he found them from…
Sorry for them being so torqued sideways…I guess Japanese cameras are narrow or some shit, haha…I thought the JDM angle shot was a myth…guess not…
Cool shit, right?
Reading Material…
What’s up everyone, just wanted to drop a quick note for you guys to pick up the latest issue of Super Street magazine. They’ve actually been keeping me pretty busy because I’m currently still trying to knock out some stories for them but the current issue actually features the Powerhouse Amuse S2000 I shot awhile back. 2010 was a busy year so they hadn’t really had the chance to run the story until now but it’s pretty cool…
The story itself is pretty interesting and it takes sort of a different approach then my usual stuff because I rarely ever tell a story (in my magazine features) from a first person point-of-view. I just had to because what unfolded that day was kinda funny. It’s also a cool story because it’s a car that most of the Honda world has never heard of. I think most of the S2K community probably knows of it because they’re a pretty tight-knit group, but in terms of a larger spectrum of Honda guys, this car is relatively unknown. I myself have only seen it pop up at car shows and events a handful of times…
Another interesting fact about the car and owner is that Jay, from JDMEGO, lives right down the street or something from him now ever since he moved and I guess Jay sees him driving this thing around all the time. It’s a pretty nice car. S2000 built to Amuse-spec completely on the outside but he went his own route with the motor and what not. The owner, Bobby Taylor, also tracks that car on occasion as well and the finish on the paint kinda reflects that. I mean, the car is in great shape but the paint itself had some battle scars, which was also kinda cool to see…
Like the story, I also took a different route with the way I processed the photos. As I stated earlier, this was shot awhile back and it was actually the last car that I shot with just pure natural lighting. I shoot with larger flashes nowadays but when I shot this particular car, it was all natural. I had shot DPK Davids car there before at the exact same location so I knew exactly how the natural light would come in and while I wish I had flashes then, I’m pretty happy with the pics. I went for like, this overly dramatic route of editing just because I wanted to experiment with that style and I felt like it matched the car. It had a bunch of rock chips on the front bumper, just from driving and track use, and the sideskirts right behind the front wheel was actually very scarred up as well so the whole aggressively dark “feel” of the photos kinda suites the car. I don’t know, I’m no professional and these pics really represent my work at a very early stage so you will notice a huge difference between this shoot, which was from early summer of 2010, and the shoot I did more recently, which was the orange Hachi-Roku Corolla. I’m actually going to post up the unused photos of the Corolla next week and those are pics that I am really happy with. It was such an easy car to shoot because of the color and everything and the location was perfect. So make sure to keep an eye out for those and while you’re busy waiting for that, go pick up the latest issue of Super Street. If you’re not a fan of the pics of the S2000, I can respect that, it was just something I was trying out. The newer stuff is waaaaayyyy better in comparison and I think you guys will see gradual improvements over time. I think this was the second car I shot for Super Street, right after Bisi’s wagon and I’ve learned so much since then. I’m sure you guys who have followed this site can see that I’m trying to learn more everyday about automotive photography. I went from barely starting this site in 2008 and not even knowing how to use a camera, to now, where I’m doing print work for magazines like Super Street…haha…shit is still pretty crazy to me.
Thanks for your support and thanks for continuing to SUPPORT PRINT. Magazines are one of the best things we have in our community and have been around since the beginning. Please continue to read mags because there might be a day when you’re sitting down with your kids or your grandchildren some time in the future and telling them stories about how you used to read something that wasn’t completely digital.
Thanks for looking, buy and read the latest issue of Super Street magazine. For all intents and purposes, support my ass. Stickydiljoe.com, The Chronicles; always bringing you exclusive content only seen here! None of that bullshit where other sites just post up other people’s pictures of beat up ass cars with aggressive wheels or some shit. I think people are starting to forget that the range of your wheel offset doesn’t disguise how terrible the rest of the car looks. Totally random and a rant for another time…haha.
Anyways, original content heaven right here. Real success comes with hard work…your OWN work.
Stuff you should really look at…
Outside of all the events that have gone on lately, there’s actually quite a bit of stuff you guys should check out online that you might be interested in. Some of it you may not have heard or seen yet and there’s also a chance you’ve seen and heard all of it already, regardless, here we go…
It’s actually been out for a couple weeks now but if you haven’t had a chance to check it out, please go pick up the newest issue of Super Street magazine…
…Not only does it have a cover feature about an RX-7 from Japan owned by a surgeon…
..it also has this S2000 from Team Emotion that I had the pleasure of writing up the story for. It’s Spoon’d out S2K from the east that’s definitely worth checking out…
This issue is particularly special to me because I had the opportunity to shoot this Honda F20C-powered AE86 Corolla. I did the story and photos for it and in my honest opinion, I think it represents my best photo-work yet. I started out almost a year ago not knowing shit about taking pictures and I think I’ve learned a lot during that time and the shots of the Corolla in SS really show how much I have improved. Even if you don’t agree with me, the car is totally badass and worth looking at anyway. One of the reasons why the photos came out so good is because the car was incredibly easy to shoot. I couldn’t be happier with it and when the next issue comes out, I’ll probably put up the shots that weren’t used in the mag. There’s a bunch of pics leftover that weren’t run in the magazine and The Chronicles will definitely be the only place where you will get the chance to see those shots…
Here are some quick shots of PG+K Jay’s S2000 during a track day out at Road Atlanta. I love the way the car looks and to see it out on the track is truly a treat. It’s good to see one of the 2009/2010 Top Ten Hondas still doing big things and all in one piece. People are so quick to part-out/sell/build another car that you never get to see the owners use the cars to their full capabilities…
Fucking love it!…shout out to Jay, can’t wait to chill at Wek’Fest 2011 this coming year!! Look how focused he is in the last shot, haha. Dude almost stared a hole through his windshield…
Speaking of being on the track, the 5Zigen FD2 Civic Type R recently broke the FWD lap record at the Tsukuba Circuit during the recent RevSpeed Super Battle. The K20A turbocharged FD2 on nitrous ran a best time of 58.222 at Tsukuba and I’ve heard that this Civic makes around 500hp. It’s a pretty big deal for 5Zigen, especially on this particular track. I wanna build one of these Civics so bad…oh man, you guys have no idea….
Here’s a video of the record-setting lap at Tsukuba. Remember to turn up the volume so you can hear this thing scream, it sounds fucking nasty!….I love it…
If you want to see more pics of it and read more about the 5Zigen FD2 Civic, check the link here…
Before I go, I think you guys should also check out the JDMYard meet coverage held down in Australia. They certainly know how to build cars down there…
Great looking Mugen Integra on aggressive Volk CE28 wheels…The meet marked the debut of this project for them and they’re not nearly done with it yet so it’s worth keeping an eye on…
This EG hatch is one of the sickest builds to come from JDMYard. Everything about it is on point, fromt he J’s lip to the K-swap. If it were over here stateside it would give a couple guys a run for their money…I love the way the 949 wheels fit as well. Nothing to retarded crazy though, it’s just a clean build with a nice swap and all the right parts…
Photo credit goes to the dudes that shot the pics and you can see the rest of them on the NWP4Life forums here….
That’s all for today, I hope this rain goes away soon before the holidays come this weekend…I’m out for now, Peace!
A visit to InlineFo’…
I’m actually pretty busy right now trying to knock out some mag work but I did stop by InlineFour today to hang out with Rodrez while he was getting some work done on his S2000. While I was there I walked around and just snapped pics of whatever I saw…enjoy…
Rodrez’s custom refinished gloss back lip/flat black face Blitz 01 wheels…
Going under the knife…
Spotted this EP3 sitting outside… I’m sure you guys have seen it before. Full cage done by L-Con Race Cars with the crazy pink interior. Not really sure what it was doing there, probably more stuff before the guy tracks it I guess…
Kinda dirty from sitting but it’s still a pretty cool car…especially for such an unpopular platform…
Pink on the inside…
Also saw the InlineFour time attack Civic, which Rodrez tells me will be in the upcoming issue of Honda Tuning. The car has a lot of unique touches to it I hear but it was covered up so I didn’t want to mess with it. Keep an eye out for the feature and see for yourself…
Alright, I gotta get back to work…laters….
Amuse S2000 rips it…
Man, watching these old Best Motoring videos is cool and all but it’s also a sad reminder that some of these great tuning legends aren’t around anymore. I was checking out Vol. 32 and couldn’t help but notice Hideki Tanabe of the famed Powerhouse Amuse. As you all know (or not), Tanabe passed away sadly last year around September after battling an illness. The man created absolutely wonderful works of art and the Amuse S2000 is definitely one of his finest works. Many of us stateside probably only know it for the crazy widebody aero and aesthetics but this thing fucking rips!…oh man, just watching this quick video will give you an idea oh how fast and completely functional it was. It’s amazing…Now I can’t show you the whole video of course because I’m sure my ass would get into trouble for it but they actually have the J’s Racing S2000 in the same race and it gets pretty interesting. While most of the drivers assumed that the Amuse S2k would be all over the J’s car, The yellow J’s S2K actually held it’s own and with a 4.3 final drive, it was actually somewhat quicker than Tanabe’s car on the straights. Funny part of the video was that they were interviewing both the owner of J’s and Tanabe together and they were joking around that they hated eachother and both men kinda kept their mouths shut. It’s an interesting video and I highyl recommend you guys buy it or download it or something. Anyways, here is the Amuse car on it’s initial run…
Ready to roll…
Spent most of the day cutting decals and going to the post office but in the evening I had a chance to meet up with the PG+K guys once again to go grab some dinner with them. Chris aka CRSfoto aka The Blizzard Man had just flown in earlier in the day so it was a good time to go eat and do some catching up. Jay brought the S2K down to my area and I got a chance to take some quick pics of it with the wheels finally on. I wasn’t too sure about the gold/Laguna Seca Blue combination but it actually looks really good…
Big Mike decided to come out and chill too since he hadn’t ever met the guys before…
Big Mike and Chris…
Chris was taking random pics as well while the other guys just drank some beers and chatted in the lot at Midnight Garage…
Conversations were had…
Ride height is money…They spent the majority of the afternoon putting the wheels on, dialing in the ride height as well as getting it washed…
Full frontal…
That’s it for today…gonna head out with PG+K, maybe David and a couple other homies to the original Northwood Pizza so they can get the full NWP experience…
Time to renew…
Oh man, got a notice today that I need to renew the domain name registration and what not for stickydiljoe.com aka what you’re looking at now, which is The Chronicles. It’s hard to believe that it’s already been one year since this site started and man, it’s been one hell of a ride. Working on this thing has helped push my and motivate me to be a better writer as well as a better photographer. Pretty cool to see so many people follow this site around the world. I’ve been pretty busy with work as well as personal stuff but I still try to find time to get stuff up for you guys. I know the updates have been coming a little later in the day lately and not up right away usually when you guys wake up and I’m trying to get back on schedule. Just lately I’ve had so much stuff going on that by the time it comes for me to upload stuff and put it up, I crash and fall asleep. I don’t know if it’s the weather change or not but now that the cool weather is coming back, I find myself just wanting to lay down and sleep. This past summer as been hell and at times it’s been hard to sleep because I wake up and it’s hot as shit. That’s the worst feeling I tell you…Anyways, thanks to everyone for supporting the site, I still have tees to send out and I also plan to do new shirts with the one year anniversary of The Chronicles coming up. I still remember the year before I even started this site. I was thinking about putting something together similar to what you see now but I just didn’t think I could do it all on my own. Thanks to the support of my friends, it’s been a pretty smooth ride. Hopefully things continue to grow and more and more people hop on here to listen to my nonsense. No worries, I plan to renew and keep this thing going for another year, and hopefully another year after that, and so on and so forth….
Big shout-out by the way to the guy who read that I broke my tripod awhile ago and donated me money to get another one. Really cool thing to do and I honestly really appreciate it. Kinda gestures are always welcome, haha….
Other than that, I just have a small update for you guys today. I caught a pic of the Voltex S2000 aero kit and it’s pretty interesting to say the least. Looks good, even though the 3-piece front end might be a bit bulky but everybody knows that Voltex shit works so S2k guys will buy it regardless. I can’t wait to see the Seibon version….haha….Oh and I love the wheels, super flush…
That’s it for now, I’m out…
Mugen MF’ers…
I’ll be honest, I was a little hesitant to put these pics up at first because I just wasn’t happy with how the shots came out originally. Probably more of a composition thing because I hadn’t shot at that spot before and I had never shot multiple cars at one time so it threw me off. I almost trashed them but Jared bought me dinner and it would seem like kind of a waste to just not do anything with them so I did what I could to salvage them. I even had to edit them multiple times. The first batch I did I thought looked good initially. And then I woke up the next morning and was not happy with them at all. Delete, file open, and the re-edits began…If you don’t like them, my bad…but I think the final edits came out pretty well considering how it started out…It’s all natural lighting too which reminds me that I should really try to get some flashes if I want to take this photography thing seriously….
Like the NSX shoot, I’ve included larger versions and even widescreen versions for you guys. The layout here is very limited in size and if I keep posting up every image that’s like over a meg in size, the fucking site will shit all over ur computer…
Oh and another thing…I expected Jared to show up with his usual M7 set-up and then he decided to be cute and rolled up on MF10s like the other two….Shit fucked me up. Dark ass car on dark ass wheels, thanks Jared….thanks for the dinner too….
This last one came out weird…I shot it in the dark basically and it actually came out…haha…who knew…
I might go take some new shots of Brian’s DC5 later today because I didn’t have enough time to shoot his car much last time…we’ll see how it goes…
His and Her’s…
So I didn’t have much going on over the weekend other than a friend’s wedding that I managed to show up late for. When I say “late”, I mean like late to the point where like people weren’t even at the chapel anymore. It’s not like one of those cases where I show up mid-ceremoney or anything. I literally arrived at the church at noon and saw no cars there and this is how the conversation went…
Me – “Uhh…dude which church was it again?”
My friend Joaquin – “Dude, really? We’re at the reception already, the ceremony was at 10am.”
Me – “Hmmm…who gets married at 10 in the morning?”
Needless to say, I totally missed the wedding ceremony for a close friend of mine. I actually woke up like at 9:30am and the wedding was in SD so I wouldn’t have made it even if I knew what time it was actually at. Some friend right? I showed up to the reception, ate, and talked to some other friends before the bride and groom even knew I was there…haha. Shit, sorry. I promise if you invite me to your wedding and you tell me what time it’s at, I’ll try my best to show up on time.
After the reception there was an after party that was supposed to happen later on that night but I hadn’t had the chance to visit my parents in awhile so I went to their place. I hung out there for a couple hours before I headed home to L.A. Mikeyyyy mentioned that he wanted to hang out or something but then he became incredibly emo after Lebron and the Cavs lost and didn’t even bother to answer the phone. I was just sitting around at home until Brian from AS1 hit me up. I had nothing else going on that night and Brian wanted to buy me a burrito so I decided to meet up with him and his girl Nancee to shoot some pics of their cars. I figured I could brush up on my photog skills because I don’t really have any and what better time than to shoot some cars in poor lighting really late at night? I met up with them in Pasadena before heading out to a parking structure out in Glendale.
I was messing around with the camera while I was waiting to meet up with them and forgot to switch the settings back when I actually shot the cars. So the pics came out kinda shitty and a bit grainy but oh well. For the price of a burrito what do you expect? Haha…I’m also SD raised and pretty close to the mexican border so I’ve had some good mexican food in my time and Leo’s Tacos cart in Glendale….Ehhh…nothing to rave about. But thanks for feeding me Brian and Nancee. I also got to ride in Brian’s RSX too and that thing is pretty quick….I was more impressed by the Jackson S/C than the burrito, haha….
On with the pics shall we?….
We showed up and of course there was a security guard (pictured in the distance) that kinda gave us some shit about being there. It was a giant lot and no one was even there but he insisted that we go to the area where there were cars around. I don’t know what logic was used in that decision but whatever…
I don’t know why but everytime Brian was in the vicinity of the camera, he repeatedly pointed at his shirt. Said something about a “blvd” or something. It came out blurry when I finally got a better shot of it so I did my editing magic and cleaned up the image…
..and what do you say? It’s a Hot Stuff International shirt. Thanks for supporting us Brian.
For those unfamiliar, this is Brian from AS1′s supercharged DC5. Pretty much Mugen everything on the outside, down to the polished Mugen MF10s…
…and this is AS1 Nancee’s S2000 on 17×8/9 Regamaster EVOs…
The rest are kinda just random shots I was messing around with…
Oh yeah HBK Gabe was there too…
Just two things…
Just got two quick things for you guys today. Evasive Motorsports has a couple of sketches of some new Voltex pieces that are coming soon for the S2000. I can honestly say that I like it alot. Nothing too overboard and the style is strictly Voltex….
The rear diffuser piece looks pretty crazy. The ends of it look more like something that would go on the front. Very interesting. Man I wish I could draw like that. Shoulda stayed in art school…
If they stick to this design, I’m pretty excited to see what it looks like when it comes to fruition. Almost gonna be as exciting as when I head back to SD to get a burrito. Since I moved up here I swear I haven’t been able to find mexican food like back in SD. Don’t get me started on Chipotle either, that shit ain’t mexican food. The tacos are good I’ll admit, but anytime you decide to make a “burrito” that’s 85% rice, it shouldn’t be called a burrito. You know what belongs in a burrito? Uhh… meat…and maybe some uhhh meat, and maybe some cilantro and guacamole. Even fries occcassionally if it’s a California Burrito. Not corn, not beans, not rice. Unless I order a bean corn rice burrito. Anyways, Voltex yeah….can’t wait…
On to the other item of the day…
Ahh….finally, someone’s done it right. Some guy on Honda-Tech came up with the brilliant idea to make sure everyone knows that he’s faking the funk. According to him, from a distance, they look exactly like TE37s but when you look at it up close, it clearly says “WEAK AS HELL” and “ROTA KNOCKOFFS”….I love it, haha…If you’re gonna rock it, rock it with pride. You got some fake ass shit, make it known….Funny thing is the owner had Work lugnuts on it. Lugnuts almost cost more than the wheels!…
Damn, if anyone has a spare Rota Slipstream laying around, I swear if you send that shit to me, I’ll go and make a Rotamaster Emo out of it and bring that shit with me to shows and shit..haha. Maybe I’ll hang it on my tow hook or some shit and weld a turbo to it….
You’re not down!
The Importance of Stance…
I’m sure everyone has seen these pictures by now…TJ’s S2000 is right up there with the best S2000s stateside and it’s badassery (word?) is based purely on wheel selection and suspension set-up. Now I believe all of you know that everything in life involves a right and a wrong. Call it a “Yin” and “Yang” of sorts. One one end of the spectrum, you have TJ, the good…
…And on the other end of the spectrum, you have this…
…This is not how you do it. I’m all for low offsets and wheel fitment. But you have to make your wheels fit. These…do…not…fit. Definitely an extraordinary amount of fender modification involved in getting these um…I think Rotas, to fit. They still do not fit. Sad really. If they are indeed Rotas. Someone took the time to hack up their fenders just to get Rotas to fit. Almost makes baby Jesus cry…
Rear looks awesome, very snug fitment, aggressive height…Everything you can want in a perfect stance for a S2k…
Fenders are hurting bad right here. For the owners sake, I hope he’s doing this clearly for fitment testing and will eventually fix the jagged fenders. It looks like it’d be a pretty nice car with the right stance….
Winner.
That’s all for today folks. Gotta pee out all this hate…. =P
Spoon’s new valve cover for boosted S2000′s…
Anything look a bit out of place to you? Kinda like the guy at the public pool with the boner? Well if you’re generally unfamiliar with S2000s and the way their engine bays look, you probably won’t notice the pic above with elongated valve cover…
User “Alexs2200″ over at S2ki was the first to spot this unusual valve cover when he was browsing the Spoon blog and noticed that something was different…
Sup Ya’ll,
Just wanted to share and answer the questions about Spoon’s new valve cover. Originally I posted wondering about why Spoon’s race car motor looked so weird. http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=635311&st=0
After visiting Spoon Japan, I was told what the deal is with this elongated valve cover. This new valve cover is a high volume cover. Mainly for the use of Turbo or Supercharged motors which run high crank pressure. This larger capacity cover helps the motor expel crank pressure at a higher rate over stock. Spoon told me it’s target release date is for some time in April this year.
I must say, it’s kinda cool to see that the people at Spoon are making and releasing parts for the boosted S2k crowd. I don’t think that the valve cover will work for guys that are supercharged though, but I’m not 100% sure. Not every kit is made the same and maybe some kits have the correct positioning where the valve cover would be useful for them…
I wouldn’t be surprised if this thing costs an arm and a leg but you gotta expect it. The “Spoon” name alone allows them to mark it up. Alot of guys will find it useful but be deterred by the price. Some guys who absolutely have no use for it but loads of money will get it just to have it. You know how it goes…I mean, I guess it wouldn’t hurt the NA guys to have it either. Never hurts to have more engine oil volume to keep everything lubricated. Or you can look at it as extra space to put stickers or some bootleg Spoon emblem…haha…
Here’s some side-by-side pics for comparison courtesy of AlexS2200…
Take a look at the valve covers side-to-side and the valve cover that’s actually mounted on the engine that they’re building. There’s a slight difference. Towards the end of the longer valve cover there’s two extra ports. On the stock cover, there’s a outlet next to the dipstick for crankcase ventilation that runs back to the intake manifold. On the new cover, that has been replaced by two separated ports. I wonder if that’s there so that people have the option to run a catch can. Kinda weird how the one on the actual Spoon engine doesn’t have it. Maybe they’re running it directly from the PCV side. Also, for the guys that aren’t running an oil catch can/system, it would look a little odd to just have a tube running upright out of the cover. Might look like a bit of an eyesore. Unless you can run a 90 degree elbow out of it or something. That and you got another port to block off. The double ported one could be a custom application but then what happens to ventilation on that end…Interesting…Guess you gotta have it to figure it out.
J’s Racing debuts new S2000 at TAS 2009
Damn, all kinds of crazy stuff from the 2009 Tokyo Auto Salon…Probably one of the most significant debuts on the Honda side was the new widebody S2000 from J’s Racing…
Here’s some shots before TAS without the livery on it…Front looks alot better than the squarish version before it…
Suuuuuper aggressive fender treatment…
And here are the shots from the show…
The final product is so sick…I’m loving all the new J’s stuff lately especially with all the ridiculous graphics. Can’t wait to see more of this car and the moment it hits the track like the FD2 and Fit.
Honda cancels all kinds of stuff…
Wow, actual news today from the auto industry…well it might be a bit old but it’s news to me…
Fun appears to be on the chopping block at Honda. Plans for the successor to the S2000 sports car, a lineup of rear-drive Acuras, a proposed V8 engine and a drop-top built off the CR-Z hybrid are all dead, according to a report in a British magazine.
The reason: Honda is rethinking its product plans as it grapples with the global downturn in sales and economic conditions, Autocar is reporting.
In the United States, Honda’s sales fell 8 percent last year and fell 35 percent in December. Tough times have led to the demise of the NSX supercar program, which would have had a front-mounted V10 and was to be a 2010 model.
Now, Honda also has decided to shelve a rear-drive V8-powered BMW-fighting Acura that was due in 2015, according to Autocar. The V8–long a sticky issue with Honda’s green image–was seen as the wrong powerplant, given the sporadic price of fuel.
The Japanese automaker remains doubled-down on hybrids with a slew of them, including the new Insight due in the spring. Honda also sees diesel power as the best short-term option for larger vehicles. -Greg Migliore from Autoweek.com
Damn that sucks. First the next generation NSX, now the future S2000, and the CR-Z convertible. Shitty economy ruin the fun for everyone. Maybe somewhere down the line these projects will be rehashed but who knows….right now, everyone is strugging to get by.
Not much else for today, Tokyo Auto Salon does begin in a couple days though so we’ll see if there’s any Honda-related stuff coming from overseas…
2jz-powered S2000…
Oh the controversy….This is gonna start some shit right? Let’s face it, S2k owners love their cars. They treat their S2k’s like they’re ferrari’s or something and doing anything outside the box would be considered sacrilege. If you do something different you’re looked at like the fat dirty kid in school and everyone will pee on you in the gym showers. Above of course, is what Honda S2000-purists would consider “unholy”….Before I begin…Can I please get two broads to pose in front of this S2k and look terribly unhappy in an effort to try and look sexy?…
…Thank you. Moving on….the fact that anyone would pull the F20C out and drop in a Toyota engine should be burned at the stake! At least that’s what those purists would want you to believe. On paper, it sounds like a terrific idea to take the heart of a Supra out and put it in a lighter, smaller body. The problem is people would rather judge the car based on it’s non-Honda powerplant rather than focus on the labor that was involved in completing such a feat….
…Why would someone do such a thing to a perfectly normal S2000? Well because they can. In an industry so littered with in-the-box thinking, only the creative can provide the means to promote progression. It’s easy to see why someone would try and do this swap. 2jz-gte’s have always been known to make great reliable power. Sure you might be able to get an F20c to make similar power, but I wouldn’t bet on the idea of you driving it around and honestly believing it’ll hold up safely. This particular S2000 makes a little over 500hp, so despite it’s showy appearance, the numbers speak for themselves….Not only is the motor built, it also has a GT45r turbo and Ford rear-end to hold all that power….
…I don’t have a problem with the swap at all. The exterior on the other hand, leaves a little more to be desired. The Tracy Sports widebody is nice, but the sizing of the wheels just makes the entire car look goofy. I assume they need the meaty tires because of the numbers it makes but the outside resembles one of those Jadatoys scale model cars….It’s a bit cartoony….
…Oh well, in the end it’s a very nicely built car. Even if you don’t like the fact that the engine has been swapped, you gotta at least respect the work that was done to get it running. They say: “if you’ve never been criticized, then you probably haven’t done much with your life.” That’s definitely true in this scenerio….
Oh one more thing….Happy holidays everybody….have a good one.
ASM Tsukuba Special 2008 S2000….part 2…
Hopped on the ASM site and caught these new images of the Tsukuba Special S2k and thought I would share them with you guys. I guess more fine tuning has been done to prepare for the final run in December. I can’t read Japanese for the life of me so I’m just gonna show you the pics…
One thing that I did understand was that shakedown runs on the new Advan A050 tires yielded a time of 1:37 at Okayama International Circuit…
Such a crazy looking front end…
If you wanna try to decipher what they’re saying, feel free to head over to ASM’s official blog. It even has cool pictures of them eating fancy foods and stuff. Oh yeah, and they drink coffee and have cool haircuts and shit.
ASM Tsukuba Special 2008 S2000
Found this while I was glancing at the ASM blog….Just when you thought the ASM aerodynamics couldn’t get any crazier, well, take a look for yourself.
I couldn’t really translate exactly what they were trying to say but it mentioned something along the lines of them being big fans of F1 racing and their aerodynamics so they decided to test similar aero on the S2000. Not only is it creative and cool but also functions. Like a majority of their aero parts, it was all wind tunnel tests but results remain confidential.
Shakedown runs were made this month at the Okayama International Circuit on Advan A050 tires and prototype ASM suspension…
Sick engine set-up with individual throttle bodies, I can only imagine how this thing sounds screaming down the track.
They also mentioned running a Drexler LSD and how quiet the thing was when loading and unloading. The unit was so quiet that it didn’t even make any sound and almost seemed as if it wasn’t working because engagement was so delicate.
The aero pieces are absolutely crazy. You almost don’t wanna believe that it’s necessary but ASM aero is all wind tunnel tested so none of the pieces are wasted on the S2000…
They also show a glimpse of the new Recaro SP-A Pro Racer seat that they’re running….
So badass….damn….If you understand Japanese or just wanna see some crazy stuff, take some time to check out the ASM website and their blog. Alot of cool stuff on there to see….
On another note, Happy Halloween, go out and make some bad decisions people…haha…
Skills S2000
I first spotted this S2k earlier this year when I was glancing at an Option mag. I really wish I knew more about the car but there isn’t too much info on it on the web. My inability to read japanese also hurts my cause but through some digging I managed to find some older pics of it from an X5 Japan show from 2007…
I love the execution of everything on this car. The Spoon aero, custom rear flare, hardtop, etc….It’s pictured here with RE30′s on it but it’s rolling on some HRE C21′s now…
Here’s a shot of the custom rear molded to the Spoon rear bumper…
Another shot of the flare….notice the “OPAK” Cali plates, an interesting touch…
What stands out about this S2000 is the audio set-up by Skills Japan. The set-up is amazing and looks crazy under the hardtop…
Beautiful…
A shot of the engine set-up, wish I had some specs on it…
This a more recent shot of it on the HRE C21 wheels. Looks great either way with the RE30′s or these wheels but for a shop demo car, the HRE’s definitely add that extra “flare”…
The rest of the pics are other random shots of it at the X5 show…this thing doesn’t really get too much coverage over here in the states and it definitely deserves it…
