Words By Stickydiljoe

I’ll be honest, I was a little hesitant when I was first approached by my friend Yuta Akaishi to team-up with him in his racing endeavors. The fact is, I’m not very familiar with the time attack community out here and I’ve honestly never given it that much attention. I love the cars that participate and know quite a people who compete but in general, I think I was just discouraged from really caring because there are some guys out there who do race their cars that choose to not have very many nice things to say about me, and they don’t even know me, haha. My thought process was, ‘why should I care, when these guys who don’t even know me can say all these bad things about me and mock what I do when I had never done anything to anyone’. I’ve gradually become more interested this past year or so because I’ve come to be more familiar with guys who are actively participating in the Redline Time Attack series, as well as Global Time Attack. I see these guys a lot when we are just hanging out doing regular car-type stuff and I enjoyed their enthusiasm. One of the guys that I’ve really come to be good friends with are the guys from Norush and Sean from Narita Dogfight. These guys are some of the last few guys who truly appreciate Japanese tuning culture like me so we get along really well. They cater their cars more to racing while the guys on my side are obviously more into doing car show stuff. We have different perspectives so it is really cool to be able to exchange inspiration in that way…

I’ve known Yuta for a couple years now. I always tell people that Yuta is the most famous car person I know because his efforts in this hobby have perhaps gotten him as much notoriety as anyone that we hang out with. He built an old Z that was never meant to be anything special to anyone but him and the car just blew up. Not literally of course, but figuratively speaking. Everyone fell in love with the car and it was an incredible success amongst his peers. The car has been sitting as a shell for years now and people still talk about it. It even ended up in a video game and shit, it was nuts. You wouldn’t think that Yuta would really be comfortable with all that “fame”, I guess you can call it, because he’s a very quiet individual who keeps to himself. Only his true friends know how he is and what his sense of humor is like (a bit odd) and he prefers to stay low key. During the time when he had his Z, he always had a white 4-door Civic that he had as a regular beater car. It had a set of rare Volk 4/5 wheels on it and I always saw it driving around because we are from the same area. It had some aero pieces on it that made it look like a “race car” but I didn’t even know that he actually tracked the car. When I found out that he did race, I grew to develop an appreciation for his Civic, even though he didn’t really seem to give that much of a shit about it. Eventually he even crashed it and just left it beat up and battered. The thing with Yuta is that he’s always kinda enjoyed his car being slightly beat up. That’s just how he is. I don’t know if it is a reflection of himself but he just genuinely enjoys things that are slightly damaged, haha. He wouldn’t act like he cared about any of his cars but at the end of the day, the cars he had were always some of the most important possessions he had and you could tell that he cared. He just would never let you know. I don’t think I really started to understand that he cared until he decided to build another Civic that was almost exactly like the one he had before. He went to great lengths to get the car to where his other one should have been before he wrecked it and slowly but surely, it began progressing into a full-on time attack build. Yuta even acquired another daily so that he didn’t have to drive his Civic anywhere anymore….

What makes his builds interesting is that everything he puts on his cars always seems to have some sort of story to them. It gives his cars a great deal of sentimental value and that is what makes his cars “cool”. He doesn’t always have latest and greatest parts and he always manages to scrounge up some really rare Japanese stuff from some random place. Just hearing him tell the story about the engine that currently is in his car is too interesting to pass-up….

As Yuta told me once…

“I got my drivers license with the engine in (this Civic). Before I had a license when I was driving around in my S13s and shit, my childhood friend had an immaculate white 2000 GSR, I loved that car and treated it as my own. In exchange for doing all the work on it, my friend let me race it in the mountains, and that’s when I really started driving. When it came time to get my license, my mom was already in Japan and I didn’t have any other friends who had a car registered and insured in their name. So I took my driving test in a gutted straight-piped DC2, and passed first try. Years later the car was rear ended by a drunk driver and totaled. I did everything I could to fix it (I grafted an entire quarter panel from another Integra onto it, but the frame was too tweaked), but ultimately failed. So my friend gave me the B18C so it can live on in my Civic. My current civic is the third car it’s been in, and all three have been white cars.”

When he approached me a month ago with the idea to team-up with him, my first thoughts that came to my head were “Uhh…why?”. Haha…. I didn’t think I really had anything to offer Yuta since he seems to be pretty capable of doing his own thing but he had an interesting idea; let’s use my media and marketing skills (or lack thereof) to brand the car so that it could possibly get some attention from aftermarket companies that could offer support for the vehicle. Yuta has always been a skilled driver and the car is highly capable of being competitive, it just needs a little bit of help. It is under-powered currently so some motor upgrades and improvements to the suspension can really help put Yuta over the top in his class. He’s familiar enough with the driving side of things where it would just be beneficial for him to get some better parts for his car. I like to help people that I believe in so I agreed to link up with him to see what we can do with this car. So far the time attack season is nearing an end but we really hope to make a big push in 2015. He’s a good guy and a great driver so it would be awesome to see him succeed…

There are some things in the works currently but we decided to throw a graphical livery on the car to get the ball rolling. This way we can really start to document Yuta’s journey and hopefully we can look back at this a year later and see vast improvements in both his car and his lap times…

Here are the basics of what he has on his Civic right now. He competes in the “Street FWD” class at Redline Time Attack and similar classes in other competitions…

1999 Honda Civic LX
2000 B18C1, 155hp
2000 GSR trans
Plm header
Buddy club type 4 cutback
Comptech icebox
Skunk2 intake manifold
Moroso oil pan
SARD fuel pressure regulator
Spoon throttle body
Koyo radiator
JDM ITR spindles, hubs, brakes w/legend calipers
Project mu club racer pads
SSR Type C 17×9 +41 front wheels
Volk TE37 16×7 +40 rear wheels
235/40/17
205/50/16
Aragosta coilover
CTR front sway bar
Wicked tuning spherical front lower control arms.
Skunk 2 upper control arms
M factory spherical Camber arms, toe arms,
PCI spherical trailing arm bearings,
Neuspeed rear sway,
C-West front bumper, wing
Battlecraft hood
Sparco steering wheel
Fastline shifter
Buddyclub P1 seat

His first competition since we officially started our collaborative efforts was at Redline Time Attack, Round 6. I’ll let Yuta take over and tell you a little bit about his trip that weekend….

Photos By David Wong
Words By Yuta Akaishi

Kristian and I left to Buttonwillow early Saturday morning for an extreme speed event to practice, this was both of our first times after the repave and we were excited to see what it would do for our lap times, I unloaded my car and got it ready for instructor duties, the first beginner session was lead/follow (basically I lead 5-6 cars around the track at half speed to show them the lines). Following that, I took the car out and put down a couple hot laps, the track felt pretty good, faster in most sections, definitely smoother/ However, going off the racing line even slightly lead to an immediate loss of traction – making for more than a few mishaps. Making small changes to the cars throughout the day, neither of our cars suffered from any mechanical issues, we had BBQ for dinner and knocked out in a Econolodge near the track.

Yuta’s Civic with the SSR Type-C’s up front freshly redone in red to match the theme of the car…

Our friend Kristian Wong’s EK Civic, which runs in the same Street FWD class….

Custom-cut front fenders for added clearance for a wide wheel….

The interior of Kristian’s Civic….

On the track….

On Sunday, we left the hotel and immediately ran into a issue, Amir’s M3 overheated during the 10 minute drive from motel to Buttonwillow Raceway due to a small crack appearing in the expansion tank, so we pulled over at a truck stop and called around to see if we could find somebody to pick us up. One of our friends sent his girlfriend in his truck to pick us up while we made arrangements to have a replacement expansion tank delivered. As soon as we arrived at the track, Kristian and I checked our cars, and put down a few laps to prepare for the qualifying session for Redline. Coincidentally, somebody at the event had a E36 M3 expansion tank, so I drove Amir to his car and we proceeded to swap out the tank right there in the parking lot.

Amir’s E36 M3….

We rushed back to the track, barely making it back for the Time Attack Session. As soon as I exited the pit, I realized that I had left a toolbox in my trunk – which was confirmed at the first corner by the clattering of tools. I decided to say fuck it and ran three full laps. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, however in one of the practice sessions, Kristian went off and destroyed his freshly made splitter. We decided to put mine on his car for the afternoon time attack session, as there was no chance of me being even close with 150hp in a field of 210-230Hp cars, so in some of the later photos you will see my car bumper and splitter-less.

Below are some shots of the other competitors at Redline Time Attack, Round 6….

ITR representing Loi-Spec Garage…

GReddy turbocharged Subaru BRZ….

Nice to see a circuit-prepped Civic with JDM EK4 SiR bumpers…

Kristian Wong aka Studytuned….

Our buddy Dominic Bautista’s S2000, which ran a really impressive 02:02.472 lap time in the Enthusiasts RWD class….

Jay Valle’s Civic from Final Speed….

Yuta’s 17×9 SSR Type-C….

Rare C-West carbon GT wing…

I thought that this was a good quote for the car. It represents a vision of both of our’s….and I’m sure many of you share a similar vision….

Pretty cool to see an S14 track car. Most of the time these things are just out there drifting and going sideways….

This Evolution had Voltex aero mixed with a lot of custom aero components….

Voltex-equipped AP2 S2000….

Jay’s Ferio Vi-RS inspired Civic ran an impressive 02:01.147 lap time….

For those that don’t know, Kristian is also a tuner for SP Engineering. The guy tunes 1000+ horsepower R35 GTRs all day but still has a better time driving a Honda, haha….

As mentioned above, eventually, Kristian went off the track and destroyed his front splitter. Since he had a better chance of winning in his class, Yuta gave up his front splitter to him so that he could continue the competition in search of a better lap….

Yuta with no bumper, no splitter, no cares in the world….

Amir running towards 1st Place in the Enthusiasts RWD class in his BMW M3, which was repaired just in time….

Ultimately the Street FWD win went to Joel Etrata in his K-swapped Integra Sedan, followed closely by Kristian and then finally, myself.

Here are the results, thanks for looking!

Enthusiast AWD
Place Lap time Car Name Vehicle
1 01:57.999 434 Ken Kasitz WRX
2 02:03.211 211 Serge LSL Motorsports EVO
3 02:03.974 417 Damyan Tuchenishki WRX
4 02:07.837 99 Lux LSL Motorsports EVO
5 02:08.174 58 Neil Caspang EVO
6 02:08.633 47 Michael Cruz EVO
7 02:10.186 423 Charles Libolt STI
8 02:13.900 369 Scott Boatwright WRX
9 02:14.909 498 Vincent Alcala EVO

Enthusiast RWD
Place Lap time Car No Name Vehicle
1 02:00.128 158 Amir B. M3
2 02:02.472 460 Dominic Bautista S2000
3 02:03.904 497 Christopher Hill 350z
4 02:04.512 32 Acs Attila S2000
5 02:09.154 485 Nazar Mondaca 350z
6 02:12.025 443 Lea Anne FRS
7 02:14.411 331 Howard Chai S2000
8 02:17.506 56 Thomas Lee S2000
9 02:21.009 452 Steven Roberts Miata

Enthusiast FWD
Place Lap time Car No Name Vehicle
1 02:07.503 60 Paul Billedo Civic

STREET AWD
Place Lap time Car No Name Vehicle
1 01:52.769 45 Mark Jager Sti
2 01:52.877 494 Craig Peyron Sti
3 02:02.929 23 Tony Brown STi
4 02:06.512 33 Steven Steck Ralliart
5 02:08.503 303 Jeff Yang EVO
7 02:14.039 21 Florando Flores Evo

STREET FWD
Place Lap time Car No Name
1 01:59.990 50 Joel Etrata Integra
2 02:02.636 78 Kristian Wong Civic
3 02:08.104 901 Yuta Akashi Civic

Street RWD
Place Lap time Car No Name Vehicle
1 01:56.949 13 Jay Laoharoj 240sx
2 02:00.953 387 Tony Fuentes S2000
3 02:04.976 21 Ted Park BRZ
4 02:08.984 472 Garrett Tokuno FRS
5 02:09.343 433 Matt Rojana S2000

Modified AWD
Place Lap time Car No Name Vehicle
1 01:52.655 11 justin Bordonaro EVO
2 01:52.840 437 John Carson EVO
3 01:55.242 383 Adam Knapik EVO
4 01:58.797 72 Jp Rombaue EVO
5 02:02.594 472 Ronnie Diaz GTR
6 02:04.326 94 Zhong Cheung EVO

Modified RWD
Place Lap time Car No Name Vehicle
1 01:54.327 107 WWR Racing 240sx
2 01:57.661 450 Richard Harris Z06
3 01:58.798 445 Mike Kang S2000
4 01:59.241 474 Gabriel Shadid M3
5 02:05.957 42 Brian Hendricks350z

Modified FWD
Place Lap time Car No Name Vehicle
1 01:59.937 900 Roger Pompa Integra
2 02:01.147 448 Jay Valle Civic
3 02:04.307 17 Efrain Flores TC
4 02:05.219 451 Gabriel Urias Civic
5 02:05.517 458 Miguez Hernandez Civic