This past weekend was one of those days when I think most of us realized how old we were getting… Normally, attending two events doesn’t seem like that big of a deal but by the end of that Saturday, I swear to you, we were all a little delirious. I don’t know what it was, maybe it was the unusually hot weather from the week or having to wake up early to get the cars ready but we were totally drained. We started out the day over at the Formula D Tech Day event hosted by Super Street magazine. The Tech Day event sounds a little odd and boring by name, but it is actually one of the larger meets of the calendar year. The turnout is usually pretty good for the event and it hosts a large variety of import and domestic builds. The weird thing about the Tech Day event is that it is usually reserved for Formula Drift competitors to have their cars pass tech for competition…yet, it doesn’t seem like any cars actually go through the tech process because they are never ready in time. Like many enthusiasts the world over, procrastination is the underlying theme of any build and as such, none of these cars are ever finished up until the week or days leading up to the actual competition in Long Beach, CA. So essentially, it is called a “Tech Day” but it is actually just more of a gathering of cars for no specific reason other than to have cars together to hang out…aka a “meet”. I’ve gone for the past couple years now and I always have a good time there so I make a conscious effort to remember to go. I also do freelance work for Super Street so I go because I want to support the brand. This year, Super Street even personally invited some of the cars from our camp so we came out with a pretty strong group. Hell, I even brought out my car and I can’t remember the last time I started the damn thing.

Below is what I captured from that early morning. We stayed for a couple hours but left early because Mikey wanted us to head over to Long Beach for another event, known as “XS Car Night”. This was a free car show for the public held in the middle of Long Beach overlooking the water. It was quite scenic but admittedly, there were some questions that we all had that were never answered. I’ll explain more when we get to that portion of the coverage but let’s just say that the event organizers didn’t really speak English and everything was free…EVERYTHING. I mean, no one had to pay for anything. Shit was just really random. I mean, free is always good but when a large group of Germans invites you to park your car in a pretty scenic part of Long Beach without having to pay for anything and there’s like, no safety regulations and a wedding going on next door, people are gonna wonder what is really the underlying reason for putting on an event like this. There’s gotta be some sort of incentive or return but we couldn’t figure it out, and we’ve been doing this shit for years now…Anyways, I’ll pose more questions for you all when the time comes. For now, check out the coverage of the Formula D Tech Day below… Enjoy…

Making its first official public appearance was the brand new RWB Los Angeles 993 build. This car was just recently completed and looks stunning, particularly with the more aggressive rear spoiler…

Hoonigan-sponsored GM LS turbocharged FC RX-7 pulled up to the event with its rear bumper already halfway off the car…..

Daniel Covarrubias aka “Killagram” brought out his recently made-over Rocket Bunny V2 FR-S build for the Tech Day event…

One of my favorite Rocket Bunny kits has to be the one for the new Lexus RC chassis. This is one of the rare times when the lines of the RB kit actually flow consistently with the stock body lines of the car that it is made for…

Young Tea’s Scion FR-S Release Series 1.0 on bronze Volk Racing ZE40s…

Meng Tea’s FR-S featuring Victory Function front fenders paired with the Release Series 1.0 factory aero and Volk TE37SL…

Enrique Munoz’s incredibly well-built Toyota Supra Turbo with one of the most intricately-executed engine bays most have ever seen for the A80 chassis…

The Six Sigma Auto/Autofashion Rocket Bunny NSX made an appearance showing off its freshly installed Airrex air suspension set-up. I’ve been waiting a long time to see this car finally on the ground the way it should be and boy does it make a world of difference once that fender gap is eliminated….

Mikey Cristi’s UCF20 LS400 bagged on Rotiform wheels and wearing a simple Silk Blaze front lip…

I didn’t really plan on bringing my car out to the event but in the late night hours on the evening before, I decided to bring my Y33 out for some sun…

Leon Casino’s NA1 NSX on bronze WED’s TC105N wheels…

Noel Barnum’s Varis FR-S and Mikey’s DC2 Integra. Weird to see how much larger the FR-S body is compared to the older Integra…. You’ll also notice a similar overall scheme with the two cars..

Sarto Racing E36 coupe on BBS wheels…

I really like the color scheme on this Liberty Walk Challenger. The green suits it perfectly along with the contrasting dark tones of the wheels and front splitter…

Ken Gushi’s GReddy/Rocket Bunny V2 FR-S debuted its new livery for the 2015 Formula D season…

Mauricio didn’t plan to bring his car out either but Mikey was able to convince him to make the drive out to show off this timeless Civic…

Dave Chik took a small break from his new journey into fatherhood to cruise out in his supercharged AP2 S2000 on Regamaster EVOs…

This giant sled cruised by the meet for a few short moments before rumbling off….

Phaze2 HeyMikeyyyy’s Integra made the hoodless drive out to the Tech Day event. Contrary to popular belief, this car is 100% operational now and is driven everywhere, often sans hood…

Matt Bouchard’s instant-classic EF build looks and sounds amazing. Happy to see him make the drive out since we rarely get to see this car out and about….

Phaze2 Noel’s supercharged Varis Arising II Scion FR-S on SSR Professor TF1 wheels…

It is really rare to get all or most of us to go anywhere together these days since our schedules rarely permit it but we even convinced Phaze2 Tony to bring his Sorcery NSX out to play. He’s planning a major overhaul of the car soon and we can’t wait to see what happens to it…

Yogi’s custom widebody GS430 was recently featured in Super Street magazine and was on display for the public to see…

One more shot of the Rocket Bunny NSX….

Mitsu Evolution wearing the full Voltex aero package and Black Edition Volk Racing TE37SL…

Flared Subaru WRX STI on bronze Cosmis Racing wheels…

Assortment of carbon bits and pieces on this Evolution sitting on Volk RE30 Club Sport wheels…

James Ingram’s single-cam EF hatchback that can be found regularly at time attack events…

Really clean EF sedan on period-correct Volk Racing EMU wheels…

Interesting to see a complete set of RS Watanabe wheels on this EF8-styled CR-X…

R33 Skylines have always been a favorite of mine so I always enjoy seeing them at events, especially in 2015 since they seem to be so few and far between…

R32 Skylines seem to be way more common and there was a whole line-up of them at the Tech Day event. This one was probably the cleanest of the bunch, sitting on gold Advan Racing RGII wheels…

Subtle execution on this Scion FR-S bagged on Work Meister S1 wheels. I appreciate all the wild, widebody, FR-S and BRZs but it is always refreshing to see one done this simply….

Werdwerx CB Accord coupe looking mighty clean with a variety of JDM CB components as well as some aftermarket body add-ons. The front lip is actually a GReddy CD Accord lip modified to fit the older CB body…

This FC3S RX-7 Turbo II looked straight out of the early 90s….

…especially with incredbily rare old school Try Force Zelda 3-spoke wheels. I can’t remember the last time I saw a set of these anywhere, both in the U.S. and Japan…

This Civic hatchback featured a BackYard Special front bumper, TopOne front splitter, side add-ons and gold Advan Racing RG wheels. Very well-done build….

This BMW 2002 had some interesting aluminum seats that don’t look particularly comfortable during the hot afternoons in Southern California…

One can never get tired of seeing E46 M3s on Work wheels…

Turbocharged EK9-themed Civic on Sprint Hart CP-R wheels from 5SICK2 Long Beach….

Marina Blue has to be one of the best colors that BMW has ever offered for any of their cars. It has got to be right up there with the legendary and often-used Laguna Seca Blue. I think we’ll be seeing a lot of cars resprayed in this color in the years to come…

Liberty Walk widebody BMW M4 coupe on IForged wheels…Yet another kit that finally, FINALLY, follows the original lines of the car that it was meant for….

Luigi Arroyo’s J’s Racing GT widebody S2000 on Volk ZE40s…

Around 2:30 PM, it was time for us to head out to the other event in Long Beach. It seemed like we had already been out for an entire day due to the hot blazing sun that day but little did we know that it was just getting started. I’m still going over those photos so we’ll pick things up next time with full coverage of the XS Car Night event… Thanks for looking…