This was a very unique and highly unusual event…. I originally wasn’t planning on going anywhere that weekend but since we had already attended the 2016 Nisei Showoff event the day before, we decided to stack more car-related things on our plate by going to the “Speed Ring” event, hosted by HKS USA and Motovicity Distribution. A challenge was put out there to the general public by HKS USA/Motovicity where they would bring famed Japanese driver, Nobuteru Taniguchi, and the HKS Japan R35 GT1000 to the U.S. to literally race any other R35 GTR in the country at the Autoclub Speedway. If the challenger were to run a better lap time than N.O.B. and the GT1000, they would win a cash prize of $20,000. I don’t know all the legalities behind it or what paperwork was involved in making it all happen, but it sounded interesting. The GT1000 is an incredibly well-built race car and Taniguchi really needs no introduction. He is probably one of the best drivers of our generation so even being there in his presence to watch him drive or just hover around the area was worth making the drive for. As long as we have been in the industry, stuff like this still gets us excited so we made the trek out to Fontana. The event was organized with the help of Formula D so there were other things going on that day as well, like vendors, vendor cars, a little car show area, and much more. There weren’t too many people out there in comparison to other automotive events in Socal but it is one of those events where you would go only if you were truly interested or passionate about the subject matter. When a company brings a famous race car from Japan along with one of its greatest drivers to the U.S., you should probably go. If you miss it, well, you probably missed out on a once in a lifetime opportunity to see all these things come together. Ideally, it would have been great to have a GoPro on board but we don’t know the guys from HKS USA that well nor did we meet any of the guys from LYFE Motorsport until that day. I apologize if there isn’t more focus on the racing itself but we were there just to cover what we experienced at the event. Enjoy…

After you finish the Vlog, make sure to scroll below for photos that I also captured from the event…

Photos from the event below…

The rear of the legendary HKS “GT1000” R35 GTR…

The pit crew from HKS working on the GTR in-between lap sessions…

Bulletproof Automotive’s Overtake full carbon-bodied R35 GTR on Advan GT wheels…

Voltex AP2 S2000 from Evasive Motorsports parked at the HKS USA display area…

A closer look at the carbon fiber front fenders of the Overtake GTR. Also check-out the custom carbon overlay on the spoke of the Advan GT wheel…

A peek at the rear quarter of the GT1000 R35. Look at the Endless rear brakes and the water in-let by the quarter glass…

Random Z33 on WED’S Kranze wheels chillin’ outside the paddock area…

The LYFE Motorsport GTR is something else… It is really one of those builds that you have to see in person to really appreciate all the crazy details of it. Here you get a glimpse of the carbon rear bumper and diffuser, with the massive exit in the center of the bumper with an oil cooler and GoPro center-mounted…

Custom front fenders on the LYFE R35 and its orange CCW forged wheels. If you watched the video, you’ll notice that only the top half of the door opens…

Boden Autohaus’ 991 GT3 in an open lot at Autoclub Speedway…

LYFE Motorsport GTR leaving the paddock for its next session…

Tiffanie showed up a little later than us since she had a shoot early in the morning. She saved me with my Spoon Sports umbrella so I could hide from the burning sun…

Spoon Sports-themed AP2 S2000 on Enkei NT03 wheels…

Jared Reyes from Eibach Springs’ time attack Civic hatchback running their Multi-Pro R2 damper set-up with external reservoirs…

Jesse Sabater’s custom R35 is probably one of the craziest builds in North America. It is a nice mix of custom made aero, custom audio, and custom fabrication mixed with traditional high-grade HKS engine components…

A look at the engine set-up featuring a myriad of HKS goods, including their intake/surge tank set-up. The set-up is good for just a little over 1000HP…

Love how they showcased the Endless big brake kit with the wheel off and all….

Meanwhile, the crowd and pit crew cleared-out of the paddock, allowing me some more space to shoot more photos of the GT1000…

Love the traditional HKS livery laid over chrome vinyl…

Meanwhile, the LYFE Motorsport GTR was cooling down after its latest hot lap…

While the GTRs were the stars of the event, there was also a track day going on at Autoclub with lots of other cars competing in-between laps from both the HKS and LYFE GTRs…

A quick glimpse of the engine set-up from an elevated platform area at Autoclub Speedway…

Yuta and Der enjoying the finer details of the LYFE Motorsports build…

This R35 is actually prepped to race at Pikes Peak so there is a fair amount of engineering in this car, if you couldn’t tell just by looking at it, and we all knew that it had a very good chance of beating the HKS GT1000…

The GT1000 is still very traditional Japanese in the way it is built so it looks much more tame, if you can even use that word for this car, in comparison to the crazy aero on the LYFE car…

Nothing like a nice, hot, but ultimately relaxing day at Autoclub Speedway, watching one of Japan’s greats in action…

Ready to conquer the legend and become one of its own…

Meanwhile, we had some time to entertain ourselves by shooting even though Yuta and Der had their own ideas…

The one and only, Nobuteru Taniguchi…

…and a final parting shot after the times were announced, making the LYFE Motorsport GTR the victor that day. How to make $20k on a Sunday look easy…

Thanks for looking…