Y’all wanna hear some gossip??? Boy do I got some info for you… Lol. I’m kidding of course but you’ll certainly find some of this interesting if you’re not familiar with what “Club Racer” is and have heard of the “VTEC Club” series before. Most Honda enthusiasts will have heard of the racing series either through friends or through various media online but Club Racer, or Club Racer Events, may be new to many of you. VTEC Club USA was originally an all-Honda time trial series operated within a larger racing event host, Extreme Speed Track Events. The Honda-dedicated racing series worked in unison with Extreme Speed over the years and grew to great success until 2020, when the managing party responsible for VTEC Club USA’s continued growth decided it was time to forge a new path. I don’t want to get into all the little nuanced details of it all but let’s just say that it was a relationship where one partner had outgrown the other and someone wanted to spread their wings, if you know what I mean. I’m just on the outside looking in so it isn’t my story to tell in detail but all you really need to know is that VTEC Club USA is operating on its own and under the umbrella of a new entity known as—you guessed it, Club Racer Events…

If you’re a fan of the series, you need not worry. The tight-knit group that was behind the original VTEC Club USA series remains. They just have the freedom now to do as they please with no creative restrictions. If you’ve competed or driven in the series then you already have heard the news and are as excited about its potential as the people behind it. Me? I’m just hear to support my friends and hopefully push them in the right direction towards further successes. I have no real dog in this fight. I’m just here to help however I can…

Things have been a little interesting this year, to say the least. This announcement of the “split” would have happened earlier but the 2020 VTEC Club USA season has gone the way of many other events due to the current worldwide pandemic. I’m surprised they were able to schedule anything this year but things are easing up slightly and track events are generally okay due to its wide-open atmosphere and minimal crowds. The first independently-operated event under this new umbrella would be introduced as “Club Racer Reunion Weekend”, a two-day event featuring and re-introducing VTEC Club to the community along with Narita Dogfight’s NDF Attack Challenge…

With this newfound freedom, the people behind the newly-dubbed Club Racer Events are looking to expand beyond the FF Honda realm to introduce a wider variety of competition at their future events. The NDF Attack Challenge is the first-step in hopes of pulling different makes and models to their events. Hondas will continue to be invited but the idea is to bring anything fast to run with the best in a more Japanese time attack-inspired, nearly restriction-free, contest…

I should preface the rest of what I’m going to tell you below by informing you that I absolutely did zero coverage of any type of racing, lol. My focus isn’t so much with the competition. I guess I am not really concerned with all that. Lap times are important to me only because I know they’re important to my friends who are driving. Who wins and who loses has nothing to do with me. I’m just there to observe. Not sure how many of you realize or understand this, but I’m really only focused on seeing cool shit. If they happen to be fast, well…that’s just a plus. A byproduct of cool shit, if you will…

If anything, I’m just there to shoot because I enjoy photography and capturing automotive things. Events have been so scarce this year that I’ve barely shot anything since I came back from Japan in late February. I miss the grind of shooting events and then coming home to go through and process the photos. When I found out that the Club Racer Reunion Weekend was happening, it seemed like everything I wanted to do; shoot and capture video content for the site, support my friends, and get out of the office for a change. It also provided me with the opportunity to see Chuckwalla Valley Raceway for the first time. I’d heard so much about it from my friends over the years but had never had the time to make it to an event out there. I didn’t plan to stay for both days originally but everybody that was going seemed so stoked about it that I figured I’d just stick around to really take it all in. Der came along for the ride too since he wanted to shoot some cars so it made the 3-hour drive to and from a real breeze…

The photos below were all captured throughout most of the first day. They’re presented in the order they were shot and consist of cars that I encountered while Der and I walked around the pit area. We’ve been experiencing a pretty intense heatwave here in California lately so it was a bit difficult to be out in the sun all day. Thankfully there was some cloud cover throughout the day which made it bearable. My favorite part of the weekend was actually after the first day of competition ended. I wanted to get some photos with some select cars on the track and I got to fully appreciate just how scenic Chuckwalla Valley Raceway really was. That track is really something else during sunset. I saved those photos for a completely separate post since I felt like they deserved their own space within my catalog. Those will probably go up this week after this post is finished uploading…

Here is what I captured over the weekend at the Club Racer Reunion Weekend. Not shown is the incredibly shitty AirBnb I stayed at or the giant Carnitas Burrito I ate for dinner Saturday night in Indio, CA. Also not shown is me leaving early on Sunday so I could get home in time to watch the Los Angeles Lakers win the NBA Championship…

Esteban’s K-swapped Fit was a welcome sight to see when we first arrived at Chuckwalla. If you remember, there was a moment during the Vlog episode featuring his Fit where he mentioned that he’d be tracking his car for the first time in October. This was the event that he was referring to in the video…

Not much has changed with this build since we last saw it. I think it took Esteban some time to get used to driving the car on the track but he saw steady improvements with his lap times throughout the weekend…

I had the idea to mount some GoPros in his Fit to see how it would do on the track but he was his first time out with the car and I didn’t want to put any extra pressure on him to drive well…

One of the best-looking cars all weekend was John Tran’s Honda S2000 which was recently wrapped and covered in bright red vinyl…

Meaty Hankook Ventus TD rubber wrapped around a concave set of 17-inch Volk Racing TE37SL…

Behind the concave spokes up front were a set of AP Racing big brakes…

Andrew from Doghouse Garage picked-up Matt Rojana’s old S2000 track car and kept it pretty much exactly how it was, wheels and all.

Not only did the parts stay the same but the car’s intended purpose as a weekend racecar has also remained…

Nice to see Justin Yoo out and about again in his white S2000 on Advan Racing TCIII…

When I found out that Riley Stair was coming out to the track in his incredibly well-built Trans Am, I made sure to set apart some time to get some good detail photos of the car…

What I really wanted to do was get some good exterior shots of it but since the car was experiencing some issues, it spent most of the day just stuck in its spot with people constantly trying to take a better look inside…

The massive engine bay of Riley’s Trans Am featuring a 400 cubic-inch LSx iron block and a pair of 368cc Dart heads…

Behind the passenger headlight is the Peterson 4-gallon dry-sump oil tank…

From this angle you can see the pushrod double-adjustable Ohlins coilovers…

A V-mounted C&R radiator core replaces the previous set-up of dual Chase Bays radiators to help better cool the LSx powerplant…

No creature comforts inside this Trans Am as it features all-aluminum paneling as a semblance of a dashboard. Above the steering column is a Holley digital dash display and behind it are reservoirs for the Tilton floor-mounted pedals…

A closer-look at the Tilton pedal assembly…

ARC panel switches have been integrated into the custom dash to control all-essential engine functions…

Kirkey racing seats to keep Riley safe inside this insane machine…

On the passenger side you’ll see these panels that house all the electrical relays for the ARC switch panels…

No headlights for this Pontiac. Just some vented aluminum panels to fit the housing area for style…

16×12 Panasport C8-16 wheels front and rear on the Trans Am mounted to Hoosier Radial Slicks…

Dustin William’s S2000 on Titan7 wheels and Spoon Sports S-Tai aero parked next to Jose Mejia’s FK8 Civic Type R…

Club Racer Reunion Weekend was the first time I got to see Tony Jackson’s CL9 TSX since he did the JDM Euro-R roof swap…

Tony had a K20R in here at one point but just missed the torque of the 2.4L way too much so he eventually went back to the K24 engine…

Jose’s FK8 CTR is coming along quite nicely and looking really aggressive with the Spoon Sports front. During testing a few weeks before, his car actually caught on fire but he got out in time to put it out. Looking at it now, you can’t even tell!…

Another FK8 Civic Type R riding through the paddock on Desmond Regamaster EVO II wheels…

With Club Racer Events really opening up to more makes and models, you can expect to see more variety like this black F80 M3…

Mikey made the most of his final track day in his Integra with P1 front lip, Mugen sides and 4-lug bronze Volk CEs…

Popular YouTuber Dustin Williams’ set-up for Club Racer Reunion Weekend…

Tran’s S2000 preparing to head-out for its next timed session…

An FK8 Civic Type R with a set of bronze Titan7 wheels, an APR rear wing, and some PRL engine upgrades checking-in before heading to grid…

Justin Yoo’s S2000 being piloted by Sean Lucas for a session…

Muoi Tran thinking about some of her annoying Etsy customers…

An unintentional group photo…

John Cruz brought Goldy out for a few laps on Nankang AR1 rubber and Spoon Sports SW388 wheels…

Appreciate those who were reppin’ The Chronicles on their cars at this event…

Mike Burroughs from Stanceworks had the best view of the weekend…

Jose might have one of the better looking FK8 CTRs in California. If only I could convince him to switch to a Voltex wing, lol…

Even as a car that’s often on the track, the interior of Jose’s Type R looks surprisingly clean…

Muoi acquired some white side mirrors for her Civic finally and everyone thought it was a completely different car. Also love how the Club Edition TE37 wheels look on her car…

Chuckwalla Valley Raceway is such a scenic track that every photo looked like it was set-up specifically for the shot….

Towards the end of the day, Will arrived and unloaded his Lexus IS-F track project…

One more of Muoi’s Civic on the Club Edition TEs since the sun was coming down and hitting the pavement just right…

Two of the faster builds in the VTEC Club USA series prepped and ready for the following day’s NDF Attack Challenge…

It’s good to finally see Amir’s K20 turbocharged NSX doing well. So much has happened since the car was completed and there were definitely some trials along the way, but the car is running great now and very, very competitive…

He recently had some parts of the car repainted so not only is it fast these days, it also looks good doing it, which (sadly) is rare for a North American time attack vehicle, lol…

Amir and Will’s respective project cars posted by the Club Racer Events booth…

And one more of the NSX while Der was taking a few moments to catch-up with Elton Lo from Raceline…

As mentioned, I didn’t stay very long the following day since I wanted to get back hom by the late afternoon, but I did get to see the first session of the NDF Attack Challenge. Here were the competitors lined-up for photos before the first group run began…

Will’s IS-F cooling down under the Koyorad tent…

Right before Der and I picked-up our stuff to head back home, I captured this shot of Justin and Sean socially-distancing…

It was a blazing hot weekend but I had a great time. Thanks to the boys from Club Racer Events for having me and I look forward to the next one. Thanks for looking!…