There’s no SEMA event this year due to the ongoing “situation” we’re all going through, but I don’t know if I really miss it or not. On one hand, I do enjoy being in Las Vegas. Meeting up with industry friends is always nice and eating/drinking an insane amount throughout the week always makes things interesting. On the flip side, I don’t miss the crowds, the transportation to and from the show is always a bit of a headache, and to put it simply, I kind of enjoy saving money for other stuff. It’s funny because most of us who have been in the industry for some time now always bitch about not wanting to go to SEMA, but then we always end-up going and kinda having a good time. It’s a lot of work but it has its quirks that make life interesting enough where we do look forward to heading back to Vegas annually…

Unfortunately, there wasn’t an option for us to complain about not wanting to go. With all this COVID-19 madness going on throughout the world, SEMA decided (rightfully so btw) that it should cancel this year’s event. There’s nothing like hosting a massive event with thousands upon thousands of people from all over the world attending to help leave your mark as the ultimate super-spreader event of 2020. Of course they had to cancel it. During these times, it almost seems terribly unimportant to have an event of this caliber. People would just be fearful being in attendance and most would probably not even think about going at all…

GReddy Performance Products is a staple in our automotive tuning community and they have also been regular exhibitors at the SEMA Show every year since its existence here in North America. With the show not happening this year, they wanted to take an opportunity to provide enthusiasts with a virtual-look at some of their new products and project vehicles. When I first heard about this, I thought it would be just a simple walk-through of their facility or something similar to that using Instagram’s “Live” function but I found out later that it was a far more ambitious project. This showcase would take place on Facebook with a full production team behind it and feature interviews with celebrities as well as a carefully thought-out schedule of unveilings. Sung Kang would make an appearance with his FuguZ, Daniel Wu would be in attendance with his Honda S800, and a host of display vehicles would be present to keep things interesting. Kenji Sumino from GReddy would talk about new products as well as updates on their current project cars, and the whole thing was planned-out to be about three-hours long! How you can keep people interested on a live-feed for multiple hours is beyond me, but leave it up to Kenji and the team from GReddy to take on the challenge…

A few weeks before this event, dubbed #GPPLIVE”, Kenji happened to be at our facility getting some tires mounted and he came knocking on my door. We chatted per usual but then he invited me to come check-out the set-up for his event a day prior to it all going live on Facebook. I’m just out here trying to support my friends so of course I agreed to go to GReddy to see all his hard work come to fruition. And then I never heard from him again….LOL. I’m lying, but I was waiting for an email to come in with details of the event that he told me he’d send, but I swear I checked my email every day and didn’t see anything. Granted, Kenji is incredibly busy and I’m sure this event was stressing him out—so he probably just forgot about me. I was thinking I’d just go to GReddy and see what happens but knowing me, I’d end-up going on the wrong fucking day and the thing wouldn’t even be going on. So I just went about my business instead. Two days before the #GPPLIVE event, I finally heard from Kenji!! Good thing I didn’t show up the day of the event because that would have made absolutely no sense. Imagine they’re doing a livestream and I’m just walking around in the background like a dumbass. I read the email and the correspondence actually informed me to come the day BEFORE to see everything before it went live. Think of it as like a private industry event where people of some particular importance got to preview the goods before it went public…

That’s probably the most SEMA thing I’ll get to experience this year and you know what? I’m totally okay with that. Private industry shindig with cool shit to see? I’m there. I’ll be pleasantly surprised I was even invited and probably honored, but of course I’ll be there. They even had free food and drinks but I never feel “industry” enough to eat it, lol. Is that weird? In any case, I grabbed my camera gear, took some photos, and even captured some video of the event. I’ll get the video up soon but I figured I’d give you guys the photos first…

I commend Kenji and the team from GReddy for putting so much effort into this virtual event. It’s no easy task and they seemed super nervous about it, but I actually watched it and thought it went super well. It was also a pleasure to see it all before it happened so huge thanks to Kenji for the invite!! Enjoy the photos!!…

Up at the very front of the GReddy building welcoming all to this private event was Edward Liu’s BNR32 Skyline GT-R on black Volk TE37 wheels…

The RB26DETT retains its factory-intended twin-turbo set-up but with upgraded Garrett GT2860R-7 turbos. Being that it is a display car at GReddy, numerous products from their catalog make way on to the RB engine…

Including, but not limited to, a GReddy Suction Kit featuring their twin Airinx filters…

On the intake side, you can see the GReddy Intake Plenum, intake piping, oil filter relocation kit, and more…

Sam Du from Super Street pulled-up in his A90 Supra wearing a full EVS aero kit and brand new custom BBS LM wheels with white faces…

The GPP Live event offered me my first opportunity to see the current set-up for the Evasive Motorsports Toyota 86 Pikes Peak Challenger. Congrats to them for winning the championship in the Unlimited Class, piloted by the one and only Dai Yoshihara…

The car looks ultra-aggressive with an Artisan Spirits complete aero kit, custom front splitter, and prototype Titan7 wheels…

Powering the 86 through Pikes Peak was this 3.4L Brian Crower-stroked 2JZ-GTE powerplant featuring Garrett’s new G-series G42-1200 turbocharger and a GReddy intake plenum…

This particular roach could not handle the power of the stroke 2JZ-GTE…

I always like how 2JZ engine look inside the engine bays of the ZN6 chassis, almost as if it should have come with it from the start…

If you want more details on this build, the obstacles that it faced heading into competition, and some words from Dai himself, CLICK HERE to read the story on it…

Not much of an interior left in this competition vehicle. A peek at the center console reveals a shifter for the Samsonas Motorsport sequential transmission, and a MoTec PDM…

Digital MoTec instrument display mounted on top of the steering shaft…

I thought it was interesting that the yellow-tinted headlights have carbon-wrapped over the front corners…

Titan 7 T-S5 forged two-piece prototype wheels mated to Toyo slicks, which were also pre-production prototypes…

Massive rear APR carbon wing and custom rear diffuser to compliment the widened bodylines of the Artisan Spirits kit…

Dai Yoshihara’s crew chief, Chris Eimer of Eimer Engineering, displayed his FK8 Civic Type R at the Titan7 booth…

Jun Imai from Kaido House’s brand new 1971 Datsun 510 Wagon project wearing Refresh 60 bolt-on fender flares, Work Equip 40 wheels and Yokohama Advan A052 tires…

The project is ongoing and isn’t quite near completion just yet, but you get an idea of what might power this wagon with a turbocharged KA24DE swap inside the hoodless bay. Koyorad is also contributing to the project as well as GReddy (obviously)…

Back at GReddy for the first time since its debut at the SEMA Show a few years back is Sung Kang’s “FuguZ” S30 240Z build. Not much has changed with the car since it left, other than it making an appearance in a future Fast & Furious film but I was told by Kenji from GReddy that it was going to see a major overhaul. They’re building a new RB26 engine for it and it’ll get some aesthetic upgrades like the red bucket seats you see sitting next to the car…

Also making an appearance at GPP Live was a one-off Pandem flared Honda S800 roadster owned by actor Daniel Wu. This build also has not changed since the SEMA event in which it debuted but honestly, it’s perfectly set-up the way it is…

791cc DOHC Honda engine utilizing Keihin carbs and a custom GReddy/Remark exhaust system…

Evasive Motorsports’ immaculate BNR34 Skyline GT-R V-Spec in the iconic Midnight Purple II colorway…

The Turn14 Distribution Honda K20C-swapped Toyota AE86 Levin built by Eimer Engineering for Dai Yoshihara. I haven’t seen this build since last year’s SEMA Show so it was nice to see it up-close and personal once again…

The Honda K20C1, for those unaware, is Honda’s most current turbocharged K-series engine found in the tenth generation FK8 Civic Type R…

Since the last time I saw it, a major significant change that I noticed immediately was this custom-fabricated intake plenum made by Chris Eimer…

I love that they went with a yellow valve cover, an homage to famed tuning powerhouse Spoon Sports, whom Dai drives for regularly…

…and the car itself is also certified by Spoon Sports with its own badge and unique serial number…

Custom AE86 Levin-inspired headlights featuring modern-day projectors from an Accord Euro-R…

The interior of the “FK-86” Corolla has been resprayed in Toyota Calvary Blue and hosts a gutted dashboard, red Sparco seats, Sparco steering wheel, and a custom shifter paired with a hydraulic E-brake…

Custom 15×9 BBS Motorsport wheels wrapped-in Falken Azenis RT660 rubber…

Under the Turn14 livery is a TRA Kyoto Pandem widebody kit with black bumpers to give it a bit of a retro 86-style…

Nice touch with this GT-R generational line-up from R32-35 on display. This black BNR32 is owned by Dustin Williams from Legends Media…

The engine bay is looking good thus far but it looks like it is still in-progress as some parts are missing here and there…

Interesting to see what else is planned for this build but it is off to a great start…

Satoshi Tauchi’s BNR33 Skyline GT-R sporting a classic look with GT-R spec BBS LM wheels with red caps…

One more of the Evasive Motorsports Skyline GT-R V-Spec since I really wanted to try to capture the color-shift of the Midnight Purple II paint…

From this angle with the GT-R trio, you see much more of the green shade of the iridescent paint…

Completely random but Dominic Toretto’s VeilSide FD RX-7 made an appearance, probably searching for Han somewhere inside GReddy…

To wrap things up, I captured this shot of Sam Du’s Supra with a nice little sunset in the background. Loving the new BBS LM set-up and I’m glad he finally got the specs he wanted with the wheels/tires…

If you guys are interested to see the actual GPP Live event as it happened, here below was the entire event as seen on Facebook. It features a lot of interviews, product debuts, some more information on the builds you saw above, and more. Give it a look!…

That’s all for this set. Thanks for looking everyone!!…