It’s Friday already which means that tomorrow is already set-up and roll-in for the Los Angeles portion of the Wekfest 2022 tour. This schedule has been so jampacked that it feels like we have a show every other week. I say that knowing that in two weeks, we’re off to New Jersey for the East Coast stop. So yeahhhhh….it’s been busy. The positive side of heading to the East is that I have no car to worry about prepping or booth to run at the show. I get to just shoot and judge. California is so much more work because I’m involved with so many things and want to maximize on my opportunities at these big events. Next year might allot me more time to do even more though, because we’ve toyed with the idea of making the San Jose Super Show a TWO-DAY event. Yes, a car show that spans the entire weekend. I don’t know how that will work or what it looks like logistically…but it is definitely a very realistic idea. Whether it comes to fruition or not is another thing. We shall see. During the awards I asked the crowd of exhibitors and show-goers if a two-day event would be something they would be interested in and the response was overwhelmingly positive…

So we’ll see…

Today we’re diving right into the last set of photos I captured in San Jose. These were taken towards the end of the first day during roll-in and a majority of the photos in this set are shot the morning of the show. We got back into the venue by 8 am that morning and it was still pretty empty so I shot as much as I could while getting an early look at judging. Los Angeles is happening tomorrow so I still have much to prep for it. I’ll leave you today with just photos and captions. If you’re going to the L.A. event, feel free to say what’s up and enjoy the show!…

Had to get a couple more photos of Danny’s DC5 RSX since the lighting was so good. I didn’t notice in the previous photos that he was actually running a J’s Racing side skirt. The Mugen front bumper pairs quite nicely with it actually. That lower flat panel of the sides flows well with the front corner area of the bumper. Perhaps it is a combo we never knew we needed…

I couldn’t walk away without getting some more shots of the engine bay. Lately I think a lot of people are going a little too crazy with all the titanium accessories in their engine bays but Danny pulls it off. He might have just the right amount. The intake arm is a custom fabricated titanium piece, the oil cap, wire cover, and hardware look to be from Chasing Js but the most interesting piece is the front strut bar which is an old titanium bar from Opak Racing. Opak, if you don’t know, hasn’t been around in what seems like over a decade…

The titanium pieces pop even more because everything else in the engine bay that isn’t white has been dipped in chrome…

17-inch Rays Volk Racing CE28N wheels in their original bronze finish wrapped with 245/40 Toyo R888 tires…

Another of Steve Perez’s AP2 S2000 with Mugen front spoiler, Mugen MF10, Mugen wing, and Powerhouse Amuse hood…

John Lau’s DarwinPRO full carbon fiber widebody BMW M2 Competition on Brixton forged wheels with a fully-built M GmbH S55 engine that makes over 1,000 horsepower…

Jimmy’s Porsche 991 GT3 RS with Cup front bumper, Cup flares, carbon hood, carbon mirrors, and centerlock BBS E07 wheels…

RWB 993 4S “Skull Leader” owned by Dan Lee…

Mtech 2 BMW E30 coupe that we first saw in Part 1 of the coverage on Jongbloed racing wheels…

Under the hood is an E46 S54 M3 engine swap complete with a Karbonius CSL carbon fiber air box…

The winner of “S2000 of the Festival” went to this S2000 with full Voltex aero, Voltex Type 7 swan neck wing, EVS mirrors, and 18-inch Volk TE037 6061 wheels. The F-series engine is equipped with an HKS GT Supercharger kit, Skunk2 intake manifold, custom oil breather set-up and Koyo radiator…

Had to get another photo of Aidan’s Porsche 991.2 GT3 on Advan Racing GT centerlock wheels…

I didn’t even realize Thomson from System Motorsports was running two different sets of BBS E88 wheels on his 997 GT3 RS until I looked back at my photos. One side was the silver-face pair and the other side was gold…

Here’s a look at the other side so you guys don’t have to go back and find photos of it…

BMW E92 M3 coupe from RS Motorwerke sitting on a set of BBS E88…

Stopped by to check how the Chronicles booth was doing…

John Chan’s Civic coupe from Tronics has been around for ages now and it still looks great after all this time with the same Mugen EK4 aero and 2-piece Work Meister S1 wheels…

His Civic remains frozen in time because his focus seems to be on his yellow NA1 NSX these days…

Kenneth Dioso’s Varis widebody Civic Type R on black Volk TE37 Sagas…

Marco Ragalado’s Hakosuka Skyline coupe from High-Octane Tuners car club…

J. Pan’s Varis Widebody Version 2 Mitsubishi Evolution X MR on meaty Volk TE37V Mark II wheels and Falken Azenis RT660 tires…

RSR-styled Porsche 996 build featuring Moton suspension and Work Meister 3-piece S1 wheels…

Moii ’93 Accord coupe with a 5-lug conversion, Acura RL brakes, and Desmond wheels…

Not only is he one of the few I know that is still modding a CB Accord, but he’s also one of the few with a K20 swap. It’s probably something I would have done eventually had I kept my Accord back in the day. I’m glad Moii is still around to represent…

Barry Ancheta usually shows up to help the Wekfest crew stage cars during major events so we always give him space to park his EP3 Civic for display…

Some more of Eric Lam’s JZA80 Supra 15th Anniversary Edition wearing full Ridox aero and an ABFlug wing…

As mentioned in Part 2, Lam’s 2JZ-GTE makes over 800 horsepower with a huge Precision turbo inside of a thoroughly reworked engine bay…

Beautiful custom titanium fabrication work for all the turbo piping paired nicely with signature purple Wiggins clamps and XRP HS79 hoses…

It’s not every day that we get to encounter a rare FEEL’S Honda Twin Cam front bumper for a Zenki DC5. It’s a good looking bumper and pairs nicely with the INGS+1 N-Spec carbon fiber hood…

Joey Abundiz’s Track Bred Red Toyota GR86 on Regamaster EVO II wheels and a GReddy by Voltex carbon fiber wing…

Junior Ngim’s turbocharged Acura Integra GS-R running what looks to be a Chargespeed front lip and Mugen M7 wheels…

On the day of the show, Tony Pham decided to rearrange his two Hondas…

Mitsubishi Evo 9 with full Voltex aero and green Volk Racing TE37Vs…

I think this NSX on Advan Model 5s has been to the Wekfest events in this area since the early days when the show was still in San Francisco. I remember it because I captured one of my favorite photos ever back when it was rolling in years ago…

Wekfest staffer Allen De Guia’s Infiniti G35 sedan with a KuRookie front bumper and Volk Racing TEs…

Riko’s V8-swapped RPS13 240SX running widebody Rocket Bunny aero and HRE 505 wheels…

Right next to the 240SX was Riko’s BEAMS 3S-GE powered AE86 Levin wearing Custom Garage Speed TRD N2-inspired “N3” over fenders and Work Equip 40 wheels…

The “Honda of the Festival” award was an easy one this year since Christian Dumlao decided to pull-up in his K-swapped Civic which he actually uses more as a track car than for display. This is one of those highly-detailed, incredibly thorough builds that I was wonder how and/or if it could compete against the top-tier Honda builds of year’s past. It would be cool to see this side by side competing with some of the ATS Garage, PlusOne, and DPK builds that used to regularly win in this category…

The engine bay had a slight makeover this year, with many of the engine components shifting to a gray tone, where it was all previously coated in black. The valve cover is probably the biggest difference, giving the engine set-up some style with the custom pinstriping and metallic paint…

A Sergeant front bumper, Exceed Japan front lip, tucked radiator, and massive “SAN JOSE” windshield graphic to top it all off…

As usual, I put away the camera during show hours to focus on judging and didn’t get to pick it up again until after the awards ceremony. The roll-out usually makes for some pretty interesting photos so I started shooting as soon as I could…

George Dinh’s Phoenix Yellow Civic Type R LE with its full catalog of Mugen upgrades…

The boys from System Motorsports heading out. It was nice to finally see Thomson’s GR86 in-person…

Kristine Nojiri’s 326power S14 sitting on new 326power wheels she just acquired recently. The metal widebody had to be trimmed and reworked just to fit the new wider wheels. Very cool build that she put together on her own and did all the work on…

Once most of the cars had exited the building, we moved the GR86 out of the way to tear down our booth…

If you were going to Wekfest San Jose and have never been before, you must check-out the roll-out because it is probably one of the best parts of the show. The crowd outside is just ridiculous. Some of it can be annoying, mostly due to there are a bunch of dumb kids outside yelling at everyone to do a burn-out but it is still a can’t-miss part of the show. The entire street is packed with people watching the cars leave the venue and it is both cool and hilarious at times. If you can get the driveway down correctly and angling out the right way, you’ll be greet with praise. If you don’t know how to angle-out correctly, you’re going to destroy your car—and the kids fucking love it. Most of the videos you’ll find on YouTube of Wekfest San Jose is literally just the roll-out. Front lips get destroyed, bumpers pulled-off, and some people even lose their floor jack as it flys out of their trunk. It’s insane. I went out there to get photos and video but there was so much chaos that I ended-up guiding people out and making sure they left okay. Sure it’s funny to watch people destroy their cars but we’re all just car people so we should at least try to help one another, right?…

There were some cars in the show that you already knew would be completely fucked. Going up the driveway is one thing. It’s just the initial elevation change that gets you. Going down is a completely different story. It’s actually way more steep and bumpy than it looks. Some guys that roll static with their lip millimeters above the pavement were in for a rude awakening…

Most guys just scrape a little, scuff-up the bottom of their front lips and cruise-out…

At the end of the day, it makes for good entertainment and the feeling you get when you’re driving out of their with all those people watching is genuinely a pretty good feeling…

Until next year folks, that’s a wrap on Wekfest San Jose. Up next, literally in a few days, is another big one… Wekfest Los Angeles…

Thanks for looking…