Archive for ‘Coverage’

Final Bout Special Stage West 2021 Coverage… Part 2…

Final Bout Special Stage West 2021 Coverage… Part 2…

After I finally finished going through all the photos a few days ago and watermarking all of them, I came to the realization that I really didn’t shoot as much as I thought I did that weekend. Sure it had a lot to do with the heat but perhaps this two-part series isn’t the best representation of all that happened at Final Bout Special Stage West this year, lol. I’m not saying the photos are bad, they are far from it, and I’m not just tooting my own horn. What I captured is pretty good, it just doesn’t present the most diversity. The reasoning behind this is because I only went out on the track for one or two sessions and both times it was with run groups that featured the same cars. And when I wasn’t on track a different run group went out and the cars that I shot in the pit area are the same ones that came back from the same group that I was out on the track for. I wasn’t trying to do this but it just worked out that way. Mainly because I didn’t want to die. Carrying a big ass camera with a towel wrapped around my head in 100+ degree temps is no fun, no matter how much I want to be out there shooting. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed that my body isn’t as resilient as it once was and I’m just more susceptible to my environment. I still feel like I’m more resilient than most but long gone are the days when I can sleep for four hours and be up for two days straight shooting or traveling from city to city. I’ve learned to pace myself now and understand that my body needs rest for me to truly successful in my craft. Most of you understand that as well and if you don’t quite get it because you’re younger, boy are you in for a rude awakening one day, lol.

Final Bout Special Stage West 2021 Coverage… Part 1…

Final Bout Special Stage West 2021 Coverage… Part 1…

This year’s Final Bout Special Stage West event seemingly came outta nowhere for me. I knew they were doing an event out here on the West Coast this year but didn’t realize it was happening in July until I saw that their event in Oregon was going on the week before! It was a bit of a bummer for me personally because I’ve always wanted to shoot at PARC since it is such a scenic location. Just the idea of cars shredding through this beautiful forest-looking environment seems really cool to me. That and I’ve never been to Oregon before so it would have been a perfect time to get away for a weekend. Of course, I didn’t know the actual date of it so I missed it. That just happens sometimes when I’m just stuck in the shop working on a myriad of things. I wanted to make sure not to miss the California stop of Final Bout so I contacted Simba to see if he could squeeze me and Der in last minute for some media passes. Normally this would probably not be a good idea to bother someone during the week of an event, but I’ve shot a couple of Final Bout events in the past that have worked out pretty well so I’m sure there is some mutual appreciation there, lol. I wasn’t sure he’d respond but he was actually pretty prompt and was more than willing to accommodate us…

Out And About At Evasive Motorsports, BMWs Take Flight, And Brew’s Cruise!! CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #11

Out And About At Evasive Motorsports, BMWs Take Flight, And Brew’s Cruise!! CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #11

We’re out and about for this one! Since it’s been getting pretty hot lately out here in Southern California and Der is taking a break from working on his Civic, we decide to go out for the weekend to check out some events. Things are starting to open up everywhere so car stuff seems to be happening throughout the city. I head down to Evasive Motorsports first for a private event where they reveal this year’s Pikes Peak Hill Climb competition car before Der and I attend a couple other local events. There is quite a bit of diversity in this episode with all types of different builds of all styles so check it out!!

Central Circuit Track Day May 2021 Coverage… Part 2…

Central Circuit Track Day May 2021 Coverage… Part 2…

Let’s jump right back into the second half of the Central Circuit track day photos that Yasu helped me capture last month. Hopefully you guys have seen Part 1, if not, well, it’s right before this post so it’ll be easy for you guys to find. If you love Civics, these are the photo sets you want to see because Osaka can’t get enough of their EG/EKs. Honestly that’s one of the things I love about this entire region. They just have this crazy undying loyalty to the Civic and have such a specific way in how they style them that makes any enthusiast appreciate the craft. There is also this rich history that oozes out of these cars that only people from this area can showcase to the rest of the world. “Civic is culture” as Yasu puts it, and no truer words have ever been uttered about the Kansai region. There really isn’t much else for me to say other than that. The photos speak for themselves. Thanks again to Yasu for carrying to weight for me while I’m still unable to make the trip back to Japan. I hope you guys enjoy his camera work…

Central Circuit Track Day May 2021 Coverage… Part 1…

Central Circuit Track Day May 2021 Coverage… Part 1…

I can see light at the end of the tunnel…FINALLY. We are in June now and things are starting to open back up out here in California. By next week I hear EVERYTHING will resume as it did before the pandemic happened and that will be interesting. It already feels a bit weird being out and about lately but I think we all experienced a pretty strange time in our lives and there will need to be an adjustment period before we all feel “normal” again. Car shows are also on their way back now with the Wekfest tour announcing several dates to close out the rest of 2021 so I’m excited for that. I’m so used to being on the road all the time that I do miss traveling a lot even though it can get quite taxing on the body. I think the next step in our return to normalcy will be when the international borders open-up and I can finally go back to Japan. Last I checked things weren’t going too well out there however, and with the Olympics looming, I don’t have any idea when the border will open back-up for tourism Until then, I thankfully have Yasu staying active in Osaka and regularly attending events. He recently shot these photos from a track day at Central Circuit and unloaded them on me so I could process them for the site. Like the other track day we covered, there’s no real back story to it. The guys just wanted to go have some fun and drive their Civics around Central Circuit so Yasu tagged along. It sounds like he’s been pretty bored at the shop lately so having events like this help to get him outside. Give these photos a look and come back for the rest later this week!…

No Good Racing Night Meet 2021 Coverage…

No Good Racing Night Meet 2021 Coverage…

Seems like Yasu has been out and about quite a bit lately, regularly attending shows and meets in his area. I don’t know if it is necessarily the best idea being that the number of cases haven’t really gone done much, if at all, lately in Osaka but he’s being careful and selective of who he hangs out with. I honestly feel like he’s just getting a little bored being at the shop every day and going a little stir crazy so he wants to be outside again. The last year and a half has probably felt a little odd for him since he’s usually either in the U.S. hanging out with us or we’re over there in Osaka with him. Hopefully in the next few months or so things get better and he’ll be able to return in time for the Wekfest tour to start here in America. He recently attended a night meet hosted by our friends from NO GOOD RACING and asked me if I wanted photos. Of course I’m always down for Japan content so I asked him to shoot some stuff. He mentioned that the meet was happening in a brand new parking area which was just recently completed and that sounded exciting since the night meets we go to are normally poorly-lit. There wasn’t a specific reason behind the meet happening, I think everyone just wanted to do car stuff and wanted to not think about the pandemic so they hosted a gathering. Here are the photos from that evening, captured by Yasu Shimomukai from Exceed Japan. Enjoy!!…

Stancenation Japan G Edition Yamaguchi Coverage… Part 2…

Stancenation Japan G Edition Yamaguchi Coverage… Part 2…

Serious FOMO is setting in right now, especially since I’d normally be in Japan right now for Golden Week and the Wekfest Japan event. With this global pandemic still hitting some countries pretty hard, Japan in particular, the border remains closed to foreign visitors which means that I’m stuck here at home. Luckily I do have some content on reserve to show you guys as I await my eventual return. This particular set of photos is from the Stancenation Japan event in Yamauchi…which happened last year, lol. I showed you guys the first half last week and today, we’re gonna look at the rest. Some of these cars actually did make it to this year’s Wekfest Japan event so that’s kinda close enough to having WFJP coverage, so we’ll just have to be satisfied with that for now. There are some pretty cool builds in this set though, so please look through it thoroughly. Huge thanks to Yasu for attending this event and taking photos for me. He even conveniently made the photos look very similar to mine so the coverage looks pretty consistent with whatever I shoot. Enjoy and share if you dig it!…

Stancenation Japan G Edition Yamaguchi Coverage… Part 1…

Stancenation Japan G Edition Yamaguchi Coverage… Part 1…

I’ve conveniently left the year off of the title because I’m just gonna pretend that these photos aren’t from 2020 and Yasu didn’t just send these to me recently because he completely forgot to send them last year, lol. It’s okay though because no one expected to see photos from this event anyway!! Surprise!! Here are photos that Yasu captured during the Stancenation Japan G Edition Yamaguchi event that happened back in November…I think? There’s some really cool stuff in here and a very good amount of variety that you’d expect from a Stancenation event in Japan. They usually have so many cars that attend these events that you’re bound to see something you like just based on the numbers alone. Don’t let your hate of all things ‘stance’ prevent you from taking in some really good builds that just happen to be at an event dedicated to it. Variety is the spice of life, they say, so let’s get spicy!….

A Quick Visit To Central Circuit 2021…

A Quick Visit To Central Circuit 2021…

It’s been a strange time for me. I mean, there’s a ton on my plate lately but it’s just been a really odd feeling just being stuck here and not being able to go to Japan. Typically my Japan trips are amazing adventures for me to capture new content but the actual traveling part of it is usually my time to reflect and think about things going on in my life. It hasn’t been easy trying to process all that is going on in my mind just sitting in my office because I think the movement is important for me. Just the physical act of going somewhere allows me this type of release that I can’t get here at home. My moments of reflection are vital for my sanity. I need to escape from my own mind sometimes but without these long flights and quiet times for me to just process, I honestly feel like I’m going a little stir-crazy…

Asanoshima FF 2021 Coverage…

Asanoshima FF 2021 Coverage…

Sometimes cool things just end-up in my inbox, what can I say? I was just hanging out in my office one day during a random weekend and I get a message from Yasu. He tells me that he’s heading to Fuji Speedway but he doesn’t really know why other than the fact that he’s going to support Masa from X-Point because he has a booth at some event that was being hosted there. I was like “what event?” and he responded by saying “I don’t know”. And then I said “then why are you going?”. This is usually how our conversations go. I should mention that Fuji Speedway is about a 5-hour drive from his shop so I assumed it must have been important. He reiterated that he didn’t know what the fuck was going on or why he was going but Masa had a booth. He told me that there was an event called “Asanoshima FF” going on but he’s never actually heard of it before and didn’t know what type of cars were going to be there.