Typically around this time, the only visitors at Yasu’s shop in Osaka would be me. Wekfest Japan is usually happening during this period and I’d be over there getting ready to go to the show with him. Because of the global pandemic, and numbers still rising over in Japan, the border has been closed off to foreign visitors and I haven’t been able to return as I would usually. From what I saw online, like the rest of you, Wekfest Japan was a great event. There were less cars and the crowd was likely smaller than usual, but it was expected with the way things are going right now. With Yasu being so busy with work, not wanting to catch anything, and me not even being there, he decided it would be best if he just stayed behind this year…
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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!…
Read MoreA 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…
Read MoreAsanoshima 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.
Read MoreCherry Blossom Season…
Cherry blossom season always makes for some pretty scenic shots so I asked Yasu from Exceed to wake up early one morning to go get some photos of his EK9 CTR since I couldn’t be there to shoot them myself. Really wish the borders would open again so I could go back and stay for a while…
Read MoreDoghouse Garage Meet 2021 Coverage…
It seems like there is something going on every weekend these days out here in Southern California. I wouldn’t say it’s a bad thing, because people seem to be staying safe and what not, but I do find myself just a little bit reluctant at times to be out and about too often, if that makes sense. I think maybe just being a little bit older now I’m just more precautious. When I was young, I’d probably just say ‘fuck it’ and go to everything. The want for content would triumph my own best interests at times and I’ve adjusted my expectations over the years. The only reason I’d go to something now is to either support my friends or other car enthusiasts who have supported friends in the past. It’s more for relationship building and seeing people now than just trying to flood the feed with photos…
Read MoreBrandon Kim’s S2000 CR Build Photos… Part 1…
I haven’t done a build feature on this site in awhile, since we typically cover most of this type of stuff on the Vlogs these days, but I decided to capture some photos of Brandon Kim’s S2000 build so both you guys and Brandon can see detailed updates as Yuta moves forward with it. It just made sense to get photos to document everything because Brandon actually lives in Hawaii while his S2000 spends a majority of its time here in California. The car was shipped over via boat a few years and is a resident here at our shop. After Yuta Akaishi came back from Arizona after working at HKS USA for a year, the two of them decided to install an HKS GT2 Supercharger on the CR. Along with the install came a bunch of other stuff that eventually will make its way onto the car. It seems like new things are being added every day as Yuta continues to go through the car. Most of the info and technical aspects of this build-up will be detailed on future episodes of the Vlog but periodically, I’ll toss up some photos as well. Here are the first batch of photos that I captured recently at the very start of the build…
Read MoreFrom Broken NSX To Breaking Records, The Road To 1:44.768… CHRNCLS Vlog 2020 #29
Well, it finally happened…The Koyorad x RS Future K-turbo NSX is fast—REALLY fast. And after nearly three years of development, it’s also the NEW Super Lap Battle “Street Class” overall champion and record-holder. It wasn’t easy, I’ll tell you that. I’ve had the pleasure of watching this car come to form from the very beginning as a stripped-down bare shell. People didn’t understand the concept of utilizing a turbocharged K-series engine in an NSX at first. To most, it just seemed like a ‘cool idea’ but the C30/C32 engine was Honda’s flagship 6-cylinder powerplant. To some, it was automotive sacrilege to put a modern Honda 4-cylinder engine in an NSX. The doubters were only proved right when the car continued through its development stages and repeatedly ran into issues. It was a bit disheartening to see the car not reach the level of success that we had hoped for but everyone involved knew that it would be a long process. Things started to turn around at the start of 2020 when the gearbox issues that had halted development were relieved thanks to a Samsonas Motorsport dogbox. The NSX really started to move after that. As Amir Bentatou got more comfortable, and even more confident, behind the wheel, we knew that there was a strong possibility it would finally see the success we had envisioned for it at Buttonwillow Raceway. Sit back, take a trip down memory lane with us as we venture back to the beginning, and relive all the emotions that came when the clock hit 1:44.768…
Read MoreDave’s Civic On A Fresh Set of “Club Edition” Volk TE37SL Wheels…
A while back, Duane from RCompound USA and Kristian from Battlecraft decided to link-up to do a limited run of Volk TE37SL wheels for fun. With the original TE37 wheel mold destroyed and off the market, the boys thought it’d be cool to take a more modern TE37SL wheel and do them in a classic colorway. The sizing on these wheels would be limited specifically to one size; a 15×8-inch wheel with a +35mm offset in a 4×100 bolt pattern. They are geared towards the Honda/Acura market of the ’90s because that’s a majority of their demographic and they wanted to ensure that they give some love to the Civic and Integra enthusiasts who opted to not go the popular 5-lug route…
Read MoreThe First Chronicles & Coffee Meet of 2020 in Photos…
Well, it finally happened. We had a meet for the first time in 2020 and it was an overwhelming success—extra emphasis on the word “overwhelming”. I knew people had wanted to be out and about for a car gathering but I really had no idea just how bad people were itching to get out. After things started to open back up in California, I gave it some time before I even considered having a meet at our complex. I knew there would be a sudden flood of car meets coming so I thought that would help to satiate the thirst of your average car enthusiast. I was wrong. I guess maybe that speaks to the quality of our meets here because people were really waiting for us to organize something here. A part of me was thinking that we could host a meet here and it would be relatively small because there was still a large population of people still weary and trying to avoid crowds. Perhaps it was naive of me to think that way, but I posted a notice of a meet a week in advance and quickly realized that I should return to our old format of just dropping notice on the fly a day or two before…
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