Tag Archive for ‘Exclusive Content’

Always Up To NO GOOD In Osaka…

Always Up To NO GOOD In Osaka…

Well this was a fun one. After Der and Kristian arrived in Japan, it was time to get Act 2 of my adventures in Japan going. I had a lot planned but didn’t want them to miss out on anything so I waited for them first. Kristian had never been to Japan before to do strictly car-related things so it was important to provide him with the best experience. Being that it was the weekend of Osaka Auto Messe, and the boys were in town, we decided to host another late night meet. I didn’t want to risk getting in trouble again with over 300+ cars showing up to a parking area so we moved the event outside of the city to the quiet island of Awaji. The longer distance made for some fun driving and of course, any time you throw a bunch of straight-piped Civics into an area that’s supposed to be peaceful, a little bit of chaos comes into play. Let’s just say that we were up to “no good” again in Osaka…
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The Gang’s All Here in Japan & We’re Off To TODA RACING!!…

The Gang’s All Here in Japan & We’re Off To TODA RACING!!…

After Sara left to go back to California, I had a full week of just hanging out at the shop with Yasu before the rest of the guys came to join me on the second half of my journey. Kristian landed first on a Tuesday and we headed straight to dinner since Ton from Temple Racing wanted to grab a bite. Originally we had wanted to wait for Der to come before we headed to Okayama to have a meeting with TODA Racing but they were only available on the day when he was schedule to land in the evening. So we had to go without him! While we were in Okayama, we also had some random adventures in the city along with some great meals. This turned out to be a pretty fun day filled with fun in Japan!…
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Stupid Adventure Time, Naoki’s Shop, & AF Fest Japan!!…

Stupid Adventure Time, Naoki’s Shop, & AF Fest Japan!!…

If this episode proves anything, it’s that nothing ever goes as planned. Originally we had decided to help Sara get acquainted with drifting a right-hand drive car while she was here in Japan. We managed to find a car for her to drive, a track for her to practice at, and were fully prepared for the day—that is until an unexpected surprise came and changed everything. Instead of being discouraged, we just made a (really) stupid, fun, adventure out of it. After that debacle, we stopped by famed Japanese drifter Naoki Nakamura’s workshop for a quick visit in Nara before attending the Autofashion AF Festival event back in Osaka. I’d hope to get some more footage at the show since there were some pretty interesting cars there but again, things just never go as planned…
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Welcome Back To Osaka…

Welcome Back To Osaka…

So, we are back in Osaka for a few days, just catching-up with old friends and meeting new ones. I had a couple of friends from America ask me if they could possibly see some car stuff while they were in town. Hearing so many interesting stories and lore over the years from Osaka, they wanted to see if it was real. Is Civic culture as big as its been portrayed to be? I wouldn’t normally try to put anything together since I enjoy being lowkey while I’m here but Sara was in town as well, so it was a good time to get car enthusiasts together again. So, a meet happened very last minute on a Wednesday. Many of us haven’t been able to reconnect since the borders re-opened so it was time to pump some life back into the car community in Kansai! Everyone be safe out there and abide by all the rules and regulations please!!
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Daigo Saito’s Fat Five Land is AMAZING!!…

Daigo Saito’s Fat Five Land is AMAZING!!…

I’ve been to some pretty cool places in my lifetime but seeing Daigo Saito’s playland in Saitama in-person was truly something unique. Over the past year or so, I’ve seen photos and video of his “Fat Five Land” completed but never thought I’d have the opportunity to see it. My fascination of Japanese drifting has always been more from the perspective of someone looking in from the outside. I don’t really know any Japanese drifters personally and I’ve only watched them on streams and in competition. Fat Five Land was a place I wanted to visit, but it never seemed like it was in the realm of possibility. When Sara hit me up to see if I wanted to go, I was honestly pretty surprised! Of course I said yes and here is another checkmark on a long list of places I have longed to see!…
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Tokyo Auto Salon 2023, But Chill…

Tokyo Auto Salon 2023, But Chill…

It’s the 2023 new season premiere! What better place would it be for our Vlog series to kick-off than in the tuning car mecca of Japan?! I’ve only been here in Tokyo for a few days so far but boy does it feel like a lot has happened. My focal point for the first part of my journey was to document the Tokyo Auto Salon event. It’s been two years since I’ve been able to attend TAS so I really wanted to do it right this time. In years passed I’ve always focused so much on doing both video and photography at the same time but I always felt like I didn’t properly cover the show in our Vlogs. So this year, I walked the show in a much more efficient manner and was able to cover most of what I wanted to see in one day! From experience, I always knew that the first few hours of Tokyo Auto Salon on day 1 was crucial. Those are the hours deemed for “media” specifically, which means that the show isn’t open to the public. No crowds equals less noise, and no models for all the weebs to gawk at. This was the perfect time to do coverage of the show because it wasn’t hectic at all. And that’s exactly what I did. That’s why this episode might feel like the chillest, most calm, version of any Tokyo Auto Salon coverage you’ll see. Those that don’t know might just assume TAS was like this all weekend. That is definitely not the case! It gets crazy to the point where you can’t even walk or breathe sometimes so consider this episode a relaxed, yet detailed, look at the show…
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The RS Future K20 Turbocharged NSX Is Pure Insanity.

The RS Future K20 Turbocharged NSX Is Pure Insanity.

Holy crap, you might want to adjust the volume on your devices for this one! This NSX is BANANAS. Over the past two weeks, the boys have been getting the “Koyorad x Battlecraft x RS Motorsport x Stanceworks NSX” ready for the Super Lap Battle event hosted by Global Time Attack. There have been a ton of changes to the NSX this year so there was a lot to do leading-up to it. The car was basically in pieces so there was no time to waste! Amir catches us up on all the recent developments before we head to SP Engineering to tune the turbocharged K24. I don’t think you’ll find many Honda K-series engines that sound and breathe literal fire like this one, you gotta see it for yourself!!
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Honda Collective NYC 2022 in Photos… Part 2…

Honda Collective NYC 2022 in Photos… Part 2…

When we last left off, myself and the rest of the enthusiasts who had gathered for the Honda Collective were preparing to move to our next stop. The Riverside Drive Overpass was a fantastic location to shoot at but we were all looking forward to see what photos we could get in one of New York City’s most iconic locations; Times Square. I had shot cars there in the past but it was always during the late evenings. We had similar gatherings before whenever Wekfest was in town but it had been a few years since we had done a pre-meet in the city. Those photos always came out pretty epic so I wondered how it would be during the day…
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Honda Collective NYC 2022 in Photos… Part 1…

Honda Collective NYC 2022 in Photos… Part 1…

A few days after I returned home from my trip out east for Wekfest, I was contacted by my friend Edwin from Prime NYC about possibly attending a Honda event out there. The first-ever “Honda Collective” happened last year around this same time and I was interested in seeing it for myself. The Honda builds over there have vastly improved over time and a couple of them had definitely captured my attention. Out here in the West Coast, the Honda community has seemingly cooled down and most of the serious builds have gone back into hiding. The younger enthusiasts have their eyes on BMWs and other makes now while the older diehard Honda enthusiasts generally keep to themselves, building their cars away from the social media spotlight. There are still really fantastic Honda builds here at home but I’d be lying if I said we had any sort of ‘collective’ here. Times are just different now so seeing a committed grouping of Honda guys in a different part of the country was of interest to me. We chatted about possibly collaborating on an event together but the winter season came and went while I was busy working on things at home so nothing ever came to fruition. I always thought that it would be cool to have a Chronicles anniversary event out there but I’m having enough issues with trying to have something again out here so my focus was strictly home-based…
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