Tag Archive for ‘Mugen’

The Beasts Of WEKFEST EAST…

The Beasts Of WEKFEST EAST…

I’d say that it’s been a minute but that would be an understatement. Working on that ADVAN collaboration has consumed more of my life than I’d like to admit but when I’m not at home working, I’m literally on the road trying to absorb as much car culture as I can! This marks a big few months for me as I venture off into different parts of the world. My journey starts in the Tri-State area as I fly out to New York to attend the annual Wekfest East event. It’s always interesting going out East to see old friends and meet new ones at the show. Immediately after that, I booked an early flight home because I had to repack my bags before taking a 1:20AM flight to fly across the world to attend the World Time Attack Challenge. Before we get into that though, I take you around the early morning hours of Wekfest in Edison, New Jersey…

So What’s Car Culture In Canada Like??…

So What’s Car Culture In Canada Like??…

On the list of “places I didn’t plan on visting in 2023”, Canada was pretty high on the list when my year started. Nothing against the Canadians, I just didn’t have any plans to go. I’ve visited a few times before but it was never really for automotive stuff. I usually get a pretty decent sample size whenever I go to Seattle for Wekfest. A good group of cars come down from Canada for the show and I’m always pretty impressed. I’d like to think that the car community up there is kinda like how it is back at home, just slightly different, like an alternate dimension version. Recently, Reggie Mah from Nightrunner threw the idea out there that I should go and visit Vancouver. He was having his first public event at his new shop location and I had mentioned before in the past that I wanted to check-out the cars at his shop. I don’t know if he just threw the idea out there as a joke, not expecting me to actually go, but I just so happened to have a free weekend on those exact dates. I’m always down to see something new and experience car culture in an unfamiliar place so this was the perfect opportunity! I booked a trip for the weekend and spent every moment of it doing car stuff with some fellow automotive enthusiasts from Canada. It was definitely an eye-opening experience….

Wekfest San Jose 2023 Coverage… Part 2…

Wekfest San Jose 2023 Coverage… Part 2…

For this second portion of the Wekfest SJ ’23 coverage, I’ll actually be spending a bulk of it spotlighting very specific builds that I encountered that weekend. San Jose is technically a 2-day event for the Wekfest crew because roll-in and set-up occurs the entire day prior to the actual show. Being that it is such a huge event with over 450 cars, it takes a good amount of time to stage every car and vendor. Add to that the time it takes to build the entire booth and the hours just fly-by. The good thing about having an entire weekend of Wekfest is that I actually get to experience the show. That sounds crazy from a spectator’s perspective but we literally spend all of our time work when the show happens all on the same day. Most of it is spend judging, some of it is doing all the announcing, even less of it is spent eating/relaxing, and whatever time I can muster in-between is used to shoot content. The bigger San Jose and Los Angeles events are fun for me because I have a few hours to actually walk the show and be a spectator myself. Los Angeles is obviously a good one for me because I can just go home and not be in a hotel. There are no suitcases involved. San Jose is nice because the hotel is directly connected to the convention center. So we can just walk back to our rooms after we are done for the day. There’s no rush to leave and the people at the San Jose Convention Center gives us as much time as we need to set-up. Long after the exhibitors are gone, we can stay behind and walk the show in peace. The doors are locked, security roams the building, and we get to do whatever we want…

Wekfest San Jose 2023 Coverage… Part 1…

Wekfest San Jose 2023 Coverage… Part 1…

Man, it has been quite a while since I put together one of these blog posts. Things have been so crazy hectic here that I find myself stuck in one of the rare occasions when I actually have TOO MUCH content to show you guys. Being in Japan for most of the first-half of the year will do that I guess. I collected so much photo content during those months that there was much catching-up to do after I returned home. And once I got home, most of my time was dedicated to executing the CHRNCLS x ADVAN collaboration properly. It was such a unique opportunity that there was so way I was going to NOT give it my all. As much as I hate to admit it, everything else went on the backburner as a result of that. I wanted to leave no stone unturned. There was no way I was going to allow someone to say “that’s nice but this could have been done better”. I wouldn’t let it leave my hands if that was the case. It wouldn’t be fair to my years of hard work. By the time the collaboration rolled-out to the public, there really wasn’t a second to breathe. The summer season had come upon us and I was immediately back on the road…

Why The WEST Is BEST Part 2: WEKFEST SEATTLE!!…

Why The WEST Is BEST Part 2: WEKFEST SEATTLE!!…

I originally assumed after this event that I hadn’t gathered enough footage for an entire vlog so I totally neglected to put this episode together. The San Jose event was looming and I had already decided that I would try to combine the two shows into one vlog. But, after I came back from San Jose, I went through the content and there was quite a bit of footage from Seattle. As I started adding clips to the timeline, everything that I managed to collect while in the Pacific Northwest was just the right amount. You guys know I love long-form videos so obviously I wish I would have captured more. There were just so many good builds at this event that I really wanted to spotlight. I simply ran out of time. I do so many different things at Wekfest events that I definitely wish there was more than one of me to go around. Seattle truly brings out some of the best in the west coast and we also get a good collection of custom cars from our neighbors in Canada. Sometimes I think I take what we have out here in the West Coast for granted so I thought now would be a good a time as ever to show you exactly what we’re all about!!…

Why The WEST is BEST: WEKFEST SAN JOSE!!…

Why The WEST is BEST: WEKFEST SAN JOSE!!…

Crazy that we are already at the 15-year anniversary of Wekfest! It just seems like yesterday when we were surprised to be at year 10. What a ride it has been. Northern California is the birthplace of Wekfest so we always try to bring out the top-tier builds. It’s understood that expectations are high and all eyes are on what’s happening in the West Coast so no amount of energy was spared in planning out this entire show. As busy as it was, I tried to vlog the entire weekend and put something together for you guys to enjoy. I apologize that the quality of the video inside isn’t the most spectacular. The lighting isn’t the best so I had to use a mounted flash to add some extra light wherever I could…

Once A Year, Honda Heaven Exists In Saitama…

Once A Year, Honda Heaven Exists In Saitama…

On my last few days in Japan, I head back over to the Tokyo-side of Japan to check-out the 2nd annual “Chan-Oka Honda Meet” in Saitama. This meet is a special one for me because its entire purpose is to pay homage to the USDM West Coast Honda scene of the mid-to-late 2000s. While we spent the better part of our adult lives in America building Hondas inspired by the ones we saw in Japan, younger enthusiasts over there were studying our interpretations of their style. In the last few years, USDM Honda culture and style has developed a pretty big following in Japan. It’s become a style almost unique to itself because its an interpretation of an interpretation. Like if one person tells another person a story, and that person repeats that story to someone else, and so on and on, eventually the story becomes different. It just retains certain elements, or the core pieces, of the original story. That’s basically what the USDM Honda community consists of. It features many of the core ideologies of what we did here, but the execution is slightly different. Some parts are different because accessibility to certain brands are limited and Japan just does things unique from us because culturally, they weren’t raised the same. The Chan-Oka Honda Meet is an important gathering because it represents a big part of where the Honda community in Japan is headed in the next few years. For guys like me who grew-up during the golden age of the West Coast Honda scene, this meet is Heaven on Earth—but like, a Japanese version of Heaven 🙂

CTAC 2023 Central Circuit Coverage…

CTAC 2023 Central Circuit Coverage…

As I near my return to Japan in just a few days time, I’m reminded that I still have photos from my last trip that I still have not posted yet. It’s not for lack of trying however, I’ve just been a tad bit on the busy side. I also probably took like an entire month off just to recover and re-adjust my body clock, only to get right back into packing my suitcases as I head back to Japan for Wekfest in May. I actually had gone through and processed all these photos on my laptop while I was in Japan but after I got back home, I looked at them on my office PC where I typically do all my editing and was unhappy with how they looked. My Lenovo laptop is brand new so I had no idea what the color calibration was like compared to my PC so there ended-up being a drastic difference between the two. The color grading on the Vlogs isn’t terribly different, since I was already using previous settings I had imported from my PC. Photos are a different story though since I pull them directly from my camera and different settings, time of day, and what I’m shooting are big variables in how I edit. Often times now I find that the photos that I post on Instagram while I’m in Japan are very different than the actual photos I process and keep for my own catalog…

How To Spot A Fake Mugen Formula Valve Cover…

How To Spot A Fake Mugen Formula Valve Cover…

Okay, being that the reference article on King Motorsports’ website is nearly a decade old, I figured now would be a good time to update that “Fakespotting” piece. As we are getting older, Mugen products seem to be going up in price with no signs of slowing down. Mugen stuff has gone from quality aftermarket parts for Honda enthusiasts to full-on collector’s items now. With collectors driving the prices up as the parts are becoming more scarce, more counterfeiters are trying to cash in by selling their own versions. This is done in hopes of fooling potential buyers or people who are none-the-wiser. Sure, these types of parts have been out in the market for years but counterfeiters are getting better with their replicas. There has recently been an influx of counterfeit parts in Japan too and many of the enthusiasts over there are getting fooled because they haven’t been as exposed to all these copies like we have here in North America. Being that I have my finger on the pulse in both countries, maybe this will help everyone.

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…