Tag Archive for ‘spoon sports usa’

Exploring Down Under For World Time Attack Challenge…

Exploring Down Under For World Time Attack Challenge…

I was gonna say “Spooning Down Under” but people might get the wrong idea, lol. So right after New York, I flew home for a few short hours to repack because I had to hop on another flight to Australia. Yasu and I had always talked about going but just never got down to actually planning it. When he told me he was going, I gave him my word that I would meet up with him in Sydney but kind of got carried away with time–per usual, I didn’t book my flight until late. Like two weeks late. After I saw the prices of the flights, I was kind of hesitant on going but then I found out that Spoon Sports would be attending WTAC as well. Spoon, both Japan and USA, were heading down under for exhibition runs with the legendary Eiji “Tarzan” Yamada behind the wheel. I wasn’t going to miss that so I bit the bullet and booked my trip. It was so expensive that I managed to find another flight that would take me to Japan after for just an extra $100. So why not just make a big adventure out of it all, right? Let’s kick things off by exploring the two-day event that was the World Time Attack Challenge. If you’re looking for racing action, there is none of that here, lol. I spent my time walking around the event and studying car builds as I always do…

Spoon Sports and The 25 Hours of Thunderhill… Part 2…

Spoon Sports and The 25 Hours of Thunderhill… Part 2…

Most of the photos that I captured at The 25 Hours of Thunderhill were done before the event even happened. It was important to document everything that led up to the race itself. The actual ’25 hours’ would be spent just watching the car go around and around, and around, the track. There wasn’t much I could capture. Of course there would be the occasional pit-in but those shots are going to look the same after the first few. We weren’t allowed to go into the pit lane area either since the rules of engagement were pretty strict, so I spent most of my time just filming when I couldn’t get photos. I actually loved the way the Vlog episodes came out, though the view counts are down because it isn’t something my audience typically gravitates towards, but it was expected. I have more fun putting the videos together than I do uploading them. It’s always been that way, lol. I could really care less about views or the monetary compensation that comes from an extra revenue stream like YouTube. It’s all about the content creation for me and an event as unique as this is one that I made sure to give 1000% to. The return on investment is the experience itself. I had an amazing time…

Spoon Sports and The 25 Hours of Thunderhill… Part 1…

Spoon Sports and The 25 Hours of Thunderhill… Part 1…

These photos have actually been sitting on my PC desktop for some time now because I’ve been trying to decide on whether or not I should post them up or not. I had this idea that it would be cool to compile some of the best shots and put them into a hard cover book but I’ve been so busy trying to finish Volume 3 that I just haven’t had time. This one wouldn’t be anything intricate, it would just be a small collector’s item type of print and even Aaron from Spoon Sports USA liked the idea. I just haven’t gotten around to it yet and don’t want these photos to go unseen so I figured I’d start putting them up here on the site now. Aaron invited me to come out to the 25 Hours of Thunderhill a few months ago when he started building an FK8 Civic Type R for the endurance competition. I’ve never been to an endurance race before and being a part of anything Spoon Sports-related is usually pretty fun so I agreed to go. I think Aaron has always been appreciative of my work and wanted me out there to capture the behind-the-scenes feel of the event. He told me that it was going to be pretty tiring and most of the time we wouldn’t have much time to sleep at all and it was going to be incredibly cold. All those things occur regularly in my normal life anyway so nothing he told me sounded too daunting, lol. My only condition was that I wanted to bring Der along with me so he could experience the event as well. Aaron had no problem with that and  mentioned that we’d be very well taken care of all weekend. There would be a hotel, multiple RVs for us to chill inside of, and a dedicated staff to make sure everyone was fed. There was even a menu all planned-out and all. It didn’t sound like anything I’d really have to ‘endure’ and I already agreed to go long before any of the good stuff was mentioned, but I liked the fact that he was so thoughtful…

Ichi’s Farewell At The 25 Hours Of Thunderhill…(Part 1/2) CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #27

Ichi’s Farewell At The 25 Hours Of Thunderhill…(Part 1/2) CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #27

This was a special one. Normally I wouldn’t even attempt to cover a grueling event like The 25 Hours of Thunderhill but I made an exception when Spoon Sports extended the invitation. Not only was their FK8 Civic Type R competing in this series for the first time, it became a monumental event because Tatsuru Ichishima, founder of Spoon Sports, was retiring. To give him a proper send-off, the entire team decided to compete and hopefully bring home a victory at one of his favorite events! Spoon Sports went all out for this one, bringing over their entire staff from Type ONE to be the pit crew for the race as well as having a full staff on-hand to make sure we had three meals per day! I’ve never experienced anything like it. We were so taken care of that I think this will forever ruin other race events for me, haha. Watch as I document the journey from start to finish before Ichishima says goodbye!