Tag Archive for ‘the chronicles vlog’

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!…

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…

Kansai Car Culture Is Absolutely Thriving!!…

Kansai Car Culture Is Absolutely Thriving!!…

You know what I enjoy the most about going to various car events in Japan? I’ll most certainly always come across something that is interesting or that I’ve never seen before. And I’m being completely honest. That’s why I’m open to seeing everything possible while I’m out here. There will be times when I go to a meet or show back at home in the States and I’ll genuinely ask myself, like why did I even come to this? Lol. That sounds terrible but I mean, you get so used to seeing what you see at home that traveling is so incredibly important to keep the creative juices flowing, you know what I mean? When I was planning out my trip, and I use the word ‘planning’ very loosely, I put together a list of events that were happening during my stay. That way I didn’t miss an opportunity to go see something new. It just so happened that while I was in Osaka, there was a Central Time Attack Challenge (CTAC) happening in nearby Hyogo. I had a great time last year when I went to Central for a Honda time attack event so I wasn’t about to miss this one. CTAC has some pretty fast, competitive, time attack cars at all their events. Most are Hondas but there are other makes and models competing as well like RX-7s, R35 GTRs, etc. There were a couple guys that we knew that were driving that day too so Yasu and I made a day of it. What I quickly came to realize is that car culture in this region is absolutely thriving in 2023. The parking lot was full of spectator cars as well as support vehicles, the paddock was jampacked with cars, and the sounds of straight-piped exhausts were bouncing off the walls as cars ripped through the straights of Central Circuit. What a fantastic day this was…

Massive Kyusha Gathering In Japan!!…

Massive Kyusha Gathering In Japan!!…

While I’m in Japan, I’m always looking for new stuff to see and experience when it comes to car culture. I know I’ve become known as more of a curator for Honda content over the years but my interests actually extend far past just Hondas and Acuras. I’m just exposed more to it than most and have built a strong following within that subculture. When my friend JC Pepino from Work Wheels informed me of a big Kyusha meet happening in Hyogo, I instantly knew that it was going to be a positive experience. I’ve never been to an old school Japanese classic car gathering before so I wasn’t going to miss this one. It just so happened that this meet was happening on Awaji Island where Sara wanted to go anyway so it all kind of worked out. I got to see some car stuff and she got to do her thing at Naruto land. What’s Kyusha and what is Naruto? Well, I attempt to explain at least one of those things in this episode…

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!!

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…

Grip Or Drift, WHO WINS???…

Grip Or Drift, WHO WINS???…

Just when I think things are winding down, even more events appear! Recently, the guys from Final Bout, a popular drift series, contacted the organizers of VTEC Club USA to see if they wanted to link-up to create a new one-of-a-kind event. They wanted to see if they could take their drift cars, set them up for grip, and take on some seasoned (and very fast) Honda time attack competitors. Would their skills and their cars stack-up against some of the best at the famed Willow Springs Raceway? I was intrigued myself so I wanted to see for myself! I’m sure this would present a pretty unique group of cars as well so I definitely did not want to miss out…

Happy Honda Holidays From Me To You…

Happy Honda Holidays From Me To You…

Seasons greetings everyone! It’s the holiday season and everyone out here seems to be organizing toy drive-themed car events every weekend. It’s all for a good cause so we make sure to show up to as many as we can to give back. It’s also nice just to do car things and see friends of course so why not take advantage of time to do both? First, we stop by the GReddy Food Drive to drop-off some raffle prizes, then we head to our friend Barry Ancheta’s Stay Classick Sleighride event to drop-off some toys and see some good Honda builds!! I think you guys will enjoy this particular episode if you’ve been a subscriber for a long time here. It’ll give you guys a good glimpse of what 2023 holds….better video quality, including 4K resolution! I’m still undecided on whether or not to go full 60 FPS because I enjoy the more cinematic feel of 30 FPS but I’ll leave it up to you guys. Let me know what you guys think!! Oh yeah, and Ryan Der continues to make progress on his Civic project as well. He’s ramping up to finally make some major changes to the car so stay tuned if you enjoy his build thus far…

The Chronicles Friendsgiving Event!!…

The Chronicles Friendsgiving Event!!…

It’s been a whole year since the last time we had a car meet at The Chronicles HQ. Originally I had planned to do a couple of them over the summer season but it just got way too busy with all the traveling and events. Things have finally slowed down a little bit at home so I though that Thanksgiving weekend would be a perfect time to have a meet again. There’s nothing better than just having that free time to hang out with friends and enthusiasts over a long weekend. The week before that, Der and I stopped by our friend David’s monthly “Brew’s Cruise” event in Long Beach and let’s just say we ran into a pretty interesting character there. Hindsight being 20/20, we still have no idea what car that was….

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!!