Tag Archive for ‘time attack’

Pit-Walk At A Honda One-Make Race In Kansai!!…

Pit-Walk At A Honda One-Make Race In Kansai!!…

After Wekfest Japan and Doridore, we had a day-off to just do regular life, touristy things. Obviously I’ve been to Osaka many, many times but Nana had yet to fully experience what Osaka was all about. So we spent a day just showing her around before waking-up early the following morning to go to Central Circuit. Zerofighter was hosting one of their Honda One-Make races there and it looked to have a pretty solid collective of competition cars. Things get super interesting later in the day when it starts to rain pretty heavily but overall, it was another fun day out in Japan doing car stuff. Enjoy!…

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…

Attack Tsukuba and Zummy Racing Time Attack 2023 Coverage… Part 2…

Attack Tsukuba and Zummy Racing Time Attack 2023 Coverage… Part 2…

After the Zummy Racing event ended the day prior, we had dinner and checked into our hotel for the evening. There wasn’t a whole lot to do out in Ibaraki so we decided to just rest-up. I edited photos, went through some videos for a Vlog episode and called it a night. We got up pretty early to head to Tsukuba Circuit since we anticipated a pretty busy morning. This was Attack’s 10th anniversary event and as such, was planned to be their biggest event to date. With the borders finally re-opened to the world, foreigners like us would most definitely want to attend this incredible event. We stopped to grab breakfast and by the time we arrived at Tsukuba, there was already a really long line to get inside. Thankfully, we were able to get some pit passes the day before and were able to drive right in…

Attack Tsukuba and Zummy Racing Time Attack 2023 Coverage… Part 1…

Attack Tsukuba and Zummy Racing Time Attack 2023 Coverage… Part 1…

I will start this off by simply telling you the sole reason why Attack Tsukuba is one of my favorite events to attend anywhere in the world; Everything about this event represents the evolved version of everything I loved about the Japanese tuning scene growing-up. There isn’t another place, other than Tokyo Auto Salon, where you’ll see all these democars from famed tuning shops together with some amazing privateer builds you’ve never seen before. I mean, where else will you see some of the cars from the infamous Mid Night racing team out and about in the daylight? It’s overwhelming to be quite honest. There is just SO MUCH to consume all at once. This is my third time attending Attack here at Tsukuba Circuit and I still find it to be complete visual overload. You know how sometimes you go to an event and can’t wait to leave? Well this is the complete opposite of that. There actually aren’t enough seconds in the day to see everything…

Attack Tsukuba Is Tuning Car Heaven!!…

Attack Tsukuba Is Tuning Car Heaven!!…

Ask any of my friends who have been to Attack Tsukuba before and they’ll tell you with certainty that this is their favorite event in Japan. It’s literally tuning car heaven and everything you could ask for if you’re a Japanese automotive enthusiast. There’s no other place where you can combine some of the fastest cars in the country with the style that we’ve grown-up appreciating. The quality is top-tier and the execution so unique on so many of these competition vehicles. It really needs to be witnessed in-person to truly be appreciated. You just have to be there at the famed Tsukuba Circuit. For those of you who have never been, don’t worry, I’m here to show you guys a little piece of why this event is so interesting. This year, I didn’t have any particular group of people or specific car to follow so my friends and I just tried to consume as much of Attack as we could. Der and Kristian came later on in my trip to Japan this year just so they could go to Attack, they almost didn’t care about seeing anything else—and I showed them all kinds of stuff!

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…

Car Make Across & JJ Cup Rd. 5 At Central Circuit Japan 2022…

Car Make Across & JJ Cup Rd. 5 At Central Circuit Japan 2022…

I typically go into most of my Japan trips without a schedule. It just works out easier that way. Things never go as planned so I’d rather just wing it most of the time and see what happens. Of course, there are specific things that I do want to do and see so I will make time for them. But, I was going to be there for an entire month and there was really no point in planning every single day out. The way Yasu works, my schedule was gonna get screwed-up anyway because he operates a lot like me. We would wake-up, get coffee and then decide what to do. These photos from the JJ Cup circuit event came to fruition randomly out of the blue. Neither I or Yasu knew that there was a track event that week. We were visiting a shop nearby and had some extra time to kill after, so Yasu asked if I wanted to make a stop at ACROSS to say hi to Joe. Typically I don’t think he is there during the day time but Yasu called and he just so happened to be there…

In Kansai, CIVIC IS CULTURE.

In Kansai, CIVIC IS CULTURE.

We’ve been taking you any and everywhere the last few episodes because there was so much going on during the Japanese “Golden Week” vacation period. It seemed like there was something going on every single day because people are just happy to be out and about again. But…in this episode, we get back down to business covering what we’ve come to be known for…All things in Japan, in the Kansai region specifically, related to ’90s era Honda Civics. The weekend of Golden Week, we were invited out to see the JJ Cup event at Central Circuit in Hyogo featuring a one-make style competition of time attack Civics. I do a track walkthrough of the event, show you guys some of the grittiest Hondas that this area has to offer. A day before that however, I stop by to make a shop visit to Charge in Osaka and also stop by to visit our friends at Mecha-Dock for a good old Golden Week BBQ!…