Tag Archive for ‘voltex suzuka’

Suzuka Adventures With Top Fuel Japan, Voltex & More!!…

Suzuka Adventures With Top Fuel Japan, Voltex & More!!…

Well, as sad as it may sound, the Osaka portion of our journeys have come to an end. I’m glad it ended the way it did but it was time for us to move back over to the Tokyo-side of Japan. As we approach our final major event at Tsukuba Circuit, we stop by over in the Mie prefecture to pay a visit to Top Fuel. If you watched my videos from my last visit to Japan, I had the opportunity to see Top Fuel for the first time. It was such an epic visit that I made sure to go again so that Der and Kristian could see this place for themselves. After Top Fuel, we made a stop at a local restaurant that we had previously frequented multiple times before. The food was always good considering it’s the only restaurant out in the middle of nowhere. Since the pandemic, however, it’s changed a little bit—to say the least. Eating there was an adventure in itself…
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Highlights from Tokyo Auto Salon 2023 in photos…

Highlights from Tokyo Auto Salon 2023 in photos…

Man it felt good to be back in Tokyo in January. After not being able to come the last two winters, for obvious reasons, I just felt like something was missing. Tokyo Auto Salon had become such an important stop on my annual calendar that I felt anxious to come back. Not being at the show threw my whole body clock off, lol. It’s just that old familiar feeling you know? When you have a routine and suddenly it’s broken or shifted, things just aren’t right. After coming back to Japan in late April of 2022, understanding all that was required for me to re-enter Japan, I knew I’d be back even if border restrictions continued to be in-place. This year, I decided to make my trip even longer than in 2022 when I stayed one whole month and a day. I had a couple of events that I had to attend here in Japan so I chose to stay a total of 40 days. Yes, 40 days in Japan. Before, I would fly to Japan for Auto Salon, stay for about 2 weeks, and then head back home because there was a Wekfest event scheduled in earlier February. Early February would usually have me in Hawaii for Wekfest and the NFL Super Bowl. The boys would usually make a fun trip out of it and have a BBQ at the AirBnB we’d stay at. When I found out that Hawaii was a no-go this year, it meant that I could stay longer. If Hawaii were to happen, that would mean that I would go to Japan, go home to California, fly to Hawaii for Wekfest, go home once again, and then fly right back to Japan. I’d make it back to Osaka just in time for the Auto Messe show and stay another week so I could attend Attack Tsukuba on the Tokyo-side. It sounds crazy but I did exactly that for the last two years before the pandemic. With no Hawaii Wekfest event this time, it saved me a lot of travel time and my body clock could stay consistent to one time zone…
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A Modern Day Look At The Legendary Top Fuel Japan…

A Modern Day Look At The Legendary Top Fuel Japan…

I should preface this story with a warning that whatever you’re reading is based on my own memories and my own research. They say that “everything on the internet stays forever” but that is certainly not the case for so much of the early 2000s car content. A lot of it is missing now, websites have disappeared, assets from servers are gone, and we are left with whatever we can find, which is scarce. Especially when you consider how much Japanese car content wasn’t on the internet back then so it’s even harder to dig-up information now…

As the title states, this is a look at Top Fuel in Matsuzaka, Mie, Japan in 2022. If anyone has visited them recently and done a story about them, I don’t know about it. It’s actually quite hard to find information on Top Fuel because the term “Top Fuel” is terrible for SEO. Like, you search it and all kinds of shit comes up, just nothing about Top Fuel, the tuning shop in Japan. For the younger viewers, this shop is iconic. Top Fuel shaped so many of my generation’s ideas on what a Honda should look like and how it should be built. It defined an ideal for us. I don’t think anyone has gone there lately to do much of a deep dive on their shop, considering the pandemic and all, but had they, it wouldn’t matter to me. This is my story on Top Fuel, what it looks like now, and how its history was the foundation for my love of Hondas. I don’t think I would be a Honda enthusiast today had it not been for Top Fuel. And had I not been a Honda guy, there would definitely not be “The Chronicles”…
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You Won’t Believe What We Found At Top Fuel Japan…

You Won’t Believe What We Found At Top Fuel Japan…

This one might be one of my favorite episodes yet! Just based purely on all the stuff I unexpectedly found while in the Mie prefecture. First we visit one of my all-time favorite shops for the first time ever, Top Fuel in Matsuzaka. I honestly didn’t know what to expect when we arrived, thinking that Top Fuel had shifted their focus to other cars and hadn’t placed much focus on Hondas anymore. I thought it would just be a empty shop with a bunch of Suzuki Swifts being worked on but boy was I wrong!! After that we stopped by Voltex in Suzuka for a visit which was also very cool because neither Yasu nor I had ever been. This area is so rich in tuning history that there was so many surprises. Wait until the very end, it’s a wild one! You’re gonna love it!
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The ITR Is Leaving, Der’s M3 Finally Runs, I Drive My Q45 & MORE!! CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #7…

The ITR Is Leaving, Der’s M3 Finally Runs, I Drive My Q45 & MORE!! CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #7…

SURPRISE! Here’s a brand new episode for you sooner than you probably expected!! That’s because so much is going on at the shop lately that I was able to compile a good amount of content all in about a week’s time. Major changes are going on in the back of the shop so we actually went and pulled all of our cars out—and that hardly ever happens! The departure of Chuy’s ITR may have been the catalyst to this change, but honestly, it was time for Yuta to figure out ways to make more space with so many projects coming in and out. Der’s been wanting to get his M3 going so he can finally sell it and while my Q45 was out, I just decided to clean it up and drive it around for the weekend. On top of all the cars getting moved around, we also stopped by a couple of meets and ran into some pretty interesting builds. There’s some classic Japanese goodness in there, some super cars we’ll never be able to afford, and we cap things off at the annual “EF vs DA Meet” hosted by Oldskoolhonda and Kenji from GReddy Performance. This one is a real treat if you’re a car enthusiast and an even more interesting video for those who have always wondered what our cars looked like outside. You don’t want to miss this one!!
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Our Weekends Are Loaded With Hondas… CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #6…

Our Weekends Are Loaded With Hondas… CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #6…

As things begin to open back up slowly, I’m reminded of just how much of our weekends are consumed with Hondas—but in a great way! On this episode, we continue to follow the progress on Ryan Der’s EK build as he finalizes his interior floor harness and adds power accessories to the Civic. Hatchbacks of that generation never came with power windows so it was one of his main objectives to add it with OEM components he sourced from wrecking yards. While that was going on, Phil’s S2000 made its return to the shop so that Yuta could do some repairs to it in preparation for a local drift event at Willow Springs. Our friend Gary from Auto Factory Realize wanted to test out the car to see what it felt like to have a drifting-oriented set-up on an S2000 since he had one of his own. The day after that, Der and I stop by the Doghouse Garage meet to support our fellow car enthusiasts. There were some pretty nice builds that showed-up and we found some time to just relax and chat with friends. This might be the best-looking Vlog of the season so far and I hope you enjoy it!! Make sure to stop by for the Premiere as well so you can chat with us while we watch the new episode!
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Classic Hondas, Special Guests & More Build Updates!! CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #5…

Classic Hondas, Special Guests & More Build Updates!! CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #5…

Oh boy, this is a jam-packed episode!! Cody needed to finish the livery on his FD2-converted Civic SI so he stops by to use our vinyl cutter. Somehow that turned into an entire night of hanging out with some friends and Ken Suen comes by to talk his usual shit. For whatever reason he has a MoTec display in his daily now and we try to figure out why. A few days after that, Der and I stop by a couple of car meets to check-out the latest in Southern California car culture. Things are opening back up now and there seems to be a car meet every week! Back at the shop, Der does more random stuff to his new EK build and Yuta is hard at work doing a Kaaz LSD install into our friend Gary’s S2000 from Auto Factory Realize. This one is loaded with content and you’ll even see some special guests pop-in to chat. Enjoy!!
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More Goodies For Der’s EK, Cody’s Civic Gets Aero & The Illest Car Meet!! CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #4…

More Goodies For Der’s EK, Cody’s Civic Gets Aero & The Illest Car Meet!! CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #4…

Cody recently got all his aero painted and put on his FA5 Civic SI so he stopped by the shop to show us. He seemed pretty excited about it which was unusual for him so we had to see the car for ourselves. Meanwhile, the guys from RCompound USA mounted some tires on Der’s temporary RS Watanabe wheels so he could install them on his EK. Once the wheels were on, we quickly realized that the car had to be lowered some more. A week later, we make a stop at Rodeo Public Market yet again for the Illest Pop-up and Car Show to check-out some cars and we finally get to see the new Volk Racing 21C wheel in-person.
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Illest Pop-Up & Car Meet 2021 Photos…

Illest Pop-Up & Car Meet 2021 Photos…

It seems that these days during these strange times, I’m either at the shop, at home, or at Rodeo Public Market for a car meet. Admittedly, I don’t get out as much these days for obvious reasons, but whenever there is something going on that is car-related down in Stanton, California, I’ll try to be there for it. It’s just a good central location to see some car stuff where my friends and I can meet up for a little bit to shoot the shit. I’m always looking for good content as well for the Vlogs and the car meets that are hosted there usually offer some pretty decent builds. Variety is also good too so you’ll see a little bit of everything at the Brekkie gatherings. While I was at the last event, my buddy Mark invited me to the Illest Pop-Up and Car Meet. They were set to drop some new merchandise and wanted to have a car meet at Rodeo Public Market since everyone was already pretty familiar with the locale. I hit up Der to see if he wanted to meet me there before we came back to the shop to work on his Civic and he had a roll of film to finish off anyway. We didn’t stay very long since Der was waiting for someone to drop off some parts he had purchased at the shop but I did manage to get some photos and video in the brief time we were there. Unlike the Brekkie meets which happen in the early mornings, this event was held during the late afternoon so it provided some pretty great lighting for photos.
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Brekkie Car Meet, Der’s New Wheels & More Build Updates!! CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #3…

Brekkie Car Meet, Der’s New Wheels & More Build Updates!! CHRNCLS Vlog 2021 #3…

I don’t know if you guys are enjoying these regular updates or not but there’s been plenty more work at the shop lately so I thought I’d keep you guys up-to-date. Der said he wanted to get some different wheels to roll around on since he didn’t want the car on steelies much longer so I went digging around one night and found him a set of wheels on Upgarage. This Civic is going to be a long process with a slow build-up so getting some wheels are just the beginning. Before that, we took a morning to go and check-out the latest Brekkie Car Club gathering. The meet is pretty new but is starting to pick-up a good amount of steam as it seems to be growing every time there’s a new one. We also mess with Der’s cup-holder for half the episode.
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