Tag Archive for ‘voltex suzuka’

A few quick hits from Wekfest Los Angeles 2024…

A few quick hits from Wekfest Los Angeles 2024…

Damn, it has been a while since I put together one of these posts. For years and years, the long-form event coverage posts were a bit of a staple here on the site. People that enjoyed reading and seeing large batches of photos would come here to see coverage of events I attended. I’d usually get them up about a day or two after the event too so it gave people the sense of actually being there or some semblance of that. It has long been one of my favorite things to do. Writing that is. It comes so naturally to me that it’s never really been a ‘chore’ do put posts together like this…

So why did I stop?…
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Wrapping up the season at the biggest car show in Los Angeles…

Wrapping up the season at the biggest car show in Los Angeles…

It’s been a pretty big year for us when it comes to car shows but it was time to close out the car show season in Los Angeles for the annual Wekfest event. Since this is one of our biggest shows and one happening in our hometown, we wanted to do something major by having a big display for Battlecraft, Exceed, and The Chronicles. Our brand new Voltex GR86 Street Version II was set to make its first public appearance at this show so we created a full floor display for it so the car could sit center stage. Our actual wheels were still on a boat somewhere in the Pacific Ocean so we decided to present the car on a brand new set of dead stock bronze Volk CE28N wheels. In our heads, we knew this would look good but still ended-up shocked when we finally saw the wheels on the car for the first time. After our excitement calmed we loaded the car up onto the trailer and were off the next morning to the Los Angeles Convention Center…
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The U.S. debut of the first Voltex Widebody GR86 and Exceed Japan FL5 Civic Type R…

The U.S. debut of the first Voltex Widebody GR86 and Exceed Japan FL5 Civic Type R…

After landing back at home in California, Yasu and I show up with a bunch of parts and only a few days to help complete the USA’s first Voltex Street Version II widebody GR86. Kristian and Jay had been hard at work on the GR86 over the last few months but I had been in Asia so even I had no idea how the car would look. Before I left, the car was literally in pieces. I was excited to see how much the car had changed and boy was I surprised but how far along the car was. We had enough time to even work on my FL5 Civic Type R! Since we had brought the brand new Exceed aero kit for the Type R back from Osaka with us, we immediately had to throw it on to see how it looked in completed form. Good thing I already had wheels waiting to be installed and a meaty set of Yokohama ADVAN tires…
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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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