Brand new Japan episode to kick-off the new season!!…
Tag Archive for ‘Wekfest’
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?…
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…
Believe it or not, I actually paid $50.00 for this Honda S2000…
While I was in Japan one random evening about a month ago, I was laying in bed just doom-scrolling away on my phone when I came upon a post for a S2000 raffle back at home. I never join these things because frankly, I don’t think I’ll ever win. Are these things even legit? Who actually wins? For whatever reason, I decided I’d purchase a spot. What’s the real harm in spending $50 to support a fellow enthusiast? If anything it’ll be fun and I can join in on the collective disappointment with my fellow car people who participated…
…but there’s an actual chance I could win, right? Even if it’s a .001% chance, that’s still a possibility, right??….
Dave Chik’s Civic featuring the new Exceed V2 front lip…
A week before Wekfest San Jose, I had Dave’s Civic sitting here at the shop because we needed to install the new Exceed Version 2 front lip to debut at the show. He’ll be the first one to tell you that his Civic isn’t a ‘show car’ but myself and everyone around him thinks otherwise. It’s such an incredibly well-built car with some many nice detail touches. To us, it’s the perfect choice to run the new Exceed front lip. The Version 2 lip comes on the heels of the discontinuation of the original Exceed lip. It goes without saying, and it might be obvious to some, but the relationship between Exceed and Mode Parfume is now non-existent. The two companies parted ways due mainly to a difference in views and ethics so Yasu set-off to create a new variation of the popular Exceed lip…
What a busy weekend it was at Wekfest San Jose…
It really does feel like car things are happening non-stop now that we’re in the heart of the summer season. Not long after my trip to Seattle, it was time to prep for the San Jose stop of the Wekfest tour—which also happens to be the biggest. Yasu decided to make the trip for this one as well since we were set to debut the first two Exceed Japan V2 front lips in North America at the show. He finished up the new parts and literally had them overnighted to California so we would have the time to get them painted and installed. We carefully selected two of the nicest Civics in the West to debut the new Exceed lip and had a nice booth display right up front at the show! Before the show however, we had some prep work to do and then it was off to San Jose!…
Cutting up the Voltex GR86, Wekfest Seattle & first mods on the FL5 Type R…
Now that I’m back in the USA, it’s time for me to catch-up on all the stuff that’s been happening here at home. The moment I walked through the doors of Battlecraft, Kristian was already hard at work cutting-up our GR86 in preparation for the Voltex widebody kit. If all goes well, that project should be ready to debut by end of summer. A few days later, I re-packed my suitcase and hopped on a flight to Seattle, Washington for the annual Wekfest event. It was an incredibly busy weekend so I didn’t get much filming done, though I did catch a good portion of the early roll-in. When I got home from my trip to the PNW, I was already re-united with Yasu since he decided to make the trip to California for the upcoming Wekfest San Jose. He showed-up with the JDM headlights off of his FL5 Civic Type R and swapped them immediately since he’d been dying to get his hands on some USDM ones. Not long after, it was time to pay a visit to our friends at APEX’i since they had some special for my new Type R…
Plenty of surprises on a trip with Sara Choi and friends…
Over the past year or so, I’ve been joking around with Sara calling her my ‘manager’ because she’s been trying to convince me to go back to Indonesia with her. I went 7 years ago and though it was a fruitful life experience, I can honestly say that I didn’t have the greatest of times. I don’t think I ever made it a secret either. Whenever people asked me if I would go back, I often said I wouldn’t. Not so much because I was treated poorly or anything, I think the people that invited me last time tried the best they could to give me the most positive of an experience. Circumstances just made it difficult for me to fully enjoy it. When Sara Choi decided that she’d start competing in a drift series down in Indonesia, I was all for it. I’m always gonna root for one of my closest friends. She planned to spend a bulk of her time down there to practice and train to be a better driver but there were definitely times when I think she felt homesick and wanted her friends there. She brought it up a couple times and at first, I wasn’t really trying to go. Just because mainly I’m pretty busy as it is with a loaded travel schedule and I had this preconceived notion that I wouldn’t have much of a different experience if I went back. But some time went by and it seemed like Sara was really enjoying herself down there and wanted me to see it for myself so I told her if she wanted to plan it out for me, I’d bring some of our other friends down there too and we’d make a trip of it…
The Civic Type R you never knew I had in Japan—and why it’s gone now.
What if I told you that I’ve had an EK9 Civic Type R this whole time? Would you believe it? And what if I told you that it’s long gone now? Pretty crazy right? Well, it’s true. There’s another thing I have to tell you; it was supposed to be in California a long time ago. It’s a series of events, some rather unfortunate, that lead to the ultimate demise of an EK9 I had tucked away…
…and lead me and my friends on a journey to create another.
The One Where Our Friends From Japan Experience California Car Culture…
Finally after 3 years, Yasu is finally back in America! It feels like it has been forever since he’s been back and he even brought our friend Ryuji from NO GOOD RACING with him. A lot has changed over the last few years so he definitely had a lot to catch-up on. With it being Ryuji’s first-time in America, we wanted to make sure he had the best experience here in California. Luckily, there seemed to be a plethora of automotive events happening every week here. That’s just one of the many perks of living out here I suppose. Whatever they wanted to see, we found it whether it be car shows, meets, lowriders, the American Honda Collection Hall, etc. We did it all. This episode consists of our many adventures during the past few weeks with bits and pieces of everything we experienced. I know it seems like Yasu is typically the one showing me around Japan but it was time to return the favor and catch him up on all the amazing things our car culture has to offer…