Time Slip Dori Ten March 2002: Satsukawa Bros

Satsukawa brothers from A-BO-MOON are kings of 4 door... They are cool because their cars have essentially stayed the same (late 90`s early 00s styling) till this day. I hope they keep doing what they are doing for many years to come.

Hellaflush Kansai 2012 part 7: Personal Opinions

Just a quick note, if you are going to use my pics elsewhere (i.e. facebook) i have no problem with you using them. Just leave a link to this page or my Facebook page.

The more i look through the pictures i took at Hellaflush the more i think it wasn`t as great a show as the Fuji one was last year. I realize the majority of my pics boiled down to around 20-30 cars... there were something like 350 participating. Hopefully the Nagoya one in October will be amazing since it is in between Kansai and Kanto.

This Legacy was on point... Japan has a huge Subaru Legacy following, event having its one quarterly magazine but you rarely see one this good.

I usually dig 180s but i just couldn`t bring myself to like this one, if it had a type-x wing or Manriki wing i think it would have looked better

One of the T-Welding S13s 

One of the cars i thought was cool at last years event was this WWII German fighter plane styled S14... now though i don`t know what the owner is trying to do but it is all a bit too much for me. Most of the pics i have seen on the internet of this car have the other side with the layered license plate front fender. On the passengers side however he used some old money notes? really not feeling the wheel color either.

Lastly, everyone has been drooling over the green D/L/K S15 with the 3D Star kit. In my opinion though the Sato-Auto built 3D strawberry was the better of the two....but just my opinion.

Hellaflush Kansai 2012: Part 6

Check out this blue JZX81 Chaser owned by Roger who might have been the only foreigner entered in the show. According to my friend Brian he is extremely knowledgeable about the JZX81 and according to another of my friends is a gangster drifter he even got featured in Drift Tengoku because of his knowledge of hachi-ichis. He had some bad luck headed down to Kansai blowing a tire but he got the car to the show. I talked to him for a minute, really nice guy.

If Chasers aren't your thing how about a flared 81 Mark II on BBS

Here is one to test your kyusha library... lets see who gets it right

Hellafunctional: Esprit Supra

Two things i love about Japan automotive culture. First, owners of badass track cars are not afriad to use them as daily drivers and second, expressway parking areas are the ideal places where owners of badass track cars  meet to take time to have a cup of coffee. Case in point the car below: the Esprit Supra. On our way home from Hellaflush Kansai we pulled into one of the many rest stops that dot the brand new Tomei Expressway. It looked totally surreal to see this fully stripped and caged monster just sitting there. The wing and rear diffuser are made out of dry carbon. I did some digging and found the aero alone runs around $8G USD! It was also running huge Endless brakes and TE37s with semi slick Hankook Ventus TDs. Perhaps the owner was doing top speed blasts down the newly paved tarmac and pulled in for a breather... one can only imagine what it must be like driving this thing.

Thanks RA64Freddy for finding the track pic, i knew i seen the car somewhere

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Japan Roadster Style

Today i went to cover Japan`s largest roadster gathering, the Karuizawa Meeting in Nagano for mazdaroadster.net I don`t think they will mind if i share one pic. This is the definition of Japan Roadster style. unlike the trend  stateside the past few years of running Miatas super low on extremely deep dish wheels Japan`s take is usually very subtle changes, never lowering a car too much, or rims with too little offset, to not throw the suspension geometry out of order.

The Looking 7 in 7 pictures

When i saw this car waiting in the 2 kilometer line to get in i knew i had to shoot it. By the time the car finally made it into the show at around 12 (roll in was at 8) all the show spaces were taken up and they started putting entries in other places around the track. This actually worked out better than expected because i was able to get clean side profile shots and also from above as well. Also people only just took quick glances at this FD, i guess they wanted to see the actual display area. I`m usually not really a fan of VIP style rims on sports cars but this one is really well done. 

No Trailer Required

D/L/K S14 and Supermade S14 (i think)

Hellaflush Kansai 2012 part 5

Mark II with professors, looking like it came straight out of Kawasaki

I have only seen a handful of pics of this s14 floating around on the net, it was good to see it in person

No zipties here. The back was interesting with a welded up Japan rising sun flag

This Mark II wagon was another one of my favorites. The guy has a 1J under the hood with a monster turbo. I hope the owner finishes the fenders on the rear

The 326 Bimmer on CCWs. I think this is the first time i have seen a set in Japan

Hellaflush Kansai 2012 Part 4

I really dig this old 4door skyline, it is definitely one of the less modded kyusha platforms

Japan gets it right no matter what era... the guy in the skyline was probably thinking `i was tsuraichi styling before you were born`

the D/L/K guys definitely know how to roll. The green S15 won best hellaflush by the way,  i kinda like it without the bumpers

This type of paint style has become very popular over the past 2 years, you can see it on everything from drift to vip.

The metallic blue zenki

...and white kouki, the Volk GT-7s are a pretty interesting choice in wheels.

This Celsior was pretty well put together. I have seen more people run race type rims like TE37s on VIP platforms in recent years. In fact a good number of VIP sedans at the show were on TE37SLs

Here they are lined up. I wish i got a pic of the Honda Stream that was rolling with them as well... maybe i have one but i gotta dig around for it. The D/L/K guys were super cool too. They really enjoy when people take pics of their cars.

Hellaflush Kansai 2012 part 3: Nakkan`s 180

I have been following Nakkan-san`s build of his 180 for quite a while now. I remember when he first had the sticker bombed front fender, then he painted it for the first Hellaflush at Fuji. At that time he was running SSR Koenigs. This time around he decided to rock a set of equally baller Equips and wider fenders.

First the suspension, Nakkan runs Buddy Club Jr spec with 13kg front and 11kg back. For the front he shortened the stabilizing links and added a Nismo Power Brace. He also added a set of Yashio Factory Kiwami core support guards, The front member has been reinforced by welding various locations. Also, he extended the lower arms and added a set of Ikeya Formula control rods. If you are wondering what -9 degrees of camber looks like just look at his front.

 The rear features the full spread of aftermarket arms, the rear member has been raised by 20mm and the diff has been raised by 10mm. The back gets negative 7 degrees of camber.

 Everything you see on the car is stock metal. The fronts have been pulled out 30mm and the rears, the rears have been pulled 60mm and have been raised by another 40mm!

I`m sure everyone is wondering about the rim specs, the fronts are 18x9.5j +3 with a 28mm spacer and the rears are 18x11j -3 with a 8mm spacer. Tires are 205/35 and 245/35. The engine features the regular upgrades to keep the SR healthy, check out the zokusha type airhorns. 

Yup, Nakkan is a pretty cool dude