Contrary to the title this wasn’t an industry karting day, although there were so many of us there it might as well have been. Fred hit us up a while back to tell us that JTuned and K1 Speed in Irvine were partnering up. To celebrate they invited us out for an evening of fine food (pizza) and karting.
I believe that’s Mike Sabounchi of Yokohama on the right and Fred right behind him. The karts at K1 are electric so there’s no need for a full race suit, but helmets and balaclavas are still required gear. Because the karts are electric there’s nearly no powerband, just instant power. Some people like it better, some people don’t and like the powerband on gas motors better. Also, other karts tend to slide a little more than these in my opinion. The brakes on these were wimpy in my opinion. All in all, fun nonetheless.
The Housh! was Mike Sabounchi. Wild Dog Buja was this one guy named Mike I met that was pretty damn fast. Fred was Dok Man. This was one of their faster heats. Notice 21.20 as the fastest time. The fastest I’ve ever gotten on Track 1 was 21.21. Then again, people bump into the barriers so much on Track 1 that it’s never the same track twice.
I thought this was kinda cool. Formula D drivers Stephen Papadakis and Tanner Foust in this heat. I gotta say, Foust has talent. I saw his times drop every time he went out there. In his last heat he hit 20.99. I’m envious cuz that’s where I wanna be. In the 20’s.
Some more times but from Track 2 this time. Track 2 is more technical and the lap times are a little slower.
There he is, Mr. Mike Sabounchi. He’s growin out the ’stache to be Borat for Halloween. Haha, so dope.
The creative genius, Mr. Troy Sumitomo of 5Axis.
We finished our heats way early in the night so we ended up chillin while everyone else battled it out on the track. Here’s Mr. Jerry Tsai checking out Track 1 action with us. Jerry is the creator of Pacific Rim, THE originator of apparel in our industry. Even I bought stuff from his website when I was in high school. What a trip. Jerry’s got the illest ‘61 Lincoln Continental ever. Black paint, thick white walls.. Man, I’m jealous.
The one and only RJ De Vera. RJ was gracious enough to invite me into his home when I was a wee little boy struggling to find my place in the industry. Over the years I’ve grown pretty close to this guy. He’s responsible for way too many things in this industry to list. But I think my favorite read with RJ in it lately had to be the one where they said he was an Asian gangster who fixed up cars. Hilarious.
Haha, I can’t believe we both used to think we didn’t like each other. The things you find out on drunken nights.. This is of course Mr. Fred Chang, Mr. JTuned.
This picture is so bad that I’ll be impressed if you can pick anyone out of this one.. In any case, after all the awards were passed out we huddled up for a group pic. Fun night overall. I haven’t been out to many of the industry parties lately so it was good to see people I don’t see on a daily basis. Thanks to Fred, JTuned and K1 for the night.