Some of the members of Team Droo-P came into town today to help Yoshioka prep and tune the car for this weekend. Kojima-san of Team Droo-P is shown here setting the backlash / preload for the ring and pinion BY HAND. Super OG.

Shot of the Toda Racing header, which I was told is a one-off custom unit.

Japanese Tentacle pronz!

Shot of his fuel setup. Peep the computer fans on the fuel cooler, suuu-whate!

Last D1GP USA at Irwindale, I guess Yoshioka was pullin so many G’z on the bank, it caused low oil pressure / starvation to the motor. As a result, they yanked the motor and sent it back to Japan, and then sent it back in the most perfect engine crate I’ve ever seen (shown partially disassembled obviously). I believe he’ll be going to a dry sump setup on this car as well in the future.

Corolla guys are investing in stock with pants companies right now. Engine work was done by Prime Garage in Japan.

This is what an empty engine bay looks like. Yes that’s an ARC radiator in a Rolla.

And through the magic of television, would you look at how tender and moi….err, I mean, look at how fast he put the motor in. Nah, after you’ve been a Corolla guy for the majority of your life, this is child’s play.

This is where he either a) dropped his keys, or b) was tightening down the motor mounts.

Since he’ll be competing this year in Formula D as well, he had to cut out and remove his previous Safety 21 / custom cage to meet the tubing wall thickness requirements. All you Yoshioka fans will notice the underlying blue paint, which was from his Espelir paint scheme a few years back.

Cage work was done by a shop A-Tech here in Socal. The boxes, welds, and tolerance came out well, and was recently passed this past weekend at Formula D tech.

Oxymoron of the day: An 1986 Toyota Corolla with Project Mu calipers and Volk Racing CE28’s.

When you are a true O.G double O.G D1GP driver, Works Bell Japan makes you a special edition Rapfix II quick release. Horn button (cover) I believe was made by one of his friends, custom laser etched.

The XL version of the Toshiking sticker. Wish him good luck this year in Formula D!

Sunday Feb. 10 2008. JDM vs DTM Chinatown Showoff. peep www.jdmvsdtm.com for more details..

…I go to watch Monster Jam! SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY! (technically it was on a Saturday, but Sunday sounds better) It was raining and cold at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, but small price to pay to see some crazy trucks.

I am not passionately into monster trucks, but as a kid I was, and when a friend presented the option, I thought why not. There are some new trucks since when I was a kid, but they still had Gravedigger (well, one of the many) out there.

This Escalade body monster truck had spinners on the wheels…on MONSTER TRUCK SIZE wheels. Bad ass.

Due to the layout and size of Angel stadium, they weren’t able to set up any crazy stuff. I wanted to see trucks go over 5 cars at a time, but oh well, they still got sick air regardless.

They had competition first, then later did freestyle. This Donkey Kong truck blew the rear passenger shocks mid jump and looked like a 64 impala with the gangsta lean. But it was even cooler when the trucks were…

…FLIPPING OVER! Get some!!!

The homey Yoshioka sent me photos of his personal S13 Silvia in Japan. Well, under a bed of snow, that is. Reminds me of the “Zombie car” (Brian W., MA-Motorsports), pre-destruction days.

Bet you didn’t know Toshiking got down with the Nissans huh? Super clean style too. Aggressive 17/18 stagger Regamasters, clean paint color, aero, brick headlights, etc. Mild, yet effective.

Mr. Ben Craft from Kame-Trick was gracious enough to share pics with us here and here.

The date for the launch of the new Endless USA website is partly dependent on when Jin feels like coming in to the office. We’re not sure where he is. Thus, we’re not too sure when the site will launch. Until he decides to pop in, here are a few photos from Japan (that have nowhere else to go) on set-up day. We didn’t attend TAS this year so this is all we have to offer. See our big brake system floating above? As you can see, it’s in currently in limbo..like our website.

Onto other news, our Endless GT-R already equipped with safety equipment..

..behind some GTC-01’s.

And then there’s the new EVO X that’s slated to compete in the Super Taikyu 2008 season. Craftsquare which we conveniently offer is collaborating with Endless to produce mirrors for the new EVO X.

Behind both the GTC-01s and the RC-T4s are the new Endless Monoblock calipers.

For those still in Japan, HKS is hosting Premium Day at FSW, an event to commemorate their 35th anniversary at Fuji Speedway. It will include the Endless Z33 GT300 vs the HKS CT230R, a Nobu Taniguchi Drift Demo Run, Option Super Battle and more. If you’re in Japan, have fun..we’ll probably still be waiting for Jin to come in.

For those going to Tokyo Auto Salon in January of 2008, Kyoho always hosts a private exhibition at the Hotel New Otani Makuhari (Shell Room) on 01/11/2008 Friday only. It is invite only so any dealers/media interested in attending, email me at kent[at]brand-endless.com

Sample sticker for the TM-02 packaging arrived.. The first sample set for the S15 arrives early January in Gun Black and Hyper Silver.

They did it! The ugly Z did it!

The Endless ST.1 Z33 took 1st again at Round 6: Sugo. Even with one more round left in the series, the Endless Z33 is so far ahead in points that no matter what happens at Round 7, they’ve secured the Championship.

Many congratulations to the team. Pretty damn badass. Just wait till they do it next year with the new GTR..

Whew, long weekend. PRI from Thursday till Saturday and then I made it to KROQ’s Almost Acoustic X-Mas on Sunday. Muse was phenomenal.
Anyhoo, because Orlando is on Eastern time, I never fell asleep before 4am either night. Joy.. Surprisingly, I still got up in time to make it to the show. Now since its PRI, most of the stuff there was really technical and well, geeky. In an effort to not bore you guys to death, I tried picking out the least geeky stuff.

Here’s a limited edition Ayrton Senna Tony Kart. I know nothing about karts, but it looked pimp and I overheard that all 200 or so units were already sold.

Works Bell (ASpec) had a booth. Here’s Takashi and super-happy-J-dude.

I feel kinda dumb for posting this, but the award for the hottest girl at PRI goes to the Eneos chick. She looked strangely familiar.. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was someone “well known.” But in any case, I didn’t wanna be an obvious perv so I pretended to take a picture of the “booth”. Hence the photo being so bad. Yeah, I know; fail.

Swung by Alpinestars and chatted with Stephen. Always great to see that guy. Great conversation. He showed me their newest suit; mobile suit gundam! Crazy..

Puma had a booth there too. On display was 2007 World Champion, Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari F1 suit. Iconic.

In the HKS Europe / USA booth, they had their Time Attack Monster on display. Here’s something interesting for all you people who swear you need a front AND a rear brake system: This EVO only runs a front. Has to be my favorite EVO of all time.

I was surprised to hear that LOT had a booth but sure enough they did and they even brought out some super nutzo new seats. Apparently this is the girly one and there’s a more manly one too. I think I heard Shino say something about $3000..

Last, but certainly not least, BSR Products. Check out their website. They carry real race products like Hans devices, data loggers, and full pedal assemblies (not the pedal covers you get from Razo). The main reason I came to Florida was to meet with the head honchos at BSR. If you were at the show then you might already know about the news, but if all goes well, we’ll be making a big announcement about Endless and BSR real soon.

Sitting here collating dyno graphs, boiling point data and business agreements before I leave for PRI. I’ll be out and about at PRI and in Orlando all day Friday. If anyone else is gonna be out there, give me a holler. Dom[at]og-made.com or swing by the Hyatt Place at Universal Citywalk.

Congratulations to the Endless GT300 Fairlady for taking 3rd place at Round 8 of the Super GT series. Kind of an awkward podium photo.. but..

Here I am prepping the Z for morning warm-up……………………………………. j/k

Nutzo.