Long ass post, lots of stuff to show.. Stopped by Daryl’s the other day and he happened to have Paul Walker’s 34 sitting around.

Some of you will remember that this thing was on the cover of SCC a while back.

Serious business under the bonnet. That really is a Tomei motor and SCC really did blow it during testing.

Damn, most of my posts have food in them. I’m such a heffer.. What can I say, eating is enjoyable. Later that night I went to Anjin, this dope Japanese BBQ place in Costa Mesa.

Kim chee and assorted veggies to temp the palate.

The setup is there’s this mini grill thing in the middle of the table and you pick what kind of meats you’d like to grill. Here’s two orders of my personal fav, short rib.

Here’s an order of rib eye. They also have veggies you can grill up and even other dope stuff like sausages, tripe and even liver if you’re into that.

There’s nothing quite like BBQ-ing at your own table. The smells coming off the grill are half of what makes everything so damn good.

I actually really like cooking. It’s really calming. Especially with these days being as hectic as they are, it’s great to come home and cook yourself a meal. Even better still is being able to cook and not having to clean up!

So once you have some cooked meat you have your choice of two dipping sauces. One is peanut, sesame based and a lil thicker than the other which I think is a sort of soy sauce, lemon, ponzu one. I prefer the thinner ponzu one.

Dessert consisted of almond pudding and a hot cup of tea. Perfect.

Lastly, Les’ wheels finally got wrapped in some Falkens. Here’s his 19″. Dig the gold rivets and unicorn.

Check out the J-Chrome. It’s SO high quality it looks like it’s plastic.

255 on a 11.

18×8.5

Front’s a little more aggressive without being as aggressive..

Ideally it woulda been a 205 but due to availability we went with a 215 instead. Wait till you see the whole product..

This morning I had to go meet with a gentleman by the name of Paul Stary, Owner/CEO of Virtual GT. He called with interest in possibly collaborating with us since we’re involved with the GT Cockpit. He has a warehouse that builds these, but he runs much of the business side out of a complex he owns in Costa Mesa. I was pretty amazed as he put me to the test and let me get up on this thing. Although I’m quite sure I failed, it was real racing entertainment. It combines amazing sound with real feeling in the steering wheel, pedals, and torso area. The legs even have suspension. This thing runs around $20K! He’s looking to begin producing an affordable version that can be upgraded. That’s Paul btw.

So many switches! You can do just about anything, seriously.

The one you see here is his Version 2 prototype. Hopefully, we’ll be able to work on something mutually beneficial together. We’ll have to wait and see.

I’ve been spending a lot of time at the office and putting in hours on the weekends as well. Seems like right after summer ends, it’s all forward motion hustle getting ready for SEMA and next year’s plans. Looking forward to 2007 Tokyo Auto Salon in January. There’s so much more to think about and do nowadays, but able to take it in stride.

Anyway, we got a shipment of more wheels and to my surprise it included the Circlar RS in a Gun Metal finish. It was a pleasant surprise since we weren’t expecting it. This wheel has been around for a while in Japan, but we’ve recently re-introduced it to the U.S. It uses the same exact barrel as the Super Advan Racing Version II. The Gun Metal RS never officially became a standard color. Just thought you’d like to see a nice gun metal finish. Different from the TSSC which is a very raw looking finish. This one you’re looking at is a 18×10J +15 ET.

Orochon over in Little Tokyo is one of the best Ramen places I’ve ever been to. Granted I’ve only been to a couple handfuls of places, but damn is this one worlds above the rest. It comes in at an extremely close 2nd to Shin Sen Gumi. Thanks to RJ for taking us here a while back, I’ve been there more than a handful of times since then.

Spicy scallops for the appetizer.

Orion. By far my favorite J-Beer. Orochon and Shin Sen are the one of the few Ramen joints that carry it.

Alright, so here’s the dil’. You choose your soup base, then your spice level and then your toppings. I’m at a tame 5. That’s already enough to get me sweating.

DAMN good Ramen. The Chashu is heaven! Insanely tender, nice and fatty. Helps me maintain my heffer status.

Here’s a shot of the LA skyline from Lil’ Tokyo. Calming, almost serene even.

Went to Dave n’ Busters afterwards for a friend’s thing. Saw this one Go-Kart game..

Credits come up and guess what logo rolls on by. Sickness.

Endless produces brake systems for Mode Parfume x Blow Design whom happen to produce some nice looking aerokit designs for sedans and k-cars. Peep their owner’s gallery. I’ve been a fan of Mode Parfume so I was glad to hear about the collaboration.

Here’s a close up.

I just thought this was a really cool looking image on a tee shirt so I had to purchase it from Digital Gravel and share it. Come think of it, I’ve been buying from DG for a few years now. So anyway, Estevan Oriol captures some really amazing images. You can get a gist of what he does from this link.

The ol’ doo’s been needing a bit of maintenance so it was off to Tony & Guy in Newport.

Really nice inside in my opinion. Bright, airy, lots of stuff goin on but good atmosphere.

Sara’s been my stylist for quite a while now. Dare I say it’s been over a year already.. She’s really awesome. Loads of fun to talk to, gives the best scalp massages while she conditions and is just about the most cheery person you’ll find. After a tough day at the office it was good to relax and let her work her magic.

I must admit that Tony & Guy is a little on the high end side but Sara gets it right time and time again. Hey, you get what you pay for right? Sara if you’re reading this, you’re the best! Drink that wine I gave you!!

On my way home I noticed that the progress with the Newport Lexus was going swimmingly. I was skeptic when Kent said that Lexus would compete with brand images like BMW and Mercedes one day, but I gotta give credit where credit is due. That’s a nice fountain on the left. I have a thing for fountains.

I didn’t have a super duper wide angle lense so I couldn’t convey the size of this place. It’s no Longo Lexus in terms of size and cool factor (Marc Fata makes Longo Lexus), but it doesn’t look shabby. Not too shabby at all.. Don’t be surprised if you see them carry AME’s in the future.

Just in case you weren’t aware, we helped link up Endless and AME so that Endless could produce brakes for AME. Purple. Mainly minivans because minivans in Japan rule and AME has roughly 60 - 70% of that market share. Can’t wait to see that movement happen stateside.

Spacers. Or in proper JDM terminology, “Wheel Fit Spacers.”

Hub fit adaptors.

Thanks to Glenn @ Turn3, we got our tags in. I’m really happy about that. We’re taking baby steps with very few items and very small quantities at first, but we have a couple of tees and a hoodie we’re really excited about which should debut around October. Can’t wait!

On my way to work today I saw a pretty clean Fairlady that I think coulda been approved for Hella Flush, but he was driving way too fast for me to chase AND take a picture. Slow down if you see someone trying to take a picture of you. You might see your ride given props somewhere.

Mr. Brian Wong’s new footwork for his Z33 Fairlady. Super Function Type-C. Coilover type in the rear, independent compression and rebound settings, remote reservoirs, dial adjuster extensions.. Serious equipment indeed.

Even the reservoirs have height adjustable brackets. Sick.

Where most other coilovers leave off, these deliver. The adjustment dials for rebound on the remote reservoirs.

Function Tarmac for a GC8. SUPER rare. This is like getting that rare pair of sneaks that no one else has..

Inverted monotube design places the adjustment dials at the bottom of the coilover.

Our Function logo is imprinted onto the upper mounts. Quality you can taste!

Man, Japan really outdoes themselves. New packaging for the SS-M front/rear set. Gotta love J-Quality.

Metallic Panther..?

That’s quite a few brake kits..

Had a craving for sushi so I ended up at Uoko in Tustin. This lil joint and another branch in Lake Forest happen to be owned by Satoshi’s (from Dynamic Autosport) family. These days it’s almost hard finding a Japanese restaurant actually owned and operated by Japanese people. Nice atmosphere inside too, very authentic.

Satoshi happened to be working tonight and hooked it up with Miso soup and Mango ice cream.

Standard stuff.. Spicy tuna roll, Phily roll for some reason and a Spicy tuna hand roll for moi.

They had this thing called Poki bowl on the menu. I love poki so it was a must try. Pretty different from what I’ve had before. You know, the standard tuna with the sauce? Pretty good nonetheless.

This dish was dope. Asparagus and scallops sizzlin on a hot plate. My mom would be proud seeing me so enthusiastic over vegetables.

Baby lobster roll. Had baby lobster tempura in the middle. Awesome texture because of it.

Gotta have Unagi. Definite favorite of mine when it’s done well. Uoko’s got my stamp of approval for sure.
 

Uoko in Tustin (or Lake Forest for that matter) was a definite good choice. Good meeting Satoshi in person finally too. Thanks for the mango ice cream! 

The Enkei manufacturing plant, which produces AME Wheels amongst other very high-quality wheel brands that I am unwilling and unable to share at this time, is the ONLY wheel manufacturing plant in the world that is ISO 9000 certified. What does this mean? That there are probably less than 1 defect per million units produced. Basically it’s to assure customers that suppliers can provide quality products and services. Basically, it’s a quality management system intended to serve the needs of customers. ISO is recognized worldwide and can be used by Toyota, Honda, etc. to use in their evaluation of Enkei and their products. AME gets the benefit of knowing that ISO has approved them which is another requirement as a supplier for Toyota (especially) and other companies. It’s taken Enkei several years to become ISO certified. Google “ISO 9000″ to get more information or click here.