If you have not seen this DVD, you should. No, seriously. I watched it a few years ago and it recently came up in conversation, which is why I bring it up now. It’s a documentary about the show scene in the tuner market that, honestly, is pretty damn accurate. From a sociological standpoint, the content and insight into the lives of the “show enthusiasts” is spot on. The only mistake made is in the DVD’s interpretation by “outsiders.”

(Sorry arj, this was the only screen capture I could find)
IGN wrote a review about the DVD saying, ”R-Generation will give you the best understanding of the import scene and culture.“ Quite ignorant, but not surprising they made that generalization.
Watch it for yourself though. It’s like a trainwreck; painful to watch, but utterly intriguing. You literally think to yourself “No way it’s actually like this,” but it is. It really and truly is. So, for the show guys out there, maybe you’ll finally see why I loathe your home turf. Afterall, you never really know how much of a fool you are when you’re drunk until all your friends show you the pictures the next day. But hey, just a personal opinion. Happy Halloween.

Work Wheels is releasing (or just released) their new 1-piece wheel. Does it remind you of anything?

Here’s another version. Looks a tad similar to our Gracer model in my opinion.. However, unlike the Gracer, I don’t think these are made in Japan, but I could be wrong. But In all actuality, I’m not even sure if these designs are or will be offered in the US.

Here’s our 3 Pc. Gracer. Funny thing is that AME has been preparing to release the new Monoblock Gracer as well. I’ve known about this for over half a year now. AME had to release their Japanese ad campaign earlier so as to not confuse the end-user with who actually produced the original model. It’s relatively unheard of for a Japanese brand to create a design similar to a competitor’s brand.

Then I was shown this. What you see here to your left is the Work Varianza Schwert SC2. The Superbuy Tires exclusive design produced by Asanti (Lexani) can seen by clicking here. Even the center cap looks similar. That’s a first. I was also brought to the attention of another Work Wheel design that was similar to a Lowenhart wheel that you can see here. However, I wasn’t able to find or verify a wheel similar to the Lowenhart LT8 that Work produced.

Well, Kent already posted this image but if you’re going out to SEMA and would like to have a gander at the car, it’s next to the Meguiars Car Crazy Studio outside of Central Hall.

Unlike last year, this year we have to go SEMA twice. Leave Saturday, come back Sunday, in and out. After arriving, had dinner at EN with Oku and Chie whom reside in LV.

Food was good. This was the most interesting looking, but it was actually not so great. Conch.

Since Oku was the only one with a costume for the Fetish Ball, we decided to just take a stroll through Caesar’s and Bellagio instead.

Caught a glimpse of Courtney Day’s Falken 14 with Instant Gentle(wo)man and Shallen CXs unloading.

Also caught a glimpse of Justin Pawlak’s FC. 18’s in the front, 20’s in the rear.

What we came here for..

A bit of traffic on the 15 South. Back in LA by Sunday night for work on Monday morning. See you back at SEMA later this week.

All Star Bash 2 @ WSIR Horse Thief Mile was this weekend. Mike from Auto-Otaku took the sickest picture of my car (thanks!), and boy, am I glad. Why you ask? Because it was my first time drifting Horse Thief and I started doing stuff like…

…THIS. Whoops. Since it was the first day, I went off track a couple times until I got the hang of it. Now when people see my aero, I’ll need to tell them that I got in a fight with a grizzly bear. A real, ANGRY one. Also, squint and check out the mini FATLACE sticker on the rear quarter glass (thanks to the Fatlace crew for “lacing” us up).

Thanks goes out to my homeboy Danny from Pink Godzira for giving me the tutorials to HTM (seen here throwing up official Hngloose! gang signs). Also, thanks to all the others who gave me pointers, Big Bad BH for inventing All Star Bash, and to Charlie @ Just Drift for holding awesome events!

More pics from All Star Bash II can be seen here on the Auto Otaku Blog.

For those who live in Socal (or neighboring areas) and are interested in learning/practicing/competiting in drifting, you can check out Just Drift!

Also, last but not least, thanks to Brian & John from City Tire Online for coming out and not only providing complimentary tire changing service, but also for BRINGING tires for sale! This makes life much easier, no need to pack a bunch of tires, since you can buy them at the track!

Oh, and my apologies goes out to Dom for following up the awesome ALMS post with this garbage.

Went to Laguna Seca last weekend to handle some stuff at ALMS. Here’s one of Risi’s 430’s being worked on before the morning warm up session.

So, they have air jacks built into the cars (see previous post on air jacks) but these fire extinguisher looking things are jacks that lift the car higher for access to the undertray. Pretty nifty.

You have to wait until about 45 seconds in to get some gratification, but it’s worth it if you have good sound on your comp.

Walking around the pit area I caught a bunch of people behind the pit wall watching the Speed Channel feed of the Brazilian GP. I still haven’t watched the last two GP’s so I’m in super suspense waiting to find out what happened in the driver’s championship.. PLEASE DON’T TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED!

Walked by the GT3 Cup Cars and caught a glimpse of the cockpit. Puts mine to shame, that’s for sure..

Here’s the other Risi 430 during the race.

Flying Lizard. Beautiful car.

Went to Banana Leaf in my hometown that night. Al mentioned it before in one of his posts previously. Awesome Malaysian food. Here’s some Roti Prata. I’ve been trying to find this in Socal so if anyone knows where to get some, please help a brotha out.

Pineapple fried rice. (Note: Kent likes his rice with nuts. “I like everything with nuts.”)

Melaka Eggplant which was awesome.

Malay sizzling prawns.

Rendang Beef. Also awesome.

And Malay Coconut Milk Rice. Fluffy heaven.

Well, sorry for the lack of posts but I’ve been bombarded with getting stuff ready for SEMA. Fortunately, we’re only going to be there Friday. If you’re still out there on Friday then, as Kent would say, “Hollatchaboy!”
Wondering about the hippo..? Yeah, me too. I came home (Milpitas) and it was wearing my cap/tassel. Kinda cute I guess.

I was happy that Dave sent me these from Atmos Japan. Ubiq Grace!

These are pretty fresh..

My eyes are playing tricks on me.

Mark and Kenny also hooked it up w/ some righteous Fatlace gear. Thanks!

This photo and info comes from Mr. Sean Edwards who sent me an E-mail about the last post.
“…from a tour of the Prodrive facility in Europe, in this picture they are prepping Mark [Higgins] WRC car with driver requested Endless RF-650 brake fluid.”
Gotta love rally cars for their engineering and purpose built philosophy. Thanks for the E-mail, Sean. Good find.

Unlike Dom or Kent, the coolest thing I’ve been doing recently is eating. No surprise there. Also, since my digi cam’s screen stopped working (thanks Canon!), anything remotely interesting I’ve done is just a memory in my gray matter. Thanks to my brother’s camera, however, I was able to capture the magic that is Chiba’s Japanese in San Diego. Last Saturday, my brother drove me down there in his new 50 mpg Prius to have lunch with my cousin and her boyfriend. In short, Chiba’s is the jam. 4 people, tons of food, bill totalled only $60. I didn’t load up on the nigiri like usually though, I just ate rolls till I couldn’t eat anymore. Peep game on the spicy scallop and soft shell crab rolls. Their bento boxes (set lunches) aren’t no joke either. Perfect locay too, it’s right next to Qualcomm stadium, so not a bad choice after a Chargers game.

A myriad of professional drivers specifically ask for Endless pads to be used on the race vehicles they’re hired to pilot. I’ve previously mentioned how Petter Solberg asks the Subaru engineers to use Endless pads on the WRC STi. But for those of you who don’t follow WRC, perhaps this will be a bit more pertinent to you.

Despite their cars / team being sponsored by Project Mu, both Taka Aono and Hiro Sumida request Endless compounds for their machines.

Those who know, choose Endless.

Not much excites me these days. Not even exotics. I live in Irvine where seeing either the bull or the horse is just another day of the week. But this morning on my way to work, I literally screamed as I stared at this exact view, right in front of me on the 405.

I saw the front end in my side mirror as it crept up beside me and I knew right away, Black edition. I got behind it and yelped as I experienced a moment of pure awe. I didn’t blink as I watched the driver switch into the carpool lane, put his foot down, and swiftly disappear with the sound of the AMG V8 roaring behind him.

What a way to start your morning. Gotta be a real Mercedes or F1 fan to appreciate this machine. I happen to be both (screw Hamilton).

I think this is a great read. I’m sure you will too if you haven’t already. Click the image to get started.