Auto Otaku: Mike G's Blog

Motoring J Style Coverage

DSC_0080, originally uploaded by Auto Otaku.

Yesterday was the first ever Motoring J Style event at the Solano County Fairgrounds in Vallejo,CA. To tell the truth I was skeptical, as this was the one of first ever shows of this type in the states. Needless to say, the event turned out great. Here are some of the reasons why:

- 510's and S30Z's of every type, powered by everything from SR's to KA's, RB's, and of course some wicked NA L series engines.

-Early model TE27 Corollas, Celicas, KP61 Starlets ranging from totally original, to Honda F20C swapped street machines.

-Rarely seen vehicles like early Datsun Bluebird SSS's (Before the 510), Toyota Sports 800, Toyota Publica etc.

-Imported non US market cars like a pair GC10 Skylines, Mazda Cosmo, 240ZG etc.

-Drifting Competition, featuring demo runs by Japanese D1 Ace Yoshioka Toshiki.

Basically it one of the best events I have been to stateside. Great atmosphere, great Japanese cars ranging from the 50's to the present. Thanks to the Motoring J Style guys for throwing one helluva first time event.

Need I say more? Here are tons of pictures

EDIT: Fixed the incorrect link for the photo album.

Buttonwillow Drift!

DSC_0585, originally uploaded by Auto Otaku.

Yesterday I went to the drift event at Buttonwillow put on by Al, Jay and the DriftxBattle organization. This event brought both Northern California and Southern California drivers together for some road course drifting action. The weather was hot, but not unbearable. The turnout was great with everything from beginners in near stock cars to pros in Formula D/D1 machines. For this event the track was divided into two sections, allowing for maximum track time. I have to say I was most impressed by the SoCal Drift Buffet guys, who literally drove their cars into the ground (as seen in the picture above. It seemed like everyone had a good time. Thanks to the norcal guys for hosting a great event.

The photos can be seen here

Motoring J Style

These summer events just keep coming, here's one that should provide an interesting mix of a car show, drift event, and even a rally cross. This is the first time it's being held so hopefully there will be a good turnout. Im gonna try my best to make it to this one. More info at http://motoringjstyle.com/

Original Made

Sorry for the lack of action lately, finishing college+work has been taking a lot of my time recently but there is some cool stuff coming up like Al's drift event next Saturday at Buttonwillow. It should be great, hopefully central cal's late July weather will be sparing. Just noticed, that I got linked from the Original Made Blog which can be found at http://og-made.com/ , it is made by the guys at Endless USA. It's filled with lots of cool stuff and brings to light some of the shit that high quality auto brands deal with all the time (knock offs, knock offs, knock offs).  Take a look, and thanks for the exposure guys.

Samurai Motor Club

Virtually unknown outside of Japan is an Osaka based clothing brand named Samurai, they offer a number of shirts, jackets, jeans, etc. based on the Japanese "Q-sha" lifestyle. There stuff is not your typical cafe press, ebay type stuff but genuine high quality, high fashion stuff. They have appeared in numerous Japanese auto/fashion magazines like Daytona and Lightning. Their stuff is awesome, I can't wait to pick some up in Japan.  As far as I know it is not sold outside of Japan, maybe I should contact them about selling it in the US or elsewhere? You can see their whole line on the website

http://www.samurai-c.com/

Myspace

If you haven't seen it I made a Myspace page for Auto Otaku. You can see it here

http://www.myspace.com/autootaku   

Feel free to add it if you use myspace. I promise I won't post a bunch of stupid crap.