R35 GT-R Showroom in Ginza

When I was cruising Tokyo on January 3, I got dropped off in Ginza to do some last minute shopping before I had to head back to the states. Right across the street was a Nissan showroom. It's sole purpose was to showcase the R35 GT-R. You would figure that prime real estate in Ginza is super expensive so you know Nissan is spending some big money marketing the R35 GT-R. Why? I don't know since Nissan claims that they make absolutely no profit. Yes, I know - that's probably a big crock of shit...

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Random Thought & Rants @ 10:15 on a Saturday Night

A nod to The Cure.

1. The Toyota 2ZZ-GE is a piece of shit compared to the Honda K20A. Really. Don't deny it. Just accept it if you own a 2ZZ.


2. Why are people such bitches and sell when slightly negative news gets released for a stock? (AAPL on Monday 1/21 - earnings reduction of 19 cents/share)


3. Import Tuner magazine just gave me a monthly column called "Question It". It's like Dr. Ruth for cars. The questions that people ask are pretty fucking lame though.


4. It's kind of nice when your girlfriend can give you manicures and pedicures.


5. Why don't more people click on the google ads you see on the right? A lot of them seem pretty ...

Cosworth UK

I have visited many factories: Apexi Japan (I used to work there), Greddy Japan, HKS Japan, and a couple of other tuning parts manufacturer factories in Japan. I was impressed with each one for their manufacturing facilities, R&D equipment, and general success. Just seeing the sheer quantity of parts being produced and the level of technology also impressed me. However, nothing really prepared me for my visit to Cosworth (where I now work).

Cosworth's UK office is located in Northampton about 50 minutes north of London in the United Kingdom. For those of you who have never heard of Cosworth, it is the winningest engine supplier in Formula 1 of all time. This of course led ...

Safety is Job #1

I'm glad to be back in southern California. The UK was great and I wish I had a bit more time there, but it was FUCKING COLD! It's so windy and wet in the winter that it's actually colder than northern Japan. I'd like to go back and check out the tourist spots and night life soon though. It's also nice to be caught up on sleep since I've been traveling for almost a month straight.

My co-worker, Justin at Cosworth sent me this dope email. They need to step up safety in 3rd world countries. Enjoy:

Face protection in Africa:
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Twin Turbo Subaru STI engine at XS Engineering

I was reviewing some random pictures and found this. The car is currently being completed by Koji at XS, but the turbo system was fabricated by Greg Profeta before he defected to Toyota (tuning V-8's for emissions). I thought it was a pretty cool picture. The engine currently making 504hp to 4 wheels at 9000rpm on 91 octane and only 17psi with a Motec M800 controlling the engine. The engine is a Cosworth short block with heavily ported big valve heads and BIG fucking cams (288/290). It also sports twin Tial/Garrett GT30s, twin Tial 44mm wastegates, hand fabricated intake manifold, enlarged VQ35 drive by wire throttle body, and twin 3" downpipes to a 90mm exhaust. I can't wait to see...

Random Pics from Super Lap Battle 2007

I was digging through my files and found some random pics from November's Super Lap Battle at Buttonwillow, CA. They're kind of behind the scenes:

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prodrive Aston Martin DB9 Vantage

Hello from the UK. It is raining and cold as fuck here. People who live here tell me its the same here 9 months out of the year. That really sucks.

This afternoon Ken and I went to Prodrive in Warwickshire, England. This is the road car side of Prodrive that is located on an old Royal Air Force base. Here Prodrive builds and engineers road cars, drivetrain, and some other good stuff. There were many Aston Martins since the Aston Martin and Prodrive owner = David Richards.

Prodrive has a engine, suspension, and aero kit for the V-8 Vantage that...

Shibuya 109

Rewinding back to January 2, 2008, Yaya and I went to 109 in Shibuya, Tokyo. For those of you not familiar with 109, it is 9 stories of female fashion boutiques. 109 primarily caters to various types of Shibuya "gyarus". I think primarily ko-gyarus and b-gyarus. That's Japlish for "girls" if you didn't figure that one out. The term "b-gyaru" is derived from "b-boy" if you know your hip hop terminology. There is an entire subculture of hip hop influenced Japanese chicks and dude...

EVO Meet - Ace Cafe, London

Ken and I went to the world famous Ace Cafe in London this morning to check out a local EVO meet. If you've ever heard the term "Cafe Racer" which refers to motorcycles from the 60's, then maybe you know that the owners of these motorcyles used to meet at the Ace Cafe and then race up and down the street before the song on the jukebox would end. That's pretty nuts since some of the songs back in the day were less than 2 minutes long. So that's how they earned the name "Cafe Racer".

Anyhow, over here in the UK, they hav...

Cool Shit at Autosport 2008

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