In a post earlier this week I shared my experience driving to a local mountain pass with my friends. Despite feeling increasingly jaded and apathetic as I… Read more “How to Race With Almost No Money”
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The SR Heritage Event Reignited My Love for Japan
The SR Heritage Event Reignited My Love for Japan
Since the late ’80s, grip racers, drifters, and weekend warriors have played the distinct note of Nissan’s 4-cylinder 2.0-liter turbo-charged performance engine. Since then the SR20 seems to have a fanbase that has only grown. The SR Heritage event held at Shizuoka’s Fuji Speedway is a testament engine’s legacy. The cars and culture surrounding the engine things equally legendary.
Many consider the late ’80s and early ’90s the golden era of motorsports culture in Japan. Initial D, Best Motoring International, and games like Gran Turismo have elevated this twenty-year period of time a mythical status. Nissan’s SR engine was racing in the mountains, on the track, and straight into our hearts.
Below are photos of the event. An article will be linked below once written.
Azumino 180SX Shots
Driving up to Azumino’s thrift shop to buy a DJ mixer afforded me the ability to take some shots of the ALPS while I was there.
Tokyo Auto Salon Part 3 And Thoughts
Wrapping Up
Some of the “highlights” of Tokyo Auto Salon, were things that didn’t excite me at all. I was immune from the hype surrounding newer modeled cars, exotic cars, and even the new Toyota Supra, but there were some things I was really happy to see. I’d never thought I’d say this in my life, but. . .
I was happy to see a Toyota Yaris
My dad actually owned a Yaris Sedan in 2008 and although it was a cute car, it’s one purpose was fuel efficiency and economy. Even with the SE trim, which came packed with a spoiler, fog lights, and 4-wheel disc brakes, there was no getting around the safe design that Toyota went with. The one exciting thing about it was that its 1.5 liter engine used the same VVT-i technology that the 20v 4AGE, although it’s numbers were well below that of the legendary 4a Engine.
When I saw that Toyota not only had gotten back into rallying(please come back subaru), but won the manufacturers’ championship I was really surprised. I was actually happy to see a Yaris in person, and it gives me hope that Toyota will go back to the ways of making cars for car people as well as continuing to sell cars that the general public can enjoy. My hope is that they will roll out a tamed down version of their rally car, as well as put an inline four cylinder in their 86.
Japan wants the WRC
To those of you who don’t know the WRC is the World Rally Championship, and they used to hold events in Japan. I was happy to see that I wasn’t the only one who wanted to go to an event(although I want to go as a driver even if I’m at the bottom of the standings tee hee). Japanese roads are perfect for rally stages, the touge is where many driving legends are born. One legend that even laymen might know is Colin McRae.
When I saw Colin McRae’s subaru and Tommi Mäkinen’s Lancer, the boy racer buried inside me had been resuscitated. I was reminded of one of the reasons I fell in love with cars when I was young. It wasn’t just because the WRX was one of the main cars in the Colin McRae rally and dirt series. It was because of what Tommi and Colin stood for as drivers as well. In the same vein as Ayrton Senna, to them it was never about driving just for points.
When in doubt flat out
Colin McRae
They drove the fastest they could all the time, because they loved cars and driving. It was weird to be standing next to the cars which were painstakingly realistically modeled in numerous games, and that I had spent countless virtual hours in the cockpit driving, crashing, and racing on roads. I wasn’t sure if life had turned into an game, or games were just getting realistic, because for me it shattered reality a slight bit.
The Last Thing That I Enjoyed
Was seeing the D1 drivers talking on stage with their cars proudly displayed in the same room. Another codemasters game, in GRID I had gotten pretty good at drifting the C-West Silvia virtually, but what these guys were here doing it in real life. I resisted the urge to want to ask them how to be a driver in my bad Japanese, not like I understood much anyway, but what I did understand was the massive ability they wielded. I was a little jealous that they had gotten to live a life that people like me can only dream about as I studied their cars, which resembled fighter jets with all the switches inside of them.
The weird thing is I don’t even really like competition drifting, but the fact you can make a living from drifting makes me a little less cynical about life.
As always Much Love <3 LaidbackMarco
Tokyo Auto Salon 2019: Part 2
Here’s The Second Round Of Photos at Tokyo Auto Salon!
Now that you’ve seen the shots, here are the mistakes I make.
The First Giant Mistake I Made
Shooting In JPEG vs RAW
The dynamic lighting indoors with the various lighting conditions really lends itself to the uncompressed data in the darks and lights that the RAW image format captures. When making adjustments in Lightroom adjusting the sliders too far on JPEG images leads to some artifacting where the loss information occured.
I thought that I would be using the burst function more than I actually did, so I ended up shooting compressed shots for the faster in camera processing, but that ended up being a really bad mistake!.
The Second Mistake
Was not having a wide angle lens, which made it very difficult to get the kind of shots I wanted with the limited space. Being broke, it’s not like I could afford a wide angle lens, but I really hope to be able to bring one in the future.
The Last Mistake
was bringing my tripod! The camera, extra lens, and my backpack were already a burden in itself. I thought that I might be able to take some cool shots with the combination of the phone app, tripod, and camera. The wireless connection doesn’t work nearly as smoothly as it should so I was left feeling a little encumbered. Especially when I had to do things like pay for my ticket, recieve a map, or the free goodies handed out.
Tokyo Auto Salon 2019: Part 1
When I was invited to go to Tokyo Auto Salon, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse. Not a fan of big crowds of people, or really leaving the comfort of my own home on the weekends, it was my love of cars that made me leave my shell.
In my pursuit to make a living from creative work, I often hit walls where it feels like I’m failing to improve at a certain thing. I’m glad I went to tokyo auto salon because I really got my ass kicked.
I Learned So Much In My One day There
There are moments in life where you get destroyed so badly that it sparks a paradigm shift. That day made me realize that I had so much to grow as a photographer as the crowds of people forced me to work my Camera’s controls more rapidly than I had ever before.(I shoot in manual mode) The lack of time,space, and the random strangers who apparently don’t care that you’re taking a put me in a position where I had to come up with more creative compositions.
These are some of my best shots, stay tuned for part two where I’ll write about my mistakes!!
Akito’s 180sx
I meet a local japanese Drifter!
Stumbling On A Drift Shop
When My Dad Came To Town
We explored town far more than I usually do on my own. As typical I take pictures of all the cool cars I see as we made our way around town. We even visited the famous UP Garage in Matsumoto where I spotted a clean Z32 Fairlady Z, which it looked like it had been a one owner car.
Azumino
is a small city located just fifteen minutes north of my house. Having never been there, it was fun to have a shared experience of exploring with my old man. On our way to the Thrift Shop(Cue Macklemore Song), we made our way by a Go Kart track where there were more sweet whips to add to the collection. This particular track also had Drift Karts outfitted with pvc on the rear wheels allowing for oversteer. I wanted to try it out, but the Drift Karts are a member only activity!
Down The Road A Little Further
Was a small drift shop which made me pull a U-Turn and park. There was a small group of people sitting on plastic chairs and chatting as they saw us pull up. After introducing both my father and myself as Americans. In broken Japanese I told them the story of how Japanese cars were one of the reasons I was currently in Japan.
I thought of my cousin and some of my friends back home who had introduced me to car tuning, drifting, and Japanese cars and it was hard for me to hold back my excitement as I oogled at all the unique cars in front of me. The strange thing was I couldn’t find the shop on the internet and it was only twenty minutes from my house. I was really glad to meet some car people and it seems that they had welcomed me with open arms.
“We’ll teach you how to drift when you get a car” they said laughing.
Getting UP
One of the mechanics started to point out the different cars. He smiled as he opened up hoods, proclaimed mods and paint jobs, and told the stories of different cars. One car in particular made me feel like a sixteen year old kid again.
The Yellow Toyota Chaser
Not only was a cool car that was unavailable in America, but also belonged to a sponsored Professional Sponsored D1GP driver. The 530 HP beast reminded me of the days when my friend Nick and I would sit and watch D1GP or best motoring videos for hours in his “Virgin Den”. I daydreamed about being able to be a professional driver for a small second, I often imagine driving a car as I’m walking around, heel toe downshifting and skidding a car as I turn. A fun thing you can do in a supermarket with carts is pickup the rear and give angle to the turns.
After having exhausted my Japanese skills I said thank you bowed and parted ways with the small shop owners. The opportunist inside of me wanted to offer my services to build a website for their shop, but not being able to get traffic to my own site, I didn’t feel confident in providing any value for them. Wanting to start my own car importation business and learn to work on cars myself I thought of maybe offering to wrench on cars for free perhaps shooting videos so I could learn about cars and help them out.
I’m hoping that I’ll be able to keep hanging out with them in the future, but we will see!.
Until next time <3 LaidbackMarco
Initial D Tour Part 2: Haruna Touge and Lake
Initial D Tour In Real Life! We go from Usui pass to Mount Haruna, called mount Akina in Initial D. Also we go to the family restaurant where it would often show the characters hanging out.
Initial D Tour: Initial D In Real Life
Eight Years Ago
I watched a movie because my first car, a $5000 automatic 1995 240sx, lost to a slow hatchback in an anime made in the nineties. If you know anything about anime, you already know what Movie that was, the movie told the story of a young boy who delivers tofu in the wee hours of the night. Only to find himself unwilling improving as a driver and enjoying the thrill of racing. After the movie I watched the show, which is much better than the movie. Watching the show late at night with my friends sent me on a journey that eventually had me sitting in a car driving the very roads that were made legendary not just by the show, but the real drivers that inspired it.
After Initial D
I learned about the history of drifting through best motoring international and became a sponge. I researched so much information on cars(although I’m still shitty at working on them). Things like model numbers, specs, and even the history of why a car was made was so much fun to absorb. In the library at school I used my free time to look at cars I couldn’t possibly afford. For the first time I enjoyed racing games drifting in Forza, even picking up a simulator wheel to play the games the way they were meant to be enjoyed. As sad as it sounds one of my proudest achievements is remaining undefeated in Initial D and making a group of asians at the bowling alley rage quit.
There Is More To This Story
Well I pulled the engine and gutted it. . . how do I put it back
After the s14 there was a red ae86, a gray one(still in the garage ripped apart), another late model s14 240sx, the Blue WRX(still in the garage at home). After 8 years of dreaming, failed japanese courses, and working my ass off to get here I finally made it to the legendary touge. Through the luck of being placed in matsumoto, meeting Chris at the storyhouse cafe, and then meeting Moacir I was able to participate in the Initial D tour and finally meet people who had this shared love of cars.
The Initial D Pose
It was a straight Trade for my s14
When My AE86 Was Deemed Too Much of a Pain in the ass my dad didn’t want to keep helping me fix it so thanks to the old man I had another 240sx.
This car got me over the pass and back safely I went to college in a town where it snowed a lot.
The Car I Currently Whip In
When My AE86 Was Deemed Too Much of a Pain in the ass my dad didn’t want to keep helping me fix it so thanks to the old man I had another carThis is a culmination of all the photo editing skills I’ve picked up over the years, I started when I tore my acl 7 years ago and became a yearbook photographer. Since then I’ve pursued photography forgoing parties and social events to edit photos on my computer. Using the skills I’ve learned doing art, color theory, and studying the fundamentals of design has helped me see the world in a new light.
