We get invited to a private gathering of drift cars in Chicago before Final Bout.
We call to Jimmy Oakes and friends and check out their workshop.
We experience a wild variety of madness at our first US car show, Clean Culture.
Im trying to catch up super quick, as I’ve mentioned in. a few of these articles, so the photos come out more or less at the same time as the videos as a nice compliment for those who like photos. I’ve been saying a lot less on here as I feel I cover most of it in the Videos on the YouTube channel, and im pretty sure 99% of the people who come here to see these posts are here after watching the video, so ill keep my rambling brief, maybe I should keep the blog posts for getting into more detail on cars if it allows?
Im open to suggestions as to what people want to see on here. I still have a dedicated selection of people who check the blog, so Im adamant about keeping it running as a nice archive for things, too. This visit to Redline almost didn’t happen. Colton missed the email, but he was such a nice guy and gave us the grand tour of his collection. I’ll let these legends speak for themselves in the photos below. If you have any questions, drop me a comment, and I’ll reply. Cheers for looking, as always.
We visit a private stash of Top Secret cars built by Smokey Nagata and a collection of D1 GP Cars at Redline Restorations.
Here is a selection of photos we shot when we had Yuasa over a few weeks ago; it almost feels like an utterly surreal scenario, and editing these photos made me smile from ear to ear. I’m not saying too much here, as I spoke about it in great length in the YouTube videos we did on this, but I’m so happy this worked out. We made a friend for life out of this, which I’ll cherish for the rest of my life. From looking up to this guy as a teen to having him visit the shed and see Ireland and hear his stories, it’s truly something I’ll never forget. Please enjoy this photo dump from the trip below.
Ryota Yuasa Drives his AE86 at Mondello at 86fest 2024
Japanese Drift Legend Ryota Yuasa Experiences Irish Culture and Scenery
We fly D1 Drift legend Ryota Yuasa to Ireland to see his rebuilt AE86, which he sold over 21 years ago.
Are you planning a trip to Japan to see cars and automotive culture? I’ve included some tips and tricks in this video that might help.
We are flying an old D1 legend to Ireland to see and drive his rebuilt AE86, which he sold 20 years ago.
The post will be the final instalment from our Japan with a Plan series. There’s probably no reason to get too deep here, as I covered it in the video, but this was perhaps the best and most terrifying 24 hours I’ve ever had. As we slowly got closer to the realisation that I was going to be driving an 86 at Bihoku, my nerves were in overdrive.
The day before, we washed Robs Te37 and then went to collect the 86 and load them on the truck. It was such a surreal experience with this Levin; it still hadn’t hit me that this was mine, and we were about to go and use it. The whole trip had this cloud hanging over us because it was disaster after disaster on the 86, from Covid to the whole quarantine and then things going wrong with the car. It felt like I would wake up from a dream at any moment.
With the last few of these features, this is photo heavy; I shot as many pictures in fantastic Japanese scenarios as I could, as these would be the very photos I would save online if I found them. I hope you enjoy the pictures from this event. I didn’t shoot as much as I had hoped on the day, as I was shitting myself until it was all over. It’s a severe bucket list thing to do, a situation I could have only thought about as a fantasy a few years ago. To be honest, I’d love to go back and do it again.
Unlocking the Ultimate dream, drifting my new AE86 in Japan
With the lads gone home, I got a train back to Osaka and hooked up with Alex from Circuit Soul. I was meeting up with Rob later in the evening, so I decided to make my way into Dontonbori to wait for Alex. I had a look around and somehow found the 4A-GE vending machine! This little vending machine was so incredible to see in real life. I spent about twenty euros in Yen trying to find all the engines.
Once I linked up with Alex, we made our way to Aslan to Kill and checked out their shop; there are still quite a few Honda shops in Osaka, which I haven’t had the chance to see, and this was one of them.
I love their EG time attack car; it’s incredible. The owner was busy, so we only poked him a little. We left after half an hour of looking around and buying some stickers. That night, I hooked up with Rob, and we got some grub and drove around Osaka in his TE27.
The next day, we went to the USS Tokyo Auctions to pick up a low KM R34 GTR, which was quite the experience. I took a few photos that day as we walked the auction lots, and I’ll post them below with the rest of the images from this couple of days. It was truly unique stuff that I had the chance to see, which, funnily enough, was just another day in Rob’s life.
I’m going to let the photos do most of the talking here. An all-AE86 4AGE event at Meihan was a severe bucket list scenario, and it was incredible to witness this. Taking the chance to stay in Japan for another week to drive my Levin and experience this day was one of the best choices I’ve made in life! It financially did a number on me but being honest I wont look back at that aspect of it in years to come. Please enjoy this sizable gallery from that event, and if you have any questions, drop them in the comments below. Most of you will have seen this episode on our YouTube channel, so these photos are for people like myself who enjoy the slower pace and look at Photos of cool cars at events in Japan. Enjoy.