Upcoming Projects For 2013

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone has enjoyed their holidays as much as I did. A lot of changes and projects at work for me, met up with Charles from BHR for a bit, along with working to get my Miata working again, and a LOT of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 for Playstation 3. I've also acquired http://re-zelse.com/ and it forwards straight to the blog! Now that we're getting closer to the race season, that means it's time to start getting ready for it and wrenching! 

Videos You Should Watch

I recently stumbled across a few videos I thought you all would like to check out!

First thing's first. Speedway Motors has been releasing a music video every year of Solo Nationals. This year, they kicked it up 10 levels, as it is probably one of the greatest music videos I have seen. Catchy upbeat song with some great footage! No way I'm missing Nationals in 2013 after seeing this now.

Godzilla's Return

Looks like I get to race a little treat this event at Renegade Miata… Kaizen Tuning's GT-R 35! If you remember from my post a year ago, I got to race this monster for the first time on some dead R6 Hoosiers that corded by the end of the event. With some more experience and confidence under my belt, and some fresh 295 sized A6 Hoosiers this time, I was ready to see how well I could try and tame this beast again… and have a hell of a time!

Japan With Kaizen Tuning

Hi everyone! Well, I made it back in one piece from Japan. Half of me wishes I never left, but the other half is always glad to be back home! Japan was truly an experience like no other, as I have wanted to visit for a very long time. I've always had a deep appreciation for their culture and traditions, music, technology, food, and of course, their cars. If Japan is not on your bucket list of places to visit, I would suggest adding it. I owe this all to Kaizen Tuning, as I was able to have this amazing time in Japan thanks to them. 

Omori Factory - Nismo

We arrived at our last shop we had planned to visit in Japan, Nismo's Omori Factory. Nismo Japan (which is completely seperate from Nismo USA) is Nissan's racing branch with a lot of racing history behind them. They offer complete car care to any Nissan car, sell many high-end bolt on parts, custom engine builds, and even build complete "Nismo tuned" cars to be sold at dealers in Japan with a full warranty. Take the Z33 (350Z in America) for example. In Japan, you could go to a dealer and ask for a Nismo Fairlady Z33. From there, you then specify what package you would want it in, such as E-Type, S-Tune, R-Tune, or S1. How cool would that be to have a fully built Mazdaspeed RX-8 autocross monster, right off the dealer floor, with full warranty?

Tomei Powered

By now, I was already used to Japan. Going to Yoshinoya for breakfast by myself like a big boy, practicing Japanese that I haven't spoken in ages, hanging out in Akihabara at night for some Wangan Midnight: Maximum Tune 4 and the new DDR...I was turning into a "Man of Japan"! Our next stop was to Tomei Powered. I knew very little about Tomei before the trip and what they had to offer, other than what they had were good products. After getting off the train, we set out on foot to Tomei. We originally planned to stop at UP Garage which is actually next-door to Tomei, but we unfortunately had no time. When we entered, we were greeted by Allen Lorenzo, their International Marketing Coordinator, and by Jun Hamamura, their International Sales Manager.

Power House Amuse

Our next stop was my favorite non-rotary tuner shop, Power House Amuse. I grew up watching Best Motoring and Hot Version movies, so I was no stranger to Amuse. They sell their BMW products under a different name, Ericsson, but it is the same shop. My favorite build of theirs was always their S2000 Touge monster. Infact, the S2000 Touge Monster is the car that lead me to the RX-8 in the first place. Watching a properly built under-powered car demolish any car it was pitted against (especially ones with more power) was truly an amazing feat. It motivated me to see how far I could take the RX-8 while keeping the build naturally aspirated.

Super Autobacs

Stand aside Autozone, PepBoys, etc... These guys will do it all and more! Super Autobacs is like a very large candy store for anyone who loves their car. Want to get some rotary-specific motor oil and track brake pads, while picking up Recaro seats for your car? Super Auto Bacs is your place. Want to look at some amazing lightweight wheels in person and the tires that will be going on them? Not a problem. Oh, did you want racing shoes, a helmet, quality car wax, and some wheel totes? Sure, they have all that too, along with some "spirited music for spirited driving".

Tokyo Auto Salon 2012

Tokyo Auto Salon (TAS) is dubbed the "world's largest car show" for a reason. Imagine three aircraft hanger sized rooms, one half sized room with stadium seating, and a large outside parking lot with more cars and a drift show, all dedicated to this amazing event. It literally took me two days to see everything they had to offer, and I found out later that I still managed to miss some cars!

Dyno At Kaizen

I had decided last week that I'd like to finally get a dyno chart of what the heck my car is doing and outputting. I never got the chance to get my last RX-8 to the dyno, nor did I get a baseline of Serenity before I began to modify her. That being said, it also made sense to get a dyno chart of my car before I install my header over the winter so I can compare the two. That's when I had Jeff (MazdaManiac) give my current tune another look-over, and then gave Scott at Kaizen Tuning a ring to schedule a dyno appointment with their tuner, Rob Baker.

Godzilla's Visit

Today was the 5th points event for the Renegade Miata club, however, I did not bring home any points in the "Other Mazdas" class. Instead, I ran in the "Non Mazdas" class with Kaizen Tuning's Nissan Skyline GT-R 35! This track monster is specifically setup for Lime Rock Park and Watkins Glenn, sporting some 295/19 front and 315/19 rear Hoosier R6 tires, Cobb suspension, 600 all-wheel horse power, and a lot of other modifications. The full list of Scott's build can be seen here on his shop's website. This thing was an absolute blast and it surprised me in it's overall performance on the autocross course.

Exhaust Install At Kaizen

The long wait is finally over... For the most part at least. I finally was reunited with my exhaust system, except without the re-designed header. That won't be finalized until after the season is over unfortunately. In the meantime, I wanted to at least run the rest of the exhaust system. Looks like I'll have to pay a visit to my friends over at Kaizen Tuning.