Dinner with the big mucky mucks...

The other night I had dinner with Mr. Chiba. he is the owner & manager or Team Taisan. They use to run the Banihana racng tream. and he is active in the French Le Manns & the Le Manns classic.
Here is me and the former president of Porsche North America racing dept.

Shelby Mustang drive day

On Friday Ford held a test drive day of there Shelby line of Mustangs.
It was held at Dukes in Malibu for a lunch and cruse. Ford brought out 4 for their Shelby GT for us to test drive up & down PCH. They brought out the GT500, GT-H, GT in Automatic & GT in manual. One of the bad boys was this GT-500 convertable. factory production car with 500hp!
As scary as 500hp may sound it was a very stable ride. It wasn’t as peaky & as hairy as a high 500 horse power Skyline GT-R. it was pleasant to drive and very controllable.
Another interesting car was the Shelby GT-H. it’s exclusively for Hertz rental cars. It’s a rental car! At 325hp it sounds nice but it only comes in automatic and has a open rear diff and has no by-pass switch L but still it was fun to drive….
I had a chance to take a sneak peak at the new 2007 Lexus LS460L (limo version)
With reclineable rear seats and full controls for AC and music in the back, it’s an awesome car! Mercedes is in big trouble!
After driving all moring the lunch was a nice finishing touch....
Thanks Ford!!!

Formula D New Jersey

Wall New Jersey was the back drop for our second to the last race of the sesson. I have to say, this was probably the tuffs event from a judges point of view.

It’s a tiny track, so the speeds are not that high. But what is high is the top 16 drivers driving level. They’re all so good, everyone’s level is about the same so it make is harder. NJ really tested us judges abilities and knowledge of the sport.
In the first rounds of top 16, Ken Gushi got knocked out by Kenji Yamanaka: here are my reasons. In 1st round Gushi ran a better run than Yamanaka giving Gushi a 6/4 advantage. 2nd round Yamanaka defiantly ran a better run giving Yamanaka a 6/4, since it came out equal we gave them a “one more time”. 2nd battle Gushi leads and took a 7/3 advantage, Yamanaka had made several corrections around the bank & transition around the clipping points. But, when Yamanaka lead Gushi made a fatal error around the bank, coming in to fast Gushi had to lock his breaks all the way to the clipping cone costing him the win at 2/8.
Also, in top 16. Dai in the rockstar car & Okubo was also a hard call. 1st round Okubo take advantage 8/2 to Dai, Dai missed shifted around the 1st horse shoe costing him his drift. In the 2nd round Dai did a great job of saying up with Okubo, and Okubo even corrected around the bank. But Dai’s win of 7/3 was not enough & the win went to Okubo.
During the final 4. Tanner was leading JR with a strong 8/2 but in the second round Tanner hits JR going around the 1st horse shoe. After careful review we gave the win to Tanner at 6/4. here’s the reason: going around the horse shoe JR was on full gas, the reves were up but the car continually got slower and his angle was going out to wide (a matter of fact when Tanner hit, he hit square on the door, that’s how sideways JR was). Also, there was a back fire indicating a mis-shift, and while left foot breaking. Tanner’s job as 2nd car is to mimic and gage himself, but at that close distance JR’s car slowed down abruptly because of a mistake.

Look how tiny our plane was…. It’s like a private jet!

Trailer to Red Sun, Black Sand.

this summer my friends were casted as extras for this movie. the trailer finally came out. At the time during the shoot the whole ideal of making a WWII movie about Iwo Jima up in the Los Angeles moutains seemed kinda cheesy, but after seeing the trailer I was impressed! It's Japan's Big Block buster war flix like America's Saving Private Ryan. Produced by Clint Eastwood, staring Ken Watanabe (last Samurai). What's neat is that it's a big Hollywood budget movie but from the Japanese point of view.... can't wait!

2 old friends 2 different paths

Met up with my old buddy Toshi down in Costa Mesa for lunch. It's funny how he's "the voice of D1" and I'm a Formula D Judge. But we've been friend long before all this.... back when things were alittle simpler. Were both still into cars! and drifting, but he went over to D1 & me FD.
but when we hang out were just Toshi & Ken......

Revver Launch Party in Hollywood

GT Channel is partnered up with a streaming company called Revver. last night Revver had a launch party @ the Rosavelt hotel on sunset blvd, in Hollywood. it very intresting going to a party of a different industry other than motorsports.

Remembering 911

5 years ago today the twin towers in NY fell from the attack from terrorist using 2 passenger planes. Probably the picture that stands out the most in my mind of that day is the picture that Richard Drew shot of the falling man.


quoted: ": a man, seemingly composed, his neat form set against an endless background of glass and steel. It has a stillness, suggesting an almost private moment that left those who saw it feeling uncomfortable and voyeuristic. How could such a quiet moment occur on such a violent day? "

Off to NJ...!

Well, I'm getting ready to take off to NJ for round 6 of Formula D's event.
Hope it go's well? I wonder what the weathers going to be like....????

Probably my most favorite commercial

>

JDM Golfers

Sept 3rd I got together with 11 of my friends from the industry to have a day of golf....
it was pretty fun! we all had a goodtime because we all sucked at golf but we all shared a common intrest, we all luv cars!
This is Taku (Sony Playstation GT director) teeing off.....
Hiro Shumida, one of the better players out here...

ohhhh.... water, how my balls luv the water...!
Dai Yoshihara & Tsukasa (Papa) Gushi... Tsukasa's telling me how big Dai's chin chin is....
Daigo (Taniguchi's manger) wheeling and dealing! Eric Hsu dailo XS Enginerring & co-host of JDM Insider looking at Dai's zit.

One of the most funnest part of golfing is the finish..... drinking!

Mopar D1's NASCAR vs Drifting event

thursday night at irwindale was packed with people! It was for the Mopar's All Star drift off with D1 drivers and Nascar drivers. it was a totally differant crowd.

I was invited by Samuel / Mopar to their VIP tent.

The Mopar hospitality tent was very very nice, food, beer.... what more can you ask for?

I bumped into my old friend Roger Yasukawa...! he drives for Honda in Indy. also a great drinking buddy....!

Even the police car was a Mopar dodge Charger!

visit New Formula D's & JTuned's office

Early this week on monday, I went to visit the new Formula D's office in Long Beach, it's right in down town LB on Pine Ave. It's pretty nice! inside FD's new office is Fred Changs Medium Giant aka. JTuned also has a office in here too....
Andy, Bryan & Ryan.... trying to adjust to corporate life......