Japshow Finale 04/10/09 – Part Three

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After spending a couple of hours last night editing the rest of my drift photos from Sunday, I figured I needed to post them up so that those who were driving can have some shots of their hard work! I don’t think I missed anyone who was drifting so check out the full set if your car isn’t on this post.

As always, click any of the photos above to see the rest of the Japshow Finale drifting photos.

Japshow Finale 04/10/09 – Part Two

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After setting up on the Honda Culture stand it was time to take a little wander around the show, unfortunately I only got as far as the drift track before getting distracted for a couple of hours! I took around 1800 photos before realising that I needed to get on and meet people that I had promised to meet up with…

The limited space during such a big show as Japshow Finale meant that the drift track was a lot smaller than on most DWYB days but Lex and the organisers had done a great job of making the most of the space available with a nice long sweeping left hander allowing the drifters to get up to reasonable speeds and smoking the hell out of the crowds that had gathered as close as the fences allowed them to. The tight and technical end to the lap allowed decent transitions to show off the higher level of drivers that were present.

With passenger rides available to the public for just £10, it seemed like an endless stream of fans were given an awesome memory by the drivers who ensured they got the most out of their money! The drivers selected for the demo were mainly those who often attend the regular Santa Pod DWYB days and they all seemed to be having a good time showing off their skills.

I hope to have more of the photos I took up later today or tomorrow but for the time being check out the 1st 40 or so by clicking here or on any of the photos in the post.

Japshow Finale 04/10/09 – Part One

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Yesterday was another great day! Up early to meet up with the Honda Culture boys to get my stand pass for Santa Pod, I thought I was running a tad late but it turned out I was one of the 1st to arrive – which meant a perfect opportunity to snap a few shots of the HC cars arriving!

As usual, everyone that was on the Honda Culture stand had put the hours in prepping their cars and making sure that the stand was going to be the best Honda stand at the show. And it was… but a long way (but more on that in part 2)!

Tegboy's EK9

Even though I was sure I was going to arrive last at our meeting spot, I was there for a good hour and a bit before we all left for Santa Pod. During this time I had a good chat with everyone there including James (Tegboy) about his recent (and damn good) feature in Banzai Magazine. I photographed his car just before it was put back on the road (click here to see more photos). As usual this EK9 drew the crowds and I am still yet to hear a single bad word about it.

Sundip's VIP Accord

As usual Sundip’s accord was looking clean as hell as it rolled up to the meeting point…. This car is really starting to get a lot of love that it deserves with a lot of American forums linking to the photos I have posted of it previously.

After everyone had arrived and stand passed had been handed out we all convoyed to Santa Pod and set up the stand in order to show the cars off best. This took a bit of shimmying and moving juggling cars around a bit but in the end the stand looked hot (best at the show?) and those perfectionists could set about polishing their cars a little more. I preferred to wander round taking photos!

Final prepping!

Cutting the plates loose for that clean look...

There will be more photos to follow but for the time being check out the small batch that are online already by checking out my Japshow Finale Photos here

JAE 2009 Photos

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Ever since I recovered from last years  Japanese Auto Extravaganza at Mersea Island in Essex, I have been looking forward to JAE 2009. The combination of cars, mates, beers, bbqs and sunshine makes it such a laid back and enjoyable weekend that its hard not to love it. JAE 2009 had a new home (Wicksteed Park in Kettering, Northamptonshire) but was superb! Unfortunately this year I was unable to camp due to other commitments on Friday and Saturday night but seeing as the new home of JAE is only 20 minutes from home I was back each day.

JAE 2009 had sensational weather on Friday and Saturday with Sunday being a little cooler and overcast (see the PS13 photo above) but was still warm enough for mid-September. Friday and Saturdays awesome weather meant that BBQs and Beers were on the go all day each day, which as JAE is a static show means that its a great chance to unwind and take a weekend to relax with mates and chill out.

The quality of cars at the show this year was simply amazing with some stands (like those crazy Scots @ JDMyO) rocking only awesome cars with no duds whatsoever! Seriously, I loved their stand and as I was on the next stand over spent most of Saturday staring and drooling…. The trade area was pretty small and weak this year with only a few stands such as Tegiwa, Sumo Power and Banzai really showing some hot cars (Banzai had the new Mugen FN2 Civic Type R on their stand). In truth the trade stands served a purpose and didnt detract from the event at all, but it would be nice to see some more traders next year.

The new venue worked well, apart from having monster speed bumps on the entrance and exit with good facilities on site and plenty of space for campers and stands. Seriously though, for next year please run a route across the grass so that those with low cars don’t have to scrape on EVERY bump! My Civic isnt actually that low yet I scraped on all the bumps apart from one.

So what did those of you who attended JAE this year think? Leave a comment or drop me an email.

If you would like to see the rest of my JAE 2009 Photos click any of the photos above or here

Wallpaper Wednesday #4

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This next shot is one of the photos that I took at Japfest 09, and I love it. Doesnt matter what anyone else thinks… Loads of downloads on last weeks Wallpaper Wednesday #3 so check it out here if you havent seent it already. Otherwise just click the image below for the full size image.

Wallpaper Wednesday #3

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Sorry its a bit late in the day everyone, but today has been the busiest day ever for me! Business is BOOMING!

This weeks wallpaper was taken on Sunday at Santa Pod, Northamptonshire during the HKS Drag Series. These photos feature Johnny McKeon’s R32 Skyline (Tuned by RK Tuning) during one of the later runs in the day.

Wallpaper #1

Wallpaper #2

Click on the images above for the full size versions. If you would like to request a full resolution image of one of the photos from our Flickr account (which can be found here – TweakCulture Photography), please email sales@tweakculture.com with a link to the photo you want next week!

Japshow @ Santa Pod 2009

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Yesterday was an early start for me, but it turned out to be well worth getting up early for. I was planning to meet up with the guys from Honda Culture but actually arrived at the meeting point about 30 mins before they were due to arrive. Normally this half hour period would be a great chance to grab some much needed sleep, but on this occaision I actually ended up meeting up with a few of the guys from CivicJordan.co.uk who had also arranged the same meeting point. Within an hour about 30 Jordans had arrived along with about 35 cars that were due to be on the HC stand. Not a bad start to the day! Seeing such a gathering of Jordans was a true joy to behold as it is rare to see so many together.

On arrival at Santa Pod, I was expecting there to be a huge queue to sit in but I was pleasantly surprised at being able to stream through and straight to the Honda  Culture stand. As soon as I took my 1st stroll around the show with Lex from AceImageUK it was clear to us that this was going to be a good day.

I was truely impressed with a number of cars at the Japshow this year, and even being as unbiased as possible 2 of the best cars at the show for me were on the Honda Culture stand – namely Tegboys EK9 and Sundip’s VIP Accord. If you havent checked out Tegboy’s EK9 build up then you seriously need to do that right now, because for me (and many others) it is the best EK9 (and possibly best Civic in general) in the UK right now. More pics of Sundip’s slammed Accord will be posted on here shortly.

I was pleased to see the drift action pulling such a huge crowd, but would like them to put on a better track for the skidders next time. One of the best and most unique things about Japshow is the quarter mile action, and yesterday I was loving the mix of competitive runners, RWYB and Jet car runs. I will post my drag action shots in a different post later this week.

Thats it for part 1, but in part two I will be taking a closer look at the Quarter mile action as well as the other (non Honda) cars at Japshow.

If you would like to see the rest of the 1st batch of photos from Japshow then you can do just that by clicking this link – Japshow @ Santa Pod photos.

Japshow @ Santa Pod this weekend!

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Anybody else looking forward to Japshow this weekend?

I’m really looking forward to it and praying for good weather! I will be taking photos on both Saturday and Sunday, with my car on the Honda Culture Stand on Sunday

For more details check out the Japshow website here

Wallpaper Wednesday! #1

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One of the most commented on photos that I have taken recently was this one of a kitted DC5 giving it the beans around Silverstone at the recent JTS show. Due to the positive reaction and comments I have decided to offer it here as a free wallpaper in full 3008×2000 resolution.

Click this link or the image above to get the full size version

JTS 2009 @ Silverstone part 5

Set 5 of the photos I took at JTS are now available on my Flickr account – check them out here…. Drift/Time Attack Photos