As strange as this might sound, this story from my visit to the Toyota Automobile Museum in Aichi, Japan is not going to contain a single Toyota. As I touched on in my introductory post about the museum, a fair portion of the enormous facility is dedicated to telling the global history of the automobile, [...]
I’ve decided to kick off this first Spotlight from the idlers Games in Tsukuba with what was physically-speaking the largest car there, and probably also the biggest surprise. I mean, if you asked me to name 50 cars I thought were the best fit for an idlers Club event, I would never, ever, utter the [...]
Japan for some reason manages to do grassroots racing so much better than any country I’ve seen. It might be the incredible mix of cars, the balls-out and skilful driving, the way in which they don’t seem to give a damn about tuning and losing authenticity for the pursuit of speed. Actually, it’s especially this [...]
Now that I’ve given you guys a broad look at Wekfest LA 2013, it’s time to close out my coverage with a Spotlight-o-Rama featuring some of the most interesting cars from the show. The result of my hunt has brought a mix of clean street cars, mad stance machines and some cool engine swaps. Let’s [...]
The weather’s heating up, the days are getting longer and if you needed any more confirmation that Summer is truly on its way (at least for the Northern hemisphere), the echoes of screaming engines bouncing off rev limiters, tortured tyres screeching round corners and the occasional Scandinavian fan trying to start a chainsaw coming from [...]
I can hear Robbie Longley’s Mazda wagon, as I’m sure anyone else in a couple of miles radius can too, but I can’t see it. A few seconds ago he had flicked the switch marked LINE LOCK and stepped on the gas. Now all I see is white, and all I can taste is the [...]
Now that the big gravel parking lot next to the space used to hold the Street Car Nationals has been fully resurfaced, we might as well think of it as the show’s annex, such is the selection of cars that you can run across. About an hour before the show was due to end I [...]
No matter how many times I attend the Mooneyes Street Car Nationals, I never quite get over the visual impact the event creates on the streets of Tokyo’s Odaiba neighborhood. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t into customs or hot rods, the sight that these cars collectively create is simply breathtaking. Throw in an ever-expanding [...]
As car enthusiasts, I’d say there are generally two different ways in which we acquire new vehicles. First off, there’s the traditional route where we have a specific model we seek out – often looking at numerous examples and doing much contemplation before we decide to hand over our hard-earned money for the right car. [...]
Big engines and big cars are kind of obvious huh? Don’t get me wrong, I love a good V8 and have owned more than a few. An Audi R8 with that V10 sat behind my head? All day, every day my friend. Yet if I’m honest I think my ego gets in the way sometimes. [...]
In yesterday’s post I took you guys on a little trip through the M. Yokota Museum in Gunma, Japan. Today I’d like to follow that up with a more detailed look at the vintage automobile collection, which is one of the museum’s biggest drawcards. From rare sports cars and competition vehicles to more family-friendly vehicles [...]
By definition, a Speedhunter should pursue his “hunt” in a variety of different ways, which means that when we cover events we don’t simply just concentrate on what is served up for us on the show floor, or in the paddock at race tracks. Our curiosity pushes us to wonder around, to head out of [...]
Dazed, sleep-deprived and confused. That’s how you can sump up the demeanor of your average Speedhunter after a day covering one of the many events on our calendar. It all began abruptly at 4 am for me this morning; that irritating alarm buzzer once again interrupting my rest. There was no time for a couple [...]
It’s a fact I’ve never really been a fan of drag racing. Hang on though and stick with me, because I am now – and I hope that you will be too after reading this. Drag racing is not something I’ve just discovered either: I’ve been regularly visiting dragstrips for over 15 years. From Santa [...]
I’ve got a little confession to make here. Over the last several years I’ve had the chance to witness a great amount of Japanese car culture – the legendary race tracks, shops of all sizes, events big and small, museums, mountain roads and more. Surprisingly though, one thing missing from that list was a visit [...]
