Remember this guy...

Well he...
Yeah, he did. Must be nice rockin' some Takatas in an RR,
-Nick

Update: Oh, and, I must apologize for my lengthy absence during what quickly became all of February. The workload with school is far greater than I had originally imagined, but I've been sitting on a decent amount of material worth sharing and I've recently come across some new stuff that'll likely blow your load. That's right, I just said that. And I don't say outlandish things (on here at least), that's how serious I am. Hot shit. (Hint: black or white, standing tall.)

CRAZUKNIGHTS!

MUGEN RR Advanced Concept, Tokyo Auto Salon 2009

Mugen came out swinging at Tokyo Auto Salon this year with their Power of Creative 2009 campaign, which included the Honda NSX MUGEN RR Concept, the Honda Accord MUGEN 24sc Concept, and the Honda CIVIC MUGEN RR Advanced Concept.

The MUGEN RR Advanced Concept was a bit of a shock to come across looking through all the blogger coverage of TAS09. I really didn't expect Mugen/Honda to have anything too crazy going on considering all the latest news of cutting back on R&D, yet I was pleasantly surprised by this NA, FF beast. It has a full carbon fiber body, a 2.2-liter bored K20A producing 260PS @ 8250rpms, a titanium exhaust and larger diameter brakes resulting in a time nearly two full seconds faster than the original RR around Tsukuba (Advanced RR - 01.04.906 vs RR - 01.06.688 vs Type R - 01.07.494). Not too mention all the specialty equipment goods from Mugen on the inside (yellow 9k gauge cluster, shift knob, light weight reinforced buckets, etc).

Check:

Outrageous. Don't forget to click here for the 'Special Movie' of the MUGEN RR Advanced Concept, it's worthwhile.

Enjoy,

-Nick

J's Racing - New Year Update

It's no wonder that customers of this shop often taken pictures during their visits and post them up on their blogs, there is seemingly always something new going on to be seen. One enthusiast/customer/blogger posted the following photos from a visit a few days ago (01/05/09) where we catch a glimpse of new livery being applied to one of the J's Racing Fits. We also get to see a handful of the 100 total, limited run of J's can gal bobble heads (I want), amongst other 2009 J's shwag, most of which is likely available at the J's Racing booth at Tokyo Auto Salon going on right now. Mark my words, I'll get myself to TAS one year.

-Nick

Mugen RR

The owner of this particular Mugen RR, No. 51 of 300, is Ichiro, a representative for the famous aero parts company Noblesse. He's the one who owns that awesomely flush and tucked Fit that showed up on a bunch of blogs a few months back. This is his privately owned car pictured in the photos that he took himself (I understand that he also happened to recently aquire a Nikon D3, and these are some of the best shots I have yet to see of the coveted RR).

Looking through the following photos you may notice there are a few dress-up parts equipped (like the Noblesse oil cap, the Mugen resevoir tank cover, or the Mugen dry-carbon coil cover), but thankfully there are no plans scheduled to use it for aero production/development/fitment, as he makes utterly clear on his blog. This car from the factory alone, as Ichiro and many of us Honda lovers/enthusiasts would likely determine, is as close to perfect in stock form as can be.

Check:

This is easily my favorite newer car from Honda right now and from these photos it's very easy to understand why. Yet, with all the latest news about canceling R&D on many upcoming desireable vehicles (most recently adding the S2000's replacement to the list), it feels like this may be the last H-car of it's kind for awhile.

-Nick