The Adventures of Grip Video Vol. 2
Battle Swing, Fried Clutches, and the Mysterious MOTO-P!
August 5th, 2002

I think It's really cool that celebrities in the industry can goof off with the best of us. Take RJ Devera and Ray Fog of Veilside for example. RJ and Ray sat us down, and gave us a CLASS on how to drink Boba, or as Ray calls it: Boobies! *laugh* Believe it or not, RJ is a clown and a half! It's always fun to hang out with those guys.

We met up again with Mani Jayasinghe at his LA sports meet in Carson. It's pretty awesome to see a dozen Supra, Vipers, turbo euros, a Nissan 350Z, and various high power cars show up. The cops showed up, so we all booked it, and followed Mani and the Supras as they raced down the freeway. It's pretty scary to be hanging halfway out a window, trying to keep up with Supras, that are blowing flames a few feet from your face! As always, Mani put together a good show for Grip.

Since the Grip guys are Nissan fanatics, It was a real treat to visit the Nissan North America head quarters during the Nissan 240sx convention that Alex from 5zigen put together. Hiro, president of MOTOREX grabbed the Microphone, and cornered Toshi, Vice President of Apex'I USA, RJ, and Dai Lo from XS Engineering for interviews. Ray Fong and Alex joined in, Harassing the other tuners and other industry leaders at the show! Everyone had a good time. Gary McKinney finally brought out his S13 with the RB25DET motor - that thing is wicked!

Ray Fong has become - *music in the background* "Dun Dun Dun!" Professor Fong! I can't remember who came up with that name first…..RJ perhaps? Mr. Veilside USA has now become one of our official Tech hosts! He's even got his own theme song! (Think the thong song - "Fong, Fa-fong fong fong!")

Alex from Battle Version gave us a driving impression of three cars at the Nissan 240sx event at the Willow Springs raceway park: A 240sx with an Sr20DET, another 240sx, and a Toyota Corolla (Hachi-Roku). Although there wasn't supposed to be any drifting, Alex gave everyone a show, sliding through every turn on the course! The officials finally gave up trying to throw him off the track and opened up the skid pad, and let Alex drift on both courses. Alex took out a Nissan 240sx RPS13 with a Japan SR20DET engine in it, and performed so well on the skid pad, everyone cheered - then lost the nerve to go on the course. Benson from www.sileightymania.com didn't bring out his 240sx, but he did rip it up in a friend's Toyota MR2.

The next morning, Alex and MOTO-P explained how Battle Version suspension parts are made, and showed us how they perform better then other parts. MOTO-P busted out a few drive shafts and LSD'S, and taught us about transmission parts. We then raced down to HKS USA, or as we call it, Fort Knox! Patrick Hayes, Website fulfillment coordinator and clothing director, and Willie Yee, corporate communications specialist, gave us a tour of HKS USA. The legendary John Kuroyama was working on some of the HKS cars in the garage. It was cool to see a Strawberry faced S14, the HKS WRX, the HKS Focus, The HKS RSX, the SARD Soarer/SC400, and various other cars sitting in the garage. The HKS guys introduced their Hiper Damper Coilovers, and Fcon fuel management system to us, and Willie took us out in the HKS WRX.

I wonder what it must be like to work at a powerhouse such as Mackin industries? Well known around the world for their Volks racing and Gram lights rims, Mackin is one of THE most influential leaders in the industry today. Eddie and Li showed us the difference between a generic rim, and a quality rim like Volks.

Whenever we're in Cali, we always make sure to call the Father of Import Showoff, and one of the founders of the scene as it is today: Ken Miyoshi. If ever you have a chance to sit with Ken, and learn about the scene, I highly recommend it. Ken is very down to earth, and always enjoys people who are enthusiastic about the scene. We sat down with Ken, and he told us about the how the whole scene got started, and how he came up with the whole concept of Import Showoff. Ken rummaged through his stack of memorabilia, magazine and flyers he's collected over the years. He showed us the flyer for first import drag event - Battle of the Imports, and the First SHOWOFF program, with RJ Devera's Integra on the front cover! We kicked it with Thuy Dang at Live Sockets. Don't forget to check out Live Socket's "On the Scene DVD"

We're continuing to shoot for the second video as I write this. We're currently preparing for HAWAII'S STREETCAR SHOWOFF, ALOHA IDRC NATIONALS, and the SIGNAL AUTO/BATTLE VERSION/DRIFT SESSION clinic/competition. Thanks to Nancy Byun for the pictures at Import Showoff Hawaii.

Don't forget The Signal/Battle Version event - where local drivers will get to learn from D1 Grand Prix driver Fumiaki Komatsu, and will also have a chance to compete with him! That's it from me guys. Look for the next update to be posted after the Drift Session event.

Lates, -Jas