first of all a very belated happy new year to each and every single one of you. we didn’t have much of a break during the end of 2024 into 2025 period due to preparing for a lifelong dream – having a car entered at Tokyo Auto Salon.

long story short boss man naoki spoke to me mid last year with a simple question of ‘do you want to participate in the 2025 tokyo auto salon’ next to my car, in which without much thought swiftly responded ‘yes’. before we knew it the end of the year was near, the HKS 2.1L managed to get hot which completely ruined the head, block and most of the pistons. following this the car went to SKY MOTORS in osaka to takuzo-san for a full pull-down and rebuild. new head, block, HKS 87mm pistons, rods, brand new oil & water pump, head gasket and some head work to get it back, running and not only ready for auto salon but for the 2025 season. the new engine made a wild 531HP at 1.65 bar.

i have been shooting this event for many years, dating back a few decades ago to Australian auto salon’s and even back to working with auto salon magazine when i was 16 years young or so. honestly this has been one of those self-manifestation goals i’ve had for a very long time. the fact that very minimal foreigners have had cars and or companies entered into this event has made me beyond hungry to make this a reality.

over the course of 3 days we had a rediculous amount of people pull through to say hello, express their gratitude and positivity with what we’ve been doing and creating for the last 15 years in which we’re forever thankful – so thank you everyone. as usual we’ve put together a video & very small photo gallery from the event (below). 3 days wild days of the event plus months of preperation.

next up is osaka auto messe 2025 which is held in osaka next week, february 7th, 8th & 9th. if you’re in japan during this time be sure to make it as it’s osaka’s largest event in the annual year.

ready for a giant year, thank you always. caseyyy x

since kansai all stars it has been reasonably quiet on the driving front over here in japan. as usual the lead up to kansai all stars every year is very full-on for all participants and garages involved so it is very common to have some down time post the event.

fast forwarding a month last event nakamura naoki, his son nakamura ryuu, aki fujio & friends had a very small, intimate and rainy day at meihan d course. a little day to give the next generation some time to practice and get some seat time and drive with some of the best.

below are a few photos i took over a 20 or so minute period, rain was pretty full on. i have also put together an 8 minute RAW POV onboard video from my little action cam on youtube in which i will embed into this post also. be sure to check it out – naoki and his son properly driving together for the first time which was amazing to watch and capture. PS if you want to see any photos larger just right click and open in new tab – have laid them out this way as there are a few in this post.

big love, always. caseyyy x