Recently me and Takuya made our way over to Joe-San of Car Make Across as the EK needed some fresh rubber and some basic checks ahead of an upcoming race weekend Takuya was participating in.
After stopping of at 7/11 for the always needed coffee fill up, we drove over to meet Joe and hang out for a while.
His shop/garage is tucked away nicely in a some what mix of urban town - stroke industrial area so any work can be done without interrupting neighbor's or other business in the area as some background music could be on whilst we chatted away in the late night.
Other customer cars like this White EG were also in for some modifications.
Popping the hood for some mechanical checks, and then get the EK up in the air to have the tires off ready for some fresh ADVAN's to be slapped on.
Some of you know the car was formerly owned by Joe-San himself, the K-swapped car had become quite synonymous with a number of followers. But as Joe-San does, he seems to either acquire new cars, or work with current ones he owns and then builds them up as he races them at either Suzuka or Central Circuit and then when the right time comes, passes them on to what he feels is the right owner to take over.
He was kind enough to let me take some interior shots within the garage.
Stacks of spare wheels, old tires, and various engine and suspension parts were strewn across the business space - but basically anything you need, it's here somewhere.
Some of the other cars that Joe-San has in his arsenal.. A black CR-X, the rather awesome Blue EF which is a personal favorite of mine, and then another CR-X. The yellow one another car that has also just been passed onto a new owner to take care of.
Back outside then EK had the new Yokohama tires on..
A quick application of Honda Racing lettering sprayed onto the new treads.
Whilst they dried, Takuya could take on some board some knowledge and envision as to what we could do to improve lap times at the two upcoming Central events, about five days after these shots were taken.
For reference, both pilot and machine having a tricky time of it for the Saturday race, finishing in the top of the midfield and very tricky weather conditions, and also the suspension setup needing a change prior to race.
The offside fender also proving an issue as it has bent inwards and was scrubbing hard on the front tire in cornering.
However, all would be good for the following day as returning to the circuit, the pairing would take a second-place podium finish.
Thanks to Joe-San for allowing us to take some photos at the shop, much appreciated. Always good to hang out.
Saying that the photos as you can see have a lot of 'noise' in them. And honestly when shooting and then importing them afterwards I couldn't really care about about any post processing apart from the watermark.
I've struggled in some part to actually make that mental transformation from creation to documentation, the latter of which I now feel is most important.
The photos added to Roughsmoke, either here on the site or via our other social media will act as memories for me and the rest of the team and our friends for many years to come and that is the most important thing.
TImes we can look back on with fond memories.
Hope you enjoyed this small photo set from Car Make Across, and if you'd like to see more, then you can always engage with us via the YouTube, Instagram, or FB pages.
Have a good one all.
Shimuzu,
Roughsmoke.
x.