The folks at HJCG are hosting another vintage Japanese car show 8/10/13 in San Leandro, CA. They hosted two fantastic car shows in the past including the Bayline and Shokuji J-Tin gatherings. See below for more info about the upcoming show with a very famous guest!

Historic J is proud to announce we will be hosting another very special event at the San Leandro Maria August 10, 2013. Location: 5 Monarch Bay Drive, San Leandro Marina CA .

For the first time ever here in the US our guest of honor from the world famous shop in Japan “Watanbe-San” owner of Rocky Auto will be attending our event.

Some of you might recognize him from the recent show “Retro-Kings”. He’s also known for the amazing cars that come out of his shop in Japan.

http://youtu.be/NGjI9R1XKEQ

Watanabe-San will have a booth where he will meet and greet and signing autographs. There will also be Rocky Auto merchandise that will available at the event.

Our guest of Honor will be judging all registered cars attending. Which gives you the opportunity to see how well you car matches up to Japanese standards. Trophies will be awarded to a select few based on categories which have been chosen by Watanabe-san himself.

There will also be media from well know Japanese magazines attending the event. Get the chance to have you car featured in one of their magazines.

Once again this is a once in a life time opportunity to meet Watanabe-san in person for the first time here on US soil.

For Registration go to http://historicj.com
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Thank You
HJCG

On July 27 the ZONC Annual Brisbane Marina Car Show is back! This is a great venue held near San Francisco check out pictures from last year’s show HERE. Deadline for pre-registration is 7/7/13 so don’t miss out. Download a .pdf form HERE

Just a friendly reminder that Z Car Garage will be closed this Thursday and Friday. We will return to normal business hours 7/8.

Enjoy your Z in this warm summer weather!

Hot summer evenings, the sounds of engines revving and the smell of burning tires in the air….the drags are here! We had a very impressive turnout of ZCG customers and friends at the Wednesday Night Fun drags 6/26!  Our caravan from the shop was 8 cars strong including: Joe E’s Porsche 911 Turbo , David C’s R32 Skyline piloted by Josh C, Scott G’s Twin-Turbo AWD G37 Sedan, Ken S’s 300zx Twin-Turbo, Rob’s 300zx Twin-Turbo, Jeff V’s Vortech Mustang GT, Marco’s RWD(!) Honda CRX, and I drove the Yellow 4-door Datsun 510…

 

 

When we arrived at the dragstrip even more familiar faces had joined the fun: Juan F’s Vortech G35 Coupe, Jason D’s single turbo G35 Coupe, Trevor M’s sexy Z31 Turbo, and John T’s Z32 TT:

After everyone passed the tech inspection(yes, even the RWD CRX) we headed to the grid and started practice runs. If you are a first timer, these “test” runs allow one to learn the optimal launch/shifting strategy for consistent E.T.’s and reaction times. We got  lucky and everyone had 5-6  runs before eliminations. This is one of the most fun parts of the day where you can race your car down the strip, collect your timeslip and discuss with friends!  Also,  between runs comes the banter and virtual car show in the grids:

It was neat to see the little yellow 510 in midst of big-block muscle cars and fire-breathing boosted imports. I taped my first run and ran an embarrassing 16.2s at 87mph. Josh even rigged the MSD ignition’s two-step feature through the horn button, set at 4000rpm. Unfortunately this launch just spun the inside tire:

I gradually improved the launch with each practice run and got down to a 15.797 at 87.73mph before eliminations started.   It was still hot, 90 degrees but rapidly cooling.  Time for elims!  Everyone chose a dial-in time and marked it on the windows. I dialed in at 15.8s. With the adrenalin rushing it’s hard to focus completely on your launch. The countdown tree of lights becomes an over-analyzed feature. Once moving though many things come into play like temperature. Cooler weather means more power and if you feel like you are running faster than your dial-in, maybe letting off or even tapping the brakes could net you a win.

Almost all of us made it through the first round of eliminations!  I eventually lost to the modifed Focus ST pictured next to me as I broke out by running a 15.739 at 88mph. Josh and Jeff moved on and Rob even went to the third round in his 300! Here are some E.Ts for the cars:

 

Jeff V ran 12.06 at 117.94 mph in the Mustang
Rob ran 11.5 at 126.8mph in the 300zx Twin Turbo
Scott G ran 12.3 at 114mph in the G37 sedan
Joe E ran 12.0 at 117mph in the 911 Turbo
Josh C ran 13.6 at 104mph in the Skyline

Stay tuned for more in-car videos in HD.

Come out with us next time for the Wednesday Night Fun drags as it is certainly an experience that all enthusiasts can appreciate!

More pictures in the gallery!
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The Wednesday Night Fun Drags at Sonoma/Infineon Raceway are tomorrow! We have a large group of cars planning to go so don’t miss out!
***To join the caravan from ZCarGarage meet at the shop 12:30pm, 1:30pm departure!***

All the information you need about the track and racing itself is located HERE