My Day Among the Honda SuperNerds
I went in scared, and came out a fan.
Happy Race Day! especially to the Mazda RX-7, a sports car icon and JDM giant which has conquered mountains and vaporized track records and has the cutest little horn you’ve ever heard when the car alarm is going off.
Culture
This weekend your boy headed to HondaMeet 2023, an annual gathering for SoCal Honda fans, to see what’s popping in their corner of car culture. Short answer: a lot.
Honda fans get loads of crap. There’s a perception of cheap yet gaudy choices that were stuck in the Fast And Furious days about a decade too long. I didn’t know what to expect going in. But I saw ingenuity and attention to detail everywhere I looked.
Here’s the highlight vlog I shot and uploaded to YouTube yesterday:
As you can see, there’s lots of ways to love your Honda. (You’re welcome, marketing department.) What I liked was the depth of the passion on display, and the lengths people will go to in order to perfect their vision. Whether for the track or the street or just for fun, it was all gas / no brakes all the time. No half-assery here.
What surprised me was… nothing was that surprising. You had resto-modded Civics and kitted S2000s and tracked NSXs — I expected all that. They’re new takes and styles, but old ideas. I saw little in the way of groundbreaking cars.
Likewise, aftermarket icons like GReddy and Spoon and Mugen had heavy showings, which was cool! But no up-and-comer really made an impact and planted their flag.
Maybe I missed it — Honda, after all, is not my area of expertise. And a lot of the engineering and build quality on display was undeniably top-notch. Just browse the photos above to see a tiny Acty micro-truck with Honda’s mighty K-Series engine bolted into the bed. Or a classic N600 with adorable cozy vibes.
These weren’t the noisy, mismatched hoopties that often get lumped in with Honda enthusiasts and purists. Maybe this just wasn’t that type of event. Or maybe modern Honda fans have left those days in the past, choosing instead to prioritize honoring the brand’s legacy while still celebrating its future. That’s what I witnessed.
Regardless of whether they’re making new discoveries, it’s clear that Honda folks are ten-toes-down for the brand. They care about bringing out the personality in their cars, about making them their own. They are having fun. I will always support that.
See you at HondaMeet 2024!
Author Update
Quick news on Carrara Media, the book publisher and producer of Race Day that actually makes physical products you can hold in real life. After a strong launch, we’re running low on stock of Postcards From the End of the World, the fictional dystopian photobook (and certified slapper) by Victoria Scott. We’d be thrilled to sell out so if you want one, order now. Get some for your friends! Now’s the time!
In other Victoria news, our intrepid author tackled the question of What’s the Best Vehicle in Anime History? on Twitter and offered some answers that are seriously hard to argue. If you disagree, though, the replies to her tweet have bangers, too.
And our other authors are making noise! Motorsports journalist Hazel Southwell, currently working on her upcoming Carrara release about the road to an F1 career, posted this video explaining the series’ troubling stance on LGBTQ+ matters of late:
You should also follow Carrara author Michael Banovsky and his Substack newsletter May I Drive Your Car? particularly for his latest interview with the owner of a movie-car database that perfectly melds the equally nerdy realms of cars and movies.
While we’re on the topic of creators, shout-out to our friends on staff at Hearst Magazines, who unionized and after exhaustive organizing efforts recently signed a new labor contract! Congrats and solidarity, friends!
Video Reel
The official trailer for the Gran Turismo movie (starring DadBod God and NHL superfan David Harbour) is finally here and I am STOKED. Two reasons: A) The racing looks good! and B) Gives me a great excuse to waste time on video games again.
On the Block
Last week we profiled the Paul Walker Skyline GT-R with a deep dive into whether it’s legal in the US or not. (Spoiler alert: no one really knows.) Legal or not, the auction is currently live and the high bid is $840,000 with two days to go.
And Finally…
The hallowed 12 Hours of Sebring was back in March but did it really happen until Larry Chen posts a video about it? No. Enjoy this buffet of racing footage:
Drive hard and be safe. Black Lives Matter.
Race Day has subscribers in 31 states and 16 countries! Want your event included? Shoot me a note with subject line “Race Day” at ryan@carrarabooks.com.
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