Handing out the Bula stamp of approval, one post at a time!

So this past weekend, I went to Camarillo, CA via Greyhound to visit my friend Robert for his 20th birthday weekend. Damn, 20 years old… time flew big time. Anyways, I met the team Auto Concept Elite from High End Performance Inc. Their cars are hands down amazing. Ben, Jun, Richard, Nick, Tina, Lito, BJ, JP, and Lyle were the first people that I had met on my first day there. They are such welcoming people and they made my weekend one of the best experiences that I’ve had in a long time.

On Friday, the day that I arrived in SoCal, Robert picked me up and we immediately drove over to High End. I met the whole team (that was there). Robert and I helped load Ben’s truck. After that, Ben, Robert, and I all went to Tina’s work, picked up her Scion tC. Ben dropped Robert and I off, and as Ben drove over to Irwindale, it was Robert’s job to drive Tina’s tC:

Robert went O_O “I’m a bit nervous… this IS a showcar, and it’s not mine!” LOL. I was fortunate enough to be the passenger/navigator, bumpin’ music and taking advantage of the crazy sound system. Along the way, we saw heymikeyyyy along the way in his Scion xB. Apparently, he took a picture of us and posted it on his Facebook, haha. Oh the glories of the internet. Robert and I were basically playing catchup to meet up with the rest of the team. Boost!!!!!!! People in other cars were just staring at Tina’s car like WTF, and there were these kids in a minivan that was looking back the whole time as they drove by (wish I had brought my camera). We finally got there, met with the team, and helped set up. It was a long and hot day, but so worth it. Then after that, the whole team drove to a Korean BBQ restaurant in a Westfield mall close to Camarillo. The drive in Tina’s xB was hilarious, because Richard wouldn’t stop cracking jokes (not that I’m complaining). Most of them were directed at Tina/Robert, but… it’s all good haha. We were probably one of the loudest 2 tables there (since there were 12 of us). I sat with Tina, Marie, Jun, Robert, and Jordan. We all sang Happy Birthday to Robert and we all destroyed our “all you can eat” meal. It was GOD-LIKE PROPORTIONS! After dinner, Marie, Jun, Richard (who was still cracking more jokes), Robert and I drove back to the shop, and it was dorm-bound for Robert and I. We went to sleep for like 5 hours, only to wake up late at 6AM instead of the proposed 5:15AM. That was a crazy Friday.

Saturday, it was showtime. Robert drove his tC to the shop, picked up Jun and Richard, and drove over to Tina’s house. We got in Tina’s xB, and made our way to Irwindale to set up camp pt. 2 and start detailing the cars.
In the process, I met Brian, Mike, Jowe, Billy, Jorge, Jay Bhee, and Bong, who were the rest of the team (but it still didn’t mean I met ALL of them, haha)
I got to detail JR’s G37 (R.I.P. JR). Some kid passing by the car thought it was mine, and was like “Didn’t that car used to be black?” and I responded “Yep, flat black.” JR’s G37 is pretty well-known, and will be featured in Gran Turismo 5 (which I will definitely buy.) *Now the G37 is green and the SSRs are now gold.

I got to take off one of the wheels so it could get shown off separately from the car. 😀

While finishing up the cleaning, the judges started making their rounds. Because we spent all of our time cleaning, barely anyone filled out the judging papers, hahaha. Everyone was saying “YOU GOT A PEN?! Luckily, I had one pen in my pocket, and it was put to use, haha. The day went by, and it was just another hot day. Robert and I were supposed to be shooting for Edwin and Auto Import Craze, but because I wanted to soak up the experience showing with ACE, and the fact that it was blazing hot, I didn’t wanna go out there, safe under my nice tent. Good thing I didn’t leave because I got Amaya (a model from Babe Blvd.) to sign my Babe Blvd. postcard flyer.

The day flew by, we broke down the whole camp afterward. It was a successful day, and ACE came away with these awards (from what I remember):

Best Team
Lyle’s Mini with a K24 swap got “Best Engineered”
Richard’s (or Joy’s) Top Secret Supra got “Best of Show”
*will update when I receive the whole list* — basically won the top three awards too.
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This is Robert’s shot of Richard Carino’s Top Secret Supra. If you have been an avid reader of Super Street magazine, you’d have seen this car before. All I can say that it was pretty amazing to experience seeing the cars driven to and from the event. Hearing this car, however, blew my mind away.

BJ’s RX-7, taken by Robert. This car was pretty loud too.

Anyways, it was a great event. If you went to Irwindale to see either XDC or Remix, then you probably had a good time there like I did.

CONGRATULATIONS TO AUTO CONCEPT ELITE