Meet the Kanjozoku, Osaka’s infamous street racers

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Kanjozoku video

Street racing is obviously illegal and incredibly dangerous, but that has never stopped people from doing it. While we don't hear nearly as much about the scourge of Japanese tuner cars as when The Fast and the Furious first hit theaters over a decade ago, illegal street racing is still bubbling under the surface all over the island nation. An excellent new documentary short from Bowls Films takes a look at the Kanjozoku from Osaka, Japan; a group that claims to be partially responsible for the tuning style known as JDM.

The group gets their name from their preferred route known as the Kanjo. It's a 4.77-mile long loop of connected highways running right through the city of Osaka. You might expect a hardcore group of illegal Japanese racers to show up with highly tuned Nissan GT-R and Toyota Supra coupes, but the Kanjozoku evidently eschew all of the others in favor of one particular car that they love: the Honda Civic.

According to the video, that vehicle of choice came in part from the city's location. Osaka was relatively near the one-make Civic races held at Japan's legendary Suzuka racetrack. The hatchbacks thus became the default weapons for the Kanjozoku's street battles.

The guys interviewed for the documentary go so far as to claim that their scene created the whole concept of JDM tuning. The whole video is a really interesting portrait of an illegal racing scene crafted out of friendly competition. Scroll down for a brief look at the Kanjozoku of Osaka - it's worth it.

Continue reading Meet the Kanjozoku, Osaka's infamous street racers

Meet the Kanjozoku, Osaka's infamous street racers originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 17 Jul 2014 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Meet the Kanjozoku, Osaka’s infamous street racers

Filed under: , , , , , ,

Kanjozoku video

Street racing is obviously illegal and incredibly dangerous, but that has never stopped people from doing it. While we don't hear nearly as much about the scourge of Japanese tuner cars as when The Fast and the Furious first hit theaters over a decade ago, illegal street racing is still bubbling under the surface all over the island nation. An excellent new documentary short from Bowls Films takes a look at the Kanjozoku from Osaka, Japan; a group that claims to be partially responsible for the tuning style known as JDM.

The group gets their name from their preferred route known as the Kanjo. It's a 4.77-mile long loop of connected highways running right through the city of Osaka. You might expect a hardcore group of illegal Japanese racers to show up with highly tuned Nissan GT-R and Toyota Supra coupes, but the Kanjozoku evidently eschew all of the others in favor of one particular car that they love: the Honda Civic.

According to the video, that vehicle of choice came in part from the city's location. Osaka was relatively near the one-make Civic races held at Japan's legendary Suzuka racetrack. The hatchbacks thus became the default weapons for the Kanjozoku's street battles.

The guys interviewed for the documentary go so far as to claim that their scene created the whole concept of JDM tuning. The whole video is a really interesting portrait of an illegal racing scene crafted out of friendly competition. Scroll down for a brief look at the Kanjozoku of Osaka - it's worth it.

Continue reading Meet the Kanjozoku, Osaka's infamous street racers

Meet the Kanjozoku, Osaka's infamous street racers originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 17 Jul 2014 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Meet the Kanjozoku, Osaka’s infamous street racers

Filed under: , , , , , ,

Kanjozoku video

Street racing is obviously illegal and incredibly dangerous, but that has never stopped people from doing it. While we don't hear nearly as much about the scourge of Japanese tuner cars as when The Fast and the Furious first hit theaters over a decade ago, illegal street racing is still bubbling under the surface all over the island nation. An excellent new documentary short from Bowls Films takes a look at the Kanjozoku from Osaka, Japan; a group that claims to be partially responsible for the tuning style known as JDM.

The group gets their name from their preferred route known as the Kanjo. It's a 4.77-mile long loop of connected highways running right through the city of Osaka. You might expect a hardcore group of illegal Japanese racers to show up with highly tuned Nissan GT-R and Toyota Supra coupes, but the Kanjozoku evidently eschew all of the others in favor of one particular car that they love: the Honda Civic.

According to the video, that vehicle of choice came in part from the city's location. Osaka was relatively near the one-make Civic races held at Japan's legendary Suzuka racetrack. The hatchbacks thus became the default weapons for the Kanjozoku's street battles.

The guys interviewed for the documentary go so far as to claim that their scene created the whole concept of JDM tuning. The whole video is a really interesting portrait of an illegal racing scene crafted out of friendly competition. Scroll down for a brief look at the Kanjozoku of Osaka - it's worth it.

Continue reading Meet the Kanjozoku, Osaka's infamous street racers

Meet the Kanjozoku, Osaka's infamous street racers originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 17 Jul 2014 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Havana Motor Club documentary revs up Cuban street racing scene

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Havanna Motor Club Trailer

From the 1959 Cuban Revolution until just recently, it was illegal to buy or sell cars in Cuba without government approval. There were also very few new cars brought into the country. At the same time, racing was also banned on the island nation because it was considered an elitist sport. Of course, a government can do its best to prohibit whatever it wants, but that's not always going to stop passionate people from pursuing what they want to do. And that's exactly what has happened with racing in Cuba - it never really disappeared, it just went underground.

A new documentary titled Havana Motor Club aims to tell the story of Cuba's illegal drag racing scene, along with an attempt to organize the first legal race in the country in decades. However, the film isn't quite done yet, and its creators are raising money on Kickstarter to complete it. The fundraiser has already met its goal of $52,250 to finish editing, license music and generally improve the sound mixing. The filmmakers plan to release the documentary in 2014 or early 2015, but backers can get it early.

Based on the trailer, the documentary is beautifully shot and stars the sort of old-school American iron the country has become legendary for. It's amazing that these cars are still on the road, let alone look as good as they do. The filmmakers say the goal of the documentary is to shed light on the evolving Cuban culture through the spectrum of motorsports, and that sounds like a great place to start to us. Scroll down to watch a trailer for the film and to check out an interview with director and producer Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt from Autoline Daily (about 5:43 into the video).

Continue reading Havana Motor Club documentary revs up Cuban street racing scene

Havana Motor Club documentary revs up Cuban street racing scene originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 01 May 2014 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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