Five Axis Wheels

Here are a few photos after putting on 19" Five Axis S5:F (staggered fitment). Nice matte black finish. Thanks to Glenn at Five Axis and Ming at ES.

Death Race Movie

It should be a good brainless hour and a half of vehicular mayhem. I'm glad the cars are not all from one manufacturer (i.e. Transformer is basically a showcase for GM) though I did see MOPAR logo placement in one of the scenes. Out on August 22. Check out the website.


Cars that appear in the movie:
2006 Ford Mustang Gt
2004 Dodge Ram 1500
1966 Buick Riviera
1980 Porsche 911
1989 Jaguar XJS
2006 Chrysler 300C
1972 Buick Riviera
1979 Pontiac Trans Am
1989 BMW 735i

When Money is No Object

Here is something I read this morning on autoblog. I'm not one to criticize another for not being green since I drive an SUV, but this is something else!


"A wealthy Arab man, thought to be a Sheikh, recently had his black and gold Lamborghini LP640 flown 3,250 miles to London via Qatar Airways and trucked to a certified UK Lamborghini dealership last Friday for a fluid change, which cost him a paltry £3,552 compared to the £20,000 round-trip flight. That's a grand total of £23,552 ($46,644 USD) for a friggin' oil change."

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Branding Project for Scion's Big Birthday Bash

Last couple weeks we've been busy working on a pretty big branding effort for Scion's fifth anniversary. For a five year-old car brand, Scion has done a remarkable job of staying fresh and relevant to its target market. Though sometimes I'm confused when I see an older dude driving an xB. Our work will be plastered all over the Toyota/Lexus/Scion campus. We will do a complete reveal next week when the events kicks into full swing. For now, here's a sneak peak.

Yes Asia

One of my favorites online stores is Yes Asia. If you are looking for any CDs, DVDs (now toys and apparel) from Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, etc., you will find it on their site. Being a HK cinema fan, I have the initial release of the Infernal Affairs Trilogy, ordered from Yes Asia. If I remember correctly, the company was started in Hong Kong by a Stanford graduate. Instead of unintentionally buying bootlegged copies of music or movies in shady stores, you can be assured everything you order on Yes Asia is the real deal.

RWD Subaru / Toyota

This could get interesting for Toyota and Subaru (and Nissan). Finally, lightweight RWD short wheelbase coupes from Japan are making a comeback after, hmm, twenty-plus years. Let's hope the slow economy doesn't kill off these promising cars.

From UK's Auto Express:
The car has been developed as part of a joint venture with Subaru owner Toyota – the project will also spawn a long-awaited successor to the Nineties Celica. The Impreza coupé takes styling cues from the five-door model, but gets a rakish rear end. That gives it a chunky yet athletic appearance which stands out from the crowd. Power will come from a choice of two engines, both employing the flat-four boxer layout for which Subaru is famous. There’s a normally aspirated 2.0-litre unit giving around 180bhp, or a high-performance 2.5-litre turbo powerplant borrowed from the range-topping five-door STi. The latter will deliver in the region of 300bhp.

Nissan could be next to come out with an affordable RWD coupe of its own. Below is their URGE concept car.

Moving In

For the past 2 weeks, we've been busy moving into our new office space. Here are some pics, we had some AC leak a few days ago that's why the reception/lounge area is totally empty.


This should fit perfectly in the lounge. Right in front of the plasma.


This is the main work room. The plasma and a few chairs aren't supposed to be here, but had to be moved due to the leak.


The reason I bought the PS3 is for the driving games. My favorite by far is RidgeRacer. Probably will pick up the Gran Turismo 5: Prologue this weekend.


The view from my workspace. I went mobile a few weeks ago with the MacBookPro. Not bad, but I could definitely use more speed, maxed out RAM at 4GB already. Nothing but boxes right now. Shelf space is in preparation for Racing Code and a new line I'm working on. I'm excited about the new line. Whereas Racing Code is for relatively broad appeal (among car enthusiasts), the new label will definitely be more niche and will be far more design-driven - think Bauhaus and Swiss Design movement. On top of that, I'm working on a product design lineup as well. It's going to be a busy year.

The Scion Complex

Just got back from a meeting with Scion. I've been tapped to work on design and development of one of their online initiatives (can't disclose much more at this time). This is the 3rd year that I've been working with the guys over there under my Racing Code brand. We've done a few collaboration tees, designed the exterior graphics of their airstream trailers, and few other projects. What I've noticed is that Scion is focusing more of their efforts on the racing front, which I think is a good move. Scion is pretty much known for their independent art/music scene, which they will continue to support I'm sure. Honda has tried, unsuccessfully, to capture this lifestyle with their Element/Fit ad campaigns. With the Nissan Cube and SOUL from Kia (see photo) coming online soon, Scion needs to stay ahead of their competition and motorsports seems to make sense.


As with most car enthusiasts, the clubbing lifestyle is okay but not enough to influence me to buy a car - the brand must have some credibility in motorsports (either SCCA or racing leagues). Right now, Scion has presence (team sponsorship) in drag, time attack, and of course drift. It's sort of a dual personality thing - is the brand representing artist/musician or motorsports communities. I guess they're not trying to convert a DJ to suddenly appreciate drifting, but it opens up a new market of potential customers who thought Scion cars are only for the starving artist-type. To really push me over the edge, I would need a RWD Scion coupe.

Review: Callpod Chargepod

A few weeks ago, I was browsing at a local Sharper Image store that was going out of business. I saw this charger kit for cell phones, iPods and other gadgets, it was reduced 30% so I decided to pick one up.

The package I bought came with cables for PSP (which I have), any USB device (I used initially for my iPhone), Motorola phones (I dug up my old RAZR to see if it works), Samsung phones (don't own any) and Nokia phones (haven't owned one in a long time). You can charge via a regular plug (it looks pretty generic for a company that is perceived as design-centric, Apple has spoiled me when it comes to even a plug - I expected collapsable prongs at least) or you can charge via a car charger. Lastly, you get a carry case. The bulky wall plug won't fit into this bag, so I assume they made this for the car charger, but it would have been nice if the wall plug could do some funky transformation to fit.


I later went to their website to order additional cables for my iPod and another iPod cable for my iPhone and a Nintendo DS Lite cable. Each cost $9.95.

After using it for a few weeks now, I definitely think it does cut down on cord clutter. And instead of six plugs going to the wall, I just have one. This is the nicest aspect of the Chargepod. Also, I don't have to look for my charging cable on the floor (which usually happens once I unplug a device that's on my desk) when I'm ready to charge my devices. One problem that it doesn't solve is desk clutter. From the photo, you can see that it still takes up quite a bit of desk space. I wonder if there is a way to make it have a smaller footprint, perhaps some kind of shelving system? Overall, I'm very happy with this product.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Nokia's Human Breakout Game

I was checking out FWA a few days ago for some design inspiration and noticed this cool site for Nokia's N-GAGE. It's pretty much a short movie (all done with stop motion technique, like what we did with clay animation in Junior High film class) with a hilarious interactive "human breakout" game towards the end of the film. It's quite a long download but worth it for a few minutes of diversion in the middle of the day. Enjoy. Check it out.

My New Weekend Car

Recently I purchased a 07 RX8 to replace my 99 Miata. It's in Galaxy Metallic Grey - fully loaded with navigation and the works. For those not familiar with the RX8, it's a rotary-powered (with a 9k RPM redline) 4-seat sports coupe with trick half rear doors.

About a month later, I added the necessary upgrades to increase airflow in and out of the engine. The usual cold air intake and high-flow exhaust. The Mazdaspeed sports exhaust is a nice looking piece (with bronze finish at the tips) and has a pretty aggressive sound (and loud when you rev the engine above 5k RPM, not the intensity I expected from a factory-backed exhaust, but I'm not complaining).

What kind of frustrates me about this car was the stock suspension. The suspension setup had way too much body roll for a sports car. About a month ago, I put in lowered springs/shocks and anti-sway bar front and back to dial down body roll. All Mazdaspeed parts. This car now corners flat and lane change at highway speeds is quick and stable, but it's not harsh. This should have been the stock suspension setup on a car like this.

More photos to come soon. And more about the departure of my previous Weekend Driver (The 99 Mazda MX5) in my next blog.

Michael Lau

I recently saw this interview (from a few years back) on YouTube with Hong Kong artist/designer Michael Lau, known internationally for his urban-flavor designer toy figures. Although I'm not a fanatical collector of toy figures as guys I know, it's always good to find out how an artist got started and how he ended up where he is today.


Part One


Part Two