Guest
New Year Touring has, once again, been the most exciting start to the year that we could have ever hoped for. Last year’s NYT event was the first of its kind in the area, creating plenty of anticipation for this year. We saw even more out-of-town visitors this time around, who made sure to make a fashionable entrance. Most notable was a custom, Group C-inspired, Geo Metro, created by a group who made the long journey from Idaho to show us this absolute masterpiece. The Super Shakotan Bros, aka Keith and Rudeboy, showed off the third iteration of their now-iconic S110 which featured a fresh new livery, spoiler, and takeyari exhaust pipes. Our day started with a pre-meeting at Rudeboy’s house where final touches were underway before the night began. The excitement started building even more as the rest of the teams rolled in - especially the Team Sexy Cowboys who had transformed a Toyota Tercel into a Crazy Taxi. We arrived at the first location fashionably late, of course, and were greeted by even more cars than we originally anticipated - stylish ones at that! It was incredible seeing just how many people felt inspired to build something just for this event. We took our time walking around to soak in just how alive and well the car scene still is when we all come together. The second meeting point of the night provided a picture-perfect backdrop, which teams and photographers all took full advantage of. Unfortunately, this spot was short-lived as we noticed the flashing of police lights and everyone scrambled to the next location. The third location, though not quite as scenic, was much more private and provided the perfect setting for everyone to mingle. We took the opportunity to catch up with everyone and got a closer look at all of the cars that came out. The fourth and final spot proved the most difficult to get to, with many hiccups along the way. The Super Shakotan Bros had their takeyari pipes fall off while crossing the bridge, and the Team Sexy Cowboys ended up needing to push their Crazy Taxi into the parking lot. Nonetheless, we all made it there and celebrated the ending of a spectacular night together. We had so much fun shooting this event and were delighted to see how much effort everyone had put into making the night so excellent. Thank you to everyone who came out to support Touring, and especially to those who built something just for the event. Shout out to the Idaho boys (Willy, TJ, Josh, Andy, Nathan, Cam, and Anders) for building such a cool and funny car. Another shoutout to Adam and Josh for their Crazy Taxi build. Last but not least, a very special thank you to Keith and Reid for hosting the event. I have the utmost appreciation for Dylan who always films and creates such wonderful memories for us. Jake and Karly, thank you for being such incredible members of our Checkpoint family. Josh, thank you for coming out to lend us a hand and always supporting everything we do. We were mising Alex tonight, but he’s off having way more fun in Japan so f*** him. Just kidding, we really did miss you, boss! It warms my heart to see the community come together purely for the enjoyment of the automotive spirit. I think I speak for everyone when I say that we cannot wait for the next one!
