Japstyle : The Showoff / The chronicle of an awesome weekend

25/09/2014 13:05

A place. A place full of pure japanese cars. Oh my... just drooling... The story begins with 5 friends, creating the so called "Japstyle" group. Now being the mostly known JDM devoted group in Greece.SO! They decided to create one more of their great and awesome events. "The showoff" in Athens ! And ofcourse.. we had to attend it.. But lets take it from the day we heard this was coming.Our little adventure begins about 6 months ago when we first heard the rumors that Japstyle is on the way of creating a national event. Good thing we had our *cough* insiders so we knew it was certain hehe.. We had to prepair our cars, fix some minor things and just change some others...Anyway, good thing everything went smooth.. The days kept passing by, and it felt quite fast to be honest.

The weekend has come, everyone is running up and down for last minute pending issues and details. 6 cars in total ladies and gentlemen. Sil80 AKA  #ZFSIL80  ,  S14a AKA #ZFKOUKI, S14 AKA #ZFZENKI, another S13 , a Toyota Glanza and a Mitsu COLT! They all were polished, cleaned, i mean you could actually see your face on them.. Our 2 last cars left our hometown in the morning due to some issues they needed to sort in Athens.

It was about 5 pm on Friday when we left Larissa and after grabbing a cup of coffee we were on the road! It was a 4 hour trip to our hotel but these journeys are always pleasant!
Our friend Steve Ketner who was in #ZFZENKI kept taking photos of us rolling! His work is absolutely stunning and we thank him a lot for that!
After a stop since nature called us.. ^_^ we finally arrived at the hotel. Took our luggages to the rooms, had a bath and... off we go to explore Athens and meed a few friends who were waiting for us! Nighttime and a dring to relax along with nice company is always the best way to end a day.. ....... NOT! We were on our way back to our hotel when we had a phonecall.
People were about to go to Drifting... And they invited us. Well.. change of plans guys. We're not resting yet! We stopped to a central road and some of them came and picked us up. We followed them, the road was getting more and more deserted. But when we arrived at their little Drifting nest we found about 10 more cars there and friends who welcomed us! We talked, watched some of their training.. Had a good time! It was getting very late though and we had to go rest since the next day was going to be another - full of driving and meeting motorheads - day.
Saturday morning. We woke up late but missed the hotel's breakfast.. :(  One of the guys we met last night was Giorgos G, who actually owns a car wash store. A very special one. "Drift Car Wash" ! As you can guess it's the place every JDM car ( and not only ! ) goes to get cleaned up! He himself owns a Toyota AE86! He told us to go by his business since our cars had some dirt on them caused from the trip.
By the time we got there we were extremely hungry. So untill he could be done with our cars we decided to visit a nearby fast food. A good breakfast is always needed!
Our cars are shinny again. HOORAY! He trully did a perfect job. Thanx Giorgos! Getting in our freshly washed cars. Ignition on. Exaust spitting out the last few drops of water and off we go to sit down for a coffee. We had to plan our next day since it was....... The Showoff's day!
After a few hours we head back to the hotel to chill. Tonight we would go out again! This time it was a convoy of about 20 cars. It's always nice and keeps your moral high when you see people passing by and staring at your car! Imagine what happens when they see 20 of these...
We drove a bit fooling around on our way to have dinner. Gourmet dishies.. who needs them :O Burger is the way to go! We ended up needing 6 tables for all of us. It was like a small school trip! With a full stomach from burgers and a full mind with new ideas and knowledge we exchanged with our fellow JDM friends we returned to our hotel rooms to have a shower and sleep. Tomorrow is the big day..!
Sunday morning. Today we did NOT miss our hotel's breakfast :D After all by 12 o'clock we had to be where the event was taking place, in order to set up our team's stand! We got all our luggage from the hotel, checked out since we would leave back to Larissa immediatelly after The Showoff, and left for Athens' Hippodrome! By the time we arrived teams and cars were already there and setting up. Japstyle had kept a very neat spot for us!
 We parked our cars and started arranging how to place our table with the caps, tees and stickers and much more! It turned out great, we had our tent for shadow, we had our stuff to sell right in front of the stand and our cars ready to be worshipped hehehehehe :D This event was not about doing burnouts, donuts, street racing or anything like that. It was going to be a place to get inspired. Get new ideas for our cars, meet new people, participate in competitions and advertise our team! A lot of the crowd stopped to check on our cars.
They really liked our engine bays and the colour we had chosen for each car. Many of them also bought t-shirts and stickers! Others got caps and towstraps! We thank you a lot for the support and the love you are showing us. You really help us keep on going! We need our supporters! Everyone does, and NEVER forget this!
There were many... MANY beautifull automobiles.. others with more power and others with more... finesse! There were 3 competitions : Best Old School for cars before '89 ,  Best Engine Bay and Best of show!  Unfortunatelly we did not win any but oh, what the hell! The prizes went to some really breathtaking cars! The amount of people that came was HUGE. It trully is a big deal for Greece's standards. The organizers did a flawless job.
It's almost 7pm and the sun is descending fast. Unfortunatelly.. We got a 4 hour trip back to Larissa ahead of us so it is time we start packing. The day went by without even realizing how fast.. It was a bit tiring but totally worth it. We got ready, greeted all our friends and we were on the road again.

This time it was all 6 of us together. We stopped on the highway to get something to eat and Steve got a chance to do what he loves most. With his camera in his hand he started shooting. A little video? Maybe a small movie? Noone knows! He just told us ,  "do that" and we followed his instructions. Stay tuned to discover what is behind this!
By the time we arrived to our hometown we were exhausted. we stopped before splitting up, recalled some nice moments, said goodnight and everyone went back to his home. We really sulk when we think about that moment.. 
The weekend was great and we would love another one just like that!

To all our Supporters, the guys from JAPSTYLE
Steve Ketner and Drift Car WashJason Konteos Photography & Adrenaline Rush.. Thank you so much for a great experience!
Keep Supporting Your Local Style!

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ZF Team