$64k Thief Magnet

Mugen Type R, one of twenty

Let’s Go Rallying!

By BFF Duke has caught the rally bug and has been wanting to do some TSD (time/speed/distance) rallies. Maybe even as a stepping stone to actual RALLY rallies. I did a TSD event with the local organization CORC about 10 years ago and I can tell you two things; it’s much harder on the car than you think it’s going to be, and without a rally computer it’s pretty much impossible to be competitive. But it was definately fun despite my ex wife being more dead weight than navigator. In preparation for this Duke has decided that when his ‘98 hatch gets put into winter mode it will include some big oversized mudflaps and a four pot light pod out front. It’s sounds crazy, but you should know by now I like crazy. So yada yada I’ve been looking around at some rally stuff today, first up I found this DA Integra with some (imo) really nicely incorporated rally lights.

Next I found this Insight campaigned by Oaktek in the UK. It’s a former class champion despite being a 1000cc car in a 1300cc class and they have done a lot of work to get more power out of the hybrid setup. The kicker is next season they plan on running it purely on cow manure. Oh yea, shit. From cows. And not just any old manure, fermented manure. Seriously, don’t believe me, read the article.

Melissa Project Update October 5

If this is your first visit to the site you can read about the Melissa Project right here. Basically I’ve been selling stickers to try and help raise money for my girl who has a particularly nasty form of cancer and no insurance.

I just wanted to take a moment to update you guys and thank you yet again for your generous and giving spirit, special shouts go out this week to AZHT.net, I just shipped a couple orders to members from there today, you guys have been so great and it is appreciated so much! Thanks to the orders received so far YOU have made it possible for Melissa to make the needed down payment to see the oncologist to get her biopsy, blood work, and full scan. Even though the results of the biopsy were quite bad, The Melissa Project has lifted her spirits and inspired such hope in her it’s absolutely priceless.

The Hatch Life bumper stickers arrived today and they came out better than expected. I have ones set aside for Slappy, Brian, Karsten and Duke, even if you guys don’t wish to donate I want to send you one for always being such great supporters of the site. That leaves 6 up for grabs @ $8ea shipped. Just like the Heart stickers 100% of that goes to Melissa’s medical bills. Leave a comment or hit me at stickerdonations@yahoo.com

Lots of the Heart stickers left too, I just cut 30 more Honda “H” ones today, $5ea shipped or two for $9

Get You Some Book Learnin’

You own a Honda, you read The Chronicles, it’s a given. You probably saw the recent post about the Sportcar Motion Integra, you may have even wondered about those side skirts it was running. I was wondering too so I dug around and came up with this excellent article from Special Projects Motorsports about how they work in conjunction with the under tray and rear diffuser. There’s also some good tips in here for those interested in fabricating their own rear diffuser or front splitter.

It’s Official

About a week ago I was rambling about how cool I thought blacked out motors were, this car just sold me 100% on it. I hereby declare blacked out motors sexy! Maybe the next trend?

SOHC Tucks

I’ve been doing it again. About once a month I start looking at wire tuck pix and get all inspired, go over to where the red car is stored, pop the hood, try to get a plan together, then get frustrated and give up. I usually end up just cleaning, painting, or replacing something small but no real work. I don’t want to do a full on SoCal/VW tuck, just clean it up some but I just don’t have the patience.

Thank You!

From the bottom of my heart guys, thank you for your generous support. Special thanks to Yoshitomo from Westhill Motorsports, Manny, Duke, Karsten, and Slappy. I have no idea why but Hatch Life gets about 2000 views a day, my goal was if just 1% bought a sticker, 20 orders, we could pay for just one doctor visit, or one prescription, and we could give Melissa the hope that’s so hard to come by right now and show her that she doesn’t have to go through this alone. Thanks to you we met that goal in just 2 days! That’s community, that’s family, that is what makes cars such a special hobby….the people! You’re the best and if there is ever anything I can do to for you just give me a shout.

There will be a permanent link to the sticker post in the Blog Roll over there titled Buy Stickers, and I will probably bring the original post back up to the top of the front page from time to time, not trying to ram it down your throats, just to keep the exposure going. I still have plenty left to sell, and in the future I think I’ll add a B16 and DC version, maybe even S13 and S14 if there’s interest. There was also a request for a Hatch Life sticker which blew my mind. There will be a very very limited initial run to test the waters, I sketched something up real quick tonight but they’re at least a week away yet. You guys are the best, thank you so very very much!

Make a Difference

There’s a girl near and dear to my heart named Melissa. She’s one of those rare people who feels the injustices of the world to her core and fights everyday to right them. She lights up any room she’s in, she’s smart, funny, tenacious, and has the most beautiful blue eyes you’ve ever seen. Last month she was diagnosed with cancer in one of her lower vertebrae, the tumor is pushing on her spinal column and generally making her life miserable. When her insurance company got wind of her diagnosis they straight dumped her and she is now uninsurable because it is a pre-existing condition. She is a single mother of two grade school aged kids and has no family to lean on. As you can imagine her medical bills are quickly becoming outrageous. To help her from now on I will be selling some stickers I came up with here on Hatch Life. I’ve already done an initial run of 50, they were professionally printed by Next Day Signs here in Columbus on 3mil outdoor calendared vinyl and are 4 inches by 4 inches. They will be $5 each shipped or 2 for $9 shipped in the US. 100% of the money -NOT JUST THE PROFITS- will go to Melissa’s medical bills, the production and mailing cost are out of my pocket.
For right now there are three designs to choose from as shown below, they are red and diecut so what is black in the sample images will be red and where there is white there will be no material when applied. If this takes off I’ll be adding more chassis and engine codes and other colors.

They are of course inspired by the classic Hakosuka Heart Skyline stickers.

I threw one on the red car so you can get a feel for them.

I’ve checked around at the usual shocker sticker places and as far as I can tell no one else offers anything quite like these and I pray to God no one knocks them off, I’m not promoting my lame blog or trying to cash in on some “JDM” trend, I’m trying to help give someone the miracle she needs and deserves. Part of me thinks this won’t make a dent, but all of me thinks I can not just do nothing. Any word of mouth advertising you can help me out with would be appreciated more than you know. If you are interested in helping a good cause or just want a new sticker to rock send all inquiries to the address below, Paypal, money orders, and checks are all good. Thank you

stickerdonations@yahoo.com

First Look : Trend Killer

Brian was cool enough to get in touch with me when he spotted his car in my post right here. He told me the car had a new full graffiti paint job and is now a full time road course track car. Well you know I just had to see and hear more about it now! He generously sent some pix and tells me this is the first time the car’s been seen on the interwebs in it’s current evolution, exclusive content here? I was as surprised and delighted as you lol. It’s different, it’s crazy, and it gets put to work on the track, and those are three things I’m always a huge fan of; honest cars built to suit the owner and no one else. No hardparking here! Remind me to ask Brian about that plug for his rear wiper, I’ve just got a JDMego sticker covering mine (ghetto). Alright let the pix do the talking…

Mugen FD2 RR