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This event came to be much like any other automotive event: A group of friends at local car shows discussing a desire to do something more active within the local vintage Japanese car community.
The concept was to take legendary, historic, and significant Japanese cars outside of the normal car show environment, and use them for their intended purpose: Driving.
Before long, the groundwork was laid for the Arizona Rising Sun Rallye. This 250-mile event took drivers on a casual, non-competitive route via winding mountain roads, 6000′ of elevation changes, and through some of Arizona’s most picturesque areas. 
Considering we’re quite guilty of NOT getting out for purposeless drives in our classics, Becky and I decided to join our friends on the Rallye… Her ’98 S14 needed some exercise, and my recently-acquired ’92 Silvia is an absolute joy to drive. 
The early-morning meetup at a north valley gas station was a literal cars & coffee event in itself, and once all the cars were fueled and prepped, the organizers passed out goodie bags, route books and door placards. A quick drivers’ meeting and a staggered rollout and we were on our way. Thankfully, we’ve finally gotten a little break from the brutal heat, and heading north, we all got a reprieve from what would become a 95* day in Phoenix.
Lunch in Prescott Valley was a nice opportunity to discuss the first leg of the trip and relax before the second leg, which took us to dinner at the Wickenburg Golf Club. Despite the age of some of these vehicles, there were no major mechanical malfunctions and no emergencies, and we all got to meet new people, share stories and discuss other upcoming projects.
We’re looking forward to this being an annual event, and would love to thank Tim Eull, Brad DeSantis, Naomi Clowes, and the rest of the organizers for putting on a fun, safe and enjoyable event. Also, thanks to the other sponsors: @the_finishing_touch_body_shop @wedontlift @garageshopcoffee @adamspolishes @autoofftopic
@rotary13b1com @mazda @technotoytuning @thekyushaclub
The website for this year’s event is https://azrisingsunrallye.com and the hashtag is #azrsr24. Hope you’ll join us next year, but for now, enjoy the gallery!
