Author Archives: Justin Fox

MX-5 Update

Posted on 9 March, 2014 by Justin Fox

NA8C at JDMyard getting full MOTUL fluid flush, Hardrace Bushings too.

More updates on Zen Blog: http://zengarage.com.au/2014/03/na8c-track-hack-update-4/

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LOST: Leichhardt Open Studio Trail 2014

Posted on 8 March, 2014 by Justin Fox

LOST (Leichhardt Open Studio Trail) is an event held in conjunction with Art Month each year in March. During this time artists studios throughout the local area open their doors to the public and Zen Garage was on the map!

Lost Maps showing all the open studios in Leichhardt.

Our resident arty chick Krysti Mclellan drawing live on the day.

Resident Zen Cars: Ved’s MK1 GTI and Justin’s R32 GT-R.

On the Go mobile mechanic working on Rob’s E30.

ARTcycle ran a guided tour of a variety of galleries and spaces on the LOST trail and Zen Garage was on their checklist.

Visit: http://www.artcyclesydney.com

There are always amazing rides dropping in to Zen Garage.

Michael’s awesome ‘KE04ME’ F20C powered KE30 Toyota Corolla.

S2K everything!

Yono’s super clean E30.

Sam’s absolutely amazing Lebanese BBQ, such an epic way to end the day.

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Top Gear Festival Sydney – Media Day

Posted on 7 March, 2014 by Justin Fox

Sergio, Ved and I were invited to Motoring in Motion, a preview to the 2014 Top Gear Festival Sydney at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Look what I painted! That Jayson Fong is so talented. His painting was going to be displayed in the Senna Tribute display. So cool.

A very small group of media were treated to an awesome day out. First up we had lunch (the steak and salmon were great!) and had the Australian Top Gear presenters run casual Q&A’s with Craig Lowndes, Robert Dhalgren, Neal Bates, Beau Yates, Lee Holdsworth and Will Davison. Amazing that they got all these top shelf drivers in to chat in front of us! Very cool.

Next up we were introduced to Volvo’s new S60 Polestar. Got to love that blue. What’s better we got hot laps in it on South Circuit with Robert Dhalgren at the wheel. He muscled that car around, the brakes were damn amazing. Super punchy.

Beau Yates’ 86.

This thing was a beast. Seeing it squat and drift… awesome.

After that we got to ride shotgun in either Beau Yates’ 86 or Neil Bates’ old school Celica rally car. I got to jump in with Beau (I’ve been a fan of his ever since seeing him drift at Oran Park when the Japanese D1 Drifters first came to Sydney). Damn his car is amazing. When it grips, it’s got so much torque, the shifting is amazing and the whole car just feels so smooth when sliding. Beau treated me to 2 laps, what a champ! Was great having a bit more of a chat than the past couple of times I’ve run into him.

After that we got happy laps on South Circuit in a couple of 911’s. I jumped in the convertible. Lovely car, my driver did a little grip driving and a little drifting too, full locking it nice and smooth.

Ved snipering Jeremy Clarkson.

Then the new Mclaren 650S was revealed to us. Bit of a treat as this car was only just revealed at the Geneva Motor Show 3 days prior.

What a thing of beauty.

Senna and Ved!

Ved’s Zen Snapback signed by Bruno.

To top the day off we got to meet Bruno Senna and check out Ayrton Senna’s 1988 McLaren MP4/4 F1 race car.

Ramspeed Twin Turbo Gallardo spotted in the carpark.

I walked away with this poster… oh noes it might be game on again!

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WTAC 2013 Video

Posted on 26 February, 2014 by Justin Fox

World Time Attack Challenge 2013 from Downshiftaus on Vimeo.

Awesome World Time Attack Challenge 2013 Video. Better late than never right?! PS: Look out for the cameo appearance by yours truly (and my GT-R) at the start of the video!

Filmed by Jordan Barr – Above The Barr Videography for Downshift.

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Small Car Club

Posted on 25 February, 2014 by Justin Fox

More pics from last night’s impromptu cruise on Zen: http://zengarage.com.au/2014/02/post-100mm-hangs

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Return to Loftus (again)

Posted on 24 February, 2014 by Justin Fox

Jing and Matt.

New XT brakes from MC Cyclery (thanks Ash!).

So strange to see new shit on such an old bike!

Post ride selfie (trying to put on a brave smile).

Last time I rode was 2 years ago. Unbelievable how time has flown (then again all I’ve been doing for the past 2 years is Zen!).

I met up with Matt Mead and Jing Li at Loftus, 3pm. I was prepared to die… and die I did.

After the first single trail section my thighs were burning. Such a bad sign! 1/3rd the way in I started to feel my lungs, but in a bad way! I made it up the first climb in my granny ring but stopping at the top was a bad idea. I got dizzy and almost threw up. From there on I walked all the big hills, something I’ve never had to do before.

Whilst riding I couldn’t stop thinking about having a cold fizzy coke… water just wasn’t doing it for me. By the end of the ride I had a bad stomach cramp. HAHAHA! SO WEAK!

I’ve got to keep it up, and ride again next Monday, otherwise today’s efforts would have been wasted. Got to thank Jing and Matt so much for going easy on me today. Legends!

Posted in Bike | 1 Comment

Krysti’s KE55

Posted on 23 February, 2014 by Justin Fox

I’d just gotten back home from my fishing trip. I was on the couch, TV on, just poured myself a glass of wine and then I hear a “meep meep”! Zen’s resident arty chick Krysti Mclellan had brought over her newly acquired KE55!

Lovingly named “Audrey”, she bought it from a guy on Toymods who had owned it for the last 10 years. Audrey’s a very clean and original 1979 KE55 2 door which has only done 182,700 km’s.

I had to have a blat, and I’m so glad that I did. The first thing that took me by surprise was the gearbox, it’s so tight, direct and even has a notchy sporty feel (great gearknob too). Clutch feel is perfect and surprisingly the brakes are great too.

I was grinning ear to ear the whole drive. “She’s a 4 speed! So cute!”. Ultimately, cruising in Audrey was so fun largely due to the fact that she’s just so easy to drive.

The fuel gauge, heater and the clock doesn’t work. She has A/C but it’s not hooked up. There’s some hail damage and some minor rust appearing on the rear wheel arches. Some of the seats are worn and torn too but it’s not going to take much to bring this little car back to it’s former glory.

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Lake Macquarie Fishing Trip

Posted on 23 February, 2014 by Justin Fox

Bags packed, have been looking forward to this much deserved break for a while now. Matt picked me up from Zen and on route we were discussing where we were going to stay. A jetty, a cinema room… it all sounded way too familiar, turns out it was the house next door to the amazing place I stayed at last year.

The house on the left is the one I stayed at last year, we were staying in the one on the right, also such a great house.

Was so awesome to be back here. Such an amazing place.

We were all together to celebrate Jing’s B’day, which we did last year at The Entrance, this year we were treated to an amazing strawberry and watermelon B’day cake by Black Star Pastry!

The B’day boy. Couldn’t get over Jing’s new hairstyle for at least the first 20 minutes, haha.

We hit the grog pretty late last night, coffee and breakfast set us right in no time.

Jing’s Audi Allroad (I love it!).

Such a nice place to be inside. A short drive to Pelican to hire some boats for the day.

Pelicans at Pelican!

Unfortunately we failed to get a house boat, so we had to settle for 2 dinghy’s instead.

We collectively caught a lot of Brim (I only managed to catch one), but none of them were of legal size, still great fun though!

Winnie made a killer spag bol for dinner. So so good.

And she also made pizza! Home made bases and all!

Late afternoon chills on the jetty.

Cards by night.

We had a late checkout and ended up making the most of it, the boys ended up taking the house supplied dinghy and canoes for a fish on the river.

So cute. Ethan upset that his Dad was rowing back to Vietnam!

Posted in Travel | 2 Comments

War Is Over! (if you want it): Yoko Ono

Posted on 20 February, 2014 by Justin Fox

Yesterday I checked out the work of legendary artist, peace activist and musician – Yoko Ono – at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Loved it, if anything I wanted more!

War Is Over! (if you want it): Yoko Ono ends this weekend. For more info visit: http://www.mca.com.au/exhibition/war-over-if-you-want-it-yoko-ono/

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