Author Archives: Justin Fox

My V35 350GT is a grey import from Japan. I hear this little warning message every single time I start up the car. I don’t mind it, she sounds sexy! I’m curious though, what’s she saying (most likely something totally un-sexy, right?).

Love my beater.

Bum shot.

Yup that’s my seat in thye top left corner, the car is so low that you literally just roll out onto the floor. HAHA.

ED got another bike rack today. With this one you have to take off the front wheel. I’ve got the best of both worlds now, a good thing as my bikes vary in shape and some will suit this rack more than the other.

PedoBear made an appearance too.

Amazing what a little autosol can do.

I’ve lowered the rear a little more too. Front is as low as I can go unfortnately.

V35 350GT on 20inch Work Varianza T1S wheels.

I’ve got a lot of Best Motoring DVD’s and last night I went through them to see if I could dig up some footage of the V35 350GT in action. I dug up one DVD from 2006/08 and they had a section on it called the Kakeyoro Ranking.

Kakeyoro (aka The Gunsai Touge) is their test touge track (Touge is a Japanese word literally meaning “pass.” It refers to a mountain pass or any of the narrow, winding roads that can be found in and around the mountains of Japan) and the Kakeyoro Ranking is a big board with a massive triangle on it, the cars at the pointy end are the ones which the test drivers favour on the touge (in this case, The Drift King Keiichi Tsuchiya).

They ranked the V35 Skyline (05/06 model) at the very top, just under the S2000. In this particular test (they rank different cars each DVD) Keiichi thought the V35 skyline was better than the Porsche Cayman and BMW Z4.

Here’s a snap I took of the ranking board. You can see the S2000 is at the very top of the ranking board and the V35 Skyline is 2nd. There are some absolutely awesome cars further down the ranking too.

Needless to say the footage and ranking impressed me and it’s made me think twice about killing funtion for form (ie: putting on 20’s just for looks is going to kill performance and handling).

I’ve already put $100 down as a deposit to hold some 20inch wheels and tyres but I’d rather loose the $100 than pay up $4k for wheels I’m not 100% on. My head is buzzing but it’s OK, my naturopath calls this good stress not bad stress!

Stock, but not for long…

I’ve ordered some power mods (plenum spacer, intake pipe + filter) which will gain me about 15kw, some noise and more response. I’ve also ordered some suspension.

I thought about Tein S-Tech lowering springs. Everyone in the states seems to be using them and the drop is about an inch all round but springs just aren’t my thing. I’m way too fussy to live with just lowering springs (can never get the height perfectly right, or the ride quality).

I then looked into cheap coilovers. They sell Tein “BASIC” coilovers in the US, height adjustable but no damper adjustment. Cheap but many complain it’s too soft. That doesn’t sound like me either.

I then considered BC Coilovers as some people on here have tried them and given them great reviews. Man in the end of the day it’s just not me. No offense to anyone who rates them but I can’t go there (call me a brand whore, whatever).

Joe at Buddy club could look after me on a set of Buddy club (I’m pretty sure “BC” took some inspiration from their name from “Buddy club”) RSD’s but I’m after more of a street coilover.

Enter JDM Tein Super Streets. Yeah perfect. They’re mine. They’ll go on the car next week.

What’s next? Wheels. I’ve ordered them too. If I’m lucky they will be mine before next week, if I’m not lucky I’ll have to wait until mid Feb to get them.

Booyah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s a whole lot of cash, the wheels cost more than my ED (which I love). That upsets me… I need more wine.

Today Status Corporation, the publisher of Auto Salon Magazine, made the announcement that Issue 85 will be its final edition to be printed. “Auto Salon Magazine has been a core division of ours” stated Status Corporation’s Director Mark Keo, “but the landscape of the publishing industry has changed dramatically over the last two years, and the GFC has had a marked impact on our advertising supporters.”

Big news, sad news, more here.

Front cover!

Inside.

Back.

Big day today. First INfront goes live and the JDMST Calendars are ready to go too! It’s all happening! Click here to buy a calendar (each calendar donates $4.40 towards moving JDMST to our own server this year).

I founded the Australian INfront in 1999. It’s my greatest achievement to date, my biggest mark on the wall.

I walked away from it many years ago (and started up JDMST). INfront’s popularity dropped off hard but thanks to Damien and Zann INfront is back. It’s only the beginning too, it’s a true rebirth. Focus is strong and I’m hoping the Australian Design Community will take us back in.

Visit: http://www.australianinfront.com.au

Last weekend Suga and I headed up north to Nelson Bay to celebrate Jon’s B’day. Jon and Kay had hired a super pimp beach house for a week (unfortunately Suga and I could only stay the one night). Much fun was had, great food, conversations, beach time and Saturday night was a killer night of consumption (I’m having a hard time keeping up with Gen Y!).

Suga and Mac’s RX8.

Smith’s 156.

Gee’s CRX (I love these cars!). He had no aircon in it, and it was the hottest day of the year so far. Him and Caroline were literally in a sauna all the way.

Unfortunately there was a huge accident on the F3 and we were held up in bumper to bumper traffic for over an hour (poor Gee and Caroline).

The house!!!!!!

The view.

The lounge room, which we didn’t spend any time in at all (we were always on the balcony outside).

The view out the back.

Introductions all round.

The fridge had this very cool quick access panel (damn I should have bnought one of these!).

It was stinking hot so as soon as we settled in the boys went for a swim which was only a 3 minute walk down the road.

Smith on the BBQ. Not sure what it is about the water, but every single time I come out of the ocean I am absolutely starving.

It got a little cooler as the sun was setting. Every single person in the house got wasted (and then some!). I was the 2nd person to pass out (weak yeah?) and when I got up the next morning some people hadn’t even been to sleep yet?!

The girls, what better a way to wash the hangovers away with a swim at the beach.

Christina’s Grandma’s funeral was held last Friday at Macquarie Park.

I found the park itself interesting. It was a huge well kept parkland with lot of parking, a few chapels for services, a cemetery and a crematorium, function rooms, a cafe, florist all in one place.

The service and burial went well, if not a little rushed. I love the idea of making funerals easier on families by having an all in one venue/service like Macquarie Park provides, but having a strict 45 minutes in the chapel before being kicked out to a crowd of people with another hearse waiting to get in for the next session felt horrible.

Christina designed these lovely funeral leaflets.

The Locks.