Embargo has been lifted! I’m now allowed to reveal that earlier this year I was flown over to Sweden to play and consult on the new NEED FOR SPEED.
I’ve played the game (in development) and it’s going to be AMAZING. I just kept say “about time!”, especially in regards to car customisation. These in-game grabs should get you pretty excited, and give you an indication of what’s to come.
More about NEED FOR SPEED on Zen Blog!
Visit: http://www.zengarage.com.au/2015/05/all-new-need-for-speed/
At the Toyo Tires visitors carpark which is allllll the way out the back.
This was framed up on the wall in the boardroom. An aerial shot of the Toyo building in Minto. SO HUGE!!!!!
I’ve been a Toyo fan ever since my first set of R888 semi-slicks which I purchased many years ago. I’ve had plenty of sets actually, on various cars (Jazz, MX-5, EG Civic, DC2R, Golf GTI, all of which were daily drivers too). Sure, semi’s aren’t perfect for daily driving duties, they’re noisy and not great in the wet, but this is where the R888 is different to the rest. I find that they warm up DAMN fast on the street. A couple of blocks from home and they’re good to go. I also find them pretty good in the wet (but wet grip gets quite drastically worse as tyres wear out). I also generally just love how fat they look. Fat rubber is where it’s at IMHO. Always has been, always will be. It’s just so tough looking (I hate how weak stretched tyres look).
Anyways, to cut a long story short. I’ve been in discussions with Toyo since putting on a fresh set of R888’s on my GT-R at the end of March. I had my car under their tent at EOMM and got to meet the team. We had a bit of a chat on the night at EOMM. It seems like Toyo has been MIA since they stopped sponsoring the drifting. I’m just really happy that the brand is participating in community related events again.
Today I drove out to their HUGE HQ in Minto for a meeting. I was humbled by some of the discussion we had inside. These guys are pretty hungry to make a comeback, they seem to like what I do, and since I’m already a fan of the brand, sponsorship feels like a really good fit.
So yes! I’m officially sponsored by Toyo. Hopefully I’ll be testing out the new R888R on the GT-R soon and getting more involved with Toyo moving forward. Should be an awesome collaboration. More news and details to come!
Just a bit of an update. It’s all bad news, pretty much!!!! I’m pretty careful with my wheels, but yeahhhhh. This happened. Drivers side. Worst feeling in the world (and yes… I lost sleep!).
Turns out it happened on the wheel which already had some slight rash on it (which was already there when I bought the car).
Jack from Beyond Limit Autos (who built my car at Ramspeed and is now at Advan Performance in Auburn) has my supercharger parts, but before booking Jack in to service my supercharger I had to do a major service with Dedy at Top One Auto. Long story short, but that was meant to be MY NSX! I had already agreed to a price, and was about to book a plane to go get it, but a mate ended up offering the buyer more, so I bought Jose’s Golf instead!
The NSX’s spare, so cool!
First issue. Hood strut is leaking and can’t hold the hood up anymore.
Now onto some serious problems. The vented bonnet lets water in. Water has been building up around the coil packs and they’ve rusted in place so badly that it’s taken the guy over 4 hours to get them out. Worst thing is one is still stuck!!!!!!!!!!!
It gets worse… it’s so rusted up in there that the guys can’t even get a socket in to remove the spark plugs!!!!!!!!!
So, one coil pack is still stuck. Fingers crossed that last one will come out. THEN the guys have to remove the spark plugs. If one of them happens to break on removal I could be in for some serious shit. IE: Engine might have to come out (cylinder head removal).
EDIT: Got a late night call from Dedy at Top One. Great news! All plugs are out! Major service has been done! All good to go! PHEW!
Mockups.
Ved’s taken delivery of his new Caddy (it’s awesome and completely tricked out inside too). He’s asked me to design some S9 graphics for it. I know Ved. The mission was to design something quite large in size, but subtle and easy to live with (as the Caddy is his daily).
I’ve had designs floating around my head for a month now, and the other day (in Ved’s man cave) I decided to finally get my thumb out of my bum and push out some initial concepts. Ved and I are quite happy with a couple of these! I’m off to a good start! Final refined design soon!
Today I’m at Sydney Motorsport Park to back Chris Lazarevic in his next race in the Zen x Jirat Formula Ford race car. Whilst Chris has Simmy’s support (she’s a good woman!) Chris is doing everything else solo. IE: He has no team. Qualifying didn’t go well due to lack of track time and after changing out springs (on his own), Chris forgot to adjust tyre pressures before going out for Race #1, where he made up a couple of spots only to lose them in a spin. Hard on himself but he’s doing well. It’s only race #1 of round 2 and he’s up the pointy end.
Round 2 is held over two days, today (Saturday qualifying & race 1) and tomorrow (Sunday race 2 & race 3). There’s heaps to see! Radicals, Improved Production cars, Super Sports cars, was a great day out despite the rain.
Tickets at the door! Click here for more info.
At myplates HQ. Shit is getting real!
Pushing JDM culture since 2005!!! Pretty happy that myplates have approved the development of Japanese style plates for NSW! I’ve got to work with crazy constraints due to plate recognition technology, so the end product won’t be exactly like a real Japanese plate, but hey! I still think it’s a win!
One of each, thanks!
Treasure!
Got some stickers in the mail from Build Threads, but as a bonus I got this amazing drawing of my GT-R, with a stack of new Toyo R888’s and myself in it too! SO COOL! Support Build Threads by buying some stickers off them here, they’re in it for the love!!!
Got my issue of FreeStyle Rides in the mail. The magazine is now published twice yearly and distributed free to promotional partners and enthusiasts participating in select events supported by MotorActive.
For more info, visit: https://www.facebook.com/FreeStyleRides
You call da WONG 1!
Our first stop was the Loftus Tram shed. Breaking in was easy as the fence is completely down.
Was pretty damn dark in there, here’s a shot of Cacia using her iPhone to light up her face.
Style, she’s got it. One of a few busses inside (there’s even a double decker in there!).
More photos from this set here: http://www.justinfoxphoto.com/stories#/tram-shed/
Big smiles in the big tow truck outside.
On the way back out and back on the road to the National Park.
We had lunch at Bundeena, and instead of driving through to Wollongong we thought we’d do the hike to check out Wedding Cake Rock. Great to see the locals putting up clearer signage for all!
Massive.
Cacia Zoo, Animal of Indulgence.
When we got to the rock there was a huge group of crazy loud Asian kids. They soon left though, leaving us with peace and Zen.
So powerful when you just sit on the edge like this!
Sat there for a good hour talking shit with Cacia, nervousness subsided after a while, was amazing!
We started our walk at 3pm, which is pretty late. The sun was already setting by the time we got to the rock.
Then it started to get dark, fast!
We made it back to the car just as it got pitch black. Perfect timing!
