Category Archives: Cars

Zen Garage – January EOMM from fatihfilms on Vimeo.

The strip. View from the office.

Locking dates in!

Meetings at Sydney Dragway. Just re-confirming that we’ve got the massive carpark at Sydney Dragway for 12 End Of Month Meets (EOMM’s) this year! Talk of a special event including the drag strip too!

Tight squeeze.

All done.

One of my HID’s died a few days ago. I run them on every time I drive, mainly for safety reasons. I wasn’t prepared for one of them to blow though (pretty sure the HID’s on my previous S2K would have lasted the lifetime of the car?!). My mechanic Dedy at TOP ONE (was great to drop by, had been a while!) said the OEM bulbs in VW Golfs burn out fast. He had MTEC bulbs ready to go so in they went (they cost me $250 a pair).

Inside the massive shed. Impressive, right?! Super clean, nicely themed and those 3 screens on the left are where you sign in.

Signing in on the touch screens was nice and easy.

Rob and Sean looking out. Check out that undulation! The hill is where they intend to make the race track for cars (I think!).

Soon we were ushered out to the waiting area outside and greeted by our mugs on the big screen. Scotty’s mug is missing as he was late, though he did end up making it just as we were ready to go (staff kindly let him sign on quickly and join us!).

Berty and I ready to rock.

BRAND NEW KARTS! Scroth harnesses, so good, love the number too ;)

Results from our 2nd session. We did 3 10 minute sessions ($75). The first was a warm-up, the 2nd we did time attack and the third we had a race.

Best times from the day after our second session.

Race 3 saw Berty take the win, Brad in second and Sean in third!

Berty Ah!

Winner winner chicken dinner.

Then we were off the the pub. 2 jugs of Asahi, please!

BJ’s all round (well… that’s what the restaurant in the pub was called).

Today Rob and Sean from Motor Culture treated Berty, myself, Brad and Beau from Heasman Steering and Scotty Mitchell to a karting sesh out at the brand new Luddenham Raceway in Luddenham.

Luddenham was super easy to get to for me. Just hop on the M5, M7 then literally one road and you’re there. The facilities are great, the karts are awesome and the track is pretty cool too with up and downhill sections, a couple of fast chicanes and a really tricky (and crucial) last corner.

Was an awesome day out but unfortunately the staff were a little too trigger happy with giving out black flags (which means you have to leave the race and go through pitt lane). Every single one of us got a black flag at some point, and for absolutely nothing at all. No other karting place we’ve ever been to to date has been this strict, but we assume they’re just really precious about their new karts.

For more info, visit: http://www.luddenhamraceway.com

First up, a quick pressure clean. Dave has a workshop these days, but used to run a mobile business. Just for me, like old times, he came out to do the detail at my place and I’m really thankful for that.

Wheels then got some lovin.

And the whole car was hand washed.

Dave masked off a test area so see how bad the swirl marks were. It turns out it really wasn’t as bad as I had suspected, and that only one pass was needed in order to get it back to tip top shape.

Dave masking off all plastics.

That Reflect Effect magic, it’s happening!

Almost ready for Autorush. Photos of the car at the show to come!

The day before Autorush Car Show I thought I’d get my GT-R detailed by the best in the business. Dave, from Reflect Effect. Dave last detailed my GT-R 4 years ago (!). Sure, it’s been garaged a lot of the time over the past 4 years, but my garage by the beach doesn’t keep the salt out, and for a few years it was at Zen Garage, covered in dust daily, which was swept off with whatever resembled a rag on most weekends. It’s also seen a few of shows and track days too and I’ve basically never really washed it in the past 4 years yet I still had water bead hard on the paint’s surface.

The car should be good for another few years! Beware of young detailers who have only recently set up shop. If you want it done properly I highly suggest you contact Dave, the guy’s a champ, both his personality, and the amazing work he does.

Reflect Effect
2B Bourke St
North Parramatta NSW 2151
(02) 8677 4345
http://www.reflecteffect.com.au

Early starts and late nights. I’m beyond exhausted, and finally in my own bed. I’ve spent the last 2 nights at Ved’s place, as we’ve been busy with Autorush Car Show at The Dome in Sydney Olympic Park. You can check out my coverage on Zen Blog: http://www.zengarage.com.au/2014/12/autorush-2014

Inception! Berty shooting Scotty shooting Sarah!

Berty and Scotty (with an a7S even!) at work.

Love how the Zen Stand lit up tonight!

A shot from Mitch’s drone. I counted over 1000 cars, easy!

It’s 1.17AM and I’m still up, surging, maybe because I had one too many coffees at Brewristas earlier today with Alain as well as Pauline and Mark from Red Lantern Restaurants (I’m usually a one coffee a day guy). Or maybe it’s because the rain held off at the JDMST EOYM tonight and my gamble to go with my gut paid off with over 1000 cars coming out to play!

The forecast a week out was thunderstorms for Monday night. Earlier today BOM had issued a severe weather warning. 70% chance of rain out West became 80% later in the day. My phone was going CRAZY with SMS messages and messenger messages asking if the meet was going ahead or not. I also had some suggestions to postpone the meet, some suggestions came from really level headed people too, which I admit, started to sway me from listening to my gut. But hey, I’m the luckiest guy alive and my gut said it wasn’t going to rain, and too right, it didn’t rain! Not a single drop!!!

What an awesome meet. All the doubters missed out (as usual), so too all those who complained about the meet being held on a Monday night (seriously, it’s not a rave, or pub crawl?! Not like you’d be late for work the next day, or hung over?! It’s just 3hrs in a car park!!! I can’t see the difference between going to a car meet, or, say… dinner out?!). JDMST EOMM’s are back, baby! Here’s to a meet a month in 2015!!!