Category Archives: Cars

WTAC 2014 Saturday

zenstand_wtac
Zen Stand on the skid pan.

racecardrivers
Race Car Drivers talking Race Car Talk.

wildspeed
Boso!

james
Hey James! Hey Lei Na!

james_camcover
Souvenirs!

na_sharpline
Sharpline Paints NA.

hos_nb
House of Stance RPRSNT! Tony’s NB is looking amazing.

ef
Brent’s awesome two tone EF looks so good on my old BBS rims (which are now re-barrelled and so much hotter).

joel
Hey Joelski!

e302

e30

dave
Acquired Taste.

wassef

fc
Twins. Still have to do a shoot with this FC and RB26.

stand_s15_bodyform
Bodyform.

trent_indy
Indy from IS Motor Racing strapping Trent into his WTAC EVO.

trent_indy2

trent_wrx
Trent being strapped in to the Top Class Tyres WTAC WRX.

fairlady
Fairlady spotted out back.

feed
The live feed was one of the best new features of WTAC this year. So pro, so good.

smokey_david_tarzan
Smokey, David and Tarzan!

topfuel_boss
Luke from Maiham Media interviewing Top Fuel Boss.

nob
And Nobuteru Taniguchi.

hoolah
John from Barrel Bros giving me a lift back to the carpark in their rad mini-van.

dp
Haha, David.

jacketnames
RS-R jackets.

beauyates
Beau Yates.

daisuke
Daisuke Hasegawa.

daisuke_acquiredtaste
Daisuke Hasegawa x Acquired Taste. So trippy to think that just a few weeks back the same shot was taken but in Japan!

gwyn
Hey Gwyn!

drifts
Onto the Drifts!

767b_nose

767b_34
Mazda 767B Le Mans with my Golf! Couldn’t resist!

767b_side

767b_frontoff
Owner of the 767B removing his front splitter in prep for transport.

WTAC Saturday kicked off with setting up the Zen Stand, which supplied awesome shade from the blazing sun. The crowd was huge and the action was relentless. After their first sessions, Indy’s EVO was out with a blown turbo and best time of 1:33.7810 (11th in Open Class), and JDMyard’s civic blew a box retiring with a respectable 1.33.03 lap time (8th place in Open Class). David Dalrymple did well with a 1:45.5750 finishing in 18th place in Clubsprint Class, Mazzy went on strong for Adam (1:44.2096 ) and Hayley (1:48.9386) in Open Class and Nathan Antunes finished strong with a 1:35.0470 in the Bilstein Racing S14 (14th in Open Class).

I spent some time introducing Zen sponsored Formula Ford driver Trent Grubel to some key figures in an attempt to get him a drive next year. Trent does hold the lap record for the fastest Formula Ford on Eastern Creek Raceway, and we think he would make the transition from Formula Fords to cars really well!

Time flew, fast, was an action packed day and my sunnies tan is mad.

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WTAC 2014 Friday

Big day today. 5.30AM alarm… I’m up! Luke got to his Media briefing on time and the day rolled on pretty hard after that with lots of dramas and some fantastic moments.

ardc_garage
First stop, the ARDC Garage for a toasted bacon and egg roll and a good chin wag with Photographer Matthew Everingham.

david_streetcar
Spotted from above. David’s R32, which is very much more a street car than a lot of the competition in his category.

rb26_david_dalrymple
After the early sessions David’s radiator shroud cracked, ripping it off was the easy fix.

s14_turbo
The Heasman Steering S14 had some heat issues, the team were at it fast. Indy’s EVO had issues too, with the driver having to keep 4th pushed in (IE: otherwise it would pop out and thus driving one handed when in 4th gear!). The gearbox eventually blew.

nathanantunes
Shout outs to Nathan Antunes, pilot of the Heasman Steering S14.

jdmyard_eg_pittlane
JDMyard Civic entering the circuit.

ross_og1957
Ross Churchill’s amazing Belair.

ross_bonnet
Jaw-droppingly gorgeous.

enzo_combi
Haha!

jesus_combi
Loved this ratted up Combi (sounded amazing too).

kangaroo_combi

combi_wtf
Found this underneath.

mead
Hey Mead!

madbull
MADBULL.

driftcat
Driftcat’s in town.

meek_speedhunters
Sad the Speedhunters guys aren’t here this year, was looking forward to hanging out. They’re here in spirit though.

danny
Hey Danny! Great work on the aero on the Top Class Tyres STi.

vsport_86_wtac_2014
V-Sport‘s new 86 project set for WTAC next year!

brad_heasman_wtac_2014
Hey Brad!

brad_sarah_wtac
Haha, Brad and Sarah, exaggerated height difference!

splitter_r32gtr
Dave’s new splitter created enough downforce to rip the front lip off his car. Desperate measures to get him out for one more session.

pressuresheet
Under pressure.

dave_gtr
On pitt lane for the last session, finishing strong too.

steve_evo
Steven Planinic ready to go out in his EVO.

jdmyardeg
JDMyard EG (also with a few niggling issues) in pitt lane.

ceecee
Hey CeeCee!

moo
Hey Moo!

indyreturn
Unfortunately Indy’s EVO didn’t make it back in time for the last session of the day, but all good, fresh box, all set for tomorrow!

schembri_3fingersneat_zen_wtac_2014
Blaze Unit. Scott Schembri, ready to rock. As the sun went down, the drifters came out to play.

ryan
Ryan, working back late.

houseofpie
It’s way past dinner time. House of Pie!!!

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WTAC 2014 Test Day Thursday

Luke Huxham of Maiham Media from Japan is staying over at my place again this year for World Time Attack Challenge. We thought we’d check out test day today; no crowds, just the cars, drivers, teams and a few friends. The vibe was electric, the sounds, the sights, this is going to be the greatest WTAC ever!

lukehuxham
Late start, breakfast at Coogee Bite.

kennysbenny
Kenny’s Benny, it’s been a while!

767b
Made a bee-line for the 767B. It looks amazing, seeing it rolling was trippy as, and hearing it… OMFG WOW!

vrmag
Dripping.

madmike_wtac_2014
Hey Mike!

madmike
Mad Mike’s MADBUL is looking amazing.

berty
Hey Berty!

fatgtr
David Dalrymple’s R32 GT-R at the ready.

hawkins
Andrew Hawkins, hitting WTAC this year with his revamped JET200.

bensopra2
Ben Sopra 380SX.

bensopra
Japanese drifter Daisuke Hasegawa.

tarzan
Tarzan!

injapanrightnow
Are we in Japan right now?!

jdmyard_eg
JDMyard EG Civic, we’ll be cheering these guys on!

burgess_geena
Geena!

adamburgess
Adam Burgess and Luke. Adam was driving Geena today. With Hails in the FD.

hayleyracing
Hayley’s helmet in the FD.

hayley_racing_zen_wtac_2014
Find your Zen.

hayley_swanson_wtac_2014

bpg_zengarage_fd_hayley_wtac_2014
Hayley lining up in pitt lane.

porsche
Evolution Custom’s Porsche 944.

hks
HKS GTR.

topfuel
Top Fuel Garage.

fd
RE-Amemiya FD.

max_orido_bike
Max Orido’s bike!

maxorido
The man himself talking to Mr. Amemiya

royalpurple
Spotted at the Royal Purple garage.

bryce
This guy! Hey Bryce!

indy
Hey Indy!

indy_evo_wtac_ismr
IS Motor Racing EVO. We’ll be cheering all these guys on!

kalis
Mr Kalis!

byp_testing
BYP testing surface temperature.

ved_scotty_nathanantunes
Inception! Race car driver Nathan Antunes being mobbed by Scotty, Ved and myself.

heasman_s14
Heasman Steering S14, cheer cheer!

ferrari_f460
One hot Fezza.

nitto2
Mercury Motorsport’s NITTO II. What a beast!

mercury_nitto_r32_skyline

nittoboot

mrcrackles
Mr. Crackles was a great way to end the day, and damn how is it that I’ve never had this coconut drink before? It’s amazeballs!

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My Supercharged MKV R32 Golf Video by tokyomada


That video shot by Daniel Motta last weekend is now live! Daniel’s done a great job considering he had such little time to shoot the car! Be sure to check out more of his videos here.

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Late Night KK’s Run

carwash

krysti_spray

krysti_carwash

krysti_ke

kks
Ohhhhhh.

donuts
Been a looooong time, baby!

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Mary’s

marys
Mary’s with Jess. I’m always craving a Mary’s cheeseburger (with bacon, of-course).

mkvr32
I always make a b-line for the Dendy Cinema carpark. Easy parking, next door to Mary’s and I like how my car looks in it!

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Royal Origin x All That Low 日本 Daikoku Night Meet 19/09/2014


Spot the me! Nooooo! I hate being in front of the camera, haha!

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Tokyo – Day 9

packed
Tight fit! Day 9 kicked off with Zee from All That Low picking 8 of us up from our hotel in a rented Honda van.

americans
We then met up with the American crew from Royal Origin and then we were on the road.

hpi_cammo
First stop, the biggest Up Garage in Tokyo. Matty pulled the trigger on this awesome cammo HPI harness and Zee scored a hydraulic handbrake for $46 for his Aristo (which funnily enough he was thinking of selling, but after buying this he’s turning it into a drift project!)!

upgaragegt
Zee then took us all to Up Garage GT, a more race focussed Up Garage. Alexi took us to this shop the other day but it was shut, so again, it’s just amazing how our luck is panning out on this trip!

wheels_upgarage
So much wants.

monkeys
Monkeys (also so much wants!).

hako2
Spotted in the car yard next door.

gtsr
And this beauty.

impul
Perfection.

nismowheel
I want that steering wheel + horn button combo, amazing!

crew
Our crew was growing in size as another car load of American guys met up with us.

gtrshop
Across the road from Up Garage was this GT-R shop. You can have that R34 GT-R for $30k.

mines_boss
Zee then surprised us with a visit to Mines and we each individually greeted by President and CEO Michizo Niikura. I was having a pretty massive fan boy moment as I’d seen him in so many magazines and DVD’s over the years.

mines_nismo
This super clean BNR32 was in the workshop. I got to show Niikura-san photos of my GT-R (which I told him came with a Mines ECU when I first bought it). He said “R32, Favorite!”.

mines
Niikura-san pulled out their amazing R35 GT-R, unfortunately the famous R34 GT-R was not at the shop.

mines_r35_engine
Mines Super Response Engine.

mines_r35
What a dream. Krysti got to sit in it too, and Niikura-san also told her that he though she was “very pretty” which had her squirming.

shakeys
We then headed for Zee’s hometown of Yokohama. After a quick tour of the area (which was all lit up and had a great vibe by night) we hit Shakey’s for all you can eat Pizza.

drummer
It was time to hit Daikoku for Zee’s All That Low x Royal Origin Daikoku Night Meet. Walking back to the carpark we spotted this old man drumming away in front of a crowd of youngsters at a game parlour.

shingo
Zee’s friend Shingo’s amazing ride. Our van was packed, so Krysti got a ride in this beast!

snappingnecks
Snapping necks! It just looked amazing rolling so low on the streets. Sounded beast too.

shingo_tunnel
I was trying to snap a shot in the tunnel. Soon after I snapped this shot a bike rider popped a wheelie past Shingo’s car and hit the hard left up ahead with one knee down. What a sight!

nsx
Daikoku was absolutely PACKED! Zee did an amazing job of uniting the stance community in Tokyo!

r34_4door
Beautiful. We’re all falling in love with 4-door R34’s.

wide
I’l take it.

lifetime_crew_skyline
This crew was called “Lifetime” and they had some absolutely sick rides.

lifetime_e46
Like this E46.

lifetime_e462

lifetime_r32golf_norearbar2
And this crazy R32 Golf.

lifetime_r32golf_norearbar
Which didn’t have a rear bar.

lifetime_r32golf
This R32 Golf was amazing too, it’s roll cage lit up with LED’s when he drove off.

airedscooter
This scooter was on an air set-up and scraped the ground rolling in to the meet.

e46
Loved this E46.

cambergang
I’ve never seen so much hardcore camber in the one place.

love
Beauty. Not everything on the night was stanced up.

starlet
And as expected, there was just so much variety on show.

golfbeetle
From old school VAG.

wild
To new school madness.

350z
Lots of cars were rocking USDM stickers. Illest etc.

funpolice
There were also a lot of fun local stickers.

bitchhnters
Bitchhunters!

odyssey
Had to take a snap of this Odyssey.

beetle
And one of my personal fave cars of the night. It was an oval window too!

pinkscooter
A guy owned this!


The Bōsōzoku rocked up, they were loud, and visually spectacular. They all parked up in front of the Police HQ at the car park (Yes balls! And yes, there’s a police station at Daikoku!) and very soon after the Police came out to shut the meet down (they were amazingly nice about it and no one was defected!).

cruising
When one venue gets shut down, everyone seems to know where to go to next. We cruised to our second venue in Yokohama with a bunch of very tough cars.

undergroundcarpark
Loved this carpark (which was already packed when we got there), what a backdrop! Reminded me of the Opera House. Again, there was a Police Station at the car park, but amazingly they let everyone stay.

s15
Hottest S15 there. Picture does it no justice at all. The colour was amazing, the whole car just had so much presence.

camber
There was just so much amazing fitment everywhere you looked.

view
View of Yokohama from the carpark.

pink
Wild!

class
All Class.

cima
I had to sit for a while in front of this Cima to take it all in. How is this rolling on the streets? Mind = blown.

blackmamba2
Loved this S13 convertible that rolled in.

blackmamba
It’s now reppin’ an Acquired Taste sticker!

skyline_longchamps
So happy that some old school metal rocked up.

eva_celica
Thing of beauty.

70
Heart is stolen.

datsun_70
Gahhhh. So amazing from every angle.

zee
1am. Zee from All That Low now rocking a Zen snapback and getting one last cold drink from a vending machine before calling it quits and driving us all the way back to our hotel. What a day, and none of it would have happened without Zee (what a man). The guy has 2 kids and a hardcore job, yet he took the time out to hire a car for us, drive it all the way from Yokohama to Shinjuku to come get us, then he gives us a grand tour and takes us to his meet, introduces us to his friends, gets us to another meet and drives us all the way back home (only to have to drive 1.5hrs on his own to the rental company and drop off the van before making his way home).

We owe him lots! Be sure to follow his page: All That Low.

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Goodbye NA8C

goodbyena8c
New owner driving NA8C home.

On a whim the other morning I put up an EOI on my MX-5. I was never meant to sell this car as it’s my second NA8C, and this time I was going to go all the way, flares and a high comp engine. I’d bought some stupid expensive rare parts for this car. Stuff that is totally not worth the money. I even had a spare engine too, but my looming Japan trip (want more spending money!) combined with the loss of Zen Garage as a place to store my cars pushed me to put up an EOI, and as soon as I did the interest came in fast.

$5k, $6k, $7k offers came flying at me. Just when I was going to sleep on the $7k offer an offer of $7500 dropped. I decided to ask for $8k and had a mate keen on the car, as well as a kid who knows the car well, has seen it in real life and he was just waiting for insurance money to clear (as his MX-5 was totalled in an accident which wasn’t his fault). I then got a call whilst I was at Zen from a guy who dropped in and boom, he took it. I feel bad for the kid who really wanted it, and my other mate had taken the cash out and dropped by later that afternoon despite the car already being sold!

It’s amazing what a detailed build thread can do when it comes time to sell a car. The build thread on JDMST was so many pages long. Every time someone asked me about the car I just sent them to the build thread instead.

The snap above is of the new owner driving the car away. Locked into memory now, it’s always sad seeing your cars drive away at the hands of their new owners!

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R32 GT-R 25th Anniversary

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Skylines Australia (SAU) celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R last Saturday. I really wanted to go and represent, but I’m not a morning person (I get up at 5-6am most morning but don’t get out of the house until 10-11am!).

On Friday night I saw old mate Adrian Hodgson make a call out on his facebook page looking to borrow an R32 GT-R for a day. I knew it had to do with the SAU meet. Adrian’s the editor of Performance Garage Magazine (my car’s on the cover this month btw! Perhaps a blog post on that soon) and turns out he wanted to cover the event.

Without too much thought (because if I think too much I get paranoid and just end up doing nothing at all) I let him take my car to the event. Turns out he hired gun photographer Matthew Everingham to shoot the event too so I’m looking forward to the photos!

For now, enjoy this one shot above by Stefan Trajkovski.

PS: I always love hearing the positive feedback from everyone who gets to drive RB26. Adrian made a lot of mates driving my car (many who thought he was Justin Fox, haha!), many thumbs ups too (I’m always getting the thumbs up when driving this car). Newfound love, the feedback always brings it home!

PPS: The price of these cars (well, my car) is finally going up. Last weekend I received the biggest offer on the car to date. I was tempted… for all of 10 seconds! Haha, the car is not for sale!

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