Category Archives: Cars

JDMST EOMM


Photo by Aleks.b.


That’s me, trying to calm the Police down (photo by Aleks.b).

The JDMST End Of Month Meets have been running since 2005. We’ve had a LOT of them at Fox Studios (EQ) car park, sometimes we’ve been kicked out, other times we’ve managed to get away with it but the meet last Tuesday night was the most dramatic so far, with over 300 cars being kicked out in force by the local Police. It’s a tough call, we can’t afford to hire out a proper venue (liability insurance etc) and ultimately we’re just a group of car guys who like to meet up offline once a month, hey we even paid $6 to get into the car park!

There’s been a lot of discussion on JDMST, a lot of pictures too. A lot of the new members are fearing that we’ll never be allowed back to Fox Studios again, little do they know we’ve been going back there for years. Just because you get kicked out of a car park doesn’t mean there won’t be any future meets! Culture wins, we’re not doing anything wrong. We’ll forge on, as we’ve always done!

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Selling the GTI, or not.

A week ago I put my GTI up for sale. I’ve had a lot of people get in touch regarding parts, but as usual (like with all my cars) I like to sell them as they are, with all modifications in tact.

I had a solid offer on a straight swap with a Mitsubishi EVO 8 MR, the guy even suggested I keep a few modifications (seats and suspension). This offer tempted me for a good few days. I did hours of research on the MR, amazing car, amazing technology but ultimately I could get over the way it looks. I just think the newer EVO’s are so damn ugly. Long, narrow 4 door lancers with a huge wing, they really don’t do it for me at all.

Yesterday I had a guy inspect the car. I even let him test drive it. He loved it (as cheesey as “first to see will buy” sounds, it’s usually the case when I sell my cars) and wanted to put a deposit down, but I refused it.

I’m awesome at creating my own problems (!). After the track day earlier this week I’m 50/50 on selling it or keeping it.

Pretty frustrating as I want to move on and start a new project, but my GTI is so good. Perfect power, perfect response (no lag!), amazing on fuel, cheap to insure, not a cop magnet (just another Golf!), amazing on the street, amazing on the track, racey but luxurious at the same time (auto HID’s, wipers, icy cold A/C, lovely dash design, solid euro build). It’s such a trap and I’m so stuck on it. I said I’d sleep on it, maybe I need another night’s sleep.

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A visit to IS Motor Racing


Open class winner at WTAC.


Can’t believe the owner dares to actually drive this thing on the street. Balls!


And another track prepped EVO. Indy’s basically an EVO workshop these days.


Indy chooses to use Royal Purple, it’s great stuff.


I was thirsty and found this stuff in the fridge!

Dropped the GT-R to Indy’s the other day, only to find out it’s got issues due to me not driving it enough! Go figure! Seals have perished, stuff is leaking, sigh…

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Private Track Day


Photo by Jing Li.

Hit the track yesterday! I had put the GTI up on carsales last week but after yesterday I’ve decided to keep it!!! What a car :) Full feature up on Zen Garage: http://zengarage.com.au/2011/11/private-track-day/

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VWGolf.net.au Photoshoot


Club shoot last night for an upcoming magazine feature.

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Need For Speed: The Run Launch Event


Exotics outside, exotics inside, beautiful people and tunes a pumping, there was a buzz on entry.


CD DJ, note F430 outside too.


We made a bee-line straight for the booze (as you do).


Swimsuit Edition on the big screen? Nice.


Convertible 911 in Automatic, one of 2 cars on display.


It was a packed event, people just kept on pouring in throughout the night.


At one point these 3 guys in hip hop atire (apparently from some talent show on TV, X-Factor?) broke out into a dance. Serious?!


Spotted this gorgeous Maserati Gran Turismo S outside, we had to leave the party momentarily to check it out.


One entire wall was reserved for gameplay.


Interestingly the R35 GTR was the car chosen for all contestants.


Tate and one of the NFS promo girls.


Tate told me there was an F40 upstairs, turns out it was a Testarossa (another one for the Tate wall). I hadn’t checked out upstairs as I hadn’t broken the seal yet, but it turns out Scuderia’s stock pile of cars were all crammed in hard a level above the party. This is where the party’s at!


Testarossa, so much retro goodness.


We bumped into Photographers Kory Leung and Matthew Everingham upstairs, car guys hanging around cars, that makes sense right?!


This gorgeous creamy 964 was tucked away in the corner, what a car.

Last night we were invited to the Need For Speed: The Run Launch Event which was held at Scuderia Graziani on Crown St. East Sydney. If you’re a car guy that’s ever driven down Crown St. you’d know of Scuderia Graziani, a brightly lit head turning showroom loaded with exotics.

We made speedy way through horrible Sydney traffic in Tate’s beaten up Suby complete with asthmatic blow off vale. Maybe it was only speedy because we were cracking jokes all the way, and scaring John, who had never set foot in Surry Hills before in his life (he was freaking out!).

Having our Zen Garage Forza Motorsport 4 launch still fresh in our memories we were keen to check the event out. Comparing the 2 events was inevitable, but it proved difficult as both events couldn’t be any more different to each other.

Where our event focussed primarily on drivers and driving (the main attraction being the Xtreme Sim Gear simulator set-ups which helped to blur the line between driving a real car and playing a computer game), EA Australia’s event focussed on living the dream. Objects of desire, baller lifesty

Posted in Cars, Zen Garage | 1 Comment

Dayton’s S13


2-tone goodness.


Stripped out, how I love it.

Dayton our lovely beer man (he’s a brewer at The Malt Shovel Brewery) came around to Zen today in his rally prepped S13. I love cars like this, gets me excited. Although his visit was a few hours ago now, the all too familiar running rich fumes pouring out of his Kakimoto exhaust are still fresh in my mind. More on Zen Garage.

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VWGolf.net.au Dinner Night


Half rack of ribs. Couldn’t commit to the full last night!


AP’s monster brake set-up.


RPRSNT!


Tendy’s new wheels. Love the scalloped spokes (lightweight look!).


SUGA’s twin turbo ride for the night.


Liking these Sparco wheels.

First Wednesday of every month is VWGolf.net.au’s dinner night and last night we hit the new Hurricanes at Top Ryde. I spent hours trying to find the meet location in the carpark, went up and up scraping my lip on everything getting to the top, but no-one was up there, luckily for me I ran into another member who was lost and together we finally found the group (modern day shopping mall carparks are hardcore!).

Lots of laughs as usual, ribs were over saturated with sauce I thought. Still good, but I’m officially a Kelly’s Grill ribs guy as of now. The meat is just better in quality. Way jucier & softer!

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est.


New logo design for another new project, more news soon :)

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APA update

We’ve had 22 amazing images submitted to APA so far, not bas but it’s been a struggle to get it off the ground. We’ve yet to nail down prizes, we’re even considering putting in our own cash for a cash prize! We’ve sent out a lot of requests and we’re playing the waiting game at the moment. Hopefully in a week from now we’ll have some awesome prizes up for grabs. Twist twist twist!

Check out the awesome entries so far: http://automotivephotographyawards.com

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