The Mini copping a LOT of attention!

Photos by Jayson Fong of Form & Function. More photos here.

Motoractive HQ.

Real Street BLVD.

Had a great meeting with the guys at Motoractive last Wednesday. These guys run Meguiar’s MotorEx (now in it’s 12th year) and they’ve invited us to take over this year’s Real Street BLVD on Saturday July 21st 2012. 60 car spaces and we’ll be representing inside too. We’re chuffed, excited to be working with such passionate car guys from a totally different scene to what we’re used to. Collab’s where it’s at. More news as it comes!

Before.

After. Massive progress!

Sergio’s been in the zone on the mini! More words and images here: http://zengarage.com.au/2012/03/zen-x-all-stars-mini-project-update/

Rad, right?!

John in the drivers seat.

HEAPS of space!

Love!

She’s so gorgeous.

Deep dish, 10inch, ADVAN’s too.

Whilst the paint is tip top on the outside, the interior needs a lot of work.

Check the hand brake lever, those little rings have numbers engraved into them, they act like a combination security lock, very nice huh?!

I heard it before I saw it :) Sounded like a motorbike! Sergio dropped in to Zen today with our Mini (we’re going halvies on this one). Love at first sight? Pretty much! She’s gorgeous! Interior needs a fair bit of work, but nothing major. The car came with new carpet (yet to be installed), we’ll need to replace some tyres too.

Of-course I took her for a spin. First thing I noticed was that I couldn’t see jack shit. Seriously. Blind spots are hardcore due to not having windows on the sides, there’s no drivers side rear view mirror and the silly decorative mirror on the passenger side os useless! Despite the car being so damn small, even backing out of the driveway was a nervous affair!

The gearbox is as vague as they come. The gear shifter returns to centre after every shift (very strange!). Grabbing first and second is fine, but 3rd is strange as it’s closer to first than you think and grabbing 4th is even more strange as you’ve got to come back towards 2nd! Crunch crunch crunch! The drum brakes are SO WEAK it’s damn dangerous. Stopping suddenly is just not a possibility so I’d like to look into whether or not that’s normal (ie: can be bettered as is), if not I’d like to entertain the idea of a disk brake set-up.

I only drove her around the block but I was giggling and smiling the entire trip :) SO much character, so much attention. She sounds fantastic and handles great too (go kart for sure!).

All in all, once we sort out some mirrors for better vision, and the brakes she’ll make for a much better ride! :)

Pick a ride: Choppers, American Muscle, Euro Exotics and JDM goodness.

Spotted this clean S15.

TSI R34 GT-R painted in Matte Black with arguably some of the hottest JDM wheels ever made.

Chevy project took me by surprise.

Drift toys out the back.

TSI’s new service centre.

Inside. Some of the stealthy custom fab work they’re doing is great.

TSI’s local haunt. Check the Rolls Royce of coffee machines. Awesome huh?

2 people in this tiny cafe made everything. The Moroccan Lamb was awesome, the prawns were too and the Pizza and dessert that came after was fantastic.

Cool Dads = Cool Kids. Both kids said “GTR!” more times than I’ve heard “GTR” all last year. This toy Hako, complete with OG I Love Skyline decals is made by Hot Wheels! I’ve already bought a few on eBay this morning :)

Top Secret Imports (TSI) are sponsors of the JDMST forums, and when they heard about our difficulties with having our JDMST End Of Month Meets (EOMM’s) shut down by the authorities they thought they’d go all out in trying to help us out with finding a suitable venue.

The great news is that they’ve managed to secure Eastern Creek as a venue for future JDMST EOMM’s. It’s massive news, one that I’m crazy excited about as Eastern Creek’s carpark is MASSIVE and to be able to hold an EOMM without being kicked out is a highly significant triumph, especially great for those who drive from great distances to turn up to a meet only to have to turn around and go home (sometimes before they even get to park!).

So last night I hung out with the boys from Top Secret Imports in Blacktown, mainly to get to know them. I got a tour of their impressive showroom and their new service centre but most valuable was getting to meet their families at a great sit down dinner at their local, it was truly a privilege, especially in this email and sms day and age.

My new car :) Can’t wait to drive the little thing… isn’t she gorgeous?!?! :)