A 350Z In Its Natural Environment
There are cars you photograph, and then there are cars that feel like they’re letting you visit their habitat.
Alan’s 350Z is absolutely the latter.
Chapter 1: Back on the Old Pac
Man, it had been ages since I’d shot something just for an owner. No brand guidelines. No workshop deadlines. No magazine editor breathing heavily into my inbox. Just a mate, his car, and a stretch of tarmac we both used to know like the inside of our own gloveboxes.
Alan’s instructions were barely a sentence.
“Just do what you do.”
Dangerous words to offer a photographer who hasn’t been let off the leash in a while.
So we met up north, at our old hunting grounds. The Old Pacific Highway. Or simply The Old Pac if you’ve burned enough fuel and tyres along its spine to earn the shorthand. Alan and his 350Z had done exactly that for almost two decades. Dawn raids. Midnight decompressions. Endless loops between rainforest walls where the air still smells faintly of eucalyptus and brake pads.
The Z has been his since new, which already puts it in a rare category: unmolested, unflipped, un-abused, and unbothered by the trend cycles that chewed through so many of its peers. He’s tuned it with the same philosophy I’ve always chased with my own Evo: enhance, don’t erase. Sharpen the edges, don’t redraw the outline.
Sliding back into this environment felt strangely nostalgic. Like I’d revisited a version of myself I’d left parked behind when life added kids, mortgages, and 4,000 unread emails to the garage. Shooting up here again reminded me why this road still has a gravitational pull for so many of us. It’s not just the corners; it’s the quiet moments between them.
We wrapped the morning with a car that still looks right at home in its natural environment, and a reminder that I probably need to get back here more often. I’ve already pencilled in a return run, this time with a plan to show you more of the road itself, the scenery, and maybe a few delicious corners that made the Z dance.
Until then, enjoy the stills from our little reunion with the Old Pac.
P.S. Alan’s 350Z is hitting Carsales soon. If you’re seriously hunting for a well-kept modern JDM icon, flick me a message. The good ones don’t last.
New Work: ATOM x Fresh Cut Media
Behind The Scenes
New Work: ATOM x Fresh Cut Media
A few days back I teamed up with Fresh Cut Media to create a fresh batch of photo assets for ATOM — a brand that builds the kind of landscaping gear that actually makes you want to mow the lawn.
The brief was simple: capture these machines doing what they do best. We spent the day in the dirt, chasing blades of grass, chips of wood, and clouds of dust as ATOM’s latest lineup tore through the workday. I wanted to show their tools not just as products, but as characters — each with its own role in keeping things neat, powerful, and efficient.
Between the action shots, we knocked out a clean set of “stock” images for each tool. Think of them as the studio portraits that’ll headline ATOM’s new marketing push and upcoming website refresh. These are the frames that’ll live online, in brochures, and across their social feeds — visuals that give their brand the sharp, professional edge it deserves.
While I wasn’t part of the web build, it’s satisfying knowing the visuals will form the backbone of ATOM’s next digital chapter. Fresh Cut’s team nailed the direction — natural, functional, and honest imagery with a polished finish.
It’s always good fun stepping outside the usual car scene and flexing a different creative muscle. Dust, noise, power — just with fewer turbochargers this time.
Tiny Car, Big Dream: A Suzuki Cappuccino Story - Speedhunters
More Than Metal“It’s not just a car; it’s a story.” This is the most important lesson I’ve learned through years of Speedhunting and immersing myself in car culture.
Nowhere is this more evident than in Domenic and Sarah’s 1991 Suzuki Cappuccino. An impressive build in its own right, this kei-class roadster is packed with attitude, but its significance runs deeper.
While most people view cars as ordinary objects, people like you and I understand their true potential. We can reshape and rebuild them to our liking, yet sometimes, they bring out the reflections of our lives and the people we share them with.
When sizing things up, Suzuki’s tiny Cappuccino hardly weighs much. But this featherweight coupe hits with the force of a heavyweight boxer, earning its place in the hearts of JDM performance car enthusiasts.
Weaved into the restoration of this Cappuccino is a tale of love, legacy, and the pursuit of dreams -quite a lot to pack into just 725kg!
A Pocket-Sized Dream
Sarah’s journey with the Cappuccino began as a dream she harboured since her teens. It was a dream that seemed distant until a friend, Benny from BCW, decided to sell her this treasure in her time of need.
Tragically, Sarah was fighting an aggressive form of cancer. This was more than a simple car transaction; it was a profound gesture of kindness, a beacon of hope during Sarah’s chemotherapy sessions.
Building the car became a therapeutic outlet for Sarah, allowing her to channel her passion and creativity amidst her illness. Each modification sparked lively discussion, from selecting the right wheels to finding an exhaust system and fitting a wide-body kit that transformed the little Suzuki’s silhouette.
Yahoo! Auctions Japan provided the ultimate form of retail therapy.
Dom tells me that, somewhat serendipitously, the build flowed smoothly. Aside from the usual wait to get the best people’s hands involved, there were surprisingly few complications. Perhaps this was a testament to the meticulous planning or the devotion of the pair’s skilled circle of friends.
A Simple Plan
At the heart of this pint-sized powerhouse lies a 657cc inline-three turbocharged engine – modest in stature but fierce in spirit, much like Sarah.
Under the hood remains mostly OEM. The three-pot fun-factory boasts a few extra pounds of boost, enhanced by a larger GFB blow-off valve and boost controller, and the addition of a full HKS exhaust system ensures the engine has a voice as bold as its character. An Xtreme heavy-duty clutch and Cusco 1.5-way LSD deliver the energy smoothly to the asphalt.
BC Racing coilovers ensure each ride is as exhilarating as it is precise, providing the perfect stance and handling for spirited mountain drives that Dom enjoys so much.
A set of 13×6.5-inch RS Watanabe R-Type wheels received bespoke treatment from Mark Hooker at Sydney’s Barrel Brothers, while Tyre Solutions fitted a set of suitably-sized Yokohama Advan A050 semi-slicks.
These enhancements not only elevate the Cappuccino’s aesthetics but also its performance, allowing it to grip the tarmac with intent.
Having the keys tossed my way while out on the winding roads of the Blue Mountains, I can confirm the Suzuki is a blast to drive.
The Cappuccino combines a Toyoshima Craft wide-body and US Racing Sports kit, enhancing its stance while paying homage to the golden era of Japanese motorsports with its Advan livery.
By the way, the car is not black with a red wrap, it’s painted red – Toyota Supra Monza Red – with a black wrap. Don’t worry, it tricked me, too.
Sadly, Sarah passed away in August 2022, but her spirit lives on in every curve and corner of the car.
For Dom, squeezing into the Suzuki is always a spectacle. A large man in such a small car never fails to elicit smiles. For him, every drive is a poignant reminder of Sarah’s vibrancy and vision. Despite its small size, the car commands the mountain passes with the same zest for life that Sarah embodied.
Now a symbol of their shared passion and creativity, the Cappuccino serves as a tangible connection to the past – a rolling time capsule filled with memories. But it also holds a greater purpose – the Suzuki was Sarah’s final gift to Domenic. Every aspect of this build embodies one clear idea: within the blueprint of this project, Sarah left a powerful legacy.
“Be Bright. Be Loud. Have Fun. Daily.”
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
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Blown Away At The 2024 World Time Attack Challenge - Speedhunters
It’s not every day that lap records are shattered while the wind tries its best to sweep everything off the track. But then again, this isn’t just any day – this is the 2024 Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge.
After a long, frosty winter, a well-timed warm spell left Sydney Motorsport Park feeling as if it was on fire over Friday and Saturday last week. Spring had arrived down under.
The warm, windy weather was pleasant for spectators, but it threw an extra spanner in the works for all the teams – especially those at the pointy end of this circuit-based competition.
Track temperatures fluctuated wildly, keeping everyone guessing and adjusting their setups. It’s all par for the course at the world’s biggest time attack event.
The unpredictable August weather meant the wind could pick up with 80km/h gusts at any second and instantly disrupt teams’ best laid plans.
Fresh Faces
While many crowd favourites made a return to WTAC this year, a fresh wave of new international teams and faces brought an added layer of excitement.
Luke Fink, Jay Duca, and the entire Wrecking Crew unleashed Australia’s angriest drift machines for full-track exhibition laps. And then there was Mad Mike Whiddett.
Competing in both time attack and the nighttime Garrett International Drifting Cup, the crazy Kiwi kept everyone on edge.
Mad Mike made WTAC history as the first to enter both disciplines in the same car – Bullet, a 1,400hp turbo four-rotor and rear-wheel-drive-converted Mazda3 originally built for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The TCP-Magic mechanics must’ve been fueled by adrenaline and Red Bull as they constantly switched between grip and drift setups.
A debut entry this year was the first electric vehicle. If you thought the Nürburgring was the only playground for EVs, think again. Misha Charoudin swapped the Green Hell for Sydney, debuting an electric time attack machine that turned heads.
Team Hyundai N, WTAC regulars, entered the Clubsprint class in a lightly modified IONIQ 5 N. With some custom Alpha Vulcan aero, a full roll cage and more, the EV hatchback was transformed from a high-performance home appliance into a bonafide race car, allowing Misha to give Sydney Motorsport Park a silent but scorching go.
We can’t overlook Yashio Factory’s Nissan Silvia S15, piloted by the man himself, Kazuyoshi ‘Oka-chan’ Okamura.
The neon pink Pro-Am class contender and its animated driver added a fresh burst of colour to the event.
Ando Yasuhiro, another Japanese time attack legend, returned with his formidable Team Scoot Mazda RX-7. Ando’s FD3S was a crowd favourite, showcasing the relentless pursuit of speed and innovation that defines time attack racing.
Daigo Saito returned for the International Drifting Cup, but luck wasn’t on his side this year.
Alongside these Japanese heavyweights was Miji Kang from South Korea, showcasing her driving talent from behind the wheel of a borrowed K24-powered Honda Civic EG hatchback.
As always, the World Time Attack Challenge delivered its share of drama, and Feras Qartoumy’s journey provided plenty.
After a frantic engine rebuild at Warspeed Industries, the American’s twin-turbo V8 Corvette arrived just in time for Saturday’s action.
Was it flawless? No. But Feras pushed his Corvette to the limit, proving that even when everything is stacked against you, it’s worth giving it your all.
Meanwhile, the mad Finn Sami Sivonen arrived with a faster, fiercer Audi R8 1:1 ‘Fat Cat,’ bringing all the energy and fun you’d expect from Scandinavia.
Together, these entrants added a rich layer of diversity and competition to WTAC 2024, making it a truly international event.
Another major drawcard for this festival are the rare and sometime obscure racing machinery cutting demo laps alongside the international guests. 2024 was no let down.
Rodin Cars from New Zealand demonstrated an open-wheeler – think circa 2010 F1 car…
… and ran their Sintura S99 in the Pro class against RP968. The bespoke GT1-inspired machine pumps out 650hp and 530Nm of torque from its screaming 4-litre V10 engine.
Up close, both cars are absolute works of art.
My advice, never skip an opportunity to see and hear a Rodin up close.
Off The Record
Throughout the categories, competition was fierce and quite often decided in the final ‘Superlap Shootout’ session. In the Emtron Pro class, Barton Mawer didn’t just dominate – he obliterated.
His final Shootout time of 1:17.444 not only set a new WTAC record but also reinforced why RP968 is the team to beat.
Their Porsche 968-based creation may have looked like last year’s entry, but it’s evolved greatly over the past 12 months. Countless hours spent reworking, replacing, and tweaking have made it sharper and faster than ever.
In the Plazmaman Pro-Am class, Sivonen’s R8 showed that Europe wasn’t here to play. The ‘Professional Amateurs’ team proved unbeatable upon their return to WTAC.
Despite Feras and his freshly rebuilt Corvette giving it their all, Sami’s Finnish precision secured the top spot.
Feras, however, wasn’t far off the pace, achieving a personal best of 1:25.4580 in the Superlap Shootout.
The GCG Open class was a rollercoaster. Rob Nguyen’s Dream Project Nissan Silvia S15 clinched victory in a nail-biting final session.
His 1:25.543 edged out Tim Slade, who, despite a heroic effort in the Xtreme GT-R, had to abort his final lap, leaving his 1:25.9350 best to stand. The crowd was on edge, feeling the tension as the final seconds ticked away.
In the Haltech Clubsprint class, Trent Grubel was a man on a mission. After an overnight engine swap, he didn’t just meet expectations, he shattered them, setting a new record with a 1:32.234 lap.
A new twist this year was the Turbosmart Flying 500.
Previously a single-car v-max speed challenge, this year it evolved into head-to-head street car roll races, which I can only describe as epic.
The ability to roll on the starting line shifted the rules of engagement, opening up the competition to a wide variety of rear and all-wheel drive cars.
As the sun set on the Flying 500, Sydney Motorsport Park’s main straight became a picturesque battleground. The sky was ablaze with golden hues, intermixed with dust, fuel vapour, and tyre smoke – simply unforgettable. I hope this format returns in 2025, perhaps with a tempting prize pot to attract Australia’s fastest street-registered machines.
The Final Word
As a World Time Attack Challenge regular, the 2024 event proved the formula of fun and speed still works. That said, the small changes implemented this year show there’s still potential for it to evolve, refine, and improve.
From intense on-track battles to vibrant displays in the paddock, Sydney Motorsport Park was the ultimate stage for two days of automotive brilliance. Records were shattered, legends were born, and once again WTAC proved why it’s the greatest time attack event in the world.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
WTAC Through My Lens
Comments
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16 comments
-Only 2 cars in the pro class with a gap of 10.44 seconds between them -- this is not what I would call a competitive series, but the top time is very impressive. Were there other entries that didn't participate or was there really only 2 people in the pro class? The spread on most of these classes is 15-20 seconds from 1st to last which isn't great from a competition standpoint.
-For reference (since you guys love karts) in 2015 a 90bhp 250cc kart ran a 1:28.113 at the same circuit with highly restrictive rules (420lbs weight as opposed to 360-380lbs, no aerodynamics beyond a rear trim device, no forced induction, no exotic fuels). This would be good for 5th in the Pro Am class and 1 second off the Rodin.
When you factor in the cost of a 250cc kart at about $25,000 this is a pretty impressive. I wonder what Feras has dumped into that Corvette at this point. A million? The RP968 probably 2-3 million at this point between people's salaries, parts, and labor. At the end of the day as impressive as world time attack has become there is a word for this entire series in wheel to wheel racing: it's called qualifying.
The super kart will also do this for hours where as time attack cars struggle to lap multiple times without overheating. If you took off the rule book on the super kart it would easily trounce the RP968. Alcohol fuels and forced induction could easily push a kart to 200-300bhp. As impressive as time attack is, when you look at the money spent you don't get much! And you're still not racing wheel to wheel.
The gap that exists between RP968 and the next car isn't ideal, but I guess the RP968 smashing records and pushing the envelope has laid some groundwork and offers a nice challenge to any team who were interested in stepping up.
In regards to the qualifying comment; I mean if qualifying in other events had teams completely alter the car setup to run just a few laps, with no caution or thought for the following day of racing, then maybe.
If it was simply qualifying, wouldn't qualifying lap times from other sports would be in the same ball park as Time Attack?
Plus a few cars that didn't double enter PRO & PRO-AM this year like the last couple years.
If global business wasn’t being held at gun point by esg and environmental insanity it would be amazing to see what f1 or dtm would do if de restricted. This is why politics in Motorsport suck!!!
At SMP it is definitely head and shoulders above other cars, but for context I think Feras' Corvette that does 1:25 at SMP ran 1:17.7 at Road Atlanta, which puts it faster than current gen GT3 cars there. Not the fastest categories to compare to but again, for a pretty much home brewed effort with off the shelf tires is pretty impressive, and is still a pretty far zip code off the RP968's time.
Time Attack has much more open rules, can you build a faster car ultimately? Sure, anyone willing to spend the money and time has the potential to do it. But as mentioned for something ultimately is an amateur event for bragging rights with no real return, not many have the incentive to do that. To be able to complete a car to the level they are at doing the lap times they do is still mighty impressive.
Honestly man, you sound like you have a great wealth of knowledge to share, but coming out swinging at 1100% only erodes any credibility you may other have built up here.
By all means share your opinions and your knowledge. I enjoy reading some of your insights. But keep it civil, online taunts are better served over Minecraft or Fortnite servers where the other children play.
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SpeedFest 2024: Lights, Camera, Action - Speedhunters
The real allure of a car festival is all the moving parts. Static cars allow you to soak up their finer details, but live action brings sound, smell and speed into the equation.
SpeedFest 2024, held at KL Base in the heart of Malaysia’s capital city of Kuala Lumpur brought all of this to the table. I’ve already covered the show side of the event inside the giant hangar at this decommissioned military base; now it’s time to head outside and soak up some Malaysian motorsport.
Because the live action was happening all weekend, I spent Saturday hanging out around the drift arena and Sunday documenting and enjoying the drag racing.
The drifting was non-competitive, but that didn’t stop the local drivers from going ten-tenths on the makeshift track. Sessions alternated between exhibition runs and learn-to-drift exercises, allowing the public to slide behind the wheel and pick up some basic techniques.
An E92 BMW M3 caught my eye, and after chatting with local racing legend Zen Low about his ‘drift taxi’, he offered to take me out for a few laps.
As it turned out, Zen is a GT3 racer who has competed all over the world, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France. He built the 700hp M3 monster during the pandemic lockdowns when overseas travel was impossible. As expected, Zen’s driving was smooth and precise.
Sunday’s straight-line action on KL Base’s closed runway was more serious than the fun vibes experienced elsewhere across the festival. It was also really hot out there. I spent too much time in the sun, but it was worth it.
The drag faithful braved the elements to squeeze as much performance from their Malaysian-built Protons, Japanese Civics, and diesel utes as possible. A few R35 GT-Rs and BMWs also ran the quarter mile.
Walking the staging lanes and pits was a treat. Maybe it’s my Australian heritage, but I love a good ‘do it yourself’ job. You can learn a lot by watching how different people tackle similar problems and seeing the work they put into a project.
The drag racing itself was far removed from the big-dollar spectacle I’m used to seeing back home, but that didn’t make it any less impressive. A few cars were running in the 9-second zone, and one even hit a high 8 on the unprepped surface.
So, did the SpeedFest team realise their lofty dreams with their first event? Was this the largest Japanese car gathering outside of Japan? Well, if there’s been a bigger one, I’d like to see it!
Hopefully, the city’s notorious red tape slows the KL Base redevelopment process, meaning the SpeedFest team could possibly have another crack at running their event here. Despite being designed for aircraft, SpeedFest transformed it into a petrolhead’s paradise.
If the event lacked anything, it was cars from the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s. If these vehicles are hiding in Malaysian collections, the SpeedFest team should uncover them and bring them out for the public to enjoy at the next event. It really would be fantastic to see what this celebration of cars and culture could evolve into.
In the meantime, there are lots more images from SpeedFest 2024 for you to check out below.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
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8 comments
Great write up on a beautiful country! I grew up with a bunch of Malay kids and they always talked about how great their home country was and how underappreciated it is compared to other Asian countries nearby. This is beautiful to see them getting the spotlight they deserve! Planning my next vacay ASAP
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SpeedFest 2024: Welcome To Malaysia's Mega Meet - Speedhunters
KL Base TakeoverKuala Lumpur brought the heat and humidity, but could SpeedFest 2024 bring enough modified Japanese cars to fill a decommissioned military airbase?
KL Base, right in the heart of Malaysia’s capital city, provided the perfect backdrop for this ambitious event. Locals mentioned that the empty airbase is slated for redevelopment soon, making this festival potentially a one-time experience in the unique location.
On arrival, I felt like we were driving onto a movie set. The location was as iconic as The Fast and the Furious ‘Race Wars’ scene, with endless rows of car-filled pavilions and hundreds of banners flapping, all set against one of the world’s most impressive city skylines.
The venue provided a gritty, almost post-apocalyptic vibe that perfectly suited SpeedFest’s massive ambitions.
Malaysia’s automotive industry and enthusiast base showed up in force, bringing everything from meticulously restored classics to the latest supercars and even some crazy surprising builds that I couldn’t have even anticipated . The juxtaposition of cutting-edge technology against the backdrop of weathered military structures added an element of surrealism to the event.
The heat and humidity were relentless, but they couldn’t dampen the spirits of the enthusiastic crowd. It was a testament to the passion that drives Malaysian car culture.
The sprawling airbase offered a unique setting that few other locations could match. The long, open runways provided the perfect canvas for drag races and drifting, while the expansive hangars housed some of the country’s best car builds.
Together As One
Guests from Japan added a unique flavour to the event. Rubbing shoulders, sharing car stories, or even just posing for a selfie with some of the original legends who grew Japan’s modified car scene is an opportunity that’s super rare outside of Tokyo Auto Salon or a shortlist of Japanese events.
Notable guests included Daijiro Inada, founder of Option magazine and Tokyo Auto Salon. Inada-san is not only a Japanese car culture pioneer but also someone who has shaped car culture globally.
Shoji Inoue from Star Road is the wizard behind some of Japan’s most jaw-dropping classical restomods, especially his work on the iconic Datsun Z series. A mid-restoration Devil Blue 240Z was on display in the main hangar.
Sakamura-san from Garage Active ran out of ink after signing so many diecast models of his all-carbon R32 Skyline GT-Rs across the weekend. His quest to push the limited and redefine the ‘perfect’ GT-R really struck a chord with local enthusiasts.
These legends brought a unique vibe to SpeedFest, giving everyone the rare chance to hang out with some of the OG JDM scene influencers.
Over 1,000 cars officially entered the event across the show, drift, and drag stages. That’s excluding the countless modified vehicles that made their way into the spectator car parks, too.
Impressively, over 50,000 guests passed through the gates. I spoke with enthusiasts from Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Brunei, Thailand, and even the United Kingdom.
Hanging Out
It was sensory overload inside the huge hangar, but here are a few show-stoppers.
Eight RWB cars made a huge impact. I can’t remember seeing so many together outside of Nakai-san’s RWB New Year Hard Rock Tokyo Party in 2018, eclipsing even the RWB film debut in Melbourne in 2016.
This ultra-wide 997 is the youngest member of Malaysia’s RWB family. Completed just a few weeks ago, it was the last of six cars completed by Nakai-san during a mega build-a-thon.
Teoh from RWB Malaysia, one of the owners of Miyabi, Malaysia’s first RWB, was on hand to give me a quick look at the rest of the RAUH-Welt Begriff display.
Elsewhere, the hangar was littered with restored modern classics, European supercars, competition cars, and more. Almost all niches were represented.
CraftLab presented three rally legends – a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III, a GC8 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, and an ST185 Toyota Celica GT-Four. Despite all being works car replicas, they were a great addition to the show.
The Unexpected
This brick hot rod was one of the oddities I did not expect to see, but I was delighted to check it out inside and out.
The local ‘Bricks’ team brought two cars made almost entirely out of Lego-style bricks, and complete with working doors, speakers, instruments, and even LED lighting. The yellow car is a 1:1 replica of a cheap buy popular local car, A Perodua Myvi.
Bonus points for the cute Panda passengers. I’d love to see one of these hit a wall at speed while being filmed in super-slow motion.
The standout cars included some unapologetically personalised rides, like this Honda Prelude with a full custom carbon fibre bodykit designed and made by its owner, Kevin Lim. Carbon replaces much of the cabin and floorpan, too.
There are some obvious styling cues taken from well-known body kit makers and perhaps even GT500 or time attack builds.
A Garrett turbo helps the worked H22A engine produce 300hp when VTEC kicks in, yo!
Another engine that caught people’s attention was this Mazda 13B rotary. The rest of the car was causing a scene, too.
Although there is no shortage of Nissan/Datsun Bluebird 910s back home in Australia, we don’t have any samurai-sword-wielding, R32-taillight-equipped, Japanese-police-liveried, and side-piped examples like Rotosun.
There wasn’t a lot of pure competition machinery in the hall, but it was represented. This carbon Ginetta G58 weighs just over 900kg and is powered by a 6.2-litre V8. It constantly had people soaking up its exquisite carbon fibre details.
Overall, the variety of cars, the quality of the restorations, and the creativity behind many of the builds were amazing.
The only thing better than seeing some of these cars parked up was seeing them in action. And SpeedFest 2024 ticked that box, too. Stay tuned for part two of my coverage.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
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Unconventionally Charming: Living to Offend With An E30
A Rebel's Dream
In the realm where reality and fantasy collide, you'll find an E30 that obliterates the comfort of familiar aesthetics.
This isn't your usual Sunday drive BMW. In fact, it's anything but typical. A Live To Offend widebody kit has transformed the unassuming E30 silhouette into a creature of audacity and allure. It's a sci-fi flick brought to life,
The Live To Offend, or LTO for the initiated, is a movement championed by Eric Pennington and Kyzyl Saleen, promoting individuality and the boldness to push design boundaries. Khyzyl is no stranger here, known worldwide for his futuristic and high-impact vehicle designs.
His works aren't just car mods; they're a visual rebellion against convention, a testament to what can be achieved when imagination runs wild. Live To Offend brings these wild renders from computer screens to real life street scenes.
The unassuming E30 under the masterful hands of these visionaries has transformed into an audacious, awe-inspiring beast. It's a four-wheeled embodiment of the phrase "go big or go home". The widebody kit gives this Bavarian marvel a muscular stance, with lines and edges that command attention, challenging anyone to ignore its presence.
The broad shoulders of this wide-bodied wonder evoke a nostalgia for motorsport, yet it is all but traditional. The harsh, audacious lines jut out aggressively, casting an imposing figure that is not easily forgotten.
Every single angle breaks from tradition, inviting gasps of surprise and invites a conversation for all who walk by. Some may be enthralled, others offended, but all are left with an unforgettable impression.
It elicits a reaction, be it praise or scorn, it's a car that refuses to be ignored. It's wild, it's crazy, it's motorsport heritage reinvented, an entity that is equal parts crazy, audacious, and in my humble opinion utterly fantastic.
Modest by birth, emerged as a rebel against mediocrity, fearless, unapologetic, and always ready to offend.
The Aussie Heartbeat
If the wild restyling isn't enough to offend the Bavarian purists out there, transplanting an Australian legend into the chest cavity of this German icon might be their Kryptonite.
The LSX-R 5.7L engine, courtesy of Holden, a quintessentially Australian marque, pumps an entirely different kind of life into the Bavarian steel.
Talk about a wild mixture of motoring DNA.
Unleashing this revamped beast was no easy feat. The LS1 engine, while a powerhouse on its own, needed a bit of sprucing up to do justice to its new home. Enter Brintech Customs, the gifted mechanics who worked their magic and breathed a new lease of life into this engine.
With its forged pistons, H beam conrods, and a supercharged style camshaft, not to mention the custom exhaust manifolds, the 318i was far from its original quiet self. It roared like the Australian outback and delivered a performance that would give any seasoned car enthusiast goosebumps.
Yet, it wasn't all smooth sailing. The T56 gearbox was a stubborn component, causing its fair share of headaches, and made its presence known with as much grace as a bull in a china shop. But every speed bump was a lesson in resilience for Ty and his faithful co-builder, Theo.
No obstacle was insurmountable, and their perseverance paid off when they finally tamed the beast. And the end result?
Well it's still early days. The initial run-in tune produces a lazy 235kw at the wheels on a very safe map, with a plan to unlock plenty more ponies at a later date. Tyrone is aiming for somewhere between 300-400kw range with engine longevity in mind.
The power on tap is accompanied by the deep burble and throaty engine note LS-series engines are reknown for, one of the greatest soundtracks on any road.
The E30 might've started as a refined German classic, but with its new heart, it was now a rebel with a cause, an audacious testament to the Live to Offend ethos.
A Journey of Madness and Metal
The birth of this motorized behemoth was no simple task. It's the story of two die-hard car enthusiasts, Tyrone and Theo, fueled by friendship and a love for all things automotive.
The countless hours of wrench turning, the endless nights spent poring over diagrams and designs, the sweat and swearing over stubborn components, all this effort culminated in the creation of this insane beast.
Every nut and bolt, every scrap of metal, every modification, tells a tale of determination and mechanical mastery.
From the LSXR 102mm intake manifold to the six-speed T56 gearbox, from the custom twin-tip exhaust to the modified subframe, every component is a testament to Tyrone and Theo's dedication and skill.
The Art of Rebellion
This isn't a machine that toes the line of conventional automotive design. Its Live To Offend ethos may rub some the wrong way, but here's the thing - it's not trying to win everyone over. This E30 is a celebration of the unconventional, the audacious, the fearless spirit of car culture.
Love it or hate it, you can't ignore the passion, the attention to detail, and the unwavering commitment that went into this build. From the mesmerizing Mazda Soul Red Crystal paint job to the painstakingly retrimmed OMP WRC steering wheel, it's a tangible manifestation of tireless effort and undying enthusiasm.
So here's to the rebels, the risk-takers, the ones daring enough to go against the grain. To the ones who refuse to be boxed in by tradition, who dare to offend and aren't afraid to wear their automotive heart on their sleeve. After all, what's the joy in motoring if not to push the boundaries, to experiment, to rebel?
After all, life's too short for boring cars, isn't it?
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
More stories from Australia on Speedhunters
A Nissan Prairie Drift Car, The Low Standards Way - Speedhunters
What Jay Duca‘s 1983 Nissan Prairie lacks in aerodynamic ability, it more than makes up for with an abundance of character.
The Praire people mover stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the World Time Attack Challenge‘s wildest aerofoils, largest infinity wings, sharpest canards and even the vortexiest of vortex diffusers. I had to take a closer look.
The man who brought us ‘The Little Red Truck‘ isn’t your regular car enthusiast. Jay concocts of some of the most left field and oddball nostalgic mash-ups we’ve ever seen, documenting them all on his popular Low Standards YouTube channel. But Jay’s latest project is more than steel and rubber – it’s also a little metal box of memories.
But why a Prairie in the first place? Why a 40-year-old, under-powered, uninspiring, nugget of a car? For starters, it’s not just any car to Jay.
Once belonging to his brother, it was the vessel of adventures, road trips and memories. As Jay recalls, this was the car that saw him and six others journey to Summernats twice. The guys drove it everywhere.
Looking past its sentimental value, the Prairie’s unique box shape, absence of B-pillars, dead-flat floor – not to mention rarity and vintage appeal – made it an easy choice for this special project. However, reclaiming history isn’t always straightforward. When Jay decided to resurrect the Prairie as a drift car, he knew the road ahead would be filled with challenges.
When Jay got his hands on the Praire, it was, in his own words, “a sack of sh*t”. Yet, he wasn’t deterred.
No doubt, your eyes have been drawn to the corrosion, dents, scrapes and scratches that Jay has consciously decided not to remove or patch up. Some might accuse him of negligence, but with this Prairie, retaining its faults is a deliberate choice. It adds personality.
Challenges like rust have been markers of a compelling journey. Whether it’s been a problematic component or a design dilemma, there’s nothing that a grinder, welder and some good ol’ fashioned elbow grease hasn’t been able to solve thus far.
Jay’s first big task was converting the front-wheel drive Nissan to rear-wheel drive. The solution? Embedding a modified KE70 Corolla chassis structure – from front radiator support to the rear panel – beneath the Prairie’s shell. By positioning the floor pan higher up in the Nissan’s bodywork, it’s essentially been body-dropped.
With Jay and his colleague Zac’s craftsmanship, combined with mates like Adam and Chris lending their expertise to the interior trims and paint, the Prairie was reborn with a new purpose.
Jay kept everyone guessing when it came to the engine, but ultimately a stroked Toyota 2JZ-GE found its way into the bay. The naturally aspirated inline-six is a pretty serious thing, now displacing 3.2L and featuring a CNC-ported cylinder head with 304-degree cams and a race-spec valvetrain.
Add to that a custom intake featuring six individual throttle bodies with open trumpets and a custom exhaust that begins with a beautiful hand-crafted 6-1 stainless steel header, and you can bet this 2JZ roars.
An AE86 front suspension setup and Shockworks coilovers all round, plus an AE86 steering setup ensures the Prairie handles well. This coupled with the body drop allows the van to sit ultra-low over its 14-inch SSR MKII wheels with suitably stretched rubber.
And the interior? A beautiful blend of past and present with a custom roll cage, Recaro LX front seats, and a timeless Nardi wood-rimmed steering wheel.
As you would have picked up on, there’s a little work left to do, but the plan is to have this Nissan/Toyota mash-up completed in time for the LZ World Tour’s Australian stop next month.
As Jay mused about the Prairie drifting alongside the world’s best, it’s hard not to share his enthusiasm. If you can’t find joy in this amalgamation of memories, custom engineering and a whole lot of love, maybe, just maybe, it’s time to find that rusted piece of your soul and bring it back to life.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
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The World Returns For WTAC 2023 - Speedhunters
Welcome BackOften, the longer we spend anticipating something, the better the reward. And let me tell you, it feels like an age since our last full-blown Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge.
Sure, it’s true we had a WTAC just 18 months ago, but there wasn’t much of the ‘world’ to be found outside of the title. How could there have been?
Despite the fact that some sense of normality was returning to the world, nothing beyond a week ahead felt like a sure thing. And the logistics of international travel and cargo delivery? No thanks.
WTAC 2022, perhaps more aptly remembered as the 2022 Australian Time Attack Challenge, still gave us hit of action, but it just wasn’t the same level of grandeur we’ve been spoilt with. To visualise it, picture going to a county fair instead of Disneyland.
With the world reopened, tons of new cars ready to compete, and people clambering to get out and make the most of each day, it makes sense that the 2023 World Time Attack Challenge will be remembered by all as one of the biggest, brightest and loudest WTACs ever.
I can’t help but feel this added level of anticipation provided the fuel needed to boost 2023’s event to new heights. But for now, let’s just focus on some racing and smashed records.
Pro Class: RP968’s Domination Continues
Driving the RP968 Porsche, Barton Mawer has etched his name deep into the Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge’s history books. His 2023 victory in the Emtron Pro Class wasn’t just any win: he postively smashed the previous lap record by a staggering 1.5 seconds. This win marks the fourth consecutive triumph for the RP968, putting it shoulder to shoulder with the legendary Tilton Evo.
From Day 1, RP968’s mission was evident, especially with the new regulations allowing slick tyres in the Pro and Pro-Am classes. This rule change enabled teams to elevate their aerodynamic loads to never-before-seen levels at WTAC, and as a result Mawer effortlessly registered a jaw-dropping 1:18.8 lap in the opening Pro Class session on Friday, besting his previous record. But the car’s potential was hardly exhausted.
The following day, RP968 reappeared with gusto, Mawer laying down a 1:17.860 lap time. It wasn’t just a win; it was a statement.
Interestingly, the team believed that the car still had more to offer. Way more, in fact. Emotions ran sky high. Barton, ecstatic with his record-breaking performance, leaped onto the car’s roof to celebrate.
Unfortunately, in the midst of the euphoria, he fractured his ankle on his return to solid ground. Nevertheless, after a medical review, Barton made it back to Sydney Motorsport Park by the afternoon, limping but still in high spirits.
Time attack’s assault on mechanical boundaries often results in broken cars retiring early. I certainly wouldn’t have mentioned it in the garage on the day, but there’s humour to be found in the record-smashing car being parked up because of a broken driver for once. But in all seriousness, it truly was a shame that RP968 spent most of Saturday sidelined. I guess the suspense of finding the limit for this Porsche on steroids gives us something to look forward to for WTAC 2024.
With the assistance of Australian Supercars Championship legend Tim Slade, the Tanuki S13 Nissan Silvia sat behind Mawer on the Pro Class scoreboard, clocking a 1:20.456 lap.
The Silvia, reincarnated and now unrecognisable from its former identity as the MCA Hammerhead, posed a serious challenge with its 1,100hp VR38DETT GT-R engine.
Sadly, a mishap with owner Wayne Lee at the wheel during a Pro-Am stint led to its early retirement. The pace of development on this chassis over the past 18 months has been astounding, so I have no doubt it’ll be one to watch next year.
The third podium spot was secured by the Lyfe Motorsport R35 GT-R, skilfully handled by Cole Powelson from the USA. Even with the help of a new, fresher engine and much bigger tyres, It’s still difficult to compete how the LYFE GTR team managed to run a full 5-seconds faster than their last WTAC!
Pro-Am Class: The New Kid On The Block
For the first time in almost a decade, the WTAC’s Pro-Am class trophy has left Australian shores. The Plazmaman-sponsored class was absolutely dominated by American newcomer, Feras Qartoumy.
Racing for the first time at Sydney Motorsport Park, Feras manoeuvred the twin-turbo Z06 Corvette – a beast totally unfamiliar with this track – to an impressive 1:27.016 victory.
Throughout the event, he faced stiff competition from Wayne Lee’s Tanuki S13 Silvia, which performed good enough for second before retiring.
Richard Perini’s Ginetta G55 looked amazing as usual, and sounded even better as it raced to the third step on the Pro-Am podium.
Drew Hall’s CRD-enhanced Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R also made an appearance, but was sadly sidelined due to a technical hiccup.
Open Class: Last Second Showdown
In the GCG Open Class, cars waged war with a time bracket that WTAC Pro Class machines could have only dreamed about just a few short years ago.
Tim Slade showcased his mettle in the Open Class too, steering the Xtreme GT-R to glory with a time of 1:26.192.
Nathan Morcom, driving the GAS Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, endured a series of setbacks during the event – including an engine replacement – but still managed to secure second place.
The drama continued as Benny Tran and his iconic BYP Honda Integra completed the Open Class podium.
Clubsprint Class: Breaking Boundaries
To help put the Haltech Clubsprint Class winning times into context, let me share with you that a sub-1:40 at Sydney Motorsport Park in a street car is fast. And any vehicle that’s even remotely street-able approaching 1:35 lap times is crazy fast. But anything sub-1:35 is, to borrow from Tarzan Yamada, “crazy f**king fast!”
Behind the wheel of the DC Jap Subaru, Trent Grubel made history, twice shattering the Clubsprint record, culminating in a mind-blowing 1:32.919 lap on Day 2 of the event.
His closest competitor, Jimmy Asaad in the ERS Mitsubishi Evolution, faced a setback when he crashed into a wall, causing substantial damage to his vehicle.
Finally, Michael Garland’s GotItRex GC8 secured a third place finish, leaving an indelible mark on the event.
The Game Changer: Slick Moves
WTAC 2023 saw the introduction of the biggest change to the event’s ‘One Perfect Lap’ format since its inception.
The big move? Rolling out slicks for the competition, and boy, did that shake things up. WTAC’s Pro and Pro-Am teams now had a smorgasbord of rubber options: different sizes, widths, and those sweet, sweet compounds. The introduction of slicks almost guaranteed faster lap times, but it also added a new layer of complexity for the teams.
You’d think it’s like handing candy to a kid, but here’s the twist: with those extra grip levels, you’re not just talking about increasing downforce. You also need to crank up the horsepower, and that’s where things can get dicey.
More power means more chances of something going bang, and with engines and drivelines in many cars already being dialled up to within a razor’s edge of mechanical failure, this is new time attack territory.
It’s a bold, brave new world and the coming years will reveal how strategies evolve around this pivotal WTAC rule change. One thing’s for sure though – it’s going to be a hell of a show.
Work Hard, Party Harder
Beyond the time attack action, WTAC is as much about celebrating fun times as it is celebrating fast times.
This year, the festival atmosphere hit new heights, and everywhere you turned there was something to see.
From an eclectic mix of mesmerising cars on show to a packed trader alley.
Let’s take a quick walk through ‘StylizeD’ by Downshift, one of largest static car shows on the Australian calendar.
Some owners will spend up to 20 hours on the road just to be part of the spectacle.
Super car parades, drift demonstrations, and automotive personalities everywhere.
Mike Burroughs brought his 1,000+hp K24 turbo Ferrari 308 along for some exhibition laps and a shot at the ‘Open Class’ title.
Competing for the punters’ attention was Ryan Tuerck’s Judd V10-powered Toyota GR Supra. Honestly, the hills were alive with the music of our people when this thing let rip.
A Lamborghini heritage run kept fans occupied while teams kept cool during the hottest part of the day.
Huge horsepower roll racing and drifting rolled into sunset and continued well into the night.
There were even awe-inspiring aerobatic displays by Red Bull Air Race world champion Matt Hall.
We’re used to seeing high speeds on the main straight, but seeing an aircraft make a vertical take off was more than memorable.
Quite simply, it felt great to be back at the World Time Attack Challenge with the world. And judging by the sheer number of attendees, I wouldn’t be surprised if this year’s crowd numbers approached record levels.
With the 2023 event wrapped up, the countdown for WTAC 2024 has already begun. Teams will be back in their garages, armed with new data, experiences, and the drive to push the time attack envelope further.
As for the fans, the memories of 2023 will fuel their anticipation. And as always, the World Time Attack Challenge promises to bring together the best of motorsport, innovation, and community spirit.
The journey continues.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
World Time Attack Overload
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From Diecast Dreams To A Racetrack Reality - Speedhunters
Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Majorette. Whatever your choice, racing toy cars on a rug, crafting makeshift cities, and fantasising about the perfect race track is a childhood memory that many of us hold dear to heart. But for some, this dream never fades; it only grows bigger and louder.
Sam Shahin was one such dreamer. As a young Palestinian refugee, his imagination echoed inside the walls of his family home, an old petrol station in Woodville, South Australia.
Here, Sam was surrounded by the smell of petrol and the stop start sounds of engines. Normally it’s advised not to sniff petrol fumes, but it seems for Sam and his siblings, the octane within sparked a lifetime passion for cars.
And over Sam’s life, that single Woodville family petrol station evolved into the Perigrine Group – Australia’s largest private energy network, its largest private service station chain, and the country’s most successful petroleum empire.
I’m a firm believer in the saying ‘money doesn’t change people, it just amplifies their qualities’. While some of our dreams change as we age, The Bend Motorsport Park is proof that that inspired child still lives within Sam Shahin.
From Dreams To Asphalt
Risking sounding somewhat cliché, The Bend Motorsport Park really is Sam’s magnum opus, showcasing his lifelong love for motorsport.
Located in Tailem Bend, just an hour’s drive from the tranquility of Adelaide, South Australia’s capital city, The Bend gleams like a jewel in the wilderness. It boasts an astonishing 7.77 kilometre (4.82 mile) track – one of the longest full-time circuits in the world – but trust me, it’s not just size that matters here.
The newly renamed facility, Shell V-Power Motorsport Park offers multiple arenas and circuit configurations and, each catering to various motorsport disciplines. It’s a place that holds the echoes of iconic European and Middle Eastern tracks, but retains an undeniably Australian feel about it.
This is motoring on a scale we’re just not familiar with in Australia. Imagine one facility that boasts not only a world-class circuit, but also a drag strip, drift arena, karting track, rally cross circuit, 4WD adventure park, and even a hotel.
It’s like stepping into a motorsport utopia.
The Ultimate Lap
Whilst hunting, I was fortunate enough to be strapped in the passenger seat of a Lotus Exige to experience the main GT Circuit up close.
With fewer landmarks than most tracks for a new driver to use as brake markers, locking onto the layout would be challenging to begin with, especially given the high speeds attainable on the longer sections.
But like all things worthwhile, after practice the track flows beautifully when threaded by some experienced hands.
The straights are long, and each set of corners present the driver with a different set of challenges.
Those straight sections remind me of Fuji Speedway, the vastly differing corner combinations remind me of the Nürburgring Nordschleife, and the elevation changes of spirited drives through the mountains. There is no rival for this track in Australia.
British readers may laugh, but I’d never ridden in a Lotus prior to this; they’re not the most common things down under.
The Bend was the perfect place to showcase and amplify both the Exige’s agility and straight-line power. What a ride.
Racing Towards The Future
With its state-of-the-art design, The Bend is not just another racetrack. Its sheer size is one thing, but the technology, safety measures and foresight embedded into every inch make it a contender for the highest echelon of global motorsport. The facility meets or exceeds every FIA specification and already hosts a number of international racing events.
Of course, Sam and the team behind The Bend would love the opportunity to one day host the Australian round of the Formula One World Championship. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet; we’re just dreamers, remember? For the time being, the team seem satisfied to let everybody else live out their dreams and enjoy the world-class facility.
More Than Just Tarmac
The Bend Motorsport Park is more than asphalt and engines. In an era where the thrill of driving is often overlooked for efficiency and automation, the facility stands tall, reminding us of the raw excitement, the adrenaline, and the sheer love for cars and racing.
For South Australians, it’s a point of pride. For visitors, both seasoned professionals and curious first-timers, it’s an experience of a lifetime.
And for Sam? It’s the realisation of a dream that started with diecast cars on a rugged floor.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
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Building a racetrack in these modern times is a *major* accomplishment; one to be celebrated and more importantly, supported.
Here in the US, underused drag strips are being gobbled up by developers planning to build more malls and parking lots.
BTW, there are those who'd claim the Bonneville salt flats is "boring". But we know better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFeccEC5gJQ
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Vintage Vibes With A Sprinkle Of Modern Magic - Speedhunters
In Sydney’s bustling heart, my eyes landed on Tristram Deas’ fantastic creation – a Ford Cortina Mk1 that blends old school charm with modern performance.
Back in 1992, Tristram lucked out when he bought this diamond in the rough from a neighbour who’d unearthed the abandoned Cortina in rural New South Wales. At the time of its initial discovery the Ford had no engine or gearbox, but it was harbouring some Australian wildlife in the boot. The classic Cortina was screaming for some TLC.
Originally, Tristram and his father Paul, a seasoned panel beater and car painter, planned to rebuild the Mk1 up into a Lotus replica and use it for closed-road rallies. With a burst of enthusiasm, they stripped, prepped and repainted the shell in the iconic Lotus Cortina off-white with green stripes scheme.
The car sat, ready for a new powertrain, for some years. Life simply got in the way, as it often does. When the Deas pair finally got stuck back into the build, the Cortina’s future wasn’t so clear-cut. They had a choice: stick to the Lotus replica blueprint, or take the build in another direction.
Another two years passed by before a new vision for the classic car was finally decided on: an old school street racer injected with a modern driveline. Bye-bye Lotus running gear, hello Retroford UK conversion.
Back To The Drawing Board
While the new powertrain was being specced on the other side of the world, Tristram reverted the Cortina to its original 1966 guise – a Ford Australia ‘240’ model, simpler and more humble than its swanky Cortina siblings, the 440 and the sporty GT. He bid farewell to the Sherwood Green Lotus stripe and welcomed Arctic White paint for the entire body.
That included the interior, where the bare-bones 240-spec cabin became a canvas for Tristram’s dream vintage racer-inspired cockpit.
A roll cage and low-back Cobra bucket seats with Willans harnesses set the scene, something followed up by an array of top-tier components including a Lotus-style dash with Smiths gauges and a dished Momo steering wheel. The Allan Moffat autograph is a neat touch.
More Than Meets The Eye
At first glance the engine bay looks like it houses an iconic Ford-Cosworth BDA engine, but you’re actually looking at a cunningly-camouflaged, modern 2.0-litre Zetec twin cam mill.
Dave Colledge at Retroford was instrumental in this ruse, providing the engine crossmember and mounts. While the Zetec’s internals remain stock, the exterior now boasts 45mm throttle bodies and a stunning Retroford stainless steel exhaust manifold that runs into a throaty 2.5-inch system.
Trust me, it was pure aural joy following the low-slung Cortina through Sydney’s urban tunnel network.
In the driveline, Tristram – on Retropower’s advice – opted for a 5-speed Mazda N7 gearbox from an MX-5, which has very similar gear ratios to the Ford Type 9 close-ratio gear set. Retroford chipped in with a lightened flywheel, which was paired with a custom heavy-duty ceramic paddle clutch. The driveline was rounded off with a Retropower quick-shift kit, 2-piece prop-shaft, and a factory 240-spec English axle complete with an LSD centre and sturdy 18-spline axles.
Dreams In Metal & Rubber
Tristram’s reflection on the Cortina’s journey is akin to that of a seasoned explorer. “We set off on the road/race, Lotus style, but the street/race, stripped-out minimalist look was calling our name,” he says. “There’s something magical about a car that’s just pure motor, nothing too showy. The driveline is a gem, and I’m now considering a power upgrade, maybe even a supercharger. But for now, after this marathon build, I just want to revel in the joy of driving it.”
Tristram and Paul’s labour of love has birthed a machine that commands attention and leaves a lasting impression. Their journey with the Mk1 Cortina is a testament to what’s possible through two-way collaboration with suppliers, innovation and, most importantly, the courage to walk your own path.
The Deas duo have demonstrated the potential of embracing change, even mid-project, and the transformative possibility of challenging the status quo. Hopefully, their tale will be a reminder to all petrol-heads that the sweet spot between classic charm and modern tech is totally achievable.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
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Let's Play GT-R Bingo! - Speedhunters
If there’s one thing that gets car collectors, car photographers and JDM fanboys more excited than a regular Nissan Skyline GT-R, it’s hunting for the elusive variants. It’s a bit like automobile Pokémon.
Roaming the Elite GT-R display inside the 2023 PRP GT-R Festival at Sydney Motorsport Park last weekend, I was smacked in the face by a kaleidoscope of different badges. ‘What’s this?’ I thought. Then being the man-child I am, ‘Why don’t I turn this into a game?’ Boom! The birth of GT-R Bingo.
And we’re in luck because Nissan, forever trying to one-up themselves, has blessed us with a staggering number of GT-R variants. Spoiler alert: there are a lot!
Same Same, But Different
In the jungle of RB-powered GT-R variants, things can get a bit wild. From the R32 to the R34 series, the numbers and names become a blur of speed and power.
The R32 series birthed the GT-R Nismo with a mere 560 units. But wait, there’s more – a sprinkle of 1,396 V⋅specs and 1,306 V⋅spec IIs, not forgetting the rare-as-hen’s-teeth GT-R N1, which was limited to 245 units across all series.
In the R33 series, the GT-R V⋅spec N1 stood limited with 87 units, making it a true rare gem.
Then we have the GT-R LM Limited with only 188 units, and the prestigious GT-R Nismo 400R capped at just 44 units.
The R34 took things a step further with the exclusive GT-R V⋅spec II Nür – 718 units. And probably the most famous variant of all, the GT-R Z-tune, clocking in with just a mere 19 cars. Seriously, that’s the stuff of unicorn tales.
Now, most people will tell you the Z-tune is the rarest of all GT-Rs, but as is quite often the case, the majority of people are wrong.
Next time you hear this fact, or need a random party fact to share, or you’re running out of smooth lines to pick up your dream date on the dance floor, woo them by whispering seductively that the absolute rarest official factory variant is the GT-R V⋅spec II N1. Production was capped at an astonishingly scant 18 units.
That’s right, one less than the mythical Z-tune. If they’re not instantly impressed and ready to leave the club, they’re clearly not for you. No matter though, because you’ll have plenty of alone time to continue delving down this fascinating rabbit hole. If you’re a fellow data-lover, GT-R-Registry is the only place to begin your deep dive.
Are you not satisfied? We haven’t even covered chasing the rare paint codes or special engine packages.
And lastly, let’s not forget that every aftermarket company has about 11,000 special makes and limited models that we could use to delve deeper if the compulsion ever struck. See, there’s plenty of scope!
And while we’re focusing on GT-R land, most of these principles will apply to almost all popular marques. Get hunting!
The Ultimate Collection
I got to meet one owner at the GT-R Festival who took this hunt to the next level and has dedicated a large portion of his life turning the dream GT-R list into his reality. Imagine having a garage that houses not just one, but an entire series of rare Nissan Skyline GT-R N1s.
Andrew’s collection is nothing short of extraordinary. It includes the R32 V⋅spec II N1, the R33 V⋅spec N1 S1 which he’s decked out to mirror a 400R, an R34 V⋅spec N1, an R34 V⋅spec II N1, and the über-rare R33 V⋅spec N1 Series 3.
Not just any N1, mind you. It’s build plate #00, Nissan’s prototype for what the R33 S3 N1 could and should be. Talk about a showstopper!
Especially once you realise that N1 variants were never actually sold to the public. N1 glory was reserved exclusively for Nissan race teams and a handful of Nissan executives.
The intriguing part is, Andrew holds a personal connection with each one of these beasts. He didn’t just buy them off a dealership; he tracked them down, each car holding a unique backstory and a distinct memory of a different chapter in his life. This collection is like a timeline of his journey with GT-Rs.
Why GT-Rs, you might ask? Well, because this collector once was just like any of us, a young boy of the PlayStation generation who spent hours on end playing racing games, always awestruck by these gorgeous machines.
Inspired by the collectors he looked up to, from a young age Andrew aspired to become one himself, focusing on the cars he loved most – Skyline GT-Rs. So, he began educating himself about the various models, diving deep into the specifics that make these cars so special.
Tracking down these cars wasn’t a walk in the park, but Andrew admits he was super-fortunate. Eventually, every GT-R N1 variant serendipitously fell into his lap.
Some needed full restoration, some just a bit of a tidy up, but they all demanded a touch of personality, something Andrew was more than happy to provide.
Quiz him about his favourite and Andrew hesitates. They all hold a special place in his heart, but the underrated R33 V⋅spec S3 N1 – one of the only 11 ever made – has a charm of its own. And then there’s the R34 V⋅spec II N1, a car Andrew once raced on virtual tracks, now a part of his reality.
Creating this collection wasn’t an overnight task. Some of these cars took four or five years to pull together, others only six months. And Andrew’s most ambitious project, the 400R build, was a decade-long chase for parts and a five-year assembly marathon.
So, the next time you’re out Speedhunting, why not spice it up with a game of Badge Bingo with whatever other make and model you’re hooked on. It’s sure to add an extra jolt of excitement to your quest.
After all, who doesn’t love the thrill of the chase?
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
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GT-R Life: More Than Metal - Speedhunters
The old adage, “today’s trash may be tomorrow’s treasure” is overly cliché, but when it comes to the revolving door of Japan’s ageing ‘golden era’ performance cars, it’s frighteningly precise.
As luck would have it, Australia has for many served as a dumping ground for these second-hand, less-than-brand-new motoring icons, with the crown jewel being Nissan’s iconic Skyline GT-R.
Let’s consider the facts: Australia share right-hand drive roads with Japan; we’re conveniently close by sea; and our emissions laws have a laid-back attitude compared to the stern parental glare of Japan’s stringent regulations.
It’s like we’re the cool, slightly less fussy cousins Japan never realised they had. I guess Australia really is the ‘lucky country’ after all.
And just because these GT-Rs have a few miles on them doesn’t mean they’re any less desirable. Recent years have demonstrated quite the opposite, with values rocketing upwards. And so too has Australia’s ability to tune and weave dark spells in order to extract every last ounce of potential from Nissan’s RB engine series.
In fact, Australian tuners have been tinkering with RBs for so long that I dare say they’re leading the world now.
Want evidence? Drop by Australia’s GT-R Festival, held annually at Sydney Motorsport Park. It’s like an ultra-specific grand showcase of automotive passion and dedication, with Nissan’s very finest on proud display.
GT-R Love Stories
At last weekend’s festival, surrounded by all these magnificent GT-Rs, I was intrigued about their owners. What sparked their deep fascination for these cars?
I figured starting with the ring leader of this crazy circus was best, and approached event organiser Andrew Hawkins from Motive. When quizzed on the origin of his GT-R obsession, he instantly recalled having his heart stolen by an VHS cassette tape of an HKS R32 laying down a 9-second quarter mile pass.
Now, you’ll find Andrew immersed in his own garage, flipping through magazines, or sharing his passion through creating as much GT-R content to share as humanly possible. He really is living and breathing his very best GeeeDeeeArrrr life.
Tony T. fell for a sultry black GT-R in a showroom back in the ’90s. To him, owning a GT-R is freedom and harmony with his machine; it’s about logging miles and revelling in the glorious symphony of an RB engine.
No social updates, no pics, no stories – just four wheels, open roads and wide smiles. Having the pleasure of joining Tony for a couple of ‘spirited drives’ in the past, I can absolutely vouch for the authenticity of his words.
A face some of you may be familiar with, Pete Landan, was enchanted by the GT-R back when the two-door Hakosuka hit Japanese roads in 1971. It was an exhilarating step beyond anything he’d seen in Australia, so much so that he built his own outlaw-style tribute some years later.
Ownership for Pete offers more than driving pleasure. Through exploring his automotive passions, he’s found a solid group of enthusiasts turned mates that he shares amazing drives and adventures with.
The words which resonated most with me came from Mark Newton, owner of a supremely rare, Australian-delivered R32 Skyline GT-R. Growing up a fan of Australian motorsport, the GT-R emblem has meant many different things over the years, but what has meant the most of all is the global GT-R community. It’s something Mark is looking forward to sharing with his two sons as soon as they come of ‘car age.’
“People from all walks of life, on all continents, speaking many different languages, but with a common bond – their passion for a car that has in effect spawned its own culture and lifestyle,” says Mark. “They may prefer modified, perhaps original, or anything in between – but they all speak one language: GT-R.”
Every GT-R owner has had a unique journey, but they all lead back to the legendary Nissan Skyline GT-R. These cars are more than just a means of transportation to their owners. They’re a passion, a way of life, a testament to the belief that driving should be anything but mundane.
The GT-R Brotherhood
After my conversations with these devoted GT-R owners, I was drawn into the sense of community they all seemed to share. It reminded me of a special kind of fraternity – a GT-R brotherhood, if you will.
Having owned a couple of R32s (settle down, just GTS-Ts) myself, I fondly recalled my own Skyline community experiences and smiled. Honestly, aside from the retro Datsun community, I’ve not found another group of friendlier, more passionate car groups through all my travels.
I’m not sure what it is, but the iconic stovetop taillights do seem to attract a particular type of person.
The owner of the N1 set on display, Andrew H., embodies this sense of community. For him, a love for the GT-R started with gaming and magazines, just like many of us. But he recognises that this is more than just the cars; it’s the friendships and the shared enthusiasm that make it special.
The keys to his cars are also the keys to unlock a global band of JDM fans who live and breathe this GT-R life. It’s a key to the brotherhood.
But don’t mistake the GT-R brotherhood as a closed group – it’s anything but that. Everyone who appreciates the refined brutality of these machines is welcome. You could have the wildest, most exotic build, or a bone-stock model with peeling paint – it doesn’t matter. You’re part of the brotherhood, a family that shares the same high-octane, red R-shaped blood cells.
Why We Love the GT-R
So what makes the GT-R such an obsession for us car folks? Why do we love it to the point of borderline madness? It’s more than the power or the speed, though they’re certainly a big part of it. It’s the story behind each car, the person behind the wheel, and the community around it. It’s the thrill of connecting with a machine, of tuning it, of making it your own. It’s about challenging yourself and others, always in search of that perfect drive.
It’s this shared passion that makes the GT-R brotherhood feel like a family. From the proud owners showcasing their gleaming machines at the GT-R Festival, to the solitary late-night mechanic perfecting that tune – every member has an interesting story to tell. Hell, even the fanboys who live vicariously through those lucky enough to steer their own GT-R are welcome here.
And isn’t that the best part about being part of a community like this? You’re not just part of a group, you’re part of a grand narrative – a story that’s still being written one drive at a time.
So if you haven’t yet experienced the GT-R life, I invite you to dive head-first down this petrol-scented rabbit hole. Join the brotherhood, and I promise you, there’ll never be disappointment.
As for Australia, we’re still very much in love with our adopted Japanese treasures. GT-Rs have become a part of our national car identity, echoing our love for speed, power, and a touch of the rebel.
As the sun set on the 2023 PRP GT-R Festival, I couldn’t help but smile. We Australians might be a bit rough around the edges sometimes, but we sure know how to appreciate a good car when we see one.
Long live the GT-R, and long live the brotherhood.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
GeeeDeeeArrrrr, Mate!
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JDM Speed: On Track In South Australia - Speedhunters
Some of us settled for boredom during our pandemic-induced lockdowns, but others used the quiet time to think, plan and build. A group of South Australian Japanese car enthusiasts fell squarely into the latter category, and the result was a new event for the local scene.
After successful events in 2021 and 2022, JDM Speed returned for 2023, bigger and better. This time around, I made the trip down from New South Wales to check it out.
The JDM Speed team have taken inspiration from Adelaide’s much-loved All Japan Day, but rather than emulating what is already one of Australia’s largest and greatest static car shows dedicated to Japanese makes and models, this one happens at – and on – the track.
But not just any track – Australia’s newest and arguably finest racing facility, The Bend Motorsport Park.
On arrival at the expansive venue in Tailem Bend, just an hour’s drive from Adelaide’s cityscape, I was immediately impressed.
Honestly, this place is closest thing you could imagine to whatever ‘car city’ your child self promised you’d build when you were a grown up. I can’t think of any way to describe it other than a multi-million dollar automotive playground.
The Bend probably deserves its own story some time, but today it’s all about JDM Speed.
Melodies Of Momentum: The Sounds Of Our People
As I mentioned, this is a dynamic event as opposed to a purely static one. Because while admiring a well-built car when it’s parked up is cool – and JDM Speed allows you to do this too – motion, sound and smell takes them to another level.
What is better than spending all day looking at a polished RB26 or 2JZ? Hearing these Japanese legends roar and seeing them put their power to the ground.
The variety was huge, providing a real spectacle when the track came alive.
From high-powered Nissan GT-Rs and Mitsubishi Evos to humble-yet-plucky Honda Civics, everyone was united by their love of Japanese cars.
The sight of kei cars zipping around the circuit was particularly delightful, and a reminder that fun isn’t always measured in horsepower.
The event wasn’t without its share of drama, though. The intermediate sessions in the afternoon were abruptly halted by an engine bay fire in a Subaru Impreza WRX – a stark reminder of the inherent risks that come with pushing cars hard, even when it’s just for kicks. Thankfully, no one was hurt but, still, the sight of a car gutted by a fire at a social gathering was heart-wrenching.
Despite the incident spirits remained high, and when the track reopened the high-RPM soundtrack returned.
For owners keen to dip their toes, well… tyres onto the tarmac without the pressure or risks of racing, a number of relaxed cruise sessions were organised throughout the day.
Not only was it a bit of fun for the drivers, but the rolling circus proved to be a hit with spectators. I mean, who doesn’t want to see a Daihatsu Hijet cutting laps on an international-spec circuit?
Fast, Furious & Shiny: The JDM Car Showdown
If the circuit action was the beating heart of JDM Speed, then the show and shine was unquestionably its soul.
This Autech 260RS Stagea was the unlikely shining star here, its boxy lines, classy mods and flawless paintwork earning it the coveted ‘Best of Show’ award.
If pressed to choose a personal favourite though, it would have to be this Toyota Cressida.
A rare gem these days even in stock form, ‘V8TZA’ has been completely transformed – an impressive feat considering the lack of off-the-shelf parts available. The amount of custom fabrication work invested in this project is truly inspiring.
Just a stone’s throw away from the show, the more relaxed cars and coffee arena proved to be a treasure trove of automotive jewels. Sponsored by Boss Coffee, this laid-back setting added an authentic JDM touch to the day.
I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed this aspect of JDM Speed as much as the main show.
I spent a bit of time looking over SecondStrike’s chopped-up Corolla wagon. I can’t wait to see this drift build running walls and clipping apexes at some point in the future.
After initially rolling my eyes when I figured out the DJ had assembled the ultimate Fast & Furious playlist to pump through The Bend’s PA system, I will admit that nostalgia did lend itself to the light-hearted and playful vibe across the show. Huge portable screens around the venue also provided a top-notch live-stream of the action, both on the main circuit and in the drift arena.
Speaking of drift…
Tokyo Tailem Bend Drift
What would a JDM-centric event be without it? Fortunately, South Australia’s drift scene was happy to get involved.
High-speed entries and tight battles were fought out on the venue’s newly completed dedicated drift track, while the more fun side of the sport was represented with expression sessions on the large skid pan.
The drift competition drew an array of both fresh and skilled drivers from far and wide. Paint was swapped from beat-up old taxis and powered-up econoboxes, right through to competition-spec drift machines.
The roughest-looking machines demonstrated some of the event’s most remarkable car control, a reminder of drift culture’s roots.
Sunset Salute: Echoes Of JDM’s Furious Finale
With circuit racing, drifting, multiple car shows, music and great vibes, JDM Speed had it all. The weather cooperated perfectly too, providing a welcome respite from the region’s recent cold snap.
JDM Speed may not have been the largest, or fastest event on my calendar, but it doesn’t need to be. All it needs to do is stay true to its vision of bringing the South Australia Japanese car community closer and having fun in the process.
It’s true – if you build it, they will come. JDM Speed wasn’t just an event, it was a celebration of everything we cherish about Japanese car culture, distilled into a single day.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
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Picking Up Pickup Trucks Downunder - Speedhunters
Working vehicles have always been the backbone of Australia, hauling freight, people and livestock across this massive brown expanse.
Until quite recently, the humble Aussie ute (read: utility vehicle) was every respectable tradesman’s vehicle of choice. Utes are essentially a sedan cabin cobbled with a tray rear end that lets us mix business with pleasure. Think of them as the automotive equivalent of the reverse mullet haircut; comfort up front, business in the back.
Sadly though, the death of Aussie automobile manufacturing means that cheap utes from GM Holden and Ford Australia are now a thing of the past, and fresh spare supplies have dried up too.
Almost ironically, the skyrocketing costs to now buy and maintain a ute makes them too valuable to be knocked around on building sites. Those lucky enough to still own a certified piece of Australiana on wheels – and especially the high-spec V8 models – most likely have them covered in a shed somewhere, only to be seen and heard rumbling through the streets on sunny weekends.
The closest thing to a silver lining may be the creativity some owners are employing when shopping for a replacement working vehicle. While I’m certainly not claiming the death of the Aussie ute is solely responsible for the uptake in interest in older US-sourced working trucks, it is hard to ignore the link, especially if you think back to when American pickups started to gain momentum here.
In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see trucks become the new flavour of choice for Australian enthusiasts for the next few years.
That statement alone is probably enough to see me kidnapped and lynched at the next truck meet, because there’s a deep line in the sand between utes and pickups. If it’s a model that’s derived from some form of sedan or wagon, it’s definitely not a pickup truck. Trucks are purpose-built for work life.
If I discover why it matters so much I’ll be sure to share it, but for now I’ll just respect that this is the way.
The many different origin stories, interests and styles really came across while I strolled through Sydney’s first Pickup Trucks Downunder Meet & Greet.
Meet & Greet
Keen to understand the growth of the pickup truck scene in Australia over the past five years, whenever I wasn’t behind the lens I was talking to owners, trying to discover the origins of this eclectic crew of enthusiasts.
It’s not often you see such a diverse crowd all together, but the differing origins and styles were of interest to all. Muscle car enthusiasts, mini truckers, kustom lovers, both young and old – a real melting pot of people that most closely resembled the old school hot rod scene.
Some were priced out of their first choice for classic metal, some had become bored with the more traditional options, while others just grew up with an affinity for working trucks.
There was also a pretty heavy contingent of ex-mini-truckers, who felt like the old C10 Chevys and Fords were the next logical step for them.
A number of trucks were built with vintage shells sitting on top of contemporary chassis and drivelines. Talk about the best of both worlds – old school cool and modern reliability.
Identical trucks could have rolled out of the factory together coated with the same paint, and they’d still look plenty different if parked up here.
Every truck really is a custom build, usually with a lot of work carried out by the owner’s hands.
With these pickup truck builds, there’s no single recipe for success, as there is with other niches. Say for example you own an R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R; a slightly lower stance completed with a pair of Nismo side skirts and RAYS Volk Racing TE37s are a common sight. If you’ve got yourself a VL Holden Commodore, a set of gold Simmons B45 wheels are almost a requisite.
And you know what? If that’s how you want your car to look, that’s great.
If there’s one rule that seems to govern the truck scene, it’d be outlawing that whole cookie-cutter line of thinking. No two of the 110 trucks on display at this event looked the same, or even similar. Stockers, hay lifters, slammed, supercharged, patina-laden and polished – they were all different.
I’d imagine that this line of thinking is a major drawcard, both for the creative minds turning spanners on their trucks, and also the punters that come to check out the vibe.
If it began life as a working vehicle it’s welcome. There’s some debate over whether utes that are derived from sedans and wagons should count, but if it’s a rad build, most people seem OK with it.
Take a look through this gallery and let me know in the comments section if you could ever see yourself trading your mini-truck for a full-sized rig.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
Truckin’ Heaps More Shots
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20 Hours Of Budget Racing Changed My Perspective - Speedhunters
Twenty hours of door-to-door racing in some of the cheapest cars on the market – what could possibly go wrong?
While this certainly wasn’t my first foray into endurance motorsport, I’d never spent an entire weekend with the budget racers from Motor Events Racing. It was high time to find out if there was more to this series than crumpled, mismatched panels and the not-so-subtle innuendoes hidden within parody racing liveries. The inaugural Motor Events Grand Prix at Sydney Motorsport Park would provide the opportunity.
In this series, each car has its own unique character, and every dent has a story to tell, usually followed up with hearty chuckle by one or more of the team. They’re like a metal personality extender of the four or five friends behind each entry.
Yep, this is about as grassroots as it gets, but there had to be more these racers. I mean, 20 hours of circuit racing is a hell of a long stint for well-prepared, purpose-built race cars, so how many of these budget-spec road cars could even go the full distance?
I made three wrong assumptions. The first was subconsciously associating a lack of budget with a lack of preparedness.
I’m not sure if the funny stickers or relaxed nature of most characters in pit lane disarmed me, but just as silly as some of these witty decals were, these teams came equally well prepared. Some teams even arrived with trailers full of spare parts – gearboxes, engines, you name it.
More importantly, every team member was ready to turn a spanner at the drop of a hat, even in their competition’s pit garage if required.
Despite being parked up under a roof next to the tarmac, pit lane had a real ‘rally’ vibe to it. If you’ve been to a few different events you’ll know what I mean, and if you don’t, take this as your cue to explore some other forms of motorsport.
The second mistake I made was assuming most of these punters were here purely for a laugh or a weekend away with mates, spinning tools and sinking tins afterwards. Sure, that a fair description for some of the teams, but the overwhelming majority came with the same determination to finish the weekend, just as any professional race team does.
While this won’t apply to every Speedhunter reading this, for the vast majority of us, any form of real competitive motorsport beyond a track day with mates ends the second we wake up and open our eyes.
Cars, spares, crews, tyres, safety equipment – it’s a huge undertaking, and that’s before factoring in for what happens when racing goes wrong. Which it does.
Sadly, most of us view racing as an unrealistic goal. I sure did, but after this particular weekend at SMSP, I’m now not so sure.
We may need to adjust our aspirations slightly, but if trading down from a McLaren Senna to a Mazda 6 opened the door to motorsport, would you walk through it? My wife doesn’t know it yet, but I’ve already been crunching the numbers.
Through events like these we really can all be heroes. Albeit, heroes with less special effects, fewer gadgets and much, much cheaper costumes.
The final mistake made was underestimating how much enjoyment watching 20 hours of these mighty little sh*tboxes fighting lap after lap could offer.
Obviously I enjoy rare and exotic metal, but not to dissimilar to these raw rides, I too was stripped back to basics. An eye, some lens glass, a few cars and mother nature.
From a photographer’s point of view, I really didn’t expect to have so much fun across the weekend. With zero glitz and glamour on display, there was no resting on the inherent interest of the subject.
Living The Dream
The last time I stood trackside at SMSP, teams were battling for one superior single lap at the 2022 World Time Attack Challenge – the polar opposite of what Motor Events Racing‘s competitors were facing at this event. Twelve gruelling hours on day one, beginning mid-morning and finishing well into the cold, dark night.
Racing resumed the following morning for an additional eight hours, the checkered flag scheduled to coincide with a brilliant sunset.
Drivers contended with wet conditions for most of the morning, which meant teams had to modify strategies to accommodate for the frequent patches of heavy rain and standing water across some parts of the track.
Tyre choice was a hot topic in most pit lanes at least until early afternoon.
Some of the newer teams to Motor Racing Events competition quickly learnt that this endurance race wasn’t about maximum attack. Rather, they’d need to search for a balance between speed and mechanical sympathy. Fortunately, they’d have an entire weekend to catch on and try to catch up.
Strategy and smooth driving were the cornerstones of success. Quick pitstops, minimising damage, and of course a fortuitously-timed red flag around fuel stops and driver swaps would make or break a team’s chance for victory more than any horsepower advantage could provide.
As it turned out, some fast online classifieds search skills would prove to be the most important of all for at least one team.
Team manager Simon Walker was probably wishing he’d chosen a different team name when their Civic Unrest Honda stuck it to the man and flatly said ‘no’ to racing; spitting a rod through both sides of the bottom of the block. But the team weren’t about to submit to their wily little race car. Instead of calling it quits, they shifted their focus to some digital digit racing, trawling the classified for the parts needed to continue. A replacement engine was found just 10km from the track through Facebook Marketplace.
It may have taken most of the day to complete the engine swap and have the car up and running again, but the Civic rejoined the racers out on track for a few laps late into the evening. Unfortunately not for long though; a CV joint decided it was all too hard. This time the boys hit up Australia’s equivalent of Craigslist – Gumtree – and got back to work in the garage.
At this point of the race the Civic was a stack of laps behind, but the guys were chuffed passing that checkered flag and emerging victorious after fighting demons across the weekend.
While not as glamorous as the Bathurst 12 Hour, as fast as WTAC or prestigious as Formula 1, and even with the odds stacked heavily against them, these blokes lived the dream.
I came away from the weekend feeling good. Not just because we had a pretty rad weekend, but because I’d had a shift of perspective. Now, motorsport doesn’t seem completely unachievable or unreachable.
So what are your thoughts? Could you trade down your ‘what if” and ‘one day‘ for right now and a cheap Hyundai?
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
Thrifty Cuts
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I would love to participate to a budget race, lemon race, or whatever it's called in the region it's taking place even as a crew member if driver option is not available. The problem the longest track at my region is a go-cart track little bit shy of 1km; the only aspect of racing i could participate is hillclimb but working aboard in remote areas is not helping neither in scheule nor the behind the wheel time. i'll just keep enjoying the backroads for the time being.
I also race in this series and it's an absolute blast, best bang for buck wheel to wheel racing you can do.
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Two WTAC Standouts: The Dream Project S15 & GotItRex GC8 - Speedhunters
Even after the two-and-a-half year gap in the Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge schedule, I instantly recognised almost every entrant at the 2022 event.
I’ve tracked the growth of most of the teams for close to a decade now, witnessing humble street racers transform into serious machines capable of once unfathomable lap times. I’ve seen wings grow, power figures double or even triple, and I’ve seen teams transition evening beers to late-night data reviews. This event has become a breeding ground for amazing cars, and at Sydney Motorsport Park a couple of weekend’s back, two such creations really stood out to me.
First up, the Dream Project S15…
I’d come across this Nissan Silvia at previous events, but it didn’t look anything like this. For 2022, it was sporting fresh carbon fibre on every corner and packed a billet SR20DET that I’m told can pump out 900hp.
Seriously, every inch of this machine looks well thought out and cleverly executed. Just check out that translucent blue pearl over the carbon.
The S15 was easily of the best-presented and most capable-looking cars at the event, but the coolest thing is that all the body plugs and moulds were created in the home garage of the Nissan’s owner, Charles Warland. The kit and aero started off as hand-drawn designs from ex-McLaren F1 engineer Barry Lock and evolved from there.
2022 was the team’s second attempt at the WTAC Open Class crown. Rob Nguyen, who some of you will surely remember for his phenomenal 101 Motorsport ‘Mighty Mouse’ Honda CRX back in the day, steered the S15 to third place on the class podium in 2019. Getting a little back story from the Queensland team, just making it to WTAC this year was a challenge in itself.
Taming a 900hp rear-wheel drive car is no easy feat, but the team believes a Nissan S-chassis powered by a billet SR20 is a winning combination. Unfortunately, the final few months lead-up to the event were also some of Australia’s wettest on record, and that played havoc with their testing and planned development programme, as it would have for others no doubt too.
When the dust settled at SMSP, it had been a tough event for the Dream Project S15 team who were hampered by chassis and mechanical issues throughout. Rob’s best lap? A 1:31.0010, which let’s be honest is not slow, but there’s a lot more to come. I’ll definitely be watching this one at WTAC 2023.
Next up, the GotItRex GC8…
It’s been a long time since a local team joined the WTAC Pro Class ranks, but 2022 welcomed Melbourne-based Subaru specialists GotItRex and their wild Impreza WRX STI Type R.
Prior to WTAC, the GotItRex crew had a busy few weeks prepping this car and four other team machines for Australia’s SubiNats (aka Subaru Nationals). Their ‘DIY’ WRX took outright honours at the event, and the other cars picked up a string of firsts and seconds in their respective classes. While I’m not jealous of the work the gang must have put in to get all five cars ready to compete a fortnight later at the World Time Attack Challenge, I am certainly glad they made it back up to Sydney.
Their Pro Class heavy-hitter was piloted by experienced wheelman Nathan Antunes, with a simple goal: To become the fastest outright Subaru at Sydney Motorsport Park. The car certainly has the record in it and the team pushed hard, making positive changes between each session while also repairing some of the battle scars this track inflicts on the ultra quick.
The nature of time attack racing prevented a new record being realised this year though. While most people only visualise the race against the stopwatch, pit lane is another battle where campaigns can be won or lost.
Sessions are short and limited and every second counts – especially when something goes even the slightest bit wrong. The team just came up short against the clock.
If there was a trophy for the most laps at a time attack event though, these guys would have smashed the opposition. They were also the only team able to drive every car in their fleet out of pit lane at the end of the night.
Time will tell if the GotItRex team will be back for another record attempt, but my instincts tell me this is not the last we’ll see of them at the World Time Attack Challenge.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
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The Return Of WTAC - Speedhunters
For two-and-a-half years it felt like it’d never happen again, and now it feels like it happened way too fast.
Talking to most people in the Sydney Motorsport Park paddock last weekend confirmed two things for me: First, that the long wait for the Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge to return just made everybody crave the action and excitement even more than usual. And secondly, that a lot of people were using this event as some sort of a marker for when Australia was back to normal. Well, as ‘normal’ as we’ll ever probably get now.
While the event didn’t bring the global aspect in 2022, aside from guest commentators Andrew Brilliant and Cole Powelson the packed pits felt like a world away from what we’ve grown accustomed to since Australia closed its borders to everyone but its own citizens.
Whatever buzz was lost with the lack of WTAC fan favourites like Under Suzuki and Fire Ando, was simply replaced with the chance to get out, mingle with fellow petrol heads and finally watch some amazing cars drive really f**king fast.
Make no mistakes, there was still plenty of entertainment on hand. No one could possibly take in all the sights, sounds and smells on offer. Trust me, I tried and failed.
I did my very best to capture the racing and demonstration laps, uncover every drool-worthy piece of hardware at trader alley, get some sideways action with the drifters, and walk the near endless rows of the StylizeD car show (and even try to judge it).
Every corner of SMSP’s full-sized skid pan was covered in assorted builds from all corners of the globe. Check out the bagged Holden Rodeo mini truck below, and see if you can spot a few other familiar vehicles while you’re at it.
The scale of the event quite literally overwhelmed me. Thanks to a recent AU$33million (US$25million) upgrade at Sydney Motorsport Park, the longer format days saw action kick off in the morning and continue late into the night.
Like Pulp Fiction, But For Race Cars
By now you’re most likely aware of who won, but if you’re chasing some results I’ve attached the final standings at the end of the post. If you understand that WTAC is much more than just lap times, get comfortable.
Just as these wild physics-defying machines of speed are more than the net sum of each component, there are hundreds of smaller but no less amazing, awesome and fun tales that combine over the course of the event to make the World Time Attack Challenge the best motorsport festival in the land.
To go along with this gallery post, I thought I’d share a couple of short and sweet stories from WTAC 2022, that go someway to explain the camaraderie at this event.
At top speed, peak g-force and maximum attack, one of the wing elements on the back of Chris Alexander’s carbon R32 GT-R buckled under the immense load.
At first glance it looked fixable, but closer inspection by the team highlighted a little more damage. Unwilling to risk the car and his life, Chris was ready to throw in the towel for 2022.
That was until the legends running the iconic S13 Hammerhead – who had unfortunately blown their motor earlier in the event – removed the wing from their car and adapted it to fit the CJA Motorsports Nissan Skyline’s rear end. This not only allowed Chris to finish the event on his terms, but also take part in the Final Shootout on Saturday night. Awesome, huh?
Clubsprint entrant Paul Kovaceski hadn’t even made it onto the track in his Momo Porsche 944 before his wing broke. After trekking the nine-hour journey back and forth between Sydney and Melbourne a few times to help with media duties, a strong gust of wind slammed a pit door into it.
Fortunately for Paul, Top Stage Carbon’s ‘King Freddy’ packed his tools and set himself up for an all-nighter if required. He finished sometime after 2:00am, and the Porsche was on track for Friday morning’s first session.
The success of every event is built on a strong foundation of these little tales, and as long as there’s WTAC, I know they’ll keep coming.
Stay tuned for one more post from the 2022 World Time Attack Challenge, in which I’ll take a quick look at two of my favourite cars from the event. In the meantime though, there’s a huge gallery below to check out.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge 2022 Results
Haltech Clubsprint
1st: Jamal Assaad, Team ESR Performance, Mitsubishi Evo VI – 1.33.7*
2nd: Idin Ahangar, GotItRex, Subaru WRX STi – 1.35.2
3rd: Trent Grubel, DC Jap Automotive, Subaru WRX STi – 1.36.0
GCG Open Class
1st: Nathan Morcom, Gas/Royal Purple/Insight Motorsports, Mitsubishi Evo VII – 1.27.247*
2nd: Tim Slade, Xtreme GT-R, Nissan R32 Skyline GT-R – 1.27.379
3rd: Benny Tran, BYP Racing, Honda Integra DC2R – 1.29.861
Plazmaman Pro-Am Class
1st: Kostinken Pohorukov, Team Tilton, Mitsubishi Evo IX – 1:26.071
2nd: Jay Davidson, Gingerbread Racing, Subaru WRX STi – 1.33.594
3rd: Richard Perini, 991 Racing, Ginetta G55 – 1.33.657
Royal Purple Pro Class
1st: Barton Mawer, RP968, Porsche 968 – 1.20.101
2nd: Brad Shiels, Team Tilton, Mitsubishi Evo IX – 1.20.970
3rd: Nathan Antunes, GotItRex, Subaru STi Type R – 1.28.687
Turbosmart Flying 500
1st: Giuseppe Tummarello, Precision Racing, Lamborghini Huracan: 288km/h
2nd: Justin Dean, Birrong Automotive, Nissan R32 Skyline GT-R: 284km/h
3rd: Tony Tziolis, AstronTech Motor Sports, Lamborghini Huracan: 283km/h
2022 Australasian Drift Titles Presented By Garrett Advancing Motion
1st: Brad Touhy, 3 Five Racing, Toyota 86
2nd: Patrick Barlee, AB Racing, Chevrolet Corvette
3rd: Matt Harvey, Team Kumho Tyres, Nissan S13 Silvia
* new class record
More, More, More…
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WTAC 2022: The Dust Has Settled - Speedhunters
The weather gods were kind. Drivers came out swinging. Vehicle limits were pushed. And, most importantly, records were reset.
After a two-year hiatus, finally, the World Time Attack Challenge has been run and won. Over Friday and Saturday, teams from all across Australia battled for their own page in the WTAC history books.
I’ll be back soon with a more rounded collection of cool stories and memorable moments from across the weekend, but after spending 33 of the past 48 hours Speedhunting, I’m going to keep this one short and sweet (like me).
While some records were set early on, the Final Shootout battles saw their fair share of action and drama unfold on Saturday evening under lights at Sydney Motorsport Park. The competition for class wins really did come down to the very last seconds.
Haltech Clubsprint Class
The Haltech Clubsprint class started as a battle royale of street cars from every corner of the globe in every size and configuration imaginable, but ultimately turned into a good old fashioned throw-down between age-old rivals Mitsubishi and Subaru.
Clubsprint’s five-year record was decimated by Jamal ‘Jimmy’ Assaad in his Evolution Racing Spares Lancer Evo VI, his 1.33:7 best lap shaving more than two seconds off the existing record.
Behind the wheel of his Subaru Impreza WRX STI, Melbournian Idin Ahangar dramatically ran his best lap of the event during the Final Shootout. After battling for the entire event, Idin’s 1:35.228 lap bumped him into second place.
Third went to Trent Grubel in the DC Jap Automotive WRX.
Plazmaman Pro-Am Class
The Plazmaman Pro-Am class rankings were locked in fairly early on, with Kosta Pohorukov and his Tilton Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX setting the benchmark.
WTAC debutant Jay Davidson’s WRX STI made a solid entrance, securing second position during an amazing lap in the Final Shootout that shaved seconds off his earlier attempts.
After many years of competing, Richard Perini secured his first-ever podium finish. The 991 Racing Nissan VR38DETT-powered Ginetta G50 held on to second spot in the class for most of the weekend, but was bumped into third by Jay’s heroic last-minute steer.
GCG Turbo Open Class
The GCG Turbo Open Class was the most hotly-contested category of the weekend. Tim Slade in the Xtreme R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R traded positions with Nathan Morcom’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, both cars laying laps down in the 1:27 zone.
Morcom’s run in the Final Shootout was wild. He received a hero’s welcome in the garages after managing to drop another four-hundredths off his best lap, edging out the GT-R and stealing the trophy with a 1.27.247 lap.
The Xtreme GT-R had held pole position for most of the weekend with a 1:27.379 lap, but it came at the expense of a dropped valve, forcing the car to retire halfway through its final run.
Benny Tran chased the duo closely, but his BYP Racing Integra’s 1.30.320 best ultimately wasn’t close enough to be a real threat.
Royal Purple Pro Class
The Royal Purple Pro Class was a smaller field than most years (cough, thanks Covid), but it wasn’t any less exciting. The PR-Tech RP968 team spent all of Friday eliminating mechanical issues, but on Saturday morning Barton Mawer came out all guns blazing for his first timed run.
A sensational 1:20.1 lap, just a fraction off the team’s current 1.19.277 WTAC record, instantly set the pace.
No one was writing off the double-entered Tilton Evo, now driven by Brad Shiels, when it clocked a 1.20.9 early on Saturday. However, luck ultimately ran against the team when during a Pro-Am session Kosta encountered some shattered carbon fibre on track from an earlier incident. The carbon shards blew a tyre out and left the front right side of the Evo in need of repairs a little more intensive than what an hour in pit lane could achieve.
The final podium position was picked up by another WTAC newcomer, the GotItRex team’s Extreme Subaru STI Type R, driven by Nathan Antunes. While the car was a few seconds off the Pro Class pace, they were unquestionably the most consistent team of the event, and possibly the only one to leave the pit garage every session.
The car looked strong early on in its Final Shootout lap, but unfortunately it needed a re-run due to accidental interference from the previous competitor on their cool down lap. While Nathan did get the opportunity for another lap, the first two sectors of Sydney Motorsport Park had already taken their toll on the fresh tyres.
I’m really looking forward to seeing what the new kid on the block can bring to the table next year, but before that happens, I’m looking forward to a (hopefully) long and deep sleep. Stay tuned for more from WTAC 2022 very soon.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
WTAC related stories on Speedhunters
Cutting Room Floor
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Hopefully onwards and upwards from here. Not just for the event, but for Australia as a whole.
I'm wishing I drove this track to understand the difference of all the mods (and driver "skilluck") when these features come out... But then I also wish I could drive every track in the world, and without worrying about carbon debris ripping up my superhot tires!
WTAC 2019 - RP968 - Barton Mawer - 1.19.277
Lap Records – CARS
OUTRIGHT Nico Hulkenberg (GER) A1 Lola Zytek 1.19.142 4/02/2007
RACING CARS
A1GP Nico Hulkenberg (GER) A1 Lola Zytek 1.19.142 04/02/07
Formula Holden Tim Leahey Reynard 92D 1:22.5131 26/03/00
Formula Three Nathan Caratti Dallara Mercedes 1.24.4881 13/07/08
Formula Two Arthur Abraham Cheetah 1:29.3500 25/08/91
Formula Libre Ty Hanger Ralt RT4 1.27.6786 05/11/05
Formula Ford Paul Laskazeski Spectrum 011B 1.36.0203 09/03/08
Formula Ford 1600 Rob Storey Spirit WL07 1.38.9196 22/09/07
Formula Vee 1200 Jay Hall Jacer 1:50.9297 25/09/05
Formula Vee 1600 Jason Cutts Jacer F2K7 1.47.1592 23/09/07
SPORTS CARS
Group 2A Garth Walden Radical SR3 1.30.6096 21/06/09
Production Sports Allan Simonsen Ferrari GT 360 1.33.4054 06/08/06
Clubman Sports Chris Barry PRB Clubman 1.38.7875 23/06/02
SuperSports John Campbell Hooper Supersports 1:35.6116 31/07/04
Porsche Cup/Drivers Challenge Ash Samadi Porsche GT3 Cup Car 1:36.491 03/02/08
Carrera Cup Alex Davison Porsche 911 GT3 1:34.2011 03/04/04
GT Sports Cars David Wall Porsche GT3 Cup S 1.33.1910 19/07/09
GROUP S HISTORIC PRODUCTION SPORTS
Group Sa Michael Kent Elva Courier 2.00.4967 22/06/03
Group Sb Noel Bryen Morgan 4 1.54.8924 22/06/03
Group Sc William Pye Porsche 911 1.51.8304 22/06/03
SPORTS SEDANS
0-1300 Chris Adlam Leyland Mini 1:54.2557 22/06/02
1301-2000 Paul Simpson Fiat 124 Sport 1:44.5566 06/08/06
2001-3000 Terry Shiel Mazda RX-7 1:36.4200 29/09/91
3001-6000 Darren Hossack Audi A4 1.30.4632 12/07/08
COMBINED TOURING
Group 3E Bob Pearson Mitsubishi Evo 10 1.45.7433 14/03/10
Saloon Cars Steve Kwiatkowski Ford Falcon AU 1.48.1968 13/07/08
HISTORIC TOURING CARS
Group Na Craig Stephenson Holden FJ 2:11.2755 22/06/03
Group Nb Scott Fleming Lotus Ford Cortina 1.51.0507 07/09/08
Group Nc Ross Donnelly Ford Mustang 1:46.0209 28/11/03
Group C William Van Wersch Holden Commodore 1.44.8823 02/09/07
Group A Glenn Seton BMW M3 1.42.0039 05/09/09
IMPROVED PRODUCTION
0-2000 Dave Loftus Toyota Starlet 1.45.4008 30/04/06
2001+Over Dave Loftus Nissan Skyline 1.42.5294 23/09/07
COMMODORE CUP
Michael Graham Commodore VS 1.45.2478 15/07/07
ITALIAN CHALLENGE
Andrew Leithhead Alfa Romeo GTV6 1.44.2082 24/06/01
HQ HOLDEN
Greg King HQ Holden 1:58.4667 07/12/97
TOURING CARS
Super Touring Cameron McLean BMW 320i 1:33.8642 07/06/98
V8 Supercars Mark Skaife Commodore VT 1:31.7301 28/03/99
PRODUCTION CARS
Up to 1300cc Nathan Thomas Suzuki GTI 1:53.4490 30/04/00
1301-1600cc John Ribeiro PRB Clubman 1:48.9879 27/08/95
1601-2000cc Peter Lucas Lotus Elise 1.44.8195 05/11/05
2001-3000cc Ian Palmer Honda NSX 1.40.1991 26/11/06
3001-6000cc Paul Stokell Lamborghini Diablo GTR 1.33.5918 18/07/04
OVER 6000cc Nathan Pretty Holden Monaro CV8 1:33.9060 18/07/04
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A Sneak Peek At The World Time Attack Challengers - Speedhunters
It feels so strange to be less than a week away from World Time Attack Challenge (WTAC) so early in 2022, but that’s precisely where we’re at.
If you’re already a fan of physics-defying motorsport, you’ll be familiar with our time attack coverage normally ramping up towards the end of the year. But in a very similar fashion to basically every aspect of our lives, the WTAC party was also forced into hibernation mode for 2020 and 2021 thanks to the spicy flu and Australia’s lengthy lockdown restrictions.
But as soon as events got the green light, the WTAC crew launched into action, snapping up Sydney Motorsport Park’s first available dates. That would be this coming Friday and Saturday, April 1 and 2.
It feels strange prepping for the event now, but also really right as 2022 will be a year of many firsts for the event. The most noticeable changes? We’re about to witness WTAC under lights with a night time shoot out, and it’ll also be the first time that timing only counts on day two. Sadly, there will be no international cars present, but with Australian teams dominating the WTAC leaderboard for the past six or so years, I don’t expect to see any lack of competition. Lastly, another real potential game-changer is giving the Pro Class cars an open tyre choice.
Last Friday’s practice day and media launch solidified my excitement for the new format. I used my limited time between snapping frames wisely, trawling through the garages, both to catch up with some familiar faces and also to find out how some of the Royal Purple Pro Class teams were travelling.
Pro Class Heroes
Driven once again by Barton Mawer, the back-to-back WTAC-winning PR Tech Racing team are looking to continue their winning streak in RP968. Having both won in the dry and the wet, all eyes will be fixed firmly on the Porsche. That said, victory will also require taming the massive revisions undertaken over the last 18 months.
The 968 chassis is now sporting a completely revised rear suspension geometry and a new Bosch Motorsport M5 ABS system to assist with traction, braking and overall drivability.
Aussie Supercar driver Tim Slade will be sliding back behind the wheel of a time attack icon, the ‘Hammerhead’. The Nissan Silvia S13 has undergone a bit of an evolution over the past few months, and not just in the way it looks with the fresh livery. Noteworthy upgrades from its 2019 WTAC spec include a new Bosch Motorsport ABS unit and an upgraded paddle-shift arrangement for the existing Holinger Engineering sequential gearbox.
The car may also benefit from some additional horsepower to help fight against all that aero and bump up top speeds down the SMSP main straight.
Tilton Racing’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX is back, and although its exterior looks unchanged, the team have made a whole host of mechanical upgrades. The engine’s induction has been completely rethought, rebuilt and re-tuned around maximising the potential of a new turbo setup.
I’m told that on high boost the new setup yields ‘at least a couple hundred more horsepower,’ which is a lot. The guys in the pit garage seemed quietly confident that, weather permitting, new WTAC records were in sight.
The final Pro Class team weren’t testing during the media day, but you can still take a closer look at GotItRex’s Subaru Impreza WRX STI Type R entry from my previous feature here.
The wild DIY Subaru build has undergone some drastic improvements since we featured it at Phillip Island a couple of years ago, so it will be interesting to see what sort of threat it poses to the existing competition. Especially with experienced racer Nathan Antunes behind the wheel.
There’s more to see than Pro Class cars though, and I’ve dropped some hints as to what else we can expect from WTAC this year in the gallery below.
The countdown is well and truly on – there’s just a few days to go until our favourite Australian motorsport party kicks off. You can visit the World Time Attack Challenge website for information on streaming the event, or tickets if you’re lucky enough to be local. Otherwise, stay tuned for our forthcoming coverage.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
WTAC related stories on Speedhunters
Counting Down
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What i see weird is it's from the V8 Renault era (might be also ditched for Judd due to spare parts abundane) and yet it still has th Honda sticker on the rear wing even after Honda left at the end of the last year.
............................. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> www.buzz25.com
Surely a modern F1 car is, like, the DEFINITON of a time attack monster?
I wish more articles focused on... well speed. Drag racing, drifting, time attack, autocross, baja racing, rock crawling, etc.
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Downunder Kyusha: An Outlaw-Style Hakosuka Skyline - Speedhunters
Imagine for a moment that it’s March 1971 – the very same month Nissan’s two-door KPGC10 Skyline GT-R is released for sale – and you’re stepping off a plane in Tokyo for the first time as an ambitious yet impressionable 21-year-old.
With its great-sounding twin cam 2.0-litre straight-six engine, 5-speed gearbox, rear flares, front disc brakes, independent suspension and race-winning pedigree, the Hakosuka would surely leave an indelible impression. It certainly did for Peter Landan.
Fast forward to 2016; Pete’s garage needed a new project so the decision is made – it’s time to build the car he promised himself he one day would. Following the tried and tested cookie-cutter restoration path was never an option. Instead, a plan was drafted up for an outlaw-style Skyline that would honour the KPGC10 Skyline GT-R’s amazing motorsports heritage.
Where to start, though? Well, it had to be a coupe, and even though the GT, GT-X, and GT-R variants all shared a common body, finding one in clean condition was never going to be easy.
Fortunately for Pete, even though he’d returned to Australia decades prior, he talked frequently with friends and family still in Japan and was able to connect with Jamie Kendall, a fellow Aussie with a mechanical shop in Kyoto called The Secret Factory. On Pete’s behalf, Jamie spent the next 18 months searching all over Japan for the ‘right’ car, eventually finding it in Gifu Prefecture via a private sale.
“The major issue with old Japanese cars is rust and dodgy repairs. It’s often better to buy a non-‘restored’ car; that way you know better what you’re getting,” says Pete. “The one I selected was a white, two-door GT with minimal rust, wild flared guards, Watanabe wheels and a mild L28 motor. It was tired but was the ‘right’ price.”
Once the car purchase was completed but before the Skyline was shipped to Australia, Jamie began hunting down all the replacement parts required for the restoration. It may have meant some additional double handling was to follow, but the savings in shipping were significant.
M Speed in Osaka proved to be a great source of parts, including coilover front suspension, rear shocks and adjustable spring perches, front and rear (conversion) disc brakes, period race-look Recaro front seats, new master cylinder, hardware and lines, new interior trim, new carpets and chrome work. Other items were either restored locally after arrival or sniped from Japanese auction sites when they came up.
The Puzzle
In August 2017, the car was shipped to Australia, but it wasn’t in Pete’s hands straight away. First, it detoured interstate to spend some time up north with Chris at Spraydat in Toowoomba, Queensland for body and paint work.
“The brief was to go back to bare metal, take out any rust and ultimately build an over-the-top Hakosuka ‘outlaw’, tipping its hat at the racing GT-Rs and the Japanese tuning scene,” says Pete. “I knew it had to be low with stance, have a hot motor, bespoke interior, go hard and stop well.”
If you’re unable to do most of the work yourself, a full restoration or custom job for a car like this is financial suicide in a country as expensive as Australia. But the cost of buying somebody else’s finished work is that it’ll never truly be your project, especially if you’ve got a unique vision or a wild style you’d like to create.
“To do a resto properly, it does not pay to cut corners,” Pete adds. “I generally try to stay away from doing restorations, but once you embark on a pathway you must follow it to the end. My general rule is that they will take twice as long and cost twice as much. When we ultimately took it [the Skyline] back to bare metal, it revealed few surprises. There was some rust, but that’s all been cut out and replaced with fresh metal.”
Strangely, Pete knew from day one that his Hakosuka had to be yellow. He’d underestimated the difficulty in finding a yellow hue that was just obnoxious enough to stand out while also still feeling like it could be a true 1970s period-correct shade, but I’m sure we can all agree the final colour was worth the extra time spent.
While the bodywork was being completed, Pete turned his attention to the engine. Knowing that S20 engines – those fitted to the C10 and C110 GT-Rs and the Fairlady 432Z – are pure unobtanium, he opted to build a period-correct race motor with local experts MIA Engines in Sydney.
A Nissan L28 was bored out and stroked from 2.8-litres to 3.1-litres. This amazing little motor runs triple OER 48mm carburettors, MSD ignition, bespoke stainless steel headers and a full stainless exhaust. There’s also a Carter return-flow fuel system and full alloy sump, plus a triple-core radiator to keep things cool.
I can confirm the stroked L-series sounds absolutely incredible all the way to 8,000rpm, both in and outside of the cabin. It’s not the deepest of notes, but its lumpy idle and angry rasp provides a level of character and aggression that’s completely devoid in modern engines.
The 3.1L engine makes more than just pretty noises though – it produces a reliable 309rwhp at 7,100rpm and 431 ft/lb at 5,700rpm. It’s not pushed to achieve these numbers, so Pete can rag on it all day when he so desires. I’ve had a lot of fun chasing this thing down on mountain roads in Project Nine.
An FJ20ET gearbox, Torsen-style Subaru 4.1 LSD, CV shafts and beefier axles were fitted to ensure the drivetrain can safely handle the new engine output.
The Skyline came from Japan on a set of 14×9-inch (front) and 14×12-inch (rear) RS Watanabes, and although they’re not currently fitted to the car, they were refurbished and rebuilt alongside the three-piece Panasport G7s it currently wears. These wheels measure 15×10-inch and 15×12-inch front and rear respectively.
To complete the interior, the front Recaros were restyled with ’70s-correct material and eyelets also sourced from Japan. It was a lot of work to find the right products to use for the retrim, but you’d have to agree it was worth the time and effort.
The original door trims and hood lining were tidied up, while the entire electrical and lighting systems were replaced with newer items or refurbished where possible. The upgrades are subtle and tasteful, creating a real OEM+ feel.
The Prize
The first year on the road was a period of continual development and refinement. One of the biggest problems for Pete to overcome with his Skyline was striking a balance between the Japanese kyusha ride height and Australia’s unforgivingly rough roads. The first set of coilovers saw numerous revisions, but were ultimately scrapped for a better idea.
After stumbling across some media of a Datsun 510 with an Air Lift Performance suspension setup in the US, Pete got in touch with the owner to compare vehicle dimensions with a view to adapt the same setup for his Skyline.
Even with a few extra steps to ensure the process would be completely reversible, the front end conversion to air was relatively straight forward. The rear was not so simple; top and bottom suspension hats had to be drawn up and manufactured from scratch to secure the rear bags safely in place while leaving the chassis unmarked.
“It [the Air Lift Performance setup] has been trouble-free for two years now and I would never go back,” says Pete. “The bottom of the sump sits 50mm off the road when aired out and it rises to a pre-set drive height of 100mm as soon as you start the engine. The ride quality is so much better than the coilovers and the handling is good too. The shocks have 30-way adjustability up front and 15-way adjustability in the rear; I set the front and rear 1/3 from full soft and have not changed it. It’s driven across our mountains and ran up the drag strip a few times with no problems at all.”
The Skyline’s final touch may very well be its most identifiable. If rolling around in a bright yellow Hakosuka wasn’t already enough, in preparation for Speedhunters Live at Meguiar’s Motorex in Melbourne a couple of years back, Pete explored bringing some of Jose Gonzalez’s retro racing renders to life through an unapologetic livery applied by Jez at Sydney’s Prowraps and some blacked-out bright work. The end result is an instantly recognisable homage to the birth of the GT-R’s racing legacy.
Not only has Pete’s Skyline won numerous awards across the Australian scene, it’s also probably the most replicated ‘real ride’ I’ve found online in recent years. Almost every car game with the ability to customise paint has at least one or two homegrown digital renders of Pete’s self-promised project.
It’s not often you’ll hear an owner tell you a project is finished, but the only left on Pete’s list is to get out there behind the wheel and enjoy pushing his ‘Downunder Kyusha‘ creation as often as possible. It’s pretty hard to argue with that logic.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
The Specs
Peter Landan’s 1971 Nissan Skyline GT
Engine: L28 stroked to 3.1L by MIA Engine Services, triple OER carburettors, cast alloy finned & baffled sump, Carter fuel pump, pressure regulated return system, custom stainless steel equal-length headers, MSD ignition, triple-core radiator with electric thermo fan
Driveline: FJ20 5-speed gearbox, quick shift, Subaru 4.4 LSD, CV rear driveshafts, billet diff axles
Suspension/Brakes: 30-way adjustable Air Lift Performance struts with bags, 15-way adjustable GAZ shocks with custom-mounted Air Lift Performance air bags, Air Lift Performance management, twin compressors & tank, MK63 front disc brakes, M Speed rear disc brake conversion
Wheels/Tyres: Panasport G7 rims refurbished by Barrell Bros., 15×10-inch -15 front, 15×12-inch -55 rear, Bridgestone Potenza RE003 205/55R15 tyres front, Toyo Proxes R888 265/45R15 tyres rear
Exterior: Custom bright yellow by SprayDat, body standard but fitted with semi-works flares front & rear, custom Jose Gonzalez (Detroit) graphics by Jez Morris of Prowraps
Interior: Genuine C10 GT-R steering wheel, retrimmed Recaro front seats, rear seats trimmed to match
The (Extra) Pictures
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On the above, the torque curves are far too high valued for the power curves.
Looking at the graph, assuming the power is correct, torque probably peaks around 250 lbft around 6000rpm.
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GT-R: The Origins Of An Icon - Speedhunters
We need to go back. Way back.
The 1964 Japanese Grand Prix may have been won by a Porsche 904, but the locally built and developed Prince Skyline S54 GT-B that remained hot on its tail won the hearts of a nation. If this mildly-tinkered-with four-door sedan could mix it up with the European heavy-hitters, imagine what a purpose-built machine could achieve?
The ignition switch on Japan’s first golden age of motoring had just been engaged, but imagination will only take you so far.
Prince Motor Company would lead the charge, developing their first purpose-built race car, the R380, which won the 1966 Japanese Grand Prix. The model later re-emerged, taking back-to-back victories flying the Nissan banner in 1968 and 1969.
The original 1969 R382 made some glorious noise during some display laps at the Nismo Festival a few years ago.
The data gathered through the multiple successes of the R380 project was being funnelled into a new project at Prince Motors by Shinichiro Sakai and his team. Development of the all-new C10 Skyline was underway, but Prince was no more. 1968 saw the model debut as the Nissan Skyline.
Although initially released with a simple 1.5-litre OHC G15 motor, the more common 2.0-litre L-series engine was released in October 1968 in both the 2000GT and GT-X models.
The very first Skyline GT-R went on sale in 1969 (PGC10) as a four-door sedan, equipped with Nissan’s iconic S20 engine. This 2.0-litre DOHC inline-six produced a whopping (for the time) 160hp.
The nickname Hakosuka, meaning ‘boxy Skyline’, was given to the C10 models as a reference to their shape.
Shinichiro Sakurai’s involvement in designing every Skyline from the Prince GTB right up to and including the next chapter of circuit-crushing GT-R legends, the R32 Skyline GT-R, saw him inducted into the Japan Automotive Hall of Fame.
Sakurai-san passed away in 2011, but his impact on the motoring world will echo for generations.
The four-door PGC10 GT-R won 33 races in a row, and its two-door successor (KPGC10) released in 1971 continued the streak with a further 17 race wins, totalling 50 races to throw into the history books.
This domination of Japanese circuit-based motorsports immortalised the GT-R name in Japan.
Conjecture may still remain as to whether Nissan or Isuzu (with their 1969 Bellett GT-R) used the ‘GT-R’ moniker first, but I doubt you’ll find anybody willing to dispute which brand elevated the three letter combination to the legendary status it enjoys today.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
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To Drive Or Not To Drive... - Speedhunters
There’s no doubt about it, the skyrocketing value of older vehicles – especially modern classics from the ’80s and ’90s – has been a strong talking point within our post-Covid automotive social circles.
Invariably, once the complaining about the prices of cars ‘that got away’ or the hypothetical garage valuation gloating has run its natural course, and assuming you’re still awake, it’s time to draw a line in the sand and duke it out.
If you didn’t guess, I’m referring to the debate over whether our hyper-inflated assets (I mean cars) should be driven as intended, or preserved for maximum financial return some day down the track. Sorry, did I mention money as a motivating factor? Oops, what I meant to say was ‘preserved for the appreciation of future generations.’ Terribly sorry.
Both sides of the fence can spin a compelling argument about why those who oppose their views are either short-sighted heathens or superficial sellouts, but for a change of pace I’m going to try my best not to take sides.
Besides, the ‘get out and drive’ side of the argument had very little competition while I was surrounded by more retro Skylines than I’d ever seen in one place at one time.
I’m sure you’ll agree that nothing can beat blasting off into the sunset surrounded by motoring legends. But are moments like these coming to an end?
Enjoying The Moment
Sure, fast cars may eventually fade into ‘the good old days.’ Perhaps our grandchildren will roll their eyes while we relive tales of frosty Sunday morning drives for the umpteenth time. But doesn’t that just make you want to get out there even more?
We can choose to take everything for granted or to use each day to create the memories we’d later like to reflect upon. Living in the moment and trying to appreciate the small things does mean extra work, but it’s unwise to assume that opportunity knocks twice. Make sure your bags are packed when adventure next calls, because you never know where you will end up or who you’ll meet.
That’s exactly the same sharp, focused mentality that allowed me to only hit snooze on my alarm clock twice before rising with the sun to join a group of mates for a very special Sunday morning run.
Not only had our hosts done their homework by organizing an exceptional route, our group of mostly Japanese cars would potentially set a record for the most C10 Hakosuka and C110 Kenmeri Skylines to assemble for a cruise outside of their Japanese homeland.
Invitations weren’t limited to boxy Princes, Datsuns and Nissans, though a few Mitsubishi Evolutions and later-model cars also made the trip. We even brought along a token Ford Mustang, but that was mainly for crowd control if things got busy. I heard a 13B rotary buzzing, too.
After a relaxed (and delicious) bacon and egg roll and my second coffee for the morning, we toured through the quieter roads of the iconic Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.
Evidence of last year’s devastating NSW bushfires still scarred the surroundings. Although most of the homes and business premises that were affected have since been rebuilt, the lack of foliage transformed parts of a familiar drive into a new experience.
Green growth brought a sense of renewal as we turned off and found new un-driven roads. Some of it almost felt like miniature valley rainforests.
The roads we travelled suited ours cars perfectly. While on one hand the scenery was very Australian (read: brown and dark green), there were patches where it all felt very similar to racing across rural Japan.
Not even five minutes after a quick pitstop outside of a historic pub, it felt like we were speeding across the mountain roads of Hakone.
Cool cars, great rides, friendly people. It was nothing too far from an ordinary day, yet there wasn’t anything ordinary about the day at all. It was brilliant. But given the exploding costs and difficulties of keeping these classics on the road, I really can’t help but think these brilliant days are numbered.
The End Is Nigh!(?)
Romantically, the first reaction to that statement is ‘shut up Matt, of course, we want to keep driving these things.’ Sure, me too; I can’t ever imagine not being an advocate for enjoying what we have or making the most of every day.
But there’s a dark side to the parabolic prices of the cars we enjoy and take for granted. Because while your friends are high-fiving their ever-growing profits, the cost and scarcity of parts are also quietly increasing.
With fewer parts available and fewer cars to work on, it’s safe to assume that those who’ve specialized within a niche may find themselves with a much lighter workload. Eventually, these companies may be forced to turn their focus elsewhere or potentially close their doors for good.
As the cycle continues with less readily available parts and fewer trusted hands to employ, it’s not unthinkable that, eventually, owners will feel reluctant to push their cars as close to the limits as they used to.
I’m not saying it’s all over or nice cars belong in museums, because there’ll always be a place for Sunday drives, but don’t be surprised when those outings are planned further and further apart or when fewer cars turn up.
I’ll admit that’s a pretty dark and harsh view of what could potentially happen. Hell, It might even upset a few of you out there. But if we can’t imagine it we certainly can’t plan for it.
Sadly, my crystal ball went out for servicing this week so I’m not able to confirm if the current price trajectory is going to stay constant, ramp up or decline tomorrow. But surely if prices were to chill out a little it wouldn’t be the worst thing, right?
Nothing is set in stone, prices could slide and fall of a cliff and explode into a fiery wreck tomorrow, buying us all some extra time to make the very most of our awesome machinery.
If the past year has taught us anything, it’s that nobody knows what the future holds with any certainty. The main thing I’ve taken from this whole Covid experience is to actively seek out and be more appreciative of the good times we have.
Often we don’t know how good we had it until after the fact. So go on, get out there and make today count. Oh, and don’t be so upset if your S-chassis isn’t worth six figures by this fall.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
A Brilliant Day
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the easy answer is: drive it - the more, the better. Memories are made during drives, not while looking at a chart that shows increasing prices.
The not-so-easy answer is: make sure you can afford to drive it. If a scratch, dent, engine failure or even a crash would ruin your "investment" and leave you broke, it may be better to leave it in the shed and drive something else. Few people can afford to risk ruining and subsequently fixing high-value cars and I'd wager that most Speedhunters readers (and writers) are within the majority who simply can't afford that.
This puts a (not-so-well off) owner of a classic, who bought it when it still was affordable, in a precarious position. Rising prices for parts, body panels and trim pieces will prevent many from enjoying the drive. If the worry is bigger than the joy - one has to make a decision eventually to either keep or sell the vehicle. A vehicle that isn't driven is not kept as it should be.
You mentioned the old Magnus Walker quote "get out and drive". After long Covid lockdowns and travel restrictions in many countries, this is exactly what drivers will do, once it's legal and safe again. I'm looking forward to meeting other car enthusiasts again on remote Alpine pass parking spots, chatting about automotive stuff while the drivetrains are cooling down.
Best regards from Germany
Sebastian
You'll hear a lot of bemoaning of money entering the automotive hobby on this page, and rightfully so, there are a LOT of negatives associated with the prices of once affordable enthusiast cars going up. However, a lack of parts support typically isn't one of them. People who spend astronomical sums to buy a classic car don't want that purchase price to suddenly be made mute because a part that is pure unobtanium ceased to function. Like I alluded to above, eventually reproduction parts will start coming around for these cars, and the acceleration of those businesses will actually be assisted by the price that people are willing to pay for the cars going up.
Of course, then there is the case of who it is that is spending the money. A lot of us decry the automotive investor, and yes, those people do exist, but they are a small minority in the rise of prices on these cars. The truth is, the people who idolized Skylines and Supras and RX-7s as kids have grown up. Now they have a steady paycheck, they're not that college kid who can only afford the salvage title RSX anymore. As the crowd for any given car gets older, they tend to spend more money. That's why first gen Camaros went from being $300 used beaters to $3,000 project cars to $30,000 show cars. The once $1,500 240SX is about to be $15,000, and that's because the average buyer is looking a lot less "boy racer" and a lot more "midlife crisis". Then, we'll see the prices really skyrocket when this age group of enthusiasts pack up their cubicle for the last time and cash that first retirement check. All of a sudden they will have all the time in the world to rebuild an old car and take it to shows across the country, and they'll have a relatively large nest egg of cash to do it with. That was the final upward thrust of the '50s and '60s American cars a decade or so ago, and the same thing will happen in the Tuner scene in about 20 years.
So, does that rapid increase in value mean that the days of seeing these cars on the road are coming to an end? Let's look at our boomer friends over in the classic American car scene again. Did they stop driving their '58 Impalas and "71 Chargers? Have you ever heard of Power Tour, or Cruisin' the Coast, or Back to the '50s, or the Woodward Dream Cruise, or the Race of Gentlemen? The guys who are in their 70s now never stopped enjoying the cars they dreamt of when they were teenagers and 20-somethings. Sure, for some of them the dream changed - there are a lot of C5 Corvettes and Challenger SRTs at the classic car events that allow them, but you'll be hard pressed to find a guy who is driving one of those cars that really regretted that choice, even if it wasn't their first love. If S-Chassis prices hadn't went up, would there have been any following for the Infiniti G35? If Challenger and Charger prices hadn't went up, would the Plymouth Duster be lost to history? Furthermore, is it really going to bother us if we have to settle for a Mark X because the Mark II we wanted got too rich for our tastes?
I think not. I think this is a natural cycle of car enthusiasm. I think as soon as the prices of Skylines and MK 4s come back down a tad (in 40-ish years) the WRXs and Evos will be hitting their precipice. It's just the way of the world. We'll adapt to it, too - well be building cars that are in more basketcase conditions or we'll be building cars that a few years ago were just parts cars or boring commuters. A few years ago, 3rd Gen Camaros were embarassingly outdated mulltemobiles that occasionally were used as parts donors for 1st and 2nd gen restorations. Now, they are classic cars worthy of restorations in their own right. You may laugh now, but someday somebody is going to spend real money to restore an NC Miata. That doesn't mean that the future is worse than the present, just different.
And through it all, people will keep diriving and enjoying. Sure, the days of the wilder events like H2Oi might be numbered (which, in my opinion, is kind of a blessing in disguise), but the more tame import shows like EVO and Stancewars will live on for decades. The cruises and the autocrossing and the drag racing, that will never stop, not even after all of us have long died of old age. Next weekend, I am going to the NSRA Midamerica Nationals, a show for street rods, which are basically hot rodded and gussied up '30s and '40s cars. When I first went in 2002, most of the owners were guys in their 50s and 60s, hauling around their grade school grandsons and 20-something sons. Now, a lot of those street rod enthusiasts are in their 80s, if they are even still around. And yet, after the show next Saturday, hundreds of street rods will crowd the main drag of Springfield, Missouri, cruising until well past midnight. Some of those cars will be driven by the octogenarians who have been bringing their car to the show for 20+ years, some of them will be the 40-something sons and 20-something grandsons of the street rod enthusiasts who have passed on. Either way, there will still be a cruise, and it will be as big as it has ever been. It doesn't matter that the average car attending is now worth $40k, and it doesn't matter that many of the first generation that built these cars have already gone on to their final reward. The same thing will happen to our generation and the tuner car scene. Barring the banning of combustion engines in the coming years, if you hopped in a time machine right now and set it 40 years in the future, I would be willing to bet that you could find a car show still packed with '90s JDM stuff.
Trends come and go, but the passion for cars lives on.
Eventually, it may come to pass that our tuner cars are mostly in museums, but even then you have events like Historic rallies that see classics normally stored in museums get driven in anger. Such is the way of things.
As for parts drying up, consider that 3d printing and other new tech is only just getting started, and is getting more and more capable and affordable every year. If a part is needed, one day it will be relatively easy to have a new one made on demand. Maybe the tuner of the future needs some 3d modelling skills, but that's fine.
If the support/parts will dry up, most people driving them will sell them, unless they are a good enough fabricator/mechanic to do it themselves. I drive a car which isn't supported at all by any means by aftermarket products for at least 20 years know. It wasn't all that supported to begin with, allthough they've sold a couple of million cars. It's just dried up. So maintaining it is a hassle, but I still put up with it. You just have to be resourcefull and skilled. For anybody who is not at least those two, but is rich, it's no biggie. For anybody who isn't skilled and resourcefull and isn't rich, it will probably suck to be them. But they can probably still make some money sell their project on.
That is: If values don't plumet. Cars that are really expensive to begin with, most likely won't have that problem. regular production cars most likely will have that problem though. Porsche where never that affordable to begin with, untill they where seen as a collector car. Cars like lets say a starlet won't reach that succes and high demand. Unobtanium will most likely be unobtanium for ever more. For the more regular classic cars that won't be a problem. It'll more likely be problem of parts availability and enviromental laws.
BTW: an EP92 isn't old, just slightly used. Thats end of the '90's stuff. I'm talking about '70's and before stuff from car companies that didn't sell worldwide to begin with.... Way harder to obtain then Toyota stuff.
When driven, a little scratch here and there on the car is fine. It's reality and expected. Things can happen. I just have to be careful and cautious when driving. Just have to be mindful especially when the car is old like mine.
Anyway for the scratches here and there, a re-spray of paint would solve the problem.
Maybe in another 15 years people will be lamenting their missed opportunities of owning a Kia or a Hyundai. :p
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A Brake Restoration For Project Nine - Speedhunters
Time stops for no man. I’m reminded of this by the inevitable wave of guilt that crashes down around me every single time I start writing and realise just how long it’s been since the last Project Nine update.
But I guess the silver lining of zero updates means that my Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX has been behaving, right? This is true; since our last update the car hasn’t skipped a beat. It’s been driven daily, punctuated with a handful of spirited mountain runs to keep me sane, but sadly I’ve not had the time to get out on a track since our last story.
Oh yeah, and I guess we shouldn’t forget that little Covid situation… So little happened in my life during 2020, that I quite frequently forget it existed at all. My memory must be stored by events and not dates, because I always refer to 2019 as ‘last year’ or a ‘few months ago.’ That’s a great excuse for about 12 months’ worth of silence.
One positive to come from the enforced downtime was actually having enough spare time on my hands to think seriously about how I’d best like to shape my Evo moving into the future.
It’s been my faithful accomplice for quite a few years now, so I’ve decided to spend a little more time and effort in 2021 to restore the car’s weaker and more worn components.
For a performance enthusiast, I think the Evolution IX represents the pinnacle of Mitsubishi. There’s no need to rewrite an already solid package. I’m not interested in hitting 12,000 horsepower on the dyno, making it a dedicated track car, or becoming a speedhump-fearer.
The goal here is to chase an OEM+ look and feel. I’ll be aiming to take advantage of some of the technological advancements over the last 15 years to enhance the already brilliant package Mitsubishi released from the factory.
Brembos, Sweat & Powder
The most sensible place to start our renewed project is to restore what bugged me most about the car. After all, a chain is only as strong as the weakest link, and that link for the Evolution – at least aesthetically speaking – was faded Brembo callipers.
The original vibrant red was roasted to a flakey brown during some ultra-high temps at Sydney Motorsport Park chasing down a friend’s NSX. For the longest time, I tried to ignore how much they detracted from the vehicle’s overall appearance.
Scotty Barter, a mate of mine who happens to sell all the good stuff a powder-coater craves, had offered to help restore the poo-coloured Brembos a few times over the last couple of years. A kind gesture and a genuine offer for sure. ‘Yeah yeah, we’ll talk about it later,’ was my usual reply. It’s not that I wasn’t interested, I just know how busy Scotty is running Oxytech, raising a family, helping out other mates’ builds and trying to find time to work on his own project cars.
But eventually, the universe conspired against my faded callipers. I got the call to shoot Scotty’s freshly-finished and very tough ’56 Chevy work truck for Aussie magazine Street Machine. During a chilled night of photography, rum and pizza, it was agreed that I’d finally take up his generous offer and we’d give Project Nine the calliper refresh she deserved. And while the brakes were removed, my tired-looking RAYS Volk Racing CE28Ns would also cop a fresh coat of powder.
In hindsight, I doubt I would have ever agreed if I had a full understanding of the time and effort involved beforehand. Like most automotive projects, the bulk of the work hides within the preparation – in this case a plethora of tiny tasks that take hours. In comparison, the main tasks of blasting and applying powder were by far the quickest and most fun elements of the restoration.
The Process
It’s not a difficult task by any means, it’s actually a pretty straightforward job. Nonetheless, I appreciated having Scotty on hand to help out. The experience he brought along after having done dozens of similar restorations made the task as simple and quick as possible.
If you’re considering a similar restoration and not sure where to begin, grab a coffee and get comfortable; Scotty and I documented the entire process. While strictly speaking this isn’t a guide, it should still be detailed enough to be somewhat useful. Even if it’s just for sizing up the scale of the job before choosing to DIY or throw cash at the problem.
OK, let’s get started. Removing the wheels and brakes is straightforward, and frankly, if this is outside of your comfort zone, you should probably be paying to get the job done. Be mindful to place your brake pads in a way that’ll ensure they all go back in the same location and rotor side. Oh, and get yourself a brake line clamp kit to save a lot of mess. Brake fluid is not your friend.
Before you get carried away splitting your callipers, give them a good inspection and check that you’ve got all the replacement seals and any other ancillary parts that may need to be replaced. Give each calliper a solid inspection for other signs of damage. Callipers are usually bullet-proof, but trust me, you’ll want to find any extra issues at this point and not further into the process.
If you’ve decided you’ve got what you’ll need to proceed, godspeed and good luck. Loosen those nipples and use compressed air to blow out the seals and pistons through the bleed valve. Follow up by removing the nipples, lines, and seals. You can remove the squealer pads, but you’ll need a Torx bit and some patience. Lastly, and of course the least fun bit, you’ll need to crack the Allen bolts and separate the two calliper halves to prepare for a proper stripping.
In our case, we’ve used Oxytech’s own Classique Strip AS-3. I blinked with a vacant stare when Scotty told me it’s a methylene chloride-based solution that strips quickly even at ambient temperatures. I smiled politely, but really I was thinking how fancy the word ‘classic’ looks with a slight variation in spelling.
Each piece was hand rinsed in some fresh water, but instead of leaving them out to dry we had the luxury of baking them in the oven for 20 minutes to help remove any residual stripper.
While the bare Brembos received a light sandblasting all the external bolts, plates, and bits were lined up for a tidy up using some general thinners and a bit of wire brush action. This was completely optional; I guess it’s up to you how far you take the restoration, but what’s the point in pulling it all apart to stop halfway?
We took a particular interest in the bolts as we planned on giving their heads a very light colour coat, too.
Before blasting or sanding, be sure to fill in any gallery entries and cover any factory machined surfaces. Scotty used an #80 mesh aluminium oxide blasted on low pressure.
The beads aren’t too harsh, and in his experience they leave a mint profile. Believe it or not, now we’re finally ready to lay the first coat of powder.
The nerds in here who don’t already know how a powder gun works will find it all more interesting than they’d probably presumed; I know I did. The gun actually strips away a heap of the electrons as it excites the powder before discharging. Remember as a kid rubbing a balloon through your hair to make it stand up? Well, the same principle is what ensures a nice even coat here. The negatively charged particles move and cling to the nearest earth point, which happens to be what you’re trying to coat in perfectly flat powder.
See, way more interesting than you probably thought.
Scotty shot the first batch and explained the process: distances, motion, quantity. It looked pretty simple.
But for some reason when it was my turn to let loose I ended up with more powder on me than the callipers. At least it gives you guys and gals a chance to appreciate my amazingly non-traditional colour choice; Dormant Purple.
You’ll notice the two colours in the oven? The callipers enter the oven purple and exit silver after being baked at 200°C (392°F) for 35 minutes. After cooling a second coat is applied. It’s technically a clear coat, but it reacts with the base coat to create the final deep purple. There’s a time-lapse of the transition in a video I prepared at the end of this post.
Now all that’s left is to break out the new seal kit and repeat the dismantling process in reverse.
Take your time and be extremely careful when removing the blanks you fitted to protect the machined surface; you’d hate to get this close to the finish line before you screw it up and damage your pristine brakes.
That’s a lot of instruction for a seal kit. Just make sure you grease up the piston seals and don’t forget about the centre seal that unifies both sides.
My new Brembo heatproof decals were sourced online. I’d purchased a set for my old Evolution VII and they survived years of abuse.
It’s amazing how a splash of colour can make such a difference. I copped a lot of ‘naysaying’ amongst mates when the bold colour choice was mentioned, not that it matters, but most of them have come around to the idea now.
To help finalize the transformation, Scotty also sandblasted my tired-looking CE28Ns and gave their lips a quick polish too.
Purists may scream and hunt me down for blasting away Volk Racing’s iconic anodized bronze finish, but I think Toyota 1G3 Magnetic Grey really suits these wheels.
The wheels aren’t complete yet – there are still a few little touches to add – but hopefully everything will arrive soon and we can do the full reveal on an upcoming drive day with mates. I’m pretty keen on putting these new Yokohama Advan A052 tyres through their paces, so will report back soon.
It’s so easy to only focus on modifying the bigger ticket items, so I hope that by seeing the impact this relatively small job has made to the car, it will motivate you to also think smaller and start attacking a few of those easy-to-ignore jobs of your own.
In the meantime, I cut a quick video of the calliper restoration process. I’m fairly new to video, so don’t expect a full-blown production, but I do hope it helps.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
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I’m sure the end result is good, but one mistake and the dude could lose his eyesight.
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8 Seconds In A Barra-Powered Toyota Cresta - Speedhunters
Sedate drives to the golf course, grocery hunting with a little luxury, and maybe a nice family drive to grandma’s place on the weekend. This is the typical luxo barge lifestyle Toyota envisioned for the Toyota Cresta.
Benny Neal’s Ford Barra-powered 1985 Cresta (X70) is anything but typical – with the exception of the occasional game of golf, of course. I can’t imagine 8-second scoots down the drag strip, burnouts, massive turbos, or triple-digit horsepower figures entered any of the vehicle’s development conversations, let alone the idea of someone retrofitting an Australian engine at some point. But all these things make Ben’s Toyota sedan the unique machine it is.
Of course, he never intended it to be like this. “I bought it in Tokyo and had it shipped to Sapporo for a road trip with Marty [Mighty Car Mods] and Al [now of The Skid Factory],” says Ben. “Originally had a carby 1G-EU engine that had about 80hp and it was the slowest thing in the world. It was tough trying to chase cars down on the highway when they were doing the speed limit. We drove it all over Japan and had an awesome time in it.”
Ben’s plan was to bring the Cresta back to Australia and sell it locally, but somewhere between the car leaving the Land of the Rising Sun and arriving in the Land Down Under, that changed. “We discussed building a 1,000hp Toyota 1GZ V12 or a turbo 1UZ V8 [for the car], but both those cost way too much money,” Ben recalls. “I think it was Woody [from TSF] who suggested swapping in a Barra.”
For the Barra uninitiated, this is an engine built by Ford Australia – not to be confused with the Canadian Barra V8 – which was used in Falcon and Territory models from 2012 to 2016. The Barra came in various guises with different outputs, but at their core they’re all 4.0L inline-six units featuring a DOHC 24-valve cylinder head with VCT. In the performance world, it’s the petrol turbocharged variants that are revered – and for good reason. These motors not only make good power in stock form, by design they have the ability to produce and handle a lot more. So they’re a lot like Toyota’s venerable 2JZ-GTE, but newer and with a larger displacement, hence why they’ve become such a popular engine swap for horsepower-hungry Aussies.
As you’d have likely deduced already from the Bogart Racing wheels – skinny 15x4s up front and staunch 15x10s out back – Ben’s Cresta has been built for drag duty, but not to the point of being completely gutted in a bid to save weight, because it’s street driven too – just not in Hawaii as the licence plates suggest.
The full interior is one of the things that makes this car so great. This ’80s relic retains all of its velvety maroon plushness inside, save for the driver’s seat which has been replaced with a Kirkey aluminium item. There’s also a mandatory ANDRA-approved roll cage, harnesses and everything else you’d expect to find in a full-chassis sedan capable of 8-second quarter-mile ETs and trap speeds nearing the 170mph (273km/h) mark.
Surprisingly, the initial build came together as it happened, rather than by any predetermined means, and in less than two short weeks no less. “My mate Paulie and I did all the rear-end chassis work with the ladder bar and cage before we had even measured the engine bay to see if the Barra was going to fit. It was pretty tense seeing if the bonnet was going to close for the first time,” says Ben.
In the first instance, a Barra 270T engine (362hp factory) from a Falcon FG-X XR6 Turbo found it way in the Cresta’s bay. “The original build was so rushed, and it was never intended to run bottom 8s; we were shooting for 10s and to maybe try for a 9. Then we went to the first built engine from Empire Mechanical which we updated after Drag Week 2019 with further upgrades and more power,” says Ben. “That newer engine was the one that made 1,265rwhp at Summernats 33 in the Horsepower Heroes finals.”
As you’d expect, there’s some serious engine hardware in play to achieve that number. The fire-ringed FG1 block features Spool-spec CP forged pistons, Spool forged rods and a heat-treated factory crank, while the Empire-ported FG1 cylinder head uses Kelford 280-degree camshafts and valve springs, Empire lifters and 14mm head studs, and has had its VCT functionality deleted. Ben says the compression ratio sits around 9.5:1.
The appetite for fuel is large, and satisfying the needs is an E85-based system comprising of a 55L cell, three 525lph Ti Automotive pumps, 10AN feed and 8AN return lines, a Hypertune rail and Raceworks 2,400cc injectors.
The turbo is hard to miss – a big single Garrett G42-series unit sitting on a Hypertune tubular exhaust manifold and running a GFB 50mm wastegate. There’s also a large front-mount intercooler, Hypertune forward-facing plenum with FG drive-by-wire throttle body and R35 GT-R VR38DETT ignition coils. In the exhaust department you’ll find a Hypertune 4-inch dump pipe running into a BCW cat-back system – it’s street driven, remember.
A HP Junky billet oil pump, BA Turbo baffled sump and Silvia alloy radiator round out the rest of the main engine upgrades, with the whole package managed by an Australian-designed Haltech Elite 2500T.
“The 1,265rwhp at Summernats is the highest power it’s ever done, as it normally makes around 1,100rwhp on the hub dyno I use,” says Ben, adding “I can run it as low as 26psi and I step up to around 38 to 40psi when it’s set to kill. I do have a 45psi map there, but I haven’t used it yet.
Of course, power is one thing, but being able to use it – reliably – is another, hence the bulletproof driveline in play. Once upon a time this Cresta made lazy shifts through its factory slushbox; today it’s using a Hughes Performance TH400 transmission with transbrake, Hughes Performance custom torque converter, and out back a 9-inch Moser aluminium centre-section full spool diff with 35-spline axles and a 3.23:1 ratio.
“The real trick is making the car go down the track, so we put a lot of work into new shocks [Shockworks coilovers up front and Strange double-adjustable coilovers in the rear] and getting it all set up right,” says Ben. The car ran its best ET to date – an 8.18 at 168mph (270km/h) – using cheap OEM replacement shocks in the front, so there’s further gains to be made just in that respect.
As it sits though, the package has already proven itself, and not just with its 8-second ET. Ben came in runner-up in the XR6 Turbo Developments Six-Cylinder Class at Drag Challenge Weekend 2019 and 13th overall, with a monster wheel-stand to round out the weekend. At DCW 2020, Ben took out the Speed Pro Six-Cylinder Class, Furthest Driven – he drove from Mittagong, NSW to Ipswich, QLD and back – approximately 1,000km (621mi) each way – 4th Outright, and Quickest Six-Cylinder.
He’ll be back for more, too. “I’d definitely like to do another trip, as we’ve never really run the car to its full potential,” Ben says. “Ultimately, I’d love to do Drag Week in the USA and Drag Challenge here in Australia in the same year.”
From Japan’s highways to Australia’s drag strips, it’s pretty hard to imagine a Cresta more removed from its original purpose than Benny Neal’s example, and there’s nothing not love about that.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
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Dropping The Hammer At Summernats Slam - Speedhunters
Every single one of your senses is being assaulted at once.
Thick dense smoke surrounds you, limiting your vision and blocking the sunlight. The acrid smell of molten rubber lines your nostrils and almost certainly your lungs. Meanwhile, an unholy V8 symphony blasts your eardrums from somewhere amongst the swirling carnage below.
This is no Mad Max-esque dystopian future. Welcome to Australia, 2021.
While Max and his Interceptor were nowhere to be found at Sydney Dragway last month, I’m sure he was there in spirit. Or more appropriately, up in smoke.
Australia has had a fairly easy time with this whole COVID situation when compared to most other countries, but life here has not been without its sacrifices or casualties. Like elsewhere, our events calendar has been left a little lean.
Headlining the hit-list on Australia’s car culture calendar is of course Summernats, but for the first time since its inception in 1987, this iconic event could not go ahead in its normal form.
In a bid to salvage the train wreck left by the pandemic, organisers were forced to rethink the festival and try to craft something fun around the myriad of regulations and restrictions in place.
Sure, it was never going to be a true Summernats, but after living through 2020, who could be mad at any form of tyre-blowing event to usher in a new year?
The end result: Summernats Slam, a stripped-back, three-day event held at Sydney Dragway, fully compliant with the 18 billion government requirements to try and keep punters safe from themselves and each other across the weekend.
Don’t worry though, we still know how to party.
Police even hovered above at times across the weekend to let the crowd know they were serious and were monitoring the attendees. I’m not overstating it when I say reminders to mask up and distance interrupted the commentary and event radio every minute, so I can’t imagine the tightrope the team behind the Slam had to walk to get one of Australia’s very first sizeable events in the Covid era across the line.
Perhaps I’ve already forgotten what a real event should feel like, but I appreciated the vibe – even with the crowd limited in size by pre-purchased tickets, interstate entrants almost an impossibility, and hell, at the time, half of Sydney ordered to lockdown. Summernats Slam had sun, steel, smoke, and most importantly, other people. Mad!
Typically, Summernats is the highlight of the Burnout Masters calendar. Yes, burnouts are a legitimate motorsport competition down under.
So staying true to its heritage, Saturday’s event focused heavily on good old-fashioned skids.
Stop. Hammertime
Rather than rehashing my opinion from the boring side of the fence, I thought it might be more fun to have an entrant talk us through what slaying a set of tyres in front of thousands of people feels like. Husband and wife duo, Brad and Brit Kilby, who steer one of my favourite skid pigs, Hammertime, were happy to share their experience with us, including how they got mixed up in the Mad Max lifestyle.
Love it or hate it, this LS-powered Daihatsu Feroza is an unlikely hero that stands out among the Holdens and Fords. It’s a tyre-frying mini monster truck that’d blend in seamlessly on the set of Fury Road, or the Transcontinental Highway.
Brad holds his eldest brother responsible for his entry into the burnout world after he brought him along to skid competitions as a young boy. Then, as a late teen, Brad took a girl along to the Kandos Street Machine show. It must made a decent impression, as the pair have never missed one since, even now with their young family in tow.
Hammertime joined the family in late 2015. It wasn’t quite the beast you see today, but it was already packing a 5.0-litre V8 and a decent transmission. Not bad for $800, right?
After a quick coat of black paint and a tail shaft loop, it was sent out to skid with the best at Kandos in 2016 and 2017.
Inspired by their eldest son and a desire to be different, the baby monster truck you see today was completed in April 2017. A fresh Feroza body was mounted to a heavily modified 1999 Nissan Patrol chassis. Untold hours of work went in while 560mm was lopped off the wheelbase to help the jigsaw fit together.
North Vic Engines built a super-reliable 403ci cast iron LS V8 engine capable of withstanding the absolute worst abuse possible. A Hughes Performance TH400 transmission feeds a standard Nissan Patrol diff.
Keeping engine temps as low as possible is supercritical during burnouts; not only are you hanging off the rev limiter, you’re also sitting stationary, and often submerged in smoke on 40°C+ (104°F+) asphalt. The boys at South Coast Radiators fabricated the mother of all radiators to help Brit and Brad keep their cool.
The rest of the build was carried out at home in the Kilby’s garage.
And as for the name, Hammertime? Well, obviously MC Hammer was involved. Britt suggested the name on the way home from picking the little truck up. The kids laughed and the rest is history.
Welcome To The Thunderdome
Five cars in front; crank that engine. Three cars remaining; fire suits on. Two cars left; helmets on. Final car; roll up closer. Hear the crowd, feel the thunder. You’re next. The nerves are real.
Green light! Green light! Drop it, punch it, and leave it all on the pad. Nothing in the world exists outside of you, your ride, and the energy from the crowd. It’s one hell of a rush.
Unable to think beyond the basics, Brad recalls how nerve-racking his first few competitions were. Brake hard, full throttle, top gear, move, move, move. Tip in. Spin spin, spin. Pop!
Brit tells me each skid, without a mechanical issue, is better than the last. Experience slowly replaces nerves. Starts are the tricky part, but as time passes this usually gets easier too, giving the driver a little more capacity to take in the spectacle of a wild crowd from the best seat in the venue. The mighty little Feroza won the Slam’s Best V8 Burnout.
Popping the eighth set of tyres off the rear end and burning through another 20 litres of methanol together, the couple agreed that their main run was unreal. Tyres off, rods in – they couldn’t be happier.
And some say true love doesn’t exist.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
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I have been watching the amount of SUV's and dual cab utes on the roads increasing almost daily and have been wondering what will happen to the car scene here in Australia in future years. The manufacturers are not producing many cars that are actually fun to drive (the awd Yaris and a few others are the exception).
It appears the love for the actual drive is being lost. People would rather an auto (changing gears manually is so tedious) have all the safety gear so they don't have to pay attention to what they and others are doing on the road. All the while they can play with the touch screen while driving through traffic instead. All these "advancements" are creating a disconnect between the art (and fun) of driving (and driving safely and attentively).
Then I read an article about a Feroza winning a burnout competition at the Summernats. Maybe all is not lost
It’s too risky planning it because of that international concern, easier to postpone till later in the season
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Crazy-Fast GT-Rs & A Sense Of Normality - Speedhunters
After spending way more time than necessary arguing with myself over what angle to focus on the recent Nitto Performance Engineering GT-R Festival, I think I’ve finally found the solution.
Are we focusing on unique details, passionate owners, record-breaking passes, or maybe some gratuitous engine bay pr0n? Let me tell you there was no shortage of options, but each time I’d reflect on the day that was, there was an overruling theme that I’d initially overlooked. It’s unbelievably simple, but I think it’s a story that most of us need to hear right now.
While we’re discussing the unbelievable, what were the chances that this event would even take place within the only nine-day window that Sydney had no lockdown laws and no restrictions on public gatherings since this whole COVID fiasco took hold?
That’s right. No restrictions, no masks, and apart from a quick forehead temp check at the gate, absolutely no worries.
If you’re struggling to remember what that all feels like, the good news I have to share is that it took almost no time at all for normal to feel, well, very normal again. Yes, there’s light at the end of the COVID tunnel, and once we reach it, the ‘new normal’ will be kicked to the curb and be forgotten faster than you know.
So yes, I’m forsaking the chance to try to deliver a deeper message, flex my (tiny) tech muscles, or to rant (my personal favourite). Nope, we’ll have none of that today. I’d simply just like share a great day out and, more importantly, give you guys a reminder of what normal really means to our people.
The real normal that is.
As Good As It Was
Leading up to the event, The Nitto Performance Engineering GT-R Festival’s organisers had no way of knowing what restrictions would be in place, so the show was sliced, diced and cut down. That meant fewer cars on display, fewer spectators, and fewer cars on track. Of course, with Australian state border closures, GT-R fans from outside of New South Wales would also miss out.
Cut down or not, it was simply amazing to be mingling with thousands of other lifeforms in the sunshine. while admiring the sights, sounds and smells (mmmmm, E85) of the GT-R way of life.
It was surprising just how quickly normal felt, well… normal again. But sadly, the appreciation for normal has only heightened since a number of restrictions have made their way back into Sydney life.
Restrictions were dropped just a day or two before the event was scheduled, but even with the short notice that everybody was welcome, the event still managed to clock in excess of 3,500 punters through the gates at Sydney Dragway, and over 300 cars were either on display or racing down the quarter mile.
As you’d imagine, GT-Rs and Skylines made up the bulk of entrants, but the show and shine was open to a wider range of heritage Nissans.
Somehow, with just days notice, the excellent folk at Skylines Australia, Australia’s largest Skyline club, managed to pull together and host a timed motorkhana.
The mini ‘skidfest’ utilised the back section of a car park that’s also used by the Twilight Rally Series. The small field of last-minute entrants filled the show and shine area with the beautiful notes of screeching tyres, howling RBs, and plenty of boost.
As a track layout, it probably wasn’t a rival for a real super-sprint stage, but the tight course presented an excellent opportunity for a little bit of tyre smoke and a whole lot of sideways action. Aside from the occasional heartbreak of mechanical breakage, the massive smiles as drivers returned to pit lane and those on the faces of onlooking punters was a nice change to that dreary, half-dead zombie look on strangers’ faces living under restrictions and lockdowns.
Bulls On Parade
The real star of the show this year wasn’t the motorkhana, nor was it the army of meticulously detailed GT-Rs on display.
This year, the event’s focus was set squarely on the freshly renovated and resurfaced drag strip.
To the point where it felt more like an open race meeting than a static car show.
But I guess that’s bound to happen when you send out open invitations to a bunch of heavy-hitting GT-Rs, including world record holders, with one mission: go as fast as possible.
Drag racing isn’t a first for the festival, but it was never really a core focus either. With the level of clout on offer, it came as no surprise that the majority of punters could be found trackside for a good portion of the day. Well, aside from the typical oil clean up operations, but as an old racer so eloquently explained to me once, ‘that’s drag racin’ for ya.’
Outside of splitting the awards into a few vehicle classes and the usual safety requirements, the typical drag format and rulebook was thrown in the bin. It was quite simply just about running the fastest ETs and trap speeds possible.
The simple approach seemed to resonate with the majority of spectators I spoke to over the course of the day. The ‘go fast’ format opened up the event to people with little drag experience, who may have been confused or even alienated by some of the finer details like brackets or dial-ins.
If I’m honest, I’ve never really been an avid fan of drag racing, but it’s impossible to not enjoy 1,000+hp GT-Rs being thrashed and pushed to ten tenths. It’s also pretty hard to beat a day out amongst friends and fine metal after what feels like a lifetime of isolation, shitty Zoom calls, and bad news.
The ‘GT-R Imposter’ class brought a surprise element of colour to the show. This invitation-only bracket was packed with a super-cool mix of vehicles, all capable of 10-second or quicker passes.
I’m not sure what garnered the most attention, the gang of Skittle-coloured Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions, the 8-second Barra-powered Toyota Cresta, or Precision Racing’s twin-boosted Lamborghini.
I’d be disappointed if the drag component of GT-R Festival doesn’t make a triumphant return for the 2021 event, which is scheduled for May 29th. It was raw, simple, and bucket-loads of fun. It also gave owners dissatisfied with simply polishing their investments an opportunity to unleash and blow out those garage cobwebs.
Most importantly though, it gave Australian GT-R fans a chance to witness first-hand the full potential of what many consider to be Japan’s greatest sports car legacy.
If you’d like one last fix of RB goodness, and no face masks. you check out the event’s official video coverage here.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
GDR GDR GeeeeDeeeeArrrrs
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And that black r33 with the gold AME wheels brought me way back to the early 2000s and still looks gorgeous. Would love for em to do a festival like this is Melbourne
And that black r33 with the gold AME wheels brought me way back to the early 2000s and still looks gorgeous. Would love for em to do a festival like this is Melbourne........cutt.ly/skwNyWi
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Why Australia's GT-Rs Are So Damn Fast - Speedhunters
I just can’t help it. There will always be a soft spot in my heart for a ridiculously over-engineered road car.
There’s something unfathomably cool about purpose-built machinery dedicated to just one task. Regardless of whether it’s attacking a circuit, living your life a quarter mile at a time, rocket sliding around corners, or chasing that ultimate top speed, you can count me in.
But I do struggle to relate to them on a personal level. Maybe as a self-protection mechanism, I’ve already talked myself out of wanting something that I know deep down I’ll never own. Motivations aside, I’d exchange the hypothetical seat of a pure racing thoroughbred I could never afford for the very real but worn Recaro of a far less capable machine. Even if it’s riddled with restrictions, moulded around compromise, and most importantly still retaining a set of licence plates.
Yeah sure, it may counter the childhood dreams of champagne showers on the podium of Monaco or Fuji Speedway, but it’s just an honest appraisal of the automotive world most of us live in. I’d rather have fun and make the most of what I’ve got.
Outside of video games, professional motorsport is something that the majority of us mere mortals are forced to watch through a screen or a catch fence.
The dominance of Australia’s RB-powered GT-Rs was born from this exact premise of keeping it real. What do METRO, JUNII, KING32, SIN35, RBKING, and MSMRH7 all have in common?
Have you ever noticed that the majority of Australia’s record-breaking cars are still running licence plates, or retain at least some level of street trim?
The Kings Of All Street
That’s right, this battle for Godzilla supremacy – that’s churned out a heap of world-class heavy hitters – started out on the streets. A lot of effort still goes into ensuring the majority of cars maintain some level of street-ability, even after running 6-second passes on the quarter mile.
So what’s the secret behind the evolution from street racers to record holders? I’m not prepared to claim either Cootamundra’s runway or the Tuners Edge GT-R Challenge are the magic red pill, but they’ve certainly played a significant role. This is the battleground where Australia’s East Coast tuners can test on a real street surface, and even more importantly, call each other out and push themselves to run as fast as possible.
As they say, ‘the bullshit stops when the clutch drops.’
I feel absolutely filthy using such an old cliché, but in all honestly, it’s the reason why Aussie GT-Rs have played leapfrog with the planet and moved into a class of their own.
If Australia was an RB-series engine itself, the rivalry that Cootamundra thrives on is the methanol fuel; the pressure to succeed is the compression chamber; and the urge to go faster than the next guy is the spark that gives ignition.
And now that the event has expanded beyond GT-Rs with the Tuners Edge Drag Battle component, it’ll be interesting to see what other models will benefit from the fierce competition. I can’t wait to find out which Aussie four-banger will be first to crack into the 8-second bracket.
As you may have imagined, it takes a lot of very passionate people to take a (not so) humble road car this far down the rabbit hole. While roasting in the harsh Australian sun I thought I’d find out firsthand what the Tuners Edge GT-R Challenge means to one of the madmen who shows up every year to destroy tyres and hopefully reset the record book.
Driven Opinions
Ant Saad is the owner of what I’ll boldly claim is the best R34 Skyline GT-R on the planet. His V-spec II runs an RB32, 3.2-litre stroker mated to a Samsonas 6-speed sequential gearbox. Croydon Racing Developments have built and tuned the beast to deliver a healthy 1,410hp at the wheels. Not bad. Who knows, maybe we’ll organise a closer look at it soon…
Matt: Firstly, the amount to work that’s been thrown into WARGTR means you could have reshaped it into any type of car you wanted. Why pro street instead of a dedicated drag machine?
Ant: I’ve always wanted a mental-fast street car that can be used for both street and track duties. The beauty of WARGTR is being able to just jump in and do both, which is why I’ve kept it registered. Getting to break some hearts in the process is a bonus. My best time at Coota is an 8.77 at 169mph pass, and my best drag strip time is an 8.45 at 168mph.
Matt: You return every year. What is it about Cootamundra and Motive‘s GT-R Challenge that keeps you hooked and coming back?
Ant: In my opinion, ‘Coota’ is the pinnacle event in our GT-R scene. It cuts all the bullsh*t. It’s literally a true street surface and the closest thing to racing someone at a set of traffic lights. It flushes out all the keyboard warriors that talk it up every year. Time slips don’t lie. This keeps us coming back every year, and we always try to better ourselves and cars. Coota is a driver’s event, as well as a tuner’s event. It’s very challenging for everyone involved. It takes a good driver to nail the launch and stay flat, as well as an excellent tuner who can find the power balance between going fast and getting the power down. The drag strip is a lot easier to perfect.
Ant: Unleashing our beasts in full anger on an un-prepped surface without many rules really gets your heart racing. The cars all fight for traction and things get pretty loose as we stay flat on the gas. Never lift; only pussies lift.
Ant: I love calling mates out from other workshops and the banter that goes with it all year makes it fun. We gee each other up leading up to the event, but there’s always that bit of seriousness on race day.
Matt: How do you think this event has changed the GT-R scene?
Ant: Coota definitely has a lot to do with our country’s success in the GT-R game – especially the street scene. Having a street surface to race on in street trim has given a lot of us the push we needed to go all in and make our rides as fast as possible. The fierce competition has resulted in workshops pushing the boundaries and always trying new things to give them an edge. Most of these improvements filter through to other customer cars and then daily drivers.
Matt: Lastly, do you have any favourite Coota highlights or memories to share?
Ant: I spent four hours driving my R34 from Sydney to Coota last year for a laugh and went straight to the track the next morning. It’s funny how four or five years ago 1,000hp was insane – now 1,200 to 1,400hp is the average for the true street cars. It’s crazy. My best moment here at Coota was breaking the manual GT-R record and being the first to run an 8-second pass on the runway – what a day!
The event itself is run as a closed film set, so sharing results from this year gets a bit tricky. Each week Motive is dropping a recap video full of action, interviews and most importantly results. If you’re at all interested in 1,000+horsepower GT-Rs and some of Australia’s fastest imports, you may have found another YouTube blackhole to spiral down into.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
The Cutting Room Floor
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Hitting The Road In A Sublime Carrera RSR Tribute - Speedhunters
If the entire back collection of car reviews we’ve consumed since preadolescence are true, then Porsche’s 911 is unequivocally the ultimate driver’s car.
That then begs the question: is it even possible to improve on the ultimate? Well, Porsche themselves certainly thought it was and set out to enhance the already highly-reputed 911. How do you label ‘perfected perfection?’ With just three letters: RSR.
People across the globe still celebrate the RSR legacy 47 years after the initial stamping of its homologation build plates, and of course, its later stampings in the motorsport record books.
An extremely low number of surviving cars and their sheer collectability makes a genuine RSR about as close to pure unobtainium as possible. I’d shudder to try to even imagine a post-COVID tax price tag…
So while a genuine RSR is outside of the realms of possibility for most of us, there’s no reason why one can’t apply the same ‘best of everything’ philosophy that Porsche ingrained within the RSR blueprint all those years ago. Indeed, with close to 50-years of technological advancements since the RSR’s debut, there’s plenty of room for some further enhancements and personalisation for those who dare.
I’m sure this idea will offend some – probably the guys who drive beat-up a Toyota Camry or their mother’s Hyundai – but thankfully some individuals still exist who possess the rocks to ruffle a few feathers and do the unthinkable: modify a car without fearing the opinion of strangers and internet buddies. Weird, right?
We should consider ourselves fortunate that people who prefer to celebrate their love affair with cars along winding B-roads rather than in stifling museums still exist. You know, the people who’d rather be counting kilometres driven instead of annual price appreciation; those who value corner speed over collectability; custodians drivers who understand the true value of the right vehicle in the right setting.
You’ve already guessed it, but this story involves one of these rare specimens. He’s a slightly older gent than one would typically expect to find laying out their Hakosuka with airbags, hitting the drag strip, or thrashing across mountain roads at midnight, but that’s all part of his charm. Peter Landan is full of (mostly pleasant) surprises.
A Surprise Getaway
Speaking of surprises, I was not expecting to see this ‘Gran Prix White’ 911 parked up inside Pete’s garage. When we discussed hitting some back roads and grabbing an overdue coffee and pie for lunch, he was adamant that my Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, AKA Project Nine, could take rest, while remaining playfully coy about which car we’d be taking. I’m pretty sure that “something European” was the limit of the information offered at the time.
‘European?’ I thought to myself… What a strange choice for a guy whose garage was literally full of only vintage Datsuns and very fast Nissans. Excluding bikes, of course.
Being familiar with the back catalogue of amazing cars Pete has tinkered with (almost everything between a highly-strung Mazda RX-2 and a blown Chevy Camaro), and given the pedigree of ‘fun cars’ currently residing within his man cave, I knew to expect something special.
A 911 was on my radar, but this pumped-out 1975 Carrera RSR tribute was an incalculable option.
Get Out & Drive
The best way to experience what this Porsche offered was at speed, so very little time was wasted in the garage before Pete brought its grumpy-sounding 3.8-litre engine to life. The air-cooled motor was sourced from a 993 and has since been bored and stroked to produce a neat and reliable 400hp.
While I forgot to ask what it’d rev out to (the tachometer reads to an ambitious 10,000rpm), the dry-sump setup and a few clever modifications certainly suggest it’s ready to get up and party when required.
The 993 engine was essentially the first new motor for Porsche in over a decade, with over 80% of the components receiving some form of upgrade. This stronger, more reliable base was selected for its strength in Pete’s build, and on top of that it’s been retrofitted with a set of RSR era-correct 50mm PMO carburettors and an MSD twin-spark ignition system.
While I appreciate the accuracy and convenience of fuel injection, there’s a distinct sound and metric sh*t-tonne of additional attitude delivered from idle all the way across the rev-range that’s only possible with an effectively-tuned carb setup.
Pete rattled off the specs as we rolled out of his driveway and cruised towards a nearby fuel station.
A custom race-inspired 45-litre fuel cell is located up front, and with that freshly filled – without having to lift the bonnet – it was time to make our way off the main roads and really experience what this reimagined masterpiece has to offer.
On a side note, if you can’t look away from your vehicle while filling up, you’ve made some great some decisions about the car you’re driving.
We quickly peeled off the highway and zig-zagged our way across Sydney’s outer rural roads. Pete gave me a more detailed rundown on the history of the car and its current configuration, which was a far more visceral experience than a digital spec sheet hitting my inbox.
The open road is so much more expressive than any pen and paper when the subject is drivability. Bumps and squeaks, pops and crackles, sounds and smells, all offer an infinitely more in-depth understanding.
In this particular instance, the two most noticeable qualities noticed from the passenger seat were just how tight and firmly the suspensions clung on to the road even when under duress from many many lateral gs…
… And how ferocious a rear-mounted naturally aspirated engine can sound.
Pete’s car also has an authentic vintage feel; technology has only been used to enhance the experience, but not to change it.
The car maintains a level of simplicity that’d confuse younger drivers who’ve grown up with power everything, infotainment out the wazoo, and way too many acronyms.
Seat. Steering wheel. Pedals. Gauges. Gears. You know, just the important stuff.
And while we’re on the topic of importance, we spent way more time enjoying the offerings of Pete’s new steed than originally intended and as a consequence, the importance of lunch had been bumped up the priority list.
All in all, I’d rate it quite a successful afternoon. Not only had we road-tested the pinnacle of a golden age of motoring, but we’d also begun a new tradition. Sick of Cars & Coffee? Why not try Porsches & Pies?
I’m so glad that Porsche chose not to rest on their laurels and attempt to improve on what was already regarded as perfection. I’m even more thankful for the good folk like Pete who still see the value in modifying their ‘investments’ to suit a particular look, function, or desire.
As long as we have imaginations and remain bold enough to see an idea through, there’ll always be room for improvement. Even at the top of the field.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
Carrera Candy
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That is one badass tribute car! Wow! It's so clean and minimal. Love the color and the wheel combo. Did the original have those gill fenders though? I don't think so. Nice touch though. Paul Miller Porsche in New Jersey has a 1973 Carrera RS original in their dealership. It is red with black trim. Love that car.
Great story! Can you give us a little history about how long it took to build. Who did the work? Where car came from? The build-up from a stock car to what it is or was it built straight up to it's present state? That car is awesome! Saw a stock one for $560,000.00 online. This one actually looks better than stock to me. Did you take a ride in it? What was that like?
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Attacking Time & Smashing Lap Records: The Tilton Evo Returns - Speedhunters
Before we get to carried away, let me first say that it’s great to be back. Back behind a lens, back to stealing your valuable time, and most importantly, back at the race track. It all feels like home.
Even if it’s a just reprieve, it feels amazing to finally start stepping away from the black hole of existence we’ve been lingering in for longer than I’d care to remember. It’s been a challenging time for all of us. Some more so than others.
There’s light at the end of the tunnel though. Last weekend, Aus Time Attack not only reminded me of how great it is to spend time around race cars, but it also gave a glimmer of hope for how quickly life will return to normal at the end of this global clusterf**k.
I say ‘normal’, but of course, I’m referring to the ‘new normal’. Yes, we had our temps taken as we entered the circuit, and yes, we were encouraged to socially distance (a juxtaposition I still find amusing for some reason). Handshakes and high fives were also noticeably absent in pit lane.
At times, adhering to these new (hopefully temporary) changes were awkward, but they’re a small price to pay to enjoy our freedom, our machines, and the sweet smell of E85.
The Grass Roots Of Time Attack
Like so many other major motorsport events, the World Time Attack Challenge has been forced into hibernation for 2020, hopefully to awaken again in 2021 or 2022. Fortuitously, Aus Time Attack was positioned perfectly to give us poor motoring enthusiasts starved for action our first meal in quite some time.
While Covid-19 cases continue to spiral out of control across the globe, including other areas of Australia, New South Wales was up until quite recently almost Covid-free. Aus Time Attack had been given the green light to run, albeit without a good number of interstate competitors.
Wakefield Park is a small track located in the vast, featureless plains two hours south of Sydney. Despite most racers opting to stay in sunny freezing Goulburn the night before for an early start, the track didn’t open until closer to 10:00am due to poor visibility created by a heavy (and cold) fog. Did I mention it was cold? Because it was. Bloody cold.
Once that lunchtime sun cut through the fog it was quite pleasant sniping from the sidelines behind the tyre walls and Armco fences.
Still, the event managed to book out with a healthy mix across all classes.
Beginners and weekend warriors went toe-to-toe in their daily drivers and street sweepers.
Likewise, supercars and exotics were given a chance to stretch their legs and clear out some cobwebs.
Finally, the more serious track-prepped monsters, including the record-smashing Tilton Racing Mitsubishi Evolution, were given time to push to their limits.
Well, maybe it’s fairer to say the limits of the track conditions. In more favourable conditions, it would have been possible to see how much potential remains locked away when these cars race on their restricted semi-compound rubber. Oh well, perhaps next year…
Royal Purple’s Recordhunters
Word had gotten out a few weeks before the event that Tilton was prepping their Evolution IX with aspirations of dethroning the current outright Wakefield Park lap record set by Harrison Jones in a Dallara F3 open wheeler in 2018. The number to beat was 53.7405 (only 18 seconds faster than Project Nine‘s best lap), a blisteringly quick time to navigate the 12 corners of Wakefield’s 2.2km (1.7mi) layout.
Talking to the team, prep was relatively simple. The car was given an extended rest after WTAC in 2019, and aside from some minor bodywork repairs using donated parts from the previous chassis, preparation was as simple as draining the fluids and topping up some oil.
Brad Shiels had agreed to attempt to steer Team Tilton into the record books. The Evo had earlier made a sneaky appearance at one of Wakefield Park’s open-pit track days to give Brad a feel for the car, and on his first day out he’d managed to secure a 54.4-second lap using the engine’s lowest boost setting. The numbers confirmed what the team had thought was possible.
Without an official timer, there was no point pressing the limits to set records, so Kosta Pohorukov (team owner/WTAC stalwart/time attack godfather) approached the guys behind Aus Time Attack to see if an attempt could be made at their event. Being a sanctioned race event, times would be officially recorded using Australia’s standard timing, Natsoft.
On paper, the Wakefield Park lap record was well within reach, but as a mate of mine once so eloquently put it ‘motorsport is a cruel mistress’. Quite literally, anything can happen even with the very best team behind a car. The smallest error or misjudgement, poor weather or a cold track, hell, I even remember a few instances when bold/stupid wildlife had wandered on to tracks with disastrous effects.
But if anyone was in a position to understand the fickle nature of auto racing it’d be Kosta and the entire Tilton team.
On the morning of the record attempt, track temps were freezing and visibility was reduced to the point that racing was postponed for a few hours while we all waited for the heavy fog to lift. A fresh oil spill during the first session wasn’t helpful either.
Nerves were high in pit lane and a buzz raced through the crowd as the carbon-clad Evolution fired up and made its way onto the track.
After an easy out lap that brought the vehicle and tyres up to temp, Brad mashed the go-fast pedal along the back straight and roared down the main straight past the crowd of eager racers. He looked fast and sounded even faster. But would he be fast enough?
Fortunately, we wouldn’t even have to wait a full minute to find out. I’d only ever seen the Tilton Evo perform at Sydney Motorsport Park before, so it was awesome to watch it tear across a very different landscape and negotiate and entirely different circuit. I’d wondered how the car would handle the rougher surfaces of the older track. Apparently, pretty damned well; well enough to set a new outright lap record of 0:53.0600.
From a spectator’s viewpoint, it was almost anti-climactic. Before anybody had blinked, this angry little carbon and billet monster had rewritten the record book. Still, you couldn’t help but to be impressed with the technical aspect and precision in which the record was won.
It’d be interesting to test what would be possible in some more favourable conditions, and after Brad has a little more seat time. Who knows, maybe if all this Covid-19 crisis ever sorts itself out we’ll get to find out.
For an initial comparison though, here’s the Wakefield Park lap records as they stand today:
Outright
25/07/2020, Brad Shiels, Tilton Mitsubishi Evo, 0:53.0600
Formula 3
08/09/2018, Harrison Jones, Dallara F308/11, 0:53.7045
Sports Sedans
18/10/2015, Jack Perkins, Audi A4, 0:56.2669
Formula Race Cars
9/09/2018, Nathan Gotch, Dallara F307, 0:55.7452
Supersports
07/09/2019, Alexander Kenny, Juno CN2015, 0:56.1459
Radical Cup
20/06/2015, Tim Berryman, Radical SR8, 0:56.7805
Sports Racers
18/10/2014, Roger I’Anson, West, 0:56.8120
Oz Boss
25/02/2007, Ty Hanger, Reynard 95D, 0:57.5504
Carrera Cup
5/04/2008, Aaron Caratti, Porsche 911 GT3, 0:58.9927
V8 Supercars
6/04/2008, Steve Owen, Holden VZ Commodore, 0:59.0351
Records aside, it was great to feel ‘back to normal’, even it was a temporary fix for now. Judging from the high spirits of everybody else trackside I wasn’t the only one that felt this way. Hopefully, a similar opportunity is coming to your city soon. If you get even the smallest window of opportunity in current times, I’d urge you to take it. Hope exists. It’s at the race track.
Matthew Everingham
Instagram: matthew_everingham
matt@mattheweveringham.com
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Remembering Race Tracks
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16 comments
Requesting a write up on the 1200 coupe (210) and the whole Winefueled race team - will make for very entertaining copy and some very cool cars in the all Skyline stable!
Nice driving Brad in the Tilton EVO, boy can steer.
How are the drivers compared? Is there any competition between teams for the best drivers? It's obvious that builders go to great lengths to wring out the last ounce of performance, but the car is only one element in quick lap times. Wouldn't different drivers in the same car would achieve different lap times? (acknowledging fine-tuning different setups to suit drivers' individual tastes)
Thanks for teaching this old guy about an interesting new sport.
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Love the Advan livery on this Cappuccino!
What a cute little package!
It all works so well together. It's such a fun little package.
Very sorry to hear about her passing. A close friend of mine died a few years back who i got to race with and it really never goes away. Thankfully some of the lovely enthusiasts here questioned my story and one of the other authors removed my comment honoring my friend like the lovely compassionate people they are. How lovely.
Sorry to hear, I'm not sure what story or comments you're referring to, if it posted a link it may have been auto-removed to help battle spam. I doubt anybody from our team would have removed it just to be a malicious. Accept my apology in their stead. That's not how we roll here.
I posted a green Miata which I co-drove with a mentor who passed away from cancer. Many users here insulted me including one of your staff who encouraged it. Very shameful but I understand people are small minded and have a difficult time understanding things that stretch the little grey matter they have between their ears. No harm no foul Matthew. Back to our scheduled programming...
Man, this story just reminds me of the HKS-liveried Starlet from last year, where the owner passed away and their partner carries the torch onwards.
AH yeah, A lot of common threads. Shows the power of cars and connection is universal.