3 May

So after some delay here’s part two of my report. The action took place in one of the Trafford Centre’s overspill carparks, after recent disappointment with the European Drift Championship I wasn’t expecting much from JDM Allstars.

With the course dominated by the biggest flat screen I’ve ever seen, which would letter be used to project someones arse from the crowd to the height of 60ft. And later Bryn of Tafftune fame in his now infamous red hoodie.

Local guy Ant Cahill from Team Japspeed came out top in unseeded qualifying, Ant would make it all the way into the top 8, losing out to Luke Fink ultimately.

Shane Lynch boy band member turned drifter, took advantage of the down time between runs to shakedown the now V8 powered S15.

Mark Luney was my winner of the day, I thought he edged out Jon Calvert in the final. But the judges declared Calvert the winner. The wildly kitted Toyota Supra created its own weather system shovelling smoke into anyone unfortunate enough to be trailing.

Simon Perry scraped the wall almost routinely his fantastic run would be ended by Driftworks Dan Chapman late in the day.

Apparently starting out life as a Taxi in Japan Dan Chapman made sure

With Twin Turbo’s this E36 punched its way to 800hp whilst looking relatively stock externally, struggled in the match-ups Wills pulled off some mad angle during the demonstration runs. Pressure does that to you.

Both Team Driftworks cars would bow out of the competition early. Phil Morrison’s day ended by a clutch failure on the S15.

Considering Luke Fink’s mammoth trip from Madrid it didn’t show in his driving easily dispatching most of the drivers. Mechanical problems would force Fink’s retirement after two gruelling OMT’s against Dan Chapman.

 

26 Apr

Unusually I left the Swift at home for this one, i’m still waiting on my wheels from Japan so I wanted to keep everyone guessing as long as possible. So we took my Dad’s Impreza WRX STI, now rolling on a fresh set of Prodrive rims and Falken rubber. We made the journey down the M6 accompanied by the psssh of the HKS dump valve.

Naturally I hopped out when we got there, leaving my Dad to do the hard parking I made my way into the paddock. With the sun still low in the sky I could see a faint red dot, a mirage a vision of hope (accompanied by the faint smell of chips) . When I reached the horizon it turned out to be Matt’s 20b Peripheral Port Rotary.

If your ever at a trackday at Oulton Park you’ll likely see this thing pass you by, accompanied by a wall of noise from the peripheral ported motor. Mated to an RX8 gearbox the dry sumped motor puts out circa 400hp, astonishingly this car is still fully road legal, although judging by the noise it put out up the hill to Warwick Bridge you’d expect it to make babies and the elderly rather upset.

Sadly the Buddy Club Integra ran into mechanical difficulties on Friday and Paul Hughes was forced to switch to the second lower specced car.

The team spent most of Saturday morning swapping over as much as they could to make Paul competitive. With the main car running well into the top runners on Friday it was a bit of a comedown to step backwards. You can also spy my brother in the right haha

A brake issue would lead to the team swapping a full set of hubs over from the main car to get Paul back out. Despite the teams effort Paul would finish the day in 26th place.

All business at the rear forged Buddyclub P1 SF’S show with Yokohama Advan rubber.

I spied this in the paddock, whaaaaaaaa. Fronting is the new hellaflush, simply swap over your favourite front end from a car of your choice. The work was pretty good, the wheels and interior kill it for me though.

Kev Huntley brought out this Toyota Supra all the way from the North East.

Mannnnnn…… no idea on the secs of this but it was nice! i’m pretty sure this was wearing BN Sports aero. Seeing a modded NSX in the UK is rare, they still hold a premium.

Time Attack Nissan Pulsar? this thing was crazy wide sadly the wheels didn’t even come close to filling the arches. Interested to see how this thing goes this year, seriously a Time Attack Pulsar? i’ve seen one in Japan so this guy is in the minority.

 

20 Apr

Most people slave away, work countless hours of overtime in the hope of owning  a Skyline.  Bryn has three. Bryn is an engineer at heart, if you’ve ever seen one of his projects you’ll note the almost obsessive level of detail bestowed on everything he does.

Imported in 2009 by JDM Garage in an already tidy spec, Bryn wasted no time in swapping over the turbo and mating the  R33 GTSt Series II RB25DET to an rb25 gearbox replacing the rb20 box.

You’d expect this level of prep from a tuners plaything but the majority of the work was undertaken in a garage in South Wales. Whether its terrorising the South Wales Wangan or sideways you can’t miss the sheer presence the Banana has.

After mashing the front aero, fixing and then mashing again Bryn turned to his stillborn Bee*R r324 sat in the garage. After going to great lengths to import a genuine Bee*R R324 conversion kit from Japan, expertly brokered by Newera it’d be a shame to leave the kit hidden away in a garage.

The drift car was stripped of its kit, and the BEE*R aero was mated to what Bryn affectionately calls “The Banana”. Its rare to see this kit in Japan let alone the UK so its great to see it in use.

The  sideviewis dominated by the deep Bee*R skirts, the rear overfenders increase the track by about 80 mm over standard. With the front wings increasing by 60mm taking the Gts width to roughly 6ft! the front and rears just about contain the 10j Work XD9′s. The Work’s are soon to be replaced by a set of Work Rezax II in 18×9.5j et7 fronts and 18x11j et 23 rears.

One thing which always lets down the BEE*R R324 aero is the poor factory fitament, there’s a few of these in the UK and you can really see the time and patience that Bryn put into fitting the kit.

Perfectly stanced the Bee*R kits transforms the relatively mild looking Nissan Skyline GTS, into a pretty mean looking drift machine. Suspension wise the car sits on Tanabe adjustable coilovers, the chassis also benefiting from a smattering of Driftworks adjustable suspension components.

To the rear you can spy the Veilside mirrors and D-max LED tail lights, a gift from Newera after Bryn emptied most of his wallet into their account! the little details like the Hakasuka Nissan Skyline badge on the boot lid are evident throughout the Skyline.

The Banana sits on a set of of Work XD9′s in a respectable 18x10j et18 shod with 235/40r18 tyres. Note the purple zipties an exploration of Bryn’s feminine side and love of soft furnishings.

No doubt you’ll see the spec of this change almost weekly

Engine:
R33 GTSt Series II RB25DET
GSRacing Holset HX35 turbo
GSRacing 60mm external wastegate
Modified Japspeed top mount manifold
Custom 3.5″ downpipe
Custom 2.5″ screamer pipe
BNR32 Intercooler
Z32 AFM
Nismo 740cc injectors
BNR32 Fuel pump
Gizzmo Boost controller
Modified intake manifold
Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator
SuperSpark coilpacks
Scalloped cam covers

Power output:

390bhp @ 1.0bar
430bhp @ 1.3bar
Mapped by Greg Gush at Protuner

Drivetrain:
RB25DET gearbox
HKS Twin plate clutch
Undamped clutch lines
Modified two piece propshaft
2Way LSD

Brakes:
BNR32 Calipers
Vented and grooved discs
Project Mu pads

Suspension:
Tanabe coilovers
Driftworks tension rods
Driftworks track control arms
Driftworks rear wishbones
Driftworks rear camber arms
Driftworks rear tie rods
Driftworks rear traction arms
Tein fron tie rods and ends

Exterior
Genuine Bee*R B324R bodykit
Resprayed in Toyota MR2 Yellow
Veilside mirrors
Haksusuka Skyline badge
D-Max LED taillights

Interior
Corbeau Sprint FIA approved seats
Driftworks FIA approved harnesses
Stripped out rear interior
Rear half rollcage

 

19 Apr

Its 6am what am I doing up at this hour on a Sunday? you could almost hear the distant chirp of wastegates, and the walking explosion that was what i’ll simply call “the chaser” for now. With much excitement I made my way to the Trafford Centre, i’ll admit I fell out of favor with drifting, the EDC is about as interesting as a bar fight in a Bowls Club. But JDM Allstars touts itself as an entertainment spectacle.

I had visions of lions being whipped by burly Circus entertainers, lots of fire and everything in between. I was greeted by a queue, was this really the queue to get in? i’ve never seen so many people at a stand alone Drift event. I knew I was in for a good day.

You’d struggle to miss Dan Champman’s S13 with hot pink Rota’s at each corner and some pretty loud graphics. Chapman has his own style.

(more…)

 

19 Apr

So your probably all sick of me posting everyone Else’s stuff right? well Lancashire and District Subaru’s kicked off their 2010 show season with the now traditional charity day. It was pretty sunny so I figured i’d stretch my legs and take a run up-to Preston. England’s newest city

The venue saw many of the guys unveiling their latest and greatest, with some of the old familiars.

The Subaru scene is getting a little stagnant so its great to see guys going against the grain. After being freed from customs this WRX sports a pretty cool front cover.

(more…)

 

9 Apr

Pretty tough looking UK Swift Sport

 

7 Apr

Japspeed have been busy over the Winter building a new drift machine to add to their ever growing stable. With support again  from Maxxis for 2010, Japspeed have entrusted Steve Biagioni to drive the car in the British Drift Championship.

Suspension is a mix of Nissan and Subaru items, D2 six pot brake calipers, the Impreza is fitted with a Cosworth fettled EJ25 with STI heads, and a twin scroll turbo setup. Externall the car is a mix of Chargespeed bits with custom parts from ABW, running a set of Rays Rims and Maxxis MA-Z1 tyres.

 

4 Apr

It’s Easter Sunday we’re bored and im trying to estimate wheel widths for a new set, so I threw one of my Dad’s 2007 Subaru Impreza STI alloys.

Probably a little wider than I want to go, being 17×8 in a 53 offset, I could run these but i’d have to machine the centres because the bore sizing is different. That and i’ve already ordered a set of somethings from an undisclosed manufacturer.

And I reckon i’d get harassed by Subaru owners ha!

I’ve not a hope in hell of keeping it quiet

 

2 Apr

I’ve really entered the technological age and i’ve stated up a lovely Facebook page for my blog. I’ve also settled on a logo which i’ll hopefully be getting made up into some stickers at some point.

If you want to become a fan you can here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dogboxmedia/109593095729850?ref=nf

 

1 Apr

 
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