Had the day off yesterday so instead of cleaning up the house, doing the washing and doing the groceries I dropped in to see Indy at IS Motor Racing. I drove the GT-R to see if we could get the pesky power steering fluid leak fixed up once and for all, he was happy for me to leave it with him. Fingers crossed it’ll be ready for the private track day coming up next month!
New Zen bags. My inspiration? High school! Yup I rocked one back in the day. I graffitied all over my one with textas, had some button badges on it too :) Find them in the shop: http://zengarage.com.au/shop
Not smiling, at all.
Today I got to drive a manual 997. I’d semi-recently driven Sam’s old school 911 SC and it’s been years since I drove Howie’s 997 (with PDK gearbox) so despite the rainy conditions I was pretty excited to get in for more 911 time.
Love how you have to pull the door handle up to open the doors. Very cool. I instantly noticed the left of centre pedals again, not as pronounced as Sam’s 911 SC but still noticeable. Clutch in to turn the car on, clutch is very light. Reverse is left of 1st gear. Very strange.
We were away and I instantly liked the steering wheel. Nice size, perfect thickness. Steering is as light as a Honda Jazz and offered no feel at all in comparison to Sam’s car, but like Sam’s car it had a lot of grunt in first and nothing much in 2nd. Maybe it was traction control, or the soft clutch, or the mode the car was in (?) but grabbing 2nd from high revs felt really disappointing. Like there was no urgency and a big loss of revs, almost as if the ECU was kicking in to make everything smoother.
I did notice the traction control lights kick in one time and had I been in Sam’s car I wouldn’t ever have driven anywhere near as spiritedly in wet conditions, but that’s what I found really annoying about this car. It’s so quiet and the suspension is so soft. I felt totally detached from it, like driving a Honda Jazz. It’s just too easy to drive. I failed to see what was so 911 about it.
The shifter was awesome though, however I remember Howie’s PDK 997 being way more aggressive in that the loud pedal felt directly connected to the engine and the PDK car had a feeling of endless torque and tones of response.
All in all it was an essential drive which made me realise that a 996 (which I can afford, the 997 being at least $80k 2nd hand) is just not for me. And whilst Sam’s car might be too demanding for daily duties (I still think the non-power steering is going to get to me) the 964 with assisted steering and ABS brakes sounds like it could potentially be the perfect match for me.
Iain took us straight down to the carpark to check out some loaner cars. Lower half of the new Boxter taillights are so 997.
RS4 Avant – Loved this thing. What a beast!
Iain’s T-Shirt suggests that he has a mangina. Drinks excessive amounts of Baileys – from a shoe. Likes clubs where people wee on each other.
A vintage 1964 (964!) issue of MOTOR Magazine, awesome right?!
An article inside it written by Bruce McLaren.
Photography mood board, very cool.
So privileged; we got to check out the next issue of MOTOR Magazine in progress. Sorry, had to blur out the spreads!
Great to see that Iain had Zen bookmarked on his browser :)
A few weeks ago Iain Kelly (Editor of MOTOR Magazine) visited us at Zen Garage for a great chin wag, we caught up again today, this time at MOTOR Magazine HQ in Sydney CBD. We got to check out some current loaner cars in the staff carpark (perks of the job!) and we also got to check out the MOTOR Magazine office, take a sneek peek at the next issue in progress as well as chat about Iain’s awesome plans for the future of MOTOR Magazine.
Check out the full feature on Zen Garage: http://zengarage.com.au/2013/02/zen-visits-motor-magazine
Had all intentions to go to Din Tai Fung but we walked past Mamak, there wasn’t a queue so we grabbed a bite to eat pre-meeting with MOTOR Magazine.
Garry Trihn’s piece.
Yesterday I dropped in to see Snake Snake Snake, an art exhibition underneath Town Hall. Was pleasantly surprised to see one of my mate Garry’s pieces in the exhibit. Not sure I dug how he presented his work, but I’m a massive fan of his and once I got into checking each and every photograph out I was instantly smiling, and giggling inside. Love his humour!
The pork buns and shrimp buns came out first. Both were far from subtle and absolutely saturated with flavour. Pork was cooked beautifully and tasted more like a traditional Chinese pork bun than Chang/momofuku’s Peking Duck flavoured pork bun.
Gyoza was nothing at all special, will give them a miss next time.
I got pretty excited when I saw the broth and how it wasn’t at all transparent. It reminded me of the best bowl of ramen I had in Japan many years ago. The broth tasted fishy, really complex. I kinda liked it as it was refreshingly different to everything else I’ve been eating since. The noodles were pretty thin, again different, but didn’t quite feel right. The pork was delish!
So I finally got to try Ippudo. I’ve heard so much hype about this place, lots of it has suggested that the pork buns are similar in style to momofuku, only better.
First I was surprised to find it in the food court (and not on the level above). There was no queue at all which was a surprise (it was a Monday, lunch) and inside it was very much a casual dining restaurant which took me by surprise too (with all the hype I thought it was going to be a fine dining affair).
The menu was a little confusing (which ramen to try!) and the waitress asked how we liked our noodles. Huh?! How do you suggest?! She suggested to have them hard as people often complained that they were too soft!
All in all I thought it was alright and I might go back to try the 2nd ramen on the menu of 3. Lils and I both had upset tummies afterwards though, perhaps it was the gyoza (we overheard the waitress say that there is msg in them to the table next to us).
Matt and Alissa picked me up from Zen at around lunch time and we set off for The Entrance. We got to the holiday house first, did some food shopping and started smashing beers before everyone else got in.
We freaked the shit out of Jing with party poppers on entry. He didn’t know we were all going to be there! Eddy’s got a hilarious video of his reaction recordered on a go-pro. I’ll see if he can get it up on youtube (it’s sooo good!).
Jing scored these Y3 boots, and some rad snowboarding gear (he doesn’t snowboard lol) and also a Justin Beiber watch, which was presented in a genuine Bell & Ross watch packaging (lol).
The boys got pretty rowdy and smashed beers, then shots of Sambucca and Hennessy, we then picked up our rods and did a bit of night fishing.
We saw the people next to us pick up a 40cm catfish, weed was all we managed to get though (and we lost quite a few beers which dropped into the ocean, accidentally of-course!).
What’s going on here?!
Dizzy walk back home, empty handed.
When Jing jumped in the shower before bed we ran outside and fucked up his new Audi with eyelashes.
A bonnet scoop.
Front and rear batman badges.
Flashing LED lights and rainbow gay family stickers.
Next morning I was pretty hung over despite dunking a berocca before bed. The bacon ($20 worth of it!) helped though.
Little Ethan, he’s the calmest baby I’ve ever met. Such a rad kid!
A sign on our gate at the house.
Brandon’s EVO. Love the Thule storage box!
Kevin’s Golf GTI Edition 35, Eddie’s new Murano and Jing’s A4 Allroad.
We then went for a fish in a different location.
The boys managed to catch a few baby brims (all of which were let go). Me? I nursed my hangover by sunbathing and burnt the fuck out of my chest (the only place I forgot to put lotion on!).
Jody and Ethan.
Fishing brought on a craving for eating fish and chips so we headed back to the main beach for lunch.
Spotted on the side of the road, what a monster!
Spotted this lovely Hillman in the carpark and gave the owner a thumbs up.
Ethan chilling out in the shade. After lunch we tried a different fishing spot which again saw us catching baby brim.
As expected, everyone had rad cameras!
Sunset out on the deck.
Chilling out before dinner.
BBQ feast!
Later that night we did another spot of night fishing. Eddie pulled up this Mono (quite a popular brackish water aquarium fish).
Brim caught was bigger, but still not legal size.
Oh shit!
Jing and Shirley – The next morning we finished off all our food, cleaned up the house then headed to the driving range for a hit.
Matt – Happy Gilmore!
My first 2 hits were awesome, then I lost it (thinking too much!). PS: The T-Shirt I’m wearing was a $10 impulse buy at the local mall. It reads “Grump Old Man!”. Haha.
Shane’s Supra! We headed back in to town for lunch and spotted at least 30 or so Supras, amongst them Shane’s Gorilla Supra (couldn’t find him anywhere unfortunately).
Seafood platter was delicious.
Got back earlier this afternoon from a great weekend away at The Entrance with the BMU boys (and their partners… I was the 3rd wheel!). Great times, heaps of laughs and many feasts too. I’m super burnt, and I’m starving right now as I’ve got a completely empty fridge! More photos on instagram @justinfoxau
PS: Jing’s pics and the entire trip from his perspective are up on his great blog now. Visit: http://jingers.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/30th/
Last night’s Students Guide To Digital Design event featuring industry pros John Butterworth, CEO of AIMIA, Jon Christensen co-founder from Tractor Design School, and creative directors Ash Ringrose and Brad Eldridge from Soap Creative went down a treat last night at the Apple Store Sydney.
The panel gave the many students in attendance (so many more than we expected that Apple staff scurried to get more chairs out!) tips and tricks on how to get ahead in the digital design industry. They also praised the students in attendance for being there, and standing out from all the other students who, for whatever reason, didn’t show (you’ve got to be in it to win it!).
