Category Archives: Cars

MARCH EOMM.

This is cool. Here’s a write up on the March EOMM from the perspective of an ‘old’ bloke who rocked up in his Porsche 911.
Read: http://1-of-1.com.au/zen-garage-eomm/

Originally written for Car Throttle. You can visit the feature here: https://www.carthrottle.com/post/i-was-given-afterhours-access-to-the-first-ever-porsche-918-spyder-and-it-was-incredible/

When I was a kid, I used to dream about spending the night in a department store. IE: I’d hide somewhere, wait for them to turn off the lights and shut the doors, then I’d rummage every floor; especially the toy department and the candy section!

North Shore’s Porsche Centre Willoughby (PCW) is currently housing the Porsche 918 Spyder that Mark Webber drove around Albert Park during the Australian Grand Prix (it’s build number 000 of 918 to ever be produced!). Last weekend they hosted an open day and invited anyone who’s interested to come and see the amazing hybrid hyper-car, as expected, the 918 was roped off so that no-one could touch it, and like a motor show unveil, it was so packed that hardly any great photos came out of the event.

Enter lady luck.

I got a call from PCW asking if I’d be interested in some one-on-one time with the 918 Spyder after hours on a Monday night. How could I refuse?! Despite my hang over from last night’s party I managed to get to north Sydney by just over 6PM and was let loose in a completely empty showroom where all but one staff had gone home.

Yes! I felt like a kid trapped in a candy store, after hours. As the lone PCW staff member excused himself and went back to his office to continue working (or surfing Facebook, or watching the security cameras to make sure I wasn’t up to no good… the mind wanders!), I was literally left with access to all areas, some of which were completely dark, eerie and totally amazing!

I started in the mezzanine.

And then, over the railing, I spotted her.

Speed Racer.

I made my way downstairs. Emptiness. All PCW staff had gone home for the day.

Oh hai! I made a bee-line for the 918.

Carbon everything!

It’s not every day that you get to sit in a $2 million dollar car (on road price in Australia). Getting into the 918 is a lot like getting in and out of a Lotus, looks like lots of people had scratched up the carbon on the way out.

I was able to hear all sorts of electronic wizardry as the 918 started up in electric mode. Rolling it around in the showroom in electric mode was so strange as the car was so quiet. Flick it to race mode though and the engine comes to life. The little ball like controller on the right changes data in the right gauge from G-Sensor to tyre pressures and even a lap timer.

The right gauge showing the G-Sensor. I got to hear the beast too. Revving it to 4,000rpm which is the highest you can rev to whist stationary (4k was more than enough to send electricity through my veins!).

She’s not a massive car, but she sure has a huge butt.

I wasn’t able to get the engine covers off unfortunately.

Wide tyres and camber, plenty of it!

Insane lines, and you can really see how much wider the rear is from the front.

Huge internally ventilated and perforated ceramic disc brakes.

This 918 was sporting the Salzburg Racing design livery.

It’s a wild livery, one that will surely polarise. I’d seen photos and footage of this car and wasn’t a fan, but in all honestly it’s not so bad in real life.

The circuit is where this car belongs. I thought that even seeing footage of Mark Webber punt it around Albert Park was exciting (whereas usually seeing factory cars around a race track looks pretty boring and slow).

Since I wasn’t able to open the back. I opened the front!

Jurassic tech?! Porsche gives 918 owners a freestanding carbon stick (felt like Harry Potters wand, but in carbon!), to which you then have to figure out which holes to put it in to keep the bonnet up! Wild!

I could have literally spent all night locked up with the 918, but at some point, almost 2 hours in, my conscience felt guilty for keeping the one PCW staff from going home to his family. I grabbed him from his office and one more time we fired up the 918, this time in race mode, with evil grins on our faces we gave it a few more happy revs to 4,000rpm then parked it up in it’s final resting space by the window and called it a night. I left with a huge smile on my face, but at the same time a blue balls like frustration that I didn’t actually get to drive the car… but where would that end? If I drove it around the block I’d surely be left wishing that I could take it to the track, and if I drove this hyper car around a track surely I’d want to have one in my garage?! That train of thought was so unrealistic that I ended up just being happy that I got to spend some quality one-on-one time with build 000 of the amazing 918 Spyder.

I got a message from Automotive Photographer Matthew Everingham who happened to be in my hood and had some time to kill. I happily invited him over, and he rocked up in this bright red Audi RS Q3. What a strange looking car! It’s stumpy, tall, just really mixed up! Can’t say I’m sold on it’s looks but as soon as I got inside I forgot all about it’s wombat like looks, damn Audi sure know how to make amazing interiors. This car in particular had interior upgrades. The carbon trim was bang on, so too the pleated leather seats.

A quick blat, and yeah, the car is just that, quick! It’s grunty and even in dynamic suspension mode it was a little wallowy, but hey what do you expect! It’s an SUV!

I directed Matt to a few spots around my hood which I thought would be good for him to take some shots. Matt’s got the car for a review on Speed Nation. Be sure to keep an eye out for it (and his amazing shots, some of which you can already see here, and here).

Dropped in to Spinning Wheel to get my new R888’s fitted today.

Screwed! Tyre technician Mick was quick to find out why I’ve had a slow leak in my drivers side rear.

From the inside.

Turns out my old set of R888’s were manufactured in 2007! I knew they were old, but not 8 years old!!!

Mick fitting the tyres with my wheels upside down for that little bit safety against rim lip damage.

Ready for air! Damn they look so good right?!

Pressures set to 36 all-round, all balanced and ready to go back on the car.

265 all round. Nothing quite like fresh rubber!

Back to me. Man the drive home was awesome!

Had my tyres fitted today at Spinning Wheel Tyres. Got to meet 2 cool dudes there; Mark who’s got a clean R32 Skyline, and Mick who was my tyre technician for the day. It’s been a long time coming. I’m all set for a track day, bring it on!

Look at me. So happy! Nothing quite like new tyres!!!!!!!

Got a brand new set of Toyo R888’s (my fave semi-slick in terms of value and how quickly they warm up). SO EXCITE! Last time I was out at Wakefield I did a 1.09.6 on a very old set of R888’s (took ages to warm up, and once they were warm I only had a lap or 2 before they completely went off).

These tyres should see me smash my 1.09 lap time!

View photos from the last track day out in my GT-R here: http://www.justinfox.com.au/private-track-day-6

I ran out of car wash, so got creative and used LYNX hair wash instead!

Suds up nice!

Ahhhh, the Northern Beaches. I used to want to live in Palm Beach as it reminds me so much of Byron Bay.

Maybe my fave car on the night.

Diversity. Got to love it!

Alexi waxing lyrical at our final destination at Palm Beach.

I missed the last sunset cruise which Cordy organised last year. I wasn’t about to miss her second cruise though.

Cordy lives in the Northern Beaches, and has a pretty tight crew of down to earth peeps, all who are car crazy. The cruise was postponed due to bad weather last week, but last night the meet and cruise went ahead.

Just a week ago I was hanging out in Gothenburg, Sweden with Alexi of Nori Yaro Japan, he messaged me to let me know he was in Sydney visiting family! Naturally I dragged him out for the cruise. I’m pretty sure he had a lot of fun seeing some Aussie muscle on the night (a break from the stuff he usually see’s in Tokyo I’m sure!).

More pics on Zen: http://www.zengarage.com.au/2015/03/sunset-meet-cruise/

February EOMM.

Sometimes you have to step out and see things from another perspective (before it’s all lost). The Sydney car scene has been fighting against the hoon label we’ve been slapped with for years. Sometimes I’m not even sure if we’re winning the fight, or losing.

When I read social media, sometimes I think we’re losing. Kids are so quick to type and not think twice, inciting and spreading hate as well as fear about cops setting up defect stations at my meets which in turn stops a lot of people from coming out to play.

But on the night, true car enthusiasts rock up despite the haters behind their keyboards suggesting they should stay at home as they might get defected if they turn up to the meets.

Real life > Internet

When I was recently in Gothenburg, Sweden I met Darren Cassey. I proudly showed him my Facebook reach, he then told showed me his, my jaw dropped and I felt totally embarrassed. Turns out he works for Car Throttle, one of the biggest car blogs in the world with over a million followers on Facebook alone.

Darren told me that Car Throttle gets a lot of Aussies commenting on hoon laws, he saw photos from our most recent February EOMM which inspired him to write a feature about our scene.

It’s early Sunday morning, but my day is made! Be sure to check out the feature titled: Here’s Why Australian Car Culture Is Probably The Best In The World Right Now – http://www.carthrottle.com/post/heres-why-australian-car-culture-is-probably-the-best-in-the-world-right-now/

I had very little sleep (3-4hrs) but was feeling AOK. In the morning we caught up with Jared from Downshift (QLD) who landed at midnight last night.

Mix Master Alain at it again, this time en route to Calder Park.

Calder Park has to be one of the most run down circuits I’ve ever seen. Mad Max comes to mind. Post Apocalyptic!

We were greeted by the cars we were going to be driving. WRX’s and Golf GTI’s on the new Bridgestone Adrenalin POTENZA RE003’s as well as competitor tyres.

Still don’t like this car. It’s just so stylistically awkward.

I was so looking forward to driving the GTI.

Lightning bolts! Love the tread pattern and square semi-slick like sidewall.

Into the WRX I get, and boom! The Fox!

Patina.

Our group hit the wet slalom first. Whilst the competitor tyre was fun as I managed to get the car to lose traction and get into a four wheel drift, this wasn’t what we were here for. The Potenza was the clear winner with much more direct steering and much smaller steering input (much smaller steering wheel adjustments).

The next test was dry slalom where we got up to much higher speeds. The competitor tyre was awesome, and predicable, but it scrubbed off speed on each direction change whereas the RE003 didn’t. Both winners on this test I thought, though the RE003 definitely won the test (and had the WRX showing off much more body roll due to more grip).

The last test involved a fast 80km lane change which made for some pretty crazy sideways action with the competitor tyre (smashing cones down like bowling pins!). The RE003 smashed the competitor tyre in this test. Definitely the biggest difference out of all 3 tests on the day, and definitely the most fun too.

We were asked not to use our driving skills to avoid hitting cones, and instead hit 80km/hr and literally yank the wheel as hard as we could, thus simulating avoiding kids running across the road for example. After this we were treated to some heated track battles on the full circuit between the competitor tyre and the RE003. This had everyone on the day truly appreciating how awesome the RE003 was, and also how amazing the Golf GTI was. The MK7 just feels so fast, fun, playful and light (IE: It shat all over the WRX).

We wrapped up the day with some filming, and at the carpark we spotted this amazing Honda Beat owned by Grant from Gripshiftslide.

So good!

As wide as 3 license plates. Check the lines on the ground, that’s a standard car park space!

So rad, and still a work in progress.

We smashed a few drinks with the Full Boost boys, then we were off for more drinks at the airport.

Landed in Sydney. I’m SO over planes. We almost missed this one, getting in trouble with the people at security check for being so late and literally running our asses off onto the tarmac to board the plane (lol).

PS: Yes. I had to buy a set of RE003’s for my Golf. I’m almost down to the canvas and have been meaning to get new tyres for ages! I’m really looking forward to getting these babies on my car ASAP!

Dat Sunset.

So whilst I was away in Sweden I missed my own car meet, but thanks to a great team of people I can rely on (I call them friends!), the meet went on and it looked like a great one despite the rain. More photos can be found on EOMM.

Spotted in Rose Bay today, an Aventador with Italian stripes, a McLaren 12C, but these are the 2 cars I took my camera out for. A gorgeous Porsche 356 and a 2 door MK1 GTI (!).