Category Archives: Cars

Nads


Nads coming up the escalator to Kinokuniya/Ichi ban boshi.


A couple of mags I bought from Kino.


Yup S2K’s are low, here’s Nads trying not to scrape his front bar by going right before turning left haha.


Spotted Grant’s XS600 at MCC on my way home (I had to pick up a bike box to pack and send Ti).

Caught up with my mate Narada today, been ages. Turns out we’re both kinda in the same boat. Both getting married at the end of this year and both kinda looking for something new. I love that our catch-ups are always constructive. He gave me heaps of insight into the way he’s been running his business, fresh ideas, definitely food for thought.

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We’re gonna be on TV part 2


Our R32’s.


Christina’s interview.


Andy and Herman shooting the GT-R.


Lumix in video mode mounted outside my GT-R.

Yesterday we finished off the 2nd day of shooting with Herman and Andy. They came over at 10am and already the sun was bitey. It turned out to be the hottest day so ever and being under the sun from 10am-5pm took it’s toll on Herman’s face which was ridiculously burnt. I also lost about 5kg in sweat as the GT-R has no air-con, nor any lining so I was basically sitting in a tin oven sweating like I’ve never sweated before! It wouldn’t have been so bad if I could have had the windows down, but with them down I couldn’t hear instructions over the walkie talkie so I had to have them up!

Talking about cars in the interview was so much more enjoyable than talking about design and I thought both Christina and i did really well in the interviews. Also really chuffed to see the boys use a Lumix GF1 for some of the on-board footage. I love my camera and had no idea if was good enough to shoot film for TV!

It’s all in their hands now. Bit nervous and hoping we don’t come across as idiots in the final product!

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JDMST EOMM


The two R32’s. Suga and I got there at 6 to have a word with security and sneak a dinner in.


Apples and oranges but both cars share the same badge, 6 cylinders and 4WD.


7.30PM the carpark is filling up.


The cycle crew!


Babs’ Hako is always a hit.

Last night was JDMST’s first EOMM (end of month meet) for the year and it was a big one with 70+ cars. We decided to have this one at The Entertainment Quarter (Fox Studios). Despite everybody paying $6 to get into the carpark we’ve been kicked out before (for loitering!) but this time I did a little ground work by calling the security office a week before to let them know we were coming, and also getting down early to actually speak to the security team on the night. Everyone was well behaved which blows my mind. I mean seriously, asking these kids to restrain themselves with strict rules is a big ask (no engine revving, no burnouts, respect the surrounding community on the way in and out and no loud music). Put yourselves in our shoes…if you’ve got a hotted up car that sound beast all you want to do is let everyone appreciate it by revving your engine, and of-course, do a filthy burnout on the way out!

Heaps of photographers on the night, check out all the pics here: http://forum.jdmstyletuning.com/showthread.php?31716-NSW-EOMM-January-2011

Also be sure to check out pics from interstate JDMST EOMM’s:
[MEL] Gallery – click here
[QLD] Gallery – click here

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We’re gonna be on TV!


Loved this thing, there’s an SLR camera buried under all that.


Suga getting ready for her interview with Herman (left) and Andy the camera man right.

A discussion with a few people many months ago became a reality yesterday when Herman and Andy came over to shoot Christina and I for a TV series which will air on Discovery Channel in the near future.

Christina was pretty nervous but she did really well in her interview and I wasn’t so much nervous, but I was far from sharp and I think I failed to answer questions as I was too busy talking shit. HAHA. The interview questions were about our career choices, what our working life is like and also about the car communities we run as a couple. Next week we’ll finish off the filming of both our cars.

Posted in Cars, Design | 1 Comment

Hey Charger


Spotted in Bondi. What a burnout monster. Someone had left a note on it with contact details in case the owner would ever consider selling.

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Thai Banyan Tree


Rental car goodness.


Sean.


That’s Michael, picture doesn’t show it but he’s a giant!


‘Rolling’ Sav. Blanc. My kinda wine!

Had a meeting with Sean and Rob from go2space the other night. Super chilled out dudes who are looking after media placement on my car forums. They invited myself and Michael who owns and runs Ozmazda.com for dinner at Thai Banyan Tree in Coogee Beach. I can’t say I ever get too excited about going to a new Thai restaurant but Sean talked this one up and too right it was awesome. It’s a tiny restaurant, tight inside (so tight that when Rob accidentally knocked over our table candle the hot wax flew onto someone else’s back!). The open front facade makes it feel a little like you’re actually eating on the streets of Thailand too, kinda.

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SUGA gets the LED treatment


Protection should be worn at all times. Howie plastic welding the lights back together.


Howie bites Mia.


nomnomnom!


All installed.

Christina ordered some LED tail lights for her car quite a few months ago and they’ve been sitting there for some time as they needed modification before fitting. Basically the reverse lights in Europe are the other way around so we had to swap 2 lenses over. Iif it was just me I would have just whacked them on but Howie generously put up his hand to do the hard work in getting them “right”. He came over 2 nights broken up over a couple of weeks, last night he finished the job and today I installed the light units, tested, all working and looking great!

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Reflect Effect


Sap over every single panel of the car!


After a high pressure wash.


Clean again.


Car hasn’t been this clean, well, since Dave was last here!!! HAHA.

Christina got the entire car covered in sap a few weeks ago parking under a large tree in Eastwood, despite a wash the sap stayed on so we thought we’d leave it up to the experts and today Dave from Reflect Effect came over today to work his magic (he’s awesome and I highly recommend his services).

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Eye spy


CCW bling blang. Have seen these over the years on JDM rides in the US but I’ve never seen some in Aus before.


Jing’s still unfinished DC5R track monster. I love it, lots. Kinda wish Jing would get back into it and finish it off but he’s too busy in bicycle land haha.

There’s always something worth taking a photo of at JDMyard! :)

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Sachs Madass


So I drove over to JDMyard to test ride Zi’s Sachs Madass today.


Kick start my heart (gotta love kick start over pressing a button!).


Brand new 160cc engine to replace the original 120cc. Check the oil cooler…so cute!

It’s been on the cards, and I tried to keep it a secret, but I’ve been meaning to get back on a moto again. An opportunity to get a Sachs Madass came up. Long story short I’ve been busy designing Zi’s new web site and as part payment I was going to take his newly acquired bike.

The Madass was designed by Sachs in Germany but oh noes it’s made in China. Apparently there’s good China and bad China and after much research it turns out the Madass is built by the later. People have suggested basically dipping the entire bike in loctite because at some point everything will fall off the bike!

I wasn’t so deterred though. I built my super dodgey death trap which I absolutely love riding, the only thing I don’t like about riding it is that it’s 100% illegal whereas the Madass is completely legal…well, in stock form at least…

This particular Madass has had $2k thrown at it. It’s old 120cc engine was thrown out when the gearbox blew up and a new 160cc engine was shoved in.

I was a little nervous about riding it as I’ve not ridden a motorbike since uni days (1994/5?!). The bike’s pretty tall for such a small looking thing (I couldn’t get both feet flat on the ground when sitting on it). I got going without stalling though and found it pretty easy to change gears up and down (albeit quite jerky!). The Madass feels fast (most likely a lot faster than it really is due to the vibrations and loud exhaust!) and I don’t doubt that I could hit 100km/hr on this thing but I wasn’t game enough to go anywhere over 60km/hr on my maiden ride.

I was left feeling very naughty, very much like riding my deathtrap. It’s fun, heaps of fun but then a spanner was thrown into the works.

Paul rocked up and suggested he was broke, in need of cash (sounds like where I’m at!) and that he’s thinking about selling his Honda Zoomer. HOLY SHIT. Yeah I’m pretty sure I’ve blogged about the Zoomer, it’s a “naked” scooter that I’ve always been into from a visual perspective, and one I’ve even written to Honda Australia about (to beg them to bring it in!). I am perhaps the only guy that takes a photo of the Zoomer at Deus every single time I go in there (they are the only guys in Australia compliancing them) but at $3500-4k ride away I couldn’t justify it, until now.

Paul’s “for me” price was too good to refuse considering he paid top dollar for one from Deus, then spent another $3-4k modifying it to go faster and look nicer (he even went as far as extending the wheelbase with a long frame kit). I didn’t even try to low ball him (ok, well I did a little only to realise that it wasn’t fair) so his Zoomer is all mine once I cough up the cash.

Yeah its no motorbike. No gears and you don’t “straddle” the bike (instead you kinda sit on it like a lounge chair), but it’s not going to explode as it’s got that Honda reliability (unlike the China made Sachs) and it looks cool (to me that is!) and it fits in nicely with JDMST, not to mention I’m most likely going to have a lot of fun modifying it and being a part of the large International Zoomer/Ruckus community (as for how it rides, well, we’ll see).

Enough spamming from me. I’m excited (but nervous about this new potential money pit). More Zoomer updates as they come! :)

Posted in Bike, Cars | 7 Comments