Living The 86 Dream
It’s not something that many of us get to experience as car enthusiasts, but there really is nothing like owning a brand new car. The new car smell, the texture of everything new and the feeling that you get from knowing that no one else has driven this car. One of our good friends, Cassian of the Midnight Mechanics, gained this experience this week when his brand new Toyota 86 arrived. We have been spending the afternoon taking photos of this beautiful thing to grace your computer screens, so there will be plenty of photos coming up in the next few days! E!CM
- Grant
The Dream 31?
It’s quite rare to see one of these cars in this day and age, particularly in this condition; a two door R31 GTS. I was lucky enough to be shown this beauty in the flesh by a friend of a friend recently which just happens to be sporting a rather tidy RB25DET install.
I might try organise a shoot of this some time if you guys would like to see more of it?
E!CM
Low & Slow | Caddy Style
It is always amazing to meet someone that is truly passionate about their car and the culture behind it. One such person that have I met recently is Milton Watkins; the owner of Caddy Daddy, as well as this very fine 1961 Cadillac De Ville.
Teaser | That Caddy
I know we have a few teasers here at Excitement! Car Magazine, but we do come through with the goods.
You guys will be seeing a lot more of this very classy Caddy in the next few days!
E!CM
Car Feature | Ant’s k11 Micra
For the past few months I have been popping in to Option1 for bits and pieces to fix my little Miata. In that time I have always found myself staring at Anthony’s funky 1995 Micra.
Sex, Money and Cocaine
…Is what I would imagine you would be quite proficient in if you ever owned a car like this. A couple of days ago I had the pleasure of shooting Lexus GS300 owned by my good friend Jayrad. These cars have been gaining an incredible amount of popularity in the last 12 months or so. I swore to myself a year ago while in Japan that this would be the sort of car I would buy when I wanted to become ‘responsible’. For people like Jayrad however, that term couldn’t be further from the truth.
Step Out in Style – Luke Knight
One of the first guys I met when I started heading to drift meets was Luke Knight. I had a bit of a chat with him that first night and then ran into him again out at QR in the following weeks and it’s safe to say that you can find him at a track somewhere tearing up tires at any given opportunity.
Car Feature | James Dean Drove A VW
It’s quite rare in our part of the world to find many groups of car enthusiasts that are not obsessed with either Japanese cars or Australian made cars. It’s even rarer at times to find people that are obsessed with European cars. For James Dean, his obsession lies within this Volkswagen Bora.
Out With The Ae86, In With The Ke70
Every so often things in life work out to bite me in the arse. A few weeks ago I was covering the car build of a very good friend of mine, Aaron Squires and his Ae86 Build. Despite only starting from only a shell this car was looking very promising, and while it still is, Aaron no longer owns it. Luckily for myself and especially for you guys, the ae86 is now owned by another good friend of mine; Beau Best, who swapped his 20v ke70 for the Ae86 shell. The ke70 you see before you however barely resembled itself only weeks ago. Both Aaron and Beau have been very busy over the past week sanding and prepping this ke70 in order to cover the previously army-green panels in a fresh white.
Teaser | 1600 Build
One of our editors, Courtney McColgan, has sent me through some awesome photos of her brother’s extensive Datsun 1600 build. I will leave the details for now and just let you see the pictures, but we will have a full feature for you guys hopefully in the coming weeks.
Is That A Beams In Your Pocket?
I recently caught up with Sam Futcher who is the owner of this rather cool little Ae86. Sam has been building this Ae86 a fair bit over 2011 and has brought it to its current state of appearance. Typically you might expect to find a 4age, an Sr20, maybe even a Ca18 (God forbid) under the bonnet of something like this… That would be the wrong expectation.
Mark Dunn’s Force-Fed Ke70
It’s amazing how much effort is being put into ke70 builds these days. Back in 2005 when they first started getting quite popular as a budget drift car it was unheard of spend more than a couple of hundred dollars on these things, let alone thousands. If you were to ask Mark Dunn about his 4agte ke70 he would undoubtedly assure you that his ke70 is still a budget build, but I can guarantee you that in the matter of months that he has owned it an impressive amount of time, effort and money has gone into this build.
Toyota FT 86 Feature… Kinda
Considering it is very unlikely that I will be anywhere near an FT 86 anytime soon I thought it might be nice to bring you guys a feature in a somewhat unconventional way. The design of the FT 86 was finalized as of late 2011 when Akio Toyoda drove a production prototype down the main straight of Fuji Speedway. With this release, Gran Turismo has brought out the Toyota 86 GT 12′ for all users to play in their latest update for GT5. It’s sounding as though we won’t be seeing the FT 86 for sale on Australian shores until 2013, but for now I will share this feature with you.
Excitement! Car Magazine | 2011 Wrap Up
Having only been in operation for half of the year, 2011 has been an incredible year for all of us at Excitement! Car Magazine!
In a very short time we have gained some very significant contributors who have been invaluable towards the success of the magazine. However, one of the greatest things that has helped us to point the magazine in the correct direction has been the feedback from you guys; the readers. We love to hear constructive criticism about the site so be sure to keep letting us know what you like and especially what you don’t like!
Subtle Stinger | Trents Mazda 3 MPS
Around three or four JDMST meets ago, Grant and I headed up in his AE71 to have a bit of a browse of the cars. Not expecting the night to be much more than that, we caught up with some cars on the drive home that were at the meet, one of which was Trent in this Mazda 3 MPS. When I noticed one of my friends in the passenger seat, being a typical gen y, I was on my phone to them straight away. With the topic of a touge run coming up quickly we then got onto some other friends and it was arranged. We didn’t have overly high expectations of the Mazda, but with open minds we headed up the pass. To our surprise, we could hardly keep on his tail! This is a seriously fast machine.
TEASER | Mazda 3 MPS Shoot
Just a quick teaser for a shoot that we have coming up from Nathan McKenna who you might know as that owner of the Purple 1200 Sunny. This Mazda 3 MPS has some very impressive specs, and believe me, having driven behind it on the way up the mountain it certainly gets the power down! You’ll find out all the info in the coming week, so be ready!
- Grant
Guest Feature | Walaki’s XTR Competition Chassis AE86
My name is Walaki from Hungary, and I have been a huge fan of the AE86 since I first saw them in Gran Turismo 3 back in 2001. Ever since then, I wanted to have one. When a friend of mine bought one, I was helping him a lot with the car. Then in January 2008 he moved back to the USA so I bought the Hachi from him.
After I bought the car I attended some minor drift and track days, meanwhile I repaired the smaller problems with friends. A panel beater repaired some rust and the rear arches on the body. I changed the OEM suspension to Tokico HTS shocks, Tanabe 8kg/mm springs on the front, TRD 5.7kg/mm to the rear. Over this time I did two 16v 4age swaps with small steps of performance increase before I installed the current 20V blacktop setup.
An Unlikely Predator: Gareth Simpson’s Safari-Spec Evo
This year I have been fortunate enough to attend all rounds of the ADGP and Track Battle Time Attack series. At every event, the presence of drifters has heavily outweighed that of the ‘time attackers’. Recently however, at the final round of the series in Perth, the time attack field was strong, with one contender in particular arising as the crowd favourite for the whole event, and for myself personally, the entire series. With that in mind, let’s take a safari around Gareth Simpson’s zebra Evo.
The Japanese Parts & Performance 180sx
In the automotive world it’s always amazing to see a car that has been a proven performer time and time again. The Japanese Parts & Performance 180sx is simply that. With its striking blood red paint, chrome JPP stickers and the super aggressive stance to match this car has one hell of an aura.
Midnight Mechanics | Cass’s Daily Datsun
Daily drivers are a necessary part of any drifter’s life. There seems to be three ways you can go about it; one way is to go practical and cheap so that maximum funding can go towards the track car. Another option is to purchase a larger car such as a 4wd that can tow the track car. Failing that you can do exactly what my good friend and fellow Midnight Mechanic, Cass has done; buy something that will be fun on the road as well as hopefully get you in less trouble than the track car would… Maybe.
Car Feature | The Older The School The Better
There is something very amazing about owning an old car over something brand new. Old cars have history; they have tales to tell that often are 30-40 years long. Old cars clunk, squeal and knock to the point of driving you insane but at the end of the day you walk away loving the feeling that is gained from them. When I first laid eyes on Hayden Crowe’s ke55 I was immediately in awe to the point that I wanted to buy one.
Car Feature | More Whine Than a Frenchman at Dinner
One of the things that I love so much about the 4agze motor is the noise that comes from them. It is like nothing else. There is that unmistakable 4age note coming from the exhaust, but the high pitched whine that the supercharger emits just leaves you speechless. Listening to Mereki Dawson power his baby blue 4agze powered ke70 through the Queensland Raceway Short Track left me in this exact state.
