Midnight Mechanics – 2012 Season
The last twelve months has absolutely blown by, but for us Midnight Mechanics it has been a year of unforgettable drift events. Our 2012 saw more track time together than any other year, and as such we have been getting quite the collection of footage from each of our events. I thought it would be suitable to do a compilation of all of our events from this year into one video. I’m looking forward to bringing you guys even more footage for the 2013 season. With both Jasons now running high strung 4agte setups, Cass’s ae86 coupe build and his current 20v Ae86 hatch along with my Sr20 ae71 build, we are really looking forward to ripping up the track even more so this year! E!CM
The Long Road To Matsuri – Midnight Mechanics
For 200 drifters in South-East Queensland the next two weeks will possibly be the busiest two weeks of their entire year. For the Midnight Mechanics drift team, there is no exception, and the roll will be called for all four of us on Saturday the 6th of October. Each and every one of us have a list of things we need to check, build and ready before this event as there will be no other track day this year that will put as much strain on our cars.
The Morning Session Experience
Filmed and Edited: Grant Scott Edited: Courtney McColgan
Ever thought about heading to a Queensland Raceway morning session, but struggling to find motivation for the early start? Well, having just come back from last week’s session, I can tell you that it’s so much fun, I’m already planning my next one.
Putting my GoPro to good use, I have created a video of myself and my good buddies Mereki Dawson (Blue ke70), Jason Murray (Red R31), and Nick Rombouts (Green S13) from our most recent track day. Watch it, and you’ll see for yourself what I mean when I say it truly defines the word FUN! Oh, and make sure you click the HD button to get the best viewing quality.
Remember, if you are thinking about getting out there and having a crack at drifting, a Queensland Raceway morning session is an ideal place to start. Now, stop thinking about it and get yourself out there!
E!CM
Queensland Raceway Winter Morning Session | Josh Dobrik
When it comes to seeing the most exciting drift cars in South-East Queensland at one single gathering it’s hard to look past a Queensland Raceway morning session. You need only take one look at perfectly crafted cars like Dylan Salmond’s freshly built s13.4 to spot why there is clearly no exception.
Morning Session Prep
It’s been quite rare for me to be making it to drift days over the last few years with work, uni and of course the fact that I often have to decide whether I would prefer to take photos or drift. Believe me it’s a tough decision sometimes!
Today I have been preparing for my next drift day that I will be attending on July 5th. Jason and I are both in dire need of tires for the event so being the one with a day off I decided to go tire shopping for us both. I was very excited today to be getting these new tires as the car is now for the first time sitting on all four Hayashi Streets wrapped in 185/55 profile tires. For those that don’t know my car personally it has previously been using 60 profile tires which several months ago I decided needed to be given the flick after seeing the C’s Garage ke70.
Anyway, I’m all set for tires now and cannot wait till July 5th.
Come at me Mereki!
E!CM
New Wallpapers | That Old Film Feeling
Here you go guys; I have added some new wallpapers for everyone to check out. I recently got my hands on some smooth Fujifilm Pro 160 NPS film so I thought what better way to try it out than on the Corolla and give you all some images to have!
Midnight Mechanics Morning Session
A bit of a Midnight Mechanics video for you guys today. I finally edited my GoPro footage from the March 9th Queensland Raceway Morning Session. I seriously love these events for the people that turn up and the time we get on track. I’m really happy with some of the tandems Jason and I go on the day, I can’t wait for us to get back out there asap!
E!CM
Turning Japanese
I bought the Corolla a small present this month because I felt bad that it won’t be seeing the road any more. It was an incredible fluke that I found these with the numbers 71-71; they are genuine plates from Naniwa, Osaka it would seem, so no plasticy knock-offs here!
I really haven’t spent anything on this car in the last three years except for the occasional pair of tires. Thankfully I will be finishing uni this year so I can get right back into drifting almost every month like I used to be able to afford to!
E!CM
Queensland Raceway Morning Session
I didn’t get any photos for you guys today at the Queensland Raceway Morning session as I was way too busy driving, but Josh Dobrik was also present and will have hopefully have some very cool shots coming up for guys in the next few days!
E!CM
I Hate Bog
Having had the Corolla painted for close to 4 years now it is a very long time since I have played with bog. To be honest, it feels like just that… playtime. Like I am slapping a lot of mud around and just making a mess. I’m progressively getting the panel to a smooth shape, but it still requires a lot more work (and a lot more bog). I’ve also had the fun experience of learning what primers shouldn’t be underneath the bog; which basically meant I had to start from scratch on some parts.
I’ll have some more updates for you guys in the coming weeks hopefully. I will also have a morning session at QR coming up next week, so I am trying to get the panel to a respectable state for that.
E!CM
Interview on Torque Radio Oz
I was very privileged earlier this week to be a guest on Torque Radio for a segment called Drift Torque. Simon Mercer and Dan Rasell are the hosts of the show and during the segment they interview drifters both Nationally and Internationally. The whole experience was unreal as I had never been on any form of radio before, but it was great to talk all things past, present and future to do with my drifting life and Excitement! Car Magazine.
Hammer Time
Now that I no longer have a daily driver that requires the same amount of attention as a new born child, I have found myself a hell of a lot more time to spend the car I want to work on. The Corolla has been in dire need of attention lately, particularly on the panel damage that I caused early last year.
This week I have been getting quite stuck into it, and as you can see there is still a fair way to go. Panel beating and painting of cars has never been my strong point, but it’s definitely not my first time doing it. I’m slowly going through the process of hammering out as many dents as I can before the large amounts of bog that previous graced this car are replaced.
I’ll be sure to keep you guys updated how it is looking.
E!CM
Off The Road
Well I have to say it has been a bit of an interesting week for me after our slider meet on Sunday. While I have always known it was only a matter of time before I would have to take the Corolla off the road, for my own reasons or otherwise, I never would have thought it would be under the particular circumstances.
I’m still a little upset from Sunday’s events, and as I have said not so much because my car is now off the road. It was always going to happen eventually and I have known that for a long time. The disappointing part is that under fairly innocent circumstances (riding of huffy sliders in a deserted, open to the public street) the police felt it necessary to corner us in and license/breath check/fine/defect each one of us as appropriate.
On a very positive side, despite all this I’m still going to Queensland Raceway this Friday night for drifting. I will just have to trailer it up. I’m looking forward to this as the last time I drove was at the QLD Matsuri. Hope to see you all there!
E!CM
What You Get For Sliding A Tricyle
Apparently in this day and age, sliding a tricycle in a deserted street is just as likely to get you defected and fined massively as if you were using children in a school zone as clipping points.
I would like to take this opportunity to comment on how incredibly defunct the policing system is in this day an age. I find it sickening how a group of people cannot ride a form of push bike in a deserted undeveloped residential area without being hassled.
SURELY, surely there is something more threatening going on other than a group of youths ‘terrorising’ a deserted street, in tricycles no less.
I would like to again personally thank the man who decided to call the police to state that we were “hooning”. You have done a great justice to your community, dear sir. Well done. I would implore you to maybe try asking us to leave next time. Maybe during the point when I was chatting to you, instead of just calling the police on us. Not every 24 year old in this day and age is on methamphetamines and ready to stab you at any given moment.
So what an eventful afternoon. For the simple act of populating an area and causing harm to no other, I now have to take my car off the road.
I am not the only one either. I would like to take this time to personally apologize to anyone that received a fine this afternoon. It is not right.
God help us in this world.
E!CM
Motivation, Finally!
So while I have been quite happy to sport the panel damage over the last couple of months since my wall hit at the Queensland Raceway short track, I had been severely lacking motivation to actually do anything about it.
For almost no reason at all other than I had a few spare hours to myself yesterday I decided it would be a good idea to start cutting back the collection of cracked paint, rust and copious amounts of bog in order to get a start on the panel work. It’s gonna say bare for a short time until I get another burst of motivation. Till then it will be looking straight, but rusty.
E!CM
Matsuri 2011 Riding Shotgun with Grant Scott
Have any of you wondered what it would be like to ride shotgun with Grant Scott?
The Daily Game
It’s funny how those of us who toil with track specific cars still insist on owning fun daily drivers. It’s like a disease that we can’t seem to shake. Despite the many years of owning my Corolla it has always been a must for me to own a daily that can make me grin from ear to ear. Even my last daily; an automatic MX73 Cressida with, get this, working air con had its kicks. Sounds boring right? Wrong. That grin still came from the chassis rails almost kissing the ground at a mere 25mm.
Locky G’s private track day in 35mm film
So I have finally got around to developing my roll of 100 TMAX from Locky’s private track day at QR’s short track.
All Corolla Shoot
A good friend of mine, Ryan Beall has come up with a pretty amazing idea just this week. We have a pretty huge range of diversity when it comes to ke70′s in Australia; Corollas with worked N/A 4a’s, 4agte’s, 4agze’s, 3sgte’s, 1uz’s, 13b’s, Sr20det’s… I have even seen a Camry v6 placed into a Corolla chassis. The list goes on. It would be pretty amazing to organize a photo shoot some time soon in South-East QLD to show all our readers this diversity.
What do you guys think, and are there any very out there ke70/ae71′s that you would like to nominate for the meet?
The shoot will be invite only to maximize the diversity of the cars, but lets have a big discussion on Facebook so we can work this out!
- Grant
It’s Quiet….
It’s that time of year where there isn’t much going on in the automotive world. Not many track days are organized around this time and everyone is still firmly gripping their wallets after Christmas. The plus side means though that there is ample time for doing those extra little bit of work on your track car that you either haven’t had time for or have just been too lazy. For myself lately, the latter has been my main cause. However there are a few things I want to get done on the Corolla while I still have the time.
What I want to know is; what have you got done over this time? What sort of improvements has your favorite toy received in the last two months?
Let us know what you have been up to on our Facebook page!
http://www.facebook.com/excitementcarmagazine
- Grant
Two Red Ae71′s
This this week I took a drive up to meet with Matt Sheather who was helping me out with some mod plate issues in my Corolla. Some of you may have seen his ae71 floating around as it looks very similar to mine, but with a very interesting difference. The first time I saw Matt’s car was up at a Queensland Raceway during a private day. Imagine seeing a very subtle red Corolla come out of corner two at QR. Now imagine this very same car accelerate up to mental speeds you wouldn’t have thought possible in a 1984 4 door sedan. I was mind blown.
Daily Driven
I rarely admit it, but I love my daily driver. Despite its many faults, it’s relatively comfortable, it has a decent head unit and it has bit of poke to keep me happy day to day. Best of all though, it’s clean and keeps me out of trouble. Unlike my Corolla.
What is your daily driver and what do you love about it the most?
Let us know on our Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/excitementcarmagazine
- Grant
New Wallpaper | Audi TT at WTAC
I have created a new wallpaper for you guys to download, so check it out in our WALLPAPER section!
This has got to be one of, if not my favorite photo I have taken in all time so I am very happy to hand it over to you guys to grace your monitors. Let me know what you think!
- Grant
New Clutch | Time for a run in
I’ve just recently picked myself up one of these GoPro Hero 2′s which I have seen some fantastic footage with. Check out the GoPro web site! As many of you will know I have just purchased a new clutch and flywheel for the Corolla as well so the other day I took the GoPro and the car for a bit of a test run.
I will be doing many many more videos on the track as well as hills (maybe when the weather is a little more dry). To get the best quality go to Vimeo so you can view it in HD!
Cheers Guys!
- Grant
