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
The Corolla Is Back!
I’m very happy to be writing this right now as I have not driven my Corolla since I completely obliterated my clutch at the Queensland 24 Hour Matsuri. Having been very busy with the magazine as well as work and university I simply have not had the money to buy a new clutch nor the time to source out the larger 212mm flywheel that I wanted to run. With a large thanks to Andrew from Kudos Motorsport I was able to promptly order in a brand new Exedy clutch, but this was only half of my problem sorted.
Camera Geeking | Telephoto Lenses
Being a passionate photographer is very hard sometimes. Many of you reading this would know the prices that you can pay for good quality gear, not to mention the financial stress that already comes with a drifter’s budget. With that in mind the strategy for me has quite often been to make sure that money is well spent. For the past few months I have been very painfully saving for a new Camera, however I have come to the conclusion that it will be a far better choice to buy a new telephoto lens; a 70-200mm f/2.8. With that in mind, as well as the fact I have had no new photos for you guys of my Corolla lately, I thought I would show you some photos I took a few years back when I borrowed the exact lens from a friend.
Performance Imports Shoot | Behind The Scenes
When I first started playing around with cars my biggest aspiration was to build something worthy of being in a magazine. I would flick through publications like High Performance Imports, Zoom and yes, sometimes even Hot4′s and wish that I had the skill and dedication to achieve what these car owners had. I would look up to these people, but never did I think I would eventually find myself in the same position.
Last year my dream came true. I was given this validation that I so desired in the form of a photo shoot for Performance Imports. As I’m sure some of you reading this will have seen the feature in PI as well as in Retro Auto I thought it would be nice to share some of my behind the scenes shots from the photo shoot.
Retrospective | 4AGZE Build
Searching though many of my past images over the last few weeks it occurred to me that it has been over two years since I placed my 4agze into my Corolla. Considering this was the second engine conversion I had done on the car it was mind boggling to realise how quickly time had passed. I thought it would be fitting to show some of the images I took while the work was taking place all those years ago.
Our Common Enemy
If a common enemy had to be named among automotive enthusiasts, then surely rust would take the majority vote. Regardless of the geographical origin, drivetrain orientation, or the badge of the car, our mutual fear of this dormant threat unites us.
Automotive Photography Awards – Audi
Hey Guys, Check out my second photo I have submitted to the Automotive Photography Awards. I was quite hesitant at first to submit this image because I felt my original image was stronger, however I am very glad that I did.
Check it out here and like it on Facebook for us too!
http://automotivephotographyawards.com/portfolio/grant-scott-2/
- Grant
Automotive Photography Awards
I have just found out about the Automotive Photography Awards tonight and have decided to re-tweak this image of Luke Fink that I took at the recent Round 2 of the Australian Drifting GP. The image will hopefully be up in a day or two, so check it out and wish me luck!
Have a look in the gallery to check out all the other entrants: http://automotivephotographyawards.com/gallery/
- Grant
Queensland Raceway 24 Hour Drift Matsuri | Josh Dobrik
Continuing on with our coverage of Queensland’s first ever 24-hour drift Matsuri.
