Getting That Drift Itch
There are always plenty of reasons that I tell myself I’m not out at the track shooting enough, and most of the time they’re pretty invalid; I really need to get out to the track to shoot events more often. BUT, if there is one valid excuse for not shooting enough it’s this piece of junk, which just so happens to be my pride and joy, shitbox it may be.
I’m slowly piecing everything together for the SR20det conversion, and there’s starting to be some light at the end of the tunnel. I’m currently at the point of having the complete driveline ie: engine/gearbox/tailshaft/E series Tarago diff all connected and complete which is a point I’m very happy to be at. My intercooler and radiator are all mounted and about to have all the cooler piping completed by a close friend. I have all the bits I need to set up the fuel system; Bosch 044 and surge tank and I’m just waiting on some fittings. Wiring is all plugged in and just need some small connections to be made. I also have my exhaust booked in on Monday to be constructed by Nathan from Fabulous Fabrications. Aside from minor bits and pieces the list of things that need to be done is getting shorter and shorter each day, so I’m very excited to hopefully be kicking this over in the next few weeks.
I’m getting that drift itch.
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
Changing of the Guard
What do you desire most in a car? Performance? Style? Pedigree? Perhaps, like many automotive enthusiasts, the want for a reliable and comfortable car throws the possibility for these options out the window. For my good friend Cassian Finnerty, and many other passionate AE86 owners like himself, the chance for all of this and more has become a reality with the arrival of the new Toyota 86.
Busy Times
Things have been fairly busy for myself lately, so I thought I would share my reasons why.
Still plenty of work to go, but I hope to have this thing kicking over within the next month.
Our Obession With Drift – The Queensland Raceway Matsuri
Matsuri was bright and intense, it was fun and exciting with old friends and new. It was chaotic and still calm with people everywhere doing many different things yet an attitude of cool soaking over the QR paddocks. There was so much going on and despite the 2 day schedule there was so little time. Everywhere you looked there was something happening, mates peeling out of sheds in groups to hit a track in trains, newer drivers easing into things on the skid pan, pro level cars flicking toward short track wall at unfathomable angles and speed. All of this, all the time. We didn’t need 24hrs, we needed 2 weeks to take all this in.
Words: Jason Murray Pictures: Grant Scott Edited: Grant Scott
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
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
Excitement! Car Magazine | Some BIG Changes!
As many of you guys will know, our goal here at Excitement! Car Magazine has been to bring you interesting daily content from automotive scenes around Australia and the World. Considering what we have is a very small team I am proud to say since we officially opened on October 7, 2011 we have succeeded in that.
While we would love to continue doing this we feel that the more interesting articles that we post (for example car features, track days & events) are being diluted by filler posts throughout the week that may not be as captivating.
We have decided that from now on we will regularly post every Friday at 7pm.
We will be reducing how often we post in an effort to ensure that every article will be of the highest quality!
Last time we received feedback from you guys we heard many more grassroots car features, builds and events.
We definitely plan to keep doing that, but we need your feedback again this time!
If you see only one post from us each week, what do you want to see?
We definitely want your constructive criticism as well! We need to know what works for you guys and what doesn’t.
So let us know whether you like the changes over the next few weeks, as well as what we can be doing to improve in the future!
Thanks everyone!
Grant Scott
E!CM
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
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.
Featured | Excitement! Car Magazine on Influencing.com.au
Over the last few weeks, Tim Lince, a journalist for Influencing.com.au has been interviewing me to discuss a feature of Excitement! Car Magazine. Influencing.com.au is a website that covers the latest Australia media and publishing news. They also feature for a large audience of PR professionals and fellow journalists. Several days ago I was very excited to be informed by Tim that the article has now been published.
Check out the article, and spread the word. I’m very proud to have this sort of recognition for Excitement! Car Magazine. The magazine would not be where it is today without the help of all of my contributors; Josh, Courtney, Henry, Sean, Nathan, Scott and Kory.
Thank you to you guys as well, the readers. Keep sharing the articles we send out, and make sure to like us on Facebook if you haven’t already.
As for us, we will keep trying to bring you everything Automotive that you love!
E!CM
Film | A Few More Rolls
I’ve just had four rolls of film developed today, so I have a few film shots to show you guys that I will spread over the next few weeks. Some from the CJSS meet back in 2011 and a few build shots of some cars that I have seen. But for now, enjoy this photo of Zak’s SR20 Volvo, Nathans 1200 ute and my ae71.
E!CM
Back From Melbourne
Apologies for the lack of content this week guys. I have just got back today from shooting a wedding in Melbourne which has had me fairly occupied for this entire week. I didn’t get much time to do any car related shoots, but I did manage to spy out a few very cool cars floating around the area. Possibly my favorite of all was this; a 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302.
I would very dearly love to do a photo shoot on one of these, so if you’re lucky enough to be rolling around in one of these things, drop me a line at grant@excitementcarmagazine.com
We have a few exciting things coming up for you in the next couple of weeks. Firstly the Streetkarnage slider meet is on this Sunday which I will be attending. There is also a Downshift Gymkhana happening the week after. On top of that I have a few photos of a new Ae86 project that a mate is working on. So sit tight!
So, who wants to see this photo as a wallpaper? Let me know!
E!CM
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
New Wallpaper | Two Red Ae71′s
I was very happy with this shot when I took it, and it certainly sounds like you guys like the photo as well. So I have decided to make it a wallpaper.
Jump over to the wallpaper section to get your full size widescreen and normal ratio wallpapers!
Let us know too what wallpapers you like the most, and what you would like to see as a wallpaper on our facebook; http://www.facebook.com/excitementcarmagazine
- 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
