BMW – Gripshiftslide

Amazon Prime :: The Grand Tour S2 Premiere

Grant — Tue, 12 Dec 2017 10:45:32 +0000

After a short flight to Sydney I found myself at a rather unique venue by the name of Carriage Works. Why had I flown from Melbourne? Well Amazon Prime was hosting a fancy premiere for the first episode of the brand new second season of The Grand Tour!

On arrival I was greeted with a large line of people all excited to finally see what the ex Top Gear crew had been filming over the last six months. The very first season of The Grand Tour debuted on the 18 November 2016 and ever since the boys have been very busy.

Plenty of cars had been placed on display for the hordes of Instagram starlets and competition winners to enjoy. The Lamborghini Aventador featured prominently around the venue. This was for good reason because the car was featured in the very first episode of the second season; the very episode that we were about to all watch. Yet the cars were not the only attraction at the Amazon Prime premiere with a green screen photo booth proving popular on the night.

As everyone entered the main building they were greeted with this striking red Lamborghini Aventador SV Roadster and this made quite a few people very excited! They ran up to the car as though they were a 2 year old ready for a trip to the playground!

A DJ with her very own GT booth was making sure that the old Carriage Works buildings were full of music. Among the crowd were a mix of Instagram celebrities, including ex The Block contestants, and a cohort of socialites and corporate types alike.

Sydney has deep culture of show cars and a large modified car scene. I would have loved to have seen some local tuner cars at the Amazon premiere in addition to a selection of cars from a luxury car dealership. Although the show focuses on new performance cars it also features the adventure part of The Grand Tour where they purchase old performance and luxury cars to tour the country in.

Having a re=creation of the very background set of the show was a really nice touch and helped give the premiere a distinct atmosphere.

The black sheep of the pack was this Mini. I’m not sure why they picked this as a display car apart from its British heritage. Having religiously watched Top Gear from its early episodes until its worldwide roll out and throughout its demise this show has the same old format.

It’s this format that has made the show successful but only with the correct hosts in place. Clarkson, Hammond and May have been the only hosts to make this show shine. Now with a new name and no old school TV producers saying no to all ideas the boys now have the freedom to create a new legacy in a new age of entertainment.

Amazon was really going for that red carpet feel! Bringing people close to the types of cars that they have been watching Clarkson, Hammond and May drive over the last few years.

Seeing so many supercars in one place felt like some kind of Abu Dhabi party. Amazon really did a great job putting the premiere all together.

Amazon spared no expense, making sure that The Grand Tour branding was everywhere throughout the event including the popcorn boxes!

Complete with raised seating this outdoor style cinema experience was a fresh and exciting way to display the premiere. A show that most would normally watch at home in their undies while yelling at a fluffy dog to stop barking!

The premiere started with an address from Jeremy Clarkson to the Australia Amazon Prime audience. This made me wonder how many countries he had to do a shout outs for. The Grand Tour season 2 episode 1 started after a short preview of the second season highlights.

The show was full of the same old antics. Clarkson was driving cars too hard and breaking them while May was busy letting us know why the car he was driving was the best of the bunch! Not to mention Hammond was driving one of the fastest electric cars the world has ever seen. I can’t say much more about the episode except the fact there is a shocking surprise towards the end of the show which was nail biting to say the least. A must watch episode for sure!

Want more? How about a 7-day trial with Amazon Prime to watch the show!
Follow the link below.
“The Grand Tour Season 2 is available on Amazon Prime Video at midnight GMT on December 8. Customers who are not already Amazon Prime Video members can sign up for a free 7-day trial at PrimeVideo.com.”
Thanks for reading,
Grant

Melbourne Car Meets :: Mini meet #8 Docklands

Grant — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 09:27:49 +0000

It’s a Wednesday night and there are two large car meets on. A decision had to be made. The choice was between a relativity new car groups meet or attend the car meet that is further away yet is older with a slightly larger following.

I knew making the decision to attend the Melbourne car meets : mini meet #8 was the right choice. Having been to a few of their events I knew there would be a decent sized crowd.

When it’s dark and raining nobody feels like leaving their house. To my surprise many people had made the effort to drive to Docklands to meet with some of Melbourne’s finest modified cars.

Like the crocodile, pop up headlights are a relic from the past. They are sharp, pointy and look freaking awesome but because of pedestrian protection laws this style of headlamp was taken from us. This makes me sad though we are lucky enough to still catch a glimpse of the humble pop up on our roads today.

A touch of Japan! No this is not a factory option. The owner must really love the JDM scene to do this to his engine bay.

Such a sweet combo! Love the straight pipes and wheel choice. This Corolla was one of the stand out cars for me as there are not many quality modified late model Corollas kicking around Melbourne.

The legendary s2k is truly one of the best NA RWD roadsters period. I cannot believe how affordable they have become recently. With so many young drivers buying these it’s hard to believe that this car was a $70k+ car.

Between the cars you could see groups of people converging through the underground car park. More and more cars started to arrive and soon the whole level was nearly entirely full of modified cars.

The new cars entering the level had to negate the crowds and this made finding a park even more difficult. Some people choose to turn up toward the end of the meet and missed some of the best cars.

Simplicity is often the key and this 86 is the perfect display of style over money. A huge height drop and subtle mods are all that are needed. With so many Toyota 86s on the roads keeping it clean is a better choice than cheap, oversized Commodore style wheels.

Mitsubishi Evo owners are known for being obsessive and meticulous, this example is no different. With a nice set of carbon add ons and many other mods this Mitsubishi is more than meets the eye.

Although the organisers of the meet had asked people not to pump their stereos and rev their engines it’s hard to stop such a thing when there is a big crowd. It adds to the atmosphere but it can also attract unwanted attention. It’s great to see the organisers are aware of this happening and took the preventative step of having a meet in the controlled environment.

I had spotted this little Charade a few weeks ago while I was driving. It was great to finally see it up close. The diversity of cars at this meet is a true testament to the modified community.

Fitment is a big issue in the scene. It’s hard to make it practical while also being functional. Suspension travel can be a real bitch! It’s hard to reach a happy medium with enough travel that your tires don’t get cut up and your spine is not shattering.

The CSL boot lid really makes this BMW stand out. It helps extend the curve of the car and gives it a slight racy feel.

One easy way of identifying the high class modified cars was the 100mm sticker. It is such a simple sticker that symbolises what the owner is inspired by and participates within.

It’s a shock to see a CRX without a bodykit! Keeping one of these standard is hard because there is just so much aftermarket Honda goodies on the market.

The amount of up and coming car groups in Melbourne is growing and over the years we have seen many groups fail and prosper. The one aspect that keeps good groups from falling apart is a loyal following.

This following can often turn into a bubble! When 500+ cars overtake car park the law is never far behind.

Keeping a good group of followers manageable is paramount to the success of a car group. Melbourne Car meets continues to kick goals and this meet was huge!

Even though you had to pay to get in to this meet, with steep ramps hard for lowered cars, this did not mater! Why? Because Melbourne Car meets are starting to set a precedent and it’s one that people are beginning to respect.

With well over 60+ cars on a rainy Wednesday night, and among competition hot on their heels, our friends at Melbourne Car Meets are really doing everything right. There are more car meets, shows, and other events planned by MCM. We will continue to follow their progress over this coming year.
Thank you for reading.
-Grant

StreetVision :: Big Ambitions

Grant — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 10:36:59 +0000

Street Vision’s Biggest JDM meet was planned well in advance. The group has been steadily building its fan base over the last six months and it was time to get the fans out and about. I arrived at Port Melbourne to find this amazing R34 GTR just siting in the shade among a variety of cars.

Could it be M power or just nice engine paint work? Either way it looks great! A small crowd gathered as the owner opened the hood and all you could hear was the gasp of air from the crowd as they admired this super clean engine bay.

With its subtle looks this Liberty is the perfect covert ‘go fast’ car and is sure not to attract the attention of the law. With a seriously dark tint and red highlights this is one tidy package.

Not your average 18 year old’s car! Not sure how they acquired this but one thing is for sure they had fun showing it off!

If you know your old Toyotas you will recognize this interior! Yep that’s right it’s the legendary Ta22 Celica. That short dash with sunken dials is so classic!

This Celica was even sporting a paint job that is so close to the original yellow that they were released in. Keeping a classic car is a big job especially if the car is over 30 years old! This is one true JDM car.

Not only were there heaps of cars in attendance but there was also a few Drift RC cars tearing up the bitumen. The smaller scale drift RC cars are really getting popular and these days it is very rare to see the old TT01 Tamiya that was once the most popular drift RC car.

I was very impressed by the wheel choice of this Impreza. It’s not often people get it right but hats off to the owner of this very well presented Subaru. Even though this is not the WRX it does look like one and still complies with the strict power restrictions that Victorian probationary licence holders have to adhere to.

A good variety of cars showed up for the meet and many that were not JDM! This is something that is now becoming a lot more acceptable. Bridging the gap between classes is something we as gripshiftslide tried very early on to promote with our own car shows and it is great to see the wider community continuing this trend.

It is not just stickerbombing that is catching on but also comic/ manga art is starting to make its way onto the scene. Mark my words you will see more of this cool collage work in the future.

This shape never gets old! It is hard to believe that the FD RX7 is now over ten years old and still looks this good. Mazda have plans to produce a successor to the RX7 which is due to hit the roads in 2014. We just hope it is as good and future proof as the FD RX7 was.

A crowd soon formed just to watch the new cars arriving. Many cars left in little groups but were soon replaced by bigger groups of cars.

You do not see many Corolla sportivos around as the popularity of this Corolla has declined. It is a hot hatch that often gets overlooked but one that has plenty of up and go and will chop the odd vtec.

There was a decent collection of Hondas that showed up including this tidy EK Civic. I like the fact this Civic hasn’t been ruined by cheap eBay parts and that its subtle skirts, spoiler and wheels make this Civic street worthy.

The MX5 is making a comeback; so many people are buying them up now it seems like everyone has one for a daily or a track car. This is one sexy MX5 with some seriously nice wheels and double spoiler action!

Here’s one JDM group with a sneaky euro intruder! There were a handful of euro cars scattered in the crowd, silently hiding and trying not to draw attention.

If you know your Hondas you will recognize this interior. Yes it’s the unmistakable S2000 interior! It’s very similar to the NSX interior but just a tad more modern.

It’s amazing that this car has now become affordable when once it was completely out of reach and only reserved for the semi wealthy. The S2000 is one car that looks great for its age and has to be one of the best convertibles made in the last 20 years.

Many cars came and went but not all of them stopped to stay and take part in the meet. A strange phenomenon happens at these car meets when a small crowd of cars develops yet no one waits around till it gets big enough to make waves.

Not much is needed to make a Nissan S15 look fantastic. Wheels, suspension, exhaust and a boost controller are all that is needed to make these cars a head turner. Out of the factory the car looks great but with these little changes the car becomes ultimately more sexy.

From here you can see the many different cars that turned out for the Street Vision meet including a wide variety of Hondas. These are the typical JDM car of choice being zippy, good handling with so many great after market parts. Why wouldn’t you have Honda?!

Here is a small selection of stickers seen on the day. It was great to see our sticker on may cars supporting Street Vision.

The KE70 has always been one of my favorites and a car that has steadily gained popularity over the years. This orange one caught my eye and the owner was nice enough to show me what was under the bonnet. Check out these trumpets hanging off the mean looking carburetors. This was one of my favorite cars of the day with its low and subtle looks.

Another great meet from Steet Vision With 5 times as many cars as their last meet! This huge JDM meet was great and we can see Street Vision becoming a bigger group in the future.
Thanks for reading,
Grant

BMW E30 RB30 :: Drift Frankenstein

Grant — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 07:19:57 +0000

One of the first items on my bucket list is a simple one, own an E46 M3 BMW.
Even after all these years, that lovely looking, highly enhanced body looks fantastic from all angles.
The bolstered chunky arches hinting at the performance hidden beneath the bulging bonnet and the four exhausts tips menacingly poking out from under the rear bar…
Oh sorry, I seem to have gotten a bit carried away there….
Before my love affair with the modern E46 BMW, I had a brief fling with the now classic 318i E30.
Granted it wasn’t a manual (although it was a convertible) the car felt correct. It felt taught, well constructed and just made me feel happy in general.
As I have grown older, cars have come and gone from my life but the little E30 has always held a special place in my heart.
So when the team from GSS contacted me with a bunch of photos and I just had to be involved and this is where Denis and his more than standard E3o BMW come in.

Now during the early 80’s, BMW released the E30 and this proved an interesting liberation to the market. Especially when compared to the earlier 320i model from the late 70’s, with the main deviation being a drastically lower price at a figure of around $26,000 AUD (give or take).
When comparing the E21 to the E30’s, you will notice that the styling underwent an almost evolutionary change, with the front grille angled less aggressively and the headlights almost flush. In a stark distinction to the bonnet of the E21, the E30’s now sloped more smoothly and the general shape of the car proved more soothing and well rounded, making for a sight that was easier on the eyes.
The interesting fact to note here is that BWM’s engineers were well aware that Mercedes were working on a competitor in the smaller luxury car market, so the E30 team focused their strengths and efforts on predominant Mercedes ideals, build quality and
reliability.

As highlighted above, whether or not Denis picked the 318i for the aforementioned qualities is anyones guess. Regardless, that doesn’t detract from the one standout point – that he has clearly had a goal in mind and that was to produce something BWM surely didn’t see coming.
The car was originally purchased with a blown M50 engine and so the first point of movement was to keep the shell and investigate the implementation of the well known RB25DET we see so much of today. But like one harsh mistress we are all accustomed to, the funds in the wishing-well soon dried up and plans sadly had to be abandoned.

It seems a common theme among car enthusiasts however and Denis was no exception, as his spirit was not broken. He utilised his new found love of drifting to feed his ongoing desire with the BWM build.
His attraction to the world of sliding was so strong that Denis made the heart-breaking decision to sacrifice his much cherished and immaculate gold VL Calais turbo (which he had built entirely from the ground up).                                                                               Now when I say he sacrificed the Calais, I am possibly portraying the wrong image, I should probably say he donated it.
The little BMW 318i was now the lucky recipient of running gear built to handle 300+RWKW’s… yep that’s interesting to say the least.

Now as many of you would obviously know, the RB30‘DET’ was not a motor directly produced by Nissan (unlike the RB30ET) however referring to a turbocharged engine using an RB30E short block with the
twin-cam head utilised from another RB series motor. In Australia we commonly see the RB25/30 or RB26/30 combination. What I personally love about the ‘dirty thirty’ is that it produces more torque, at lower revs due to its longer stroke and its power can far exceed that of an RB26DETT. Having said this, they lack the internal cast-in bracing of the 26.
But as you will see from the list of modifications we have from Denis, I’m quite clearly preaching to the choir on the RB30.

From the bottom up, this RB30ET is currently sporting a freshly built A6 bottom end on custom engine mounts mated to a Mx7 gearbox on custom box mounts, Exedy 5puk button clutch & a custom tail-shaft to a Kaaz 1.5way LSD differential.

It’s important to highlight here that Denis has gone through three, yes that’s correct three BMW differentials purely due to the power output!

The head is kept in place by an ARP head stud kit combined with a lumpier Rajab Racing cam and force fed its diet of air via a Rajab plenum, XF throttle body & Garrett 35/40 turbo on a standard manifold which has been modified to fit a Tial 44mm external gate (which makes a cheeky appearance in the bay).

The 3-inch intercooler keeps the charged air down while fuel delivery is completed by a set of Bosch 044 internal & external fuel pumps, Malpassi fuel regulator & 660cc Siemens injectors.
This current setup made 295rwkw’s on 20psi and all in a car that weighs probably as much as a shoe. Now it is just another car I can’t win against, awesome!

Now as cliché as it may sound, with great power comes great responsibility! So you might find yourself asking, how does he stop? Well that’s actually pretty easy.
Denis has undertaken a complete E36 5-stud conversion comprising of E36 brakes with Bilstein street coilovers. The front rollers are BBS RS copies and give measurements of 17×8.5 +20 stuck to Archilles street semi-slicks.                                                                  The rear rollers are set at 17×10 + 15. The finishing touches are in the interior, which consist of a self-made 8 point rollcage and Sparco sprint seats with Takata harnesses.

According to Denis this car is nowhere near finished. An impressive list of future plans has been outlined for your viewing pleasure and includes the following;
• RB25 head
• Custom intake on the same turbo setup
• Different wheels & coilovers
• Wisefab lock kit
• Full CAMS approved rollcage
• Late model E30 front end with Rieger lip and splitter
• Custom front guards + rivets on the rear guards
• More low + fat
• Full Sparco interior with harnesses
• Hydraulic handbrake
• Royal grip steering wheel + NRG quick release kit
• Fibreglass dash with custom gauges + switches.

So in summary we have a BMW on the outside, a Nissan heart on the inside, 300rwkw’s and an unshakable love of drifting.
Combined with the above mentioned future plans, this white rocket is sure to remain a contender amongst the track and street circuits of Melbourne.                                                                                                                                                                                                            It’s been a pleasure to be able to write about Denis’s pride and joy. The GSS Team and myself wish Denis all the best with his future goals.
Thanks for reading, Dave.
Photos courtesy of Gordie Zurovac | Overdrive Images
Additional photos: Brendan Dutton, Adrian Brinduse and Gwyn Morgan.
Words by David Steer.

Fed Square :: BMW Showcase

Grant — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 02:56:10 +0000

BMW Car Club of Victoria end of the month car club showcase at Federation square, with not only old BMW’s but new and well modified ones as well.
The city is the perfect backdrop for this type of event and always a great spectacle for passer by.

In Monte Carlo Blue, this M3 is one fine example of how BMW continually keep their designs fresh and relevant for today’s younger audience.

E30 Racer, complete with sponsorship, a rare thing these days especially for independent race teams, as most company’s do not want to sponsor race teams in this economic climate.

Such a clean and straight body, anyone could be forgiven for thinking this has just rolled out of a showroom.

The only (New Class 2002) BMW in attendance, reminds me of cool old-school 70’s movies.

You can see this car has seen its fair share of action with some cool battle scars to match.

A lot of time and effort goes into keeping these vehicles in top notch condition, these owners are not afraid to get dirty while making their car clean!

The extended bonnet look is a fashion i believe will come back in the near future.

Among the crowd a little m3 e30 stuck out and i had to get a closer look.

I have always wanted an E30, they are a great size and just so classic. It is good to see the P platters are snapping these up, and i hope to see more of these on the drift circuit soon.

The number plate says it all, this is a serious sports saloon.

Low on a nice set of wheels and unmolested, the way a BMW should be modified.

One of my favorites of this show was the older M5’s, large and classy with a style of their own.

Awesome Fitment on this classic M5, a bit of subtle stretch and stance goes a long way.

Why don’t all engine rocker covers look this good.

The club used the space well and were even allowed to use another space 50 meters away just near the main stairs.

Can you tell this car has seen some action in its time on the track.

So clean, love the white walls and the colour of this old beauty.

Wow this tow ring has been used! normally kids just put them on their cars for show!

A very rare car these days, last time i saw one of these i was 12 and it was at the motorshow.

Crazy supercharger! and in typical BMW fashion it wasn’t mounted that way you would normally see one, the fact they managed to squeeze all of this good gear in this engine bay is a true engineering feet.

Not only was it one of the standout cars but it had clean and flush fitment.

Engine porn!, yes i really would like to have an engine that looks like this and has the shine of a new engine.

A true Stanceworks fan! just another stunning example of how nice these cars still look is an absolute testament to the design of these vehicles.

The BMW club should be proud of the immaculate display and effort they have put in to arranging such a fine show of Victoria’s best BMW’S.
Look out for more shows at federation square at the end of every month Club showcase
Thanks for looking,
– Grant