Car Park – Gripshiftslide

MCM mini meet #25 :: Docklands Undercover

Grant — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 12:56:20 +0000

It’s been a while since we have attended such a big car meet! Held in docklands Victoria, in a spot where only three years ago the police blocked off the road, car park and all exits to create a massive defect station. Thankfully that did not happen this time around.

It wasn’t only humans in attendance! there were at least five k9’s that we know of including this husky! I arrived early to beat the traffic not knowing exactly how big this meet was going to get.

At first it was raining lightly and I thought this may stop many from bringing out their pride and joy. Regardless the cars started to stream in like its was boxing day sales.

Most creative exhaust award goes to this little Nissan micra! unfortunately it didn’t sound like star’s not that I know what stars sound like!

This has to be one of the best combo’s I have seen on this model of Celica ..period. The wheels work well and the ride height is spot on!

A lot of attendees drove straight past the meet point opting to park outside the area just in case the boys in blue turned up. Luckily there was no trouble and everyone behaved themselves.

Amongst the sea of cars many were showing of their ability to ride static at dangerously low heights, the others that were riding on air came in low and scraping.

Suddenly a wild DeLorean appeared! iconic film cars are in hot demand right now but the DeLorean is one car that will never loose its luster.

These are no angel eyes, they are straight up devil eyes! happily sitting upon an aggressive set of Work Meisters.

An odd couple I found posing together was this WRX and its brother from another mother. Every so often I came across some cars posing in the spot light, waiting for admires.

With so many quality cars it was hard to know what to take a closer look at. Yet when this BMW rolled in everyone took notice! heads snapped so quick it was like a thunder clap.

There were so many nice cars on show that some super clean cars got ignored. I caught a few hiding between cars and people.

Look closely and you will see some interesting features on this R34. Custom LEDS built into the front bar, mirror and shaved lines combined to make this R34 one of a kind.

Vinyl warp is taking centre stage lately, this 86 was no exception. The brightness of this blue almost paralysed a few people! The way this vinyl refracted light was very impressive! to say the least.

I was very surprised to come across such a well modified WRX. With a serious hint of stance and nothing but quality parts decorating this sexy Subaru. It was hard to not be entranced by its beauty.

Tucked, sitting only millimetres off the ground. Dressed in white with a few hints of red and gold this show stopper continued to stun onlookers for hours.

The king of the streets! the mighty Nissan GTR. This car meet had more variety than a two dollar shop. With super-cars, classic cars, track cars and daily drivers what more could you ask for.

Not all the cars where lowered / modified. Some classic cars had entered under the radar. This VW beetle was super straight and in perfect original condition.

A throwback to late eighties touring car livery’s, this E30 was looking the part and turning some heads.

Another car that pulled a crowd was this super sexy RX7. As soon as it arrived people were climbing over each other to take a closer look.

Packed and ready to go? or just trying too look part of the scene? Regardless its an interesting approach to a style that has been creeping its way into the Melbourne euro groups lately.

With 4 levels full of cars there was a hell of a line to exit the car park. Only a consistent trail of brake lights could be seen for at least 30 thirty minutes while the crowd of cars left the huge car park. The Melbourne car meet group continues to build momentum whilst not compromising on quality. We hope this trend continues, it almost seems as thou MCM is a breeding ground for 100MM entrants and that’s ok in our book!

Japan Day 2 :: Daikoku Futo PA

Grant — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 09:32:31 +0000

After 36 hours in Japan we finally hit up some car action at none other than Daikoku Futo PA! This tiny car park in the middle of a man made island in the Yokohama harbor is a thing of legend. If you’re into Japanese cars chances are you’ve seen more than a few photos from this location. Here car owners from different walks of life all gather and soak up the experience that is Daikoku Futo any night of the week and during the day on weekends.

Staying in Yokohama meant the parking area was just 15 minutes from our hotel. So hurried back after dinner and set off on our adventure.

The very first sight we were greeted by as we drove down the long spiraling off ramp into the parking area. This ‘Tron’ looking BMW convertible that had light glowing from everywhere. We parked up and ran around like kids in a candy store.

I can’t explain the ‘fizzy’ feeling you get standing in this spot at night… The cars, the orange light and the sound of engines revving is just unlike any car meet at home. The scale of the freeway ramps that circle you create this theater filled with the sounds of cars entering and leaving the car park. It really is just massive!!

The amount of cars even on a quiet night like this was staggering, cars were coming and going all the time. It was impossible to keep up when shooting on a tripod.

These three where all friends.

We loved this bumper-less Crown. It was also refreshing to see a modified Crown after the sea of Japanese Taxi’s getting around Tokyo!

The wheels were on the smaller side for a car of this size bit it still looked great all together.

Our second night in Japan and we were already treated to the sight of a Hako Skyline.

It was beautiful!!

This matte green air-cooled Porsche was a very cool sight amongst all the domestic cars.

There was a small army of MX-5’s out in force.

I’ve only ever seen one or two cool looking MX-5’s together at home so it was awesome to see more than 5 at the same place.

This little dark green one was rocking some wide wheels on the rear. Photos don’t do it justice!

Our favorite MX-5 had to be this BN Sports kitted black number. The level of dish was high with this one!

There was a few Honda’s out and about too.

This little blue EG Civic was sitting stupidly low, it looked awesome from every angle.

The greatest Civic Type R in our eyes… The EK9. These things are just pure awesome!

Another Type R on the same TE 37 wheels.

Over in the corner some local bosozoku bikers were meeting and revving their bikes. When I got closer I realised they were playing songs. They had each made up their own song and began reciting them one after another simply using their engines.

This was one of the coolest aspects of the parking area, getting up close to these amazing machines/people I’ve heard so much about.

Old Suzuki’s and Honda’s seemed the bikes of choice and they all had their own personal touches.

Our personal favorite of the entire night had to be Kazuki’s flawless 86.

The subtle red glitter in the paintwork was beautiful. We were digging the mismatched wheels. Work Equips up front.

TE37V in the rear.

This is seriously one very cool street driven hachiroku!!

Not to far away we found some very nice looking Infiniti’s.

This FX was dropped on it’s airbag suspension while it was parked and had heaps of top end audio gear inside. The roof racks had a very cool flower wrap on them too.

The G-Series sedan was sitting low on a set of 3SDM 0.08 wheels.

These wheels looked the business gleaming away under the street lights.

As it turns out the Toyota Prius is one of the most modified cars in Japan, seriously every second one we saw had blacked out taillights, wheels and an exhaust. This one was a little bit different and certainly had a bigger budget then most sitting pretty atop a set of fifteen52 Tarmac wheels. This thing looked killer.

From big budget to low budget this ‘diy’ Legacy wagon would look at home at most grass root race events. The matte black paint and custom front splitter design along with the rear wing made for a menacing looking street car.

One of the few Supra’s we saw, this was definitely the more wild looking of the bunch. Check out the rear diffuser setup!!

The car park fell quiet for a short time, the silence was quickly interrupted by the unique burble of this Porsche arriving. The sound stuck out like a chip packet being opened in a church.

One for the rotary fans. This spotless white FD RX-7 was certainly worthy of a few photos.

The body kit seemed like a simple lip kit at first but became all the more extreme when you got closer. The rear diffuser alone was a work of carbon art!

A late and brief attendee was this Evo wagon, such a shame we don’t see more of these in Australia. I’ve only ever seen one in real life before this.

This Scion XB was pushing the camber out on the rear wheels, lots of character here. mismatched panels, rusted bonnet and stone chips galore. This was cool!

This tiny Suzuki Alto was just tucking these 14″ mesh wheels in the rear.

It had some patched up fender damage on the front from running so low around Tokyo’s streets.

Later in the evening another cool 86 arrived, this time a coupe!!

In the infamous two tonne black & white combination and on a set of Watanabe wheels… Perfect!

It doesn’t get much cooler than this, sitting behind an idling Toyota Sprinter in Yokohama.

There was truck loads of Toyota’s by this point. Check out the crazy fitment on this Crown.

This Chaser was in pristine condition and funnily enough had the loudest sub woofer I’ve heard on the street. It was ridiculous!!

It had a nice amount of dish too!

One of the toughest looking cars of the night had to be this black Nissan Cima.

The big chunky wheels set it off perfectly.

It’s hard to describe this car without using the word “gangster”…

Even more Toyota Crowns!! They’re literally everywhere here! We were about ready to call it a night before the police did it for us After a few too many cars got a bit loose when leaving the car park.

Then this arrived… The hero car of the night. a sky blue liberty Walk R35 GT-R.

The huge over fenders of the rocket bunny kit perfectly covered the massive rear wheels.

This thing was big!!

Seeing a car like this here in Japan was really a special moment for me, I stood still just enjoying it not even touching my camera for a few minutes before I felt the pain in my feet that comes from a 15 hour day of walking none stop.
So that was that we called it a night and headed back to our hotel.
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.

ADGP Round 1 :: Off The Track And In The Pits

Grant — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 02:53:17 +0000

Day two, round 1 of the Australian Drifting GP. This was the view i was greeted with 8am Sunday morning, not a single straight panel as far as the eye could see…

Nic Wilson’s Chaser was looking a little hurt from kissing the wall. Don’t worry, I’m sure it will buff out.

Even the pros had some battle scars. Nigel Petrie’s 180SX had this small scuff from taping the wall.

Luke Fink’s 200SX looked suspiciously clean after a day of qualifying, I think this reinforces his level of skill. He manged to score top spot for the first round of ADGP.

Pretty much the best looking drift car from the event – Ryan Cumming’s S13.5 was a stunner.

Round 1 offered some spectators a ‘VIP’ parking section inside the track, this made for easy hunting to find some special cars.
Like this Initial D inspired Toyota Sprinter.

Or this particularly rare Legnum, Mitsubishi’s answer to the Nissan Stagea. It’s pretty much an Evo wagon and I wouldn’t underestimate one at the traffic lights.

Bayside Blue R34. Does it get any better…? Oh it’s V-Spec too!

Nissan R30 Skyline hatchback… now this really is something you don’t see everyday.

This clean Nissan Cefiro looks like it came down from Sydney for the event.

And the award for the most intense looking car goes to this ‘angry wasp’ S15.

Love the fitment on this S14.

A very fresh looking R34 Skyline.

Purple S15 on Gold Volks, yes please!

One of my favorite cars in the local scene, Jawsh’s red 200SX is definitely one tough ride.

Mx5’s are increasingly popular here thanks to some overseas examples being shared across the internet.

This little red AE86 had a crowd the whole day, it was easy to see why looking under the bonnet…

It was packing this very tidy rotory engine. I wish I could have stuck around to hear it turn over.

Nice to see a few cars rocking some ‘GSS’ stickers, thanks for the support boys!

I’m a big fan of the twin pipe exhaust that everyone seems to be rocking these days. However I want some more extreme setups, like the bosozoku cars in Japan.

This Clean S15 looked simple enough, nice offset and mismatched wheels…

Check out the huge pipes coming out the back! This is the sort of crazy exhaust setups I want to see here in Australia.

This Sil80 had a crowd around it most of the day, the car had such a presence about it. It’s hard to believe it spends most of it’s time sliding around a track.

I was not expecting to see an old school caddy at a drift day, it made quite a scene when it started pumping the hydraulics.

Now there was a small amount of Honda’s around the event, like this VIP Accord Euro with black roof.

This is possibly one of the best CRX Del Sols in the country, simple and clean with 15″ mesh wheels.

And a 5 stud conversion… I was itching to see what was under the bonnet but never found the owner.

Also one of the best S2000’s was also at Calder Park over the weekend, wearing a Mugen Hardtop and Project Mu brakes. I was in love…

Perfect height and no gap to be seen.

This is the cleanest Silvia I think I have ever seen.

Mikey from Team Tuffcore, trying to steal the ETS Ute print signed by Nigel Petrie.

Tony B and the crew from Vic Drift were putting on quite a show, playing ‘pin the wing on the drift car’.

If you look closely in this pic, you can see Aaron from Stiffdiff.com.

Nigel’s partner Celia tried her luck, she got the wing in exactly the right spot!!! But it was upside down!

While the placement of the wing in this pic would still be functional for some extra down force, it didn’t get any prizes.

The Vic Drift boys did a great job pulling in the crowd and giving out prizes all day. The print of Nigel’s Ute was won during a massive game of ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ and about 30 people played that round.

Billie’s ‘Ziptie’ Sil80 still getting attention as everyone started to pack up and leave.

And finally my favorite car in the show stands was this R31 Skyline from De Croft Clothing. Perfect stance and little additions like the roof racks made this car stand out.

ADGP Round 1 was an awesome event, with the next round this weekend all eyes will be on Queensland Raceway.
The best of the best will be battling all weekend, with Luke Fink defending his top spot from the first round and Rob Whyte and Jake Jones competing as well.
Nigel Petrie is still a possible late entry as well, so it really will be the round to watch.
We will have full coverage of the weekend so check back to see the action here on Grip Shift Slide, and be sure to check out the ADGP website for more information.
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.

Random Snap :: MX5 = Unicorn Love?

Grant — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 01:26:50 +0000

Walking around the car park at a recent practice day at Winton, I found this sticker on a little MX5… Needless to say, I was lost for words. What did it mean?!!

Stickers aside, it was one clean car. A perfect example of what I think is quickly becoming a modern day classic.
Thanks for reading.
-Gwyn.

Around The Block :: Spectators Cars

Grant — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 10:10:02 +0000

Walking around the car park outside the Ken Block show was like walking into an internet forum, with so many of the cars/trends that we are so used to seeing on our computer screens all dropped on to an empty field together.

From the simply clean, like this KE70 Toyota Corolla.

To the outrageous! A Nissan Stagea sporting an R34 Skyline front end.

This Mitsubishi Evo was on the ‘function’ side of the fence, with no crazy offset and wearing its Cusco brace with pride.

However the trend in the car park seemed to be from the other side of the fence, ‘form’. With this Subaru’s flush stance and twin tone horns, it was maybe a little too clean for a rally bred AWD monster.

One of the cars that Subaru got right was this Liberty, tough and clean.

In a sea of Holdens, Fords and imports, this M3 BMW was flexing it’s muscles. I don’t think Australians give much credit to the quality and performance our European friends offer.

You might recognize this S14 from the last Vic Drift day at Winton, head over to our desktop section to grab a picture of this car doing what it does best.

A truly amazing car considering it is road registered and driven almost daily.

The R32 is coming back in strength, there seems to be heaps of mint examples cruising around the streets lately.

The plates say it all for this subtle R33 GTR.

I only counted 3 modified Honda’s in the entire car park… truly a shame. This clean s2000 made up for it though.

I’m surprised this intercooler is still attached considering it only sits 10cm off the ground.

Not everything was sports cars and crazy wheels, mini MP-V’s were out in force with a few good examples such as this Nissan Cube.

Hood ordainments, I miss them! They let you know that the car means business.

I wasn’t entirely sure what kind of car this was, a quick Google search soon revealed it was in fact a motorcycle. A Suzuki Boulevard M109R to be exact.

This 180SX was in need of a wash, dust aside it was sitting perfectly on some SSR Professors.

Series one 200SX’s have never really been a stand out car for me, this one was simple enough to catch my attention though and I happily snapped a few photos of it.

This R33 looked at home under these trees, almost like a postcard.

The owner of this Lexus GS400 has definitely been spending some time on the internet.

Nothing sets off a car better than a classic sticker-bomb!

If it was a facebook page, I’d like it.

This Toyota Chaser had seen better days, it was however wearing the most expensive shoes in the car park.

Rocking Gram Lights 57SXPROs up front and Work SP1s on the back, I’d like to think that I’ll be seeing this car on the track very soon.

This old school Soarer seems classier than the more recent examples, affectionately referred to as ‘sore-ass’.

If ever there is a day I have to drive a wagon, I hope it’s a Stagea. How good does this look!

The R32 Skyline, a modern day classic?

I think so.
It was a great show on Saturday and I hope those that made it enjoyed it as well, hopefully it wont be the last time we get to see Ken Block live.
Calder park was a fantastic venue and I really wish more events were held there, less than an hours drive from the Melbourne cbd it is a shame we don’t get to use it more.
Thanks for reading, see you guys at Drift GP in a few weeks!
– Gwyn and Grant