GT86 – Gripshiftslide

Toyota :: Festival of 86 '14

Grant — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 11:36:30 +0000

How many of you have purchased a new car and been invited to a yearly event to celebrate that new car? Never. Well that’s what happens when you purchase a car from Toyota Australia! Now we hear you, they don’t make this sort of song and dance about every Toyota that rolls off the showroom floor right? Well the mighty Toyota 86 is no ordinary car.
The 86 is inspired directly by the cult classic AE86 Corolla, that first appeared in 1983. This original car truly captured fans both extreme and casual with it’s nimble handling, RWD configuration and lightweight body. 30 years ago it broke free from the shackles of the ‘Corolla’ family name and was celebrated the world over. Production ended in 1987 and the Corolla then became the economy FWD hatchback we know today.
Toyota rekindled this flame and brought us the 86! Like the original, we see RWD return along with a very well constructed chassis with enough power to move it around a corner or three.
Now in it’s second year of production, it was time to celebrate and that means one massive party called Festival of 86!!

Toyota quickly discovered that good looking/handling cars come and go and fans do too unless you acknowledge and support them as a community. Toyota Australia are still finding their feet when it comes to a car like the 86, but everything we’ve seen them put their time and money into has been head and shoulders over the other manufactures in this country. With events like the Festival of the 86 to supporting one of Australia’s best drifters and letting them take an angle grinder to their creation, Toyota have well and truly helped cement the 86 as a ‘must have’ car for enthusiasts young and old.

This years Festival of 86 was again held in Sydney, but this time with the stunning backdrop of the White Bay Cruise Terminal. Don’t be fooled, Toyota weren’t in it just to push their latest product as the venue was littered with classic AE86’s everywhere!

You can’t look to the future without acknowledging your past, and when the past looks this good, who can blame you?!

86 owners were invited from all over the country to show off their pride and joy.

We love hunting out all the little touches owners have been adding to their cars, making the 86 a blank canvas for all tuners and enthusiasts alike.

This is the absolute picture perfect example of the original hatchback. Two tone paint, Watanabe wheels and JDM pop up headlights.

Who doesn’t love this face?

While the 86’s filled up outside, we headed indoors for all of Toyota’s displays and a visit from some special guests.

Between us and the doors, we found Sydney based Tunehouse Racing’s 86. Fresh from the World Time Attack Challenge, this car not only looks great but goes like a Zyrtec! This was the fastest 86 with a lap time of 1:42.8530 in the club sprint class.

Inside 86 owners gathered for some words from some of Australia’s top level drivers about their own experiences with the Toyota 86.

Neil Bates and Beau Yates are no strangers to high performance Toyota’s, Neil has won countless rally championships behind the wheel of various Toyota’s including both Corolla’s and the Celica GT-Four.
Neil drives around town in his own personal turbo charged 86 featuring the same two tone white/black paint made famous from the Japanese anime Initial D.

Beau is known for not only his skills drifting, but also his meticulously built and maintained drift AE86. His original car was built with backing from TRD and featured a 3 litre beams motor.
Flash forward and Beau is now competing in a ground up drift built turbo 86 with support from Toyota Australia. Beau has spent the last 12 months tuning and perfecting the car and has been very competitive in recent months.

The man behind the car, for the second year in a row Toyota Australia flew Tetsuya Tada in from Japan. Tada San is the chief engineer responsible for building the car we all know as the 86.
He loves meeting the fans and seeing how people have taken his creation and adapted, changed and of course enjoyed it!!

After queuing up for a chance to meet the man himself we began checking out all the high quality builds inside. Garage 88’s 86 is the perfect blend of performance and street car.

Beau’s purpose built drift car, it’s hard to believe this was just a stock standard car fresh off the showroom floor a little over a year ago.

The engine bay is filled with custom built goodies from the team at Hypertune – the same team helped build Beau’s original 86 so it was a no-brainer to get them on board for his new project.

A lot of 86’s have been given the Rocket Bunny treatment but not many pull it off as well as Beau’s drift car. The huge rear arches sit so well against the angry looking taillights and we just love that rear wing!

Our favourite street 86 of the event? This black number on Work XSA-04C wheels was beautifully executed! The duckbill wing and lip kit flows perfectly with the factory lines in black.

We were really blown away to see what the festival had become since the first event last year, check out our coverage here.

Motivational 86. We’re always fans of what the team from Cars For Hope do. If you’ve ever suffered from depression you’re not alone, jump on their site and connect with people who have fought the same battles.
http://carsforhope.com.au/

Back out in the sun we enjoyed our last walk through the car park, taking in all the Toyota goodness that was on display.

It’s great to see a retro racer untouched from 30 years ago. There’s something so nostalgic about old race car livery and all the brand logos.

Panda’s as far as the eye can see!

The coupe is quite the rare sight here in Australia. We were fortunate enough to receive the hatchback as a locally delivered model.

We have to admit the smooth looks of the Trueno pop up headlights are our favourite of the original 86’s.

More Watanbe’s!!! This is definitely the wheel of choice amongst AE86 owners.

New 86 owners seem to opt for anything from the Rays or Work Wheels catalouge, that’s not a bad thing at all!

It’s not all about super lows, this white 86 was flexing it’s muscles atop a set of Ray TE37’s wrapped in some super sticky rubber!!

Some owners really got into the festival!

Everywhere we looked we spotted a new lip kit or spoiler but we have not idea how owners keep up with it all. There’s literally too much to choose from!!

What a show! We were wrapped to once again be invited back by Toyota to enjoy the festivities of the 86’s 2nd birthday.
The 86 has proved it won’t be disappearing anytime soon with the this much support from fans, tuners and of course the manufacture! We can’t wait to see what Toyota have up their sleeve for updates and new models on the horizon.
Thanks for reading and till next year, happy Birthday 86! #festivalof86
– Gwyn.
Photos courtesy of Roberto Mocchetti | Full Motion Photography

From The Vault :: 86 Mega Meet

Grant — Sun, 09 Nov 2014 11:37:16 +0000

Here at GSS we attend A LOT of events around our full time jobs and sometimes life can get in the way for our two man team. So we will be bringing you a series of posts titled “From The Vault”. Each post will be an event or feature we’ve been meaning to post up but just never found the time.

Our first entry in the series, is from the very first Mega Meet of the 86 Club of Australia. It was held at Sandown Raceway Melbourne late last year. Coincidence has it, this week we’ll be celebrating the 86’s second birthday with Toyota Australia and the #festival of 86, keep your eyes peeled for that later this week…

Toyota fans from around the state flocked to the racetrack for a show & shine event run by the 86 Club and Pedders Racing, to celebrate the 86’s first birthday.
We attended a special event hosted by Toyota Australia a month earlier and enjoyed throwing the little coupe around a closed track. See it here.

We arrived bright and early to catch a quick briefing for all the attendees.

This wasn’t just a static show, the 86 club had organised a parade lap around the racetrack. All the drivers had to be to aware of the strict noise restrictions at this particular course.

With the clock ticking away, the cars lined up on the dummy grid ready for a 9am start.

With the noise limits in place, Matt Russell’s drift AE86 could not be started so it was pushed into place on the dummy grid.

With all the cars in position it was time for a few photos.

With so many 86’s to fit in the one photo some people needed some extra height.

There were smiles all round that morning – it is great to see such an active car club these days. A big thank you goes out to all the sponsors. Shannons Nationals, Pedders Racing, Import Monster and Martini Racing.

Already we were picking out a few favorites in the crowd, the Martini Racing 86 looked great covered in Charge Speed goodies. It’s crazy to think this car was completely stock on a show room floor just months earlier.

Pedders Racing brought down their race 86 to take part in the parade lap.

Once the clock hit 9am all the cars started up and took off, and while it was just a parade lap there was still plenty of spirited driving down the straight.

The Charge Speed kit looked even better flying down the straight.

After the lap the cars were arranged for the show.

Wheels and lip kits seem to be the first modification for most 86 owners and we spotted so many different lip kits. It’s nice to see the tuner market alive and well again.

It’s still hard to go past the original 86, the mighty little hatchback has really pushed the limits of being a classed as a “cult” car. It’s popularity worldwide is unbelievable now.

Definitely not what you think of when someone mentions a Toyota Corolla. This Tureno was an instant favorite of ours.

We found a few 86’s adorning some carbon accessories.

It’s not just lip kits, there was even a Rocket Bunny kitted GT86. This is the most extreme kit available so far, with huge fender flares and pot rivets as far as the eye can see.

Matt’s Russell’s drift car proved to be a crowd favorite. We loved the 80’s decals that have been added to make the little hatch more appealing for mainstream drift competitions.

Inside Matt’s office, simple but effective. Nardi wheel, seats and some sheet metal. Perfect!

Some of the boys explaining the difference between cars and women.

One of the most popular wheel choice among 86 owners, TE37 SL edition. These things are everywhere!

Some times it’s best to keep it as simple as possible. Bone stock dropped on a set of SSR MS1. An absolutely beautiful combo on the little white Toyota.

Orders from dealerships are still taking months to fulfill and it’s easy to see why when they look this good. We think the old saying about hotcakes will be changed to “They sell like 86’s!!”.

While everyone was busy getting their sausage sizzle on at the BBQ, we hand picked a few cars for some detailed shots.

First up – the Martini Racing 86. Wearing a full Charge Speed wide body kit and sporting some AP racing brakes and an Amuse exhaust too.

The club had local model Amanda stop by for some of the photos.

We couldn’t complain and began snapping away.

She had a lot of fun climbing in and out of all the bucket seats that’s for sure.

Cheeky… Smile!

We’ve seen plenty of examples of the Toyota Factory Aero Kit but none sit as well as this white GTS model.

Something about the slightly off white makes this factory kit work so well here.

Watch out boys, Miss 86 is showing you how it’s done! Simple lip kit and smoked fog lights do wonders to contrast the red paint.

XXR 527 wheels work quite well here and wheel nuts match the burnt titanium tip of the HKS exhaust poking out from behind the rear bumper.

Historic AE86 racer, check out that build number!!! The petrol filler in the boot wing is a very cool touch too.

Everything exactly as it raced more than 20 years ago. All untouched.

Plenty of scaffolding in the back to keep things safe.

This two-tone Trueno had our necks snapping when it rolled in. We loved everything about this period correct combo.

Single bride seat because who cares about passengers?!

The perfect amount of flare thanks to the body kit and the yellowish carbon bonnet sits nicely against the grey paint.

Up close and personal with Matt Russell’s drift machine.

The engine is of course absolute blasphemy… A Nissan SR20DET. Seeing how competitive this little underdog is out on the track, we couldn’t care less about the Frankenstein engine/car combo.

Everything about the styling screams “Back to the eighty’s”. Shockworks have jumped on board as major sponsor and you should check them out for your coilover needs. These guys are engineering wizards when it comes to comfort and performance!

Our favorite colour on 86’s both old and new. White!!

Initial D fan boys here… Akina, touge and tofu.

Amanda found a spare hat in this car and helped herself to it.

Some of the best club merch we’ve seen. Get on it!

Two good reasons to buy a Toyota 86… Cool merchandise and club meets.

Our pick of the entire event? This metallic red AE86!

Gorgeous from every angle and painstakingly maintained… This is a very loved car!!

Some of the Pedders family, proud as punch in the middle of their car show.

Here’s two of the event organisers with Amanda, showing not only that they can get a bunch of cars together for a show but they can also work it in front of the camera too!
Hats off to the great people behind this community, showing all other groups how it’s done.
We’ve thoroughly enjoyed looking back at this day and can’t wait to unlock some more stories from the vault for you all soon.
Thanks for reading,
Gwyn.
P.S. If you want to check out the next mega meet it’s happening in Melbourne again on the 7th of December. Follow the link for more details. Click here.