Sydney – 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

WTAC 2014 :: International Visitors

Grant — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 11:51:53 +0000

Like any music festival, big name acts bring the fans in droves, especially international super stars. The World Time Attack Challenge is no different and when it comes to international guests, they’ve got you covered.
It’s no easy task to convince a race team to invest a large amount of money to send a car on a boat half way across the globe along with a small army of mechanics to go head to head with a bunch of locals who don’t want lose on their home turf.
Year after year, Ian and the team behind WTAC manage to top themselves and 2014 was the biggest field of overseas talent we’ve seen yet!

First up team America had two entries. Andrew Brilliant has now decided to keep his time attack Eclipse within Australia (originally from the USA). Having the car based here and help from GT Auto Garage his campaign for 2014 was his strongest yet.

Having won both 2009 & 2010 Super Lap Battle Limited FF titles Andrew is certainly no amateur! With the dream of being the fastest FF car at WTAC Andrew had his work cut out thanks to a little mouse that could…
Andrew’s biggest rival is none other than the QLD based Mighty Mouse CRX. With a time of 1:31.8430 the little Honda was still at much faster pace than the Eclipse this year. Not to take away from AMB Aero USA’s efforts as Andrew and the team managed to shave off a staggering 5 seconds from their previous year!!

The car has undergone many changes since 2013 but the biggest change this year has been a new Haltech ECU and Jack LeBrocq behind the wheel. The team finished with 1:35.7200 around Sydney Motorsport Park.

The second entry for Team USA, ARK Design R32 Skyline and some say this car is cursed. Two years ago at it’s first WTAC, the car was accidentally shipped to China missing the competition completely. The team took a year off, rebuilt the car from the ground up and set course for Sydney once again. This time the arrived with plenty of time to add finishing touches in prepping the car…

This is where it all began to fall apart for the ARK Design team with multiple mechanical failures and then serious issues with the ECU. It was all over for the team even before the first day of competition… The R32 limped around the track for two sessions but did not manage a timed lap. We’re hoping this just makes Team USA push harder for 2015, as we haven’t seen two teams really go head to head for the fastest lap since Sierra Sierra vs Cyber Evo in 2011.

Now from the motherland, the biggest heavy hitters in WTAC history. HKS and Top Secret, two of Japans largest tuning names brought the fight in the form of two wild R35 Nissan GTR’s

The HKS GTR piloted by Nob Taniguchi really was one of the stand outs of the entire event. With ‘out of this world’ looks, the green headlights remind us of an angry alien/insect.

HKS’ direct competitor in the GTR shoot out, Tarzan Yamada in the Top Secret R35. We found ourselves pinching our arms while gazing at these legendary machines.

These were real hero cars and nothing was more exciting than watching these two giants battle it out in the fading light on Saturday.

Once the sun dipped out of sight, these guys really started pushing hard. HKS took the win nearly a full second in front with a time of just 1:30.8380!!

Tarzan certainly gave it all he could in the Top Secret GTR finishing on 1:31.7250. You can’t say he didn’t try.

Another entry from Japan and no stranger to WTAC, the Top Fuel S2000 was back again for another shot at glory. Nob Tanaguchi was also driving the S2000 for a second year, with plenty of seat time between this car and the HKS GTR Nob was certainly dealt with plenty of track time to get things right.

Pro class is where all the time attack monsters reside, Top Fuel has dealt with pressure like this before yet with the most competitive field ever seen at the world time attack challenge this would not be an easy task for Nob.
This year Top Fuel was sporting a new aero package designed by Voltex Racing to help win the fight. But was it enough?

They were faster this year but the team missed out on a podium finish by just over a second. Over the last 3 years they have continually improved in time and in speed. Sadly the rest of the competitors have also improved! The car did suffer a few issues over the weekend and we have to wonder if the car had more to give. Looks like we will have to wait for next year.

Nob locked the s2000 in 4th place with a respectable time of just 1:26.8700.

With a name like Kyushu-Danji, you can only guess that this team is also from Japan! The immaculate BNR34 Skyline GT-R snapped necks for all that dared to lay eyes on this albino Godzilla.

Hot off the heels from fast time around Tsukuba Circuit, Kyushu-Danji was here to set records! With a car that just screams race ready and a driving style that resembles Nigel Manson!

Driver Miyata Sumihiko pushed the r34 to its limits setting a time of 1:31.6856 taking 3rd in his class.

Another return entry, the beautiful RE Amemiya RX7. The ex-autosalon demo car turned serious time attack competitor has quickly become a crowd favorite.

This year in the drivers seat was none other than Japanese racing legend Max Orido!!!

Max is considered racing royalty and featured in many tuning video’s since the 1990’s making him quite the celebrity amongst Japanese tuning enthusiasts.
Max planted his right foot and steered the RX7 to it’s fastest time yet at just 1:27.3410!!

If WTAC had a public face it would be this man, Suzuki Under has been competing for 4 years now and has become the absolute crowd favorite and under dog of the event.

Committed is one way to describe Under Suzuki, we have watched his personal creation the “Scorch Racing” S15 transform over the last 4 years with more carbon fibre and aero development than the united states air force.

While he has received a little help along the way Under is still predominantly a privateer entry in the event, no one wants the win more then Under.

This year he pushed harder than ever before and it wasn’t until the final dusk session when the track was at it’s coolest that he managed his best time ever… All with no headlights!!

Under finished 2nd with a blistering 1:24.8800!!! While over the moon with his win, he has said he will not rest until he is number one!! We cannot wait for 2015!

So when the main attractions are the fastest tuned cars in the world what do you do for entertainment between sessions?? Bring a piece of motoring history to the fans of course, the infamous Mazda 767B Le Mans car! The sound is like nothing else 4 rotors of ear shredding glory!!

To see a classic Le Mans car on track was incredible! It is great to know this isn’t just collecting dust in someones garage and still being used to bring joy to the world. The owner/driver was so excited to be sharing his prized possession with the fans, so much so that he was only meant to complete 3-5 laps but instead continued for almost 10!

From seeing this as a matchbox car in our childhood, to seeing it in reality, there are no words to explain how amazing this piece of machinery really is. Everywhere it went the crowd followed! This year Mazda was one of the major sponsors of WTAC 2014 so along with the 787B they also had a good collection of historical and influential Mazda’s both on and off the track.

If the sound of quad rotor wasn’t enough to keep you on the edge of your seat during lunch than some freestyle motorkhana driving from NZ based Alex Kelsey and his V6 powered Peugeot was sure to get the blood pumping.

This car is as custom built as they come. Starting out in a similar fashion to Nigel Petire’s drift ute. Alex’s Peugeot started out life in tiny garage.

The angry little Peugeot features a hand-built Renault Sport V6 engine and spits flames like no tomorrow. What is it with cars from New Zealand shooting flames?!
We would like to thank all our internationally guests for their continued support of our home grown series and again to the whole team behind the World Time Attack Challenge. The greatest event on the Calendar!!
Stay tuned for even more post WTAC goodness.
Until than, full results here.
Thanks for reading,
– Grant.

WTAC '14 :: Fresh Off The Boat

Grant — Mon, 13 Oct 2014 12:36:57 +0000

The 2014 chapter of the world time attack challenge is just 4 days away as we type this, months of careful preparation, shipping and planning is starting to pay off.
The hero cars from the motherland have arrived with just days to spare. All year we have been teased with snippets and photos of some of these cars and now they’re finally on our shores.
We couldn’t wait to get down and see these beautiful machines in the flesh!

These are the real deal, poster cars from any Japanese car lovers wall. The tuning gods of Japan have sent over their finest for an all out GTR battle.

These sort of aero mods help slow cars knock milliseconds off their track times, we can’t wait to see what they’ll do to an R35!

HKS have not yet had a racing entry at WTAC, they sent over their infamous red Evo purely as a static display. Now fans will really get to see what the land of the rising sun has to offer.

Scorch racing has gone from strength to strength now in it’s 3rd year of the WTAC series, still predominately a privateer entry/driver with a little help from sponsors.

Under Suzuki has hand built one of the wildest time attack cars on the planet, with blistering fast track times normally reserved for all wheel drive applications this really is a testament to what can be achieved if you’re as determined as Suzuki San.

Rocket bunny everything!!! Formally of Ben Sopra fame this over the top 180SX is now in the hands of Japanese drifter Daisuke Hasegawa. The look of this car is tame compared to what lies beneath… A HKS built VR38DETT lifted from an R35 GTR!!

Speaking of Rocket Bunny, check out kiwi drifter Mad Mike’s new look.

The car has gone through yet another massive makeover in time for it’s 3rd ever WTAC event.

Mad Mike Whiddet is not know for being quiet and reserved, this car is as loud as it looks. Mike definitely has volume knob on 11 for this one.

Same same but different, another rotary powered beast that will have the crowds on their feet with their fingers in their ears.

Ex- Le Mans racer, the legendary Mazda 767B.

This is as pure as the come, the sounds that exit the exhaust are said to be sweeter than the harp of an angel.

They don’t hit much harder than this… Max Orido, Team RS*R and a 1000 horse power Nissan V6. This is every Option DVD viewers dream live in Sydney Australia!

Some of the local talent came to check out the competition.

HKS!!! We’re going to be pinching ourselves every time this GTR flies past just to make sure we aren’t dreaming.

This must be what it’s like if you watched your parent’s wrap your Christmas presents days before you could open them… Hurry up World Time Attack we want to race now!
Do not miss out on this one, if you haven’t booked your tickets or flights do it now!!
More info – http://www.worldtimeattack.com
Thanks for reading,
Gwyn.
Photos courtesy of Roberto Mocchetti | Full Motion Photography

WTAC '13 :: Film Only

Grant — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 10:09:24 +0000

Hands down the World Time Attack Challenge is the biggest event on our radar, each and every year Ian Baker and the team step it up constantly raising the bar. We’ve been fortunate enough to follow the transition from the old Super Lap event days, into the world class spectacle it is now known and loved by, under the current name as the World Time Attack Challenge or ‘WTAC’ for short.
The first ever post on gripshiftslide.com was you guessed it, WTAC 2011! To say the event has held a special place in our hearts ever since, would be a massive understatement. We thought it would be a great tribute to create an entire post capturing the event on good old fashioned 35mm film. The charm of anything analogue is hard to deny, the hiss of a record, black & white movies and the grain and colour of a film camera.
We hope you enjoy our unique look at last years event and let us know if you would like to see more posts like this in the future by leaving a comment at the end of the post…

Once again we returned to Sydney Motorsport Park, having access a day early let’s us get up nice and close to the teams as they began final testing before attempting some ‘hot’ laps over the weekend.
It also helps not having any of the crowds around as WTAC is one of the only event’s that spectators can literally walk up to the pit bays see teams working around the clock preparing their car for each session.

The first day of racing last year will be one to remember, as bush fires threatened the nearby blue mountains thick smoke blocked out the sun.

The scene was a very uncomfortable one with reports that hundreds of homes were under danger and the eerie light from the smoke meant there were next to no shadows.

The soft light did make for some remarkable photos though as we spent most of the afternoon watching the drifters set up their pits. While WTAC is all about the remarkable machines pushing the limits of engineering and the laws of physics, at the same time it is arguably the highest profile drifting event in Australia, with many international guest taking part in the competition that takes place in the evening.

One of the biggest appearances last year was from local Melbourne lad, Nigel Petire and his extraordinary home built drift Ute. He made the trip with not one, but two cars!

The Ute was handcrafted in a garage barely bigger than the car itself, don’t believe us? Check out our feature of the build here.
This was the first public event for the Ute to not only be displayed to the public but also be driven on track!!

Nigel was grinning from ear to ear when he wasn’t losing his voice talking to the crowds about his stunning build. He was both nervous and overwhelmed from the excitement of driving his precious creation on track with other cars for the first time ever!

While the car itself doesn’t comply with current competition regulations, Nigel isn’t bothered as he built it for demonstration purposes and of course tyre shredding FUN!!
He brought along his tried and true 180SX for competition duties. So when he was behind the wheel of the Ute, he was just concentrating on getting to know his new friend.

After the first night of track demos in the Ute, something didn’t go to plan and of course that’s just cars for you! Due to the ultra light weight, yet super strong body, the transmission was not having a good time dealing with the punchy SR20 and very grippy tyres, ultimately giving up and retiring the Ute from track duties much earlier then expected.

You could tell it was not how Nigel envisioned his first weekend away with his new toy, he had contemplated getting busy and swapping parts over from the 180SX to get it going again. After the crushing blow the spirits were not high in the Petrie camp and Nigel pulled the pin and left the Ute to be a static display for the rest of the weekend. Since the WTAC he has traveled to New Zealand with Ute and enjoyed hassle free drift demos for all to see and Nigel is set to bring it back to this years WTAC event. We can’t wait!!

Speaking of NZ, Kiwi drifter Mad Mike was over here competing in the drift comp with his world famous “Madbul” Rx7.

The heart of the car is a quad rotor, which produces a very haunting and howling exhaust note that sounds like an F1 car possessed by a demon.

This fire spitting Rx7 has been seen the world over with trips to America, Europe and Australia 3 times now!! Mike sure has a lot of international events under his belt!

Another car that made the trip over from New Zealand was the PPRE RX4 featuring a massive 6 rotor!!! Yep 6!
Mad Mike was invited to pilot the crazy coupe around the full circuit, paying absolutely no attention to any sound restrictions, it broke necks and made ears bleed!

South Australian drifter and “Wunderkind” if you will, Jake Jones is one of the youngest Australian drivers competing on an international level.

His aggressive driving style has seen him go door to door with the worlds very best and scored him international drives in drift competitions in both Japan and China.

Jakes Onvia has even rubbed panels with Daigo Saito most recently at the Melbourne round of FD Asia, check out how he went against the current drift world champion here.

In between all the track action, there’s always plenty to see off the track. Each year the show and shine grows in size and the quality of cars is always impressive.

We’re suckers for old school cars and what better to fill up our roll of film then a pristine Sunny truck.

Remember when Corolla’s were cool! We loved this white duo, the KE30 was our pick of the two.

The Heasman steering girls were all smiles despite the blistering sun beating down against the concrete.

We said each year Ian and the team step it up – this year they had a half pipe with BMX demos all day long.

This sort of entertainment can easily go unnoticed at such a large motorsport event, I remember stopping and watching for a good 15 minutes. These guys had talent!!

One more standout from the crowded show was this striking bright yellow widebody RX7, the RE-super G bodykit is one of the wildest looking kits for the FD RX-7. So aggressive!!

This tubular framed beauty is very serious Nissan Stanza built for the sports sedan series and was part of the Turbo Legends segment were power houses of yesteryear get to prove they still have what it takes to put down a quick lap time.

Back near the pits we hunted around for some of the most impressive builds we could find. This RX8 looks to be a future competitor but for now it was just a static display. If you think the aero looked great the engine bay alone has had more money and time spent the some cars see for their entire build.

The Evolution Custom Industries Porsche was literally the black sheep of the field. One of the only European based cars it had a massive cult following going into the event.
The car is a work of art and seriously fast, the team didn’t get to show their best with a turbo failure ending their chances early.

We thought it would be nice to include this picture of Agges’ 180SX of Insane Drifters fame, some 8 months and many, many events after WTAC the mighty red 180SX finally had it’s last collision at an event here in Melbourne.
Drift cars receive quite a beating and when you’re as competitive as Agges it’s bound to happen sooner or later and sadly this 180SX won’t be seeing the track again.

Melbourne based workshop and tuning specialist Road Track Rally had been achieving great wins with their Evo X. Sadly the Evo lost control at high speeds and collided with a concrete wall.
The team has been busy repairing and will be back for 2014!

All eyes were on the reigning champion Nemo Racing Evo, this engineering marvel had taking the rule book and thrown it out the window and really forced the Australian and Japanese time attack community to go back to the drawing board of what’s possible.

What goes up must come down and in a strange turn of events the team behind this magnificent car crumbled during the weekend sending rumors flying. The car only managed a couple of ‘safe’ laps before being retired back to the pits without a chance to hold onto it’s winning trophy from the previous years WTAC.

With so many classes competing at WTAC you really get a great comparison for times against so many makes, models and platforms. How does a tuned FWD Mitsubishi Colt perform against an street trim Nissan GTR? You’ll find out at WTAC.

Many Japanese teams have started to really to take to series, this year saw some very big hitters from Japanese tuning culture attend.

Top Fuel returned their super agile S2000 to Sydney to once again take on the worlds best, the previous year the car was relatively untested and effectively “out of the box”.

However driver Nobuteru Taniguchi still found the car too challenging to achieve it’s goal, the car performed a lot better but we think Nob will be back to prove he and the car have what it takes.

The Esprit NSX was easily one of the most anticipated international cars this year and with Tarzan Yamada behind the wheel it was a hopeful podium finisher too, after a few hairy spins and a small engine fire the mighty NSX did not get it’s time to shine.

One of the most eye pleasing cars was the RE Amemiya Hurricane RX7, this car was originally built as an Autosalon demo car. This just proves that the Japanese do not do things half-arsed at all, this car is not just a show piece and can really strut it’s stuff in the Time Attack arena!

Back to Australia and the Queensland based Mighty Mouse CRX, This David vs Goliath honda was determined to hold onto it’s NA FWD record from the previous year, Rob and the team did just that. Now with pressure on for a third year the team has since converted the car to left hand drive for better weight distribution… Yep, they’re determined to win again in 2014.

A rare sight outside of the original Fast & The Furious movie here in Australia, The Mitsubishi Eclipse is not something we’re used to seeing racing let alone driving on the street. This FWD racer is owned by aero extraordinaire Andrew Brilliant.
The car originally raced in the America and had many victories under it’s hat, at one point it was the number 1 car out of 50 high powered RWD and AWD cars. A true testament to Andrew’s skills aerodynamic skills.

After three long days of racing the last cars rolled back into the pits, most came back under their own power, some returned to the pits on tow trucks. WTAC is not for the faint hearted and you have to be willing to put it all on the line to win.

After all the action stops the show is packed up and we begin counting down the days till next year, thankfully as we post this we’re less than two months away from the 2014 World Time Attack Challenge!
Don’t miss out on the biggest event on the calendar and book tickets, time off work and accommodation now!!
Check out all the details here www.worldtimeattack.com
We hope you’ve enjoyed this nostalgic glance at our favorite event, it took two rolls of film and nearly a year to get it developed but we love holding a real photo in our hands!
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.

Top Gear Festival Sydney :: Fuel Injected Fun

Grant — Sat, 15 Mar 2014 04:44:26 +0000

Top Gear Festival has been and gone, leaving behind the memories of two action packed days that were filled with bumper to bumper, side splitting fun.
The festival plays out like any episode of BBC’s beloved Top Gear series, informative car reviews, intelligent and in depth opinions on all things automotive and of course relevant real world tests which help consumers make their next four wheeled purchase, armed with all the facts.
At least that’s how the show would be without the three aging, quirky and downright childish presenters we have grown to love over the last twelve years. The Top Gear Festival packs up this 60 minute motoring TV show into a shipping container along with two of the hosts and a man simply known as The Stig and they get sent all over the world where tears of laughter are sure to follow.

The Australian leg of the tour was hosted at Sydney Motorsport park for it’s second year and once again saw Jeremy Clarkson and James May entertain record breaking crowds at Sydney’s racing circuit. Yes, that’s Bruno Senna strapped into a Nissan Micra bungee as it falls towards the ground!!

They again attempted to speed up the Australian Postal service in a nail biting postie bike race, a true blue Aussie event that saw exhilarating speeds in excess of 30kmh!!! James May hadn’t seen anything quite as exciting before.

Aside from the usual Top Gear antics, there was loads of genuine motoring action and racing all weekend. Australian Rally Champion, Neil Bates, was showing his classic Toyota Rally car still had all the moves.

When Neil is not racing the clock, expect a show! His skills could put some of Australia’s top drifters to shame.

The absolutely stunning Erebus Motorsport AMG SLS GT3 car. This striking piece of machinery was part of the Ultimate Speed Showdown, where six vehicles from a super bike to an F1 car, would go head to head for the fastest lap.

One of the new kids on the block for the V8 Super car series was the Mercedes Benz E63 V8 Super-car. It was another member of the Erebus Motorsport team that joined the fray for the Ultimate Speed Showdown. The team had plenty to prove over the weekend to the huge crowds.

Betty Klimenko nervously watching the Ultimate Speed Showdown unfold after a bet between her Erebus team and Redbull, with the loser having to wash the winning car. We’re not sure if Betty has ever seen an F1 car in action.

Troy Bayliss hugged the corners on his Ducati Super Bike as he raced around the circuit with 5 cars during the showdown.

As the showdown came to an end, all eyes were on the Erebus E63 and the Redbull RB7 F1 Car…

Who was the winner and who was going to be washing the car?

Ricciardo’s smile said it all! Betty lived up to her end of the deal and she washed the RB7 by hand with a bucket and sponge.

Not all the attractions were on the track however. There was a massive static display dedicated to the late Ayrton Senna. Recognised as one of the best F1 drivers and still sits as the third most successful driver of all time in terms of overall race wins.

Curating the exhibition, Formula One driver Bruno Senna, nephew of Ayrton Senna.
Bruno gave a heartfelt insight into his Uncles’ life and what inspired him and countless others to pursue racing and even just to be a better person each and every day.

On display was Aryton’s winning McLaren MP4/4, a marvel of it’s time. Winning 15 of it’s 16 races during the 1988 season.

Weighing a mere 540kg and powered by a 1.5l Honda V6 engine, using twin turbo chargers to produce 900bhp!!
Ayrton took pole position 13 times in this car and won 8 races.

Aryton’s iconic helmet was also on show, if you haven’t yet watched the ‘Senna’ documentary, it is a definite must watch and even if F1 doesn’t interest you, this is a film that will move you.

McLaren unveiled the 650s, this was it’s first Australian appearance here at the Top Gear Festival.

The Coupe’s sales brochure announces some pretty impressive numbers. 0-100 in 3 seconds and a full quarter mile in just 10.5 seconds! This performance puts the 650S’ sprint to 200km/h in 8.4 sec, a full second quicker than the iconic McLaren F1

There isn’t a boring line on this car! Taking it’s design cues from the McLaren P1, this car was built to excite!

Huge cross drilled brakes help stop this car when things get a bit hairy.

The Mercedes built AMG engine is garnished with all the McLaren composite trimmings, making it a thing of astonishing beauty.

It seems any excuse will do to invite along Australia’s best drifters to tear it up around Sydney Motorsport Park and as it turns out, the Top Gear Festival is no exception.

Crowds love smoke shows and who better to help make some clouds than SA’s very own Drift Squid. Jake made the journey from South Australia to take part of the Just Car Insurance drift demos.

Sydney’s Hit n’ Run’s V8 powered S15 was showing off some fresh battle scars to the crowds, we still think this is one of the best looking cars around.

The star of the show was Levi Clarke in the Exedy S15. Levi wowed the crowds with some huge entries and massive plumes of coloured smoke.

At one point Levi successfully blocked out sky with the biggest smoke show we’ve ever seen!!

It just wouldn’t be Top Gear without a display of cars I couldn’t hope to be able to ever afford.

The usual affair of bulls and horses.

Now this was as rare as it gets… The only Pagani Zonda Roadster in Australia!!

The Stig put in a couple of hot laps in with the topless McLaren 12C Spider in front of the crowds.

Top Gear invited some of the countries best drag racers out and the deafening drag cars kept fingers in ears, corn farmers in business and onlookers on the edges of their seats.
The Gas Motorsport BMW lost control after a big launch and narrowly missed the walls after hitting the grass and sliding 50+ meters before coming to a stop.

Some tried their hand at power skidding and it seems Agges from the Insane Drifters approved of this Camaro’s efforts.

The weekend was coming to an end, but things weren’t over for Red bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. The team was getting set for another attempt at the lap record for Sydney Motorsport Park.

Ricciardo had already beaten Mark Webbers time from last year by just 500th’s of a second at just 1.13.08 on Saturday. However on the Sunday, Daniel was determined to go back out and smash it!

And smash it he did! Daniel found another 2 seconds around Sydney Motorsport Park with a blistering 1.11.23!!!

The winning car and winning team rolling back to the pits in front of one very happy crowd of spectators.

Jeremy interviewed Daniel on track about the record lap before letting Daniel hop back into the drivers seat to demonstrate how fast drivers celebrate…

With a victory skid of course!!
One of the best events to date, the Top Gear Festival is yet to disappoint. Year after year, it captures the fun that makes the BBC show so special to car lovers the world over and then translates that into a stage show extraordinaire with real cars, real drivers and real action all on a live track.
Don’t miss 2015’s show, we already can’t wait for the next festival!
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.
Images provided by the talented Roberto Mocchetti | Full Motion Photography

ADGP Round 3 :: Sydney Motorsport Park

Grant — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 05:57:44 +0000

Round three of the Australian Drift Grand Prix was set to be a very interesting round in the series after a not so predictable 2nd round in Western Australia.
The last round saw some fresh names on the podium at the end of the day, Matt Harvey took 1st, Victoria’s own Matt Russel taking 2nd and Dale Campaign scored 3rd.
So coming into the third round the championship points weren’t in anyone’s favor so all the drivers were going to be pushing their cars and their abilities to the absolute limit!!

The drivers are split into two classes, state and national. Those in state can try and earn their place into the national series which is usually reserved for those competing in all 4 rounds.
The schedule remains the same as any other round, one full day of qualifying and then a full day of competition.

Both days were scorchers with temps in the high 30’s the cars and spectators were feeling the effects of the sun all weekend long.

This was going to be an exciting round for us as we were cheering on our very own Jason Ferron who has become quite the wild card with some fantastic battles under his belt.

With every drift event held in Sydney there is always a heap of local talent present track side, something must be in the water here because they always have the best looking drift cars in the country.

Simon Michelmore was one to keep your eyes on with a fresh build completed in a new shell his S14 should be more competitive than ever!

The usual suspects of the national series during the drivers briefing.

Ryan ‘Slide’ Cummings is easily one of the best looking cars around.

With his fare share of mechanical miss-haps in the last 12 months we were hoping Ryan would finally have his day.

With last minute prep complete the drivers got ready for the practice sessions followed by qualifying.

Jarrad Klingberg took out the number 1 qualifier not only in his state class but was the highest score of the day beating Insane Drifters Agges by just 1 point!!

Agges put down one of the cleanest qualifying laps we seen in the competition. Here’s a video of the very solid run. Click here.

Levi Clarke in the stupidly photogenic V8 powered S15 pulled out number two qualifier in the national class and third highest for the day.

South Australia’s Jack Widdas scored a 67 which left him in 3rd place.

Cameron Mote took 3rd place in the state division with a score of 59.5 which would have put him in the top 10 of the national class to give you guys a comparison.

Matt Harvey missed the beat but still landed in number 7 spot.

Unfortunately Elliot Wylie had a spin and scored a zero. Points aside we have a big soft spot for this Laurel, after the epic David vs Goliath battle at last years Formula D event here in Melbourne where Wylie lent this car to Tom Monkhouse to go on to take 2nd place against Daigo Saito

Insane drifter Papa was also at the opposite end of the points only scoring 34, off a 4th place win form the previous round Papa had his work cut out for him.

It seems that the heat was getting to both the cars and the drivers with several spins and some break downs.

Ben Purtel was in fine form qualifying just half a point ahead of Andy Gray! Which landed him in number 9.

Nic Wilson was sporting a fresh make over on his wild looking Toyota Saloon. The JZX90 Chaser was wearing the wing of all wings built by Victorian specialists Topstage Composites.

Hit N’ Run drift crew’s Pistol Pete was out in force in the bedroom poster worthy 6 liter V8 equipped S15, yes it sounds as nice as it looks.

The only rotary of the competition was not off to a good start missing out on a spot in the 16 of the state division.

The drift Syndicate VE was still looking fresh after Max Orido put it through it’s paces during WTAC last year.

Steven Bramford placed 10th in the state division in his gorgeous sparkly Silvia.

We were drawn to his car like moths to a bug zapper, the electric blue paint was stunning from every angle!

Day 2 was the business end of the competition with the battles taking place and the usual affair of the pit walk and drivers signing session.

Klingberg’s hood art was being proudly displayed after yesterdays number 1 score.

Levi’s S15 is an astonishingly detailed car, we love the chrome elements on to the wing.

Ender was sitting mid field with a score of 47 from yesterday, his first battle was against Nick ‘The Drift Kid’ Coulson in his black VE Ute.

Ender straightened up on his chase run and then called a 5 minute rule after having issues with his gear selector.
On the lead run the 2J swapped S13 powered up the hill but Nick was right along there with him taking the win from Ender.

Who said coloured smoke tyres were dead? Sydney’s Drift Mob Anthony Bilic was frying them up the hill until he hit the dirt.

Blaze Unit’s Jabbit was looking good against Agges but unfortunately gearbox issues meant Jabbit couldn’t continue giving the Insane drifters driver the win.

In a battle of Aussie VS Import, foreign driver Andy took the win in his Toyota Chaser against Hayden Buckham in the blue VE Ute.

Papa was pulling out all the stops on his chase run against South Australian Dale Campaign…

Dale fought back on his chase run forcing a re-run. Which put the pressure on Papa…

Causing a spin which meant Dale went through in the grey Sileighty.

Klingberg’s winning streak didn’t stop taking the win against Jason Ferron thanks to some of the most aggressive driving we saw all weekend!

Schembri vs Michelmore was an extremely close battle which meant another one more time giving Simon the win after both battles.

Rob Whyte in the Achillies 350Z fought a hard battle against Dale and it was too close to call, after a one more time re-run Rob took the win.

Levi came back strong after several issues earlier in the day, however Chris in the Red R32 was hot on his tail.

The battle of the V8 swapped Nissans was won by Levi after a very, very close fight.

Matt Harvey’s little KE Corolla was all over Ryan ‘Slide’ Cummings S13 during the chase run, Ryan’s straighten up during Matt’s lead run sent Ryan home for the day.

Matt just couldn’t close the gap on Michelmores purple S14.

On Matt’s lead run Simon was just centimeters away in the S14, Simon’s performance gave him the win.

It seems that Beau Yates just hasn’t had enough seat time in his new 86, Beau spun on both his lead and chase runs.

Josh Boettcher was in the middle of a tough battle with dale when he missed a gear, according to the judges the pair would have gone again in a re-run if Josh didn’t miss shift.

Schembri stayed glued to the door of the GH Haulage Cefiro piloted by Justin Codr, Schembri took the win.

Nick and Jack fought hard and the judges called “one more” time, the second battle saw Nick Coulson edge away from the 31 Skyline giving the Drift Kid and the VE Ute the win.

Matt Russel fought the good fight in the little AE86 but lost against the might power thumping away under Levi’s bonnet.

Michael Prosnick was ahead after an awesome lead run away from Whyte, however on the chase Prosnick straightened in the NASCAR styled S13 and lost.

Simon and rob pushed so hard the two cars collided.

After a brief break the judges reviewed the on board cameras and deemed Simon to be at fault giving Rob the win.
Simon’s S14 was towed back to the pits were the crew rushed to get him back up and running for his final battle.

Now in the pointy end of the day cars were crashing left, right and center! Andy Gray had a huge hit with Levi Clarke, both cars needed to be towed back and the teams began mending the damage in a hope to get them both back out.

It seems you can give drifters a busted car, a pack of zipties and tape and they become master panel beaters. Levi Clarke was back out in force for a dramatic final battle with Rob Whyte.
If you look closely you can just make out Rob’s car in the smoke behind Levi’s car.

Rob over corrected and straightened up handing the win over to Levi Clarke, giving Levi his first podium finish in the series.

To end the epic weekend of skids, heat and dramas was a heap of trophies and ice cold champagne ready to shower the winners in.

All the cars looked worse for wear, you can’t be afraid to break a few eggs to win.

The winners of the national series.
1. Levi Clarke
2. Rob Whyte
3. Andy Gray

This was by far the most exciting round of the series yet and was a true show of great sportsmanship with the top 4 battles all ending in collisions and all the teams lending a hand to repair the damage to finish the show.
Ben Purtell lent his front suspension components to Simon Michelmore while Rob Whyte’s team helped repair Levi’s car before their battle together that decided the number 1 finish for the day!!
Where else would you see someone help their opponent out to effectively help them beat you?
Drift is only going up in Australia.
The next round returns to the Thunder Dome here in Melbourne where the top 10 all have a shot at being the series winner for 2014!!
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.
All photos courtesy of Robert Mochetti | Full Motion Photography

Jason Ferron :: Choc Mint R31 Drifter

Grant — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 08:49:18 +0000

Jason Ferron may not be a name you know however we’re pretty sure you will remember his bright yellow R31 V8 drift chariot…
The car has now undergone a fresh makeover just in time for WTAC and Jason is set to leave his mark on Sydney Motorsport Park this week.

Off the back of his 2nd place win for the 2013 Vicdrift/Road King Chassis championship, Jason hasn’t rested. Instead he has been spending the last four weeks refreshing his competition winning R31 ready for the 2014 drift season and WTAC team drift competition.

In just three short years, Jason has taken to the sport of drifting like a fish to water.
Starting at the age of 20 with a close to stock R31 Skyline and as Jason improved, so did the car. It’s now sporting a 5.7 litre V8 engine, tuned to a healthy 273rwkw thanks to the team at Chequered Tuning.

“Not another V8 swapped Nissan?!” While many argue against such a conversion, you cannot argue with the results! With a majority of the professional drift field running big powerful V8 motors, it can be an expensive path to try and match their performance with a smaller capacity engine.

At the age of just 23, Jason is still a privateer, so budgets are strict to ensure he can keep driving regularly and as the saying goes ‘if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em’. The choice to swap in the late model V8 motor was a no brainer and Jason hasn’t looked back since with numerous wins under his belt.

The most noticeable change to the Skyline has been the colour change from the iconic bright yellow to this very minty fresh blue! The team drift competition at WTAC this week will be the debut event for the freshly made over car.
All the paint work was carried out by HG Autobody and photos just don’t do it justice!

Now with his sights on the national Australian Drifting Grand Prix series next year, Jason has reached out to business small or large to help him realise his dreams.

Drifting is an expensive sport it seems – with 3 laps on a practice day using up a set of tyres!!

Thankfully local tyre shop and experts on all things that grip, shift or slide, Inverse Tyres help ease the damage caused to Jason’s wallet after each and every lap.

Jason’s tyres of choice have been a mix between Achilles 123’s and Nankang NS-2R’s. When it is just for fun though, the R31 Skyline slides on a set of Nexen 600 for practice days.

Steering the 3 piece Heart Racing mesh wheels are a set of S13 JDI Fabrication knuckles, a popular choice by the vast majority of local drifters.

The interior of this R31 is a simple affair. You won’t see any flashy colours, gauges or other distracting elements.
A Cams approved half cage, bucket seats and a Nardi steering wheel is all that is needed to complete this look.

Jason’s simple setup has proven to be a success, with reliable power up front, a host of suspension mods and a hydraulic handbrake taking care of the rear.

Jason and his R31 have been on an incredible journey so far and the future is looking bright with WTAC’s team drift challenge this week and then the 2014 ADGP series next year.

We have no doubt that with a few more stickers added to his doors we may just see Jason at the pointy end of the ADGP field next year! If you’re interested in becoming a sponsor then do not hesitate to get in contact.

The GSS team will be following Jason and his minty R31 and will no doubt be keeping you guys up to date throughout all the competitions he attends. Between the updates on our page, you can keep up with all the latest by following Jason on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/jasonferrondrift
Thanks for reading,
Gwyn.

MotorEx 2013 :: Bigger, Better, Shinier!

Grant — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 09:36:17 +0000

It was once again time for Meguire’s MotorEx to hit the streets of Sydney. Now in its’ 13th year, the show is truly bigger than ever and reaching a wider audience. This is all thanks to a huge display of cars ranging from classics and hot rods, to all out custom cars and even a few Euro/JDM models thrown into the mix.

The show consists of hundreds of top quality show cars filling out the Sydney Olympic Park hall. However before you even step foot inside, you’re greeted by dozens of Sydney’s best street cars.

Dubbed ‘Real Street Boulevard’ the street car themed display leading into the main show has proved to be a hit, year after year.

The ISON Industries EG Civic was strutting it’s stuff for all to see. Without the bonnet on every nut and bolt was exposed showing the incredible amount of detail in this build!

One of our favourites from the entire show had to be this ratrod inspired Datsun ute from the street display.

The extent of the modifications don’t become fully apparent until you take a peek inside though. Every surface has something ripped out and replaced with old wood or has been wrapped in twine.

Laying frame and blinding onlookers thanks to some shiny chrome Moonee hubcaps.

Our necks snapped when we saw this fiery red head! The Testarossa 512 TR was the perfect poster car back in its’ day.

Even after all these years the mid engined super car is simply beautiful from every angle.

From one bright red car to another… The cars inside the main hall were a stark contrast to the street cars outside, with meticulously restored domestics and American muscle filling out the arena.

With so many Aussie icon’s being tirelessly restored from the ground up, it’s often hard to show off every part of the car at once. Some creative displays had cars raised in the air with carefully positioned mirrors reflecting all efforts that are normally obscured.

One of the stars of the show had to be this XY Flacon dubbed ‘427 RR’. Everywhere you looked, this build had it’s name etched, stitched or painted on nearly every surface, taking huge pride in its stroked 427ci motor filling out the engine bay.

Another show stopper in white, was the LeBrese 1978 XC GS Hardtop. A favourite from previous years, this car has had a ridiculous amount of work done over the years. Centered around a hand made tube chassis and F1 inspired suspension. So the question on everyone’s lips, what is the cherry on the top? Quad Webbers bolted to a stroked 393ci Clevland motor.

Pimp’n ain’t easy and nether is building a custom low rider in Australia!

Got wing? The Plymouth Superbird is quite an interesting looking muscle car from the past. A fun fact for those playing at home, the iconic rear wing was only made so big so that the boot could be opened on the production version of the car. Tests had suggested that a wing as high as the roof was all that was needed to tame the rear at high speeds.

From a toy car inspired build to real life, Custom body works brought the house down with their debut of this House of Kolor purple Dodge Charger. Poking through the bonnet is a 426ci Hemi with a blower strapped on for an easy 1000hp!!

Truly a thing of beauty, the interior of this Shelby GT500 had us staring into the intricate details for what felt like forever. It is cars like these that make us appreciate how special some cars were back in the days of cubic inches and racing stripes.

The Australian built and globe trotting ‘Wild Cad’ has been doing the rounds since it’s 2010 MotorEx debut including a 12 month stint in an American showroom. Not bad for a 1959 Coupe DeVille, Go Aussie!!

There was absolutely no shortage of custom hot rods at this years show…

We’re still wondering were you sit in this one though, not the most inviting of cockpits with many a pointy bolts sticking up from everywhere!

This lime green 200SX is a former star from the Autosalon days.

Whether it’s your style or not, not a single inch of this car has been untouched and it’s hard not to admire the hard work that has gone into this build.It is decked out with suicide doors, shaved everything and a massive turbo bolted to the side of a rotary engine for good measure.

While keeping with the Japanese theme there were quite a few clean examples hiding around the hall. This FC RX7 for example was immaculate!!!

There were actually quite a few RX7 packed into the show. It was great to see such a strong following for the mighty Mazda!!

Check out this massive Garrett turbo stuffed into the tiny engine bay of this old school Mazda RX2.

This was one of the bulkiest looking R33’s we have seen in awhile. This wide mouthed GT-R was looking spectacular thanks to it’s incredibly shiny paint job. Quite an interesting colour choice too!

This little Datsun has been in the works for an astonishing 8 years!! The conversion list is very extensive but the cream of the crop has to be the 700HP 13B rotary conversion!

The Built to Order EG Civic has gone through quite the transformation since last years event. Complete with a full roll cage, matte pink paint job and a fresh new set of ‘BTO’ kicks!!

Another relic from the Autosalon days that has been in hibernation for many years. The OVAKILL Magna is indeed regarded by many as over kill… Looking past the chassis choice this is some top quality work and we can see plenty of innovation as far as show cars go.

Woods & Woods showed off their concept car. The striking long body is stretched over massive 24×10″ wheels. Helping the car spin those massive rollers is a whopping 14 liter V16!!!

No Sydney car show would be complete without an appearance from Queen Street Customs. Stepping up their game from their previous halo car is a hard act to follow… From Ferrari to Rolls Royce seemed to be the only logical choice!
With the unstable nature of car shows in recent years, it is great to see MotorEx go from stride to stride. This year saw the show extended with a third day open to the public, 12 brand new cars were unveiled and the attendance seemed to be bigger than ever. We are counting down the days till next years show!
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.
Photos courtesy of Robberto Mochetti | Full Motion Photography (< Check him out on Facebook!)

The Lowdown :: Last Minute Meet

Grant — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 12:35:20 +0000

The boys behind The Lowdown.com and Sydney’s uber successful car show ‘Showcased‘ decided to go from one extreme to another.
They’ve gone from organising one of the most hyped and planned events on the calendar to one of the most casual street car meets in recent history.
Their previous work with the Showcased car show saw a multi level car park in Sydney’s CBD get closed off and then filled with the best cars from all over. With months and months of planning in the lead up to the big day and then with less than 48 hours notice, the team decided to get everyone together and opted for something a bit more ‘low’ key.

The invitational flyer was posted on Facebook just two days before the proposed meet.
The grass-roots nature and ‘everyone is welcome’ vibe spread far and wide within the 48 hour window and the turnout was fantastic to say the least!

Hundreds of people came down for some much needed mid-week stress relief. There were cars coming and going from 7pm till 11pm, so the crowd was shrinking and then just as quickly again growing with each hour.

The quality of cars was amazing but the real surprise was just the atmosphere that came from such a laid back approach to the meet.

Some standout cars included this simple black R35…

And the Dixcel/Garage 88 FD Civic also came out to visit!

The Acquired Taste Evo’s sitting pretty together.

This one in particular has been bouncing around the interwebs for a few months now. We are proud to see an Aussie car getting so much love around the globe… Although another local Evo tops this one in the E-fame department.

Ladies and gentleman, ZOMAYA!! This wide body creation by The Lowdown team member Michael has been stirring the lower regions of young men and women everywhere!
There are countless images of this being shared all over the web every day and we can see why!!!

A glimpse of the 200+ car turnout!

A testament to the healthy fitment scene in NSW – this is the perfect street car.
Not stupid expensive, just nice wheels and a bit of power… Perfect!

Creative lanyard placement, although we’re not sure how well it will go if it needs a tow.

Chooks’ Lexus drops jaws and panties everywhere it goes!
We hope the success of these back to basics car meets kick off a ‘less is more’ approach to the car scene. With more and more blogs/organisations popping up, everyone is trying to out do each other with each and every event but at what cost?
Keep meets fun, casual and most importantly accessible to everyone!
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.
Photos by Nicholas Truong | SB Captures

ADGP :: All Stars Show

Grant — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 08:56:20 +0000

Australia Day was full of festivities for the GSS team as we had traveled North to Sydney for the ADGP drift festival at Sydney Motorsport Park.
On track entertainment included 16 of the countries best drivers battling it out and you can see more of that here.
But what happens if you get bored of cars being driven on the edge, door to door, on a relatively untested drift track?
Well thankfully the team behind the ADGP series invited the local All Stars crew along to host a car show right next to the action.
The All Stars gang proved once again that Sydney is at the forefront of the Australian modified car scene with the latest trends and ideas taking off here first, long before any other states followed suit…

When you have the freshest cars and ideas on the scene, you also need the freshest clothes to complete the look! Luckily Zen Garage was on site with a huge range of gear from the shop.

This was one of the first sights that you would come across when walking up the hill towards the show. They were just three mates chilling on car seats, on top of a Subaru wagon… Only on Australia Day!

Onto the cars though!!
Sydney car crew the Filthy Ones were out in force with several well executed street cars on show. This ED Civic sedan was a perfect example of Japanese styling with the low offset Work Equip 01’s filling out the guards… The only thing that could made this car better in my eyes is if it was the uber rare Civic wagon instead!

Another one from the Filthy Ones. Who said front wheel drive cars can’t have dish?!

Keeping with the Honda theme, this super simple and clean DC5 Type R Integra caught our eye.
Sometimes it’s nice to mix up things from the standard boy racer styling we are used to seeing on most Type R Honda’s getting around.

This Datsun 1200 coupe… was… absolutely stunning!!

So much attention to detail and nothing is out of place!

We were also big fans of the owners improvised seats!!

More classic JDM flare… This time from the global giant Toyota. This MX32 Cressida was in amazing condition.

More Toyota and it seems Sydney is in love with the mighty KE70 Rolla!!

We always find so many nice and sometimes ‘out there’ older Corolla’s up North.

This white ‘KSEV’ takes the cake for the wilder styles of exhausts! Regardless of taste or styles we were all united by the love of cars…

We all thoroughly enjoyed watching some ‘skid racing’ on Australia Day together, whether we drove Jap, Euro or local.

Another stand out for the Toyota camp was another bozuko exhaust, this time on a Crown with some meaty stretched tyres all round.

One of the best S15 streeters in the country ‘UDOORI’. If you follow just a handful of Australian car blogs then you have most likely seen this car on your computer screen before.

We were impressed seeing this car in the flesh for the first time and the Volk CE28N’s looked amazing! Don’t let this car fool you though, as this is no show pony. Everywhere you look there is evidence that this car sees the street… A lot!

Definitely one of our favourites!

The latest model WRX shape has been something that needed to grow on us here at GSS. After a few years and plenty of nice ones getting around town we now thankfully can say they have indeed grown on us!
The aggressive lines suit the hatch back shape to a ‘T’!

Everywhere you looked the hill was full of Japanese muscle, hidden amongst them was a few stand out examples from Europe too!…

These E30 BMW’s were causing a quite a stir with a heap of Euro influenced touches like the BBS wheels, tinted headlights and even a front bar on the black one from BMW performance specialists Alpina!

Such a menacing face!

This Mk2 Golf was sporting a fabric wrapped bonnet, not something you see everyday by any means!

As well as throwing very cool car shows the boys from All Stars also know how to build and style their cars cool as well…
Now this is what happens when you take an ‘Aussie icon’ such as a Holden Ute and then style it with a heavy influence from the ‘JDM’ scene…
(We hate to throw around the dreaded ‘JDM’ word but there is rarely another word for it.)

The ute of choice is of course the current generation HSV Maloo Ute. At the moment under the hood has remained stock standard but knowing the All Stars boys it won’t stay that way long with talks already of what will be tinkered with and swapped to give some extra grunt!
The real striking piece of the puzzle is the set of massive SSR wheels… How massive? 20×10.5″ at the rear!!!!

To accommodate the giant wheels a lot of work has had to be done, including custom adapters to change the Holden 5×120 bolt pattern to a more Jap friendly 5×114.
Then there was the issue of the ridiculously big wheels sitting out from the body work. Bodyform Motorsports was then enlisted to help create the custom wide fender flares. The front has been perfectly molded to the body and work is about to begin on molding the rears.

While things went a bit quiet back out on the track for the lunch break, things only got crazier up on the hill at the All Stars show…

The main attraction for the show was underway!
The All Stars boys managed to talk Jay & Crystal into getting down and dirty with some of Sydney’s filthiest cars.

The girls were in incredibly high spirits despite the growing line of dirty cars waiting to get their time in the spotlight alongside the girls.

The girls took a much needed break from washing the cars in the sun…

… They were going to need their strength to scrub away at this rally breed Mitsubishi Evo.

A complete polar opposite to the previous Evo this bright blue Evo 9 was super clean with not even a speck of dirt anywhere in sight!

Sydney is definitely loving it’s bright coloured wheels at the moment!

Speaking of brightly coloured… The Built To Order EG Civic was turning heads and dividing opinions at the same time!
Nothing has been compromised during this build, no expense has been spared!

We were seriously chuffed to see our sticker in a long list of local talent adorning this S15’s rear window.

Some of the brave crowd that enjoyed the show despite the heat.

Nearly every single person had a big DSLR snapping away like crazy, only this guy had a DOMO backpack though!

We spotted a Mazda Cosmo (929)!
Digging the defining 80’s rear diffuser (regular spoiler mounted upside down).

External air horns were a nice touch too!

We were blown away to see this!
A Datsun 120Y with some street cred.

Now for some, this little guy still reminds them of their friends’ first car some 20+ years ago… Things have changed since then and builds like this are only going to become more common!
What was once ugly and cheap is now nostalgic and rare. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!!

Perfect targa top moment, taking in the view and aural delight of pro drift cars racing up a hill… Instead sitting on FB on your phone.

This is our kind of Mazda 3!!!
Amazing what clear and simple ideas can do to a car!

Soon the light was beginning to fade and the cars started to leave and it was time to turn our attention once again to the drifting!

What an incredible display of cars and people.
The boys behind All Stars definitely have their finger on the pulse when it comes to all things cool, four wheels and petrol.
We’re excited to see what boys have planned with their east coast tour of Australia with the next stop on the map being Queensland, expect to see some very impressive stuff from the sunshine coast.
For more info be sure to check out the All Stars website.
http://sydneyallstars.com/
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.