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elJapanese Performance Issue 229 FEBRUARY 2020

UNDER THE SKIN & BEHIND THE WHEEL OF LITCHFIELD’S A90 SUPRA 1A0PA0N% E ES J

L META

E 6-PAG

A SEM OW SH PECIAL S

RECREATING AN ICON

KENMERI GT-R DOPPELGANGER, GET INTO RALLYING, AIR RIDE MAZDA MX-5

THE GT-R HERITAGE CENTRE’S RETRO REIMAGINING OF A SKYLINE LEGEND: THE KENMERI GT-R RACING CONCEPT

GET INTO RALLYING +3 BEST BUYS TO TUNE & RACE FEBRUARY ’20 £4.95 No.229 japaneseperformancemag.co.uk

ALSO INSIDE...

BLOBEYE BROTHERS IN ARMS SUBARU FANS’ IMPRESSIVE IMPREZAS CIRCUIT-SLAYING ROYALTY K24-ENGINED INTEGRA DC5 RACER 10 MINUTE TECH: BRAKE PADS THE SWEET SCIENCE OF STOPPING

Follow the leader

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n all aspects of life there are always going to be leaders and followers. It’s just a natural fact. And the modified car scene is no different. You see, here on the little green rock that we call Britain, we car modifying fans like to think of ourselves as a nation of leaders, of boundary pushers and pioneers. Which, when viewed in isolation within our European bubble, we probably are. However, look further afield to the likes of Japan and the USA and it’s clear we’re still some way behind.

Take last year’s SEMA show for example – a huge six-page gallery and report of which can be found starting on page 19.

The car that seemed to dominate much of the show was the new A90 Toyota Supra. Now, this is a car gaining popularity on these shores, too, with tuners keen to see what the new machine is capable of. However, over in Sin City, our US cousins have not only pushed the performance boundaries, but also completely gone to town with the car’s aesthetics, producing wild, wide arch monsters packing bonkers engine swaps, air ride installs and full racing packages! In stark contrast, we still seem to be stuck on remaps and wheel spacers! Not that there’s anything wrong with that of course, as we found out first hand when we got to sample Litchfield’s own package for the A90, a tuning upgrade that in Stage 2 form takes the Supra to just shy of 500bhp. Read all about it on page 34.

Yes, we certainly have a way to go until we can say we are leading the world’s modifying scene, but that just means we get the benefit of being the recipients of the trends and developments as they trickle down from above. We can’t wait to see what will happen to the UK’s Supra scene in the next year or so, but if SEMA was anything to go by, it’ll be pretty wild!

The other element that seemed strong at the show was the continued love for restored retros, which is something that is definitely gaining in popularity over here, too. And this month we bring you the ultimate homage to Skyline rarity – The GT-R Heritage Centre’s faithful recreation of Nismo’s one-off Kenmeri racer concept. Displayed at the 1972 Tokyo motor show, but never to race in anger, it was the only wide arched race variant ever made, and is the Holy Grail for GT-R fans the world over.

See how close the reimagined car is for yourself on page 26.

We’ve also got a pair of pukka Imprezas, an air-slammed MX-5, a race-prepared Integra and everything you need to know to get into rallying.

We may be lagging behind when it comes to tuning, but with magazines we’re leading the way for sure! Enjoy!

DAN SHERWOOD

www.japaneseperformancemag.co.uk

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WHAT’SIN +

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52 FEATURES 19 SEMA 2019

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The biggest and best show of the year kicks off in style in Sin City

26 AN ICON RECREATED One-off Kenmeri C110 Skyline reimagined in a unique retro resto

34 SUPERLATIVE SUPRA Behind the wheel of Litchfield’s latest demo car – the awesome A90 Supra

42 NORTHERN LIGHTS This pair of pals have a passion for Imprezas, but have gone about it very differenty

52 DARE TO BE DIFFERENT Air-slammed and stanced, this Mk3 Mazda MX-5 is the best of the breed

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58 GOING OFF-GRID Built for the US Grid Life race series, this DC5 Integra is a proper track terrorist

72 GET INTO RALLYING All you need to know to get into rallying plus three cars to buy, tune and race

78 10 MIN TECH – BRAKE PADS 10 quickfire facts about brake pads from the experts at EBC Brakes

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WHAT’SIN +

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REGULARS 10 NEWS JRM announces run of 23 limited edition R35 Nissan GT-Rs, Nissan GT-R special editions, show previews: Herts Scooby meet at Ace Cafe, Stunt Fest at Santa Pod, 5 mins with...

Steve Richardson, Mazda MX-5 breaks hairpin world record

81 JAPSTUFF All the latest and greatest products for your four-wheeled Japanese joy toy

88 THE GARAGE Project Type R gets a new windscreen, tyres and a year’s MOT, Project Rotary gets covered, Project Supra gets some sexy new suspension and Project Z is finally finshed!

Editor Dan Sherwood Tel: 01480 219990 jap@chpltd.com Studio Manager Peter Simpson Designer Jonathan Henson

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Japanese Performance is always available at Japanese Performance is distributed worldwide by Seymour Distribution Ltd, Tel: 020 7429 4000, info@seymour.co.uk

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BRITISH BEEF UK-BASED RACE ENGINEERING EXPERTS JRM ARE BUILDING 23 LIMITED EDITION NISSAN GT-RS AS THE ULTIMATE RACE CARS FOR THE ROAD

Over the years many manufacturers have claimed their special edition performance cars to be true ‘race cars for the road’, but realistically, this has been little more than marketing speak.

After all, a louder exhaust, stiffer springs and bucket seats hardly qualifies for a slot on a racing grid. But when we heard that renowned British engineering firm, JRM, was producing a limited edition Nissan GT-R to celebrate a decade working with the Japanese brand, and promoting it with the same tagline, our interested was piqued.

You see, JRM isn’t just any old

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company, the Daventry-based business has been at the forefront of motorsport for over a decade, including winning the GT1 World Drivers’ Championship in 2011 and finishing third in the 2012 World Endurance Championship. It’s also the brains and spanners behind the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3. So, we were sure this would be much more than just an overambitious sales slogan.

Costing an eye-watering £380,000 each for the base model, the JRM GT23 is more extreme than any manufacturer special you could care to

mention. Described as ‘the ultimate in performance’, only 23 examples will be produced.

What you get for your money is something akin to a full-on GT racer, only road legal. Under the huge vents that dominate the bonnet the 3.8-litre VR38DETT has been tuned to 650bhp and has been moved back considerably to improve weight distribution. The standard fourwheel drive system and dual clutch transmission is gone and has been replaced with a sixspeed sequential system powering just the rear wheels.

Along with a stripped interior and bespoke lightweight body

panels, this has helped trim the GT-R’s stock kerb weight from 1750kg to the GT23’s featherweight 1275kg, giving the GT23 an incredible power to weight ratio of 500bhp per ton.

But if that’s not wild enough for some customers, there’s always the option to stump up an extra £59,995 and go for the Extreme Pack – and this is where things get really serious.

The engine gets an extra 100bhp, increasing peak power to a whopping 750bhp, while the rest of the car gets hit with a host of hardcore racing upgrades such as a deep front splitter and canards, air jacks,

www.japaneseperformancemag.co.uk

BRIEF SPEC ENGINE

3.8-litre, VR38DETT TRANSMISSION

6-speed sequential, rear-wheel drive POWER

650bhp base model 750bhp Extreme Pack

TOP NISSAN GT-R SPECIAL EDITIONS NISSAN GT-R50 Built by Italdesign, this 710bhp beast was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the GT-R brand. With stretched headlights, 21in wheels, a lower roof height and a host of gold elements to highlight the gaping mouth and rear wing, the 990,000 Euro GTR-50 is certainly not for the shy.

WEIGHT

1275kg PRICE

From £380,000 base model From £439,000 Extreme Pack

GT-R NISMO With 592bhp and track-inspired modifications to the suspension, chassis and aero, the 2014 GT-R Nismo smashed the Nordschleife record with a time of 7:08.679. Post-purchase, buyers could opt for an additional N-Attack pack comprising all the components fitted to the record-breaking Nürburgring car.

TRACK PACK a full FIA rollcage, a race fuel system, uprated springs and anti-roll bars and a set of lightweight wheels with centrelocking hubs.

The front and rear tracks of both the base GT23 and the Extreme Pack version are 90mm and 100mm wider than a standard NISMO road car, with double wishbone suspension featuring at all four corners too, which JRM claims will allow cornering forces of up to 2G when equipped with grippy racing slicks!

Currently available in eight exterior colourways, or with the ability to choose a custom

colour of your choosing, the lucky buyers also get to work with JRM’s designers to further customise the functional cockpit, too, opening up a world of personalisation opportunities to make each car truly unique.

Aside from the car itself, owners will also have the option to indulge in an experience day on track with fellow GT23 owners where JRM technicians and engineers will set-up the GT23 so customers can really feel the car’s true capabilities. Sounds like a good deal to us. Now where did we put that Lottery ticket?

www.japaneseperformancemag.co.uk

The two-seat ‘Track Pack’ model focused on circuit performance and featured Rays alloys, a carbon front spoiler, NordRing and Bilsteindeveloped suspension, as well as leather and high-grip fabric seats.

With the power of two R32s and a 2.8-second 0-to-62mph time, the Track Pack is a ferocious machine.

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EVENT PREVIEW

HERTS SCOOBY CREW MEET SUNDAY 19TH JANUARY ACE CAFÉ, LONDON London’s iconic Ace Café in Park Royal just off the North Circular is a well-known haunt for the two-wheeled fraternity, but it also hosts a range of regular meets of the four-wheeled variety, too, and on Saturday 19th January it’s the members of the Herts Scooby Crew who will be putting on the show. The meet kicks off at 11am where the car park will no doubt be crammed with super Scoobs from all over the Hertfordshire area and beyond. And if you don’t have a Subaru, don’t worry, as it’s still worth dropping by, even if it’s only to indulge in a warm cup of tea and the greasy spoon’s famous cheesy chips! www.london.acecafe.com

FIVE MINUTES WITH...

STEVE RICHARDSON

Q. HI, WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU DO? A. HI, I'M STEVE RICHARDSON, FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF SKYLINE RESTORATION SPECIALISTS, SR AUTOBODIES Q. WHERE ARE YOU BASED? A. OUR CURRENT PREMISES ARE JUST OUTSIDE BOSTON IN LINCOLNSHIRE. WE ARE, HOWEVER, LOOKING TO RELOCATE AND EXPAND IN THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE Q. HOW OR WHY DID SR AUTOBODIES GET STARTED? A. ABOUT TEN YEARS AGO AFTER LEAVING THE ARMY I WAS WORKING AS AN HGV DRIVER AND TOOK UP A SMALL UNIT TO WORK ON MY OWN AND SOME CLOSE FRIENDS’ CARS AND PROJECTS. BEFORE LONG I WAS BEING APPROACHED BY FRIENDS OF FRIENDS TO TAKE ON WORK AND IT ALL SORT OF SPIRALLED FROM THERE! Q. WHAT PRODUCTS OR SERVICES DO YOU OFFER AT SR AUTOBODIES? A. WE'RE ABLE TO OFFER EVERYTHING FROM UNDERBODY TREATMENTS AND LOCALISED REPAIRS RIGHT THROUGH TO FULL BARE SHELL RESTORATIONS AS WELL AS CUSTOM FABRICATION AND MUCH MORE. ALONGSIDE THE RESTORATION WORK WE ALSO OFFER A RANGE OF IN-HOUSE DEVELOPED PRODUCTS INCLUDING OUR BEST-SELLING SKYLINE STRUT TOP REPLACEMENTS Q. WHAT KIND OF CARS AND/OR WORK DO YOU SPECIALISE IN? A. WE ARE A SKYLINE SPECIALIST, SO FOR THE MOST PART WE SPECIALISE IN THOSE. HOWEVER, WE CURRENTLY HAVE A COUPLE OF S CHASSIS IN WITH US AND EVEN A HONDA NSX! Q. WHICH MAKES/MODELS TEND TO SUFFER THE MOST WITH CORROSION AND WHY? A. THE SKYLINE FAMILY FROM R32 TO R34 ALL SUFFER IN VARIOUS AREAS. THE ISSUE USUALLY ARISES FROM POOR QUALITY SEALERS AND PRIMERS, ALTHOUGH SOME DESIGN FEATURES HAVE ALSO SHOWN THEMSELVES TO BECOME WATER TRAPS OVER TIME. WITH THAT SAID, THERE IS ALSO THE MOST COMMON ISSUE OF RECTIFYING PREVIOUS POOR REPAIRS OR SUB-STANDARD WORK THAT CARS HAVE HAD BOTH OVER IN JAPAN AND ON HOME SOIL Q. WHICH MAKES/MODELS SEEM TO SUFFER THE LEAST AND WHY?

SHOW PREVIEW

STUNT FEST SATURDAY 15TH FEBRUARY SANTA POD An all-action day out for all the family, Santa Pod’s Stunt Fest is a great way to keep the kids entertained in half term. Featuring adrenaline pumping cunning stunts including Monster trucks, car jumping, freestyle motorcross, drift rides and a bonkers tyre shredding burnout competition, it’s sure to keep everyone entertained whatever the weather. Gates open at 10.30am, but the main attractions don’t start until 11.45am, so you can even enjoy a lie in before getting your stunts on!

A family ticket (two adults and three kids) costs £35 in advance but kids under 5 go free! www.santapod.co.uk

A. AS MUCH AS IT PAINS ME TO SAY IT AS A 'NISSAN MAN', I WOULD HAVE TO SAY TOYOTA MODELS. THE EQUIVALENT TOYOTA COUNTERPARTS, SUCH AS THE MKIV SUPRA, APPEAR TO HAVE STOOD THE TEST OF TIME MUCH MORE GRACEFULLY THAN THE NISSAN RANGE UNFORTUNATELY Q. ARE YOU SEEING AN INCREASE IN THE DEMAND FOR RESTORATION WORK NOW THAT THE PRICES OF CERTAIN JAPANESE CARS ARE RISING? A. YES, DEFINITELY! THE SR AUTOBODIES BOOKING LIST FOR THE COMING 18 MONTHS TO 2 YEARS IS WEIGHTED MASSIVELY TOWARDS R34 GT-RS. IT WOULD BE NAÏVE NOT TO APPORTION THE REASONING BEHIND THIS TO THE FACT THAT THESE CARS ARE APPRECIATING IN VALUE, AND THE CURRENT DEMAND FROM THE US MARKET HAS HAD A HUGE KNOCK ON EFFECT ON THIS Q. WHAT DO YOU CURRENTLY DRIVE? A. I'M CURRENTLY SAMPLING NISSAN'S FINEST R34 IN AUTOMATIC SALOON FLAVOUR! A PERFECT FAMILY CAR IN MY EYES! WHEN I'M NOT IN THE SKYLINE IT'S EITHER A HONDA CIVIC ESTATE OR THE TRUSTY NISSAN VAN Q. DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER SPECIAL PROJECTS ON THE GO AT THE MOMENT? A. WE'VE BEEN WORKING ON SOME MASSIVE CUSTOMER PROJECTS OF LATE. PERSONALLY I'VE NOTHING HUGE AT PRESENT BUT THERE IS AN R34 IN THE PIPELINE AND I SHALL BE PUTTING THE FINISHING TOUCHES TO AN SR20 POWERED R33 SKYLINE FOR SOME TRACKDAY FUN IN 2020 Q. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE CURRENT PERFORMANCE-TUNING SCENE IN THE UK? A. IT'S CHANGED A LOT SINCE MY EARLY DAYS. I NOW SEE A FAR MORE VARIED MIX OF STYLES AND APPROACHES AND IT MAKES FOR A REALLY INTERESTING MIX OF DIFFERENT CLUBS AND MEETS TO SEE. HAVING HAD A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT CARS THROUGH THE DOORS HERE, FROM THOSE THAT NISSAN THEMSELVES HAVE SHOWN INTEREST IN DISPLAYING, RIGHT THROUGH TO A POTENTIAL SEMA SHOW CAR, YOU HONESTLY HAVE TO APPRECIATE ALL ASPECTS OF IT Q. CAN WE FOLLOW YOU ON SOCIAL MEDIA? A. YES, BY ALL MEANS! WE SHARE HUNDREDS OF PICTURES OF OUR WORK AND PROJECTS AS WELL AS OFFERS ON OUR RANGE OF PRODUCTS. WE CAN BE FOUND ON FACEBOOK AT SR AUTOBODIES OR INSTAGRAM @SR_AUTOBODIES THANKS FOR YOUR TIME, STEVE, IT’S APPRECIATED!

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www.japaneseperformancemag.co.uk

MK1 MAZDA MX-5 BREAKS HAIRPIN RECORD A Mk1 Mazda MX-5 has broken the record for the most hairpin bends negotiated in 12 hours.

The challenge was completed by Mazda Germany as part of the MX-5’s 30th anniversary celebrations. On July 17/18 the bright red roadster, driven by a team of four German drivers – including Cyndie Allemann, a racer; Jan Spiess, who competes in the MX-5 Cup; Stefan Novitzki, a road tester for Auto Bild magazine; and rally driver Niki Schelle – smashed the previous record by more than 1400 corners, and by the end of the 12 hours had racked up a tally of 2900 bends. That’s one every 15 seconds. For 12 hours straight!

The team drove the epic challenge in onehour stints, to avoid exhaustion and motion sickness – with so many bends and so much braking to be done in such a relentless stream, the stress must have been immense! The record took place on an Austrian pass, the Kaunertaler Gletscherstrasse, on a 16-mile stretch with 29 corners, 1500m of elevation and very few roadside barriers. To add to the fun, the pass could only be closed to the public at night, so the attempt took place between 7.00pm and 7.00am, hence the massive rally-style light pod on the Mk1’s nose. An unexpected late night rainstorm also made things interesting.

The car itself was acquired by Mazda Germany from Andrea Mancini, creator and owner of Miataland in Italy, and needed a fair bit of work to prepare it for the rigours of 12 hours’ worth of cornering – an engine rebuild, rust repairs and a re-spray were just the start of things. The car was also treated to BC Racing coilovers, StopTech brakes and additional brake cooling, a diff cooler, and Sparco race seats and steering wheel. Pirelli was technical partner for the record, using the occasion to promote its Collezione range of tyres for classics and ‘youngtimers’. Aesthetically these tyres look like Pirellis of yore, but feature all the latest tyre tech.

And rather than just hand over a few sets to Mazda for the attempt, Pirelli undertook a serious programme of computer analysis and lab testing, including an 18-hour simulation of corners and straights where the wheel load was ramped up to 150% of its maximum safe capacity. The tyre chosen for the record was the P Zero Asimmetrico 205/50 ZR15, picked for its prowess at coping with high lateral loads…

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www.japaneseperformancemag.co.uk

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SIN CITY STYLIN’ EVEN IN THE GAMBLING CAPITAL OF THE WORLD, IT’S A PRETTY SAFE BET THAT YOU’LL SEE SOME OF THE WORLD’S FRESHEST AND HOTTEST BUILDS AT THE ANNUAL SEMA SHOW. WE WENT ALL IN...

www.japaneseperformancemag.co.uk

I

f you’ve never been to Las Vegas then it’ll likely be a somewhat difficult proposition to get your head around.

Built in the middle of the sun-scorched Navada desert it’s a fantastical place that has to be seen to be

believed. Lined with the world’s most elaborate casino hotels – where visitors can experience the sights of Paris, New York and Venice all within just one night – the strip is the epitome of the American dream,

where bigger is better but biggest is best.

So, it seems only fitting that this place of magic and debauchery be home to what is unquestionably the biggest and best car show on the planet.

Stretched out over

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four action-packed days, the Specialty Equipment Market Association show, known simply as SEMA, is an absolute behemoth of a car show.

With thousands of companies displaying their wares to more than 160,000 visitors over the duration of the event, it’s

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no wonder that the show occupies over 16 halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center, plus a vast outside display area and awesome tyreshredding live action arenas. In fact, even if you were the first through the door on day one and didn’t leave

until the end of show cruise on the final day, you’d till struggle to take it all in! It really is that big.

From concours restorations to hot rods, supercars and trophy trucks, SEMA is a melting pot of ideas from the best in the business

and the place where trends break cover, ideas get shared and projects are set out. But it’s not just the big manufacturers either, as everyone from renowned tuning houses to specialist back street garages is there for all to see.

ENGINE SWAPS THE THEME OF SHOEHORNING MENTAL ENGINES INTO ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING SHOWS NO SIGNS OF SLOWING DOWN AT 2019’S SEMA SHOW WITH EVERYTHING FROM A TWIN TURBOCHARGED BILLET 26B ROTARY ENGINE IN A 4WD RX-7 TO A LONGITUDINALLYMOUNTED K20 ENGINE IN A NEW CIVIC SI THAT’S BEEN BUILT FOR DRIFTING!

www.japaneseperformancemag.co.uk

www.japaneseperformancemag.co.uk

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The show itself has been going for over half a century now, and if this year’s event was anything to go by, it doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon, especially as the popularity of Japanese cars both old and new seems to be on a

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newfound high.

This can only be good news for us here back in Blighty because the trends that we see at SEMA often have a way of making themselves relevant over here, too, and the most obvious one we noticed was the abundance of builds

based on the new A90 Toyota Supra.

Surprisingly, for a car that initially got somewhat of a mixed reaction from the tuning fraternity when it was first launched, the A90 was the car of the moment at SEMA this year, with countless

variations on the theme littered throughout the halls. From wild widebody conversions, to engine swaps, circuit monsters to drift machines, there seemed to be Supras around every corner. In fact, we counted well over 30 different A90 builds while

BOLD COLOURS ONE OF THE TRENDS WE NOTICED FROM THIS YEAR’S SEMA SHOW WAS THE SLIGHT SHIFT AWAY FROM CLUTTERED RACE LIVERIES TO MORE SIMPLE, YET STRIKING PAINT JOBS, OFTEN IN BRIGHT BLOCK COLOURS. THIS REALLY HELPS TO HIGHLIGHT THE LINES OF THE CARS AND ALLOWS YOU TO GET A BETTER FEEL FOR ANY AFTERMARKET AERO THE CAR MIGHT BE WEARING

www.japaneseperformancemag.co.uk

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we were there, and it’s likely there was even more that we missed!

But this jumping on the bandwagon of the hottest new model is nothing new for SEMA, as a similar situation happened when the Toyota GT86/Subaru BRZ was launched and

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with the R35 Nissan GTR before it, as tuners and styling houses alike flock to produce parts for the freshest cars on the scene.

Aside from the smogasbord of Supras, there was also a healthy smattering of the usual JDM legends, too,

including Mitsubishi Evos, Nissan Skylines and S-bodys, Mazdas and Hondas, too, but some of the most jawdropping builds were definitely of the retro variety, where the trend for revitalising old-school classics seems to be only getting stronger by

the year with Hakosuka Skylines, AE86 Corollas and EF Civics all getting the treatment that they deserve. And so that was SEMA for another year. Four days of madness, inspiration and down-right perfection. We’ll be back next year. Will you? JP

MANUFACTURER ACTION UNLIKE MANY UK-BASED CAR SHOWS, THAT CAR MANUFACTURERS OFTEN SHY AWAY FROM, SEMA IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE, WITH MANY MAJOR MAKERS GOING ALL OUT TO MAKE THEIR NEW MODELS APPEAL TO THE HORDES OF TUNING FANS THAT ATTEND THE SHOW. TOYOTA, NISSAN AND HONDA ALL HAD EXCITING TUNED BUILDS ON DISPLAY AT THE SHOW

www.japaneseperformancemag.co.uk

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AN ICON RECREATED WHEN IAN SMITH COMMISSIONED THE RESTORATION OF HIS C110 KENMERI, HE SET HIS SIGHTS ON REIMAGINING ONE OF THE RAREST CARS TO EVER WEAR THE LEGENDARY SKYLINE BADGE WORDS: DAN SHERWOOD PICS: ADRIAN BRANNAN

C

ast your mind back to 1972. It was a time of great change. The Vietnam war was almost at an end, The Beatles had disbanded and a certain Neil Armstrong had not long uttered the most famous quote in all of human history. Flares and platform shoes were the height of fashion, as were big afros and bushy side burns, and the emergence of disco was lighting up dancefloors the world over. Cars, too, were at a precipice. Throughout the sixties car makers could measure growth not just through their spreadsheets, but through both the physical dimensions and engine displacements of the vehicles they produced. But these ballooning proportions and increasingly gas-guzzling powerplants could only continue for so long, just that no one knew it at the time…

That same year, the Tokyo motor show braced itself for the unveiling of the most anticipated racecar in Japan.

The KPGC10 Hakosuka Skyline GT-R was the most successful

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and beloved touring car in the country, but its time was coming to an end. Nissan was ready to reveal to the world a new generation of Skyline GT-R that was poised to follow in the Hako’s circuit slaying footsteps and become the brand’s halo performance car for both the road and track.

So confident were Nissan that the new model’s trackbased potential would continue the legacy of its forebear, that the car used to launch the concept at the show was a fully race-liveried variant, wearing wide arches, a heavily revised front-end and eight-spoke magnesium racing wheels shod with slick tyres.

Gone was the original GTR’s classic three-box silhouette, replaced instead with a much sleeker, lower-slung look, the lines emphasised with gold pinstriping over a jewel-like deep green paint. The Hako’s potent 2.0-litre six-cylinder S20 engine remained untouched and put out the same 160bhp and 130lb ft of torque.

Originally called the KPGC110, before later

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‘NISSAN SHELVED THE GT-R BRAND ALTOGETHER FOR THE NEXT 26 YEARS’ becoming known as a ‘Kenmeri’ – the result of the model’s on-screen marketing campaign featuring a couple called Ken and Mary enjoying Nissan’s latest coupe – the new Skyline was eventually launched to the public in November 1972, with the high performance 2000GT-R version – on which the original motor show concept was based – two months later in January 1973.

To enthusiasts, the Kenmeri was extremely desirable, even if it didn’t really move any performance

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goalposts over the original Hakosuka. Unfortunately for Japan’s Skyline fans, they would never get to find out if it really would’ve lived up to the legend created by its predecessor, as the oil crisis that struck the world in 1973 and rocketed the price of oil to over 400% its usual price, decimating the automotive market overnight.

The big car manufacturers in Japan, the USA and the UK were hit hardest, and led to a complete re-think on their respective model line ups. Big engined,

uneconomical performance cars were no longer viable, and frugal down-sized econoboxes reigned supreme. And it was this that killed off the Kenmeri GT-R after only 197 units had rolled of the production line. Nissan canned any ideas of going racing with the car, too, meaning the C110 never hit the track in anger. The common-or-garden variety of the Kenmeri lived on, but the fire-breathing GT-R was cut short before it could begin.

In fact, such was the impact of the oil crisis, that Nissan

shelved the GT-R brand altogether for the next 26 years, before reviving it once again in 1989 with the R32 GT-R. The Kenmeri racecar concept that wowed the public at the Tokyo motor show never graced Japan’s race tracks either, and the one-off machine was simply sat for decades, slowly decaying in a Japanese storage facility until many years later when it was finally restored back to its former glory by the team at the Nismo Omori factory near

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Yokohama and now resides in pride of place in Nissan’s Zama heritage centre.

‘I first clapped eyes on the Kenmeri racecar concept when I bought my first Skyline GT-R and joined the GT-R owners’ club around 20 years ago,’ remembers 52-year-old Skyline fan Ian Smith. ‘It was part of an article charting the history of the legendary three-letter moniker, and the wide arches and green and gold livery really had an impact on me. For years I dreamed that one day I’d be able to own one, but I never expected that it would ever

come true.’

While the car you see on these pages does indeed look all but identical to the original Nismo-built car of 1972, it is in fact an imposter. An exquisitely accurate imposter. But an imposter none the less.

‘The original car was based on one of the first GT-R models to be built,’ explains Ian, ‘Whereas mine is actually based on a much less scarce 1976 C110 GTX, a car that shares much of the GT-R’s body styling but is powered by a 2.0-litre L-series engine rather than the race-winning S20.’

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While it may not be the uberexclusive GT-R model, a Kenmeri of any variant is still a rare sight on UK roads and Ian had to source his example from a Skyline collector in Lithuania.

‘I had an R34 GT-R that I used on the track,’ Ian explains.

‘But a few years back, when the price of R34s began to skyrocket, I just couldn’t justify risking such a valuable commodity by using it on the track anymore, so I decided to sell it while I could and use the money to fund a slightly more expendable trackday toy.’

That new toy came in the

form of an R32 GTS-T, which was once a drift car but is currently begin transformed into a grip racer.

‘The GT-R sold for a lot more than the cost of the GTS-T and meant that I had a surplus of cash at the time, which just so happened to coincide with my friend Dave Warrener from the GT-R Heritage Centre spotting a Kenmeri that was being put up for sale.’

The car in question had been sitting in a barn for years.

Its engine had long since seized, along with the brakes, and the bodywork and interior

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‘THIS WAS MY CHANCE TO OWN MY DREAM CAR AND I WAS GOING FOR IT’

had both also seen much better days, but it’s not every day you get an opportunity to own your dream car and, for the £25k asking price, it was a chance that Ian wanted to grab with both hands.

‘If I hadn’t got the equity from the GT-R sale burning a hole in my pocket I don’t think I could’ve ever justified the price – it just seemed like fate,’ beams Ian. ‘So I asked Dave to do the deal and transport the C110 back to GT-R Heritage

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Centre HQ in County Durham for a full restoration to be undertaken.’

Once back in Blighty, Dave and the team looked over the state of the car and discussed the options with Ian. ‘For me, there was never any debate,’ Ian grins. ‘There was only ever one way this was going to go and that was to be a reimagining of the original racing concept. This was my one chance to own my dream car and I was going for it!’

Having restored countless Skylines over the years, including Dave’s own Hakosuka, the guys at the GT-R Heritage Centre are all too familiar with the process of stripping back and rebuilding these kinds of Japanese classics, however, this request was unlike any other they had ever attempted…

‘Simply restoring or building a car is easy,’ says Dave. ‘But creating an exact replica is much harder. Especially when

you’re talking about an iconic one-off car that there is very little information about and is based thousands of miles away in a museum.’

Add to the fact that replacement parts and panels simply don’t exist for the Kenmeri and you start to see the extent of the difficulty.

‘Much of the restoration of the shell had to be fabricated from scratch,’ Dave highlights.

‘And once we started stripping away the paint and panel work

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it was clear the amount that needed replacing – due to both corrosion and previously bodged repairs – was extensive.’

But, not one to be defeated, while the boys were busy sorting the shell in the workshop, Dave got on the blower to his exhaustive list of contacts in Japan to see about sourcing that wild widebody conversion.

‘I managed to get a kit made in Japan that was identical to the original car’s,’ he reveals. ‘It took three months to be made and shipped, but came with everything from the unique headlightless front grille and chin spoiler to the huge blistered arches and ducktail rear spoiler.’

Once the kit arrived it was then fitted to the now perfect bare shell and the process of sorting the car’s trademark squat stance could begin.

‘The original car runs 15in Watanabe wheels with widths measuring 9.5in at the front and a huge 11.5in at the rear,’ Dave says. ‘And while sourcing such extreme wheels wasn’t such a problem, getting suitable tyres was a nightmare!’

In the end Dave managed to get hold of a set of used racing

slicks that offered the right width and sidewall profiles to suit the look to a tee.

With the rolling stock sorted, it was the ride height that was now lacking and to get the bodywork sitting lower to terrafirma a set of custom coilovers were made for the front and an adjustable beam constructed for the rear.

‘Getting the wheel fitment and ride height correct was such an important part of getting the car to look right,’ Dave explains. ‘Without this crucial element, it would have just looked completely wrong in my eyes.’

The other imperative element of the car that caused Dave no end of sleepless nights was getting the colour scheme correct.

‘There’s no information about the paint colour anywhere in the world,’ Dave sighs. ‘I even resorted to asking my contacts at the Nismo factory if they would tell me the paint code, but they wouldn’t let it slip.’

In the end, it was down to trial and error to get the colour right, with endless spray-out cards completed and offered up to pictures of the original car displayed on a large screen.

IT’S NOT WHAT YOU KNOW… DAVE’S CONNECTIONS WITH NISSAN’S TOP BODS HAVE HELPED NO END WITH THE KENMERI’S TRANSFORMATION AS HE HAS BEEN GIVEN EXCLUSIVE ACCESS TO THE ORIGINAL CAR IN JAPAN TO TAKE NOTES, MEASUREMENTS AND PHOTOS TO AID THE BUILD PROCESS. IN FACT, SINCE THE CAR HAS BEEN COMPLETED, DAVE HAS RECEIVED CORRESPONDENCE FROM THE NISMO OMORI FACTORY IN JAPAN CONGRATULATING HIM ON A JOB WELL DONE. HIGH PRAISE INDEED!

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TECHSPEC ENGINE 2.0-litre, 6-cyl, 24v L-series SOHC engine, full engine rebuild, rotational mass balanced, block de-stressed, modified cylinder head, Weber 40 DCOE triple carburettors, six-branch tubular manifold with twin side-exit exhaust pipes, period-style ACL rear fuel cell

PERFORMANCE 160bhp+

TRANSMISSION RWD factory five-speed manual gearbox fully overhauled and refreshed

SUSPENSION Custom built adjustable coilovers with height adjustment

BRAKES OEM front discs and calipers on front, drum brakes on the rear, all fully overhauled and refreshed

WHEELS 9x15in (front) and 11.5x15in (rear) Watanabe Type R magnesium wheels with slick tyres

EXTERIOR Full bare metal restoration to original racing model specification and style, including bespoke fabrication, Nismo wide arch kit with chin spoiler and rear boot spoiler, custom mixed PPG green paint with four coats of ceramic lacquer, custom period racing livery, pin-striping and door numbers

INTERIOR OEM front seats retrimmed in ’70s-style Nissan racing trim, custom rear rollcage and panelling, original restored dashboard with OEM clocks, period racing steering wheel retrimmed in leather

THANKS Summer Signs in Peterlee for the custom racing graphics, my wife, who actually loves the car and is happy to support me with everything – I didn’t have to hide any boxes or bills with this one! And also everyone at the GT-R Heritage Centre who has helped and worked on the car over the last two years

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SEE THE ORIGINAL IN ACTION! POINT YOUR SMARTPHONE’S QR READER HERE TO SEE ONBOARD FOOTAGE OF KUNIMITSU TAKAHASHI TAKING THE KENMERI GT-R CONCEPT AROUND A LAP OF THE FAMOUS FUJI SPEEDWAY CIRCUIT IN JAPAN. WHAT A NOISE!

After months of attempts, including three different full-car resprays until he was finally happy, Dave finally settled on the deep bottle green hue as seen on the car before you, a colour that even Nissan’s top brass have agreed is damn close to that of the original car.

‘Once we’d got the green right, we went through a similar process to select the gold for the livery and pin-striping,’ Dave shrugs. ‘In the end I think we’ve done a pretty decent job.’

And we’d agree. After viewing pictures of the original car online, we certainly can’t tell the difference! From the kit to the colour scheme, the caged and retrimmed interior to the boot mounted fuel cell, each

element of the car has been carried out with an acute attention to detail.

‘The only area of the build that isn’t as the original is the engine,’ Dave explains. ‘Original S20 engines cost upwards of £50k and that’s for a non-runner with no accessories that would require a full rebuild, so it would’ve been simply far too expensive.’

Instead, Ian opted to stick with the car’s factory fitted L-series engine and have that rebuilt with the later-spec fuel injection system replaced with a set of triple Weber 40 side-draft carburettors.

‘It’s no S20, but with the Webers, the custom manifold and exhaust system it looks and

sounds incredible,’ Ian enthuses. ‘It’s certainly a fitting powerplant for the new look.’

And so, two years on from the car first entering the GT-R Heritage Centre’s workshop, the recreation is now complete. For both Dave and Ian alike, this has been a real labour of love that simply oozes authenticity from every panel gap. As Dave says, building a car is easy, but recreating an icon is anything but, however, after seeing the car in metal, we reckon all the blood, sweat and tears have been well worth it. The world might not quite have a second race-ready Kenmeri GT-R, but it’s likely that this is as close as anyone will ever get, and that’s good enough for us. JP

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WORDS: PAUL COWLAND PICS: CHRIS WALLBANK

SUPERLATIVE SUPRA TOYOTA’S SUPRA HAS BEEN THE PERFORMANCE CAR THAT EVERY TUNER’S BEEN WAITING FOR. JAPANESE PERFORMANCE GOT BEHIND THE WHEEL OF LITCHFIELD’S DEMO CAR TO SEE WHETHER THE HYPE WAS JUSTIFIED

T

he last time there was this much hype around a Japanese sports coupe was around 2012. Looking back, the ‘Toyobaru’ pairing of the GT86 and BRZ seemed to captivate the world’s press, garnering plaudits and fans, and sending the tuning aftermarket into a wild frenzy of design and manufacture. That was and is a brilliant car, of

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course, and well-priced to boot, but the only Achilles’ heel for many was its lack of forced induction. For some, 200bhp just wasn’t enough.

Fast forward to the present day and it’s hard to argue that Toyota haven’t equipped their latest coupe with enough firepower this time around.

Thanks to the technical partnership with BMW, there’s

now a feisty turbocharged sixpot under the bonnet – and with an impressive 340bhp from the showroom floor. As was ever the way, of course, that’s still not enough for some – and that’s where respected tuner Litchfield has stepped in, creating a package for the car that takes it up towards the magical 500bhp figure.

While many tuners seem to

have embraced the Supra’s talents and will soon be offering packages for it, it would be hard to argue against Litchfield’s CV and continual run of tuning hits. Globally renowned for the Nissan GT-R as its core business, the company was founded as a Subaru specialist, creating iconic cars like the T25 along the way. Latterly, the company

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has also turned its considerable talents towards the faster end of the BMW range, so it’s perhaps easy to see how this rather marvellous mash-up of German and Japanese engineering falls into its collective comfort zone.

Arriving at the company’s vast Gloucestershire premises, we’re struck by how subtle and tasteful the demo car is. Factory wheels and brakes, a distinct

lack of additional aero – and for a company that also specialises in custom paint and protective film finishes, it’s still in its factory pigment. Talk about a subtle sell!

Founder Iain Litchfield clearly sees our confusion and quickly chips in. ‘We think it’s how most of our customers are going to want to keep their cars,’ he explains. ‘We set out

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from the beginning of this project to make a ‘real world’ tuning package that was actually deliberately quite priceconscious. We’ve looked where we can to make the most notable gains, whilst really delivering great value for money – and it really seems to be working.’

The package in this particular car is based around a

few choice exhaust mods and a custom remap. This small but perfectly formed collection of parts may not sound like much but, between them, endow the Supra with a significant three figure hike in power and torque.

Litchfield has designed its own downpipe to help gasses to swiftly escape from the back of the turbo, and where they meet their next restriction, at the

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gasoline particulate filter (GPF), the firm also has a delete option available to speed things up further. Thanks to the factory exhaust system being of a pretty reasonable diameter, just these two mods alone are enough to add a few extra horses. In the case of the downpipe, there’s 15bhp to be gained, and there’s another 5bhp hidden within the constrictive body of the GPF. Even without these mods, Litchfield is able to take the car

from the 340bhp that it recorded on their own superaccurate twin-retarder Maha dyno, up to a licence-worrying 440bhp. This is known as their ‘Stage 1’ conversion, and if you’re looking for a lot of additional power with the minimum of hassle and cost, it’s spectacular value at just £600. Can you think of an easier way to add a hundred horses in total safety?

Litchfield are clearly proud that they have been able to take

their years of experience of tuning BMW’s similarly B58powered engines and applying this knowledge to the new Supra. Whereas others might rely on bought-in files from overseas, Iain was keen to demonstrate how their tuning work was completed in-house.

Litchfield’s software changes leave all of the original factory overboost and knock sensing in place, in a literal cake-and-eat-it situation that keeps the engine well within its safety zone and

perfectly balanced between performance and longevity.

It’s not just power though, torque is similarly up from 360lb ft to 450lb ft. That’s a very noticeable hike in the real world, and the graph that accompanies this remap shows an impressively smooth delivery curve coming in with a most factory-esque profile.

The demo car has this, of course, plus the gains made by the exhaust mods on top. The result is a not un-useful 473bhp

‘THE STAGE 1 TUNE STRIKES A PERFECT BALANCE BETWEEN PERFORMANCE AND LONGEVITY’

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– with a corresponding increase in torque to an almost ‘square’ 472.4lb ft. Price is also sensible with the whole conversion costing just £1495.

Allied to this is a set of caster correction bushes that offer a greater degree of steering feedback and feel, giving Litchfield a solution to a Supra facet that many owners seem to want to improve: the alignment. From the showroom

floor, the cars seem to arrive with zero rear toe, which can make the car a little nervous at higher track speeds, as well as making the rear end a little lively under spirited braking.

Litchfield’s setup up has been designed to give the car a super-grippy front end with a rear that obediently tags along for the ride, making the car, even with this level of power, super-easy to drive on the limit.

On that note, Iain’s team also tried turning up the wick on their development car to over 500bhp. Although they were happy from an engineering perspective, it appears that this is the magic number at which the inherent – and impressive – grip within the Supra’s chassis is somewhat overwhelmed.

‘It becomes a fight between mechanical grip, power and the traction control system,’

grimaces Iain. ‘With high 400s, this is a wonderful car to drive quickly, and you can really enjoy the performance. Above that and there are too many competing factors that quickly diminish the car’s point-to-point performance. I’ve never been interested in outright numbers, more the overall feel of a conversion.’

This is borne out by small specification changes around

‘I’VE NEVER BEEN INTERESTED IN OUTRIGHT NUMBERS, MORE THE OVERALL FEEL OF A CONVERSION’

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PRICE LITCHFIELD STAGE 1 REMAP £600 LITCHFIELD STAGE 2 (DOWNPIPE, GPF DELETE & REMAP) £1495 WWW.LITCHFIELDMOTORS.COM

the car. When asked which performance filter lurked within the factory airbox, another surprising answer came back from Iain: ‘That’s a factory paper filter,’ he laughs. ‘We tried almost every foam and cotton filter on the market.

Some did nothing at all, while most actually lost power – as much as 6bhp – even after repeated dyno runs. A fresh paper unit seems to produce the best results.’ That’s a rare bit of BS-free tuning advice in a market full of spurious claims.

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Behind the wheel our driving impressions of the car reflected Iain’s own thoughts.

The power delivery is mighty, yet the way in which it comes in is beautifully measured.

Don’t get us wrong, this is a very quick car, one that is easily capable of losing a Porsche 911 or BMW ‘M-car’ down any back road you care to mention. The chassis mods have also made a small, but immediately-noticeable difference. Unless rudely provoked with a rampant right

foot or careless steering input, Litchfield’s Supra stays benign and controllable, tempting you to press on into the next corner. It’s amazing how this combination of tiny enhancements can so dramatically change the character of a car.

If you have been lucky enough to add your name to the registration of one of the UK’s first 300 A90 Supras, this may very well be a path you might wish to tread swiftly along. The original charm and

character of the car is unblemished, but Litchfield’s package endows it with another level of ability that genuinely transforms the Supra from accomplished GT to a seriously fast and capable hyper-coupe.

In our short time with the car, the integrity of the conversion impressed above all else. Smooth, refined and almost endless power, allied to intuitive and responsive handling. Turns out that some hype is justified, after all. JP

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Dyno Developments

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WORDS: DANIEL BEVIS PICS: CHRIS WALBANK

NORTHERN LIGHTS GLINTING IN THE WEST YORKSHIRE SUNSHINE, THESE TWO BLOBEYE IMPREZAS SHOW JUST WHAT A STRONG PROPOSITION THESE CARS ARE FOR FAST-ROAD DRIVING IN THE UK. AND IN ADDITION TO THEIR POWER AND POISE, EACH ONE HAS A UNIQUE APPROACH TO SHOW-STOPPING FINESSE…

U

p in the wilds of West Yorkshire, with the rolling drama of the Pennines and the carboniferous majesty of the coalfields, we find Impreza country. It may sound incongruous but it’s true – that craggy scenery has some truly evocative Tarmac ribboning its way through it, and the eager enthusiasm of the West Yorkshire Subaru Owners’ Club pays tribute to the eminent appropriateness of such machines in this particular

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landscape.

Today before the lens we have two of the club members’ cars, united in inherent similarity and yet taking entirely different conceptual paths.

There’s a common thread running through both of these Imprezas; both are Blobeyes, both are owned by fellas who yearned for such things when they were young, but grew up to follow a Germanic and VAGoriented path before arriving at the Impreza endgame. The

silver car is a WRX, the blue one a WRX STI Type UK, and both are running a nice round 350bhp. Myriad similarities, but at the same time these have been approached from entirely different angles.

Let’s get under the skin of the blue car first of all. ‘As a kid in school I used to look on the internet at cars, and this is one I always said I’d treat myself to,’ says its justifiably proud owner, Derrick Charles. That dream was realised back in 2014,

when he decided to follow up a long string of Teutonic metal (VWs, Audis, BMWs and the like) with the achievement of that youthful vision. ‘I always wanted it to look similar to the ones I fell in love with as a kid, just with my own personal spin on it,’ he explains. ‘And just to be a bit different to the norm, but without going over the top.

The idea was to make it aggressive-looking, but still show-worthy and clean.’

It’s fair to say it’s mission

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accomplished here in terms of the results, although getting to this point hasn’t always been an easy ride. The STI was completely stock when Derrick bought it, and he started off in the traditional style with a wheel upgrade – Rota Grid Drifts as an opener – joined by some HSD Monopro coilovers and a few stylistic tweaks; an HT Autos bottomline kit comprising various lips and extensions, along with Stiffi rear wing stabilisers. Down in the engine

room, he treated the Scoob to a Cobra turbo-back exhaust system and K&N induction, got it mapped, and that was that.

Job jobbed…well, for a while, anyway. The car remained in this spec for a couple of years while Derrick simply enjoyed it for what it was, but before long the yearning to take the build to the next level became too strong to resist.

‘At that point I started to sell some mods from the car, like the bottomline kit and the

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wheels, and ordered a set of Karlton Flares from America,’ he recalls. ‘It turned out to be a pretty bad experience getting them fitted – the first bodyshop did a really poor job, so I had to take it to another to rectify it, which cost a fortune and took months to sort out! Then came the trial and error of sizing up the new wheels in terms of offset and width and so on, which led to a lot of measuring and endless scrolling through the

internet for information for weeks on end. Finally I bit the bullet and ordered a set of Work Emotion T7R-2P wheels.

Complete with the Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres it came in at around £2500, so I was praying they would fit…’

Thankfully all of the time with the tape measure paid off, although one unexpected consequence was the need to upgrade the brakes. The Work wheels simply wouldn’t clear the OEM Brembos, so Derrick

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STATESIDE FLARE THE KARLTON FLARES KIT ON DERRICK’S IMPREZA IS A SOUGHT-AFTER SETUP. NOW DISCONTINUED, THEY’RE STILL REALLY POPULAR AMONG SUBARU ENTHUSIASTS – SO WHERE CAN YOU GET THEM? WELL, THERE’S ALWAYS GOOD OLD EBAY, ALTHOUGH BE SURE THAT YOU’RE GETTING SOMETHING PUKKA AND NOT A CHEAP GLASSFIBRE LASH-UP THAT WON’T FIT PROPERLY. THE ORIGINAL DESIGNS WERE SOLD TO A GUY WHO CONTINUED MANUFACTURING AND DISTRIBUTING THEM IN THE STATES UNDER THE NAME SUBYFLARES. OR HERE IN THE UK YOU CAN TALK TO ABW MOTORSPORT, WHO CARRY A WIDE VARIETY OF QUALITY IMPREZA ARCH FLARES AND KITS

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cracked out the credit card once again to order up a D2 Racing big brake kit. Pricey stuff, but you get what you pay for, and the stopping power of this STI is now pretty phenomenal.

Further ups and downs presented themselves as Derrick set about revamping the aesthetics. After much deliberation, he decided upon a set of sideskirts and a bonnet from Chargespeed – although when it all arrived, the bonnet had been damaged in transit.

Still, he’s a guy who likes to turn crises into opportunities, and the need for repair led him to a little custom work, colourcoding the thing to truly make it his own.

‘The car was really coming together, and at that point I took the plunge and ordered a full Air Lift suspension kit to replace the coilovers,’ he continues.

‘This gave me the ability to sit the car down for shows, getting that great no-arch-gap look, but also allowing me to drive it the way I want – it really is the best

of both worlds! And most recently I’ve had the Roger Clark Motorsport Spec C roof vent fitted, which will be handy as the air-con system will ultimately be removed.’ The car’s undeniably more raucous now than ever before, too, thanks to the experts at Zorstec crafting a custom quad-exit system. With a few more tweaks, including a front-mount intercooler conversion, he arrives at that useful 350bhp figure. Impressive stuff, for sure.

So now let’s see how a similar

state of affairs was arrived at with the silver WRX… Belonging to James Mortimer, this car represents an even longer ownership journey, as he actually purchased it back in 2008 when it was less than two years old. ‘I’ve not always been a Japanese car owner,’ he says. ‘I was quite heavily into VWs at one stage – mainly Golfs GTIs, and more notably a Golf Rallye which was an awesome car back in the day. But from a young age I’ve always loved the Impreza

‘I ORDERED A FULL AIR LIFT KIT TO REPLACE THE COILOVERS’

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TECHSPEC because of their road presence and the sound they make. With this particular car it was one of the last of the UK models with the much stronger 2.0-litre engines, and being silver was a must as I didn’t want traditional Scooby blue, or any other colour for that matter.’

It’s this desire to be different that really informed the direction of the project.

Deliberately side-stepping the widespread enthusiasm for blue Imprezas, James was also keen not to go down the traditional

STI-replica route and instead forge his own path.

‘In everything I did, I tried to do something different to the crowd, to make it stand out at shows within a sea of similarlooking Scoobs,’ he reasons.

‘And I think I’ve achieved it.’

Of course, Rome wasn’t built in a day and James was in no rush to reach any sort of finish line, so he bided his time and started off with the basics: a full Cobra 3in exhaust system to unleash that trademark boxer rumble, and a set of HSD

Monopro coilovers to tighten up the handling and get it sitting with a little more hunkereddown panache. It’s been a case of fettling, honing and refining over the past eleven years or so, and the chassis is now positively brimming with highend upgrades, including a refurbished and powder-coated STI rear subframe, a pair of Whiteline anti-roll bars and front drop links, and a full suite of goodies from suspension gurus Hardrace – trailing arms, adjustable lateral arms, and rear

ENGINE 2.0-litre, 4-cyl, 16v EJ20 boxer flat-four, custom turbo-back exhaust system, front-mount intercooler, 3-port boost solenoid, Mishimoto turbo inlet pipe, RCM induction trumpet with K&N filter, remapped ECU

PERFORMANCE 350bhp, 350lb ft

TRANSMISSION Stock 6-speed manual gearbox, AWD

SUSPENSION Air Lift Performance 3P air ride suspension, Hardrace 10-piece lateral arm kit

WYSOC THE WEST YORKSHIRE SUBARU OWNERS’ CLUB IS A THRIVING COMMUNITY THAT’S BEEN GROWING IN STATURE, AND BOTH OF THESE CARS ARE INVOLVED IN THE SCENE. ‘THE WYSOC IS MY MAIN CLUB,’ SAYS DERRICK. ‘WE ATTEND SHOWS TOGETHER, AND GO TO MEETS AND DO DAYS OUT.’ ‘I’M PART OF THE WYSOC ADMIN TEAM,’ SAYS JAMES. ‘THERE’S TEN OF US IN TOTAL WHO ALL SHARE THE RUNNING OF THE CLUB WITH 900+ MEMBERS. WE ATTEND AROUND 10–15 SHOWS A YEAR NATIONWIDE, AS WELL AS HAVING OCCASIONAL ORGANISED DRIVES OUT, AND WE HAVE MONTHLY MEETS AT A LOCAL CAFÉ/BAR.’ SEARCH FACEBOOK FOR WYSOC FOR FURTHER INFO

BRAKES D2 front BBK – 6-pot calipers with 330mm discs, Brembo rear calipers with 316mm discs

WHEELS 11x18in ET10 Work Emotion T7R-2P wheels with 275/35/18 Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres

EXTERIOR Karlton arche flares, Chargespeed carbon-fibre bonnet – colour-coded with black lacquer on scoop and vents, Aerocatches, Chargespeed bottomline kit – painted jet black, RCM Spec C roof vent, carbon front bumper canards – cut to shape around arch flares, Stiffi rear wing stabilisers, New-age rear window vane, Subaru wind deflectors – painted jet black, wing mirror trims and window trims painted jet black, detango’d headlights, black lacquer tinted taillights, de-badged and de-stickered (except STI badges)

INTERIOR DAMD steering wheel with Hawkeye STI airbag, custom STI floor mats, black centre dash and red hazard, Prosport halo gauges – 4x 60mm and 2x 52mm, double gauge pod for clock surround, Hawkeye STI sweeping dials, Pioneer SPH-DA120 double-DIN touchscreen head unit, red torpedo switch for anti-lag

THANKS ‘I’d like to thank Grant at GHL Bodyworks for his awesome body work, and a quick shout-out to Zorstec for the exhaust work – both have made the car stand out.’

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drop links, too. It adds up to a chassis that handles like an absolute champ.

But of course form was as important as function from the off, which is where we return to that notion of standing out from the crowd. While spoiler size can be a bit of an arms race with Subaru owners, James has instead opted to remove his boot spoiler, while adding a reverse bonnet scoop at the business end. The theme throughout has been to keep it clean, slick and subtle; it takes an enthusiast’s eye to pinpoint some of the mods, such as the removal and smoothing

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of the boot lock, or the detango effect in the headlights, but it all results in something seldom seen in the Impreza world. It’s not brash or flashy, but instead opts to speak softly while brandishing a big stick.

Ah yes, and the stealth is the most fun part. James readily admits to being irritated by ill-informed passers-by who dismiss it as ‘just a WRX’, although he really has nothing to worry about on that front. His engine spec is formidable, featuring an STI-spec VF24 turbo, HDI GT2 front-mount intercooler, RCM 340 fuel pump and pink injectors,

and much more besides… it’s been painstakingly remapped by Andy Carr, with pops-and-bangs and switchable maps, and the result is a useable and reliable 350bhp. So no, it’s not ‘just a WRX’. It’s something unique and wholly thrilling.

‘Power-wise, it’s pretty much at the limit of its current five-speed ’box, as every Impreza owner knows the six-speed in the STI is a lot stronger and can handle more power,’ he says. ‘But at 350bhp it can mix it with most stuff on the road, and the longer gear ratios are a massive help with that!’

The truly inclusive

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TECHSPEC ENGINE 2.0-litre, 4-cyl, 16v EJ20 boxer flat-four, VF24 (STI) turbo, RCM induction kit, GFB dump valve, Sytec fuel pressure regulator, full 3in Cobra stainless exhaust system, Toyosport up-pipe, HDI GT2 front-mount intercooler, pink injectors, NGK 7B spark plugs, RCM 340 fuel pump, Scoobyworx 3-port boost controller, Bosch S5 battery, gas bonnet struts, Forge header tank, Mishimoto radiator stays, chrome powder-coated alternator, Bachler Racing header tank cap, radiator cap and dipstick, RCM oil filler cap, deyellowed bottle caps, chrome overcaps, Andy Carr remap with pops-andbangs and switchable maps

element that intertwines both of these Yorkshire-based builds, aside from a keen involvement with the local owners’ club, is the fact that they’re so deeply personal to their respective owners. ‘It’s completely my build,’ Derrick smiles. ‘The STI was bone stock when I got it, and what it’s turned into is totally my creation. I feel so overwhelmed with the reception it gets at shows and the fact that it’s now in a magazine! It’s not a garage queen, I use it in all

weathers, but I do my best to keep it immaculate – and the reactions it gets are just unbelievable.’

James is equally enthused with how it’s all turned out: ‘I wanted to create something very subtle and stylish,’ he says, ‘but if you look a bit deeper you’ll find a whole host of modifications that all work together to make it what it is.

I’m super proud of what I’ve achieved over the last eleven years.’

As well he should be, and

Derrick, too – what these guys have done here is to take an established formula and cunningly turn it on its head, creating two unique and showstopping Subarus. The cars may have many conceptual similarities, but the end results are beautifully diverse; the sounds ricocheting off the Pennines are supremely offbeat, and that’s not just because of the flat-four warble.

This is Impreza country, and these fellas are rewriting the rulebook. JP

PERFORMANCE 350bhp, 350lb ft TRANSMISSION Stock 5-speed manual gearbox, AWD, Exedy clutch, lightened flywheel SUSPENSION HSD coilovers, colour-coded front strut brace, refurbished and powder-coated STI rear subframe, Whiteline 24mm front and rear anti-roll bars, Whiteline rear ARB mounts, Whiteline front drop links, Hardrace trailing arms, Hardrace adjustable lateral arms, Hardrace rear drop links, refurbished rear driveshafts

‘AT 350BHP IT CAN MIX IT WITH MOST OF THE STUFF ON THE ROAD’

BRAKES Brembo front and rear calipers, discs and pads refurbished and painted red, Hel braided lines, Tegiwa brake stopper WHEELS 7.5x18in Kei Racing wheels in white with Subaru centre caps and 225/40/18 Toyo Proxes Sport T1 tyres, chrome internally-splined nuts EXTERIOR De-spoilered and de-locked boot, Subaru lip spoiler, Scoobyworld mudflaps, HT Autos front splitter, detango’d headlights with Silvertec bulbs, RCM reverse bonnet scoop, tinted windows, tinted taillights, STI fog covers, Hella horns INTERIOR CDF short-shifter, Defi Racer gauge package (oil temp, oil pressure, boost), Scoobyworld tailored WRX mats, fire extinguisher, Kenwood DMX7017DABS Android head unit THANKS ‘Thanks to Grant at GHL Bodyworks, Andy, Danny and Jack at Richard Henry Motorsports, Garry and James at GR Performance, and last but not least my wife Hazel for putting up with my obsessive behaviour wherever the car’s concerned.’

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www.japaneseperformancemag.co.uk

RICHARD HENRY MOTORSPORT We specialise in Subarus and Evos. All work undertaken for road and track.

Unit 5 Bowling Park Close, Bradford, BD4 7HG 01274 732508 richardhenrymotorsport@hotmail.co.uk

www.japaneseperformancemag.co.uk

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WORDS: DAN SHERWOOD PICS: JONATHAN SALISBURY

WHEN RICH WEBB BOUGHT HIS MK3 MX-5 HE WANTED TO ADD SOME INDIVIDUAL TOUCHES TO MAKE IT HIS OWN. HOWEVER, HE NEVER EXPECTED THINGS TO GO THIS FAR…

‘I

’ve always had a soft spot for Mazdas,’ says Devonbased Rich Webb when we meet him and his shimmering black and gold air-slammed NC MX-5 Sport. ‘My dream Mazda would be a mint condition 99-spec FD RX-7 in rare Sunburst Yellow. I’ve worked on a few in the past and they’re such impressive machines.’

However, being only 24-years old, the insurance costs (not to mention the current purchase prices) of one of Mazda’s rotary-engined rockets is a little too steep for Rich to stomach, and it was even more bank

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balance-busting three-years ago when he had only just turned 21, which was the catalyst to him seeking a more wallet-friendly alternative.

‘At the time I was driving around in a BMW E38 728i,’ remembers Rich. ‘It was a big old barge and really comfortable, but what it gained in motorway mile munching, it massively lacked in driver involvement, fizz and fun, attributes that, after previously owning a puny Renault Clio 1.2 as my first car, I was desperately seeking from my next daily driver.’

With his dream RX-7 out of the equation, Rich began looking into the Wankelpowered wonder’s less potent, yet much more economicallyviable cousin, the MX-5. And as we can all attest, Rich’s logic was flawless. Very few cars can hold a candle to the MX-5’s magical mix of handling balance, sweet styling and visceral wind-in-your-hair motoring fun, all at a very inclusive price point.

‘Originally I hadn’t really considered any of the later variants, as I had my heart set on a first generation NA model,’

Rich reveals. ‘However, after looking at a few examples that were for sale within my budget, I soon realised that it was extremely difficult to find one in good condition without a ton of rust, and that anything worth buying came with a high price tag to match.’

But rather than put him off the idea of MX-5 ownership, this initial setback simply served to push more modern metal into Rich’s crosshairs.

‘If I couldn’t get an older car, I decided to try and get the newest one I could afford, which led me to look at the third

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generation cars,’ says Rich. ‘I liked the fact that not many people had really done much to the NC models in the UK. They’re really impressively tuned in Japan, but other than a few select examples here in the UK, they seem to have gone relatively unnoticed when it comes to modifying, which inspired me to do something a bit different.’

Rich found a suitable base for his unique vision in the form of a then bone stock Mk3 Sport model in gloss black.

‘It was offered for sale up in Barnstaple, North Devon,’ Rich

recalls. ‘It had all the good signs such as one lady owner, full service history, rust free and it was freshly undersealed, too.’

The test drive proved similarly impressive and, once driven, Rich was forever smitten and purchased the car there and then.

‘It was the first car I’d seen and the first Mk3 I’d ever driven, but it was just so good I didn’t want to wait and potentially lose it,’ he laughs. ‘I was so pleased with it when I finally got it home.

I couldn’t wait to get stuck in and start modifying it.’

The first part on Rich’s list of

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upgrades was the brakes, which were refreshed with a set of Black Diamond dimpled and grooved discs with the brand’s fast road pads within fully rebuilt and refurbished OEM calipers.

‘I also added a set of braided brake lines to ensure a firm and consistent pedal feel when driving on the limit,’ Rich says. ‘Which is an area that was also radically enhanced by the extensive suspension mods.’

The MX-5 is a car that’s known for its precise steering and exploitable handling, but Rich felt there was room for

improvement so commissioned a set of custom extreme lowspec BC Racing coilovers with uprated spring rates. These dropped the MX-5’s curvaceous bodywork around 100mm closer to terra-firma and, along with uprated polyurethane bushes in the trailing arms, hubs and anti-roll bars, plus a custom four-wheel geometry alignment, all but eliminated the roll and wallow associated with the factory setup.

‘The car handled like a gokart,’ grins Rich. ‘Especially when I fitted the wider wheels and tyres. There was just so

53

much grip!’

And it’s Rich’s choice of rolling stock that is one of the most extreme elements of the car to date. Featuring 9.5x17in Work Emotion D9R wheels painted in Fiat bronze and wrapped in 245/40/17 Uniroyal Rainsport 3 tyres, they required some serious arch fettling to fit under the MX-5’s stock arches.

‘The wheels were an important element of the look,’ explains Rich. ‘So many NC owners run skinny 7J wheels and cover the car in chrome stick-on trim, but I wanted to take things in a completely different direction.’

To allow such wide rims to fit, Rich had to roll the MX-5’s arches, unfortunately this uncovered an issue that Rich had previously thought he’d managed to avoid.

‘When rolling the arches I found an area of rust behind the rear of the sill and up into the wheel arch,’ he groans. ‘I knew it was a common issue on earlier cars, but it’s obviously a problem area on NCs, too. It

54

had been covered over with underseal, so unfortunately I didn’t notice it when I initially inspected the car.’

Luckily, it wasn’t anything that couldn’t be remedied with some skilled metal work and a welder, and with the help of his friend, Jay Murray from JRMotorworx, Rich soon had the Five fighting fit once more.

‘The arch rolling and the rust removal had left some battle scars on the car’s bodywork,’ says Rich. ‘But rather than simply patch these up, I decided to save up for a full respray to bring the whole car back to tip top condition.’

Even though he was saving his pennies for the exterior refresh, Rich just couldn’t stop himself from tinkering, and this time his focus was on the 2.0litre motor.

‘To aid the engine’s breathing I sourced an AEM cold air intake and a BBR 4-1 exhaust manifold and built a custom stainless steel exhaust system,’ says Rich. ‘After an ECU remap, the power had

risen to 180bhp, and along with a big increase in the volume of the exhaust note, it also presented a noticeable improvement in performance.’

While he was working on the engine, Rich also prepped the block and painted it in a fresh coat of silver, while the rocker cover received a cool copper hue, mods that have really lifted the under-bonnet aesthetics.

‘To ensure the extra grunt wasn’t wasted and to improve

the engine’s response, I fitted a lightweight flywheel and an uprated clutch from US transmission specialists Competition Clutch,’ says Rich.

‘Supplied by Yorkshire-based rotary specialists Rotary Revs, it allows the engine to build revs quicker while retaining a near stock feel to the clutch pedal for daily driving duties, so is a great upgrade for NC owners.’

With enough cash stuffed under his mattress to finally sort

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the bodywork, Rich decided to go the whole hog and add a host of aero upgrades, too.

Up front a Carbon Miata front lip is mated to a smoothed front bumper, the headlights have been split and the innards painted black, and the orange side repeaters have been replaced with smoked items.

At the rear a Carbon Miata duck-tail spoiler has been mated to the boot lid while the rear bumper has been cut and shaped around the custom exhaust tips.

‘With the new exterior mods

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fitted, the car finally went off for paint, but rather than go for a simple blow over in the factory black pigment, I took inspiration from the rocker cover and wheels and decided to add a bronze/gold pearl to the clear coat,’ says Rich. ‘It’s subtle enough to keep it classy, but adds a cool shimmer when the sun hits it.’

As anyone who has had their car resprayed can testify, the fear factor of damaging the pristine paintwork weighs heavy on your mind, and for Rich, with his slammed stance running the

new splitter just a few centimetres off the Tarmac, his desire for paint preservation was spoiling his enjoyment of the car.

‘It was just so low that I was worried that I’d accidentally smash off the front splitter or would get beached on a speed bump,’ Rich laughs. ‘But at the same time I didn’t want to merely raise the coilovers as it would ruin the look and stance, so I had to think of another option.’

After some head scratching, the answer that presented itself

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TECHSPEC ENGINE 2.0-litre, 4-cyl, 16v, rocker cover painted copper pearl, block painted silver, AEM cold air intake, uprated oil filter, uprated spark plugs, BBR 4-1 manifold, custom stainless steel exhaust system, remapped ECU

‘THE AIR RIDE SETUP IS PRETTY CONTROVERSIAL IN MX-5 CIRCLES’

PERFORMANCE Estimated around 180bhp TRANSMISSION Standard rear-wheel drive, Sport limited-slip differential and 6-speed manual gearbox, OEM+ Competition Clutch uprated clutch and lightweight flywheel SUSPENSION Custom double bellow air bags on the front and sleeve bags on the rear using BC Racing dampers, uprated trailing arms, hubs and anti-roll bar bushes, full four-wheel geometry set-up, aftermarket rear strut brace BRAKES Black Diamond dimpled and grooved discs with road pads all round, full caliper rebuilds front and rear with stainless braided lines, Dot 4 racing brake fluid WHEELS & TYRES 9.5x17in Work Emotion D9R wheels painted Fiat 750 bronze with 245/40/17 Uniroyal Rainsport 3 tyres EXTERIOR Carbon Miata front lip with a smoothed front bumper, headlights split and the orange plastic parts removed and inserts painted black, smoked side repeaters, Carbon Miata duck tail rear spoiler, modified bumper to fit around the exhaust pipes, full respray in gold paste pearl, Eunos-inspired side decals INTERIOR Interior painted to match the rocker cover with the air gauges flushed into the air vents, Kode steering wheel and extended gear knob, standard seats, Kenwood headunit, full Kicker audio install. Boot mounted air tank and 10in sub box, whole car fitted with Dynamat THANKS I'd like to thank my family for putting up with the build (I promise I'll move out one day), Jay for sorting the paint job out when things went south, and being a continued help in the terrible ideas I have, Mike for his many hours on the driveway helping, Jon for his excellent photos which were used in this article, and Hamish, Joe, Ellie, Jack, Jason, Jordyn, Tom, Lewis, Evie for your support and help along the way

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was an unusual one, but one that added practicality and performance while still keeping the low riding look Rich had grown to love…’

‘I’d previously used a company called Only Charged Dubs in Doncaster to install an air ride setup in my old BMW,’ says Rich. ‘They’re air ride specialists and can build systems to custom specs so I gave them a call to see what they could do for the MX-5.’

Keen to retain the handling characteristics he had grown to love with the BC coilovers, Only Charged Dubs suggested retaining the damper bodies of the coilovers and replacing the springs with custom doublebellow air bags at the front and sleeve bags at the rear.

‘It’s a 500-mile round trip from my home in Devon up to Doncaster, but the journey was definitely worth it,’ Rich beams.

‘The air ride setup is brilliant.

It’s so compact with a small air tank and compressor in the boot and it makes the car so much more practical, as I can raise the car when the road gets rough yet still have that cool drop when either parked up or at shows.’

But what about that legendary MX-5 handling?

‘To be honest, the ride feels exactly the same as when it was running coilovers,’ reveals Rich. ‘And considering that I spent the weekend after the installation blasting around the demanding country roads that litter the Peak District with my mates, I can vouch for its cornering abilities, too.’

This custom setup involved extensive modifications to the spring seats to allow the bags to sit over the damper bodies before the tweaked top mounts could be refitted for installation.

It also features a trick digital controller mounted in the

transmission tunnel next to the handbrake with twin gauges neatly installed in the driver side air vents to monitor the system’s air pressure levels.

‘The air ride setup is pretty controversial in MX-5 circles,’ admits Rich. ‘As most people see it as detrimental to the car’s performance. But for me it has only enhanced my enjoyment of the car. It’s like having two cars in one, which opens up a whole host of possibilities. I love it!’

And with countless shows already planned into his diary, a conversion to individual throttle bodies, plus a potential road trip around Europe on the cards, it shows that, far from reaching a finale, Rich’s journey of MX-5 ownership looks set to continue for many years to come. And with such an openminded approach to modifying, who knows where that may lead him? JP

www.japaneseperformancemag.co.uk

WORDS: DANIEL BEVIS PICS: PZ TUNING

GOING OFF-GRID CREATED FOR THE GRIDLIFE TOURING CUP SERIES, THIS ACURA RSX BUILDS ON PZTUNING MOTORSPORTS’ EXTENSIVE TIME ATTACK EXPERIENCE TO CREATE SOMETHING TRULY INSPIRATIONAL…

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M

odern life is extraordinarily complicated. For all of our enthusiasm to sync our various devices and centralise the functionality of our gadgets and whatnot, it’s undeniable that we’ve got a lot more going on in our lives than any generation before. Sure, we can boast about the ready convenience of the manner in which we can control our central heating from a phone app, or order our groceries via voice command from our smart speaker, but the fact of the matter is our everyday lives are heinously complex.

When you actually pare back the essentials

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of the day-to-day, much that we involve ourselves with is superfluous; that’s not to say we’re yearning for the ultra-simplicity of living in caves, eating food that we’ve just bludgeoned to death and daubing the occasional painting on the cave wall in sabre-tooth tiger blood, but you can’t argue with the notion that life is so much more enjoyable when it’s less complex.

This is a mindset that can be found in all areas of contemporary living, even motorsport. Indeed, it’s the core thinking behind the newly minted Gridlife Touring Cup race series in North America. The

premise is essentially to strip out the dozens of complex and nannying rules found in so many race series, and take things back to basics: a competitive roadracing calendar with production-based entrants, racing wheel to wheel with a build freedom akin to that which you find in series such as Time Attack.

Each build in the series is exciting and, crucially, relatable – the type of cars that people can create in their own garages, rather than being dominated by works teams with multi-million dollar budgets.

Naturally there are such things as control

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‘GRID LIFE ENCOURAGES COMPETITORS TO MAXIMISE THE COOL FACTOR’ KNOW YOUR RSX? WHAT IS AN ACURA RSX? WELL, IT’S BASICALLY A DC5 HONDA INTEGRA, ISN’T IT…? IN THE MAIN, THAT’S CORRECT – ALTHOUGH THERE ARE CERTAIN USDM-MARKET SPECIFICS TO KNOW ABOUT. THE CAR WAS AVAILABLE IN TWO SPEC LEVELS – RSX, AND RSX TYPE S. THE RSX CAME WITH A 160BHP K20A3 ENGINE, 16IN WHEELS AND (USUALLY) CLOTH SEATS. THE RSX TYPE S WAS THE FUN ONE, WITH A 210BHP K20A2, BIGGER BRAKES, THICKER ANTI-ROLL BARS, STIFFER SUSPENSION, LEATHER SEATS, AND A BOSE 7-SPEAKER AUDIO SETUP WITH A SUBWOOFER IN THE BOOT! AMERICAN BUYERS SHOULD ALSO BE AWARE THAT THE POST-2005 FACELIFT CARS ARE THE REALLY DESIRABLE ONES – AS WELL AS STANDARD-FIT ENKEI WHEELS, THEY RECEIVED THE FULL ENGINE SPEC AND EXHAUST SYSTEM FROM THE JDM INTEGRA TYPE R

60

tyres, and regulations relating to weight and aerodynamics and whathave-you, but it’s very telling that the race series’ rulebook has a specific section headed Cool Factor: ‘Gridlife strongly encourages competitors to maximise the Cool Factor, stand out from the rest of the crowd and try to maintain a professionally presented vehicle; unique builds and well-executed vehicle and driver themes will be rewarded with more visibility both on and off track, with live coverage, build spotlights and fan walks.’

All of this spoke with a certain resonant clarity to William Au-Yeung of PZtuning Motorsports in Ontario,

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KINGMAKER WHEN YOU’RE BUILDING A RACE MOTOR, RELIABILITY IS KEY – AND WILLIAM AND THE TEAM SWEAR BY KING RACING BEARINGS. FOUNDED IN 1960 AS KING ENGINE BEARINGS, THIS IS A COMPANY WHICH HAS EARNED A REPUTATION AS AN INDUSTRYLEADING MANUFACTURER OF OEM-QUALITY PARTS (BOTH IN AUTOMOTIVE AND AVIATION) AS WELL AS COMPETITION UPGRADES. ‘HAVING THE MOST RELIABLE CAR WE CAN BUILD IS DEFINITELY ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS IN RACING,’ SAYS WILLIAM, ‘AND USING QUALITY PARTS LIKE KING XPC BEARINGS HAS BEEN A BIG FACTOR IN OUR OVERALL SUCCESSES!’

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Canada. Here was an opportunity to put together a competitive yet affordable racecar, one to showcase his company’s wares and abilities, and give customers something truly relatable that they themselves could feasibly end up building. And obviously he could have a bit of fun with along the way.

You see, William’s no stranger to the track…

‘I’ve been very involved in

the Time Attack racing world,’ he explains. ‘I have competed at World Time Attack in Australia twice, coming 2nd in Pro-Am both times, and winning the Global Time Attack Championship in 2014, 2017, and 2018. And crazily enough we’re the current FF Time Attack record holders at Tsukuba, Japan.’

Safe to say he knows his way around a quality racecar

build then, and with this Acura RSX he’s once again taking things back to basics.

Naturally it’s within the very nature of a race machine to be pared-back to its very essentials, but there’s something extremely refreshing about the spec list of this particular RSX (which European and Japanese readers will recognise as a DC5 Honda Integra). Every inch of the exterior screams

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‘WE’RE THE CURRENT FF TIME ATTACK LAP RECORD HOLDERS AT TSUKUBA, JAPAN’

‘look at me!’, neatly fulfilling that Cool Factor brief, and yet the extent of the modifications is modest. An exercise in less-ismore? Not quite, although it’s telling to note that all of the mods on this racer are things that you could feasibly buy offthe-shelf.

‘Having previously developed and campaigned a Global Time Attack Championship winning RSX, we felt that building another DC5

would make for a very competitive setup in the newly formed Gridlife Touring Cup series,’ reasons William. ‘So we reached out to some of our amazing group of partners, and started the build of this new racecar. We’d actually owned this RSX for around five years before we started to work on it, so it made it easy on the direction we wanted to develop this new road racing car! The vehicle was previously owned

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by a customer of ours, and as he was ready to move on we felt it was a great opportunity to purchase it, as it already had a few modifications on it. And I’ve always loved the RSX; having another makes it easy to manage racing parts and spares.’

It all made perfect sense, really. With a deep-seated knowledge of this type of racing, and how to build cars which can be competitive in

such an environment, the opportunity to showcase PZtuning Motorsports’ prowess in terms of performance, handling, aero, quality, durability and competitiveness was a no-brainer. And so, with enthusiasm brimming and tools laid out ready, the team rolled up their sleeves and set to work…

Job one, as you’d expect of any serious racecar, was to strip it all down and install a

63

sturdy rollcage. This was designed and fabricated inhouse, and once in place it was joined by a Sparco Circuit bucket seat, Sparco steering wheel and Hybrid Racing DC5 shifter. While all this was going on, there was a hive of activity buzzing around the engine bay, as the most seismic alteration here was to swap out the RSX’s native K20 motor for a K24A2.

For those unfamiliar with Honda engine codes, the numbers refer to the displacement, so the K20 is the 2.0-litre variant of the K-series, and the K24 is the 2.4-litre (well, 2.35-litre if we’re

64

being picky). This is the motor you’d find in various guises in the CR-V, Accord, Element and Odyssey; specifically the K24A2 came factory-fit in the JDM Accord and Odyssey, and the USDM Acura TSX (which was essentially a rebadged Accord).

Of course, this would never be a case of dropping in a bigger motor and leaving it stock, that wouldn’t really fit in with the spirit of the endeavour.

No, optimisation was the watchword, and it helped immeasurably that King Racing is a key partner – the K24 was duly treated to King Racing XP

main bearings, XPC rod bearings and thrust bearings, making everything bulletproof.

The uprated valvetrain comes courtesy of SuperTech, and that spectacular buzzing sound you can hear is thanks to the full 3in titanium exhaust system, custom made in-house using Vibrant Performance pipework and mated to a PLM race manifold for heightened levels of awesomeness.

In order to help get the power down, a Mugen LSD has been drafted in, and the wheel setup is a fundamentally logical one. We’re most used to seeing

feature cars’ staggered wheel setups putting the wider ones at the back, but of course the RSX/Integra platform is frontwheel drive, so here we find the lightweight 18in Titan 7 T-R10 rims measuring 9.5-wide up front and 8.5in-wide out back, with 245/40 and 225/40 Hoosier rubber respectively. Elsewhere in the platter of chassis upgrades we find Fortune Auto Dreadnought two-way shocks working with Eibach ERS race springs, along with an Eibach rear anti-roll bar and Hardrace Australia spherical bearings.

A rear camber kit tops it off,

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TECHSPEC ENGINE 2.4-litre, 4-cyl, 16v K24A2 VTEC, SuperTech valvetrain, King Racing XP main bearings, King Racing XPC rod bearings, King Racing thrust bearings, PLM race exhaust manifold, Vibrant Performance 3in Titanium exhaust system, Vibrant Performance AN lines and fittings, Motul 300V racing oil, Hondata K-Pro ECU

‘THE STOCK 2.0-LITRE K20 MOTOR WAS SWAPPED FOR A K24’

TRANSMISSION 6-speed RSX manual, 5.0 final drive, Mugen LSD, Motul Gear 300 transmission fluid

SUSPENSION Fortune Auto Dreadnought 2-way shocks, Eibach ERS race springs, Eibach rear anti-roll bar, Hardrace Australia spherical bearings, rear camber kit and front tie rods

BRAKES StopTech STR40 big brake kit, Hawk DTC racing pads, StopTech stainless braided lines, Motul RBF 660 brake fluid

WHEELS & TYRES 9.5x18in (front) and 8.5x18in (rear) Titan 7 T-R10 wheels with 245/40/18 (front) and 225/40/18 (rear) Hoosier R7 tyres

EXTERIOR APR GT250 wing, RTR front splitter, custom race livery

INTERIOR Stripped interior, Sparco Circuit bucket seat, Sparco steering wheel, Hybrid Racing DC5 shifter, full competition rollcage

THANKS ‘Huge thanks to all our sponsors for the support: King Racing Bearings, Vibrant Performance, Hoosier Tires, Motul USA, Fortune Auto, Hybrid Racing, Hardrace Australia, APR Performance, Sparco USA, Eibach Springs, Titan 7, StopTech, and SuperTech. Thanks to Gridlife for introducing a competitive new road racing series to the field. And thanks to our team, Noreen Au-Yeung, Andrew MacQueen, Zach Brannan and Ryan Kulafofski.’

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providing all the adjustability required to get the RSX dialled into the demands of whatever circuit it finds itself at. Again, while this is all fit-for-purpose, this is also all stuff that PZtuning Motorsports can do for customers with readily available parts, or that home-tuners can do themselves.

It really is everyman racing – the success here comes in the experience, the quality, and the attention to detail.

‘With our past experiences, we knew we could get this car not only to perform well, but also be quite competitive,’ says William,

with trademark modesty. ‘While we have had some ups and downs, netting a pole position and claiming a race heat win at Blackhawk Farms Raceway really showed the potential in the RSX. Best of all, this car’s been a blast to drive, and a ton of fun to race!’

Naturally with such an endeavour you have to take the rough with the smooth: racing can be expensive, in particular the travel costs to the various different rounds of any given series, and William and his team are fastidious about treating the Acura to fresh Hoosier rubber and Motul

fluids for every outing. But all of that is balanced out and then some by how hilariously brilliant the car is to drive. Yes, it’s turning out to be hugely successful, but that’s secondary to the smile that’s plastered across William’s face every time he takes the wheel. Motorsport may, in the main, be extremely complex, but we see it here in its purest and least complicated form: a man who knows what he likes, and is having a damn good time doing it, in a car that’s been perfectly crafted for the task. It really is as simple as that. JP

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WORDS: GUY BAKER PICS: DAN SHERWOOD

IN OUR LATEST INSTALMENT OF THIS MOTORSPORT-INSPIRED SERIES WE FOCUS ON RALLYING AND HIGHLIGHT THREE DIFFERENT JAPANESE PERFORMANCE CARS YOU COULD BUY AND TUNE FOR THIS THRILLING FORM OF MOTORSPORT

GET INTO… RALLYING

T

he days when British legends Colin McRae and Richard Burns dominated the World Rally Championship may be long gone, but rallying is still enjoyed in the UK by thousands of competitors, with many championships and numerous events each year. A test for both driver and navigator, rallying is accessible to anyone with a road car and a driving licence.

Taking place both on public or private roads and off-road tracks, this point-topoint racing format sees participants and their navigators attempt to cover defined stages as quickly as possible. The navigator reads route direction notes issued by the organisers to ensure the car is heading the right way and, in its most basic form, rally events just use public roads, or Tarmac venues – laid out with a truckload of cones. Driving between set control points, competitors leave at regular intervals from one or more start points and the car that completes the course in the quickest time is the winner.

Special stage rallying is the most

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exciting branch of the discipline but navigational events on the public highway, known as road rallies, also have a long and successful history and are a great way to start. The emphasis is as much on navigation as driving skill.

Lots of well-known rally co-drivers cut their teeth in Britain’s road-rally scene before going on to the World Rally Championship. And you don’t need special equipment to take part in road events, just the relevant map, a map magnifying glass and a map light.

SO HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED? For road rallying all you need to do is join a motor club that runs such events.

Drivers need a full driving licence and must be at least 17 years of age. To get involved in proper stage rallying, however, you’ll also need to pass an MSA BARS (British Association of Rally Schools) test and then apply for your Rally National B Stage Competition Licence. If you just want to co-drive, you

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can apply for a Navigator’s licence without having to pass the BARS course.

We recommend you buy an MSA Go Rallying starter pack from the Motor Sports Association (www.motorsportuk.org) – which is the national governing body for pretty much all four-wheeled motorsport in the UK. This costs £99 and includes the novice application form and a DVD. On this DVD is a safety film and the MSA Yearbook, which includes this year’s rules and regulations for British motorsport. Study both and then get some training.

Go to a local rally school – there are

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loads all over the country. After mastering the basics you’ll need to join a club. Experienced drivers can help you get started, and potentially point you in the direction of a great instructor.

Membership of an official motor club will also be important when you begin to compete in competitive events.

The BARS test has a practical element, where you drive around a 'stage', demonstrating to your examiner that you can safely drive a car at speed around a course, and a written test.

Once you’ve passed, you’ll need to apply for your Rally National B Stage Competition Licence – and once received you can enter rallies.

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WHAT SHOULD I DO TO MY CAR? For road rallying all you need is a taxed and insured road car with a valid MOT certificate. But for Stage Rallies you’ll need a car that complies with the regulations. This will generally entail modifying the car with safety components such as a rollcage, special seats and harnesses and fire extinguishers.

Technical regulations for Stage Rallying are found in section R of the MSA Yearbook, whilst specific event or Championship regulations are found in Supplementary Regulations (SRs) made available by the organiser. Stage Rally cars are required to have safety equipment such as a roll-over protection system, FIA-homologated seats and harnesses, and two fire extinguishers.

As Stage Rally cars have to use the public highway to get between stages your car will also need to be taxed and insured with an MOT. Stage Rally drivers and navigators are required to wear a helmet and flame resistant overalls to approved standards. Again, more details can be found in section R and section K of the MSA Yearbook. And if you’ve chosen to make major mods like changing the drivetrain configuration then you’ll also need to obtain a Category 2 Stage Rally Car identity form and get your car inspected by an MSA Technical Commissioner.

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USEFUL LINKS WWW.MOTORSPORTUK.ORG WWW.BRITISHRALLYCHAMPIONSHIP.CO.UK WWW.GOMOTORSPORT.NET WWW. BTRDA.COM WWW.BRITISHRALLY.CO.UK

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CONTENDER NO. 1

SUBARU IMPREZA WRX STI VERSION 5/6 (1998–2000)

A high-performance road car specifically designed for rallying, Subaru’s classic Impreza WRX STi was a prime mover in the growth of the Japanese performance tuning scene across the world. The turbocharged four-wheel drive Scoob brought near supercar levels of performance to the masses and in its rallying heyday few cars possessed greater kudos.

The JDM STi models were the pinnacle of the breed, boasting blueprinted engines

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with forged pistons, lightweight valve adjusters, polished intake ports, revised turbos and remapped ECUs. Other tasty extras included intercooler waterspray, uprated intercooler ducting, freer flowing exhaust systems, larger rear spoilers, a front strut brace, uprated brake pads, stiffer STi springs and revised dampers and lashings of STi badging.

Serious rally enthusiasts choose the four-door Type RA and two-door Type R cars, which featured a roof vent and a

driver controlled centre differential (DCCD) with a mechanical rear limited-slip diff, allowing between 50 and 65% of the torque to go to the rear wheels in a five step adjustment.

Revised five-speed gear ratios were also available to maximise lower-speed acceleration.

The most desirable of these classic Scoobs were the September 1998 to June 2000 WRX STi version 5 and version 6 – especially in Blue V-Limited guise. With 280bhp on tap and 260lb ft of torque at 4000rpm,

they can hit 60mph from standstill in well under five seconds and top out at 149mph.

BUYING AND TUNING FOR RALLYING All classic STis are ready to be rallied in factory trim, but pretty much every car has by now been modified to some degree.

So, make sure you know exactly what’s been done to any car you’re considering buying.

Some road-focused mods won’t

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SUBARU IMPREZA WRX STI 5/6 BUYING TIPS • Bodywork and interiors last very well but many STis won’t have been undersealed – so check the underbody for rust • Knocking on start-up could indicate piston slap or bottomend damage, and the turbo should be smoke free. STi ECUs need to be remapped – or replaced – to avoid the risk of detonation on lower-octane UK fuel • Oil changes are required at least every 7500 miles or six months, with spark plugs, brake fluid, transmission and diff oil needed every two years. Cambelt changes are every three years • Clutches often last less than 40k miles and clutch judder is pretty common, especially when cold.

Gearboxes are tough but do occasionally fail • OE brakes aren’t up to rallying, so most owners have uprated them and fitted stainless brake hoses with DOT 5.1 fluid • Look out for sagging struts and perished bushes – strut top mounts and anti-roll bar bushes often wear quickly

JP CLASS RATING POWER: ACCELERATION: CONTROLLABILITY: TUNEABILITY: COSTS: OVERALL CLASS RATING:

be good on a rally car – and don’t splash out on a lowmileage concours standard example for rallying as they’re now appreciating collectable classics!

The most important thing is to stay safe and Kev at Scooby Clinic recommends: ‘A rollcage such as the MSA-approved

Safety Devices bolt-in cage is a good start, they also stiffen up the shell – which is a bonus.’

The suspension will also need upgrading as the driver gets more confident: ‘A good set of BC Racing coilovers is a start, but when getting competitive a more expensive suspension setup like Ohlins will be required,’ Kev suggests.

SUBARU IMPREZA WRX STI 5/6 TECH SPEC ‘STI engines ENGINE 1994CC 4-CYL MAX POWER 276bhp at 6500rpm are good for MAX TORQUE 260lb ft at 4000rpm rallying but a TRANSMISSION 5-speed manual MAX SPEED 149mph (manual) baffled sump will 0–60MPH 4.2 to 4.8 secs help reduce oil

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surge when cornering fast – you’ll be creating a fair bit of G force. This also applies to the fuelling, so a fuel swirl-pot and an external pump are essential, otherwise you can easily lean out the engine and melt a piston.’

Gearboxes also need upgrading for rallying: ‘A gear kit is advisable such as a PPG kit, and some drivers convert to a six-speed gearbox – although it does carry a weight penalty.’

And tuning-wise there are plenty of UK tuning experts who can

help you modify your Scoob.

For those on a tight budget, a remapped or replacement ECU and a sports exhaust will easily liberate 300bhp.

USEFUL CONTACTS WWW.SIDC.CO.UK WWW.SCOOBYNET.CO.UK WWW.SCOOBYCLINIC.COM WWW.SCOOBYWORLD.CO.UK WWW.POWERENGINEERING.CO.UK

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CONTENDER NO. 2

MITSUBISHI LANCER EVO VI (1999–2001)

The Subaru Impreza’s nineties and early-noughties nemesis – Mitsubishi’s Lancer Evo – claims equal rally kudos and is designed with a very similar 2.0-litre turbo, four-wheel drive setup. The long running rallyrep rivalry between the two was never fiercer than when Subaru’s classic WRX STi went head-to-head with Mitsubishi’s greatest Lancer Evos – the Evo VI and Evo VI Tommi Makinen.

The 1999 Lancer Evo VI’s 1998cc turbo motor delivered 280bhp and 275lb ft of torque at 2750rpm, propelling the

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super-stiff rally saloon to sixty in a mere 4.4 seconds on the way to a 150mph top speed. 4WD with Active Yaw Control (AYC) imbued the Evo VI with a staggering cornering capability and this was the first Evo to be officially-imported into the UK with full service and warranty backup. Previous Lancer Evos had been grey-import only.

Stripped out RS and RSX models were built for rallying and lacked AYC but claimed a close-ratio gearbox designed for maximum acceleration rather than top speed. But GSR

spec cars – like those officially imported into the UK by Mitsubishi Motors and prepared

by Ralliart UK – were better equipped boasting a Momo steering wheel, intercooler water-spray and Active Yaw Control.

Mitsubishi decided to name their replacement for the Evo VI after rally hero Tommi Makinen and production of the Evo VI Tommi Makinen started in January 2000. Compared to the standard Evo VI, the £32,995 saloon had a part-titanium turbo and white 17in Enkei alloys. A

special £700 colour package option mimicked the World Rally Car.

BUYING AND TUNING FOR RALLYING The Tommi Makinen Edition is now an appreciating classic, so unless money is no object you’d be wisest to buy an earlier Evo VI – and don’t pay over the odds for the finest example if you’re planning to modify it for rallying anyway.

And it doesn’t matter whether

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MITSUBISHI LANCER EVO VI BUYING TIPS • Check for rust inside the bootlid, along the sills, around the suspension mounts, inner wings, rear arch extensions, chassis legs and around the petrol tank • Regular servicing is essential, with fully synthetic oil and AYC fluid needing changing every 4500 miles, brake fluid every 18,000 miles and spark plugs and timing belts every 45,000 miles • Low or excessive boost may be due to a rusty wastegate actuator and cooling system expansion tanks can overflow when hot – so check the level • Listen out for knocking or any sign of a blown turbo – a full engine rebuild could set you back £6000 • Clutches wear quickly whilst front helical LSD bolt failure can be very expensive to correct. Look out for worn gearbox output shaft bearings

JP CLASS RATING POWER: ACCELERATION: CONTROLLABILITY: TUNEABILITY: COSTS: OVERALL CLASS RATING:

you choose a JDM or a UK car.

But do bear in mind that factory RS and RSX models lack AYC. Fitting a rollcage is essential for stage rallying – and make sure it’s MSA approved. You’ll also want to fit suspension which is best suited to the kind of rallying you’re intending to do, and a brake upgrade will help with entry control into low-

speed corners and allow you to keep better control of the car.

In addition, changing the differential torque bias is a great way to find some additional traction on a rally where it can be difficult to keep control of the car. Some Evo drivers increase the front differential lock to around 40% to give greater traction on the straights, whilst still allowing MITSUBISHI LANCER EVO VI TECH SPEC controllable oversteer in ENGINE 1998cc 4cyl turbo MAX POWER 280bhp at 6500rpm corners. A clutch MAX TORQUE 275lb ft at 2750rpm upgrade also makes TRANSMISSION 5-speed manual MAX SPEED 150mph sense.

0–60MPH 4.4 secs So, what should you

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consider engine-tuning wise? curve than the stock solenoid.’

Before getting an expert ECU And you must check the remap Jamie Lumley, Director relevant rally regulations which at Evo experts Evotune Ltd, may require fitting of a turbo recommends a Stage 1 setup restrictor. for rallying: ‘You would need an aftermarket induction kit along with a decat exhaust pipe and a full cat-back exhaust system.

And to ensure that the engine receives sufficient fuel you’ll need to fit an USEFUL CONTACTS uprated fuel pump and a WWW.LANCERREGISTER.COM three-port boost solenoid WWW.EVOTUNE.CO.UK WWW.XTREME-UK.NET to control the boost WWW.ABBEYMOTORSPORT.CO.UK though the ECU. This WWW.MOTORSPORT-DEVELOPMENTS.CO.UK gives a more stable boost

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CONTENDER NO. 3

TOYOTA CELICA GT4 (ST205) (1994–1999)

A little bit older and a tad heavier than our other two contenders, the more exclusive Celica ST205 also boasts a rich rallying heritage – with prices for low-mileage classic show cars rising. The Toyota’s 1998cc turbocharged powerplant produced 239bhp in basic trim, with 224lb ft of torque at 3600rpm and a 5.9second 0–60mph time.

A five-speed manual Coupe, the ST205’s permanent fourwheel drive system claimed a

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viscous centre coupling plus a torque-sensing rear differential, whilst Toyota squeezed the braking system from their Supra Twin Turbo supercar under the wheels to deliver unrivalled stopping power.

The ST205’s highly-rated four-cylinder 16-valve 3S-GTE engine boasts twin overhead camshafts, an aluminium head and a twin-entry turbocharger with a charge-cooler – rather than an air-to-air intercooler.

And the Celica’s factory gearing

delivers maximum acceleration at mid-range speeds.

Although the car was officially imported into the UK from 1994, the £29,235 asking price put the model out of reach of most UK buyers, so with slow UK sales Toyota ended official imports in December 1996.

However, the Japanese model continued in full production until 1999, with a minor facelift in December 1997. And some of these have since made it to UK shores. Official Japanese

models produce 255bhp.

BUYING AND TUNING FOR RALLYING Firstly, make sure you buy a well-fettled ST205 – imported Japanese cars make the most sense as decent UK cars are costly. ‘Carry out a full maintenance overhaul of the engine, drivetrain and suspension, most importantly the Superstrut suspension

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TOYOTA CELICA GT4 (ST205) BUYING TIPS • Scour the bodywork for any signs of rust or accident damage. Watch out for any throttle hesitation or failure to start – the charge-cooler fluid level must never be allowed to drop • Your ST205 must possess a full service history showing oil changes every 4.5k miles, new spark plugs every two years and a new timing belt every five years/60k miles • Valve clearances should be checked every 54k miles with the distributor cap and rotor arm changed, too. Check that the head gasket is not leaking – if it is then you’ll need a steel one plus a set of ARP studs fitted • Suspension components are very expensive to replace. Front bushes, links, springs and trackrod ball-joints, plus rear diffmounts can all wear out • If worn, you’ll need a new rally clutch fitted. A sloppy gearchange can be caused by worn bushes in the shifter cables connecting the stick and gearbox

JP CLASS RATING POWER: ACCELERATION: CONTROLLABILITY: TUNEABILITY: COSTS: OVERALL CLASS RATING:

which can be costly to replace but makes things much nicer,’ recommends Mike Jones at Tuning Developments Ltd. ‘If the car doesn’t already have them you should add a decat exhaust system, a good air intake and a boost controller, which will allow you

to run a bit more boost on the stock ECU. Fuel cut is around 1.2 bar so we generally say play safe with a max of 1.1 bar (stock is 0.9 bar). This is good for circa 280– 300bhp at this level with fairly minor work.’

With the impressive brake setup from the Supra TT fitted as standard you don’t TOYOTA CELICA GT4 (ST205) TECH SPEC need to upgrade ENGINE 1998cc the Celica’s discs – MAX POWER 239bhp at 6000rpm MAX TORQUE 224lb ft at 3600rpm just add some TRANSMISSION 5-speed manual MAX SPEED 153mph better pads and 0–62MPH 5.9 seconds consider some

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rally-appropriate wheel and uprated oil pump, an OEM tyres. water pump kit, cambelt and If you’re on a big budget idler pulleys and ACL main and and really want more power big-end bearings. Not to then you’ll need to go internal, mention a FMIC, plenty of but this will set you back quite a machining and polishing of the bit. Adrian at Fensport explains original bottom end and that to achieve 400bhp ‘You’ll cylinder head and a properly need a custom piston kit with mapped aftermarket ECU.’JP rings and pins, an Eagle USEFUL CONTACTS forged conrod kit with ARP 2000 bolts, an uprated metal WWW.GT4OC.NET WWW.GT4DC.CO.UK headgasket, ARP head stud WWW.TUNINGDEVELOPMENTS.CO.UK WWW.FENSPORT.CO.UK kit and main stud kit, a WWW.MKAUTOREPAIRSANDTUNING.UK Toyota full gasket kit, an

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10 MINUTE TECH

BRAKE PADS

EACH MONTH WE QUIZ A SPECIALIST WITH 10 QUICKFIRE QUESTIONS ABOUT A PRODUCT TO GIVE YOU THE KNOWLEDGE YOU NEED TO NOT ONLY MAKE THE RIGHT DECISIONS WHEN IT COMES TIME TO UPGRADE, BUT ALSO TO HAVE THE AMMUNITION TO IMPRESS YOUR MATES AT YOUR NEXT MEET. THIS MONTH WE SPEAK TO EBC TO GET THE LOWDOWN ON BRAKE PADS… 1. WHAT IS A BRAKE PAD AND HOW DOES IT ACTUALLY WORK TO SLOW THE CAR DOWN? DURING BRAKING, FORCE APPLIED TO THE PEDAL IS CONVERTED TO A HYDRAULIC PRESSURE IN THE MASTER CYLINDER. THIS BRAKE FLUID PRESSURE IS INSTANTANEOUSLY TRANSFERRED, VIA THE BRAKE LINES, TO THE BRAKE CALIPERS. THE INCREASE IN PRESSURE CAUSES THE CALIPER PISTONS TO EXTEND, CLAMPING THE BRAKE PAD AGAINST THE DISC WHICH SERVES TO CONVERT THE VEHICLE’S KINETIC ENERGY INTO THERMAL ENERGY VIA FRICTION. THE ACTUAL JOB OF THE BRAKE PAD IS TO GENERATE A CONSISTENT LEVEL OF FRICTION AGAINST THE DISC ACROSS A WIDE RANGE OF TEMPERATURES. IT ALSO HAS TO MAINTAIN PERFORMANCE IN THE WET, HAVE ACCEPTABLE LEVELS OF WEAR, NOT PRODUCE TOO MUCH DUST AND (PREFERABLY) BE SILENT IN OPERATION. THE REAL CHALLENGE LIES WITH THE FACT THAT ALL THESE DESIRABLE ATTRIBUTES ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE. IT’S NOT POSSIBLE TO DEVELOP A BRAKE PAD THAT WILL WORK PERFECTLY ON THE ROAD, PERFORMS GREAT ON TRACK, HAS HUGE WEAR LIFE, PRODUCES NO DUST AND IS STILL TOTALLY SILENT IN OPERATION. SO, IN THE END THE USER HAS TO MAKE A CHOICE, WHICH OFTEN MEANS COMPROMISING IN SOME AREAS TO INCREASE PERFORMANCE IN OTHERS WHICH ARE MORE DESIRABLE

2. ARE THEY ALL THE SAME? THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF PADS IN TODAY’S MARKETPLACE VARIES MASSIVELY, WITH LOW QUALITY BRAKE PADS BEING FRANKLY DANGEROUS. THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT PRICE IS USUALLY AN INDICATOR OF QUALITY, MEANING YOU OFTEN GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. HOWEVER, IT’S IMPORTANT TO APPRECIATE THAT BETTER QUALITY PADS USUALLY WEAR MUCH SLOWER, WHILST GIVING YOU SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED BRAKING PERFORMANCE THROUGHOUT ITS LONGER LIFE, SO THERE REALLY ISN’T ANY LOGIC IN SKIMPING WHEN IT COMES TO BRAKING. THINK ‘POUND PER MILE’ AND REMEMBER, WORKSHOP LABOUR RATES AREN’T CHEAP, MEANING A SET OF QUALITY PADS THAT LASTS TWICE AS LONG COULD BE SAVING YOU ADDITIONAL WORKSHOP FEES. THERE’S AN ALMOST BEWILDERING CHOICE OUT THERE, BUT IF YOU SPEAK TO THE BRAKE PAD MANUFACTURER, USUALLY THEY’LL HAVE A TECH PERSON WHO WILL GLADLY GUIDE YOU TO MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICE. AT EBC WE EVEN HAVE AN ONLINE ‘BRAKE PAD SELECTOR’ TOOL WHICH RECOMMENDS THE RIGHT COMPOUND FROM OUR RANGE, YOU CAN CHECK IT OUT HERE: EBCBRAKES.COM/EBC-BRAKE-PAD-SELECTOR-TOOL/

3. WHAT ARE THEY MADE OF? BRAKE PADS CAN CONTAIN ANYTHING FROM 10 TO 30+ SEPARATE INGREDIENTS SUCH AS STEEL FIBRE, COPPER, GRAPHITE, ARAMID FIBRES AND RUBBER, OFTEN BOUND TOGETHER BY A PHENOLIC RESIN (EXCEPT IN SINTERED PADS, WHERE THE METALLIC INGREDIENTS ARE FUSED TOGETHER UNDER IMMENSE HEAT AND PRESSURE).

CARBON BRAKES ASIDE, PADS CAN GENERALLY BE SPLIT INTO TWO TYPES: ‘ORGANIC’ & ‘SINTERED’. THERE’S ALSO ‘SEMI-METALLIC’ PADS WHICH ARE SOMEWHERE BETWEEN THE TWO. ORGANIC PADS ARE TYPICALLY QUIET, VERY KIND ON DISCS, PRODUCE MINIMAL BRAKE DUST AND HAVE EXCELLENT PEDAL ‘FEEL’. THE DRAWBACK OF ORGANIC BRAKE LININGS IS THAT IT’S CHALLENGING TO PRODUCE A PAD THAT WILL MAINTAIN PERFORMANCE AT VERY HIGH TEMPERATURES (THE ORGANIC RESIN BREAKS DOWN, WHICH LEADS TO BRAKE FADE). SEMI-METALLIC PADS CONTAIN HIGHER LEVELS OF STEEL FIBRE WHICH MAKES THEM MORE ABRASIVE ON DISCS AND THEREFORE PRODUCE MORE DUST, BUT THEY ARE ATTRACTIVE BECAUSE IT’S LESS OF AN ENGINEERING CHALLENGE TO MAINTAIN BRAKING PERFORMANCE AT EXTREME BRAKE TEMPERATURES

4. HOW DO AFTERMARKET BRAKE PADS DIFFER TO OEM ONES? ALMOST ALL OE PADS ARE SEMI-METS. THEY CONTAIN ABRASIVES LIKE STEEL FIBRE THAT MAKES THEM PERFORM PRETTY GOOD AND CHEAP TO MASS PRODUCE. THE PROBLEM IS THAT THEY CAN WEAR THE DISC OUT VERY QUICKLY, SOMETIMES EVEN PRODUCING ‘HOT ROCKS’ OF MOLTEN STEEL DEBRIS WHICH BURIES ITSELF INTO YOUR WHEELS! OE SEMIMETS ARE OFTEN QUITE SNATCHY UNDER BRAKING AND ARE ALSO OFTEN TOTALLY UNSUITABLE FOR FAST ROAD OR SERIOUS TRACK USE. AFTERMARKET PADS, EITHER ORGANIC OR HIGH PERFORMING SEMI-METS, AIM TO INCREASE THE FRICTION LEVEL SLIGHTLY, REDUCE THE CHANCE OF BRAKE FADE, PRODUCE LOWER DUST AND SHOULD PROVIDE A MORE PROGRESSIVE RESPONSE TO THE BRAKE PEDAL. TRACK-ONLY PADS TAKE THINGS FURTHER STILL, AIMING TO PROVIDE FADE-FREE PERFORMANCE AT THE EXPENSE OF AN INCREASE IN NOISE AND DUST LEVELS. ULTIMATELY, GOOD BRAKE PADS WILL BREED DRIVER CONFIDENCE, ALLOWING THE DRIVER TO REALLY FOCUS ON ENJOYING DRIVING WITHOUT THE WORRY OF BRAKES OVERHEATING AND FADING

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5. WHY, OR WHEN, WOULD YOU NEED TO UPGRADE YOUR BRAKE PADS? DRIVING QUICK ON THE ROAD, ATTENDING TRACKDAYS, OR JUST GENERALLY LOOKING FOR A LOWER COST OPTION THAN A MAIN DEALER, ARE ALL VALID REASONS TO UPGRADE TO A QUALITY AFTERMARKET PAD. TRACKDAYS IN PARTICULAR PUT A MUCH GREATER STRAIN ON THE BRAKE SYSTEM, SO FITTING HIGH-PERFORMANCE PADS BEFOREHAND IS ESSENTIAL. REMEMBER, YOUR VEHICLE’S BRAKING SYSTEM AND COMPONENTS WERE DESIGNED FOR THE STOCK ENGINE POWER – START TUNING AND THE ENGINE POWER WILL QUICKLY OVERTAKE BRAKING POWER

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BRAKE PAD TECH 10. OTHER THAN ENSURING YOU GET THE RIGHT ONE FOR YOUR APPLICATION, WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR WHEN BUYING UPRATED BRAKE PADS? ASIDE FROM BEING R90-APPROVED, THINK CAREFULLY ABOUT WHERE YOU BUY PRODUCTS, AS THERE ARE A LOT OF FAKES OUT THERE THESE DAYS. FAKE PADS CAN LOOK IDENTICAL BUT OFTEN HAVEN’T BEEN TESTED OR CERTIFIED AND THIS CAN MAKE THEM VERY DANGEROUS. ONLY BUY PADS IN ORIGINAL PACKAGING, CHECK THE SECURITY SEAL IS NOT BROKEN AND BUY THROUGH RESPECTED AUTHORISED DEALERS TO AVOID BEING SCAMMED. OTHER THAN THAT, CHOOSE A BRAKING BRAND THAT HAS GOOD CUSTOMER REVIEWS AS THIS SHOWS THEY’RE WILLING TO WORK WITH YOU IN THE EVENT YOU HAVE A PROBLEM OR A COMPLAINT. MODERN BRAKE SYSTEMS ARE COMPLEX SYSTEMS AND HAVING A FRIENDLY AND RESPONSIVE TECH SUPPORT DEPARTMENT WILL HELP YOU PINPOINT ANY PROBLEMS YOU’RE HAVING. PEOPLE OFTEN JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS AND BLAME THE NEW PADS, OR NEW DISCS, BUT OFTEN IT’S SOMETHING ELSE THAT’S THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE ISSUE

9. ARE THERE ANY DOWNSIDES TO UPRATED BRAKE PADS? ASSUMING YOU’VE CHOSEN THE RIGHT PAD FOR HOW YOU DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE THEN THERE AREN’T REALLY ANY DOWNSIDES. A WELL-CHOSEN AFTERMARKET PAD WILL OFTEN PROVIDE INCREASED PERFORMANCE, LONGER WEAR LIFE, IMPROVED PEDAL ‘FEEL’, EMIT LESS DUST AND BE A GOOD CHUNK LESS EXPENSIVE THAN OE PARTS. THE ONLY EXCEPTION IS VERY HIGH-PERFORMANCE PADS DESIGNED FOR USE ON TRACK, WHICH WILL OFTEN BE NOISIER AND PRODUCE MORE DUST

8. WHAT OTHER MODS SHOULD YOU CONSIDER WHEN UPRATING YOUR BRAKE PADS? PERFORMANCE BRAKES NEED QUALITY TYRES TO TRANSMIT THE INCREASED BRAKING TORQUE TO THE TARMAC. IF YOU’VE FITTED BUDGET TYRES THEN EVERY STOP WILL BE GRIP LIMITED AND YOUR STOPPING DISTANCE IS THEN DETERMINED BY HOW EFFECTIVE YOUR ABS IS, SO YOU WON’T BE GETTING THE BEST FROM THE UPGRADED BRAKES. BRAIDED LINES ARE ONE OF THE BEST VALUE MODS YOU CAN DO TO A CAR AS MOST CARRY A LIFETIME WARRANTY, MAKING THEM A ‘FIT AND FORGET’ UPGRADE. QUALITY BRAKE FLUID IS ALSO ESSENTIAL, IT’S QUITE LITERALLY THE LIFEBLOOD OF THE BRAKE SYSTEM. FLUSH WITH NEW FLUID NO LESS THAN EVERY TWO YEARS, OR MORE FREQUENTLY FOR ‘RACE’ FLUID WHICH ABSORBS WATER MORE QUICKLY. THE BRAKE PAD AND BRAKE DISC TOGETHER FORM THE FRICTION COUPLING, IF EITHER IS OF POOR QUALITY THEN BRAKE PERFORMANCE WILL SUFFER. PEOPLE OFTEN OVERLOOK THE IMPORTANCE OF DISC QUALITY. JUST BECAUSE TWO DISCS ARE GEOMETRICALLY IDENTICAL DOESN’T MEAN THEY’RE THE SAME. THE ROLE OF THE BRAKE DISC IS TO ABSORB AND DISSIPATE HEAT, IT IS QUITE LITERALLY A HEATSINK. THE COMPOSITION OF THE DISC CAN HAVE A PROFOUND EFFECT ON ITS ABILITY TO CONDUCT HEAT AWAY FROM THE PADS, SO A QUALITY DISC IS IMPORTANT TO PREVENT THE PADS OVERHEATING

7. WHAT CAUSES FACTORY BRAKE PADS TO FAIL, OR NOT BE SUITABLE FOR THE TASK? DO AFTERMARKET DISCS SUFFER THE SAME FATE?

6. HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO GET THE RIGHT TYPE OF BRAKE PADS? SOME VEHICLE MANUFACTURERS SAY THAT FITMENT OF AFTERMARKET PADS INVALIDATES YOUR VEHICLE WARRANTY, BUT IT IS IN FACT ILLEGAL UNDER EUROPEAN BLOCK EXEMPTION LAWS FOR OEM’S TO INVALIDATE WARRANTIES IF THE AFTERMARKET BRAKE COMPONENTS CONFORM TO ECE R90. MOST QUALITY BRANDS AND ALL EBC ROAD PADS AND DISCS CONFORM TO R90 WHICH MEANS THEY ARE INDEPENDENTLY TESTED TO BE EQUIVALENT TO (OR BETTER THAN) OE COMPONENTS, SO YOU MUST ENSURE ANY PAD YOU USE ON THE ROAD IS R90 APPROVED. IF YOU USE A NON-R90 COMPLIANT PAD ON THE ROAD AND YOUR INSURER FINDS OUT, THEY’LL ALMOST DEFINITELY INVALIDATE YOUR INSURANCE. INTERESTINGLY, HOWEVER, VEHICLES WITH AFTERMARKET BIG BRAKE KITS CAN RUN WHATEVER PADS THEY WANT, AS THEY THEN FALL OUTSIDE OF R90 REGULATIONS! LEGAL REQUIREMENTS ASIDE, SOME (BUT NOT ALL!) TRACK PADS MAY NEED WARMING UP BEFORE AN ACCEPTABLE FRICTION LEVEL IS REACHED, MAKING THEM UNSAFE FOR USE ON THE ROAD. THE BRAKE PAD MANUFACTURER SHOULD BE YOUR PRIMARY SOURCE OF GUIDANCE, THEY KNOW THEIR PRODUCTS BEST

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PADS DON’T USUALLY ‘FAIL’ BUT THEY DO BEGIN TO FADE WHEN THEY GET TOO HOT. EVERY BRAKE PAD HAS A DESIGNED TEMPERATURE OPERATING RANGE, SO IT’S IMPORTANT TO CHOOSE ONE THAT’S RIGHT FOR THE TYPE OF DRIVING YOU’LL BE DOING. IF THE PADS ARE REGULARLY BEING OPERATED BEYOND THEIR DESIGNED UPPER TEMP LIMIT THEN YOU’LL GET BRAKE FADE AND PAD WEAR WILL INCREASE CONSIDERABLY. APPLYING TEMPERATURE PAINT TO THE EDGE OF THE BRAKE DISC IS A QUICK AND EFFECTIVE WAY TO SEE WHAT SORT OF BRAKE TEMPS YOU’RE HITTING, YOU CAN THEN USE THIS INFO TO GUIDE PAD SELECTION. AS A RULE YOU SHOULD NEVER BE FREQUENTLY REACHING TEMPS IN EXCESS OF 6500C. IF YOU ARE, LOOK TO DIRECT ADDITONAL COOLING TO THE BRAKES VIA DUCTING, WHICH IS A LOW COST, LOW WEIGHT PENALTY MODIFICATION

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BRINGING YOU THE HOTTEST NEW PRODUCTS ON THE JAPANESE TUNING SCENE Every month we bring you the latest and greatest products on the Japanese tuning scene. We always showcase a 'Red Hot' product at the front of the

section and also highlight the ‘must-have’ products at either end of the budgetary scale.

This way you can decide whether

to save your pennies to afford the 'Big Spender' or simply splash a little spare pocket change on the more affordable 'Chump Change' product. Enjoy!

T O H D E R T C U D O R P

KNIGHT RACER CARBON-FIBRE INTAKE SYSTEM FOR NISSAN R35 GT-R Bletchley-based sports car tuning specialist, Knight Racer, has forged a name for itself designing and supplying bespoke carbonfibre body panels, chassis components, aero kits and dress-up parts for Japanese speed machines, including the Subaru BRZ/Toyota GT86 and the mighty Nissan R35 GT-R. When it comes to the latter, Knight Racer’s relentless pursuit of enhanced styling and performance has seen the firm develop a wide range of products, which have gone on

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to secure popularity in enthusiast circles and have been showcased on star cars at various high-profile shows.

Pictured here is the firm’s carbon-fibre R35 GT-R intake kit, complete with high-flow air filters, silicone joiners, carbon-fibre intake bodies and polished fasteners. Specially developed for Knight Racer by Pipercross, the foam filters offer unparalleled filtration performance, promoting increased airflow with the simultaneous benefits of vastly

increased protection against dust and other contaminants. The carbon-fibre pipework measures 76mm in diameter and, as you’ll note from the image, each intake features a mass airflow sensor connector flange.

Installation is a simple case of removing the OEM intake system and replacing with these direct-fit replacement performance parts.

Price: £540 Contact: knightracer.com or call 01908 379118

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MISHIMOTO GOLD REFLECTIVE HEAT BARRIER

CHUMP CHA

Constructed from metalised polyamide polymer laminated glass cloth (try saying that after a few shandies) and rated for up to 454°C continuous operating temperature, this gold heat wrap from engine cooling specialist, Mishimoto, is perfect for use on your Japanese sports car’s bulkhead, firewall, fuel cell, intake pipework and seat bottoms. Helpfully available in different sizes to ensure you only buy what you need, the material comes with a self-adhesive backing, ensuring you don’t need to get busy with messy glues. The product can be easily trimmed to suit the shape and contour of whatever equipment you’re covering, or to help those of you working in tightly packed engine bays.

Protecting performance engine components from heat is tough, but this gold barrier is an excellent solution at a price that won’t break the bank.

Price: 12x24in £20.51, 24x24in £31.50 Contact: mishimoto.co.uk or call 01384

NGE

FIDANZA LIGHTWEIGHT FLYWHEEL FOR DATSUN 240Z This lightweight aluminium flywheel from Stateside performance transmission specialist, Fidanza, is a direct replacement for the Datsun 240Z’s heavy standard flywheel. Made from 6061 T6 aluminium, the Fidanza part features a replaceable 1050 steel friction surface plate, ensuring the possibility of a return to new condition without having to shell out for a complete new flywheel when the friction area gets worn. CNC-machined fastener holes and chamfers ensure a precise, secure fit, with the installed flywheel suitable for just about any clutch disc material available, including organic, Kevlar and even sintered iron compounds. Incredibly durable (thanks to heat-treated ring gear and military grade fasteners), this fantastic Fidanza product will ensure your 240Z rises through the rev range more rapidly than before.

Enter the discount code FIDANZA when ordering from the company’s online store and get a massive 20% discount on us. You’re welcome!

Price: £380 (£304 with discount code) Contact: fidanza.com or call +1 440 259 5656

JL AUDIO MICROSUB ENCLOSED SUBWOOFER Delivering the kind of output and extension normally only possible with much larger systems, the CP108LGW3v3 MicroSub from JL Audio delivers awesome performance through the precise tuning of its 8W3v3 subwoofer driver into an efficient slot-ported design.

Extensive interior bracing permits the use of thinner wall material, maximising the enclosure’s internal volume relative to its exterior. The port wraps around two walls of the enclosure to produce the necessary low tuning frequency, with flared entry and exit ports further enhancing sound quality by minimising airflow noise.

Shipped wired, loaded and ready to connect via a fiveway binding post terminal, this black, high-grade in-car entertainment equipment is finished in quality carpet with an embroidered silver JL Audio logo on the front baffle and a steel mesh grille to protect the subwoofer driver. Recommended for amplifiers producing between 100W and 250W RMS output.

Price: £329.99 Contact: jlaudio.co.uk or call 01202 664390

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D MENDE RECOM

READ

NIKI LAUDA: HIS COMPETITION When, during the tumultuous 1976 F1 season, Niki Lauda nearly perished in a horrifying crash at the Nürburgring and then, severely scarred, courageously fought back to race again only six weeks later, the Austrian speed merchant earned admiration and adulation worldwide. While the saga of that year, and the battle with James Hunt for the World Championship, has been told many times, the rest of Lauda’s racing has received less attention. This new book rectifies the situation by documenting his diverse driving career, race by race, from 1968 to 1985. Through detailed dissection of Lauda’s attacks of the asphalt in an eclectic mix of cars, a vivid picture emerges of a hugely determined and vastly talented racer who, despite many setbacks, left a remarkable legacy. All driving and racing enthusiasts will treasure this comprehensive and richly illustrated examination of the motorsport hero’s entire competition history.

Price: £60 Contact: evropublishing.com or visit Amazon

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BC RACING BR SERIES COILOVERS FOR HONDA Recommended for the best balance of performance and comfort, BC Racing’s BR Series coilover kits are designed to provide optimum compromise of spring rate, right height, top mount design and damping rate to suit the majority of owners. More than capable of dealing with fast-road and track work, but retaining a high degree of civility for everyday operation, this superb suspension solution for the legendary Integra DC2 Type R – regarded by industry professionals as the greatest front-wheel drive car ever produced – features pillowball upper mounts, camber adjustable top mounts, aluminium top plates, thirty-way adjustable damping, adjustable spring platforms, height adjustment via bottom mount, dust boots to protect damper seals and a 46mm diameter piston in a 53mm damper body to maximise oil capacity.

Reassuringly, BC Racing only uses professional quality oil, thereby improving damper performance and reducing peak operating temperature.

Price: £769.01 Contact: bcracing.co.uk or call 01274 683633

GTECHNIQ C4 TRIM RESTORER Black plastic trim exposed to UV rays can fade over time, causing your formerly perfectly presented car to appear rough around the edges.

Gtechniq’s C4 formula utilises a chemical bond to become an extension of the plastic molecule it’s designed to protect. The coating swaps part of its molecular structure with the surface molecules of your car’s faded black trim. This means you have a protective coating of unparalleled durability, instantly restoring grey exterior plastic back to black. Unlike many other trim products on the market, C4 is an exceptionally thin (circa 30 nanometres) optically clear film. In other words, the product won’t add an unattractive gloss finish to the treated surface. Instead, it restores all but the most faded trim to ‘as new’ condition, once again enabling you to have pride in your ride.

Price: £22.50 Contact: gtechniq.com or call 01604 962553

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ITG PROFILTER FOR HONDA CIVIC FK8 TYPE R Designed exclusively for the Civic FK8 Type R, this professional Profilter from ITG is made from a specially created polyester foam blend optimised for high performance applications. Tri-Foam is the material of choice here, providing maximised airflow without a drop-in air pressure.

Enhanced cleaning efficiency (a proven ability to trap common airborne contaminants and an impressive dust loadup tolerance), resistance to water, fumes, oils and fuels (including those used in racing environments) is made possible thanks to three layers of filtration material varying in density, ensuring harmful particles are kept out of your Civic’s engine, whilst delivering a raspier intake noise and potential for increased horsepower when fitted alongside a remap. ITG air filters are used to great effect in F1, BTCC and the WRC, proving a Profilter can make your Type R a little bit more of a race car for the road.

Price: £69.76 Contact: itgairfilters.com or call 02476 305386

SUPERPRO REAR DIFFERENTIAL MOUNTING KIT FOR EVO X The tenth-gen Evo might not be regarded as the bestloved Lancer in the Mitsubishi back catalogue, but there’s a dedicated army of owners committed to getting the best out of the Japanese super-saloon.

The suspension experts at SuperPro are helping them achieve exactly that with a range of exciting products, including this rear differential mounting kit.

Claimed to control excessive rear axle movement while providing greater overall stability and an increase in contact between rubber and road, this well-priced product should reward proud Evo X pilots with better performance through improved power delivery without an increase in vibration. Visit SuperPro’s website to find your nearest stockist.

Price: £138.78 Contact: superproeurope.com or call 01823 690281

1:24 HONDA CIVIC SIR EK MODEL KIT This superbly detailed modelling kit from Japanese manufacturer, Fujimi, depicts what’s arguably the first truly hot hatch to wear the Civic nameplate. Produced in 1:24 scale, this collectible kit is available with all the glue and paint required for final assembly and comes shipped in a beautifully illustrated presentation box. Fujimi is a world-famous model maker based in Shizuka Prefecture, specialising in scale models and plastic craft kits, including highly detailed, high quality models of various JDM automotive icons. Visit the Kent Models website to view Fujimi’s complete portfolio of products.

Price: £24.99 Contact: kentmodels.co.uk or call 01795 581366

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G I R B E D SPEN COBRA SPORT EXHAUSTS FOR SUBARU WRX STI 2014+ Cobra Sport exhausts enhance the sound, look, quality and performance of the host vehicle, giving you a noticeably enhanced driving experience and many more smiles to the mile. The Sheffield-based engineering outfit was keen to complete its exhaust range for the Subaru Impreza, which is why the team sourced an FE400 Final Edition model and developed a group of exhaust systems and individual components to suit different driving styles and budgets. Weight saving was a key consideration, as proved by

a massive 4kg (15 per cent) reduction in bulk when comparing Cobra’s non-resonated turbo-back exhaust with the OEM system.

With a sports catalyst fitted, the Cobra kit also produced a far more satisfying noise, with a 16dB boost (to 97.1dB) in volume over the OEM exhaust, which features a much smaller bore.

Price: Complete systems from £1255.20, individual parts from £369.60 Contact: cobrasport.com or call 0114 244 7123

HARDRACE HARDENED ENGINE MOUNTS FOR MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION VII–IX These reinforced engine mounts for seventh, eighth and ninth generation Evos are manufactured by Hardrace from a super-stiff high-density rubber compound to provide vastly more strength than the OEM mounts. Significantly reducing engine movement and providing confidence in maximum output under serious acceleration, these mounts not only help to plant power, but they increase stability during sharp cornering. Two compounds are available — one for street racing, the other for drifting and track work. Direct fitment is guaranteed, and payment for the kit is made simple thanks to the Hardrace online store now accepting PayPal. Price: £415.24 Contact: hardrace.co.uk or call 01274 683633

LIBERTY WALK T-SHIRT Japanese automotive styling outfit, Liberty Walk, has evolved to become one of the biggest names in modifying. From wild R35 GT-Rs to wacky Porsche 911s, the company has forged an enviable reputation for thinking outside the box and delivering builds defying expectation. There’s only one problem: the price. Yup, a Liberty Walk kit for your Japanese joy toy ain’t cheap, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a slice of the action for pocket money. This official Liberty Walk tee, for example, can be yours for just twenty quid. Featuring the firm’s logo printed on a grey short-sleeve, this cool clothing can be ordered in sizes ranging from small to XL. Your car might not be wearing Liberty Walk kit, but you certainly can!

Price: £20 Contact: libertywalk-eu.com or call 01933 685840

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THEGARAGE +

0344 381 9202

THANKS & CONTACTS Adrian Flux www.adrianflux.co.uk 0344 381 9202

PROJECT ROTARY

KEEPING IT COVERED RENEWING YOUR CAR’S INSURANCE POLICY IS A NECESSARY EVIL WE ALL HAVE TO FACE, BUT BY SPEAKING TO A SPECIALIST YOU CAN MAKE SURE YOU MINIMISE THE PAIN BY GETTING THE RIGHT POLICY AT THE BEST PRICE In order to legally drive on the UK roads, everyone knows you have to have valid insurance. This can be in the form of a basic third party only policy, all the way through to an all singing and dancing comprehensive policy, but either way, it’s gonna cost you, especially if you drive a modified or high performance car. So does this mean you should simply look for whatever policy gives you the best price?

Or is there more to it than that?

Well, just try typing your details into most of the available car insurance comparison sites on

the internet and see what happens. If your car is standard you may get lucky, but start reeling off a long list of tuning parts and it’s game over.

In our experience, the best way to ensure both your car and its unique modifications are properly covered is to speak to a specialist broker. We have used Adrian Flux for both Project Rotary and Project Type R for years, as they have always been easy to deal with when it comes to discussing the finer points of our modifications and what they will do to the price of our policy,

and have been easy on our wallet when it comes to the premium. This is because, being specialists that cater for modified and high performance vehicles, they understand that tuning fans are not simply boy racers, hellbent on causing high speed havoc with their cars, but that we are in fact enthusiasts, who actually are more likely to take care of our four-wheeled friends and will do all we can to keep them safe and sound. This means we are actually less likely to make a claim. In fact, some of Adrian Flux’s policies actually

work out cheaper if you have modifications than if you don’t, so there’s really no excuse to not be open and honest about them when it comes to renewal time.

So after a quick call to bring up our details it was clear that we would be better off sticking with Flux for another year than trying our luck on the comparison sites.

It’s no doubt still a pain paying your insurance premium, but with companies like Adrian Flux to help out, offer advice and ensure your car is fully covered should the worst happen, it can be much less painful than you think – Dan

WHEN RENEWING YOUR CAR’S INSURANCE POLICY, MAKE SURE YOU REMEMEBER TO INCLUDE ALL THE MODS YOU’VE MADE OVER THE PAST YEAR, TOO

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Nissan R35 GTR 2017-19 Full Front End Conversion Kit

£3,000.00

Nissan R35 GTR KR Carbon Side Window Louvres

£660.00

Nissan R35 GTR 2009 to 2017+ Full Conversion Body Kit

£7,800.00

Nissan R35 GTR 2017-19 KR FRP Front Splitter

£600.00

LOADS

Nissan R35 GTR V1 Carbon Wing Add On / Gurney Flap

350 RB Wide Arch Kit IN STOCK NOW only £1000!

£300.00

Nissan R35 GTR High Flow Large Intake Manifold Plenum

Nissan R35 GTR N Attack Carbon Front Fenders

Nissan R35 GTR 2017-19 KR Spec V Carbon Rear Spats

£1,194.00

£1,500.00

£594.00

KR650 / Stage 4.25 Performance Pack with godzilla mode (pops & bangs) from £1000!

Nissan R35 GTR 2017-19 KR Spec V Carbon Side Skirt Extensions

£834.00

Nissan R35 GTR 2017-19 KR Spec V Carbon Front Lip

£1,074.00

MORE OFFERS LISTED ON OUR ONLINE SHOP

WWW.KNIGHTRACER.COM

01908 379118

Knight-Racer Performance & Styling Ltd Unit 6, 16 Watling Street, Milton Keynes, MK2 2BL

THEGARAGE +

PROJECT TYPE R

PUT TO THE TEST A NEW WINDSCREEN AND A FRESH SET OF FRONT YOKOHAMAS SEES PROJECT TYPE R GET ANOTHER TWELVE MONTH TICKET It had to happen at some point.

I’d been lucky for the last fews years in that I’d managed to avoid getting any large stonechips on the Type R’s windscreen...and then it happened. I didn’t even see what it was, but the resultant thud drew my attention to a sixinch long crack that had appeared right across the driver’s side. Damn! Hoping that the offending crack would simply stay as it was, I tried to simply ignore it, but after every drive I could see the vibration was growing the crack by the odd centimetre here and there. I managed to stave off the inevitable windscreen

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replacement for a few months, but in the end I had to bite the bullet and get it sorted as the car’s MOT was due and a crack in the driver’s line of sight is a definite fail. I really shouldn’t have worried that much though, as all it took to get it sorted was a quick call to my insurance company Adrian Flux, who put it through on my policy’s windscreen cover. This meant that all I would have to pay was the £90 excess and they would take care of the rest. Luckily, they don’t class windscreen replacement as a claim either, so it should have no loading effect on my policy next time around either. Bonus! The screen was

replaced a few days later by National Windscreens who did a top job.

With the screen fixed I booked the Civic in for a slot with Knight Racer’s in house MOT station for the test to be undertaken.

They are used to dealing with modified cars and can cater for most lowered vehicles – something that not all MOT stations can do.

Prior to taking the car in I’d refitted my old catalytic converter to ensure we wouldn’t get caught out on the emissions test. It’s a bit of a pain to do this every time, but it’s necessary if you want to secure a pass.

Luckily the old cat did the trick and after going over Project Type R with a fine tooth comb, I was awarded with another 12 month ticket, the only advisories being that the front tyres were getting low and would soon need replacing.

This was something else that I’d been putting off as I was trying to get the maximum wear out of them before chucking on a new set, but it seemed like a smart move to sort them now, especially with winter in full swing,so the boys at Knight Racer slung on two new Yokohama AD08Rs that I had ready and waiting in my garage.

Job done! – Dan

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0344 381 9202

INSURANCE

AFTER THE NEW WINDSCREEN WAS INSTALLED THE CIVIC WAS GOOD TO GO FOR THE MOT TEST AT KNIGHT RACER

It’s all very well adding upgrade after upgrade to your car in the quest for improved performance, but don’t forget to work on improving your skills, too. Getting the most from your car by attending an advanced driving course will allow you to maximise your car’s upgrades while staying safer behind the wheel at the same time. In fact, it could even save you money. Many insurance companies will actually offer a lower premium for drivers who have completed advanced driving courses as it is a proven way to lower your risk when driving. There are many different courses available all over the country that can cater for all levels of driver including those wanting to get the most from their performance machines. If you want the insurance discount too, check with your firm first.

THANKS & CONTACTS Adrian Flux www.adrianflux.co.uk 0344 381 9202 Knight Racer www.knightracer.com 01908 379118 UNLEASHING OVER 370BHP THROUGH THE FRONT WHEELS TAKES ITS TOLL ON THE FRONT TYRES, SO A NEW SET OF YOKOHAMA AD08RS WERE FITTED

PROJECT TYPE R HAS HAD A HARD YEAR WITH PLENTY OF USE IN ALL WEATHERS SO DID WELL TO SAIL THROUGH THE TEST, ONLY NEEDING TWO NEW TYRES

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THEGARAGE +

THANKS & CONTACTS SRD Tuning www.srdtuning.com 01444 616 771

PROJECT SUPRA

STYLE AND SUBSTANCE THE A90’S STANCE AND HANDLING GET UPGRADED THIS MONTH WITH THE EXCELLENT HKS HYPERMAX TOURING KIT AND SOME HUB-CENTRIC SPACERS After successfully taking their A90 Supra to 500bhp with a Stage 2 upgrade it was time for the guys at SRD Tuning to address the car’s handling, as the extra power and torque they have obtained is now starting to overwhelm the accomplished, yet not infallible, stock setup.

This is because, while the chassis on the A90 Supra is in fact very good – and actually even stiffer than that of the LFA supercar – the parts around and connected to it could do with some upgrades.

Famous US tuning house, AMS, has completed extensive testing with the Supra on track and is looking to release a whole host of parts for the car including roll bars and suspension arms in the coming months, which SRD bossman Lee Perryman hopes to source and install on the car as soon as they become available. But until then, the West Sussexbased Supra experts will make

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their own upgrades, starting with the basics of lowering the ride height and stiffening the suspension.

Usually this would be a simple swap to a set of coilovers that completely replace the standard springs and dampers with uprated and adjustable units, however, the A90’s stock suspension system runs active shocks which stiffen up the suspension when sport mode is activated and also help to stop body roll in the corners.

In order to retain this worthwhile functionality, SRD chose to use the HKS Hypermax Touring Kit, which is a hybrid spring kit that utilises the stock adaptive damper system yet offers a stiffer spring mounted on a height-adjustable platform.

HKS really thought about this and the kit comes with replacement bump stops to allow for extra clearance when the car is lowered and rubber boots to cover and protect the

damper from the elements.

They have also equipped the springs with a plastic sleeving, designed to stop unwanted noise which other spring kits are known to have suffered with. In terms of ride height adjustability, the range is really quite good, too, with near factory height right down to around a 80mm drop, so should be able to satisfy those Supra owners who like to run their car super low.

But as SRD are not trying to win any scene points with this project and are focusing primarily on gains in performance – with improved looks a secondary, if desirable concern – they’ve opted to keep them as they came out of the box, which is around the middle of the adjustment, keeping it completely road friendly, but still much lower than stock.

The springs supplied with the kit are definitely stiffer than

stock, which is exactly what they needed to try and combat the car’s newfound desire to squat and squirm under power.

The installation of the kit was as you would expect from a firm such as HKS, top quality, with perfect fitment and full instructions making the job a breeze.

With the suspension sorted, next on the list was to sort the wheel fitment.

At some point in the project, there is a strong chance that the OEM wheels will be swapped for some meaty aftermarket alternatives, but for now Lee and the team were keen to maximise what the car comes with from the factory and that meant installing a set of wheel spacers to get the rims sitting closer to the cavernous stock arches.

After spending some time with the tape measure and calculator, the team decided on a set of 15mm spacers for both

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THE HKS HYPERMAX TOURING KIT USES UPRATED SPRINGS WITH AN ADJUSTABLE SPRING PLATFORM TO OFFER HEIGHT ADJUSTMENT TO THE OEM DAMPERS

the front and back to get the wheels flush without causing any fouling of the arches.

Picking the correct spacers is very important as they have to fit perfectly otherwise it can not only cause balancing issues, but can also be dangerous.

The spacers SRD selected are hub-centric items so fit perfectly on the hubs and allow the wheels to locate and centralise. Fitted with a set of longer bolts, the wheel fitment is much improved, giving a more aggressive look and a

wider track in the process, which will also aid handling.

Finishing off the install was a full four wheel alignment to dial in the new setup. One issue the cars seem to have from the factory seems to be a bit of a mistake with the geo.

Most owners have mentioned that the car felt twitchy or nervous at the back end, and looking at the geo figures it was clear that Toyota went for a 0 toe setting on the rear, which is a factor that can cause the unsettling feeling. 0

means the rear wheels are running completely straight.

Strangely, many of the cars seem to have too much camber on the rear right wheel, too. So after some adjustment the rear camber has now been corrected and the car is running 1.5 degrees of toe in on the rear wheels which should solve that twitchy feeling.

The final result is a car that looks much more aggressive with its wider track and lowered stance, the wheels fill the arches perfectly and there are

no fitment or rubbing issues even on bumps and at full lock.

The handling is much improved, too; with the car now feeling stiffer, but still as comfortable as stock, with much less squat or squirm under power and a reduction in the nervousness and twitchiness that it suffered from before. Job done!

So with the suspension sorted, next monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s target is for the guys to try out a new hybrid turbo to see if they can break into the 600s!

HUBCENTRIC SPACERS WERE INSTALLED TO WIDEN THE TRACK AND GIVE A MORE AGGRESSIVE FITMENT WHILE THE GEO-SETTINGS WERE ALSO OPTIMISED

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THEGARAGE + THANKS AND CONTACTS TARMAC SPORTZ WWW.TARMACSPORTZ.CO.UK 01332 206674

PROJECT Z

YOU’VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY! IT’S BEEN 10 MONTHS IN THE MAKING BUT PROJECT Z IS FINALLY FINISHED...

FOR NOW AT LEAST. WHO WOULD’VE THOUGHT THAT A 350 THAT WAS DESTINED FOR THE SCRAPYARD COULD TURN OUT SO GOOD? When Chris Geraghty, the bossman at Derby-based Japanese parts specialist Tarmac Sportz, called us back in April last year saying that he had just bought a non-running Nissan 350Z that he was planning to turn into a showstopping shop demo car, we had our reservations about what the outcome would be. Obviously, starting with what was basically a scrapper was the most economical option, but it would require a lot of work to get it up to the standard to confidently put your businesses name to it and parade it around the country’s top tuning shows.

However, when Chris assured us that, along with using the car to develop the firm’s own range of specific 350Z parts, it was also

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going to have the full works thrown at it over the coming months, we decided to take a punt on following it through its various stages.

Well, what can we say. Over the past 10 months Chris and the guys that make up the Tarmac Sportz team have played an absolute blinder.

Not only did they get the 350Z up and running sweetly again – courtesy of a replacement engine from Clark Motorsport – but they’ve completely transformed the look of the car, too, most noticeably with the genuine Nismo V3 front bumper and Tarmac Sportz rear over fenders, all drenched in that incredible coat of pearl red paint.

But as we all know only too

well, even the best bodywork and paint job in the world will be rendered pointless if the car’s wheel fitment and stance isn’t on point and the guys worked long and hard to nail this most crucial of elements too, namely with the installation of a set of Air Lift Performance air bags controlled by 3P digital management.

The Air Lift kit was complemented by a pair of BC Racing dampers at the rear which allowed the back of the car to go lower to match up with the front and get the unique Weds Maverick 905 wheels to tuck up into the arches perfectly.

Coming in a girthy 9.5x19in at the front and even meatier 10.5x19in at the rear, the deeply dished rims suit the bodydropped Z to a tee.

And of course they couldn’t leave the soundtrack standard either, so a Cobra Sport exhaust system with carbon tips was fitted to add a little aural drama to the proceedings.

With the car now looking and sounding the part, the guys moved their attention to the interior which was upgraded with a pair of NRG Innovations recliners and race steering wheel before the cockpit plastics got treated to a lick of red paint.

The car now finished, it’s clear that the guys have worked incredibly hard to make Chris’s vision a reality, but we’ve heard that it may not be over just yet, with rumours circulating of a possible supercharger or turbocharger for the New Year...

So watch this space!

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FROM SHED TO SHOW CAR. THE TARMAC SPORTZ 350Z HAS COME A LONG WAY IN THE LAST 10 MONTHS AND THERE MAY STILL BE MORE TO COME...

EVERY PART OF THE 350Z HAS BEEN TWEAKED AND FETTLED TO PRODUCE THIS STUNNING BUILD. CHECK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF AT THIS YEARâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SHOWS

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SERVICES DIRECTORY COLLECTIBLES KENT MODELS Worldwide Tel: 01795 581366 • www.kentmodels.co.uk Hard to find plastic model kits from Japan

INSURANCE ADRIAN FLUX INSURANCE SERVICES Tel: 0800 085 5000 • www.adrianflux.co.uk/imports Specialist car insurance

PERFORMANCE PARTS & STYLING APEX PERFORMANCE PARTS UK Tel: 01274 683633 sales@ohlinscoilovers.co.uk • www.ohlinscoilovers.co.uk Dealer for the Ohlins Road and Track range AS PERFORMANCE North East Tel: 0191 410 3770 • www.asperformance.com Motorsport specialists and custom engineering BC RACING UK Tel: 01274 683633 sales@bcracing.co.uk • www.bcracing.co.uk Premium coilover kits for road and track COBRA SPORT EXHAUSTS Sheffield, South Yorkshire Tel: +44 (0)114 244 7123 • sales@cobrasport.com www.cobrasport.com Manufacturer of performance stainless steel exhausts COMPETITION CLUTCH UK LTD Tel: 01327 226134 • www.competitionclutch.co.uk Japanese clutch specialist with a winning pedigree D2 BRAKES UK Tel: 01274 683633 sales@d2brakes.co.uk • www.d2brakes.co.uk Big brake kits to suit all needs DOUBLE S EXHAUSTS Tel: 01884 33454 • www.stainlesssteelexhausts.co.uk CAD designed exhausts and manifolds ENGINE PARTS (UK) LTD Tel: 01708 890494 • vince@enginepartsuk.eu rob@enginepartsuk.net • www.enginepartsuk.net Distributors of quality engine components since 1987 HARDRACE UK Tel: 01274 683633 sales@hardrace.co.uk • www.hardrace.co.uk Chassis tuning arms, braces and mounts JAP PERFORMANCE PARTS LTD Sussex Tel: 01293 520090 • sales@japperformanceparts.co.uk www.japperformanceparts.co.uk Supply and fit new and used JDM parts JAPSPEED sales@japspeed.co.uk • www.japspeed.co.uk Performance parts for all Japanese cars

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KING ENGINE BEARINGS LTD Worldwide Tel: +972 8 6888550 • Fax: +972 8 6811881 www.kingbearings.com • www.kingracebearings.com Developing and producing superior race bearings KSPORT RACING UK Tel: 01274 683633 sales@ksport.co.uk • www.ksport.co.uk High quality performance road and race brake kits MARDI GRAS MOTORSPORT Daventry, Northamptonshire Tel: 01327 858006 • www.mardigras.co.uk Competition, rally, race, high performance parts supplier MTEC BRAKES Tel: 0800 410 1910 • www.mtecbrakes.com Performance braking solutions from road to track RIMBLADES LTD Tel: +44 (0)1823 432144 • www.rimblades.com Alloy wheel rim styling and lightweight protection ROTA WHEELS UK LTD South West Tel: 01363 777007 • sales@rotawheelsuk.com www.rarerims.co.uk Lightweight alloy wheels for most makes and models TARMAC SPORTZ Tel: 01332 206674 • sales@tarmacsportz.co.uk www.tarmacsportz.co.uk Specialists in race, performance and styling products TTS PERFORMANCE PARTS Northamptonshire Tel: 01327 858212 • www.tts-performance.co.uk Rotrex Performance supercharger conversions JE pistons distributor XTREME CLUTCH info@xtremeclutch.co.uk • www.xtremeclutch.co.uk Performance street and motorsport clutch kits and accessories

ROLLING ROAD & DYNO DYNODAZE PERFORMANCE PARTS LTD Midlands Tel: 02476 341288 • www.dynodazeperformanceparts.com Remapping and performance parts dyno specialists DYNO DEVELOPMENTS Worldwide Tel: 01483 600208 • www.DynoDevelopments.com Chassis dynamometers to the automotive tuning industry

TUNING & WORKSHOP AS PERFORMANCE North East Tel: 0191 410 3770 • www.asperformance.com Motorsport specialists and custom engineering THE GTR HERITAGE CENTRE Tel: 01429 838885 • www.thegtrheritagecentre.com All things NISSAN Skyline and GTR RB MOTORSPORT Lancashire Tel: 01704 822848 • www.rbmotorsport.co.uk Quality tuning specialists for Skylines and GTRs

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stunning nissan skyline gts-t / immaculate impreza gc8 715bhp ep3 civic type r / mental mitsubishi evo X top turbo failures / autosport show report + much more!

Advertisement Index Adrian Flux 80 AS Performance 80 Australian Clutch Services 8 BBRGTi 51 BC Racing (Apex Performance)2, 3, 57, 100 D2 Brakes (Apex Performance) 49 Dynodaze Performance Parts 83

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