WTF?!
A DRIFT TRACK AROUND A HOUSE?
28X9-TYRE WARRIOR
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THRASH-TESTING A K24 SWAPPED HONDA FIT!
DEC. 2018
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INSIDE AMERICA’S BIGGEST IMPORT MEET RX-8 ENGINE CONVERSION GUIDE TURBO 4A- GZE STARLET
MUSCLE GARAGE
SUNDAYS ON
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SUPER SCORE
A REAL-DEAL GT300 MACHINE LANDS IN NEW ZEALAND, AND WE DRIVE IT!
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HOUSE OF DRIFT
DRIFTING NEW ZEALAND’S ONLY HOME-BASED TRACK
STEALTH MODE THRASH TESTING A K24-SWAPPED HONDA FIT
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TAKING THE QUICK ROUTE 28X9-TYRE MAZDA 808
COASTAL STROP
4A-GZE-POWERED KP61 STARLET
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006 EDITORIAL 008 ED. TEAM CHATTER 010 NEWS 016 GIG GUIDE 043 SUBSCRIBE AND RECEIVE 056 DYNO SHEET DECIPHER 078 P’CAR BABE 088 WEEKEND WARRIOR 090 PRODUCTS 092 PRODUCT PREVIEW: BLACK OPS 4 094 CRUISE MODE 096 KICKER AUDIO INSTALL 098 UNDER CONSTRUCTION 100 DAILY DRIVEN 102 LOCAL SPECIALISTS 104 DRAG TIMES
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RX-8 ENGINE-CONVERSION GUIDE
K&N TYPHOON INTAKE ON A TOYOTA 86
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A LOOK AT NISSAN’S CONCEPT 2020 VISION
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PALM TREE BOULEVARDS 2018 JAPANESE CLASSIC CAR SHOW IN LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA
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1999 RE AMEMIYA MAZDA RX-7 GT300 (JGTC)
WORDS: MARCUS GIBSON PHOTOS: RICHARD OPIE
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NEW ZEALAND HAS A NEW SUPER HERO — A REAL-DEAL JGTC GT300 MAZDA RX-7 — AND WE’VE BEEN THROWN THE KEYS
climb into the impossibly tight confines of the cockpit, situate my six-foot-one body into the carbon-Kevlar Recaro, and do the five-point harness shuffle, all the while doing my best to keep my composure and not act like a five-year-old who has just been handed a crisp fiver in the sweet shop. I click the quick-release hub back onto the spline and triple check it as I grip the well-worn RE Amemiya wheel. Mine are quite possibly
the least-qualified hands ever to grip it. Just as that dawns on me, owner Aidan Barrett leans in the window and runs over the starting procedure. “Turn that, flick those two switches, and then hit the starter. If it sounds like it’s going to fire, give it a tiny blip; if it sounds flooded, floor the pedal and it will kill the pump,” he says. I needn’t worry; the RE Amemiya 20B peripheral-port (PP)
WTF?! A DRIFT TRACK DRIVEWAY RIGHT HERE IN NEW ZEALAND
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WORDS: MARCUS GIBSON PHOTOS: ADAM CROY
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hey say that a man’s house is his castle, but Takeshi ‘Tux’ Teruya’s house has become more racetrack than castle, thanks to a carefully crafted, long, snaking driveway that just so happens to form a drift track. For Tux, a man whose life has literally been shaped by drifting, it’s been a labour of love — one that allows him to satisfy his everlasting need to drift. That was the very need that brought him to our shores from his homeland of Japan in 2006. “I was 18 years old when I first saw drifting on the Akagi mountain. I finally got my license to transport the motorbike that I was racing and really wanted to drive a manual, so we took my
friend’s parents’ Forester up there to watch. I was shocked and very into it. I stopped all plans, sold my motorbike, and purchased a S13 Silvia.” After a few years of learning the art, Tux began competing, meeting Team 3up and his drift master Masami Mikami. “He taught me everything about drifting, from suspension set-up to tuning and fabrication,” he says. However, in 2003, after becoming somewhat disillusioned by the competition side of things in Japan, Tux took it back to the streets and was caught red-handed by his drift master, who, while angry with Tux for his actions, offered a unique solution to Tux’s slump.
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1974 MAZDA 808
TAKING THE
QUICK ROUTE SAM KHAMIS WANTED TO RUN SEVENS, AND HE KNEW THAT THE BEST WAY TO GET THERE WAS TO BUY SOMETHING ALREADY PROVEN. WHAT HE DIDN’T EXPECT WAS TO SCORE SUCH AN ENGINEERING MASTERPIECE
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WORDS: MARCUS GIBSON PHOTOS: ADAM CROY
hat age-old argument of built or bought is one that will never be fully settled. There will always be those who sit staunchly in each camp, unable to see the logic in the other side’s argument, no matter how solid it may be. It’s not something that we will attempt to weigh in on today, but, when it comes to drag racing and running numbers here in New Zealand, there is no denying that the route Sam Khamis took with his new racer was a solid move to get the desired results. We featured Sam’s nine-second 323 hatch last year in NZPC Issue No. 247. It was a basic build at the time, one that Sam intended on taking to the next level, as mentioned in the feature. In fact, by the time the magazine was on the shelves, Sam and tuner / crew chief Mazin
CELEBRATING ONE OF THE
GREATS WORDS NZPC PHOTOS RICHARD OPIE
HOW 50 YEARS OF FORD ESCORT SHOULD BE CELEBRATED, WITH SOME OF OUR BEST LOCAL EXAMPLES GOING HAMMER AND TONGS ON THE CIRCUIT
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his year marks 50 years since the Mark 1 Ford Escort rolled off the production line and seemingly onto the podiums of every motorsport discipline it was entered into here in New Zealand. It soon became the car to have if you wanted to win; thus, some very special cars landed in the hands of thirsty Kiwis. It’s because of this rich local racing history that we could not think of a better way to celebrate the car’s 50th anniversary than by welcoming any and all Escort racers to line up at the recent HRC Icebreaker, held at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, for a special Escort-only battle.
A call was put out earlier this year, and the response was immediate; there was no shortage of Escort-mad drivers lining up to race. A total of 21 cars fronted the grid — including everything from historically significant cars such as the Williment Mk1 to local speedsters such as Bruce Manon’s Mk2 RS2000 and the McCarthy Mk1 Zakspeed replica. With such a good mix of specs, the racing was as great as it would have been back in the late ’60s–early 70s — Bruce Manon and Clark Procter, in particular, going at it for all three races, with Manon taking two wins and Proctor the third.
1968 FORD LOTUS ESCORT MK1 TWIN CAM OWNER: RAYDEN SMITH; DRIVEN BY SON BRENT AT EVENT Arguably the most historic car on the day, the Williment Mk1 started life in the Ford UK competition department. Originally built to Group 5 spec by Williment Racing, it was one of the first Twin Cams built. It experienced a very successful campaign in the British Saloon Car Championship (BSCC), running against the likes of the Alan Mann Escorts. After winning the 2000cc class in 1969, it was purchased and shipped to New Zealand, where Jim Richards dominated the National Touring Car Championship from ’70 to ’72. The car has been through many hands, teams, and liveries, although current owner Rayden Smith, who has owned it for around 30 years, has restored it in the original Williment colours.
ENGINE: Lotus-Hart twin cam 1800cc, Hart 416b cylinder head DRIVELINE: Ford four-speed with Quaife internals, Quaife limited-slip diff (LSD) SUSPENSION: Compression struts, four-link rear EXTERIOR: Group 5 spec, recent return to full original BSCC livery WHEELS/TYRES: 13-inch Minilite POWER: Around 134kW “on a good day”
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