Friday, May 29, 2009

The Legend lives on...

Remember this? I hope you do! Maybe one of the most influential Impreza's from the past tuning scene, our old TRIAL Try-R WRX. It lives on and is now residing in bonny Scotland. Video in action!


Cars and motorcycle videos

Snapped this photo at Knockhill, looking as good as ever!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Time Attack...

Aswell as European Drift Championship, Knockhill Scotland was host to Round 2 of the UK Time Attack series. There has been a small decrease in Pro cars I feel, but no decrease in Time Attack action. Knockhill is a VERY fast and challenging circuit, so it was definetly going to be interesting. Final results and times were so close!

Pro Class:

1 – PR4 Rory Butcher (Mitsubishi EVO 8)…51.666

2 – PRR Steve Guglielmi (Lotus Elise)…51.715

3 – PT4 Andy Gallagher (Ford Focus Cosworth)…51.800

4 – PR4 Tom Ferrier (Subaru Impreza)…52.053

5 – PR4 Olly Clark (Subaru Impreza)…52.263

Full report and info HERE...And my photos below

Robert Duxbury's Stunning Club Class Lancer Evo...
RC Developments EVO VI, another good performer!
A good variety of Time Attack cars, including 6R4 Metro
One of my favourites always, Abbey Motorsport R32.
EVO's seemed to be the car of choice for this year!
But representing Subaru, Zen Performance!
...and AWD Motorsport...check out that rear end!!!
Steve Gugliemi was VERY fast as ever in the Lotus, 2nd!
Winner was RSE Evo, driven by local Rory Butcher!

Friday, May 22, 2009

EDC Rd.2 - Knockhill

Was in Scotland again last weekend for Round 2 of the Need for Speed European Drift Championship (quite a mouthful, so lets call it NFS EDC for now). Was a great trip, even though I said I'm taking a backseat this year, it already seems to be more of a 'middle' seat...as I'm as busy as ever, and still involved. But I guess that's just how it is meant to be! The roadtrip with Ed rocked, the drifting was hot, and the Time Attack was FAST! Pretty much sums up Knockhill, apart from one thing...the weather!! In that weekedn alone I experienced all 4 seasons...Saturday was a washout and the track seemed more like Niagara Falls at times during practice! Soaked to the skin, back to hotel and out that night. Up early we made it to the track first thing for sign on. Sunday was the complete opposite...Sunburn, hot, sunhine...I guess only at Knockhill. Little did we know the whole drive home would be in pouring rain again haha, I have a real love/hate relationship with Scotland! Some photos...

Like I said, Saturday it rained...ALOT!!
But it didn't stop the practice, made for some fun drifting!
Dried up nicely overnight though, Sunday was sunny...
So it let the power be put down...V8 Monaro engined S15
Local Irish drivers were out in force battling in EDC...
Previous EDC champ Brett Castle battling his bogey track!
Driftworks Phil Morrison VS Mark BUFF Luney!
Local Irish driver Andy Cooper driving well all weekend!
But the eventual winner was Pete Barber in RX7...

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Genki again...

Time for an update, mainly as things are seeming 'genki again' for another while atleast. Back to the start of the season, so things will be busy, even though I'm taking a 'back seat', which I prefer to call 'the scene from a different perspective'. So no doubt there'll be plenty of blogging along the way. Drift and Time Attack Season just got underway, so it's going to be an interesting few months from here on in. Aswell as our own projects and trying to enjoy time 'away' from the scene, if possible haha. For now here's some summer Sakura style photos of the '86. Next stop is Knockhill Circuit, Scotland for European Drift Championship and Time Attack, then back to do some more preparation when I can for the 'JapFest'...more coming soon!
I really like this photo, looking good on the SSR XR4's again...
Treated her to a another service with Plug/Oil & Filter change for summer too, only the best! Will keep her running perfect...
I'll leave you with this sneaky preview shot for now ;-)

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Soon be Summer...

Soon be Summer time, so Im getting the car prepared, but not with a few set backs along the way! After enjoying plenty of use out of the Trust Manifold, I was driving home late one night and just knew something wasn't right. The car had got quieter haha, so I set about finding out where this blowout was that was causing it. Exhaust is 100%, and I just couldn't believe it was coming from the newest part, the Greddy 4-1 manifold/downpipe! No obvious signs, but deep within the flexi, somewhere a small crack had formed in the weld. VERY disappointed, and slightly pissed off as it's very unlike Trust, I contacted them at Trust Japan Headquarters. Shocked themselves, they immediately set about sorting the problem, and gave me the go ahead to repair this existing manifold in the meantime. So my welder friend set about carrying out a very VERY good repair, and new flexi, saving the rest of the system. Trust should employ him maybe!

So alongside Trust we're working close to see what caused this, and how it can be prevented. Being honest, I think it was just unlucky and a bad bad bump on a shit road that I have had to use lately, but at top money and products, all feedback helps! Here you can clearly see the problem inside the Flexi welds, it's not much, but enough, and wanting perfection, it gets fixed! I guess that's just my way!

In goes the new one for now while getting the replacement,. All sorted and perfect again, also note the Undersealing, VERY clean!
With the remainder of the perfectly intact flexi, it houses my Pens..
Next plan for the summer was some new tyres and the 15" SSR Longchamps back on! I really loved the look of the gold SSR mesh, but they'll be back again come the winter time. For summer its the Longchamps, all polished up and treated to new rubber! Dunlop Direzza sports on front again, and Yokohama Parada 2s on the rear, which are turning out to be an awsome tyre so far! More soon...