Team Orange EVO IX

Here are the first pics of D1GP Champion Kumakubo's D1 Evo IX in action! Borrowed from the Auto Otaku Blog (Ebisu D1 round)...

Another pic from Hirota's Blog...
Kuma Finished in the Top 8!

Audio Advice...

I called in to the Open Day for local Car shop 'Audio Advice'. They have been around for as long as I can remember and are easily the best in UK at what they do, if not Europe! Now with even bigger premises and setup, Business is booming as usual.

The Audio Advice demo car...CRAZY!

Amazing amount of time, money effort and hard work! The attention to detail in the car is simply umbelievable! A work of art that must be appreciated and respected by all.

D4M LO Mercedes on Air Ride...

American Muscle...nice to see variety!

Porsche GT3 wasn't bad either...

BuddyClub DC5 Integra...Perfect!

ProDrift Round 5...Part 2

High Speed Qualifying...

Amazingly close Tsuiso Twin Drift Battles...

Crash! So much action with Pro Drift...

Eric O'Sullivan's Honda S2000 Powered AE86 Corolla came out on top on the day! He is just so consistent, and very hard to defeat! This explains his amazing season in PD this year, which now crowns him ProDrift Champion. But it was not an easy day for Eric. He really had to battle his way to the top!

Eric O'Sullivan - so consistent all day!

Shattered windscreen on the final run...

But it didn't stop the ProDrift 2007 Champion!

ProDrift Round 5...Part 1

Mondello Park was the place to be this weekend for Round 5 of the Pro Drift Ireland series. It was a beautiful day with great sunshine over Ireland (hard to believe, I know), and it was topped off by some fantastic drifting! It had everything from High speed qualifying, to Crashing, to Amazingly close Tsuiso twin drift battles. Here are some photos...

Damien Mulvey's RB26 Silvia...

Darren McNamara in his newly built AE86...

During the breaks, Julian Smith (PD Judge) was drifting...

Healey in his Hankook S15 Silvia...

Mike Dean was so fast in his S13.4 Silvia...

Alan Lenihen's Hankook S13.5 Silvia...

HUGE angle and speed from SR20 AE86!

RB26 powered Silvia was very impressive...

JohnnyP takes on 15 year old James Dean...

JohnnyP - Tsuiso King...Amazing action!

Initial D...

We all know how popular Initial D has become, and well to be honest I had forgot about it for a while, to I seen this...Initial D Arcade! REAL cars, REAL action. Get into the car, full 900* steering wheel, manual gears, clutch, pedals...Only in Japan!...

The main star...How cool is this?!

So much fun to be had!

Local life...

The RMS Club hold a regular monthly meet, so usually if im in town I try to call in. This month was a small meet, mainly because of the bad weather we have been getting all summer, but still some nice cars were out! Hopefully next time its even better...

Lexus IS200 was Beautiful...

AI Autosport tuned EVO V

White Bembo's are just COOL...

Cool photo...

Amongst all the crazy weather we have been having, this happened...Double Rainbow! It made for a cool photo...

Rally...

WOW, looking back I can't believe it has been 1 year since my first post about this same event - Lurgan Park Rally! 150+ posts later, so much has happened over this year!

On to the Rally. It was a great day as usual. It was raining heavily all day long, but this made for some interesting driving and a few thrills and spills. I only took a few photos on the first few stages...

Plenty of Mark 2 Escort's...

Super 1600 Citroen C2 was fast...

A good mix of Gravel and Tarmac stages...

Overall winner was Kevin Lynch...

CRASH...

Here is the video of Calvin Wan's Falken G35 Infinity Skyline crash. He hit the wall pretty hard at the Formula D round in Sonoma, USA! He was ok, but let's hope he's back in action soon!

New cars on the block...

This month marks the debut of 2 of Europe's highest spec drift cars to date. Darren McNamara launched the new MCN Sport AE86! Code named N2 it is heavily tuned though still running 4AGE power! It started life as a Levin but Darren has cut weight down dramatically with full fibreglass panels, excess metal removed and Trueno front! The car just had its first shakedown so expect to see more soon...


Also out of the bodyshop was Phil Morrison's S15 Silvia. Serious amount of work involved in this project, and how they turn them out so quickly I will never know! The S15 is running a 2JZGTE Engine from Toyota's Supra (600bhp)! It has yet to do shakedown, but im sure it will soon. Can't wait for more news on this car also!

Honjo...

Ed sent me this video today (Thanks Ed, made my day). It's the Honjo Circuit, near Tokyo! It's footage from a recent drift day there and you see plenty of familiar faces! You see plenty of Japan's top drifter's including good friends Kenji Takayama (Orange D1GP FC RX7) and Shino Murai (White Amazement Shino Kouba AE86. Shino and Kenji were kicking some major ass around Honjo circuit. As always. Keep up the good work guys! Hopefully I can check out this circuit soon, as it looks like ALOT of fun!

Flash back...

You know me, I like all parts of the Tuning world! From Drift, to Grip, to Drag, to Circuit to Street! They all have their moments! It got me thinking! Since I started this blog I have written about so many different types of 'scene', but really its all just a small individual segment of THE tuning scene itself. It doesn't really matter what we are into, we all love different things, but its important to respect that. Cars are a universal language. No matter where we are from, or what we are tuning, the main thing is that we're doing it and enjoying our love for cars.

Honda's always played a big part in the tuning scene all over the world. Japan, USA, Europe! Recently I called into a local Honda Club's meet. It reminded me of where it all began for me. Street level, everyday cars, friends, meetings, just enjoying the love for their cars. I know the Honda scene has got its 'bad points', but at this level it was good and I had to appreciate and respect it! I will always have a soft spot for a nicely tuned Honda, with just the right modifications.

Small meet but some nice cars...

Nothing tacky, just honest Honda's...

Nice Civic coupe Vti...

My favourite..CRX Turbo!

Back to basics...

News this week is the plan for Toyota to venture back to the Front Engined RWD Coupe. Word on the scene is that they will build a cheap RWD car again with a fun factor like they did in the 1980's - the AE86! It will run a 1.5l 2NZ-FE engine, which already has a handful of tuning goodies developed by HKS,Blitz etc. So much talk has went on about this kind of car for years, I expect it to replace the MR2 generation maybe but if it came about then all I can say is it would be VERY popular. When I was at Toyota in Nagoya,Japan there was also talk of it, so one can only hope it comes true! We will see...Im sure the tuners out there are already thinking of new ideas...I know I am!!