Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2017 i Fast Car

I owe a lot to the Ferrari F40. It was the car that cemented my interest in the wonderful world of performance motoring. Sure, there were other supercars. But the Ferrari was the first production car to top the mythical 200mph, and as a car-obsessed kid growing up in the ‘80s, that was super-exciting – damn, it’s still pretty funky as an adult. Indeed while moving house last month I found all my old toy cars, including five Ferrari F40s, carrying more race scars than the rest of the models put together. They were my favourite. And I still carry that torch today. Though owning a supercar – let alone modifying one – is out of reach for the majority of us, it doesn’t mean we can’t be inspired by…

It’s brilliantly ridiculous that we can suggest a supercar as an affordable proposition that’s prime for modifying. Isn’t this a fantastic time to be alive? The Audi R8 sports all the creds of a bona fide supercar: gorgeous design that’s as much bedroom poster fodder as it is automobile, insane powerplant and stunning performance figures. But at the same time, it’s an Audi. Which means it’ll always start on cold mornings, it won’t overheat in summer jams, it’ll be faultlessly reliable, the clutch won’t catch fire if you drive it in inner-city stop-start traffic. It’s got uniform panel gaps and decent interior plastics. It genuinely is an everyday supercar. The fun part is that they’re not horribly expensive either. You’ve probably spotted a number on the tuning scene, and that’s…

“We needed a car to use as a platform to develop a new style of parts” If you’re into modified cars, chances are you’ve heard of KODE. The company has developed a name for itself as the go-to place for JDM-inspired goodies we all love to treat our cars to once in a while. Including tow straps, bumper fasteners and even those dildo gear shifters. Religiously attending most of the amazing modified car shows around the country each year, KODE has also always had a couple of mental demo cars on hand to showcase its products. You might remember some of them from this very magazine, including a rather bonkers gold Honda Jazz from a few years back. But now, with the introduction of some exciting new carbon fibre and…

PIRELLI P ZERO COLOURED EDITION TYRES, £POA (UK PRE-ORDER ONLY) In various guises the legendary Pirelli P Zero has been around since the ‘80s and, to this day, remains an icon in the world of black sticky circles. It’s also a super-premium product chosen for OEM fitment by many a manufacturer of automotive exotica. There is one big change the Italian compound gurus are rolling out this summer though. From now on their P Zero doesn’t have to be completely black! Nope. Inspired by the F1 tyres we’ve all been lusting after for the past few years, Pirelli are now offering colour-coded rubber to the public and, we think you’ll agree, they look pretty damn swish too! With 19-inch (and above) sizes available for pre-order right now, this news would…

Tamiya Scooby STI Kit, from £125 (base kit) Last year the new STI absolutely smashed the SP3T class at the Nürburgring 24 Hour Race, and this sweet 1/10 scale replica is Tamiya’s homage to the victory. Built on an updated version of their famous TT-02 ‘on-road’ platform, it’s the perfect entry-level kit for anyone getting into building their own custom RC racers, rather than those looking to buying them ready-done off-the-shelf. What’s pretty awesome here too, is that you can modify yours with loads of trick options, including more powerful motors, beefed up suspension and all sorts of handling and alignment trickery. In fact it’s just like bolting together a proper track weapon, without the scraped knuckles, huge workshop, divorce or knackered credit card. You just can’t argue with that.…

“I couldn’t decide. So I got one set for one side and one for the other!” Isn’t it funny how rapidly things can spread like wildfire online once they’ve gone viral? Accidently upload a picture of yourself in the tub to Facebook, for example, and before you have time to do anything about it, it’s probably getting downloaded by a bunch of people in Denmark you’ve never met before. Somerset-based Jak Titch experienced the full might of social media himself last year after a Facebook challenge left his car with an ever-so-slightly controversial Donald Trump support livery for a whole week, riling the UK car scene in the process. But scratch beneath the surface and you’ll find a story of 13 sets of alloys, some seriously well thought-out mods and…

 If you saw last month’s update, you’ll be aware I finally got around to getting my rather tired and bashed up Vossen CV1s refurbed and fitted back on the ol’ girl. However, once they were fitted and looking fresh, it got me rethinking my rear wheel fitment. There are three types of wheel fitment to think about when dropping your car on air ride and wheels with extended lips. Some like their wheel arches sat inside the lip, those that like it on the lip and then there’s the tuckers – the guys who like their wheels tucked up in the arches so they can go as low as possible. Previously I’ve been a lip sitter. However, this does take its toll on your arches and your wheels if you’re…

It’s been a busy few months with the S2000 and as show season is now in full swing it’s about to get a lot busier. Since our project entry last issue, we’ve taken the Honda to its first few shows with the Competition Station, where showgoers can enter to win our awesome high-revving roadster. First we took it to Santa Pod’s Fast Show and then to Europe’s biggest Japanese car show, Japfest, where we had lots of interest and took more entries from people wanting to get their hands on the keys. If you didn’t make either of these events, fear not, as there’s still plenty of shows remaining where you can enter, just see above for details. Thankfully spring has now sprung and all this nice weather has meant…

If you missed it, you missed out. But luckily it’s not long until the next one. Castle Combe’s Summer Action Day kicks off on Saturday 22 July. See you there! Coming soon… With the show season now in full swing, amazing cars are being built and launched every week. We will aim to find and feature the best ones from around the world and this stunning Supra will be making an appearance next month! “HOW HARD IS IT TO GET A DECENT SANDWICH WHEN YOU’RE ON A ROAD TRIP? IT’S BLOODY RIDICULOUS!” Other countries manage to get motorway services totally spot-on. In France you’re led down a picturesque, meandering sliproad into a leafy woodland glade, complete with shiny new toilet blocks and a gourmet bistro. In Germany you find uber-efficient…

“People laugh at the wing. But I know it works, so I just laugh right back.” Hidden depths. We all like to think we have them. “Sure, I’m watching TOWIE again,” we say to ourselves. “But I’m enjoying it on an ironic level. I might read some Wodehouse later, or pop down to the Hockney exhibition at the Tate.” Most of us offer something beyond that which is displayed upon the surface. Some more so than others: the pensioners who run marathons, the gameshow contestants with PhDs, the gym rats who can play piano by ear. And so it is with late-’80s and early-’90s Hondas. These are cars that used to be everywhere, then not quite so much, and have now fallen into relative obscurity, aside from the top-flight sporty…

PRIMAL DETAIL ESSENTIALS BUNDLE, £50 What we’ve got here has to be the detailing bargain of the century. The ‘Essentials Bundle’ from Primal Detail, comes in at unbelievable 50-nicker. The new collection contains wheel cleaner, bug remover, all purpose cleaner, shampoo, glass cleaner, tyre gel, quick detailer and even 100ml of their excellent carnauba wax. There’s also the option of doubling up the core products (to 500ml bottles) for an extra 30-quid. In the last few weeks we’ve had a go on all these products and they’re all up there with the best. We think what they’re offering here is a distinct case of champagne performance on a beer budget. www.primaldetail.com AUTO FINESSE RADIANCE, £23 Just when we were beginning to get over the bonkers milkshake flavour shampoos they launched…

JL AUDIO C1 SPEAKERS Every audio firm from anywhere in the world will update or repackage their speakers from time to time. That goes without saying. It’s pretty rare thing however, for any manufacturer to invest in launching a whole new range in addition to their other offerings, especially when it’s to cater for the entry-level market (where, let’s face it, they don’t make the most money). It looks like that’s what huge American firm, JL Audio, are doing here though, with their new C1 line of speakers. And they certainly aren’t messing about either – there are already 10 models of coaxial, component system and tweeter to choose from. What’s more, they’ve all been specifically designed with ease of fitment in mind. CONTACT:www.jlaudio.co.uk Loads of fitments… By looking at…

There’s a famous quote from Henry Ford you find on mugs and teatowels in twee gift shops the world over: “Auto racing began five minutes after the second car was built.” There’s a primal, unquenchable thirst buried deep within our subconscious. We don’t just want our cars to be fast. We want them to be faster than the next person’s. If someone pulls up alongside you on the grid, strip, or traffic lights, the conviction that you can reach the horizon before they can is what spurs us on. Muscle cars, drag racers, hot hatches. Everyone wants to be top dog. But this behaviour is no more true than it is in the surreal, intangible galaxy of the supercar. Ever since some bright spark coined that term back in the…

 It was about time I did something about the Civic’s brakes. I’d been banging on about it for months. I love almost everything about the EP3, but my one criticism has always been the brakes. (Well, that and the fact Honda put a rotary switch for the headlights on the end of the indicator stalk, for some reason. Dumb idea. When you indicate at night, you can easily turn your lights off. But anyway…) It’s not that there’s anything wrong with the stock brakes as such. But when I take it out for a drive, then swap over to my Octavia vRS, it’s clear the Skoda’s brakes are way better. The Honda needs more pedal feel, and more urgency. Fate must have been paying attention to my plight, as I…

Picture the scene. The car got wrecked at Thruxton in 2016, just after setting a new lap record within six laps. It was rebuilt over the winter, with a few additional mods. And there we were back in the paddock at Thruxton Circuit once again ready to prove the awesome abilities of this car. Designed and built in the early ’90s and still with so much to prove. New rubber up front to scrub in, new pads and discs to bed in, and a whole new front suspension set up, rebuilt by Ray of Meryworth Services no less. Unfortunately, a poxy 300 metres was all we could manage. By sheer fluke, at the same time as our 2016 accident, a tooth must of parted company from the crown wheel or…

It’s been two years since Dubshed moved from its home at the King’s Hall in Belfast, to the much larger Eikon Complex near Lisburn, south of Belfast. To date, it’s a change that has been very much a positive one. Asides from the significant increase in space, Dubshed’s new home is easier accessed by Volkswagen enthusiasts from all corners of the British Isles. More space, more cars, more activities. Plus the organisers of Dubshed perfectly encompass the values which make the Volkswagen community so impressive. That is, they’re a friendly, open-minded group of enthusiasts who don’t believe in elitism or any other such nonsense that plagues nearly every car community online. They very much live in the real world. There’s none of the pettiness we’ve all seen in the comments…

MB DESIGN KX1, From £430 (each) Sometimes, only absolutely bloody mahoosive hoops will do. Whether that’s because you’ve got simply enormous brakes, gargantuan arches to fill or you just fancy a challenge, there’s not many other mods that give quite the same wow factor as a set of dubs. Or, if you’ve got the balls, maybe something even bigger. Anyway, this brand-new offering from renowned German styling house, MB Design, certainly fits into both the ‘huge’ and ‘fookin’ wow’ categories. And, quite obviously, smaller motors need not apply for a set. Only available in 20 and the almost mythical 21 inch diameters (which, traditionally, aren’t exactly what you’d call common in the UK), the good news is they not only come in some usable widths, but there’s a decent amount…

Vax Blade, From £160 There’s no doubt about it. Rolling out 14 miles of extension lead just to plug in your vacuum cleaner is soooo last Tuesday. That said, unfortunately for us, most cordless items simply don’t have the grunt needed for giving your car interior a good going over. That’s not the case with the new Vax Blade though, because these monsters (available in 24 and 32V versions) have all the power of a corded vacuum but the portability of a, er, cordless vacuum. With a lithium battery serving up 35 minutes of hardcore sucking action on a single charge, and a boost button for the ultimate happy ending, this one could be the perfect cleaning companion. Oh, and there’s also this weird long brush attachment thingy, just in…

Step 1 First off, it’s about clearing the decks and seeing what you’re working with. If it’s a new car you haven’t cleaned before, or one that’s been sat for a while, it’s worth going the extra mile and using Meguiar’s All Purpose Cleaner to get the grime out of hard to reach areas. Places like rain gutters and behind petrol filler caps are traps for dirt and it’s a good idea to periodically clear them out. Likewise the underneath of the bonnet and latch areas can get clogged over time. An application of All Purpose Cleaner and a little agitation with a brush and some running water, and most filth will fall away effortlessly. Step 2 Meguiar’s recommend cleaning all the really dirty areas first so your buckets and…

“I thought, ‘Why not get the street legal version and turn it into a race car?’” The world of 21st century supercars is granular and hyper-nerdy. Back in the olden days, a Miura was a Miura. They revised it a bit, and badged it ‘Miura S’. They made it a bit racier, and it became a Miura SV. That was pretty much it. But these days? It’s all about the kudos, the PR, the marketing boasts and – most of all – the social media infamy. Yes, many supercar buyers acquire these machines for the hedonistic performance. But you can’t deny a lot of owners buy them simply to be seen in. It’s peacocking, a statement of success. And for these people, supercar manufacturers churn out special edition after special…

It takes a pair of cojones as chunky as carrier bag full of grapefruit to mess about with a Ferrari F40. This isn’t just a car. It’s an icon. Something that adorned every bedroom wall throughout the 1980s, on through the ’90s and, realistically, still freshens up many an interior design concept today. The archetypal retro supercar poster-boy, the F40 was Enzo Ferrari’s last sign-off. It’s a celebration of the 40th anniversary of his first car, and a boisterous 90th birthday present to himself. The 2.9-litre engine with its twin IHI turbos produced 478bhp, which was all channelled entirely without electronic intervention through cartoonishly fat rear tyres. It was a real contender in the late-’80s supercar wars, able to hit 60mph in 3.9 seconds and top the mythical double-ton. And…

 Wheels maketh the car. Yes, it’s easy to dismiss someone’s build when it only features air ride and a set of shiny rims. But no single modification changes the look of a car so dramatically. It’s properly quick and simple to do, too. I’ve been a massive fan of Japanese car culture all my life, especially the tuning industry. I’ve owned Civics and Skylines, Evos and S14s – there’s always been something in my garage, and they’ve ALWAYS been modified with JDM parts for maximum honour. But Japanese tuning isn’t without its flaws, and one that’s always annoyed and frustrated me is aftermarket wheels. They make some of the best-looking designs, no doubt about that. But in this age of stance, fitment and getting your car sitting millimetre perfect, I’ve…

DAN NUTTON’S E36 3 SERIES FC says : Is it just us, or is there something different about this 3 Series? “I got bored one day,” says gas-man Dan about how his mental E36 pickup conversion came about, “And I decided to hack the roof, rear doors and boot off. Luckily it turned out pretty well!” Single-handedly learning how to mod cars on his drive, Dan’s not done a half bad job here. He also grafted on a Merc supercharger to his straight-six engine and added a heap of rat look-inspired bits to make for a mean looking skid machine. “The company name on the side was my late grandfather’s business, so it’s kind of a tribute to him,” he says. We can’t think of many cooler cars you can…