Innehållsförteckning för November 2015 från Fast Car

It has been said a thousand times before, but power is addictive and once you’ve tasted it, you want more. I should know. I’m a long-term sufferer. And so are all the owners of the feature cars in this issue! From the mental S14 cover car to the Chevy-powered Rocket Bunny RX-7 on page 26, right through to the totally old skool VW Fridolin that’s this month’s Wild Card. There’s all types of power too. Naturally aspirated, supercharged, turbocharged and even amplified – as we feature the UK’s loudest van, VIBE’s T5. Damn it, we’ve even covered off jet and rocket power too, as we pop into Bloodhound SSC’s head quarters to see the 1,000mph Land Speed Record car before it heads off to Africa for the world record attempt…

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been around the block more than a couple of times. So with that in mind, I can safely say that Boyden Barlow’s 200SX has to be one of the quickest cover cars we’ve ever seen in FC… in more ways than one. For a start, this competition-spec drifter obviously gets down the road a bit lively – and I’m not just assuming that because of its distinctively hardcore looks. Nope, any eagle-eyed Nissan nut will immediately spot the Skyline 6-pot sitting under the bonnet and this particular fully-forged lump is pushing a more than useable 477bhp straight to that super-wide, grip-friendly rubber. Suffice to say, in a stripped-out track motor that weighs about as much as a gnat’s scrotum, that makes it shift…

So what are power and torque? We all know they make our cars faster and therefore we want more. But explaining exactly what power and torque is, is complicated, boring and actually not that relevant to making a fast car. That said, having more of both is a very good things to have, and the higher the numbers of each, the more overall performance your car’s engine has. However, things aren’t quite as straightforward as that. But that’s what we’re here to explain. First up though, let’s turn the complicated science of power and torque, in to something basic that hopefully we all can understand... Torque is the amount of turning force an engine has in one revolution Power is the speed an engine can move…

BOLA ZZR, £795 (SET) Even though true directional wheels have become something of a holy grail mod this season, they’re still pretty rare to find. Now, that may be because most wheel companies actually want to make a few quid and having a separate mould for each side of the car, or 4-separate moulds if it’s a staggered setup, isn’t exactly what you’d call economical. Then again, it could be because most are manufactured for a limited number of PCDs (usually the German ones) and geared towards the segments where they’ll sell the most. You can hardly blame the firms that actually produce them – business is business after all, right? On the plus side though, this makes directional wheels all the more desirable and no one can deny these…

No one likes wasting their time and maybe that’s why LSPs (last stage products) are so popular in the detailing world. Whatever the case, they’re certainly essential because without that sacrificial layer beading off all the water and keeping the grime away, your freshly buffed paint work would have literally no protection at all. Having to clean the bugger every time the heavens open isn’t the most appealing of prospects either, especially here in the UK. Now, when you’ve finished cleaning and polishing your car, there’s literally hundreds of LSPs to choose from but basically, whether they’re hard, pastes, gels or sprays, they fall into two categories – waxes or sealants. Waxes are a natural product, usually containing a certain percentage of a wax like carnauba. Sealants are totally man-made…

It may sound like something of a ridiculous statement, but the VIBE T5 was built, first and foremost, to be practical. Now obviously at this point you’re asking exactly how a VW van packed with 24 of the most hardcore woofers to ever hit the streets, not to mention six of VIBE’s legendary Reaper amplifiers capable of producing 14,500Watts a piece, can be remotely practical? Well, unlike many an expert class competition car, it drives – and with the help of Forge Motorsport and Revo it drives pretty bloody well at that. You see, British firm VIBE Audio is possibly as well known for its bonkers demo cars as they are for producing some of the craziest sonic weaponry known to man. Over the years they certainly haven’t held back…

At the height of show season there’s at least one show on every weekend and unless you’ve got a Teleporter built into your install or more spare cash than Dan Bilzerian, it’s pretty much impossible to attend them all. This means some hard decisions have to be made on which ones to attend. But if you’re a VAG nut, one show that is always at the top of the European show list is Men In Volkswagen, in Valkenburg, Holland. Lots of shows these days just revolve around the cars. This is no bad thing as that’s obviously what we are all into. M.I.V.W has that too, but it also has a cool location in a former Marine air base and a social aspect that extends to the show having its…

Our mate Ruud Janssen has dedicated the last 10 years of his life to not just rebuilding but reinventing his classic Type 147. “What the fudge is a Type 147?” Well let me tell you. Nicknamed the Fridolin, the Type 147 Kleinlieferwagen (little van) started production in 1964 as a German delivery van. The van was made up from various VW parts including, Beetles and VW transporters. It rolled out of the factory with an air-cooled 1,200cc lump that pushed out a devastating 35bhp. It’s a rare beast too, with only around 200 Fridolins left out of the 6,139 that were built. If you managed to find one, you’d be mental to do anything but restore it to its original spec, right? The van was hanging when Ruud found it.…

Things ain’t what they used to be in the car scene. How many times have we heard this – even since way back into the 90s? It’s often said in a negative way, but if you take a step back there’s a hell of a lot changed for the better. For example, the quality of some cars currently in the UK couldn’t even be dreamed of back in the good old days. To demonstrate this you only had to look at the Scottish Car Show this year. It was the best ever in terms of the metal on show. The variety here is always impressive as the event brings together retro, modified, performance, supercars, hot rods, racecars, trucks and even one enormous tractor! The layout is both indoor and outdoor,…

With 49 ramps and the reputation for building the fastest GT-Rs in the country, SevernValley Motorsport always have something special (and bloody powerful) lurking inside. For example, when we turned up last week to shoot their 1 Series race cars (feature coming soon), I decided to take a wander around the workshop and I stumbled across one or two legends of the GT-R world. Amongst them was Gundam, the R35 that hit 238mph at Bruntingthorpe a couple of years back. Then pretty much sitting on the opposite ramp is, perhaps, the most famous SevernValley GT-R of them all… The Hulk. SVM Manager and Hulk owner, Jay Cannon, is currently having the car rebuilt to a higher spec. The car will be ready for its launch in the coming weeks… look…

Features • 10.8V 1.3Ah Li-ion battery• 90NM torque max• LED work light• Battery indicator• Variable speed trigger I don’t know about you but nothing brings quite so much joy to my heart as when I can get my impact wrench on a bolt rather than having to huff and puff with a ratchet or spanner (you really need to get out more mate – Jules). There’s plenty of pro mechanics and builders that share my view and perhaps that’s why these tools are so popular in just about every trade out there. Pneumatic-powered items aside, what you’ll usually find for cars are expensive heavy-duty items with 18-28Volt batteries designed for mega torque. For me, that makes this 10.8Volt medium to light duty offering from Silverline all the more interesting. At under 50-quid and designed for…

In 2017, Bloodhound SSC (Supersonic Car) will attempt to hit 1,000mph and with it set a new World Land Speed Record that may never be beaten. As the project reaches the final build stage we were invited to take a look around by SamcoSport, who are the official silicone hose supplier to the project. The sheer amount of science, technology and money (not to mention the size of Andy Green’s trouser potatoes – the man who’ll be driving the thing) involved in this project is mind-boggling. It’s so advanced that the hybrid Nammo rocket that will be used to push it to the 1,000mph target will be used to launch satellites in the foreseeable future. But only after development on Bloodhound! This stuff really is rocket science. A team of…

VW TARDIS? Midge’s answer to everything is always ‘buy a Golf’. Need to ferry the kids about? Buy a Golf. Want to take a fridge to the tip? Buy a Golf. Going over to France to smuggle a load of cheap fags and eight or nine illegal immigrants into the UK? Buy a Golf. That said, he could be right because we’ve never seen anyone manage to cram a boot full of shopping, their mum, a pet border collie and a whacking-great TV in a modified Mk4 before, and that’s without even putting the seats down! Or how about a whole Ikea sofa bed, full length mirror and living room lampshade? Need to fill your motor with a whole load of shite that’s worth more than the car in the…

HOT RIDES: Plush Golf GTi Epic E21 Gorgeous Glanza Mental Merc Naughty Nissans SHOWS: RETRO RIDES GATHERING We pop along to the best old skool event of the year JAPFEST 2 It’s a bit like Japfest but in August and at Rockingham Motor Speedway PLUS: Product tests, Fast Projects, tech guides and loads more *Subject to change, because that’s how we roll.…

The Motorsport Arena Oschersleben in the heart of Germany may seem like a long way to travel for a show, but not when it’s for the Opel Treffen. This is where 70,000 Vauxhall/Opel fans from all over Europe make a pilgrimage with 20,000 cars to have an enormous party. Officially, the event lasts from Wednesday until Sunday, but many arrive even earlier. The idea is to camp somewhere around the circuit and from then on just enjoy the bedlam on and off track. The circuit is used continuously for open track sessions, demos, quarter-mile drag racing, drifting and a separate dedicated burn-out area. There are also endless club stands, a massive show and shine competition, sound-offs, retro displays and even Opel contribute hugely with an enormous marquee and display. When…

As a true car nut you’ll already know that the fusion of Japanese tech and all-American muscle isn’t always an easy pill to swallow. A certain Skyline RB26 conversion in a Mustang Fastback followed by a spot of drifting down a Japanese mountain road immediately springs to mind. And that’s the whole problem. Now, you might think that decking out a single motor with concepts from both sides of the pacific is an idea that simply can’t work in the modified car world. But that’s only because here in Europe we’ve been subliminally trained to think that way. It’s little more than the power of suggestion imposed by the movies. In reality all this POS is actually a load of BS. Hollywood may have us believe that you can either…

There’s a school of thought in the tuning scene that says track cars have to be uncompromising, stripped-out beasts. It kind of makes sense too, as the less weight a car is carrying the more nimble and better handing it’ll be. Everyone understands this, from manufacturers trying to shake tenths of seconds off their lap times, to the fella on his driveway hacking away at his hot hatch’s insides. But what if you don’t want the noise and uncompromising ride? What if you want to have fun on the track, and use your car to drive to the shops? Well, there is another way. And it’s very ably demonstrated by Matt Bentley and his stunning Clio 200. With some well-thought-out performance upgrades, he’s transformed the class-leading hatch into a back…

SEALEY BIT SET, £15 Power bit sets certainly don’t get anymore premium than this pocket-sized, colour-coded job. Designed for the professional user and including both an automatic quick release chuck and a quarter-inch socket adaptor, this Chrome Vanadium S2 steel set should contain just about every random star, torx, hex and security bit you’ll ever come across. Car manufacturers, especially the German and Japanese ones, love to chuck in a load of silly fixings to stop you taking them apart – with these you can beat them at their own game. Sadly, the days of stripping an entire car with a Phillips screwdriver are long gone. But, thanks to Sealey, life just got a whole load easier. www.sealey.co.uk…

They say you can learn a lot from your children. Whether it’s to relax more or perhaps spend less time working, your beloved offspring are sure to add some invaluable insights to your own life. For seasoned car fanatic Steve here, though, the most important message his sons offered him was simple: add more boost! It all started when our company director and father of four here got the itch for a Porsche after owning a long list of sporty beasts during his youth. Without the funds to scratch it with the low-mileage example he was after, his attention was soon drawn to the Nissan you see here – at the time a one-year-old minter in that seductive black, which only helps bring out the coupe’s gorgeous lines. Being the…

CHRIS PARKER’S SKYLINE FC Says : You’re just not a proper tuning nut if you don’t get fizzy trousers when seeing those legendary quad rear clusters, it’s just the way it is. End of. Yes, if there’s one universal truth in the car world it’s that you can’t go wrong with a bit of Skyline action, so Chris Parker is indeed a man after our own hearts. R32 GTS-ts are getting a bit thin on the ground in 2015, so top marks to Chris for keeping this one nicely modded and in top-notch condition. It’s bonkers to think this particular classic first hit the Japanese streets way back in 1988 – plenty of you guys weren’t even born then! An absolute retro stunner and no mistake. TECH SPEC…