Innehållsförteckning för No 247 July 2017 från NZ Performance Car

Over the past month, there have been some big changes behind the scenes here in the NZPC office. Namely, shifting buildings from our long-standing Grey Lynn residence. Sadly, this has meant that we’ve lost our trusty in-house studio, but we’ve gained a much newer and more pleasant working environment for the staff to get busy in. You probably don’t really care where we’re working from, but for those of you who stop by the office from time to time to pick up kW Club stickers and prizes, etc., it’s worth noting our change of address: our new location is Level 2, 65 Upper Queen St. Don’t worry — the shift will make little to no difference to the magazine itself, so it’s business as usual. Shifting from a warehouse to…

Discussions have long been underway to reintroduce a New Zealand-based round of the World Rally Championship (WRC), after such an event has been absent since 2012. Things are looking positive: a 14th-round gap has opened up in the 2018 schedule, and WRX Promoter chief Oliver Ciesla has acknowledged our little island nation as a top contender, especially so with the runaway success that local driver Hayden Paddon has enjoyed in the series. We will have to compete with Croatia for the gap, and a candidate rally will be held this September to promote our viability. The promoter will reveal its 2018 calendar to the WRC Commission for autumn ratification by the World Motor Sport Council. “I don’t need to tell you about New Zealand,” said Ciesla. “There is a big…

Albeit a far sight different from the luxury people-mover you can pick up off the dealer’s lot, Toyota took its famous Land Cruiser model and cracked the 230mph (370kph) mark with it — a speed that completely obliterates the 211mph (340kph) record previously held by a Brabus-tweaked Mercedes GLK V12. This has left many wondering how Toyota managed to get a Land Cruiser to airliner velocities. The answer is simple: boost, and lots of it. The mad scientists at Toyota’s Motorsports Technical Center added Garrett snails “the size of volleyballs” — twin Garrett GTX4718Rs — delivering up to 55psi to the 5.7-litre 3UR-FE heart. Of course, the stock example would never have survived boost levels in this realm, so the internals were treated to a tickle-up with forged pistons and…

After narrowly missing out in 2016 due to not having the car finished in time, this October, Darren Kelly will be shipping the Nissan NZ R35 GT-R to Sydney to contest the Honeywell Garrett International Drift Challenge at Sydney Motorsport Park. Darren’s preparations are well underway, including a new stroked RB34 power plant. For a car that comfortably makes 550kW, the shift to a largercapacity engine was not in the quest for power but for reliability. Darren explained: “We have found a happy medium with the current power level versus grip and we don’t want to upset that and start breaking stuff. The weakest link for us has been the factory crank. The cost to upgrade the crank to a billet one is the same whether it’s factory stroke or…

Your choice of car, and what you use it for, can say more about your personality than any words — written or otherwise — ever could. Every fine detail choice, from the style of wing to the configuration of the kit and the colour of the paintwork, is a reflection of the person who owns it, right? Each decision made can drastically change the finished product and how it’s received. So, when you see this wild creation spread across the pages before you, it would be reasonable to assume that the owner is an in-your-face, loud, big-personality character — but that’s where you’d be wrong. Owned by Rihan Ali, a quiet lad from Papatoetoe, this ’03 Subaru WRX STi isn’t so much as an expression of his personality as it…

Winter in New Zealand sure ain’t got nothing on the cold harsh winters served up to those living in Sweden, with some northern areas of the country getting as little as three hours of light a day and temperatures dipping to –20ºC. With such a raw environment outside, the car-building community seems to make the most of being locked inside by going hard in their workshops, putting together their unique breed of performance machines. To say they have an affiliation with the extreme would be an understatement. The deadline for most builds is the Bilsport Performance and Custom Motor Show held over Easter weekend. It’s the largest show in Northern Europe — and that one event you don’t want to miss. Big attractions for 2017 included Liberty Walk showcasing four…

FROM START TO FINISH, THE BUILD TOOK SIX MONTHS, AND, ON ITS FIRST FULL PASS, SAM DIPPED INTO THE NINES. THE CURRENT PB IS A 9.68 AT 139MPH (224KPH) Stuff illogical amounts of power into the smallest and lightest chassis possible, then hammer the loud pedal while wrestling the steering wheel, being blinded by tyre smoke, suffocated by raw exhaust fumes, and deafened by an unmuffled exhaust. Drag racing is without a doubt the most violent and intoxicating of all motorsports, one that turns men into gladiators, if only for 10 seconds or less. Few personal pursuits in life are as thrilling, and even fewer can hold a candle to how addictive the constant pursuit of lower ETs and faster trap speeds becomes. Once it’s under your skin, there is…

For a little island nation in the Pacific, there’s no shortage of automotive lubricant choices. Just when you thought we had our pick of the world’s major oil brands, a new player has entered the market. Although not so well-known locally, this new player is, in fact, Japan’s largest. Eneos Oils is a household name in Japan. It’s produced by JX Nippon Oil, which is the primary factory-fill supplier for brands such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and other Asian manufacturers. This means that Eneos, arguably more than any other brand, specializes in modern lubricants for Japanese engineering. Like any quality oil manufacturer worth its salt, Eneos boasts a serious pedigree in racing. We’re not talking slapping stickers on a few backmarkers to get the name out there; Eneos’ heritage is…

CLEAN FUEL If you aren’t already running a fuel filter in your fuel system, get that sorted ASAP, and if you are, yank it out and get yourself a Holley 795.5lph Billet Fuel Filter instead. Holley’s new Billet Fuel Filters are precision CNC machined from 6061-T6 billet aluminum for strength and durability, and feature a black bright dip anodized body and clear bright dip anodized ends for superior corrosion resistance. With Female 8AN inlet and outlet, the internal 10-micron depth media element will rid your system of any nasties. This Holley filter is priced at $150, and you can get your hands on one at my automotive.com. JAPANESE SPECIALISTS Eneos Oil’s parent company, JX Nippon, is a factory fill supplier to brands like Toyota, Honda, Nissan and other Asian manufacturers,…

magstore.nz John Purdie’s rotary powered R32 Skyline was a story of heartbreak, the kind that makes our blood boil when hearing about how badly he was ripped off by con artists who nearly destroyed the build before it was finished. But thankfully a chance meeting with Jon Sowden lead to the car’s completion, and also gave birth to Jon’s shop, known as Strange Workshop — a fitting shop name when you consider the car is powered by 13B twin turbo. It’s likely you’ll never have seen the R32 out and about since its completion and cover feature five years ago, as John lived in Sydney and later London. All up it’s only travelled 700km in that time — so it’s not even run in yet — and best of all…

Exblsewhere, it may be six degrees of separation, but, in New Zealand, it’s more like two. The theory goes that everyone has a friend who happens to be connected to another friend, too. I don’t know how true this really is, and I could be recalling a certain telecommunications ad too much, but I’ve met plenty of people in my day-to-day dealings who are also connected to completely unrelated people, and, when it comes to talking cars, it’s like one big incestuous party. I recently purchased a set of dining chairs off Trade Me — exciting stuff, I know, but stick with me — and made the journey from my West Auckland dwelling to the outskirts of Auckland to collect them. The seller’s house was an unassuming lifestyle block, and…

GET YOUR DAILY NEWS FIX ONLINE: themotorhood.com An honest and in-depth account of the Auckland boy that took on the world, and won — McLaren — is set to grace our big screens this June. Directed by Roger Donaldson (The World’s Fastest Indian), the biopic tells the true story of the man behind one of the greatest brands in international motorsport, Bruce McLaren. He was considered a fearless driver and a brilliant engineer — the humble New Zealander became a superstar in the world of 1960s Formula 1 racing through sheer determination and raw talent. Donaldson said, “I was delighted to be involved in the telling of such an incredible New Zealand story — bringing it to life on the big screen has been a huge effort from all involved…

THE BASE FOR THE CUSTOM AIRBRUSHING IS A WHITE PEARL VINYL, WHICH WAS AIRBRUSHED AT GT, AND THE THEME WAS LATER PUSHED EVEN FURTHER WITH STENCILLING. SHOULD — NO, SCRATCH THAT — WHEN VICK DECIDES TO CHANGE IT UP, THE ENTIRE THEME IS JUST ONE PULL OF THE VINYL AWAY FROM REMOVAL Few in the game have been doing it as long as XRacing’s Vick Bhatti, a man we would describe as a lifer in the performance car scene. Vick’s the type of guy you’ll probably never catch driving anything standard, and the type of guy not afraid to venture well outside the square. In fact, he’s likely to smash down the walls of said square, then set them ablaze. As we have come to know, that’s just Vick, and…

April marked a special milestone in Japanese motoring history — 60 years ago the Prince Skyline saw its rainy-day debut in Tokyo, on April 24, 1957. It has since served Japanese and international markets as everything from your everyday family hauler to the pinnacle of racing greatness, often in the coveted GT-R trim. It’s one hell of a model range — and well loved in little old New Zealand’s streetmodification scene. PRINCE SKYLINE Over the 60 years, 13 generations have worn the Skyline badge. The first of them was that Prince Skyline (ALSIS-I), with roots dating back to the end of World War II, when Tachikawa Aircraft dissolved. The company then became Fuji Precision Industries and diversified into cars. Several name changes later, it settled on Prince Motor Company, to…

With hundreds of different products thrust under your nose on a daily basis, we don’t blame you if you’re a little dubious when a new product hits the market, especially when you’re trusting it to be used on your pride and joy. Luckily, we’re here to put these products through the rigours of our ‘brofessional’ testing, so that you can make a more informed choice when you’re staring at the shelf in your local. This month’s product is Play Dead Wheel Cleaner, an acid-free aerosol foam. We put it to the test on a set of Work Wheels with painted centres and polished barrels, following a hard weekend of racing at the track. WHAT WE USED Play Dead Wheel Cleaner comes in a 500ml aerosol, but you will also need…

In 2006, I boarded a plane bound for Japan, full of nerves and anxious about the adventures that lay in wait. I hoped to see true Japanese tuning somewhere, somehow, but I never quite expected to end up lucky enough to call some of the biggest Japanese tuners my friends. I was once told that travel is the only thing you can purchase that truly makes you richer, and, as it turned out, they were right on the money. I guess my time exploring Japan can be summed up in one Japanese proverb — ‘I am unable to call it love, but unwilling to say it was just a dream’. I spent six years completely immersed in Japanese culture, meeting some of the biggest names in tuning and treading some…

NAME: NATHAN CLARIDGE // AGE: 25 LOCATION: HAMILTON // OCCUPATION: ENGINEER NZ Performance Car: Hi Nathan. The trusty Civic is a weapon out on track — what made you buy yours? Nathan: I actually swapped my piece-of-shit DC2 Integra for it about five or six years ago up. It was stripped out with a little turbo SOHC 1.5-litre back then, and it was probably the turbo that appealed to me the most; plus, there were a few things wrong with the Integra that I didn’t want to deal with, so I was happy to see the swap go ahead. It’s not running that little SOHC anymore; were you in charge of the repower? Yeah, that didn’t last long, and it’s actually been through about four different turbo D-series motors and…

Michael Kim loves his Evos and tells us he knows them inside and out — which makes a lot of sense when you peer into the engine bay of his Libero to find an extensively-worked 4G63 housed inside. “I just got carried away when I found this Libero that only needed a new gearbox to get it back going again,” Michael said. “I thought to myself, ‘I haven’t seen a clean Libero with monster power underneath the hood before, so why not try to be the fastest street-legal Libero in the country’ — so here we are.” To achieve this, Michael stroked a VR4 sixbolt block to 2300cc, and screwed down a Hartley Motorsport ported and polished Evo II head with Kelford 272/278-degree cams. Bolted to the side is a…

GET YOUR DAILY NEWS FIX ONLINE: t themotorhood.com Honda aficionados, get your loud speakers out — the latest Civic Type R is the world’s fastest front-wheel drive production car. It has a 7m 44s Nürburgring lap time to prove it. Clocking up such a time around the 21km loop makes it nearly seven seconds quicker than the outgoing Type R and beats the previous record holder, the Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport S, by three seconds. The new Type R packs a K20C turbo heart that produces 228kW with a six-speed box backing it. But the engine can’t take all of the credit for the car’s extra speed — a more rigid body structure and a 15kg weight-reduction from the previous generation both contribute. Lead chassis engineer Ryuichi Kijima attributes the…

Coming into the final round of the Prowear NZ Superlap Series, all of the drivers were looking to make a big finish for the season. Pro Open competitor Team RevolutioNZ has had back-to-back wins, having set lap records for the class and the series at Hampton Downs (1min 4.487s), Taupo (1min 28.487s), and Manfeild (1min 8.292s) — and still holding on to their 1min 6.217s at Pukekohe from 2015. Although Hans Ruiterman clocked in with times just behind Team RevolutioNZ each round, he couldn’t quite catch the Evo to claw back some points in round five, putting Team RevolutioNZ in the top spot for Pro Open. The 4WD portion of Pro Street was dominated by Iain Clegg in the ST Hi-tec R35 for almost the entire season. He smashed out…

Packing your bags, booking a ticket, and jumping on a plane to another country is always exciting when your main objective is to experience a local car culture. While we might be led to believe that the internet is an all-seeing eye that shows us any and everything worth laying our eyes on, the reality is that there are tons of cars that slip through the so-called World Wide Web. On a recent trip to Melbourne, not a stone was left unturned or garage door left shut in our quest to find something fresh, and, over the next few issues, we will roll out our finds. To kick things off, we take a look at Michael Hick’s bagged E30 estate. CARBON FORMULING WIND SPLITTERS AND AN MTECH KIT ARE THE…

NAME: ROB MORSE // AGE: 30 LOCATION: HAWKE’S BAY // OCCUPATION: SHEET-METAL ENGINEER NZ Performance Car: Hi Rob. You don’t see many 620s here, let alone a wellside, how did you come to own it? Rob: Hi guys. They’re quite unique, and I’ve always liked the shape. For a commercial vehicle, a lot of thought was put into the style and appearance. It was a flat deck — like most are — when I got it, but the wellside trays complete the body shape on this particular model. The big swage in the door, above the door handle, flows into the tray and ties the cab to the rear — otherwise it just finishes. I managed to track down a brand-new wellside when I was building it, and it’s a…

The 2017 International Rally of Whangarei was a chance for many of the cars to make amends after firstround teething issues at the Otago Rally a few weeks earlier. This was also the first round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC), which eight cars entered, including last year’s winner and Asia-Pacific Rally champion Gaurav Gill, with his new co-driver, Stéphane Prévot, in their Team MRF Skoda Fabia R5. Friday night saw the rally kick off under lights in the CBD and two special stages held at Pohe Island. With damp gravel underfoot, Sloan Cox put in two outstanding drives to gain an early advantage in the New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC) and hopefully set the tone for the weekend. This also placed him third overall and among the faster APRC…

JUNE 10 CJC PRESENTS: GRIPFEST ’17 BRUCE MCLAREN MOTORSPORT PARK, TAUPO Whether you love ’em or hate ’em, the controversy kings known as Circle Jerk Crew (CJC) know how to handle their business, and their business is repping the slickest of track days. So, the annual Gripfest at Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park has returned, with limited spots and excellent organization to ensure maximum track time and a great experience. Driver spots are sold out for this one, but if you’re down to watch some grass-roots circuit thrashing, you’re in the right place — spectators get in for free. For all the finer details, search ‘CJC Presents: Gripfest ’17’ on Facebook to find the event, or simply head to the page ‘Circle Jerk Crew’. You won’t regret it. JUNE 24-25 PINK…

NAME: TIM RUST // AGE: 26 LOCATION: WELLINGTON // OCCUPATION: SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR (IT) ENGINE: VQ35DE, 3500cc, six-cylinder; custom exhaust with factory tips DRIVETRAIN: Six-speed INTERIOR: Fire extinguisher, oil temp guage EXTERIOR: Resprayed in brilliant silver with blue pearl, Nismo front lip with custom splitter, Carbon Z front-bumper vent, Top Secret rear diffuser, GRAMS 350Z side splitters, Rocket Bunny boot wing WHEELS/TYRES: (F) 18x10-inch (-2) Work Emotion CR 2P, 235/40R18 Bridgestone RE003; (R) 18x11-inch (-5) Work Emotion CR 2P, Bridgestone RE003 255/40R18 SUSPENSION: BC Gold Coilovers, Stance Parts air-cup lift system, nine-litre air tank and compressor mounted in spare-tyre well NZ Performance Car : Hi Tim. How did you come to daily the Z, and what made you buy it? Tim: Hey team. I’ve always enjoyed owning something different to everyone…