Innehållsförteckning för No 258 June 2018 från NZ Performance Car

While you’ll never catch me using cringe terms such as ‘man cave’, I do, like most of you, have a special love for the humble garage and think of it more than just a place to store my daily-driver and excess household crap. For me, it’s always been the place where I can get away from anything else going on in life; get my hands dirty; and, above all else, create. It’s been this way since I first started to walk — my mum tells me that I would play in the workshop for hours on end (no doubt up to no good with the biggest hammer I could swing). As you can imagine, the moment I fled the nest the shed was priority numero uno. Over the years, I’ve…

LINK ECU D1NZ NATIONAL DRIFTING CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL PUKEKOHE PARK RACEWAY By now, you should be aware that Pukekohe Park Raceway is the spiritual home ground of drifting in New Zealand and has been for a long time. And when the Link ECU D1NZ National Drifting Championship hits Pukekohe, it’s a given that huge things will go down — huge entries, huge speed, huge battles. You will be treated first-hand to one of the fastest drift corners in the world and get to watch as another D1NZ champion is crowned. Don’t be a fool by missing it — get your tickets at nzxms.co.nz. ENEOS NORTH ISLAND ENDURANCE SERIES ROUND 1 HAMPTON DOWNS MOTORSPORT PARK Endurance racing tests drivers, teams, and race cars to the absolute limits, where any can and often…

To most, a quarter-mile is nothing more than an unfamiliar measurement of distance calculated using a system foreign to our soil. But, while we may be a metric-based country, there are a dedicated bunch of racers who know the distance all too well. Us Kiwis have long had a love affair with the quarter-mile, with drag racing setting the benchmark as the be-all and end-all of truly fast cars — the proving ground for those looking to rule the roost both within the import racing world and out on the streets. Anyone who has set foot on the hallowed grounds of these time-slip warriors will be able to tell you one thing about it, too: there is absolutely nothing subtle about drag racing. It’s a discipline built on extremes —…

Ask anyone in the New Zealand drifting fraternity who they most fear in battle and, nine times out of 10, the name ‘Whiter’ will be mentioned. Catching a glimpse of his S14 chasing you down through the thick of your own tyre smoke is a formidable sight and one that strikes fear into the hearts of even our most steadfast pedallers. It’s a reputation that’s been carved out over 14 years of hard-fought competition, resulting in four National Championship titles, countless round wins, and more spent champagne than in Lil Dicky’s VIP booth on a Saturday night. Over that time, much has changed in competitive drifting, and Gaz and his team have continually adapted to keep him at the forefront, with the one constant being his choice of chassis: the…

When the R35 GT-R was first released onto the market back in 2007/2008, little did anyone know that Nissan’s answer to the everyday supercar was about to continually rewrite everything we thought we knew about what you could expect from a true performance street car. In factory trim, they were formidable track-day weapons, yet, due to an extremely complex driveline, they remained driveable enough that the apex inept could take one out to pick up the groceries or road-trip the length of the country. DRIVER PROFILE DRIVER/OWNER: Vinny Liao LOCATION: Palmerston North OCCUPATION: Self Employed BUILD TIME: Six months LENGTH OF OWNERSHIP: Three years THANKS: Iain Clegg and his team at ST Hi-tec for doing all the engine, tuning, and performance work on the car; Dan and the crew at…

If there is one material that has changed the scope of import drag racing in recent years, it has to be billet aluminium. The use of billet for engine blocks has swept the sport, with most of the world’s fastest imports now running billet blocks — and the rotary scene is no different. But, while most teams are only using the billet plates (especially the centre plates on 20Bs), Jon and Charlie Bates have gone one (or three) steps further with an all-alloy 20B for their Mazda B8 rail. Typically, in a Mazda rotary engine, the only alloy pieces are the housings, intake, and front cover, with everything else in cast iron. The problem here is that both metals have different expansion rates, and the cast plates are known to…

NAME: SHAUN BORLAND // AGE: “OLD C**T” LOCATION: NORTH SHORE, AUCKLAND // OCCUPATION: LABEL PRINTER NZ Performance Car: Hi, Shaun. You’ve had a few AE86s in the past, including the original ‘TUFF 86’ — why the new shape, and is this an evolution of the original? Shaun: Hey, NZPC. I wasn’t a fan of the new shape when they came out, to be honest, but they have grown on me over time, and four AE86s is enough (for now, anyway). I guess this is an evolution of the original, albeit just a tame version — apart from the lack of horsepower, it’s at least as fun to drive as the original, too. The focus seems to be heavily on suspension and handling with this one — does the factory power…

‘Beater’, ‘daily racer’, ‘work hack’ — whatever you call the damn things, there’s no denying the worth of a solid cheap-and-cheerful thrasher. You know what I’m talking about: the car that drives way harder than it should, provides more enjoyment than the designers ever intended it to, and is rough and ready enough that you really don’t care what happens to it out in the supermarket car park — all at a fraction of the cost of anything ‘worth’ owning will sting you. These gifts from the automotive gods almost always come in the form of cars you never expect to like — the kind of quick buys that you only cop as a means to get around while the project car is broken for the 50th time that month,…

TONY HILL’S EVO MAY HAVE STARTED AS A HACK, BUT, 18 MONTHS LATER, IT HAS MORPHED INTO ONE OF THE BEST TOUGH STREET CARS THIS COUNTRY HAS EVER SEEN It was only ever meant to be a hack,” remarks Tony Hill as the NZPC team does its best not to drop drool all over the billet-draped engine bay in his Evo I. By definition, a ‘hack’ is a car that you don’t care for; it’s often rough around the edges; mechanical symphony is null and void; and, therefore, your right foot can often be found buried so deep into the floorpan that the little orange needle taps so far around the gauge that it bends. But this car, my friends, is so far along the spectrum from hack that it’s…

Art, by its very nature, is divisive. Whichever form it takes, the result is inevitably subjective, with beauty being very much in the eye of the beholder. As the art form deviates from the traditional, approaching the fringes polarizes opinion further. It distances the spectator with a more classical bent and, conversely, attracts a small-but-dedicated core of followers. Tattooing represents maybe one of the more prominent love-it-or-hate-it art forms. With roots embedded in counter-culture, even today the art form suffers from long-held prejudices, particularly in the mainstream eye. It’s an arguably badass aesthetic, which, of course, has drawn legions of fans, not least Matt Jordan, the owner of possibly the most distinctive 1980s Toyota in the country. However, Matt’s dedication to the human body as a canvas extends beyond mere…

There will come a time during any substantial build when you’ll need to make, or remake, a brake line or two. Maybe you’re shaving your engine bay for the ’gram likes or plumbing in a hydraulic handbrake for your weekend warrior; whatever the reason, making new hard lines is a very simple DIY task, as long as you have the correct tools. There are two tools needed for the job: a handheld mandrel tube-bender — these cost as little as $20 — and a double flaring tool, which can be purchased from as little as $40, and, if you’re lucky, this will include a cutting tool. You can purchase cheaper single flaring tools, but, be warned, these are not industry standard nor do they produce legal lines for use on…

The Nissan Mid-4 concept we profiled a few issues back may have been one of the more popular never-produced cars of the last few decades, but it wasn’t the only stillborn mid-engined two-seater from the Japanese automaker. Back in 1975, at the 21st Tokyo Motor Show, Nissan debuted a neatly styled, aerodynamic little coupe that featured a mid-mounted transverse motor. Dubbed the ‘Nissan AD-1’, it was based on the Cherry F10 and utilized the model’s 1400cc heart. It was no grunter by any means, producing somewhere in the vicinity of 63kW on a good day, but what it may have lacked in pedal-power, it made up for in lightweight design and aerodynamics. Engineers spent considerable time fixing their hair in wind tunnels in order to research and achieve the best…

HANDY LIGHT When you’re waist deep in your engine bay trying to get a spanner on that unreachable bolt, the last thing you want to be doing is juggling a torch just so you can see what you’re up to. Narva’s SeeEzy rechargeable LED under-bonnet light gives you a big whack of light that will clearly illuminate the entire engine bay without the need for anybody to hold it — with adjustable padded arms that can extend from 1200mm to 1750mm, the lamp can quickly be ‘hooked’ to the bonnet or another section of the car. For more information, visit narva.co.nz — available from leading automotive stores; contact your local stockist for pricing. SLIPPERY STUFF To select the right oil for any application, the trick is matching up how the…

When your car club announces a call-out drag battle event, as the Circle Jerk Crew (CJC) has done with Jerk Outlaws 2018, most would take what they’ve got and see how hard it can throw down against everyone else — especially when what you’ve got is a 2JZ-powered R34 that cranks 441kW at the rears. But, for Dustin Ng, who appeared on the cover of NZPC Issue No. 236 with said car, that wasn’t going to fly, and a dedicated build was in order. A mechanic by trade, and owner of the recently opened DNG Automotive workshop, with a strong rallying background, Dustin’s weapon of choice was a Mitsubishi Evo V RS. Weighing in at 100kg lighter than your run-of-the-mill Evo V, it’s long been a popular choice among rally…

PADDON WINS RALLY OTAGO Kiwi World Rally Championship (WRC) driver Hayden Paddon and his former WRC co-driver John Kennard have taken their third consecutive win at the New Zealand Rally Championship’s (NZRC) Rally Otago behind the wheel of the Hyundai i20 AP4+ rally car. Held over the weekend of April 14–15, Paddon managed to claim a win for each and every one of the 17 special stages and take out the entire two-day, 281.29km long rally eight minutes and 27.7 seconds ahead of second-placed Ben Hunt — setting new stage records at every turn. It’s no surprise that the boy from Geraldine knows the local stages well and continues to show his dominance at domestic rallies; however, he makes a point of mentioning that they are not to be taken…

Variety is the spice of life, and diversity always makes things interesting, so, when there’s an event that draws cars out of the woodwork that you wouldn’t otherwise see, you know that we’re all over it like a dog with a bone. And that’s exactly why each year we make the annual pilgrimage to Feilding in the Manawatu, for the V 4&Rotary North Island Jamboree. Those who have never had the pleasure of attending can be excused for scratching their heads at how barred up everyone gets over the seemingly small-town show. The secret behind the weekend’s proceedings can be found in Manfeild Circuit’s double-hitter treat of track and show hall in one place. It also doesn’t hurt that Feilding is something of a midway point between Wellington and Taranaki,…

Of all the parts switched out in the pursuit of modifying cars, never has there been a community formed around one particular component quite like there is with wheels. These self-proclaimed wheel fiends are out there buying, selling, trading, and hoarding wheels like they’re going extinct. Fueled in part by the constant desire to keep a build fresh, wheels can be one of the easiest ways to change up an aesthetic. This has meant that bringing worn out examples back to life is a popular pastime, to revert either the wear and tear sustained under previous ownership or damage that has occurred while in the line of duty. We don’t need to tell you that wheels take a beating on the daily, especially on New Zealand roads, and when it…

NAME: RICHARD HEAD // AGE: OLD ENOUGH LOCATION: AUCKLAND // OCCUPATION: FINANCIAL CRIME INVESTIGATION OFFICER NZ Performance Car: Hey, Richard. That’s a super-clean-looking CTR; how did you come to own it? Richard: Hi, team. I’ve owned a huge variety of cars over the years, as I enjoy driving a range of vehicles on any given week. I had yet to own an FD2 after owning most of the Type R family, and, at the time that this became available, I was selling my V11 STi, which I offered to swap with the seller, and here we are. We know that feeling! What was it about the FD2 that made you want to own it? They’re heralded for having great naturally aspirated throttle response with the K20A motor, and, being a…

LEARN UP When seeking the best in class for engine and chassis performance, the Kawasaki Ninja family has long been the go-to. The Ninja designation represents the best Kawasaki has on offer and the learner-friendly Ninja 300 is no exception. Equipped with a larger-displacement 296cc engine that promises power and torque that spits on everything in its class, paired with track-spec chassis stability and race-derived clutch technology offering a Supersport-style back-torque limiter with increased ride feel, it’s the best damn $6990 you’ll spend on a learner bike. For all the finer details, hit up kawasaki.co.nz. MIDDLE GROUND Offering a proper street-racer attitude while maintaining minimalistic bodywork with modern flair, Triumph’s Street Cup was born from stripping back one of the street series’ big boys for a solid middle-ground hitter. Featuring…

NAME: MATT WILSON // AGE: 33 LOCATION: WEST AUCKLAND // OCCUPATION: SIGNWRITER NZ Performance Car: Hey, Matt. Is that a 350Z under there? Matt: Hi, guys. Yeah, sure is. I had wanted one as a daily-driver for a long time, and I sold my last car to get my hands on this Track Edition. It was bone stock back then; not so much anymore. That wrap catches your eye big time. What was the inspiration there, and does it draw much attention? I’m a signwriter by trade, and we do a lot of car wraps at my work, Rogue Graphics, and I wanted to do a faux-rust wrap on something. But the rust on white wasn’t quite working — it just didn’t look right, it needed something underneath for the…