Snap Snaps

Decided to throw some shots up of a shoot I did for my bud Eric's new car. Shots are a bit dated, but still some rad shots considering we just drove around and ended up at some random building complex that turned out to be quite the spot to shoot at, good enough that I also shot a few other cars there.

You really have to love R32 Golfs, the build quality is such a step up from anything else in its price bracket, and for the hot hatch market, in my opinion I think it has it wrapped around it's little pinky. Well it did before the properly badass Focus RS popped in. The 32 with DSG is amazing, the noise it emits is also truly awesome, as anyone who has heard it will tell you.

Bit of Info for those not in the know:
3.2l V6 was crammed into a small little hatchback to compete in the hatch class for superiority. Eric's is the MkV Version which is technically the 3rd gen R32. It was also the first to be given Volkswagen's DSG gearbox, which was really the first automatic manual to take off and become popular with people and motoring journo's alike. Porsche's PDK and Fords ZF were follow ups of the successful DSG. The R32 is praised for its build quality and crazy amounts of torque thanks to the V6 donk under the bonnet. Some examples have been known to breeze past 600awhp with a twin turbo set up, in a hatch back that is some serious mumbo.

I am just sitting on the edge of my seat waiting anxiously to see if Eric decides to head down the tuners guided path and make it something nuts, and trust me, if he does it will be on here.

Enjoy:

Stock brakes almost bigger than my TE's :(

The last shot was a random idea that I had and thought could possibly work, easily one of my favorite pics that I have taken to date. It came out perfectly. Hope you enjoy the shots.

-Downshift

Early Morning Smog

Mez is back again bringing us some footage from an early morning session at Queensland raceway. Keep an eye out for the Hi Power Racing green S15, some massive money in it and it has some serious power.

Give It Up For Drift from MeZ Productions on Vimeo.

Quality > Quantity

Quality over Quantity has often been referred to for many things, and one of those is definitely cruises. A very well known car site here in Aus always has people organizing cruises, and yesterday we decided to attend one that had an "apparent" magazine coverage behind it. Firstly before we start this isn't a diss, nor do I promote dissing on this site. But promoting that your cruise will have magazine coverage, yet failing to get top dog cars to attend doesn't make all to much sense to me.

The meet as a whole wasn't actually that bad, and most people seemed well behaved, well for the few nano seconds we were stopped for at the meeting points, one thing people like to do on cruises is chat and look at cars, having one stopping point made it a little hard for photo coverage and to mingle with others. I decided not to drive and rolled with Logan in his 33 GTR and Gus's 32 GTR mainly to get shots of what i thought would be a lot of A grade cars. I think with a little more thought next time the organizers could really put something special together, promotion is the key to an awesome cruise.

However the day was not lost, what started out as a Nissan Cruise with around 80 cars, turned into a 3 car cruise with the GTR's. That may seem not as good, but when the 3 GTRs were the best cars at the cruise to begin with, it surely was something to behold overtaking trucks on full tilt. Was a great time to hang with good mates as well, many laughs to be had and also all of us frothing over Trent & Tess from Mercury Motorsports absolutely monster R34 GTR pushing a measly 850rwhp on the day. So at the end of the day, just because there are a lot of cars at your meet and cruise, doesn't mean it will be awesome, put in the effort of promoting your meet/cruise to the shithouse and make it something people will talk about for months to come. 

No hate towards the organizers or other attendee's all seemed like a good bunch, no idiocy from what i could see, which is a rare trait. Also I heard it was the organizers virgin cruise meet so for a first time organizing a meet, 80 cars is a hell of a turn out, look forward to seeing if they expand on it for the next one. 

Also sorry for the lack of 'variety' was stuff all opportunity to take pics throughout the cruise due to 1 lane and traffic.

Sitting on the side of the highway in the middle of no where deciding what to do haha

Only shots I got at the 1st meeting point, due to everyone bailing within 10 - 15min of arriving.

The intense Mercury Motorsport 34 GTR, capable of 930rwhp, but trent was running a measly 850rwhp on the day...bricks were shat.

Gus's 32 never ceases to turn heads, the colour is amazing in person, around 550rwhp and damn awesome fitment for a GTR.

Matyi's S15 gets driven how all Silvia's should....sideways

Logans 33, a million months in the making due to all kinds of issues and what not, but finally up and running. The noise on idle is disturbing, such a tough sound. Even after all the trouble he has had with getting it going, definitely worth the wait.

Cheers to Matyi, Logan, Gus, Trent & Tess for an awesome cruise day. Also props to the organizers for getting big numbers to their first meet, look forward to the next one, hopefully it will be a bit better.

Quality Ensues

There is always a group of people, no matter what culture or hobby, who are a step above the rest. The car scene is no different, and it seems that not only in Australia, but around the world that the Honda boys are definitely a step above the rest in terms of build quality and style. At every Honda-based event I have attended in the past 2 years, there have been top-grade cars. Of course there are always those who are a little slow on the uptake, but percentage-wise, Honda boys are definitely ahead of the rest.

Ozhonda, the largest Honda community site in Aus, always organises events here and there and I try and attend most of them. I just so happened to be free for a recent dyno day (yes OMG another one) held at 101 Motorcafe. I popped in for a look, and even though watching Hondas run on the dyno isn't exactly exciting, it was the quality of cars that appealed. As per usual, they were there in droves.

Of course it wasn't a Honda only event, and a few other makes showed up for the dyno: a few GTRs getting around including a 33 with a quite puzzling baby blue colour, as well as a 32 running some bodykit I had never seen before. A champagne coloured 180 also rocked up with some of the coolest number plates I have seen around, 321ONO, i laughed anyway. But i think my favorite car of the day was Joe's red EG Civic, if you know me personally this will come as no surprise as I do not hide the fact that I love that car.

101 is one of the top garages here in Queensland, has a cafe in it as well.

While these two S2Ks may not be stand out cars, they are still very nice rides. The black one is quite clean with those Advan RS wheels, but the red one was a little worse for wear. Being a track car and all, function was definitely over form for this little red S2K. See if you can work out the plates on the black S2000, some super good thinking there.

...and now let us observe a moment of silence for this NSX.

Tim's Toda EVERYTHING DC5, one of the best builds getting around.

ugh J Speeds look sooo good

The 32 i was talking about before...

Why does noone modify Accord Euros properly over here in Aus? Chris' one here is the only decent example I have seen since their release.

Gotta love those plates, and 360rwhp as well

Joe's Civic is so much win, same car different coloured wheels each side.

Weirdest colour i have ever seen on a 33 GTR, and matched with white GTCs, it makes for one very odd colouring.

11.9sec Turbo D Series. Yeah you heard it right: D SERIES.

Widebody FD RX7. Actually widebody is an understatement, more like gargantuan-body.

Twin turbo set up on 101's R32 GTR '80MBU'. Helped it run a 10.3 quarter mile on street tyres. Scary stuff.

Was a good day, good to catch up with some of the boys and also see some awesome cars. I didn't get shots of everything, but some cars didn't really need coverage if you know what I mean. I don't cover meets, I cover awesome cars haha. After all the runs were done, it was mainly people standing around chatting, then from out of no where, this guy in a Hillclimb built Swift drives out of the 101 garage, sits in the middle of the road annnnddd...

ahhahaha what a champ