Rain, Hail or Shine

Yesterday I headed out to the Hi Power Racing Dyno Day. It started at 9am but its about a 40min drive, so I was up early and the day looked amazing. Sunny, no clouds, perfect. Unfortunately, that only lasted for the whole 40min drive as the clouds rolled in and leaked rain on and off throughout the whole day. That didn't deter the majority of people rocking up and having a good day, though.

I think some of the best things about heading out to these meets on a regular basis is the gathering of mates and also the chance of meeting new people. Yesterday was no exception. Hanging out with all the guys, shooting the shit all day, and talking about the one thing we all came here to see: Hunkboat...LIVE. Not really. We were here for the cars, of course. My good mates Alex and Brad are pretty well cemented in the Honda scene, unlike myself as I do not drive a Honda. But I ended up meeting some of their mates who all drive killer EGs (especially Richards 4 door EG...the build quality is just amazing so don't be surprised if you see it on here a lot more often).

The day was really well put together unlike a lot of Dyno Days I have been to. Ivan and the Hi Power boys have got their shit together so it was really no surprise that the day was so well organised. Ivan was running around all day making sure cars were lined up and ready, which certainly makes the day flow a lot better. Their Dyno Days are definitely some of the best in the Brisbane area, that's for sure. There were no super insane power figures (apart from a inconspicuous black Supra which rolled out 675rwhp) but then again, Honda's are not known for pegging Dynos all to often.

That is in rear/front wheel horsepower for those interested.

On with the rest of the pics:

Brad's S2000; soon to be pushing 500rwhp with an even bigger supercharger. Easily one of the most well put together and complete S2K's in Aus. I assume you are wondering why there is a man in a orangey-red shirt draped over the fender?

That man is actually Ivan, the owner of Hi Power, and along with Jamie, Brad and Ed Hardy looking on they used a bit of DIY know how to get the S2000 in shape to run on the Dyno. Even if it was never going to push out its true numbers, the backyard-spec setup was just fine while Brad waits to pull the current setup out.

I am 50/50 on this EG. I know purists do not dig body enhancements like kits or pumped guards, but the owner hasn't fully lost sight of it all. It used to be just black though, which looked 10x better than the gold in my eyes. Oh well. There is a K series under that hood, so it shouldn't have any trouble running 12s down the quarter.

This was for sale across the road. $28,900 for a Series 3 R33 GTR V-Spec is an absolute steal. Specially with those badass Nismo LM GT2s sitting nicely under its guards.

I loved the fluro coloured Crimson Linea Sport Mesh's on Dan's EG. It is so awesome to see people like Dan stepping out of the normal and trying something a bit different. Not only does Dan's EG rock rad wheels, it is also rocking fantastic offset. And here at Downshift we looooooooooooooove offset.

This 14 won cleanest car of the day (well deserved in my opinion). His choice of mods is pretty much flawless: Meisters, Sparco's and some equally awesome exhaust I had never seen before.

Alex's EG has appeared on here a few times now, almost every time with different wheels. This time he rolled on his Work Nezarts, and had also recently dropped his car so the rear was sitting crazy flush. Much love for this car.

Bee's 35 is one of the very few that is tastefully modified over here in Aus. He has big plans for it, which includes coils and a very large ride height drop. Imagine how flush that shit will be dumped. I get excited just thinking about it.

Ash's EG is just plain awesome. The love I have for this thing is indescribable. Myself, Alex and Richo had no idea how he gets around with the car so low. It is honestly one of the lowest cars I have ever seen. The headlights don't even come to your knees (how badass is that?). Ash knows I am super keen to do a shoot so he will hopefully become a regular appearance on our pages in the future.

Alex and Bee repping the US. Good to see some people know who is killing it these days.

Meet Richards EG Sedan. This thing is truly amazing. The whole car is filled with only the best bits, and the coolest part is Richo has done everything himself, including the engine swap. The car oozes quality, with a super tidy engine bay and Defi's and Recaro SR3's in the cabin. It rolls on Work Nezart's (same as Alex's, but the newer model) which I am sure those who are not 'in-the-know' would mistake for Meisters. Richo threw the civic on the dyno and layed down 299.8fwhp (!), and when they wound the boost up all it did was just spin (!!).

Few shots of Richo's car and another very similar EG 4 door.

Richo collecting his 'Highest FWD Horsepower' trophy.


Awesome day, great friends, dope cars...life does not really get much better. Except maybe if I brought some loose change so I could get a burger.

Drift GP

Mez is back once again, this time he and a few of the other QLD Drift holmies travelled down to Tasmania. A huge trek for some drifting action, but judging by the footage Mez got and stories about their road trip it seems all worth it.

Luke Fink was killing it was again, the way that man can throw his green Holford Motors S14 around is astonishing.

Baskerville Drift GP from Mez Productions on Vimeo.

Excuses Are Not Always Bad

So it has been a solid two and a half weeks since the last post, and for that I am truly sorry to the regular readers. But, of course, there is a very good reason for this that I will not divulge just yet. Don't worry; you will find out in the coming months exactly why I have been a bit too busy to post. Let me just say that massive things are on the horizon for us here at Downshift.

Anyway, I went out with my bud Alex to a recent BMW Track day at Lakeside; a quite infamous track basically known for people wrecking their cars. Going out to the BMW club track days is always good fun because you can get passenger rides at certain points during the day. Also some of the older guys who race have been racing for decades and certainly know how to throw a hefty German around the track in brute force.

It is a pity that BMW now make their newer model cars sound like hoovers. The 335i, 135i and Z4 all sounded pretty much the exact same: just 'whooshing'. This was made up though by the fact that they were crazy quick, but still, their sound should match their performance. The old school bimmers like the M Coupe and the old E30 and E21s all sounded amazing, especially the supercharged black M Coupe. It looked like a wild ride around the track, that's for sure. There were a few M3's out including the new E92 M3 which looked fantastic on its massive BBS's, but was unfortunately still a bit uneventful out on the track.

I didn't get a tonne of shots, although at the same time we weren't there for very long. Watching BMW's getting thrashed around one of Queensland best tracks is definitely a good way to blow a couple of spare hours.

Out of the 5 or so times I have been to the track in the past year, someone has crashed. Definitely not a walk in the park.

By far the quickest car of the day. This thing was absolutely flying.

Throw some semi's on your 130i and you have a track car, and a very competent one at that. It also helps if you normally pilot an insane BMW 2002 as your weekend track car.

My god the E92 M3 is a fantastic looking car. Pity about the whooshing.

Plates are a dead giveaway.

Why on earth would you get a convertible over a coupe? Especially when the coupe is an E46 M3? Lame plates as well.

Supercharged M Coupe. The noise it made and the violence it showed coming onto the main straight certainly made it fun to watch.

E30 and E36 M3's. Love the Nurburgring sticker, so fitting.

We were trying to figure out if this was a genuine JPS car (still 50/50). But the carbon door cards certainly lead onto to the fact that it probably is.

One of my favorite cars of the day. It just looks so tough and purposeful.

The field wasn't just BMW's. A few other makes showed up to have a go out on the track against some German excellence. I wonder about the plates on the Maloo (obviously his WMD's were non existent like Iraqs).