Down Shift

We've Moved

2010-07-09T18:42:00.003+10:00

Hey guys.

Just a quick update to let you all know that we have now moved to a proper domain at:

www.downshiftaus.com

We managed to keep all the articles and everything, and there's some new features in the pipeline so keep an eye out.

Thanks!

Haters Gonna Hate

2010-07-06T23:05:00.005+10:00

'Haters gonna hate'. A saying that rings true throughout the car scene, but none more so than the Honda scene. It is amazing how you can be talking to someone about cars and as soon as Honda comes up they instantly throw hate at the brand, the tuners and the cars. I am not gonna lie to ya'll, I was once one of those dudes who disses the H badge for whatever reason I could. But my oh my, how wrong and foolish I was.

I came to my senses after being schooled how shit is done by my homie Alex, who drives a Honda. Seeing how the US boys at the time were repping Hondas and fitment was blowing my mind, I could not believe how stupid I was hating on the brand that was...well schooling me and the rest of the world on the stance game. If you can make a little 1.6lt hatchback look dope, you can do any other car. What all this is coming to is that I was taught stance by Hondas, because no other car rep stance harder. Obviously, there are bros who will disagree, but hear me out. The other stance leaders like GTRs, 350Zs, FDs and the rest all hold stance from factory, stock as a rock. It may not be much, but it is still stance. A stock Civic holds about as much stance as a paraplegic. So for these following Honda boys to pull stance off so insanely well, people throw chat at them all the time and even question their sexuality, yet they push on and still manage to drop my jaw.

What my dribble boils down to is the Queensland Annual Honda Cruise that was held this past weekend. This event brings all of the best Hs in the QLD scene out of the woodwork and into the limelight for all to see. The day that followed was full of win and fail at the same time. I guess it always helps when you rolling in one of the top Civics and spending all day shooting the shit with homies.

Bring on the whinging.

The EG is by far one of the best shaped hatchbacks ever. Plates on this one don't leave much to the imagination either.

Regular comedian Richo was in attendance in his mental EG sedan, rocking all manner of one off parts you just won't see on other Civics; Work Nezarts and a 350fwhp boosted H22 get up. All DIY as well. Massive props to this bro.

Uhh...

Seems B18 are the new in things, considering Kswaps cost your soul.

This DC2 was once boosted.

Alex's EG sitting tight with Marko's EK. Two of the cleanest examples getting around. Alex rocking Regamaster Evos and Marko on SSR Type C's. These boys don't rock fakes.

Mullens' rocking some of the best stickers I have seen to date, as well as badass Watanabes.

This is Bobby's EJ8. Words cannot even begin how to describe how intense this car is. Everything is A-grade, no corners (and I mean fucking NONE) were dodged in this build. The Rocket launcher ITB set up is one of the toughest looking engine bays and the noise this thing produces is crazy loud. I almost had a heart attack when he said he tracks it. Shit, I see people who hardpark in less badass cars than this. Crazy love for this thing.

Probably don't really need to introduce Ash's EG anymore. Also don't really need to explain why it was my favorite car of the meet haha.

Tom's EG is super low as well; when it rolled in with Emilio and Ash, peeps were snapping necks at all three. As well as laughing at there attempts to get down the pissy ramp, I guess Tom's 'I Hate Speedbumps' sticker is true.

These homies know how to rock it HELL proper.

Pity so few people fiddle with Del Sol's. They can look rad and go crazy hard when done right, and this is a clean example.

NSX rocked up (these are crazzyy rare over here in Aus). This would be probably number four or five that I have seen in the flesh while living here all my life. This one had some GTCs and a titanium exhaust. Timeless shape no doubt.

Parked up next to this clean EG four door as well.

Crazy wide EG with a full K24 swap. GTCs and colour matched Jet Ski doing it right. Good ol' Honda boys.

A car from the past...

Dave's CRX is exactly how they should be done. Love this thing...

...anndd this is how it shouldn't be done. Definitely not a fan.

Keep rolllllllllin'.

Shout out to my boy Dan. <3 the green meshies.

RPF-1s on a DC2 and a DC5. Epic win wheels.

Probably the biggest crowd drawer of the event: Brad's 400whp supercharged S2000.

Those who read my blog regularly or know me in real life are probably wondering why there have been no shots of Alex's Silver EG, which always seems to appear with a different set of wheels each time. Well, that is because he has a new whip. Introducing: 41EXZ v2.0.

Alex ran my ass around for the day, so props for that. But in all honesty, the kid knows his shit. Everyone goes to him when working out offsets and fitment and his taste rings true in his new EG. The car is flawless and just amazing. Full B18CR swap, genuine Regamaster Evos, immaculate paint and just how an EG should be built. So I started this post about the my epiphany with Hondas, and I end it with the homie who made that happen.

I know there are haters reading my blog who probably still hate Hondas, but oh well. Hondas are here to stay, whether you hate it or not, and I love that fact.

How does the saying go again?

...oh yeah

Cheers for reading and stay safe ya'll.

"Did I Just Jump In A Time Machine..."

2010-07-02T23:08:00.007+10:00

The title of this post probably sounds fairly stupid, but just hear me out. You see, recently there was a special track day held that was called 'Days of Thunder'. I had heard good things from my homie Sam, so I decided to trek out there and have a look at what was going down. According to Sam there was car porn all over the shop, and that is the shit I like to hear on my way to an event.

Finally got there around mid day and as soon as I entered the pits, it seems like the year went from 2010 to the 60's or 70's. That probably sounds like a pretty lame event I must admit, but considering that the line up of cars was basically a who's who of legendary racers and hero cars, it was actually pretty awesome. Cars that I never got the chance to witness in action were in attendance. Cars that would be so obscenely rare I doubt they even have a price tag were actually started up and thrashed around good ol' Queensland Raceway. It was definitely a sight to see and something that gave me the worlds largest cheesy grin.

Oh ma,n the noise these things made. I feel bad for all you suckers who, like me, never knew it was on but didn't have a bro to call your ass up and demand you get the hell down to the track ASAP. The Trans-Am series racers (yeah, that's right. I mean the late 60's, early 70s Mustang and Camaro Trans-Am series) on wide open throttle down the back straight sent shivers down my spine. That V8 scream echoing off the barriers was godlike. The Porsche 935K and ISEKI Le Mans 956 were...shit I don't even know how to explain what it was like seeing legends like those piloted around the track. The pics are going to have to speak for themselves here.

Also be wary: this is a very, very long post. But you probably ain't seen shit like this before, so it's worth it.

There was a fair few GT40 replicas getting around the track, and this has always been a favorite shape of mine. Whether its the original Mk1 or the 2004 GT, it's just a super badass car all round. Obviously, these are replicas because last I checked genuine GT40's go for upwards of 3mil, not $200k.

Still some tight racing between them and the AC Cobras (also replicas due to genuine Cobras being hell rare and also in the million dollar price range).

Gotta love the AC's as well, but more importantly notice the wheels on two of the above (haha, I am such a wheel whore). The clean blue one is was rocking VS-XX's which was oh so awesome to see. The white one however I only saw going around the track, but those wheels look a hell of a lot like CCW's. If they are, that man needs a fucking medal for having such awesome taste.

This Cobra was also sitting in the pits looking pretty. Before you drop your jaw and start yelling "WTF is that a Cobra Concept?!", it isn't genuine; it's only another replica. Obviously, since the Cobra Concept was never sold in anything but silver and there are only like three. I did have a good laugh at the BA/BF Falcon interior though.

These were two of the fastest cars all day (yes, I know the Torana looks like complete balls). This thing was a monster around the track...should have gone down to World Time Attack earlier this year, because it was seriously quick. The Atom replica (no, not everything on the day was a replica) was not running the standard K20 but instead a 4g63 from an early Evo (my guess would be Evo III to V). Had mad flutters bro.

This thing looked like it was straight out of the Craftsmen Truck Series in the states (NASCAR Trucks for those who don't know). I loved it, was pretty fast as well considering Queensland Raceway consists of mainly right turns instead of the typical Left like Nascar...

Street legal track whore Porsches were everwhere on the day, as you can see by the shots. Both a 996 and 997 GT2, a 997 GT3RS in my favorite colour scheme: black with orange. But my favorite would have to be the one day old 997GT3 RS Facelift, in the grey with red. The car had only just been released and the owner bought it the day before and is running it in at the track. Stuff of legends.

Firstly, sorry about no on track shots. But still, behold the 935K: the legendary Silhouette racer. Seriously, I just stood in awe most of the time.

PinePac Fox Body Mustang. Another legend out on show...

A freaking Mosler MT900R was there on the day also. These things are spastic rare anywhere in the world. The last place I would expect to see one is Australia, let alone Queensland.

Shit just got real. No this is not a replica. This is a genuine 1998 996 911 GT1 Strassenversion, the ONLY '98 model in existence. The '96 and '97 models ran 993 front ends instead of the '98s 996 front end. Based off the all conquering LeMans and FIA GT1 cars, they made a street version, however due to legalities only one 98 was ever made. How the shit it managed to end up in Australia is beyond me; it should be in its home town of Stuttgart at the Porsche museum. Still was an honour to see it in the flesh, that is for sure.

These two raced...yep against each other. It was seriously the slowest racing I have ever seen. When the mini moto came past I could seriously make a sandwhich. I am talking full on sandwhich with the works, not just a spread. Eat it, clean up and then take a pic and it would have just passed me.

997 Carrera Cup Car.

Caterham, no idea what was under the hood though. Loved the pipes.

No idea what this was supposed to be. Wasn't Carrera Cup built, but was too hectic to be just a time attack. Suffice to say, I was impressed, even though it was chugging around the track due to just getting a feel for it (must be new). Those big airducts are crazy...would love to see more of it.

Next up...

Watching the Trans-Ams head onto the track, Sam proceeded to point out the gravel trap and the tracks in it. I basically got the hint this was going to be epic win.

Epic win doesn't even give this racing the credit it deserved. One warm up lap, rolling start and ten laps of full on balls to the wall Trans-Am racing. I was loving every second of it; the noise, the proximity, the cars, EVERYTHING. A '72 Camaro took top honors, but the '68 and '69 Camaros took my heart.

Now for the finale. You know that part in Top Gun where Maverick gets on his Kawasaki GPZ900 and Charlie gets in her Porsche 356 then 'Berlins - Take my Breathe Away' song starts playing? That song was playing in my head when the Porsche 956 was hauling ass around the track. This is car porn in its truest essence.

For those who want to know, I timed it and it had a best lap of around 1:10 seconds on the National circuit. It wasn't really trying either, as I can imagine the driver was a nervous wreck. In comparison, John Bowe did a 1:09 during qualifying in 2005 for the V8 Supercar Race. More than enough proof that the 956 is spastic quick.

All in all, it was an awesome day. Its always good to change things up. Shout out to the homies who made the day all the better: Sam, Anouk and Ben. Also props to Ben for taking up camera duties and letting me act like a 12 year old watching the cars go round. Hope ya'll enjoyed the write up.

RWB

2010-07-02T00:59:00.003+10:00

How could I possibly not post this?

-Matyi

This Is How We Do It

2010-06-26T21:03:00.001+10:00

The monthly JDM Meets have become a staple diet here on Downshift, and there is a good reason for that. Not only do most of my homies roll out but also some of the raddest cars getting around the local Brisbane area front up for a good night with great people. No one, and I mean NO ONE, was expecting what happened at the recent June End of Month Meet (EOMM).

A few of us 'old school' crew always rock up to the meet early to hardpark in the prime spot and also make sure no riff raff is there before the meet starts. What we witnessed this time was in fact over 120+ cars flowing into the meeting spot for what was by far the most insane meet we have had in the 3 years we have been running it. The amount of cars and people outnumbered any previous meet by such a large margin it wasn't funny. I was blown away and so amped that so many cars fronted. It really shows that the QLD scene is taking off and that truly dope cars are around...you just have to get them out of the woodwork.

Much love:

Let's start this shit with a bang. My homie Ash's EG is easily a favorite of mine in the scene. The whole car oozes badass and unbelievably he has big things to come for it. Watch this space.

Never liked the look of Colts, but this one looks pretty rad. Funky little cars.

Charlie, the owner of this Miata, is posssibly the fastest modifier I have met...every week he has some new epic part on the car. It has progressed so far since he first took ownership, and there are only big things to come from this one.

I wouldn't put 'Best MPS in QLD' past this example. What I find funny is most people instantly assume it is owned by some dude, when in fact it is owned by a girl *cue jaw dropping*. Rachie has sick taste in car style that is for sure; just look at how those Gforces are sitting under the guards. Rotas or not it looks hell good.

This EK and S2000 were pretty popular for the crowd (I think the wheels helped). The EK was rolling on some tight as SSR Type C's and the S2000 on some suspiciously good fitting TE37s. I say suspiciously because the TE37s have no concave which gives the impression they are running spacers, but they weren't. Boggles the mind.

This FD merely had wheels on the exterior, but my god it looked good. Mazda got it sooo right when they designed this.

Bee's 35 now rockin' some coils and sitting very nice. Love the shape.

Crazy fitment on these SSR Reverse Meshes (loving the blue as well).

SRP16 never ceases to turn heads wherever it goes. Those Wedsport Bavillions look absolutely amazing under its guards. He also slides it in the exact same stance which is so killer to see.

Seems like girl's in QLD know their shit when it comes to cars. Most CRX's look so bad and are just not well looked after. Steph's, on the other hand, is almost flawless. The purple Work VS-XX's are something you definitely won't see too often, if at all. Crazy how off the wall colours just work sometimes.

Sharpy is a good bud of mine and everyone knows his 180. Big things to come from this as well, so watch this space.

Well here is a car we never see on here...yeah, not really. Brad's 2k is always changing and he was sans a roof at this past meet. Really looking forward to shooting this car whenever he feels it is finished.

Nothing really compares to a GTR. There is no denying they hold a presence unlike any other Jap import. These three definitely prove that the GTR is the Japanese Muscle car. Johno's 32 GTR rocking the BBS LM's looks so clean it could almost be factory. Having a mindblank on the owner of the 34's name (which sucks...sorry mate) but the car looks awesome none the less. LM-GT4's are no doubt one of the best wheels to slot on a GTR. Full C-West kit is something you definitely will not see everyday. Lastly, Nicks 32: now this car snapped necks all night long. Not only from the crazy teal ice-cream paint job, but also from the intense looking polished Simmons FR19's. I remember seeing this car over a year ago when it was silver with some 34 GTR wheels...oh how it has changed since then.

Was such an awesome meet. Was really great to chill with the regular homies and also meet some new ones. Always great to put names to faces and meet new bros. Oh so amped to see what the next one brings, that is for sure.

Birthday Bash

2010-06-20T21:42:00.004+10:00

A normal birthday consists of lots of alcohol, maybe a BBQ, and held at some form of bar/restaurant/club. But imagine if you could have your birthday at a race track, with all your closest friends racing all day with the entire track to yourselves. Would be insanely awesome, right? Well that is exactly what I was invited to a few weeks back...a birthday held at Queensland's best racetrack, Lakeside.

The birthday was for Richard, who is my bud Alex's best mate Matt's Dad (now that was a mouthful). I am good friends with Matt as well and when I found out his Dad was having his birthday at Lakeside I was keen as mustard to come check it out and grab some shots of the day for him. Having a racetrack to yourself and your friends is such a cool concept because there isn't thousands of people wandering around, there's barely anyone hitting the track so tonnes of time on the asphalt, and no one is a stranger.

The quality of cars that turned out for Richards birthday was also phenomenal. I have been to public days which have less awesome cars than this, and those days probably have double and even triple the attendees. Everything was catered for, from Datsun 510's to 1 Series BMW hatches.

This little 1600 had the most intense stance to it, I was practically in love. It wasn't all that quick, but my god did it look the goods. Also those SSR's on it would be worth an absolute mint.

Totally gangster...

To be honest I am not a fan of the V8 model R8's. I feel it was a pointless car and they should have started with the V10 model and never made an 8 to begin with. But hey, that is my opinion. In saying that though, shit it looks good.

These little NB MX5s were available for those who don't have a track car, so they could jump in and thrash them around. Oh so rad.

This 2002 belongs to Richard, the birthday boy. Words can not really describe how awesome this car is. It is his dedicated track car and with those Sportmaxes under the guards it looks (and sounds) so good on full tilt around the track.

This Radical was out there carving up all day. The way the car looks on the track makes it seem so effortless to steer it to lap records. But I do doubt that is anywhere near the truth of driving it.

Richard had his other part time track car out there, his BMW 130i (probably not hard to pick Richard's favorite manufacturer). This is his daily drive, yet it has a full race cage and semi slicks. What an epic daily.

Some random snaps that I couldn't think up captions for.

My homie Alex out flying the Honda flag.

Trekking home after a long day. What a sight this is on the road.

All in all the day was heaps of fun; no drama and just a good bunch of people. Thanks to Richard for letting me come out and take shots for the event and also to Matt, Alex, Will and Ben for just hangin' all day.

Also, mad props to Ben for taking some of the pics.

Friday Night Drift Practice

2010-06-15T09:45:00.001+10:00

Queensland Raceway holds drift practice sessions every Friday night from 6-10pm, and tonight I was able to tag along with a bunch of really cool people, whom I've only hung out with briefly at our regular JDM meets.

So I snaked my way through peak hour traffic on the motorbike (is it just me, or has it been getting a lot worse in the last few weeks?), stuffed my face with some Waldorf salad and jumped in the S15. The Ipswich Motorway in peak hour was PACKED with cars, crawling along at walking space, so we made it to QR much later than expected, but Steph's mint 2 door STi WRX certainly helped. With 252kW at all 4 wheels, it was an absolute weapon of a thing, forcing you all the way back into the seat every time she floored it! Its for sale too!

By the time we got to QR, most of the pit garages were taken, but to our collective surprise, the one closest to the control tower was available.

Jamming both Nhan's S13 and Nigs' Ceffy in there, much jacking up and swapping of wheels ensued, while I took some snaps in the pit garages and attempted to pan and focus in almost complete darkness with a nifty fifty on my 50D. About the only one that worked out well is this one. Time for new tyres?

Bumped into Rory (what a surprise, you whore!) and chatted for a bit while taking lots of pit shots.

Love this sticker Nigs!

Mmm oldschool.

Longchamp.

We were all freezing our collective asses off with temps at the track around 6-7C, which was great for the turbos but terrible for the feeling in my hands/fingers. After wrapping my frozen bits around a hot mocha, smashing it quick-smart and soaring on a caffeine high, Nhan was kind enough to hook me up with a passenger's side ride in his recently acquired S13. The stock suspension definitely didn't help with the backlash with the weight shifting, and we spun quite a few times doing about 80kph. Heaps of fun though! Luckily no damage, which is more than I can say for Nigs, who did some damage to his clutch/gearbox/input shaft/straight pipes (?). It was fun getting it back to Brisbane without using the clutch whatsoever...hope you can get it fixed soon broseph!

Other people having a shit night, like this Gazelle:

Hmm...

Thanks are in order to Steph, Nhan, Nigs, and the rest of the crew. Fun times!

-Matyi

Superlap - The Long Road Home

2010-06-12T02:13:00.005+10:00

The weather on the way home from Superlap was once again amazing. We spent a lot of time just staring at the clouds and the sunset most of the way back to Brisbane.

Not a lot else to say, just a couple of shots that I took on the way home of Sam's gorgeous Porsche on the New England Highway.

This is the last Superlap installment. We now return to our normal programming.

-Matyi

A Drug You Can't Shake

2010-06-12T01:13:00.003+10:00

They say drifting is a drug that you cannot shake, and for years I have always thought that saying was stupid. Probably because I associated drifting with beater S13's and cars that looked more at home in a junkyard. Suffice to say, I was so wrong it isn't funny. In reality, the drift scene is killing it, and my second drift day truly hammered that shit home.

So my last coverage of the May morning session was the most viewed post on Downshift by a lot. I have to say, that doesn't really surprise me in the slightest considering that it had some of the best cars the QLD scene has to offer. The June morning session was no different, with a myriad of cars rocking superb fitment, Jerome's frankly ridiculous SR24 500+rwhp S15 and Josh Coote's 180, which is all class. Both of these cars are world class drift demons, pumping more smoke then a shit house rock concert.

Apart from typical breakages, there was no real drama on the day. Oh, well, apart from some dude in a Jesus sponsored S13 who decided drifting was lame and that doing barrel rolls in the gravel trap was where it was at. He walked away without injury and the car wasn't actually as beat up as I would have thought. Roll cages save lives, not speed cameras.

Anyway, I will quit my jibba jabbin and deliver what I bet you are all dying to see.

This 14 is super clean, and the owner seems to attend as many slide days as he can, which is awesome to see. The stretch he is running with those TE37s is insane, but looks oh so badass. Can definitely see why the 14 is my favorite shape of Silvia.

Gotta love Eurolines.

This Taxi you see before you is owned by a good mate of mine, Nigs. I have always had such a love for this car. My love affair started when I first saw it at a tear drop late one night (driving normally and slowly of course...), but it has so much character; how can you not dig it?. Not to mention Nigs knows how to steer a car damn well. Even though he will be the first to state he is a n00b, he definitely isn't. Gotta give it to the man, he has taste. Chrome dipped 33 GTR wheels...HELL YEAH.

Shagged? As if...I can still see heaps of rubber.

My homie Ben had his 32 out and about in style as always. He took me for a few laps in his pimp machine, was a heap of fun. Ben, like most of the drift boys, is a really easy going guy which is good to see. Worst thing about the car scene is when you can't approach people because they think their shit's golden.

Was loving this FC. SSR Professors suit it so well.

Action shots yo!

Now this looks serious doesn't it. Jun 2.4L crate motor, big ass turbo and a fully seam welded engine bay. Not to mention the wide body kit and the moon sized Project Mu rotors and calipers. You would expect this car is pretty nuts.

Yep.
This is Jerome's utterly insane, top level Hi Power Racing S15.

The owner of this 14 is known as 'Buckna' and my oh my can he get some insane angle when he is sliding. The car is supporting a full RB25 swap and apparently on this day was supporting a new turbo netting him an extra 80hp. Suffice to say, he was up there with Jerome and Josh Coote in terms of smoke, skill and out right insanity. Mad props to this man.

As you do.

This KE70 was producing some insane smoke and was wild as hell to watch. Surely it could not be a standard carby engine. Oh no this little 'ketto' had a full SR swap, with all the goodies just like the plates state. Word is that the power figure is around the 350rwhp mark. Just silly power in that chassis. I love it.

Cube's are slowly catching on over here. Steph's is by far one of the better looking ones. Shows how much wheels can transform a car.

Notice the front guards? Sacrifices have to be made for fitment and more lock.

This is Josh Coote's 180. It is an A Grade drift car; something you would more likely see at a Formula D or D1Gp event. Everything about this car oozes top level shit, whether it is the engine setup (around 370rwkw), the body kit matched with the Meisters, or the air jacks for easy accessibility under carriage. Watching this car is truly phenomenal the way it closes in to other cars in the paddock and just looks so at home at full tilt and sideways.

All in all it was a fantastic day as usual. Cheers to all the homies who made the day as enjoyable as ever: Ben, Mez, Nigs, Nhan, Steph, Dave and anyone else I have forgotten.

Superlap - Saturday Racing

2010-06-09T10:28:00.009+10:00

We made a start on Saturday a little later than Friday, but still got there by 8am. By this point I had wised up and made a beeline to the free coffee van that MRT was sponsoring (cheers guys!), where the gent was making us great coffee all weekend for a gold coin donation. Anyway, on to the pics!

Cyber Evo was almost ready by this point. Check out the overfenders ON TOP of the widebody!

So many tasty wheels.

BSM Motorsport's R32 GTR warming up/testing.

HKS T04Z, CF rocker covers!

Sasaki limbering up.

The Evos were absolutely smashing it, then the Sun Cyber Evo finally came out to play with Tarzan Yamada at the helm. To everyone's surprise, they did a few laps, smashed the records, and went back in the pits. What?

The other classes of racing were great also, with Queensland-based 999 Automotive's turbo-fed DC5 sounding the goods.

By this time I was getting peckish, so I decided to wander through the show and shine section in the carpark, where I bumped into some lovely promo girls.

Hot shoes!

Is there an age limit on promo modelling?

Love the lashes!

Back to the cars...

...and the closing of racing for the weekend. I was sitting on turn one, just after the main straight for these. The pro cars were going through fresh rubber like it was going out of fashion - the white spot in this picture behind the car is the sticker off a brand new Advan semi-slick.

On the last lap, the Cyber Evo blasted down the straight, and the wing unexpetedly flew off the rear deck and into the air! The car was visibly immediately tail happy, slipping and sliding all through turn one.

The day was taken out by Tarzan Yamada in the Sun Cyber Evo, running a blistering 1:30.587. The Sierra Sierra Evo driven by David Emphringham placed second with a 1:31.884, and third was the Tomei Cusco WRX once again piloted by Yamada to a 1:31.901. Needless to say, he was quite pleased with himself.

Fourth and fifth were Warren Luff in the Prep'd Lotus Elise and Kinoshita in the R-Magic FD, still with incredible lap times.

Somewhat disappointingly, Mark Berry placed 7th in his R34, 3.5 seconds off the pace of the Sun Evo..

Rest of the results are here.

We decided to have our farewell dinner at about 9pm, but didn't want to drive too far from our hotel, having another long day of driving ahead of us, back to Brisbane on Sunday. Being in the mood for anything but fast food, we searched around the area for a while, trying to find a restaurant that didn't look TOO dodgy. Half an our later, we gave up the search and decided to just get a meal from the Imperial Hotel Family Bistro, which was basically the only thing open. In the forecourt was a hole in the wall serving Chinese/Asian food, so I got a plate of mongolian lamb with fried rice, and to my enormous surprise, it was amazing, and cost a grand total of $13 including a beer. Can't complain about that!

We went back to the hotel and crashed in readiness for another 14 hours of driving home on Sunday. I have a couple more pics from the drive home, but will add those later.

-Matyi

Taking Risks Pays Off

2010-06-06T18:23:00.010+10:00

As Matyi has shown, Australia played host to the World Time Attack last month. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend due to clashing events. I bit the bullet and bailed on trekking down to Sydney for the WTAC and instead stayed in Brisbane for the annual Powerplay event. Everyone called me stupid for doing it, but I ended up taking the risk...and oh my, did it pay off.

Powerplay is based on the annual Powercruise events held in Queensland and throughout all of Aus every year. Powercruise has been running for over 10 years and is a predominantly domestic oriented event. V8's and mullets heavily outweigh imports and fancy hair cuts, whilst tire smoke seemingly never leaves the air. However, Powerplay represents something a little different. It is a well known fact that Powerplay brings out the biggest, the baddest and the most outright ridiculous imports, and this time was no different. There is a reason I was awake at 4am and on the road on this day.

Arriving at the track in the midst of probably 5 degree weather and fog everywhere, the cars slowly rolled in from scrutineering. 9sec street WRX's, more 500+hp Skylines than I could count, some very loud and very violent rotors and just generally all out warfare in car terms. Today was going to be one fucking good day.

Before I start unloading copious amounts of car porn onto here, a bit of explaining is in order. Powerplay is run a little differently to most events you have been to, which I think is the main cause of its huge success. The event is run kind of like a replication of a typical street crusing/racing event. The main focus of Powerplay is the cruise sessions, which allows around 50 cars onto the track at once with as many passengers as possible and no need for proper safety equipment (i.e no helmets or long sleeve t-shirts). To try and remove the possibility of accidents, corners are policed by marshals so you can only speed on the straights, exactly like a street race of sorts. I cannot really begin to explain how insanely dope this event is, so on with the pics. I will try and get some videos up of how it works so you can all see what you missed.

Nasser's 33 GTR is so many kinds of badass. Built how a GTR should be built and making crazy power figures, this shit is off tap. The red matched with those hell sexy TE37s is just a perfect look. 750awhp also has to be fun, and he was definitely tearing up all day.

Spotted this clean as hell 34 GTR chilling in the pits. The owner of this has awesome taste; LM-GT4's, Project Mu brakes all round, carbon accessories all over the place. It looked amazing.

This 14 had my undivided attention when it fronted very early in the morning. Those Meisters are sitting super nice under the guards and the whole car had such a nice stance to it. Also in typical Powerplay fashion, an SR just won't do. This beast was packing a Rb25 under the hood.

Foy's brother Dan was out in his 180, making over 400rwhp on the day and running big ass semi's on the rear. He was certainly taking it to the V8s all day.

Introducing one of the most insane cars I have ever witnessed: the 790awhp ALLLAG 34 GTR. Running no exhaust and a full screamer dump it was so insanely loud and fast it was blowing peoples minds all day, as well as every other car on the track. Running a big, bad HKS T62R it also has that synonymous whistle when it spools. This shit is just brutal.

Mercury Motosport were out there with their stand promoting JBT brakes as well as showing off their wares and what they can do. Definitely one of the bigger and better shops in Queensland, they had a tonne of tough as nails and fast cars out on the day. Including Jay's newly built 26/30 33 GTS-T, a 10sec white 32, a 650hp VK Commodore and Tuan's ridiculous 350awkw Evo (unfortunately I got no good shots of it, which sucks because I love that car). I always enjoy having a chat to Tess and Trent from Mercury...it's awesome to see some shops enjoy chatting to people rather than trying to seal deals. I am not getting a car built there (yet) but they treat me like I am part of the family. Only good things to say about those guys.

Obviously expecting this to make insane power?

...well you would be right.

Was fortunate enough to have a quick chat with Chris, the owner of this M3. The car looks absolutely amazing, probably one of my favorite cars on the day from a looks point of view. Also found out he is the owner of the 650+hp IWIN R33 GTR. Really hope to put something together and shoot his cars.

This 33 was once known as HITMUP from its old number plates, so I am going to still refer to it as that. Don't really know much about it unfortunately, however it was sporting some seriously wide rear rubber in the form of semi slicks. I could also hear the familiar gear changing that comes from a pro drag box, so obviously it has some serious shit under that hood.

This little Mazda R1000 ute going by the name of FN SYCO was probably one of my favorite cars of the day. The owner has some serious balls to drive this little thing.

All imports are represented at Powerplay. That seemingly harmless green Rex actually has run a PB of 9.7 down the quarter and is still street registered. Droppin' jaws all day.

I used to think this boosted commodore was hardparked...suffice to say I was severely wrong.

Another thing the Powerplay events are known for is...

...skiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiids. A favourite past time for most of the attendees of Powerplay.

Adam's 32 GTR 'FATGTR' is pretty famous in the QLD car scene. He was proving why all day long, even with his weaker engine.

Evo 7's plates are fucking gold. I laughed so hard when I saw them.

This black 32 GTR was by far my favorite car of the day. Built and tuned by HKS themselves in Japan, it ran a previous best of 9.1 over in Japan and is a mentalist to watch on the track. Rolling next to it on the track is one of the most eye opening experiences. I vow to get a closer look at this car, as it blew my mind every single time it went past.

So that's the last of it. Such an insane day...so much power for one to comprehend. Met some new homies and made a lot of connections. All in all, I have to say that it was worth missing WTAC in my honest opinion, but hey, I am a sucker for power.

Enjoy.

Superlap - Friday Practice

2010-06-04T13:55:00.009+10:00

Waking up at 5.30am in a strange hotel on the western fringe of Sydney is not something one generally thinks of as being pleasant or exciting. But when Foy woke me up the next morning and it was still dark and foggy and frozen outside, I didnt mind at all. I lay in bed for a few moments, slowly trying to get my eyes all the way open, a big grin slowly spreading over my face.

Superlap! The day had finally come, and even though we missed the press launch and an opportunity for cool photos in the Sydney CBD the previous day, Friday practice was looking like a promising day. Foy and I finished our packing, dropped in to McD's for a coffee before being waved through the VIP gates on account of our media passes. We both felt pretty special...thanks Greg!

Almost all the teams were already preparing their cars, with some of them burbling away in the pit garages; the occasional rev sending shivers up my spine in anticipation of max revs to come on the main straight. After finding the media room and dropping off our stuff, Foy and I headed down and threaded our way through all the garages and scrutineering building, discovering some incredible machines from all three classes - Club Sprint, Open and Pro - with increasing levels of hardcore. We ended up in the Sierra Sierra garage with a full-carbon Evo; rollcage bars everywhere, octopus-like turbo manifold, canards, diffusers...everything. At the time I thought to myself: 'this was going to be the car to watch!'

There were expensive parts lying around all over the place, like these absolutely enormous, lightweight Rays CE28Ns in the PanSpeed garage:

There was a bit of rivalry and smack-talk on the forums about the BYP EG vs Insight Motorsports EG Civic battle, and here were the competitors in the flesh:

I was really digging some of the (relatively) less-hardcore cars, like this gorgeous 180sx:

Eventually the cars got out on the track and, holy crap, what a noise they made! Excitement ensued and I started practicing some panning shots (since I'm not the best at them). A few turned out pretty good, though:

Full carbon Lotus:

I started getting hungry a while later, so I came back into the pits area and chowed down on a wrap and a Coke. Admittedly, it was better than I expected, but they're not exactly shy with the prices, are they? Here's some of the Japanese-looking promo girls from the pits (apparently they're locals? Can anyone confirm?):

There was a Wicked energy drinks stand, with some lovely ladies handing out free samples. Was digging this one:

Back into the garages:

This S30 was MINT. I even went looking for rust on it, but there wasn't a single speck or bubble of it to be found. Even the interior looked like it had just rolled off the showroom floor:

By the end of the day, the Sierra Sierra Evo was leading the pack, with a 1:32.2480. To put that into perspective, the V8 Supercar lap record is 1:31.7301 and they run full slicks! The other classes of racing were exciting also, with the Pulse Racing Evo and Insight S2000 at the top of the Open class. The little BYP and Insight EGs were fastest FWD, and making stupid amounts of noise!

There was quite a bit of drifting too during sunset in the final couple of turns on the Eastern Creek:

The Motul 350Z was sounding and looking like a million bucks:

Until, unexpectedly, one of the tyres popped off the rim...mid-drift!

It rolled uphill, off the track, and slowly returned to sender, where Rob Whyte was waiting for it. He promptly grabbed it and hoisted it into the air, much to the great amusement of the spectators:

We headed home shortly after that, being out of energy and out of light for the cameras. Wicked day all-in-all.

I had thought it was over, but later on that night I even had a brush with fame. While I walked down to the lobby of the hotel to talk to reception about using their microwave, in front of me stood a few Japanese people talking to the lady at the desk. I couldn't help overhearing the conversation, which went something along the lines of:

"Hello, we want exchange money please?"

"No, sorry we don't exchange money here. You'll have to head to a bank to do that. They're about a 15 minute drive away. And it's 9pm on a Friday, so they're all closed. They reopen in 2 days time on Monday."

*helpless look*

I felt sorry for them, so I offered to buy some yen off them in exchange for AUDs. I ran up to the room and grabbed a hunji, which I exchanged with them for a 10,000 Yen note. I started chatting to them, and found out that the guy who was speaking to the receptionist was Sasaki, the driver of the R-Magic FD, and the lady was the team owner! If you're not familiar with the R-Magic team, this is the car:

I shat bricks, and immediately gushed like a little groupie bitch about how nice the car is, etc, before letting them get some dinner next door. Felt a bit bad that Rooty Hill RSL was the side of Australia they were seeing briefly, considering they were only staying 3 days.

But the real racing was about to begin!

-Matyi

Superlap - Rad Trip

2010-06-03T15:53:00.011+10:00

So I'm hoping to kick off my blogging career by helping out Downshift with a couple of epic first posts.

When my buddy Foy called me about an upcoming car race, my first thought was "this is just going to be another sprint day at the local track". But how wrong was I! He proposed something a little more intense: travelling 1000kms south to Sydney to watch the hottest new event in the Australian motorsports calendar - the World Time Attack Challenge, or Superlap as it is known locally. We kicked some ideas around for a bit, organised some press passes, and eventually decided that it'd be a great idea for four of us to pile into a turbo-diesel VW Polo, and drive a thousand clicks through the countryside to see the fastest time attack cars in Australia try to keep up with the Japanese and American teams.

Eventually we found/recruited a few other people from the JDMST forums, and before I knew it, a Mazda 929 was blasting its horn outside my window at 4am on a dark, freezing, lonely Thursday morning. After I freaked out and realised the boys were there to give me a ride, I fell out of bed over the sleeping girlfriend, ran into the shower door, and eventually threw my ass in the car to be able to meet the rest of the guys at Foy's place for a still-dark 5am sharp departure. Linking up with another three cars, our convoy of ten people made an eclectic bunch - Alex's Mazda 929 sedan, Andrew's little hatchback TDI Polo, Jon's clean white s13 180sx, and Sam's Mum's (!) fat Porsche 964 turbo.

Catch me if you can...

Hanging out the sunroof at 100kph in 2°C above freezing is NOT comfortable.

Dawn found us spectacularly just before we hit the city of flowers, Warwick, 160kms from Brisbane. Driving through the countryside in autumn was a BRILLIANT idea. The weather was stunning all day, and really emphasised the beauty of trees in their fall colours; an uncommon sight for those living in subtropical Queensland since we have just two seasons (hot and cold, and they both look the same).

How awesome are the guards on Porsches?!

With a long day of driving behind us, we eventually ended up just outside Sydney, at the start of Putty Road. If you've never driven this sweet sweet piece of bitumen, you should mark it down on your list of things to do. For me, riding in the passenger seat of a turbo Porsche was an acceptable substitute. The way its ass stuck to the ground on corners had me preeeeety impressed!

Eventually we ended up in Sydney at the Rooty Hill Novotel, where they were going to fleece us an extra $150 for our room. Nice try buddy, but I knew Ebony hooked me up with a good deal and she wasn't lying when she promised me the price, so you better check those numbers again.

After checking in, I chose to go with some leftover roadtrip tasty pork with fried rice as a healthy option, but we dropped in to get some McD's for the other boys, Foy smashed 16 nuggets, no sauce thanks. Wait, what? Saw one of the Japanese drivers, Tarzan Yamada in the lobby on the way home, as well as Speedhunters' Nissan-loaned R35 GTR. Much jealousy ensued..

The last thing I remember is and throwing my camera gear in a bag before passing out with the others, knowing another 5am start was on the cards for Superlap practice day...

-Matyi

That Time of the Month Again

2010-06-01T23:55:00.004+10:00

Yes, it is the monthly JDM Meet coverage time again. Big change of pace for last night's meet. Due to countless location issues over the past few months, we decided to bite the bullet and hold the event in a completely different area on the north side of Brisbane. I actually scouted the location a few times and a few of us came to the decision that it would be a dope hang out for a car meet.

Anyway, lo and behold we held the meet there. It went really well...actually, fuck that, it was massive. Around 60+ cars fronted for the meet, which is huge for a Monday night and a guaranteed late finish. The new location plays host to some great lighting and just a general awesome backdrop; luscious grass and shit so I think everyone dug the new spot. Parking turned out to be an issue with some people parking just far enough to warrant exercise to get there...and no one likes exercise.

Good to see so many lads and ladies getting behind the car scene. The JDM meets also seem to be really improving our reputation with the law, judging by the good reception we got from two undercover cops on the night. Looks like this spot is a keeper.

SRP16 is such a awesome example of how S13s should be done.

Polished XD9s are definitely something you don't see every day.

Duane's E21 Bimmer is rocking a boosted Commodore V6 donk under the hood. Insanely left of field but I dig it a lot. Should see how hard this thing squats under power as well.

Jamie's 14, just goes to show you don't need much to make a 14 look dope.

Brad's 2K rocking his brand spanking new supercharger set up, expecting 500hp at the rears. QLD's Best 2K? You're looking at it.

Here in Aus, especially Queensland, practically no one fiddles with bimmers with the stance mantra in mind. Sure, there are tonnes of worked ones, but they just are not sitting right or even street driven at all. Luckily, Levi has his shit together. The amount of comments I overheard about his E30 on the night was crazy, but the praise is well deserved. Just look at it.

How rad is this Colt? Has heaps of choice mods on it and is making some pretty decent power from what I'm told.

There is a dude on the forums who is running ITBs in his DC5, and I'm 90% sure it was this one. Cut as I didn't get to check it out.

Kyrin has been been a part of the meets for ages with his Chaser, however he has not attended a meet in a long time for a multitude of reasons. He turned up for this meet in the Chaser again, and my god had I missed seeing it. It is now sporting a full kit and sitting insanely low, yet he still slides at that height (mad props). Told Kyrin I definitely want to shoot the car, so expect to see more of JZ100.

Nathan's Autech 15 was out at the meet. Damn, his car sits well.

Told Chuong to move his car somewhere more lit so I could grab some shots for him. His Evo VI has always been a favourite of mine, even before him and I were buds. You might remember shots of it on 34 GTR wheels, however Chuong now rocks some Rota Grids which suit the car oh so well in my opinion. From memory he is making around 298awkw, which is massive power for an Evo. However the best part of the car is it's idle; it is so raw and lumpy, almost everyone loves it...

...aside from those that like wearing special blue uniforms and who like flashing lights.

That's it for now. it is like 1:30am and I need sleep. Hope ya'll enjoyed the shots.

Oh My Lord

2010-05-27T23:49:00.009+10:00

You know that thought you get when you discover something that you have known about, but just never really took interest? The "why the hell have I not been doing this?" thought? Well, on a cold and chilly Monday morning about a week ago I spoke that very sentence (albeit with quite a few profanities in there as well).

You see, my boy Mez loves his drifting. You have all seen his videos and shit and you probably gathered he has a thing for the sideways action. He has been telling me about these 'Monday morning sessions' for a while now and I have always either forgotten, not been bothered or just been too slack to attend. Never again will that happen. My expectations were not just blown away, they were fucking obliterated. I had never seen Aussie wheel fitment like this before.

Almost every bro out there was rocking there cars low, wide, and with hell good stance. I even spotted two previous Hellaflush feature cars: Ben's purple 32 and Todd's black S13. Ben was supporting some seriously hilarious and original sticker placement which I got a kick out of, however Todd's 13 managed to not only steal the show but by god it managed to drop my jaw all day long. There is another drift day coming up again soon, and there is no chance I will be missing it. I can't explain how dope the day was...definitely one of the best days I have been to in a long time (and I have been to my fair share of events). All I can say is...

...ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Australian stance at its finest.

Nathan's 15 is, believe it or not, N/A. One of the special Autech editions; definitely an awesome first slider.

Jamie is a recently acquired homie. He is mates with a lot of my friends and it was good to meet him and his 14 out at the track. I have always favoured the 14's over all the other Silvia's; something about the shape. Jamie's 14 is super clean and such a nice example.

RG's baby.

This is such a cool get up on a 13. 33 GTR wheels sitting great on the front and 34 GTR wheels also sitting great on the rear. Hand me downs never looked so good.

As I mentioned before, Ben and his 32 have previously appeared on Hellaflush, and you can see why. Shot the shit with Ben for a bit, and what a great guy. He was happy to chat to some kid with a camera and we ended up having a good laugh.

Ben representin'.

Some slides.

Before I continue, let me be honest: I was slightly distracted on the day. One car had the focus of my attention and it really showed in the pics. 10 shots of one car, uhh my bad. Will get more variety next time, although I am sure you will understand why I was distracted.

As you can see, this car is phenomenal to say the least. The way it sits on those MASSIVE SSR AGLE's is ridiculous. The ride height of the car is equally ridiculous (just look at where the headlights are in relation to the boys looking at it). The engine is apparently pushing around 400whp and it is just an overall top quality build. Todd (the owner) has some serious taste when it comes to car styling and stance in general. Hopefully I can get a closer look and a chat with Todd at the next morning session.

Oh and just to prove that it doesn't just sit pretty on that fitment...

BOOM!

Massive props to Secret Drift for putting the day together; such an awesome morning out. Cheers to Jamie and Levi for putting up with my shit all morning, and to all the other homies who were out.

Good Food, Great Friends & Dope Cars

2010-05-20T00:01:00.003+10:00

This weekend passed was a massive weekend for me; so much shit was on and I took so many pics. But hey, I am sure you will all appreciate it as it was one of the best weekends of my life. So many awesome cars in one weekend, my brain was going into overload. Anyway, first up is the JDM Meet. We decided to have a day time BBQ instead of the usual late night carpark gatherings this time around.

The BBQ days are always a good way to catch up with people and check out the cars a little better. Less people turn out, and obviously day time means you can actually see shit instead of looking at utter black hoping to spot a wheel or some decent fitment. Not much else to say really. Cooked up some good chow, kicked the old soccer ball around and shot the shit all day. Could not think of a better way to spend a Sunday, really.

Roll out the shots:

A clean rex rocking TE's. If only it had a bit more aggressive offset.

Robbie's DC5 is always a favorite of mine.

Good to see more and more people rocking good fitment. Sportmaxes are always a good option for some flushness.

Normally brown and purple wouldn't work, but luckily for cars you can throw normality out the window.

Nhan's 180 is so badass. Work Eurolines always look killer in awesome offset, and Nhan's definitely has that covered. It is also good to know (and see) that he slides the car. So this ain't no hardparker.

Cresta's are not really common over here. This is probably the only one I think I have seen. This one is supporting some white XD9's and crazy good fitment. It also has a full cage in it.

I think GTR's are the only cars I couldn't care less about fitment on. Not sure why, but I think they just look badass enough. In saying that, good fitment never takes away from a car, but just check the stance the 32 has. Badass factory stance for the win.

So glad to see fitment taking off in Aus. It really shows how much it has grown when so many cars rock up to a small BBQ meet holding A+ stance.

This 15 really shows how all you need is wheels with good offset, a height drop and your car is virtually complete. So glad to see GTC's polished as well. I bet some people out there think they are only made in gold.

Delivered

2010-05-15T00:00:00.004+10:00

In the recent Time Attack post I spoke about a mental little red escort, and how I was pissed I couldn't show you all how truly badass it is. Well I actually can show you all, thanks to Richard who was piloting a stripped out and caged BMW 130i hatch, and pumping out consistent 62sec laps (insane white evo was doing 60's). Watch the vid and witness the ridiculousness of this car.

Also try and ignore the lame overlapping, it won't let me embed it any smaller.

That shit is off tap. It runs a low 58sec lap time, and it is not a very clean lap, it would be in the running for 56 seconds if it was a little more tame. As an example the mental Group A R32 GTRs from the early 90's were doing consistent 54-55sec laps.

Tuesday Chill Session

2010-05-12T00:35:00.002+10:00

Some footage our boy Mez got at a recent Tuesday morning drift session. Seems like the drift kids are the ones killing it fitment wise here in Aus. Loving the Toffee Apple red KE70. In the states they always have dope filmers covering their events, so it is good to see Mez is stepping the game up here in Aus.

Tuesday Chill Sesh from Mez Productions on Vimeo.

Time Splitters

2010-05-10T20:29:00.006+10:00

In the past 2 years, Time Attack has gained serious worldwide appeal. From humble beginnings deep inside Japan and Europe outside of the limelight, it has suddenly gained momentum and is now prominent in the U.S as well. As we all know, the States are currently killing it in the stance game, and they are now taking over in the Time Attack game. The move to mainstream has been a little slower here in Aus (actually, a lot slower). 2010 is, technically speaking, the year of Aussie time attack, with the time attack worlds being held in May down at Eastern Creek. And, of course, we will be there.

What I wasn't expecting was that the usual Time Attack events that are held on a more regular basis here in Queensland would have exploded to the extent they have today. On the weekend just passed I went out to support a mate and get some shots of him and his EG out on the track. I was definitely not expecting the badass shit that rolled out for the day. When I look back at our first feature, which was a Saturday time attack session, it is insane how much the quality of machines has increased 1000 fold in such a short amount of time. It is good to see a form of motor sport that I love so much growing so fast here in Aus.

Not much more to say, so roll on the pics.

Time Attack guys always have great taste in wheels. The 33 sounded amazing at full noise down the straight (also, nice colour coordinating with the lug nuts).

You know you're baller when you peddle a C63 AMG for a circuit car. Plates are also a laugh.

Got brakes? 355's to be exact. Expect to see this animal a lot more. Tess and Trent from Mercury Motor sport are on the hunt for 1200hp.

One of the many Evo's that I had never seen before, yet had crazy money put into it and was so well prepared. This one had some DC Shoe & Co sponsoring and was rocking matte paint. Would love to know more as it was running super consistent (and fast) 1:01's all day long.

Why is this not sideways?

This VI was crazy fast, but looked totally stock.

My boy Alex getting out and throwing his EG around. Once again it is on different wheels from the other times it has appeared on here, but massive props to him for going out and using the car, especially with that fitment.

This little 130i was piloted by Alex's mate Matt's dad. He is a gun behind the wheel and was running in the top group with the big Evo's and STI's. Was also posting some insane lap times at 1:02sec.

Clean Aristo & Evo VIII. Also Robbie's DC5 was out, of which I am a HUGE fan of Wedsport SA90's and Robbie's car in general.

Now this car was not only the fastest car of the day, but also the most insane. It posted a 58sec lap time which was so out of control and insane it had everyone's jaws on the floor. I am not positive on the details of it, but apparently it makes around 450hp and my does it use all of that. Pissed I cannot show you all a video of it or something.

Evo's are always inconspicuous track cars. The things that give this IX away are the brakes and the carbon Ralliart mirrors. I was also in love the the Ralliart Special wheels; very LM-GT4ish. Which leads me to believe Nismo, TRD and Ralliart were all given similar wheels by Rays for whatever reason.

These were on the top of a trailer when we arrived. I first thought the wheels were CE28N's but after closer inspection it seems they are actually Rota DPT's. However, being wrapped in Advan AO50s is not cheap. So I was thinking: 'what the hell would be using DPT's and AO50s as it's spares?'...

...and then I saw it...

What is by far one of the most insane track Evos in Aus. The money put into this car is truly unbelievable and it had what looked like a full on team alongside it. With their laptops and shit out every single lap, big dollars for sure. Just look over the car and you will keep noticing the best of the best parts. HKS Carbon intake, lobster welded titanium exhaust, carbon doors, bonnet, diffuser. It was also running a full sequential gearbox. This is more like something you would see in the states, or Japan. So good to see people and money getting behind Time Attack.

Props to Mercury Motorsport for supporting and getting behind Time Attack. Also if anyone has any info on the Evo's posted please comment and I will get in contact with you. Remember click picture, select 1240 for wallpaper.

The Hero

2010-05-09T21:26:00.007+10:00

I was sitting at a fancy restaurant for breakfast with the folks many years ago, when I caught a glimpse of this amazing lime/apple colour that appeared from nowhere. What I then proceeded to see was one of the toughest and aggressive looking cars I had ever seen. The shape and proportions were so right, the width of the wheels was insane, and the mind blowing wide guards were something I had never seen before. The bark of the exhaust and completely un-subtle whistle from the turbo had my jaw on the floor. What I was looking at, was in fact what would turn out to be my hero car. A car that is in my opinion the best there ever will be. That car is none other than the widow-maker; the Porsche 993 GT2.

Many years have passed since then. These days my 993 fix can only be had on Forza and similar digital shit. The rarity and insane asking price, matched with the pathetic laws we have in Australia means that I never ever get to see my hero in person. Before you ask, yes, this post does have a meaning behind it. You see, a good mate of mine, Sam, is a bit of a Porsche nut. Actually, his whole family are and I guess being a certified Porsche nut myself we relate well. His 930 is an amazing car built with track in mind it is completely purposeful and his dads 996 Gt3 is, well, a GT3 which I am sure everyone is familiar with. But more on them another time. You see, they have just welcomed a new guest to the family. Sam's Mum has joined the Porsche tea party. Oh yes, I think you know where this is going.

Firstly, no Sam's family did not get a 993. For the majority of the late 80's and early 90's Porsche were building the best shaped cars that they have ever done. So what did they buy then? None other than a 964 GT2, which apart from trainspotting differences is relatively the exact same car. As you can imagine when I was informed of this through text, my knees went weak and I instantly demanded a photo shoot. Well here it is, the Ribena coloured 964 GT2 in all it's glory. And my, does it possess a shit load of glory.

The whole stance the car possess is nothing short of amazing. It is a neck snapper, that is for sure, both looks wise and performance wise. The car actually has been fettled with in the past...it no longer possess the standard turbo, as it has a bigger ball bearing version instead. It also has a stainless steel exhaust and a screamer pipe of all things. According to the previous owner, the car was tuned by Penske Racing in the states (Google them if you are not clued up) and apparently makes 450bhp. That is a big number no matter how you look at it, but even more so when you learn that the car is still running the stock airbox and intercooler. However, when it comes on boost it certainly lets you know why it was dubbed the "widow-maker" by so many journalists.

Sam originally voiced his dislike for the colour, however I think the wild colours that Porsche used back in the early 90's are the best. It really stands out, makes you take notice of how truly badass the car is. As you can see we did the shoot at night, so the car actually looks to be a midnight purple colour. However in the day it is more of a Ribena/Grape/Grimace of Maccas fame colour.

So if Sam's car featured in Transformers 3, this is what it would transform into. Basically it is a closer resemblance to Grimace's colour. I guess just picture a purple form the 80's.

Hope you all digged the shots. If you are looking for bigger shit to throw on your desktop, click the image then it will load my flickr page and you should be able to select a 1240 size. Oh and also notice the new watermark (the previous one was getting a bit lame). Give me some feedback on what you think.

Shit Is Blowing Up

2010-05-05T12:30:00.003+10:00

The lack of posts throughout April was due to a fair few different things. Obviously some of those things are boring and gay, like work and birthdays, I am sure you don't want to hear about my pops 86th birthday bash. Although 86 years old, and going strong, that shit is insane. But the other reasons have a more appealing interest to you the readers/viewers/people who randomly found the site and are digging it.

Almost out of nowhere the site has actually been taking off, I do not promote the site anywhere really. Nor does any of the homies, apart from in signatures on forums. Yet the viewer base has grown substantially and has given me the proper excuse to move Downshift to a domain of its own. So you can actually remember the URL instead of having to google for half and hour to find it. This however posed an issue as some dill thinks that he will be able to sell downshift.com for a minimum of $2500, tell that kid he is dreaming. So I almost went about a full name change of the site, ended up scrapping it and am now hunting for a good domain name, any ideas?

Also I have been crazy busy trying to put together photoshoots for some of my buddies cars, as unexpectedly I scored a gig writing for the boys at Hellaflush. I don't even have a killer word for how stoked I was to land it. So as any Aussies reading would no doubt know, tracking down 'Hellaflush' cars in Aus isn't as easy as eeni meeni miny mo. So tracking them down has taken a massive chunk of time out of my posting schedule, please forgive me, I am sure it is a worthy excuse.

Last of all, CS5 (Photoshop 5 for those not in the photography game) has just been released so I am anxiously waiting on getting my grubby mits on that before editing any recent shots. Including a shoot of a Ribena coloured Porsche 964 GT2.

Random shot of a badass 34 NUR that you call all drool over. It was actually the only shot I got from a recent car event at Harry's Diner.

What a shit event that was, I found out it was on, like the morning of the day the event was being held, please promote your shit people. Also it was supposed to be a Garage Vendor event, where local shops showed off their wares. But turned into a massive car meet with workshop cars scattered everywhere and no banners to see who was who. Also the main show area wasn't blocked off so joe bloe and his pos lancer gli could park up next to a 800rwhp F6 Typhoon.
Put the effort into making your event dope and you will get praise, it is not like you are building a fucking space shuttle (I thought rocket science was to cliche).

Hope that covers my slightly lazy ass for not posting as often last month. Hopefully by next week you will be reading this off a proper domain. Woo.

Rain, Hail or Shine

2010-04-25T15:34:00.009+10:00

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

2010-04-18T22:15:00.002+10:00

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

2010-04-14T13:53:00.004+10:00

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).

Killers On The Street

2010-03-28T21:55:00.008+10:00

The local JDM meets may be a regular occurrence, but they never fail to produce some of the best examples of cars getting around our streets. Many of these cars are relatively unknown until they front to one of the meets, often times blowing people away. So, it is always good to see new cars, meet new people and make new friends. Hanging with all the boys is always a solid reason to head out, considering the majority of them attend to shoot the shit.

There is actually a little bit of a story behind the March meet. Normally I just throw up some shots of rad cars, but I've actually got something to ramble on about for all of you. The meets are normally held at quite a large open carpark that belongs to an appliance store by day, but the store closes before we get there at night. I was probably one of the first to arrive at the meet, on what I believed was just an ordinary Tuesday night. I noticed a few employees' cars hanging around, and eventually found out that they were having a meeting at the shop. No big deal, right? Well, next thing I know, the manager of the store is walking over to some of the guys and telling them something. I headed over to sort it all out, and found out the national heads of the company were at the store tonight for a check up... ba bow.

I sorted it out with the manager and he gave me some instructions: keep the riff-raff down, no loud noise, and stay down the lower end. I directed traffic for them so I would keep to our weird vocal agreement, but not long after the manager came back over, mentioned some shit I didn't understand and went back again. Another four times later he eventually told us to pretty much just 'fuck off'. We eventually ended up moving the meet across the road and had the biggest turn out to date; even though we didn't inform everyone where we moved to. Funny how that works.

Anyway, on with the shots. Since I was dealing with a retard at the start, and just wandering around meeting new peeps for the rest, I slacked with no pics. However, Matyi stepped up with some fantastic shots. Enjoy the dope coverage.

Foy's DC2, looking purrdy. Man I remember when this was practically stock, the good ol' days.

Matyi's S15 rocking some crazy new meshies.

How badass is this 350GT? Had never seen it before, but props to the owner for rocking it the right way.

Meet Alex's Ford Festiva, or as it is now known, the Hectiva. This thing has re-written the book on cool: re-barreled steelies with Murcielago Orange lips, on a daily driver. You seriously cannot get any cooler than this.

Brad's S2000 is such a show stopper no matter where it goes.

A few bikes rocked up for the first time. This Ducati 898 was gorgeous.

This was a clean example of a 15. Even better when it left with a girl behind the wheel.

Not feeling the wheels on this Evo X, but a least some people are attempting to mod them. Those boys in the states have shown how awesome they can look when done right.

Tourer rocking some awesome fitment and damn nice white XD9s.

Dan's S15 is quite frankly, ridiculously epic. I would rank it up there in the top S15s in the country. The stance it holds with those 11" wide rear SSR Type F's is truly astonishing.

This S13 was rocking what looked like at first an RB26, however we noticed that close up it was actually an RB25. The owner said it was actually an RB25 stroked out to a 2.6. Weird stuff, but cool none the less.

1J swaps all round.

This Evo IX was wearing some really odd TE37s. They read 'ATMO Specials' or something along those lines.

JDM yo!

A lot of Evo's attended, which was good to see.

This MR-S has a full wide body kit, and is a pretty infamous car in the scene. It has been around for a long time now: over 5 years and still looking the goods, even if it is a little worse for wear.

This is one truly purposeful Evo IX. The standout ARC parts really set off the engine bay, and the whole car has the very obvious track inspired theme to it.

Cheers to Matyi for covering the meet so well. If you want to see more of his work, check out his Flickr @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/matyiii

How To Be A Standout

2010-03-25T22:19:00.008+10:00

If you happen to be thinking to yourself: "How do I make myself stand out in the car scene? To be someone with a car everyone talks about?", well, that could be answered by many people. But maybe you should speak to Ty, the owner of this killer Series 8 FD . He knows how to build a car properly, and is one of the very few leading the way for the Queensland car scene.

It is actually a funny story how I got to know Ty, but without distracting everyone's drooling frenzy of the FD, I will keep it short. I had known about his RX7 build up from reading about it on a popular car forum, but I had never spoken to Ty nor even knew who the owners name was. After starting this site last year, I always wanted to do a feature on the FD pictured here, however I had no clue what so ever of who the owner was. I did however know who his girlfriend was. She posted quite often on the forum, so I added her on facebook as I had spoken to her on the forum, and from there I found Ty's profile and have been chatting to him ever since. I have tracked down a fair few guys who own badass cars, however a few have been really reluctant to talk, and generally wanted nothing to do with me for whatever reason. But Ty is a super nice guy (considering I was some random dude adding him on facebook) and loves his cars just like myself. These are the type of people who will help the scene grow. If everyone bands together we can get this shit rolling and show the world that Australia has dope cars, not just Kangaroo's.

Anyway, I thought I would throw a bit of an update up of Ty's FD, with a small build up to show you all how far it has come in almost 2 years.

This is how the FD landed from Japan back in Winter 0:, stock as a rock which most people would be complacent with. Although, not Ty.

The car was looking amazing. Those black Meisters matched with the 30mm pumped guards, and FEED goodies such as the bonnet and side skirts really set it off. The Ganador carbon mirrors and RE Amemiya diffuser provide the finishing touches that cements this FD in the realm of dope.

After lots of sweat and tears (maybe some blood, but I dunno...would be weird if there was) Ty ended up with a mouth watering result that most would have settled with. But
once again, not Ty.

Next to come was stripping the interior and the purchase of my pick as the sexiest seats money can buy, Bride Gias Low Max seats. Along with this came a Nardi Deep Corn wheel, and one awesome looking custom Triangle bar, which Ty said he also uses as a harness mount.

The engine bay also got some royal treatment with the removal of the two stock turbos and the add on of a Garret T04Z, which many consider the best choice for the 13B. Ty also purchased a Feed exhaust and muffler along with a big Greddy front mount intercooler and, my favorite, the Tial 44mm wastegate with screamer (oh, how I love screamer pipes).

Now the car was not only a show stopper, but also a weapon on the streets; an epic all rounder that any sane man would kill for. But nope, not Ty. He still had a few things up his ever growing sleeve. I salute this man for continuing in the relentless pursuit to be QLD's dopest FD.

Which brings us to present day. Ty decided to re-barrel the already insane Meisters to get an EVEN BETTER fitment; the struggle for perfection is always good to see in a car builder. He also decided to get the 13B fully bridge ported, which now gives it one of the best idles ever heard in the scene. The familiar 'brap, brap, brap' makes enthusiasts weak at the knees.

Whether or not this means the car is finally finished in Ty's eyes is another story. He has hinted at the fact that once again he has more to come. So watch this space as he knows I want to do a shoot of the car, and I know I myself am waiting on the edge of my seat to see what else he brings to the table.

As for being a standout, building a car like Ty's FD is one way to do it. But to really prove to everyone that you are a tier above he rest, how about you rock a killer S14 as well...

Yep, that's right. Ty not only owns one of the best FD's in QLD, he also owns this S14. Formally known as SRP19 to those in the know, it now belongs to Ty. This man has serious taste; to rock one killer car is awesome, but to rock two, well that is just pure badass.

Cheers to Ty for letting me follow his build up, and also for letting me do a shoot in the future.

A Touch of Class

2010-03-22T15:29:00.008+10:00

Being an upcoming automotive photographer often gets you introduced to other like minded photographers. There are dozens of automotive photographers out there, but some are a step above the rest. I got to know Chris through a good friend of mine Matyi, as they went to school together and have been good mates for a while. I had been a huge fan of pretty much the majority of Chris's photography work and he is definitely one of my favorite photographers; his style of editing and knack for angles is always such an inspiration.

Chris has helped me out heaps with getting my shit together photo quality wise, and also learning the ropes with locations and a lot of other general doo dadding that has to be learnt in the photography game. He often sends me work he has taken with Matyi or just himself (samples, if you may) and when he sent me the shots he took of his mates BMW 650i, I had to post them up. They are amazing, not to mention the car has so much presence to it that just absorbs your train of vision.

The 650i has always been hated on for its shape and general look. It isn't the prettiest car, but with a few select 'upgrades' so to speak it can look 100x better than it did from factory. The first thing that you may notice about this particular 650 is that it has a set of new shoes and is quite lower than normal. The one thing that always bugged me about the stock 6 series look was that the ride height was just a little to high for a car with such low slung body lines. A pet hate of mine is large gaps between the guard and wheel, which, unfortunately, it has in spades from factory. But the biggest draw card this modded 650 has is the absolutely stunning Asanti AF128's. You could probably count on two hands the amount of sets of Asanti wheels that reside in Aus, due to no retailers and also the crazy cost that Asanti wheels hit you with. They were certainly a perfect choice for this high end sports car.

The final thing you will notice is the quite large (and very shiny) quad exhausts that reside at the rear of the car. They look so much better than the ugly oval exhausts BMW sold the car with. The upgrades are only minimal and it isn't a lardy car, yet my god, it looks so good. The plates are definitely deserved on it, that's for sure. Chris's pictures complement the car oh so well. The location and editing just make it stand out even more than it would normally. The owner definitely knows where it's at in terms of style.

After seeing the shots Chris produced of this 650, I acquired a new found love for the 6 series BMW's. I wish more people in Aus built cars like this example. It is, in essence, how European cars should look. Yes, the cost of building one is way out of the average Joe's league, but too many times do I see people rocking cheap and nasty parts on their BMW's, Mercedes, or Audi's. If you want a lesson on how to improve high end, $100,000 cars, then take note that this is how you do it.

If you loved the pics, check out Chris's photography page. The link is in the Sites We Love & Support Section.

The One and Only

2010-03-20T00:29:00.002+10:00

Mez once again brings us some killer footage of some of the best sideways action here in Australia. This video is the footage of the one and only Drift Australia Championship Round, due to sponser issues, the normal season was not able to be run, so they let it all boil down to one day for a champion to be crowned.

None other than Luke Fink took the day out, cementing himself as one of the best guys to come 'sideways' out of Australia. The event was held at the infamous Oran Park, which unfortunately is going to suffer the same fate as many other tracks do in Australia, being sold off for land development, so it was one of the last times a big name event would be held there. It is such a shame that our government cares nothing for the automotive community, even with all the money that is available in the scene.

Team Holfords at Drift Australia from MeZ Productions on Vimeo.

Lose 4...Gain More

2010-03-09T14:58:00.003+10:00

I have a lot of good mates in the car scene, coming from all walks of models, but mainly all following one style, and that style is dope haha. A really good friend of mine Alex, loves his wheels, more so than most. So much so that he has owned in the 2 or so years I have known him, around 8 sets which is pretty crazy.

Anyway cutting to the chase, he recently decided to sell his white Black Racing's to a good friend of his Trav, I haven't met Trav but when Alex sent me the shots of his old wheels on Travs red Eg, I had to post it up. Trav has been building his Eg for over 5 years, watch this space for future updates on it.

Also check out how immaculate Trav's engine bay is, the little things make all the difference that is for sure. Things like braided clutch line (you can see it going to the slave cylinder on the gearbox) that gets rid of all the clutch hard lines, harnesses tucked in the fenders and the list goes on.

Of coarse Alex would not sell a set of wheels for no reason, so say hello to Alex's new shoes. They look amazing and are crazy rare being 16x8 and 16x7 with +25 offset. There is no doubt in my mind that Alex's little egg will appear on here a lot more often. Also stay tuned for a feature of his Eg in the near future.

All I Can Provide

2010-03-07T18:59:00.005+10:00

Unfortunately since the CV on my car is still out of order so to speak, I was not able to drive to the Gavin Woods Auto Dyno Night that was held last night, these are known for the number of awesome cars showing up and laying down crazy figures then DRIVING home.

However my bud Sharpy went and took a few videos off his phone, I don't normally post "phone" videos on here but this is an exception as I feel you need to hear these monsters in action. Specifically NUT32R limiter bashing down the street, sounds like gun shots its that violent. The night had well over 6 cars pushing past the 600whp mark, which is quite ridiculous to say the least. The yellow S15 took the night out pushing 955rwhp, however the car has pretty mediocre parts on the exterior which lets it down considering the engine is such a monster.

Enjoy the sounds:

9 x 3

2010-03-06T17:06:00.003+10:00

Ok so apart from being Math, it is also a play on words (numbers??). Triple 9 Automotive have been around for quite some time now, and are especially known for their Honda's. The owner Adam is a super nice guy, and a friend of mine so when he said they were having a BBQ and sale for Triple 9's 5th Anniversary I told him I was there for sure.

The turn out was quite good considering the weather was looking a little terrible in the morning of the event. However a lot of killer cars turned out to show support and just so the owners could shoot the shit and look at the sales that 999 were having on the day. Unfortunately Adam's mental Ek wasn't there, having previously pushed out 135fwkw on a dyno from a B20 frank it is such an awesome car. However being the sole proprietor of Top Fuel parts they had the Top Fuel DC5, famous for running 1min around the fabled Tsukuba, which is awesome to see in the flesh, however being able to tune the ECU is being a little tougher than the boys thought so it isn't running all to well.

Standouts for me on the day was of course Joe's EG, which he has now sold...*sighs*. Choung's purple Evo VI is always awesome to hear and see, and of course 999's 10KMU S14 is a prime example of how a Silvia should look. But when the H8LAG Evo rocked up, every ones jaws dropped, mine included, it is stunning in the flesh and the first time I had seen it but hopefully not the last.

All in all it was an awesome day out, and good fun spending time with all the boys, looking at some killer cars on a Sunday afternoon, barebque, cheap parts and a dyno made the day even better. Enjoy the shots.

Boosted eight-six

Joe's EG is amazing, one of the best examples getting around. However he decided to finally part with it and sold it a few weeks ago, going to miss seeing it out that is for sure.

The H8LAG Evo IX is really something else, those Rg's in that size and just the general tough stance of it make it probably one of the best looking Evo's in QLD.

Much to my dismay, this Eg was boosted...

A clean 33 GTS-T rocking some pretty decent offset, even if the wheels are fakes, at least people are testing the offset waters. Also is making some good power thanks to some choice bolt ons.

This un-assuming Evo 1 actually ran a 11.21@136mph down the quarter, wouldn't pick it would ya?

Choung's Evo VI has such a tough idle to it, thanks to some large cams. Also the 34 GTR set it off soo nicely.

If there is one thing us Aussies do well when modifying cars, its definitely imaginative plates.

34 GT-T rocking some big power.

The famous Top Fuel DC5 on show, check out the crazy cooling set up, boggles the mind, but hey it is proven.

White XD9's with some great offset and 360rwkw cement this S14 somewhere at the top of my list. This is the 10KMU S14 I mentioned above, just realised I didn't get any front on shots haha.

A Night To Remember

2010-02-22T12:36:00.003+10:00

A good bud of mine told me he was putting together a little "highway cruise" as a kind of farewell of sorts for his R32 GTR. Of course I was as keen as mustard knowing that it could be the last time that the big bad DARE YA 32 GTR comes out again. As I mentioned in a previous post it is for sale, and Justin said he has a very keen buyer. So a fitting farewell cruise then.

Now I have always voiced that I stand by the old saying Quality > Quantity and it is definitely something that comes into practice even more so when you are organizing late night 'cruises' as the more cars that attend the more unwanted attention you attract, which you definitely do not want. So Justin put together around 8 - 10 cars for this cruise, I unfortunately did not get shots of every car due to people parking in non lit areas and others bailing early due to impending rain.

It was an awesome night, with DARE YA proving it was to much to handle for the other cars. Seeing a GTR slipping and sliding as it comes onto boost is by far one of the best things you can set your eyes on this side of boobs. Many cars attending deserve a mention, Gus aka WPN26 of course graces our pages once again. His new 4" exhaust sounds killer, the epically loud GTR burble is amazing to the ears. A quite subtle looking S14 going by the name of 90WER showed up and is easily the most violent car I have seen coming on boost, would be one hell of a ride in that thing, rumours are it is pushing past the 520rwhp mark. A orange S13 showed up, and it is a well known fact it no longer runs an SR but in fact a 1.5Jz and an apparent 550rwhp. Also there was an anonymous white supra that attended which I had never seen before, however I am told it makes around 290rwkw. Finnally how can we forget Brad's stunning S2000 'VTEC' , which never ceases to drop jaws when it is rolling past on the road.

All in all it was an awesome night, I only got a bunch of shots as I was driving on the night, munch munch nA S13s HAH! But did a quick shoot of Justin and Gus's cars together for possibly the last time. Enjoy the shots:

The mental S14 I was talking about before, unfortunately this is the only shot I got and it isn't even that good :(

Justins 32 at the second meeting spot.

The anonymous supra, making some decent power, however I am not a fan of the kit or exhaust. Not my car though.

Spur of the moment farewell photoshoot:

Few shots of Gus's car, just because we could haha

Both Blue beasts together for possibly the last time, definitely a sad sight.

PS: Notice the girl in the background with the black top and beige mini skirt checking me out haha. If you for some unknown reason are reading this, call me ;)

Club Outrun Invades Japan

2010-02-15T11:47:00.002+10:00

Mez recently went on a trip with the Club Outrun boys to japan, and after editing for what seems like forever, he made this short clip to show everyone that yes he did film. He is still editing away and I for one cannot wait to see the rest of the footage. It looked like one hell of a trip, missile drifting is so rad.

So check it out, it is worth every second of the 4 minute length.

For Club Outrun from MeZ Productions on Vimeo.

Ye Old Jamboree

2010-02-12T20:36:00.004+10:00

First up:
Lack of updates is due to us trying to throw ideas around for Downshifts Birthday Bash, which we are prepping to be all kinds of amazing, so watch this space.

I decided to sift though my old event pics, and realized that I had not posted the shots from the 2009 Jamboree which was in September last year. Jamboree is one of the premier events here in Queensland, it has been running for around 19 years now I think which is a ridiculously good effort for an event. Although in hindsight there isn't really any competition. Jamboree is based around class Drag Racing, with the usual Street class all the way up to pro class, although in recent years they have introduced a show and shine which is good so those who don't want to break their hardparked rides can still win a trophey hah.

The good thing about the Jamboree Show and Shine is that it is filled with mainly hardcore track cars and other track orientated cars. Which is what I like to see, no one likes bling at a race track, kinda defeats the purpose of being there. So enjoy the pics, as some of the cars are top examples from Queensland, especially Alex from GT Auto's absolutely amazing FD RX7.

This may be powered by an RB20, but Mario's 32 GTST is actually making some decent power, around 340rwhp.

Justin's 32 GTR is all kinds of amazing, although unfortunately he is wanting to sell it. The car is ready for track work, is making 580awhp and everything needed to run that power without blowing shit up. If anyone is interested shoot him an email on topspeed_260@hotmail.com

The King of Time Attack here in Aus, Mark Berry's Widebody 650hp R34 GTR is a monster in every sense of the word.

Low 10's and high 9's from factory should cement the owners of these in the book of mad men.

GT Auto's 'MOTEC' has been around for quite some time, however not many people had seen it before. He jumped on the track on semi slicks, ran a 10.3 and was kicked out. I think the plates will tell you all that is is running some serious shit under that bonnet.

This CRX was supporting some great fitment, and an odd choice of paint, Harlequin. However the Rota Slipstreams were a bit of a let down, nothing beats real Regamaster Evo's.

What is everyone looking at you might ask?....

.... uhhhh yeah this, 1150awhp and the most spastic exhaust note ever heard. The Godzilla Lizard didn't have shit on this.

75INZ is once again another car proving GT Auto definitely have what it takes to build goliaths in the import scene. This FD is actually pretty famous in the Queensland car scene as it was one of the first to really push some serious power. Now supporting a bridge ported 13b with a t51r making around 600rwhp it is one hell of a weapon. Also who doesn't love those polished Buddy Club P1's.

Old school cool ftw

So we see here what not to do. Blitz stickers haha seriously what on earth would it be running that is Blitz.

Aza's 6.5 was on show, as you may remember it was featured last year.

Wasn't expecting to see a Clubman out there, but oh well still looked cool. Well as cool as a car with retarded doors for a boot can look.

So yeah, what can I say other than, this car takes my breathe away. The wheels, the engine, the parts are all nothing short of the best of the best. It also makes 360rwkw on piss all boost and is tracked quite a lot. So much love for this car.

hahaha Holy shit this is mental

This Datto 1200 Ute runs 8's, also notice the snow on the intercooler. Liquid Nitrogen cooler ftw?

Setup on a 7sec FD RX7

Unfortunately I didn't get many awesome action shots for whatever reason. But here are some decent ones I managed to get.

Boosted DC2 ran a best of 11.2, damn fast for a FWD street car.

How to skid a bike 101..

This little APC Evo has ran a best of 9.1 I think, open to corrections.

Posted a shot of this CRX in the Honda Dyno Day post, this is where it proved it can run an 11.9 with a Turbo D Series.

Also as a treat for all those reading my blog, here is a hella shitty shot of some of the gorgeous girls that are at every Jamboree. Also have a go at the sponsoring on the drag car haha.

The Purists

2010-02-02T18:21:00.003+10:00

Unfortunately I had no pics from the December JDM Meet, which is sad considering it had around 100+ cars turn up, however they were not under good circumstances as the meet was posted on a forum which has quite a bad reputation for ruining meets and cruises, but there was no drama. I did somehow lose my pics though, no idea how.

Well the January meet rolled around, and this time no losers posted the meet on other forums so it was the usual crowd. I think what makes the meet so appealing to everyone, and loved by everyone who attends is the community we have created, everyone gets along, it is amazing how you meet friends through one common interest, and some of those friends stay with you for life because of it. No matter what the media say, the car scene is never going to die.

As per usual not much to say about the meets since its mainly chat and looking at cars, so roll on the pics. I decided to once again post up some of the boys shots to show some love and also give it a bit of variety.

My Shots:

Dan's S15 is pushing some fairly serious numbers for an SR, and with his newest purchase being a set of SSR Type F's in black, with ridiculously sexy offset and insane fitment, this is one to watch. Hopefully will do a feature on it in the coming months.

Alex is a good mate of mine, and a wheel whore through and through. This kid knows fitment like the back of his hand and has crazy good taste, example is his Eg Civic. Seeing it always makes me regret not buying one :(

3 Evo's, all making big power and running 12's or lower. Also well thought out plates definitely add to a cars notoriety.

Gus and Justin brought out their tough as nails 32 GTRs for the meet, with Justin now running E85 and close to 580awhp it is one heck of an animal. I am sure Gus's 32 needs no introduction on here, just look at that fitment, for a GTR it is A++.

Got to love the plates, honestly i froth over that RS front bar every time I see Sam's 930.

Kyrin's Shots

The fitment on this S14 is absolutely crazy, I think everyone was speechless when it rolled in.

IS200's are not really touched on to often over here in Aus, sad really, such an awesome shape. This is a very clean example.

Amazing colour and a twin turbo V6 under the bonnet...from a Holden, totally left field swap but an awesome one as well.

Coolest plates around...

Foy's Shots:

This Eg is amazing, those Work Equip 01's look the goods on it, didn't get a chance to meet the owner, but he/she sure has some quality taste.

More shots of the truly badass S14

Duy's Pics:

With some coilovers this Sw20 would look the goods

See if you can work all the number plates out haha

Dan's Shots:

+10 points to anyone who can guess what this is, awesome sight to see that is for sure.

Sam's tracked prepped 930 is just awesome, notice the cage and semi's.

Couple of immaculate S15s, check the quality fitment on the white one, those TE's are damn hot.

According to Justin a fair few people have voiced their dislike of his SSR Type C's on the 32. No idea why, they look amazing to me, and are quite rare to boot. Would look great with some semi's wrapped around them...*cough Justin cough*

This DC5S was amazing, those BBS LM's are rarely seen on Civics or Integra's due to cost and people being a bit iffy about the look, this teg proves that shit works WELL.

34 GTR wheels suit Evo VI's so well and from what I have been told, yeah it can rock those plates.

Sorry about the giant post, although I am sure you enjoyed it. Cheers to everyone who turns out for the meet month in month out and makes the night as good as it is. Sorry to those whose cars I did not post, had to cut the pics down as it was big enough post already.

Snap Snaps

2010-01-31T23:50:00.002+10:00

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

2010-01-30T23:08:00.001+10:00

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

2010-01-25T14:42:00.002+10:00

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

2010-01-24T16:39:00.007+10:00

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

One Night Stand

2010-01-10T19:00:00.002+10:00

One Night Stand is a local drifting event held here in sunny Queensland, it always manages to show the up and comers and also a lot of sponsored teams turn out to support the event. Mez was out camera in hand to capture the night, Enjoy.

One Night Stand from MeZ Productions on Vimeo.

Spur Of The Moment Thing

2010-01-10T18:00:00.002+10:00

Sometimes the best nights are the ones that are never really planned. I was sitting at home watching some stupid program on tv, and I get this phone call from my buddy Logan telling me that there is going to be epic cruise and why am I not on MSN. So i jumped on and within the hour we organized a cruise. Now it wasn't a cruise with 100 cars there were only 2, but the car quality was A grade and cruising with good mates and chilling is always a great way to spend a night.

The cars in attendance are quite popular in the Queensland car scene, specially Brad's S2000 which can probably lay claim as being one of the first S2000's in Queensland to really step it up in terms of overall build, parts quality and of course stance. It manages to drop jaws no matter where it goes, something about those white Meisters, carbon fibre roof, supercharger and titanium exhaust makes peeps go all googlie eyed. Car number two is the properly badass WPN26, something about GTR's always draws attention and Gus's definitely emphasizes that. Due to the love of GTR's, especially 32's, a lot of the time here in Aus unfortunately the quality is terrible and it is a sad sight, but Gus's immaculate 32 definitely proves that Nissan designed something truly special. 500+ rwhp yeah bring the reign.

Started off meeting at a big petrol station and chilled for a bit..

Rear Diffusers are dead fucking sexy

I am ridiculously happy with how Gus's shots turned out, just look awesome. Wallpaper on it's way.

We then ended up at the carpark of Seaworld on the Gold Coast, most random location but worked out to be an awesome backdrop, go figure.

mmmm yummy fitment

Seriously when people see Brad's Carbon roof, they shit massive bricks.

Enjoy the shots ladies and gents, wallpapers to come for sure, and this is definitely not the last time you will see these two cars on here. Cheers to Will & Ben for driving me out there and Brad, Gus & Logan for making it an awesome night.

-Downshift

Living In The Stone Age

2010-01-10T17:43:00.002+10:00

First off, I am sorry to the regular readers about the massive lack of anything lately, it has been a good month since my last post, but I have my reasons.

Basically it goes like this, I was asked by my Auntie and Uncle if I was able to house sit their place while they jetsetted to the states for 4 weeks (envious to the max) I said sure why not. Now after about 2-3 days of bumming and playing loads of xbox I jumped on their PC and came to the sad realization that their internet was about the same speed as the internet Noah used when he was googling animals he needed for the maiden Ark voyage. I am not exaggerating either, it downloaded an excel spread sheet at 28.8kb/s.

So I have been living without any form of internet since the 20th of December, and will be living without till the 21st of January. But I had to come home to do some stuff and decided to let you all know the issues and also post and update or two depending on time to keep you all happy.

Cheers for waiting around, and sticking it out.

Rory,
Downshift Crew

Santa Should Use These Sleds

2009-12-19T22:22:00.007+10:00

Dyno Days are a dime a dozen over here in Queensland, Australia and you will find that out more so by following our site as this will be our second Dyno coverage and we have a third in the works, not that I am complaining. Mercury Motorsport held a dyno day on the 19th and it was good to see so many people rocking up so close to christmas, but hey taking home a trophy would be one damn nice way to start the festivities.

When I first got sent an Invite about a month ago (god facebook makes things easy) from Jay about the up and coming Mercury Dyno day I knew then that the cars attending would be A grade quality and I was right. Mercury are known for, if anything for their all powerful Nissans and today did not disappoint. Props to Tess and Trent for putting together such a awesome day and for everyone who made it possible by actually fronting for it. It is events like this that make our scene oh so awesome.
The day was made even better by the fact that I thought only a few guys I knew were showing up for it, but it turned out that tonnes of good friends showed for the day. Nothing in this world beats hanging with good friends, surrounded by hella proper cars and watching some full tilt weapons do power runs. Much love for all the boys they know who they are.
Figured it would be easier to just leave comments about the pics, as you would get confused with all the numberplates this way you know who made what power.

So many rides were running eye lids, made me feel like I was living out a Need For Speed game haha Oh well those Emotions made up for it on this 15.

Familiar?? Cory brought the evo out to show everyone how to build a car without it being a rolling defect. Such an awesome ride, and now supports a half cage and totally stripped interior.

Prepare to see a LOT more of this wpn (see what i did there? Comedic genious) Gus is a good mate of mine and his 32 is definitely one of the best getting around, so many GTR's are just trailer queens, and it's always good to see a top quality example rolling on the bitumen.

FINALLY got to see Logans 33 again, after a year of him sending me pictures over MSN. It was good to see it in the flesh, even if it was a little worse off in places due to some previous "workshop" issues but when it's done expect a feature on it as it will definitely be living up to those plates.

I have been wanting to shoot Justins 32 for months now, but he has been consistently upgrading it this year, which i must say always makes me excited when he tells me he got new goods for the beast. But now that his new brakes are on feature is definitely in the works.
Also note Jay's 33 which I hope to feature soon, although big things to come so I might hold out till it is EVEN better. I swear if it wasn't for Jay i wouldn't have half the contacts I do, much love for him.

Last time I saw this 34 it was a bog stock GTR, now it has a full N1 block, 2.8ltr stroker and a t04z hanging off the side, would hate to see the hole in his wallet.

Not a fan of this car, weak wheels and some things that need attention but it makes 1150rwhp so ladies and gentlemen, welcome to pain.

This thing is ridiculous; 1.5jz, powerglide dragbox, full slicks and a low 10sec pass to its name.

What can i say about this thing, but it was actually built by HKS, it ran a 9sec pass in Japan and the owner Dave, drives it like a mad man over here. Intense amounts of win reside in this thing.

To any americans reading this, this is basically a Pontiac G8 but named a Holden Commodore. This particular one has Nitrous and 500hp.

Down Under Reppin' JDM

2009-12-14T14:51:00.004+10:00

Its amazing that when something starts to catch on in the car scene, people seem to appear from nowhere with premium examples, almost like they were waiting until the right crowd caught on. We have been a part of the JDM scene from the beginning, which is approaching almost 2 years ago now...shit time flies, and the meets have grown so fast considering how quiet spoken everyone is about it to outsiders, but it seems that each month newcomers attend and make the meets even more enjoyable.

From small 5 car beginnings all the way up to almost 40 strong at the recent EOMM (End of Month Meet) it shows that the community is growing, and boy is it growing fast. So props to all the boys who turn out and make the meet what it is; dope cars, awesome people, great atmosphere and a fun night all round.

Enjoy the shots, decided to use a few of the boys pics to change things up from my usual style, and to give some love to them.

My shots:

Kyrin certainly knows where its at for Offset and wheel choice, pure badass, much love for his Chaser.

Brad's S2K is always a hit with the crowds....and women

CE28N goodness, mmmmm

Kyrins Shots:

Equip 03's and Eg Civics go together like chips and gravy

SSR Professors and good offset on an S2000

P1's used to be so popular but have kind of gone out of fashion these days, still look the goods.

Joe's EG is one of my favorites at the moment, stay tuned for a possible feature in the future.

Brad's S2K is photographed more than Paris Hilton in compromising positions

I really do think that it is impossible to find a car TE37's do not suit

Sprintharts on the front Regamaster Evo's on the rear, wheel whoring at it's finest.

Matyi's Shots

Eg or Ek take your pic

S15 + TE37s in awesome offset + stretch = badass fitment

Much love for Joe's Eg

annnddd another....

The XD9's on Kyrins Chaser look sooo good with his stance.

Weekly Wallpaper

2009-12-13T20:04:00.003+10:00

Decided we were going to have a weekly wallpaper update on the site. Hope you like the pics, also let us know of any size preferences that you guys have, we will host the usual sizes but I know some people have these intense monitors that are probably bigger than my TV. So comment and let us know. Click the size links for the pics.

To start it off this week is a shot I took of this clean as 32 GTR with some sort of subtle kit on it. I spotted it parked a few buildings over at a recent Dyno day, and walked over and grabbed this shot.

-Downshift Team

800 x 600

1024 x 644

1280 x 800

1600 x 1000

Green With Envy

2009-11-27T23:20:00.001+10:00

Mez is back with his latest creation, hope you enjoy his work.

got bored so made a clip of Team Green

Song:
Run For Your Life - Break Even
myspace.com/breakevenhc

Team Green from MeZ Productions on Vimeo.

Comments, Comments, Comments

2009-11-27T22:49:00.005+10:00

Just to let you know, the comments now work. So let us know what you think of the posts and articles and even the site in general, we appreciate any feedback.

Thanks,
Downshift Team

Big Guns

2009-11-19T16:04:00.027+10:00

Here in sunny Queensland Australia at the start of June all the way up until the middle of November is the biggest time for motoring events. All the most looked forward too and anticipated shows that everyone goes mental in preparation for start. Now we do realize that we are a few months behind in terms of posting, but that is due to starting in May and having to catch up all of the prior months, but we are getting there haha. Technically the big events are kicked off by the Annual Honda Cruise which we covered last month, but as you all probably know, Honda's are not enjoyed by everyone unfortunately so most people say that Powerplay is the kick start of the big events, and boy is one hell of a kick.

For those uneducated in the awesomeness of Powerplay here is a bit of a description. Powerplay is considered by many (myself included) as the best event on the motoring calender, and for many reasons. It was started by the creators of Powercruise, a similiar event that runs in September (Powerplay is June) and is a 4 day epic event of car madness, however the event is primarily V8's and alot of the Import and Euro scene boys cried foul about this, so Powerplay was started as a lead up to Powercruise and only running for one day. It is considered the best event as it is not only the toughest V8's that come out for some action but also the top dog Imports and in recent years Euro's. So you could call it a culmination of our culture and scene, or a massive battle royale, take your pick...

Now your are probably picturing a drag strip and lot's of fast cars, which is fine, however Powerplay is run quite differently, which is why it has become such a dominate event in terms of attendance, with Powerplay seeing over 550 cars entered on one day. Queensland Raceway (QR) is our premier track, and quite a boring one at that, however Powerplay makes use of its 4 long straights and the ability to see the entire track from pit wall. The event is based around the track and the activities are as follows:
Cruise Sessions:
These are the back bone of the event, it allows about 40 cars to hit the track at once, with as many passengers as they like. It is a re-creation of the typical street scene, but with the safety of the track.

Off Street Drags:
Kinda explains itself, the first time you see it, with a girl flagging cars down on the main straight reminds you of the first race in 2Fast 2Furious, just need Ludacris to make a draw bridge go up at the end.

Powerskid Comp:
A powerskid is basically you start from a stand still and have to try and hold the skid or 'Burnout' for as far as possible without using the brakes. An Aussie invention dominated by v8's with 4 million torques.

Show 'n' Shine:
We all know what this is...

Dyno Comp:
Pretty good to go and watch when some cars are pumping out figures around 1400rwhp, and then going out and cruising on the track.

Powerplay is considered on of the best events due mainly to the diverse nature of the infield, with Imports Vs V8's Vs the odd Euro. There are blown and injected V8s running exhausts that end at the front wheels and enough horsepower to tow the Queen Mary II, Imports with Turbo's so big that if children under the age of 4 are close by they will be sucked in, and Euro's that cost upwards of $120,000 doing burnouts and drifting all day long, as you can see it is a pretty ridiculous event. Of course being an Import based site we are slightly biased to the cars in attendance so do forgive us, our coverage of Powercruise is much more vast and diverse. The obvious top of show for us was one of the big gun GTR's that show up, the noise, the speed, the intenseness of these animals is beyond my metaphor relating ability. Mark's maroon, Australian delivered R32 GTR, 'GODZLA' is my favorite, just because it is in essence how a GTR should look and perfection in my eyes. Some of the other boys picked Marawans gun metal R33 GTR 'TOPRPM' the best of show due to the 1250hp at the engine figure, also noted was Adam's pearl R32 GTR 'FATGTR' T51r + 700hp = win and a unknown never before seen Sti called 'HAU15' which made 540awhp and did limiter launches all day till it blew a head gasket, we didn't see it get beaten all day long. A mention must also go to Chris's IWIN Midnight Purple 33 GTR and Gus's Bayside(ish looking) Blue 32 GTR as well. We are not beeing biased towards Nissan here, it's just the toughest imports...were Nissan's haha.

It did rain during the event, but that didn't seem to effect anyone, except of course the boys on semi slicks who as soon as they went out spun...inevitable really. Watching the GTRs dominate was truly amazing, hearing the V8s was truly...painful but awesome and just the atmosphere is fantastic, I recommend everyone who loves cars to attend in 2010 and anyone looking to come to Aus to do it it around June 2010...seriously it is worth it.

Shout out to Sharpy for driving us out, and providing laughs all day long and to Jay and Brad for taking me around the track to get shots during cruise sessions...which didn't really turn out haha. Here are the rest of the pics;

Sharpy showing us a comparison of his fist with a custom Garrett Turbo that helps this particular GTR make 1152rwhp. Scary stuff..

Gus's awesome 32 GTR, the colour is amazing in person, kind of a lighter more metallic shade of bayside blue. One of our picks of the day.

When this FD opened up its 450+rwhp it sounded so damn good, nothing beats the noise of rotor on full tilt.

Sharpy photo-bombing the mentalist 'TOPRPM' 1000hp daily

350awhp + stuff all weight + AWD = One hell of a Pulsar GTi-R

Easily my favorite car of the day, and maybe even in Queensland, Mark knows where it is at when building the perfect GTR. Twin T66's and a fuel system that is a homage to the fabled Group A racers.

Super Clean GTS-T...

...who's gearbox went bang

Sweating On It

2009-10-28T19:08:00.003+10:00

Our resident Tarantino of drifitng footage Mez has decided to give us just a dab of club outrun to enlighten our taste buds and get them salivating. Looking forward to seeing more footage of Luke Fink in the Holfords S14 that is for sure, he is getting some dope angles.

Visit cluboutrun.net for more info.

Club Outrun Teaser from MeZ Productions on Vimeo.

We Know You Wanted It...

2009-10-28T18:11:00.007+10:00

Just as we said we spoke to somefriends and got extra shots of the Annual Honda Cruise, hope you enjoy a more broad spectrum of the cars in attendance and hopefully some more in the later months. With over 120 cars at the meet, and us spending to much time chit chatting we missed out on some of the badass rides that showed up. Look out for the awesome, awesome examples of EG Civics which are popping up here in QLD, not yet at the level we see from the boys in the states, but still massive props to them for building proper cars.

Thanks to Dave for the extra shots.

Annual Day of Vtec

2009-10-20T21:24:00.007+10:00

Here in Aus the Honda scene is relatively small compared to the likes of the US and Japan, but every year an Annual Cruise is held, which brings out the biggest and baddest Honda's around, to the extent where some of the attendee's only see the light of day for this one event per year. This year it was the biggest it has ever been with a massive 120 cars turning out, with all varieties of Honda's on show ranging from Civics all the way upto S2000's.

As with all events there are standout cars, and due to our mingling and slackness i was not able to grab shots of some of the highlights. However there will be features coming in the future of some of these cars so keep and eye out. We will also post more pics in the coming weeks to show off more of the field.

This time, we are trying a different approach with the post, and letting the pictures do the talking. So enjoy and look out for more pics to come.

PS: Also as many of you may know i drive a Nissan so i was not allowed to attend, so big thanks to Brad (aka VTEC S2000) for letting me roll with him, and also letting us do a quick (well not really quick) wheel change at his place before setting off.

JPP Private Drift Day

2009-09-23T21:47:00.003+10:00

Japanese Parts & Performance held another private day at the training centre next to Willowbank Raceway. Mez was out there Cam in hand covering it and as usual produced some super dope footage. Enjoy.

Support Mez by checking out his Vimeo channel in our Support section.

J.P.P Day from MeZ Productions on Vimeo.

VI Is Life

2009-09-22T17:36:00.017+10:00

Sometimes in life you meet someone for the first time and chat a little and then without even realising a few months later you are good friends. Well this is one of those moments, I cannot remember how i first met Aaron and his Mitsubishi Evo VI TME or as it is known by many, the 6.5. It is common knowledge that the Evolution Vi shape is still considered the best shape out of all of the previous and current incarnations of the legendary platform. It is the most aggressive holding the toughest stance and brings the instant thought of the man Tommi Makinon himself when you first set your gaze onto it.
I knew Aaron for quite a while, probably almost a year before i met his brother Cory, Aaron had mentioned that he had a brother who also owned a Vi and when i first saw them both together out at a local trackday it was quite an awesome look, seeing both Vis sitting together and their owners being brothers. Yes you read it right, these two imaculate Vi's are by no means garaged beauties or show ponys, they head out to where they belong on a very regular basis. To prove my point further, both Aaron and Cory are leading the Sprint sessions leaderboard for their class by quite a large margin and are looking at taking 1st and 2nd respectively.

Aaron's 6.5 is in flawless condition, as of writing this article it now supports quite a different sponsor setup, and Aaron is also looking at getting a new set of rolling stock under it to give it that edgier look, here at Downshift we are very much offset lovers so we agreed totally. The exterior of the Evolution Vi is probably one of the only Japanese performance cars to not need any altering what so ever except for wheels, which leaves more money in the bank for the things that are more, lets say, neccesary. Although it hasn't always been smooth sailing for Aaron and his beloved Tommi, when he first imported it over from Japan, he drove it around a bit, but it seemed that little Tommi was supporting some issues, which as time went on Aaron discovered more and more issues and it looked like the replacing of parts and head scratching of what is wrong would never end. However he got it all sorted and is focusing nower days on getting Tommi into tip top shape for track action. Aaron has layed down the foundations for a bulletproof engine with the purchase of JE Forged Pistons, JE Ring Set, Eagle Rods, Eagle Rod Bolts and a Rehoned Crank. When looking over his engine and his parts list you start to see two recurring theme's, the first being that the parts that are bought are Function>Form and that the best of the best bits are purchased with some of the biggest brand names residing in Tommi such as; a 3" HKS Front Pipe, Fujitsubo Catback, Garage HRS Cyber ECU, and Ralliart Engine mounts just to name a few. The engines current state is bullet proof and ready for whatever excursion Aaron wants to take in the quest for cutting lap times. But the most important part in a track car is the Suspension and Bracing and there are certainly no cut corners here with Tommi rocking some of the best parts around such as Cusco rear Strut and Sway, and there is also some uber expensive Ohlins Coilovers keeping it low and taut and keeping with the top of the range gear joined with the Ohlins Coils are big dollar DMS Adjustable Top Hats.

Cory's Vi is not actually a TME but a GSR, however only Mitsubishi train spotters can reaaally tell the difference and both cars look as good as each other. Cory's car has had less work done, but with the prospect of him looking into a stroker kit, watch this space as i am sure it will become some sort of low flying, white missile. Cory's Vi supports an Evo 7 ECU with a custom tune, a Fujitsubo Catback, Ralliart Ignition Leads, Walbro fuel pump, a Greddy Profec B Spec 2 boost controller with 22psi and a Meek Hotside pipe with Meek Turbo outlet just to name a few. Cory has also spent some cash getting the brakes upto full on race standard so pulling the white rocket up is a set of Performance Friction 2 peice grooved front rotors running big dollar Endless PC35 pads and braided lines all round, making sure that even when the engine becomes meaner that the car will still pull up for turn 1. Cory has also looked into Bracing a lot heavier as well as a badass set of coils just like his brother. Cory runs Cusco all around with Cusco front and rear sway bars, under body brace, a massive Cusco 3 Point Strut brace and an awesome Cusco carbon fibre rear strut brace, teamted with a Ralliart boot brace. Rocking the top of the range Tein Monoflex coils to make sure the Vi is as chuckable as ever. Cory has already purchased the one exterior needed mod, that being wheels. Rolling on rare as hell Prodrive forged GC010 in 18x8.5 with a +34 offset, however he is looking at getting some lighter and lower offset wheels in the future.

Both cars are in essence built to be how Evo's should be built, not show cars that are rarely driven, not collectors cars that collect nothing but dust and not daily drivers that never touch the circuit. No they are built to be track ready, lap time killers and with both the brothers attention to detail they also have the ability to be street driven, with NO defects whatsoever. Proven when Aaron was pulled over at a cruise meet and all the cop could pin was Harnesses (which were detachable) and the blow off valve, which just so happened to be stock. So take note from Aaron and Cory, if you build it carefully enough one minute you can be chewing up tyres and versing the clock and the next you can be out on a date without any worry at all.

If you want to see more of Aaron and Cory's Evo's, check out their site Dryden Motorsports located in our Support Sites to the right.