Excuses Are Not Always Bad

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Plates are a dead giveaway.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Killers On The Street

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

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.