Author Archives: Garth Ivers

Long White Cloud (Of Tyre Smoke)

June 26, 2009 in Events by

manjiday

Keisuke from 86Fighters blog may be back in New Zealand but that hasn’t stopped his incurable hachiroku mania.  He’s been busy getting the skids on at a local grassroots drift day.

In New Zealand, there are a group called S-Club who organize the Joe Manji Events for like minded people who like to Manji!  I went with 3 hours sleep, no food or water and forgot my helmet. I wasn’t the most prepared to say the least, but had a very good time none the less! From missiles to “D1-Spec”, there were a variety of cars and talent in attendance – but thats the best part of it!

Head over to his blog and check out the galleries of the day. Gallery 1 & Gallery 2.

Diffin!

June 23, 2009 in Videos by

The Irish up to their usual tricks again…. It never gets old though, no matter how many times you see it!

DEATH-PROOF: Goto-san’s AE86

June 22, 2009 in Feature Cars by

gotosan

Goto-san is somewhat an enigma in Fuji Speedway’s drifting fraternity. With his distinct body styling and 10/10th’s driving style it’s no wonder a car like this can be so well regarded whilst being so damn rough. Alexi from Noriyaro was recently at Fuji and managed to capture this unique hachiroku in all its gritty realism. He writes:

The only reason this car exists is for the sole purpose of practicing as much as possible, It shows. “The minimum amount of work for the maximum result” is the philosophy behind this car.

Check out Noriyaro for the rest.

“I Saw The Toyota 086A”

June 18, 2009 in Random by

086a-lfa

Mr Karow has again more new on the 086A, this time pretty solid info from a Toyota insider who he says has “been sitting on this information for quite some time”. Justin writes:

The insider claims he has seen the 086A and is adamant that only one body style will be offered and that body style will differ only very slightly between the Toyota and Subaru versions, such as the front grille, head/tail light treatment and badges.

This isn’t the whole story though, so head on over to 7TUNE to read the rest of the awesome news!

Brisbane All-Japan Day

June 18, 2009 in Events by

alljapday

Local Brisbane HR member and all round good guy Hao got down to the event last weekend to snap a few shots off (all before his camera running out of battery power…) and i must say it’s a pretty impressive turnout.  Catering to all kinds of Japanese cars, both young and old, the Brisbane All-Japan Day was a huge success! Good job on a fairly impressive turnout from the AE86 scene up in Brisbane. Represent!

Check out the photos here, or just the ’86 related ones after the jump!

(more…)

Idlers Circuit Meet @ Tsukuba

June 17, 2009 in Events by

idlers

Idlers meets at Tsukuba Circuit.  Mike from SPEEDHUNTERS says “is where you’ll find the very best in Japanese automotive culture”. After seeing images such as these, I don’t doubt a single minute that he’s wrong! Here are some quotes from the article:

There have been a few changes to the event format since the last time I’ve been to one of these. There’s now an all-AE86 trophy race that’s been added to the festivities. It was a bit like an N2 race except that the cars were slightly more street-oriented.

and this one I’m still laughing over…

Although Idlers is strictly a grip event, it’s nearly impossible to get a bunch of tuned AE86 drivers together without at least a bit of tail-out antics.

Haha! It looks like we AE86 drivers have a bit of a reputation huh? I like that! Even though the event was dominated by Porsches, more than just a few AE86s turned up to race (and apparently get a little sideways too!), so jump over to SPEEDHUNTERS blog here and here to get all the pics!

AutoArt 1/18 AE86 Initial-D Tuned Version

June 16, 2009 in Parts & Accessories by

A2

Oh yes! When we asked for a ‘Project D version’ of the AE86 from AutoArt all those months ago, it seems someone had listened! AutoArt has another exquisite 1/18 scale hachiroku for you avid toy collectors to purchase and add to your fleet! Unfortunately still missing the AE101 ‘TRD Spec’ 4A-GE from the actual Project D version of the car, it still makes for a pretty nice piece of desk art.

Priced @ $129USD it isn’t cheap, but for you highrollers out there, you can pick it up over at AutoArt with some of that Stimulus package (if you have any left!). Hit the jump for more photos!

(more…)

All The Horsepower In The World..

June 15, 2009 in Videos by

… won’t stop you from spinning out and losing the round… Here Taka Aono in his trusty AE86 shows Daijiro Yoshihara that the key to success isn’t simply a bigger dyno sheet…

Hachiroku Heartbreak

June 11, 2009 in Random by

hachirokuheartbreak

Over in Japan, Justin from 7TUNE has found yet another story of heartbreak and remorse for us AE86 owners.

I finally went back to my old neighborhood in Settsu-Motoyama in Kobe and sure enough, the old “abandoned” AE86 Toyota Sprinter Trueno was still there, only now in a different position! Yep, it’s the same car I saw behind my apartment way back in late 2003.

So head over to 7TUNE and catch the rest!

AE86’s Of Nikko MSC

June 10, 2009 in Events by

noriyaro_msc

Alexi has a few pictures of AE86’s up on his site that attended the recent MSC day at Nikko Circuit (in which he placed roughly fifth, congrats Alexi!). So get over there and check ’em out.