After our mini featurette on Japanese workshop Carland, most of you should be familiar with the Kyoto based company and its AE86 expertise. Now, Carland have just started to organise meets and events for their customers and other Kyoto based ‘86 drivers. Their first meet last month in Kyoto was a meet up at the Arashi Mountain Takao Parkway Parking Area for a group photoshoot for the upcoming Toyota Levin & Trueno Magazine Issue 21.

Pics after the jump.

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If you guys haven’t realised yet, I’m a bit of a rally nut….. Anyway I found this video of a New Zealand AE86 getting thrashed through the forests. This guy’s a really good steerer and I’m sure the car has lots of choice bits under it. The driver, Lyndon Galbraith, ended up finishing 1st in class, 1st 2WD and 15th outright, which is a pretty good result considering he would have been taking it easy as he just spent $20g refurbishing the car with a brand new drivetrain.

Here is the in-car footage from the first stage:

Also i found a newspaper article about the event:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4495924a6434.html

Toyota Fest USA 2008 was held in California last weekend, which saw hundreds of Toyota owners merge together to show off their pride and joy for all to see. Of course a Toyota car show would not be the same with out some of the best AE86s in the USA.

Some more pictures after the jump…

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Every wondered how to build an N2 AE86? Well now you can with intricate step by step details!

This link will lead you to 23 Volumes about the development of the Kai Power N2 AE86, including everything from chassis to gearbox and of course the N2-spec engine.

Happy reading (if you understand Japanese, if not theres always Babelfish)!

We’ve got some great photos today from a short ‘touring meet’ in Hakone, Japan on April 27th. Not much else is known about the meet up yet but judging from the photos it was a huge success! White is ever popular as you can see …

Photos after the jump.

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We’ve done another tough week here at HR blog. All that watching videos and absorbing hachiroku goodness.. ahh wouldn’t it be nice if we could get paid for doing just this?

Sweetness comes in video form of the Motore Levin Coupe from Touge Showdown 2. Just love the sound of this car!

and as a bonus:

Yes, we’ve all seen it, but it never gets old!

I think I’ll let the picture do the talking on this one…

Seriously… What the?

Source: Houston Imports

Last weekend was the first ever Formula Drift event held in Singapore. The AE86 was well represented with at least 3 cars in the field. Tengku Djan, piloting his Trueno Hatch was leading up to the final battle but ended up finishing 2nd, due to a spin just before the finish line. He also took the honour of fastest entry speed, clocking in @ 107Kph on the speed trap. It Just goes to show the AE86 still has the potential to go up against the big-boys at pro level drift competitions.

Check out lots of pictures after the jump.

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Carland might not be the most recognised name in the AE86 racing world, but their cars will no doubt be remembered long after the big names have gone from the circuit. Located in Kyoto, Japan, Carland has been instrumental in the restoration and maintenance of the entire nations AE86’s by way of their insane AE86-exclusive workshop and dedicated mook (a magazine book for those unfamiliar with the Japanese term), “Toyota Levin and Trueno Magazine” published by Tatsumi Publishing.

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UPDATE 2 MAY 2008: We have managed to find the elusive little car and have some better shots of the FUTO after the jump. It handles like a dream and is quite zippy in comparison to the other smaller cars in the game. We found it in the ‘Meadow Hills’ area of ‘Dukes’ for those who are yet to drive it.

It only took a day but an AE86 has been discovered in GTA4! Called a Karin FUTO (tofu reference?) in game, the car is obviously modelled on an AE86, a Levin coupe to be exact, and has the kouki clear fog-light grill and what looks like some 8-spoke RS Watanabe rims.

Even the engine bay got the perks as it sports a quad-throttle equipped 4A-GE and the interior is almost identical to a USDM AE86! Apparently it even has a sticker saying “Inline 20v Twin Cam” on the side! Looks like someone on the team was an AE86 fan! Thanks to you Mr mystery modeller!

Still, there has been no word on how it handles in-game yet or where it commonly turns up. We will let you know as soon as someone can tear themselves away for long enough to tell us!

Some pics after the jump!

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Ken Gushi VS Keiichi Tsuchiya…who is the better driver? Would this car beat N2 cars in japan?? I don’t think so…but let us know your thoughts in the comments..

When it opened in 1997, YZ Circuit was originally intened to be a dedicated motorcycle track, but in recent times the majority of traffic rolls into the track on four wheels. An almost even 50/50 split of grip and drift events ensures that there is always some sweet action on the track and due to the dangerous and exciting nature of the circuit, official competitions and events are often held there much to the delight of motorsport fans.

These pics (courtesy of 7TUNE) are from a recent event held by Tetsuya Hibino from Sunrise Garage. It was mostly a drift practice session but the afternoon had a friendly team drift competition where groups of three cars per team would be competing against each other.

Hit the jump for a huge gallery of AE86 pics from the day

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A turbo + a supercharger + the always awesome 4A-GE = Madness! This AE86 smashes out 471hp (thats 351kW for you new schoolers) and 508nm of torque at redline - now that’s no mean feat for a 1.6 Liter!

If you want to know more about twincharging a 4A-GE visit this site.

Hit the jump for an extra video showing various stages of the build up.

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We are ok with the idea of transplanting Nissan parts into AE86’s but this is taking it a little too far…

The only saving grace is that its reversible… poor little AE86…

Just a quicky on this long-weekend holiday, here are a few pics in Okinawa from the Team Hinga boys at a little drive day they had yesterday. A little insight into their little island’s AE86 culture. Cheers to Chris from Team Hinga for the pics.

Check them out after the jump.

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Some shots from last week’s Prodrift European and IRL events at Mondello Park courtesy of series photographer Paddy McGrath.

Check out the AE86 pics from the gallery after the jump!

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Through our random searching on Youtube during lunch break, we happened to come across this very special video:

Can you name all the drivers in the video? a head start: Ken Maeda is driving the yellow Trueno. Comment with all 5 correct answers and get a free HR sticker!

Source: Youtube

Ever wonder what the origins of the AE86 were? or what the hell those model names mean? or even still what the differences were between all those models, body styles or trim specs? Well pull up a chair, slap on your readin’ glasses and get yourself a nice strong coffee, you’re about to be schooled in a little history - AE86 Style.

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An online Blog / Magazine known as Wrecked Magazine has done a very interesting feature on well known Irish drifter, Eric O’Sullivan and his Honda F20C powered AE86. The magazine also features some other unique information about drifting from around the world too so check it out over at Wrecked Here.

Source: Wrecked Magazine

For the average Joe, a motor transplant usually turns into a six month rebuild sucking endless wads of cash from your wallet in the process. However, if you are Toshiki Yoshioka, Japanese AE86 drifter extraordinare, you just make one simple phone call and few days later you have brand new top spec 4A-GE sitting in front of you - fresh from Japan no less.

Courtesy of auto-lifestyle blog OG-Made, we bring you some sweet pics of Yoshioka’s new US drift machine (he is currently drifting a Lexus SC430 in D1GP Japan) in the build. He will be using this new iteration of his old blue DRoo-P Trueno to slide in both US D1GP events and also in Formula D for 2008.

Check the jump for more pics!

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Orange short shorts, tasty ribs, NA Power and the war cry of ‘RA RA RA its my birthday’ were what was experienced by all that attended the April monthly meet up Sunday night at the Sydney Hooters restaurant in Parramatta!

Turn up was 7pm sharp, and sharp it was! First crazy i saw was Mr Adam, in his nicely tuned Aussie Sprinter along with him was a sweet looking gunmetal GTV 86 driven by none other then Jun himself! Few others rolled in with that look in their eye that they wanted a fat steak and the sights of some sexy girls.

Our brand new range of HR stickers were out in force as everyone parted with their church change for some slick glitter chrome goodness! More designs and vinyl effects to come so watch the blog for more!

Cars to remember were young Damo’s mint JDM Trueno hatch which is the hotness of hot for the new kids on the block! It’s good to see such eager new 86 owners! Speaking of newbies, the exact opposite definition was the Purple Trueno Coupe owned by old-school hachi disciple and HR blogger Andrew! Yet another hot hot import coupe courtesy of the Irishman in the west!

Food was great! Laughs and company were even better! Hope to see you all at the next one!

Cheers to Kei Pix and Matt Mead Photography for the camera work.

Pics after the jump.

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Our AE86-crazy friends over in Ireland really know how to run an event! This is a meet held at a private yard in Tullow (County Carlow for the non-locals). In a warehouse with ample clear space outside, crazy paddy’s got their revs on with a show-off inside and then circle work outside. We love it (and to be honest are hella jealous of their warehouse)!

Word on the street is the next meet is at the rally of the lakes in Killarney in early May, and then the organisers are planning on going back to the Carlow venue after that for more of the same, so if your keen on attending, contact the hachiroku fella’s over at Driftworks to get the inside info!

More pics plus a video after the jump.

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The NSW Oberon Rally was on last weekend and Ben Cullen with his Group A Rally TTA Levin coupe Replica hit the dirt and came out of the event with an awesome result placing 12th outright out of a field of 42. He also placed 1st P2 (1300-1600cc class) which by any measure is an awesome start to his 2008 rally assault. Ben says 2008 will see him competing in both of the New South Wales events of the Australian Rally Championship as well as the State Championship.

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Tsukuba Circuit played host to an AE86 vs VTEC Track Day. Which consisted of an open practice through out the day, with a race to finish it off in the afternoon. The race combined the fastest ’86s and Hondas from the earlier practice sessions and put them head-to-head in an all out battle for NA superiority. The race was taken out by the Techno Pro Spirit AE86 Levin affectionatly known as ‘Taro’ but it wasn’t given an easy time as it was pushed all the way to a nail-biting finish by the YellowFactory EG Civic (both pictured above).

Some pictures from the event after the jump.

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Here at the HR sticker lab, we have been working hard to produce a range of new stickers for you guys and gals to slap on your trusty steeds and represent your love for all things AE86!

These suckers will set you back only $3.00AUD each! There is also a discount if you make multiple purchases at one time. IE: Buy 4 and only pay $10! This special promotion is a great idea from our lovely HR sticker model, so get in quick coz that’s a hot deal - just like her chest!

We have Carbon, Black Glitter, Gold Glitter, Rainbow Chrome Mirror, White, Red, Blue, Red Glitter, Yellow, Gold Metallic, Bronze Metallic, Green Glitter, and Silver Glitter plus heaps more to come!

So to get your hands on these please email merch@hachiroku.com.au

Advise how many stickers you’d like and what colors, then send your Full name and address in the email and after you have deposited your $$$ the stickers will be sent to you asap!

Please remember to email before you deposit money.

Full details can be found here http://www.hachiroku.com.au/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3687&start=0

(Raunchy pics of sticker range after the jump, PS. NSFW!)

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