Yearly Archives: 2008

AE86 vs JZA80 Supra Touge CRASH!

October 13, 2008 in AE86 History, Videos by

Is this a sequel you ask? Well almost, it appears to be the same mountain road featured in an earlier blog we posted a mere few days ago. Another oldie, is it the same AE86? Perhaps.

The JZA80 Supra stretches its legs early on but the Hachi pilot reels him in (a pretty good effort on the uphill section) before there’s an ubrupt (though by the lines of the Supra driver, almost expected) sad end to this pursuit! Thankfully the speed of this video hasn’t been edited, nice sound quality too!

2008 Tasmanian Tarmac Challenge

October 10, 2008 in Events by

We have been following Ben and Matt Cullen throughout their attack on the Australia Rally Championship F16 Title and they have done it again, receiving a Top 10 finish in the 2008 Tasmanian Tarmac Challenge last weekend! Good stuff guys.

Check out some in-car footage after the jump:

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Jussi Tiippana: AE86 Boy-Wonder

October 9, 2008 in Feature Cars, HR Originals by

He could rally and slide a car through the dangerous twisted forest/hill roads before he was legally allowed to own a license. His father carefully overlooked his sons progress with planned input and nurturing leading to a steady incline of progression. Whilst still in high school he then made his debut in his trusty AE86 and won his first real competition against drivers of all ages and experience. Then came the switch to a WRX and.., Ok so before I go any further and tell you that Jussi Tiippana also delivered tofu up a mountain every morning at 4AM…. wait no, I’ll stop this childish Initial-D analogy right here.

Jussi Tiippana is an upcoming rally driver and one to definitely look out for in the future! This year at merely the age of 19 (b. 10-10-1989) he competed in both the ‘Neste Oil Rally FInalnd’ and the ‘Sweden WRC Rally’ (Yes both rounds of the WRC) with a nicely prepped WRX. But as already mentioned he paved the way and had tremendous success in his previous competition car; an AE86 Coupe. So we here at HR Blog thought we’d contact Jussi and talk all things AE86.

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Great Driving Roads Pt.1

October 8, 2008 in Random by

This is a first in the series of our choices of some of the greatest driving roads the World has to offer. We rekon whether you are a drifter or a circuit racer, everyone enjoys a good drive on the open road!

We may as well start with the best and Stelvio pass in the Italian Alps would have to be up there with the cream of the crop of immersive tarmac. Widely regarded as one of the greatest driving roads both in location and execution, it’s located eastern Italian Alps near the Swiss border and part of the “three languages peak” (where Italian, German and Romansh are all spoken) and it’s steep slope means it gradually winds it way down the mountain with insane back to back hairpins.

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Live the ’86 Life!

October 7, 2008 in Random by


Chillin’ out after a hard day at the circuit..

Taken @ D1SL Central Competition, Wednesday 1 October @ Honjo Circuit.
Photo: Alexi Smith @ noriyaro.com

AE86 vs Honda Touge! Fake?

October 6, 2008 in Videos by

Here’s some rather old footage worth digging up. It comes from a Drift Tengoku VHS and the main reason I’ve posted it? Well do you think the footage has been sped up artificially? It does look rather quick at times, perhaps too quick!

The engine notes however sound on-song and don’t sound like it’s been doctored. The AE86 in front sets a pretty good pace for the driver of the EG6 (or EK9) Civic in hot pursuit. I’ll leave the verdict up to you guys; leave a comment with your thoughts!

UPDATE: The video’s uploader changed the embed restrictions on us, so here’s a link to the video instead. Apologies to those who couldn’t play the embedded vid. :)

Call Me Crazy!!!

October 3, 2008 in Videos by

Is it just me or are all Irish ’86 owners batshit insane???

No Frills, Just Skills!

October 1, 2008 in AE86 History by

Back in 2004, the now well-known sport of drifting was only in it’s infancy here in Australia.  A driver well known to the ’86 fraternity for competing in his pink Levin Hatch in Drift Australia and more recently for putting a 1UZ-FE V8 motor into his now red Hachiroku, Josh Young began his 86 drifting career in a piss yellow ’86 sporting only the most basic of basic modifications. He showed that you didn’t need massive amounts of power or fancy mods to be competitive in the drift scene back then.

Please be sure to check out an old article about this car which was originally published in Drift Battle Magazine as well as 10 minutes of video footage of this car in action after the jump!

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AE86 Celebration @ Nikko Circuit

September 30, 2008 in Events by


Miguel from Newera Imports always has great coverage of the Japanese AE86 scene and again he doesn’t disappoint! On Sunday 5th Aug (the day before Monday 6th August aka hachiroku day) Tec Arts, one of Japan’s top AE86 tuners  and a family run business with a lot of passion for the AE86, organised a day of driving, drifting and AE86 celebration. Techno Pro Spirits were also there with their N2 race car, as well as other very cool AE86’s.

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What Will Those Finns Think of Next?

September 29, 2008 in Videos by

So it seems this video has been doing the rounds lately but I thought I’d blog it in case anyone has missed it. After all it’s rather timely considering HR Blog’s recent Finnish Rally history article! What is actually going on? Well from what we can tell A band by the name of “Osmo’s Cosmos” (Yes free plug guys!) have decided to do a film clip for one of their songs and being from Finland they decided to …naturally feature some Rally action! and …naturally in an AE86! Yes we here at HR love it, It’s great to watch.

The video features upcoming rally driver Jussi Tiippana as pilot of a nicely prepped coupe. Watch carefully at the end of the clip, the guy ‘timing’ the race is 4 time WRC champion Juha Kankkunen. The premise is, Jussi is rallying through his local course in where he comes upon Osmo’s Cosmos’ broken down tour bus. They ask him for a lift (and all 6 members hop in!) and Jussi is then forced to taxi them to their various band stops… Great stuff.

Go you crazy Fins!

P.S Stay tuned for an Interview with the driver Jussi Tiippana!