Author Archives: Garth Ivers

Powersports AE86

June 6, 2008 in Feature Cars by

Our mates over at 7Tune have got a mini feature on the Powersports Levin Coupe. A mental track car in its own right, there is an entire write up with heaps of pics at 7Tune. Here’s an excerpt from the article to pique your interest.

The Powersports Levin looked and sounded great out on the circuit, it was revving noticeably higher than a lot of the other cars with its MSC Ignition Module governed 9,400rpm rev limit. The main contributor to that special sound were the Keihin FCR Carburetors. Normally found on motorcycles, the four in line FCR carburetors use flat slide throttle valves for the best in throttle response and flow control.

Check out the Entire article over at 7Tune.

AutoBody Miyazato Twin Dori!

June 5, 2008 in Events by

Chris from Team Hinga over in sunny Okinawa is a mainstay of the drifting scene over there and has had more than his share of ‘girls’ as he likes to call his AE86’s. Along with his other servicemen mates, they are taking it to the natives and showing them how its done.

Last weekend Chris and the Team Hinga crew set off to whats affectionately known as ‘The Bullring’ track in Okinawa and had what looks to be a pretty damn good day of hard drifting. A massive bunch of pics from the event after the jump.

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AE86 Wins @ Rally of Canberra!

June 4, 2008 in Feature Cars by

Remember Ben Cullen with his Group A Rally TTA Levin coupe Replica we showed you last month? Well at the Rally of Canberra on May 10-11, his trusty little Sprinter took out the F16 Class win! I’ll leave you with his comments after the jump to full summise the weekends trials and tribulations that got them to the top of the podium.

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Initial D Manga Translations

June 2, 2008 in Random by

A couple of very keen Initial D fans have been busy at work translating the latest happenings of the Project.D team. Since the conclusion of the Anime’s run of the Fourth Stage, our ’86 driving friend Takumi’s epic saga has been developing into something quite interesting. There was a slow building of momentum back into full swing by the artist Shuichi Shigeno but that has now ended with a whole bunch of newly released editions which in turn have been quickly translated to English.

Check out Issues 32, 33, 34, 35 and 36 over at ClubCarisma, while you are there you may notice the rabid translators are also anticipating the release of Issue 37 any day now.

Taking Lightweight Too Far…

May 29, 2008 in Random by

Apparently the guy driving this boro AE86 was one of the fastest on the track at a recent day at Ebisu Circuit. The car looked like this when he got there! Only in Japan folks!

Photo: Paul Dean

A Danish War of Attrition

May 26, 2008 in Feature Cars by

If you live in Scandinavia you will be used to all the snow and the cold. You will also know that salted snowy roads make safer roads and that safety comes with a price. Jan Pedersen’s personal war of attrition with his Levin Hatch is awe inspiring. The beautiful restoration work to bring this hachi back from the cancerous death it was inevitably going to see, is simply crazy to put it quite bluntly.

Starting from a street registered incognito AE86 just like any other, his two year rebuild saw him battle rust, sandblast jobs, finding even more rust, making his own rotisserie, hand stripping the entire chassis of all bog and soundproofing, finding and fitting new pressed panels and so much more.

The end result I think you will agree, is simply amazing. Topping that off with a congratulatory tour of the Nurburgring is the perfect end to an awesome story. Thanks goes out to you Jan for saving one of our precious cars from the junkyard.

Check out his entire thread over at Club4AG. Plus a few pics after the Jump.

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A Convoy of Epic Proportions

May 23, 2008 in Random by

It always make me happy to see this kinda stuff. I love the pristine condition of the cars but the dodgy rustyness of the neglected trailer! Only in Japan i suppose….

A Beer Baron’s Japan Photo Diary

May 21, 2008 in Random by

Our Godzilla taming friends over at Skylines Australia have got one of the more entertaining and visually rich ‘Japan Diary’ threads i’ve ever seen – and trust me I’ve seen a few. Long time member (and now admin) Beer Baron, has some great photography skills and as such likes to shoot at all the best JDM hotspots. The pics have a great deal of Nissan’s but well worth a look regardless.

We’ve taken the liberty of posting some of the AE86 ones here, but visit the site for ALL of the Japanese pics – it’s a freakin’ good way to spend an hour or so!

Images after the jump.

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D1 86’s for Export!

May 16, 2008 in Random by

Want a sweet JDM AE86? Want it full of the best parts? Want it looking like it just came from a day at Tsukuba Circuit? Well now you can have everything you want!

We’re not at all sure of the legitimacy of service these guys provide, but their website has some DAAAAMN nice hachis on it.

Hit up this link for more insane D1 spec AE86 Love.

Winds Auto Preview

May 14, 2008 in Random by

What a cute his-and-hers pairing! These two hachi rokus are owned by soon to be married couple, Kimihiro Obata and Hiromi Kakujima of Winds Auto fame. His car has a fully transplanted SR20 setup – hers, a stock 4A with quads slapped on… I’ll let you guys figure out which ones is who’s by the colour…

The Winds Auto shop (yes that tiny one-room shack in the background…) is located in Kumagaya in rural Saitama, smack-bang in the middle of hundreds of rice fields. It’s from here they service the country AE86’s and have done so for many years earning them quite the rep within the Japanese AE86 scene.

Aussie Journo Alexi Smith made the trip out there to write an article about their shop for an upcoming issue of HPI magazine. Not our for a few months yet, but when it drops be sure to pick it up ‘cos it also will include a whole lot of action shots from a Nikko circuit day aswell!

Image courtesy of Alexi Smith.