Tag Archives: Levin

Werner Rohr AE86 Levin x Bergrennen Reitnau

This is the Swiss Bergrennen Reitnau series. Many of you may recognise the course and event name from many years of past events. Over the years, the 1600cc class has featured Werner Rohr with his infamous 4A-GE 2-door Levin.

Click play and listen to the iconic rasp and scream of the 220 horsepower 1.6L running all the way up to 9000 rpm. Simply glorious Toyota engineering!

(Extreme volume at 2:16 on this next video… don’t say we didn’t warn you!)

If you’re keen to see how Werner’s AE86 was made, check out the gallery from his build process at the Das Racing Team website.

 


RunFree Levin Drifting Minami in Ebisu Circuit

 


Brothers In Arms: HR Interview Vu & Van Quach

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It’s not often that you see two street-driven cars this well presented and tastefully modified. It’s even more uncommon that they originate from the same family garage.

But in this case, where brotherly admiration and excitement for one car has spiraled out of control, you have possibly the two most succinct, and complete pair of hachirokus Australia has seen in years.

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Some of you 86 die-hards reading this have choosen to stick with one car and toil away, others are up to the count of ‘several’ chassis of chopping and changing, swapping panels and engines and buying whole projects just for parts and papers.

However, these brothers from Melbourne’s south-east have seen over 10 different AE86s between them since 2002, and have now reached, what they consider, their final ‘masterpiece’ hachiroku builds.

So we thought to ourselves, ‘What inspires dedication this intense? What drives two guys to search endlessly for the perfect AE86?’. So we asked them!

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’86 Essentials: Identifying AE86 Tail Lights

We’ve covered it before, but thought it was deserving of a improvment! Redlines, Whitelines, Fullfaces and Sprinters, we’ve all heard these terms before but do you really know the differences?

Hit the jump for THE definitive guide to identifying the different AE86 tail lights!

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Uchibori / Works KitoKito N2 Levin

You might recognise this red and silver glitter paintjob from the Uchibori / Work’s KitoKito Trueno sister car driven by Hideyuki Uchibori in the N2 series in Japan, but the N2-spec 1983 Levin GTV you see above is owned and driven by Akira Takahashi.

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How To Drift: YZ Circuit

[via shirtstuckedin]


Bee-R Style: Imai-san’s Personal Levin 2-Door

So we’ve seen a lot of Imai-san’s Blue Bee-R ‘Scion BRZ’ in the fast few weeks, but we still love his personal AE86 Levin 2-Door!

The first of a few ‘car feature’ blogs from our trip to Fuji 86 Style in August, Imai’s Levin is a unique hachiroku with lots of his personal flair.

The bodykit is immense! The Work Equip 03 wheels are housed within custom widened front guards which compliment its stealth fighter look.

Certainly unique, this rather vertical ‘highway racer’ wing suits Imai-san’s wild style perfectly!

When we were chatting to Imai, he let us have a secret peek under the hood. A nicely fitted 4A-GZE with a turbo kit. Can you spot the rarity?

This might help you work it out! A customised original HKS 4A turbo kit..

With beefed up electronic spark control via a custom setup using S15 Coil-On-Plug units. An unusual choice, as the normal route is to use 1ZZ-GE ‘COP’ units for 4A powerplants!

I managed to grab a quick photo with Imai. He’s holding one of the very first Best Motoring VHS videos in which is he on the cover! Legendary!

 


A Tribute To The Past: Team Tekno

The Levin trackcar you see here is the result of two hachiroku-mad Irishmen who couldn’t bear the downtime of their own projects keeping them off the track.

An all-out tribute to the early days of Japanese drifting, this green and silver, battle-scarred Corolla owned by Team Tekno members Killian O’Brien and Kevin Reilly is a way for them to push to ten tenths without the fear of wrecking their other beautiful AE86s.

Check the full feature out at Driftworks


LOOKING: Full Attack Mode

Asayan-san from LOOKING at Meihan Sports Land in his AE86. He wasn’t comfortable in his new 86 yet so he was “taking it easy”…


Hachiroku Master: Tsuchiya & The New 86

All of us here at HR Blog have been long time fans of Irish motorsport photographer Paddy McGrath, but his latest works might just contain some of the most iconic images of the Drift King yet! However they didn’t come without a great deal of personal anguish from Paddy!

He writes:

Those of you with an interest in drifting will surely recognize the name Keiichi Tsuchyia, also known as the ‘Drift King’. Tsuchyia-san is the godfather of drifting, and without doubt one of the most important people in the history of the sport. CAR (magazine) wanted to celebrate his history whilst also exploring his involvement with Toyota’s new GT86. The brief I received illustrated clearly what CAR wanted from the shoot, and allowed me to plan in advance what equipment I would be relying on.

Unfortunately, on the day of the shoot my appendix decided it no longer wanted to be a part of me. Shooting in much discomfort and pain, I was limited in my movement and abilities. It was pretty upsetting, as this was something I wanted to deliver 110% but I just couldn’t. I pushed on as much as I could and once the shoot was over, made my way to a local hospital where I was admitted for surgery.

I knew beforehand that there was a tight deadline, so I started editing the images a couple of hours after surgery. It probably wasn’t a great idea editing them in a hospital ward (under fluorescent lights) and under the influence of many amazing drugs, but sometimes you have to push on. All things considered, I was happy with the product of the day’s work. I just can’t help but think what could have been though …

With a tenacious work ethic like that, it’s easy to see why Paddy has come so far in the world of motorsport photography in just a few short years!

Hit this link here to see the full set of amazing images and the whole story, and be sure to pick up the August issue of CAR magazine for the article!