I’ve always been fascinated with the love our antipodean friends seem to have for the rotary engine. It’s not so much a passing interest, oh no, they’ve developed quite the affliction with the buzzing Wankel. Our first trip to Australia in 2010 is where we got our initial exposure of all things rotary, when we [...]
I’m going to tell you something that you might find hard to swallow. This isn’t actually a car. It may have all the characteristics of an automobile: headlights, four wheels, doors and stuff, but this is not a car. What is it? It’s a WMD. A Weapon of Mass Destruction. You may think that the [...]
What is it that makes a properly done drift car so cool? Take a look at the pink metalflake-covered Toyota Mark II pictured above and it becomes easy to figure out. Of course, this isn’t just any Mark II – this is the iconic Team Magician JZX110, one of the most recognizable drift cars in [...]
Motorsport is addictive. I probably don’t need to tell you that, but of all the codes out there I’m not sure than any fuel the fire of obsession quite like drag racing does. In a sport where success is often measured in one-hundredths of a second or less, that’s understandable of course. Consistency is one thing, [...]
It seems we can’t go more than a few months without indulging in some impossibly-Japanese VIP style. And once again it’s Bee Dragon that captivates our minds – a shop that has really made a pretty firm statement when it comes to defining its own take on things. Imamura-san has stepped as far away from [...]
Style is a funny thing, but more so is the speed at how people judge various interpretations of it. I think Nagano Koubou serves as the perfect example here, in particular the pink Onevia I posted last month following a quick tour of the little Kansai-based bodyshop. Over the last few years Masayoshi Nagano has been [...]
Getting a 3700lb (1675kg) Nissan Skyline GT-R down the strip in eight and a half seconds flat on its very first outing since an intensive, yet short lead build, is not any way, shape or form an easy proposition. But behind the wheel of MGAWOT II, New Zealand-based but internationally-renowned Nissan RB-series engine builder Robbie [...]
Since the beginning of the mass produced automobile, car makers have long sought to create a path of stepping stones with their car lineups. The idea is to catch car buyers at a young age with affordable entry level vehicles and have them stick with the brand as they move through their life. Few companies [...]
When it comes to rotary tuning, the exploits of two countries at the bottom of the world need little introduction. For as long as I can remember the Australasian region has been home to some of the fastest, loudest, wildest and most innovative rotary-powered vehicles on the face of the planet, and there are no [...]
As human beings, we’re constantly learning, questioning and gaining new knowledge of the things that we’re passionate about. For me, and no doubt you as well if you’re reading these words, that means every day I’m excited to learn more about car culture. Just over a week ago, Paddy and myself flew to Sweden’s capital, [...]
When Honda cut the ribbon on the Integra Type R in late ’95 it introduced a game changer. Sure, the go-fast-grade Civics and CR-X that preceded the R-blooded DC2 had already got the wheels in motion for the Japanese car maker, but with its lightweight focused chassis, razor-sharp handing, and that oh-so-sweet, hand-assembled VTEC powerplant, [...]
Big engines and big cars are kind of obvious huh? Don’t get me wrong, I love a good V8 and have owned more than a few. An Audi R8 with that V10 sat behind my head? All day, every day my friend. Yet if I’m honest I think my ego gets in the way sometimes. [...]
How about you take a form over function sort of car, and actually make it function? What would you have then? Is that even possible? Are these two terms not mutually exclusive? I apologize if I start a car feature with so many questions but this pink Nagano Koubou Onevia really does make you wonder about a [...]
Do you remember the first car magazine you ever bought? Mine was a copy of Mini World in 1996 and I remember it vividly. On the cover there was a really cool yellow racecar that was completely stripped-out and barely road legal. In fact, I’m not sure if it was road legal at all. It was [...]
As we head into Formula Drift’s 10th year of competition, it’s staggering to think about how far American professional drifting has come in that time. What started out as a strange new form of motorsport bred on the tracks and roads of Japan has become an entirely new animal. Pro drifting in 2013 is bigger, [...]
