Two Is Better Than One

You are cruising on the highway, and suddenly, not one but TWO menacing black R35 GTRs appears in your rear view mirror. Suitably intimidated, you pull out of the way and they roar past...

Photo credits: Nicholas Tan

GT3 RS Wannabe

When I say 'wannabe' in the title, its relative to the uber GT3 RS, with my tongue firmly in cheek. :)

Yet another fine shining example of the kind of gorgeous cars that taunted me everyday around my work place.

GT3 RS inspired livery. I wonder what its timing around Sepang or PG... With a competent driver, I guesstimate mid 2:20s at Sepang should be do-able.

The real thing.

The Tale of My Tails

I was using WiseSquare LED tail lights and a Vertex lip spoiler previously, which looks like this:


A buddy sold me a carbonfibre C-West GT wing for cheap, so off came the lip spoiler. One rear end collision later, I had to switch back to stock tail lights. So the rear now looks rather different like this:

What do you guys think?

Digital Drifting!

Gran Tursimo 5 - How to Drift with Tanner Foust

Gran Turismo further convinced gamers and drivers that its "The Real Driving Simulator" by getting Tanner Foust, 2007 & 2008 Formula Drift champion, to host a short instructional video on how to apply real world drifting techniques to Gran Turismo 5. Pretty amazing stuff!

Taking Flight!

Pleasantly surprised to get an email today that goes:
Hey, i thought your blog was awesome i hope you don't mind, but i've added a link to your blog from our blogsite also thanks, TF crew

So I went onto Team Top Flight's blog and found out that it consists of a bunch of fun-loving American guys from Phoenix, Arizona.

They are into drifting Silvias and chasing girls..

My kind of people!

Drive It Like You Stole It!

Found yet another gem of a Malaysian car blog for you guys and girls.

Our northern friend Eu Jin owns a very clean-looking ER34. He's always up for a stint of spirited driving on Malaysia's B-roads and hill roads (touge!)

He chronicles his driving adventures with a various other JDM sports cars, christening them as the "Drive It Like You Stole It" series.

Damn, I am jealous of those secluded and winding Malaysian roads. All I get to drive on in Singapore are congested expressways!

Time for me to go on one of these stress relieving, carbon clearing and warp speeding DILYSI sessions.

All Paw Ancestor

When I was a young kid back in the early nineties, Civics were king of the tarmac for most Singaporean enthusiasts. The modified ones make 180 naturally aspirated bhp (thereabouts) with the B-series engines and that's enough to send off most non-supercars.

Then the GC version WRX debuted with 240 horses and a 5sec 0-100 sprint timing... That was the start of the Singapore Boy Racer's fasination with the all-paw Rex and the building of its supercar killing reputation.

Back then a base GC WRX cost almost $200,000! I remember seeing one in the flesh was an event to be savored, leading to lengthy, superlatives-laden discussions amongst friends.

Fast forward 20 years. With accidents and exports taking their toll, not many of the GC Rexes are left. The rare occasion when I see one nowadays is a nostalgic pleasure once again.

Colin's Red Drift Weapon

Some of you might remember Clement's RPS13, which I featured a while back. Here's the 2nd teacher that I know with a Silvia. Given the low number of Silvias in Singapore, what are the odds?? Maybe a school principal is going to come up to me with his Sil80 next...

Anyway, Colin's a good friend of mine and is an active drifter in the local scene. While teaching is his bread-and-butter, those who know him can safely say that drifting is his blood-and-glory!

He has participated in 2006's D1GP Malaysia and 2008's Formula Drift Singapore, where his CWest-kitted red drift weapon made short work of countless sets of Goodyear RevSpec tyres mounted on distinctive Blitz Technospeed rims.

His S15 has been slowly and meticulously built up with plenty of sweat and tears along the way. Just ask him about his experience with a certain unscruplous car dealer who sold him this S15 and the weekly northern treks to hone his craft.

Engine has been recently rebuilt with some serious headwork - Tomei 272 cams in and out, solid lifters and springs as well as a thicker gasket to reduce compression for greater boost. Bottom end is fitted with forged Tomei conrods and pistons while engine duties are handled by an Apexi D-Jetro with MAP sensor.

Central to all these will be a Greddy T518Z turbo that enables the whole set-up to kick out 420 rampaging horses! My heart goes out to all those poor tyres. For them, the end is nigh...

Handling is improved immensely with Top Secret coilovers, Cusco front strut bar as well as front and rear anti-roll bars. For braking duties, the stock calipers are deemed sufficient when paired with Project Mu rotors and pads.

There's sooooo many other parts on his car that I want to describe in detail, including a oh-so-gorgeous ARC FMIC, Ogura 559 Twin Plate Carbon Clutch, Greddy oil sump amongst... But I don't want to turn this post into a Encyclopedia Britannica post.

So I'll leave you guys with a great picture of the S15's back view, where the CWest Type II carbonfibre wing and Fujitsubo take pride of place.

Colin's active involvement in the local motorsport scene and high media visibility makes him an excellent candidate to increase the exposure of your brand and products. Please drop me a mail and I'll put you through to him for further discussion.

Exotics at Market Street

Had a really full lunch today and decide to walk it off. Randomly walk around a multi-storey car park near my office and here's what I found:

Lime green E46 M3 with carbon fibre front splitter

Lotus Exige looking increadily small and sleek besides two econoboxes
Porsche Cayman S. The rims look tough and I don't think these are a factory option. I can't recognize them. Any idea?
I think the local Porsche dealer are having some promos on Caymans...

Maserati Coupé - loves the paintwork but the design looks dated compared to the incredibly muscular yet sensual GranTurismo.

599 GTB. It looks totally stock but I guess I can forgive the owner :P

You really gotta wonder what are the professions of these guys around my work area. Wonder if they have an opening available for me...

Tantalizing Takatas!

I swear I wasn't searching for porn! I was using Google Images to search for "takata harness" and this pop up as one of the top results.

So... I have no choice but to share with you guys (and girls). Enjoy!

Modified R35 GTR seen on the way home

If you live in Singapore, you know we get shitloads of R35 GTRs on the streets here. So seeing one isn't that big of a deal, especially something stock.. Eric Hsu, a modifying guru from the US, has something of a bone about stock cars as well.

However, this example I spotted on the way home today is neat. Check out the serious looking dual-layer GT wing and the neat carbon fibre rear diffuser and side skirts. I didnt get to see the front but I'll bet good money that its sporting a carbon fibre front lip as well.

The exhaust doesn't look stock (though I am no expert on this car) but it DEFINITELY doesn't sound stock (i do hear plenty of stock R35 making the rounds and they are rather muted).

Way to brighten up an otherwise drab drive back home :)

Face Off!

This ER34 is built by Garage R for a friend of mine with good taste and deep pockets. The exterior gets an asethetic makeover with a R34 GTR front conversion and a East Bear aero kit.

With a GTR front, you need to be able to walk the walk. So the stock RB25 engine internals are thrown to the trash and replaced with Tomei items. With Garage R being the official HKS distributor in Singapore, the Japanese tuner is well represented on the power side of things with a Super Mega Flow Reloaded air intake, HKS 2835 Kai turbo and a top-of-the-line FCon V Pro ecu.
The result? A supercar killer with almost 600 bhp! Thats a hundred ponies more than a stock R35 GTR, in a package that is relatively light at 1410 kg (stock) versus the R35's portly 1700 kg.

The transmission is automatic for now (I heard that a dogbox is on the way...) and achieving a low 4-second 0-100km/hr sprint is simply just a matter of stepping on the accelerator when the traffic light turns green.

No launch technique required, just step on the gas and say bye bye to traffic light challengers...

Providing the Er34 with handling prowess are HKS Hipermax3 coilovers and Cusco suspension arms, while Protune 6 pots calipers in front and mini 6 pots out back provide sufficient retardation for this monster.

Helping to further plant the ER34 to the ground is the requisite GT wing. Other than the bolts, the Voltex wing is weaved entirely from top notch carbonfibre.

The cabin is once again a premium affair. Taking centre stage is a Nismo instrument cluster that goes up to 300km/hr (highly required at this power level) and 10000 RPM (which might be slightly over optimistic since even the rev happy RB26 only goes up to 8500 rpm).

HKS EVC boost controller lets the owner decide whether he wants 400, 500 or 600 bhp while HKS gauges allow him to monitor crucial stats. Check out the double din head unit, it's connected to a uber cool HKS Camp2 digital display.

Trainspotters will also notice the Garage R tuner's signature on the passenger side of the dash :)

The driver and passenger each get a Bride Low Max with carbon-kevlar composite shell. Go check out the price of one of these babies and you know that this project can be summed up simply as... No expense spared!