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his, the insane rear camber, as Terry tells us, is purely just to freak people out when they see the car as the adjustable rear suspension arms that Terry has fitted allow him to make many alterations to the rear wheel alignment specs. For times when he wants to drive the car hard, the camber comes back in to a saner -1.5-degrees of camber.

These adjustable rear suspension arms set the standard for the rest of the car’s modifications. The fact that this, a street car, features adjustable suspension arms is an example of how far the scene has progressed. They are, after all, race-derived components, but such is the present climate within our scene the lines between street and track are no longer emboldened for all to see. However, the set of fully adjustable K-Sport coil overs blurs the lines between race and street, meaning the car has all the gear needed to mix it up on the race track while still being perfectly liveable on the road.

One of the main reasons for the use of adjustable suspension arms in this case is the car’s insane widebody conversion. Thanks to Jerry Wang and the crew at J-Racing down in Canberra, this R32 has become what is quite possibly the fattest GT-R in the country. Using completely bespoke front and rear guards, the car’s profile has been pushed out dramatically on either side of the car, with enough space in the rear to actually fit 13-inch-wide wheels.

The design, construction and painting of the car’s exterior took about three months, but considering the kit had to be completed from scratch, is not actually a great deal of time. With new front guards, rear guards, a front bar, rear bar and sideskirts having been fitted, the amount of work gone into this area is comprehensive to say the least. The yellow hue was selected from the Honda paint chart, however was customised with a bit of a pearl before its application. 

The braking system on the car is made up of mostly aftermarket parts: K-Sport eight-piston front calipers and six-piston rear calipers deliver considerable clamping force, with K-Sport slotted two-piece rotors reinforcing the package. These are the kind of brakes you might select if you wanted to strengthen your car for a 12-hour endurance race, yet with the right pads can also remain perfectly capable on the street.

For the moment Terry has specified engine modifications and a corresponding tune to realise somewhere in the region of 300kW at the wheels. Rather than shooting for outright peak-power bragging rights Terry was realistic about the useability of the car on the road, and he has to be commended for this. The twin HKS 2530 turbocharger set-up delivers a balance of power and response for use on the street.

Jake’s Performance was the shop responsible for building the engine and they have put together a package capable of extreme horsepower levels, should that be what Terry desires. With Arias forged pistons, Carillo rods, an R34 RB26DETT crankshaft and an eight-litre sump from Hi Octane Racing the engine could in all feasibility be coaxed to pump out in excess of 400kW. Leaving a safety buffer, rather than pushing the car to its limit should ensure Terrry can enjoy the car for a long time to come.

The engine is managed by an A’PEXi Power FC, which makes use of a cabin-mounted Power FC Commander hand controller. Other electronics filling up the car’s interior include an A’PEXi AVC-R boost controller, a host of GReddy gauges, and the aftermarket 320km/h Nismo instrument cluster. The race theme from the exterior is continued inside with a pair of Sparco race buckets, a MOMO steering wheel with quick removal boss kit and a Safety 21 roll cage.

The stereo system is the work of Audio Tech, based in Canberra, and makes a big impression upon hearing it. We were seriously surprised to hear such a good sound coming from a coupe such as the Skyline because these are usually not the friendliest of cars to install quality music gear into. Terry has completely done away with the rear seats though, so some of the space issues have been overcome, and the subs can now blast away in the main cabin rather than the boot.

The system is made up entirely mostly Rockford Fosgate gear, with the only exception to this very capable brand being an Alpine DVD player. Four 12-inch subwoofers, a handful of amplifiers and Rockford Fosgate’s component speakers have all been superbly and stylishly integrated into the cabin of the car by Audio Tech.

As we continue to shoot the car, I get thinking. To make a mark on the scene you need to know your cars; you need to know how to modify them. In this game experience counts for a lot and if you were to look at any of the top cars within the scene, the guys behind them have been studying this game since they were kids. They lap up information from car magazines and internet sites, accumulating a pool of knowledge that will help them understand the concepts behind modifying.

Think about that for a second though. If you complete a University degree, you spend three years of your life learning, researching and studying in your particular field. If you take a look at an average modifier, they have been doing their study on cars for many years. I know myself it has probably been more than ten years that I have been reading and learning about this stuff and I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface. I can only imagine what sort of insane changes we will see within the scene in another 50 issues time.

auto system

The phenomenon continues. Boundaries get pushed. People fall by the wayside, but the game goes on.

We inhabit the outskirts of what is normal. You could group us with the likes of base jumpers, mountaineers or even fighter pilots because we have made a decision to pursue an extreme avenue of modern society. Our cars make up most of what we live for and, if you believe those overblown television media programs, the lives we lead are dangerous not only to ourselves but also to other members of the public.

Regardless, though, of what the uneducated mass media might have tried to lump upon us, the scene we all populate is getting more hardcore with every year that passes: the average modifier is becoming more and more technically adept, the boundaries of car modification are continually being pushed, and it looks like things are not going to stop anytime soon.

Quarter mile times from late-model hi-tech cars are dipping ever so close to, and in some cases surpassing, the old school experienced V8 boys; late model circuit-style cars built with the wealth of modifying parts now on the shelves are becoming less and less distinguishable from archetypal race cars.

And then there are the all-round street cars, the ones you see punctuating city streets and breaking up what would otherwise be a saturation of sterile, boring vehicles that do nothing much but carry groceries. The most extreme of these cars tread a fine line, with owners often only one modification or a momentary brain fart on the accelerator pedal away from finding themselves on the deep side of the law. 

Whether or not you have noticed it, outright performance has taken the top spot among the things that owners in our scene are striving towards. For our fiftieth issue we searched long and hard for a car that could represent what this scene is presently all about, and naturally we needed a ride that excelled in all-round performance. We also wanted to do our best to represent the workshops that have been pushing the success of our scene, because after all, without them we would be nowhere.

Terry Cook’s PHATASS GT-R crossed our path at just the right time, with its modifications fitting our bill perfectly. It has power, it has an insanely worked exterior, it has serious suspension and brake mods and it has interior work and a killer stereo system; a tick in every box, then. The car also showcases some work from a few of Australia’s best workshops, so it was an easy decision to choose this particular ride for the honour of gracing the cover of number 50.

Having been following PHATASS throughout the build process, as soon as the car was finished and on the road we let Terry know we would like to shoot it. With Terry hailing from Canberra it took a bit of correspondence and timing to organise the whole process, but as soon as it was feasible we had the car out in the centre of Sydney to capture just what it is that this car is about: real world modifying and driving.

As we get setup for the shoot, tucked away in an alley that is shielded from the weekday business in the city, our talk with Terry immediately enters into a language only a modifier would understand. The words find a basis around vehicle codes, engine numbers, power figures and lap times. Within a minute we have the stats: 1992 R32 GT-R, RB26DETT with HKS twin turbos, forged internals, an estimated 300kW at the wheels with the potential for much more, and 19x13-inch rear wheels, which at the time of our shoot were running an insane seven-degrees of negative camber!

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It wasn’t the only place the boys burned up serious amounts of cash and man-hours, though, as the former 400kW RB26DETT was stripped out and replaced with a new motor that has been infused with some of Australia’s most cutting edge performance modifications. Realistically, this new engine is probably more advanced than even the mighty Group A touring car-demolishing RB26s from Gibson Motorsport, though simply hanging a single (and massive) T88 or T51R turbocharger on the side of the in-line six, plugging in a PowerFC computer and screwing the sucker for all she was worth wasn’t going to cut the mustard for these boys, as it would have been useless to pack 10,000kW into a focused circuit car.

So, instead of setting a power target and finding the easiest way to that point, the boys focused on ensuring the car made whatever power it did in the best possible manner for circuit racing. This means a flat torque curve, stable power delivery, near-instantaneous response and an eagerness to rev among others, while the motor also had to be designed to withstand the high lateral loading during cornering (where the oil pushes to the outside edge of the sump) and longitudinal loading (where oil surges forward under brakes away from the pick-up).

Starting with a brand new, bare GT500 block was deemed to be the safest bet, as there might have been questions raised over the integrity of an older, used block when built with the sorts of fine tolerances that were required of this new powerlpant, not to mention the stresses from heat, power and high RPM it’d have to go through. Internally, the new rotating and reciprocating components were chosen for not only their strength but their balance as they would have to reliably endure the strains of 10,000rpm and provide good response.

To suit this requirement, a Tomei “full counter crankshaft” and H-beam connecting rods were installed, as the Japanese company have proven that this design will withstand over 1100 horsepower (800-plus kilowatts) and safely hit 10k on the tacho. Their crankshaft is a thing of beauty (and eye watering expense) with sharp-edged counterweights and two-way crank lubrication, on top of a manufacturing process in a climate controlled room that also has stringent check-off lists for quality control. A Ross Tuffbond harmonic balancer also assists in the motor staying together at those stratospheric speeds as it resists the natural twisting forces unloaded onto it, and maintains the ignition timing more accurately.

Though it provides a huge weight advantage, the Hi Octane Stage 4 dry sump oiling system also provided a huge boost in reliability and safety for the carefully assembled RB26DETT, with the oil temperatures post dry sump falling to 90-95 degrees from their previous 130 degree level, while coolant also running cooler which helps ensure the motor maintains a stable temperature and gets clean combustion. Part of the reason for the oil temperatures falling comes down to the extra capacity and fat lines that carry oil between the reservoir and motor, giving it time to radiate the heat into the air and other parts of the car.

All that work on the bottom end would have been wasted, though if nothing had been done with the top-end of the in-line six-pot as it simply would not have flowed enough air to reliably hit the RPM limit Mark and Russell were after. So, Tomei once again provided hardware to the tune of a pair of their lumpy camshafts, while Sydney’s own Hypertune whipped up a delicious new six-throttle plenum that replaces the stock individual throttle body unit with a more modern, more developed design.

On the exhaust side, Tomei dump pipes and a custom-made side-exit exhaust from CNJ Motorsport match the free-flowing nature of the RB26’s intake. Without these carefully selected pieces to assist the other side of the motor, there would still be massive amounts of restriction in the gas flow, which would lead to the engine struggling to hit 10,000 revolutions per-minute, straining itself and also wasting a lot of power.

The other piping on the motor comes courtesy of Trust and GReddy, who provided the intercooler and intake metalwork, which connects up to the twin GCG-modified 2860 turbochargers. As mentioned before, it would have been easy to make the car’s current power with a monster, over-over-sized snail, but it wouldn’t have provided the response and delivery that Russell and Mark were after. So, to this end the car’s huffers had to be carefully pieced together from a myriad of front and rear housing sizes and wheel trim options, as they all have a huge impact on spool times, power level and efficiency at various RPM points.

Other areas of the motor that were gone through include the fuel system, ignition and ECU, with a massive Turbosmart adjustable fuel pressure regulator, twin Bosch Motorsport pumps and 800cc Sard injectors taking up residence, while the fuel rail was customised so that fuel enters at both ends and exits in the middle, to ensure full flow and consistent supply to every injector at all times.

For the engine management, CNJ Motorsport set-up an Aussie-made Autronic SM2 ECU and plug-in loom, along with Autronic’s own CDI ignition module (which allows for more finely controlled ignition timing and stronger spark). The Autronic unit is a very advanced piece of work which allows three dimensional mapping of fuel and ignition, along with inputs for full-throttle shift options and traction and launch control, making it ideal for hard-tuned machinery set-up for circuit racing.

While the motor features quite radical modifications (for what started as a street car), the rest of the drivetrain is surprisingly mild, though this could be put down to the safe reliability of using tried-and-true methods and not risking experimental new technologies when the car has to run at Tsukuba in front of the rest of the world. Put simply, there is an NPC clutch and a five-speed gearbox filled with heavy duty PPGearbox innards, along with a lightweight carbon fibre tailshaft (to reduce rotating mass), a Cusco front differential to put power down more efficiently and Trust front and rear diff covers to aid cooling. Simple, but functional.

More Japanese components were used in the more detailed aspects of the car’s suspension to go along with those sexy Ohlins coilovers. Ikeya Formula, the renowned suspension arm specialist (and one of Editor Charles’ favourite tuning companies) are represented with a set of rear lower arms, while there are also Tein castor arms, flex-resisting “pineapple” cradle bushes and adjustable upper arms at both ends of the car. What they do, along with the coilovers, is provide huge scope for setting up the car’s wheel alignment, and therefore its braking, accelerative and cornering style. It means that a clued-up suspension workshop can tune the R32’s behaviour to such a fine point that it precisely matches what Mark and Russell want from it, and therefore can extract the fastest possible lap times in total comfort.

Those of you who’ve hung around the pits at racing circuits long enough will have heard the gnarled and grizzled old timers spit out the familiar line, “a race car is only as good as its brakes”. So, to ensure they had one of the best Mark and Russell picked up a set of English AP Racing brakes, arguably one of the best in the biz, with their six-piston calipers going on the front and four-piston jobbies in the rear, mated to some of AP’s massive multi-piece rotors to boot. Pagid pads and an AP Racing pedal box were also given the nod, with their impeccable track histories one of the shining highlights in the many reasons to spend the huge amounts of cash required to purchase this stuff.

Though you’d be forgiven for thinking this car is all function with nary a jot of care for form or styling, you couldn’t be further from the truth. Everything has been done with the highest quality of workmanship, and the styling aspect is very evident when you check out those delicious black 18x10.5-inch wheels RAYS Engineering TE37 lightweight rims, shod with super-fat 285mm-wide Dunlop 03G tyres. This is one mean, obsidian warrior that looks like its ready to tear your head off and feast on the goo inside at any time.

The detailing continues inside, where Russell and Mark could have just had the interior roughly gutted and left dirty, scratched and marked. However, the stripped and paired-back cabin has copped a professional spray job (along with the outside of the shell) after the On Track Engineering roll cage was put in, while there are expensive, hard-tuned signatures like a pair of fixed-back Recaro seats, a Stack instrument cluster and a full compliment of GReddy gauges.

So, will all this work be enough for the Aussie invasion of Japan’s most sacred of tuning battlegrounds? Only time will tell, though you’d have to feel a real sense of pride after seeing the quality of workmanship put into the Skyline. It’s arguably as fine as anything else you’d see short of a half-million-dollar corporate-back wunderpiece, and in some respects more amazing when you consider that two guys from Queensland started with a car only destined for mild tuning and a few track days. Even if they don’t shatter any lap records in some kind of Disney happy ending, the fact that they were invited to participate again our scene’s biggest guns is surely worth celebrating.

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So you’re into drifting and want to drive a competition-spec car. Cool, but what happens if you also want a kick-arse dori-inspired, totally unique ride for the street that’ll also hold it’s own at car shows? Well, you’re left with really one option if you want to do it right: build two cars.

Queensland drifter Jerome Kennedy did just that, though the original plan didn’t quite run to fruition. In the beginning, he was going to transform his then near-new, stock S14A 200SX into a side-winding competition monster, though as build times spiralled out of control and it looked like he’d miss a decent chunk of wheel time in the burgeoning scene, he turned to his daily hack S13 and built it into what was at the time one of the first seriously well-presented drift cars on the scene.

With the debut of his awesome, mega power, widebody blue S14A last year, we organised to have him bring both cars to a full-on studio photoshoot so we could showcase two of the hottest Silvias in Queensland to you guys.

While many would focus all their energy in perfecting one car at a time, Jerome actually divided his time between both cars, adapting many unique and incredibly desirable features into the development of both, while pushing the level of engineering, finish and detail through the roof. They’re two cars, re-constructed in a similar mind-set to go about delivering their same ultimate end-goal in very different ways. So, read on and be amazed at what Jerome and 101 Racing have achieved.

SLIDE

As it stands today, the formerly blue, S14A-faced Silvia known as PIG513 is a battered, well-worn and decidedly used-looking testament to how hard drifters push their cars. The once beautiful Velocity Red pearl paintjob (and glitter-filled black turret) is chipped, scarred and flaked, having copped plenty of abuse from kitty litter, ripple strips, flying rubber and other cars, and Jerome reckons that the car turns in too lazily, meaning the chassis is softening and past its competitive best.

Still, you’re looking at the 2005 DriftZone Q1 Series Champion, a car that beat a host of other super-competitive vehicles along the way and satisfied Jerome’s appetite for the side-winding sport while his S14 sat idly by in the workshop.

The first thing that most people notice is the unconventional S14A front-end conversion and BN Sports uber-wide body kit, instead of the all-too-common S15 “strawberry face” or 180SX swaps. The older generation coupe’s rear guards take on a different look with the BNS kit, seeming more like hugely flared out stock items rather than complete aftermarket creations, but, this mix-master approach to styling bodes well for the overall aesthetics. In the car’s beautiful shade of pearl red (sprayed on by those legends at DMD), along with the crazy fat VeilSide 18x9.5-inch and 18x10.5-inch wheels, you’re looking at a seriously horn bit of kit.

At idle, PIG513’s SR20 sounds far more anaemic that its wilder brother. Smoother and raspier, packing an edgy note that does away with the deeper, ballsier grunt of the S14’s motor for decibel overload that rattles windows and fills the photographic studio we’re in with fumes in seemingly no time at all. You can tell this car has been built to win competitions in its pure-minded focus.

Behind the frantic four-pot is a rather bizarre deviation from normal drift hacks: a beefy Tremec six-speed manual. While most drift Silvias/180SXs run R33 Skyline or VG30 300ZX five-speed manuals, the Tremec box is a near-bullet-proof piece of American engineering that has a wide range of ratios available, most of which favour huge wheel speeds. For those not schooled in burnout and drifting lore, the more wheel speed you can get out of your car the more smoke that you have coming off your tyres (ie: the faster the speedo reads, the more smoke you pump).

So, with the ability to out-smoke his rivals, Jerome had to get the newfound set-up to work, which involved having a one-piece tail shaft made up to fit between the new ‘box and the Cusco two-way limited-slip diff. Far from street-able, the two-way locks up at the merest thought of a down-change, and will let him leave fat black lines as soon as the power is fed down the trans tunnel through the carefully balanced new tail shaft.

Handling is one of the cornerstones of a drift car’s performance, so D2 coilovers were selected and installed with a fair slice of negative camber and positive caster dialled in: for scalpel-sharp steering and effortless self straightening of the wheel when sliding sideways. There’s also large R33 Skyline brakes sitting under each wheel, meaning the Silvia has also undergone a five-stud conversion.

It struck a few of us as strange that Jerome had almost a complete front-half cabin full of trim. Carpet, sound system, door trims and all remain, though there’s no sound proofing or tar and it’s gutted basics behind the driver and passenger Bride seats. This is because of dirt and dust flying into the interior while drifting, swirling around and getting in Jerome’s eyes, making it excessively difficult for him to see. So, the carpet and hood lining went back in to trap the dust and debris, making it far easier to see the road ahead.

Under the bonnet, the engine was revised to scream for hours at peak rpm and have enough guts to smoke those fat rear tyres like Arnold Schwarzenegger with a case of Cubans. The capacity of the SR20 went up to 2.1-litres thanks to JE pistons and Eagle con rods (both forged for strength), while a nitrided S15 crankshaft and ACL Race bearings were installed to handle the extra pressure pushed through the block from the larger turbo and the sump was swapped for a much larger GReddy unit that’ll stop starvation issues from high cornering G-forces. The HKS 2835R snail and matching 60mm wastegate was selected for lightning fast response, but also manages to ream massive amounts of air into the SR20 head that was ported and polished to match the flow of the new huffer, before being stuffed full of HKS 262-degree camshafts and HKS valve springs that’ll add a much higher ceiling of delivery and reliability to the power band. Interestingly, the turbo only pushes 18psi of boost into the engine, helping alleviate any lag which keeps the throttle crisp for snappy drifts, adding up to a total of 270kW at the treads on the 101 Racing chassis dyno.