auto racing

We sit down with Murakami-san to discuss J’s Racing, his love for Hondas, and that engine blow-up.

ASM: Firstly, welcome to Australia. Is this your first time to our side of the world?
Actually no, it’s my second time. Though my first visit was many years ago, and that was more of a holiday. I love it here! This time around I’m here to see JDM Concept, who we are proud to announce have just become our Australian distributor.

ASM: Tell us a little bit about the background history of J’s Racing.
The J’s Racing company is 17 years old, so we’ve been around for a very long time. However, when the company first started, it wasn’t as a tuner. Initially we sold used cars. What we would do was buy modified cars and dismantle the aftermarket parts, returning them back to standard. We’d then sell the cars and parts separately.

ASM: So how did J’s Racing move from that to becoming one of the leading Honda tuners?
It was 13 years ago that we, as a company, entered into a race. It was an all-Civic race, and we were racing an EG6 Honda Civic Si-R. We found that the car needed more speed and performance, and so we started looking into making our parts for what we needed.

ASM: When did these parts become available to the aftermarket?
Three years after that, so ten years ago.

ASM: What would the tuning philosophy of J’s Racing be?
I guess it is important to state that we do not make parts purely for the sake of it… 

ASM: You mean you don’t make parts to capitalise on the market?
Correct, yes. The parts we make are borne from the race track. All of the parts we develop are things we’ve found we have needed in racing. We make parts, we race with them and, if they are successful, we make them available to the public. Of course this means that a lot of our products are made purely for race use. For normal street use they aren’t as effective, as to maximise their full potential you need to use them in racing environments.

ASM: Tell us a little bit about J’s Racing HQ.
We do nearly everything possible for Hondas. We do full race preps – including chassis strengthening – to installations and even regular servicing for tuned street or race cars.

ASM: And you are located in Osaka?
Yes we are. For our Japanese customers in other parts of the country, our parts are also now available through Super Autobacs. In terms of internationally, we have a dealer network around the world: U.S., UK, Germany, Greece, Asia and of course now Australia.

ASM: Now it is obvious that you’ve travelled a fair bit around the world. So in the context of the Honda communities that you’ve seen in various countries, what would the most common mistake be that enthusiasts do?
[Thinks] Overall I think that Honda enthusiasts aren’t making any big mistakes in what they do in terms of modifying. Although, I’d say one thing would be that often enthusiasts are choosing exhaust diameters that are too big for their car.

ASM: In terms of the export market, is the U.S. still the biggest?
It is yes, but I guess the U.S. is different to the UK, Asia and Australia.

ASM: What do you mean? Like a demand for difference in products?
Not really a demand for different products, but that each country is a bit unique in terms of car choices. For example, in the United States, the S2000 is extremely popular, along with the Civic and Integra. In Asia, the Fit is the most popular. 

ASM: Besides those cars you mentioned, what modern Hondas is J’s Racing focusing their efforts on?
Definitely the new [JDM FD2] Civic Type R, which we see as the next popular Honda car.

ASM: Do you see a lot of potential in it?
Oh yes. For example, the S2000 is a very nice car. However in our eyes, it is almost ten years old. In Super Taikyu, the DC5 is faster due to its weight. And so we feel the new Civic Type R will be the next evolution.

ASM: What about the NSX? Have you heard anything about it?
We’ve probably heard similar things to you in terms of its performances around Nurburgring, and it is definitely a car that we’ll be excited to develop once it is released.

ASM: And what would your favourite Honda be of all-time?
[long pause] It would have to be the CL7 Honda Accord Euro R. My personal favourite.

ASM: Why is that? Because of the mix of comfort and sport?
Yes it’s a very, very good car, because no matter how you use it, it is fast. It’s great on the highway, can be used on the touge and even circuit. And of course it offers luxury.

ASM: J’s Racing has certainly grown in notoriety for its S2000’s stellar performances in various Hot Version battles. My question is, who gets to choose the driver? Do the workshops have any input in saying, for example, that we want X or Y driver to steer our car?
Unfortunately we don’t get to choose which driver races our car. That is decided by them.

ASM: An incident happened in one of their races at the Maze circuit [Hot Version: Battles at 10,000rpm]. It was an all-S2000 race, and Jyuichi Wakisaka was driving your car. Something happened – there was fire beneath the car – before the video cut away quickly. It sounded like an over-rev, but there wasn’t an explanation and so not many people know what really happened.
[laughs] Yes he over-revved the engine on a down-shift, but apparently that’s meant to be a secret!

GRIND THE PAVEMENT part II

The first hurdle was to devise a way to be able to drop the height – wait for it – a whopping 30-inches. While most will see a three-inch drop as dramatic enough, Jason wanted to achieve the impossible: getting the underbelly of a Landcruiser to lick asphalt. To do this, the Landcruiser body was massaged, pummelled and beaten into submission to accept a Hilux chassis.

There’s extensive modifications to the suspension too, as Jason outlined from the beginning that the Landcruiser wasn’t going to be a showpiece, but rather a completely driveable proposition. At the rear, LLC devised a custom four-link setup. The airbag setup heralds from Slam Specialities in Fresno California, measuring 6-inches in diameter at the front and 7-inches at the rear. The main benefits of Slam Specialties’ bags are in their inherent design: they can run more than twice the pressure of conventional air bags, offer more stroke for increased driveability, as well as faster and more balanced weight control. Indeed, the ride of the Landcruiser is surprisingly supple, mimicking that of a luxury car as opposed to a vehicle so drastically modified as this is.

Compounding the headaches – and no doubt adding weeks of sleepless nights – was the fact that Jason had his heart set on fitting 22-inch rims to the Landcruiser. And rather than have anorexic, tram-like widths, Jason demanded that the rim diameters stretched to a whopping ten-inches and the tread footprint an enormous 295. When you consider their ride height objectives, you’ll start to fathom just how hard this part of the project was going to be.

“Making the wheels fit was one of the most difficult aspects of the build” Jason reveals. After commissioning Intro to fabricate the custom wheels, the daunting task of making the car fit the wheels (rather than the more conventional method of getting the wheels to fit the car) began. All four arches had to be unceremoniously cut away, with new inner front guards along with taller and wider rear tubs fabricated out of metal and welded into place. 

 In terms of the Landcruiser’s exterior, there are countless alterations that have been done, yet are subtle enough not to be immediately noticed. This is without hesitation deliberate, all done to elaborately emphasise the contours of the Toyota body. Everything from the wiper sprays, rear wiper, indicators and door locks have all been shaved. To further clean up the lines, the fuel filler was rerouted to the rear of the car, and is now hidden from view behind the passenger rear-taillight. Even the firewall didn’t escape an overhaul, and has now been flawlessly smoothened to mirror the finish of the new inner guards.

While most sane people would have been considerably chuffed with completing so many modifications, for Jason it was literally only the halfway point. After an unobtrusive coating in the standard 100 series maroon, Jason turned to the Darkness comic books to complete the rest of the exterior and interior.

Exploding out of the body is striking air-brushing inspired by the Marc Silvestri comics, and when you pop the boot you’ll see a continuation into the audio install. Cleverly done, the install gives the appearance of the white leather interior tearing and stretching to reveal a screaming corpse. Jaw-dropping to say the least.

At this point we have to agree with Jason that a book could be written on this Landcruiser. Indeed, after filling so many pages in ASM, we haven’t even touched on the extensive drivetrain modifications, the Eaton supercharger beneath the bonnet, its five LCD screens or its brake upgrade. There’s simply too much to talk about.

Which brings me back to my original point of exactly why this Landcruiser is one of the most poignant and earth-shattering cars to come out of Sydney. While 99% of enthusiasts will always remain within the comfort of bolt-on modifying, Jason and the team at LLC have snubbed the safety of convention and devised this totally insane creation. No part available? No problem, we’ll make it. Looks too hard to accomplish? Bah, it can be done. Aren’t we glad that there’s that 1% of enthusiasts that are willing to tear up the rulebook.

GRIND THE PAVEMENT part I

Say a nice friendly hello to one of the hottest cars you’ll see in a magazine. Ever.

To say that we’ve been pursuing the car you see before you for months would be an understatement. Hunting, or even begging, would be much more appropriate descriptions. And from the rumours that we’ve heard, it seems like we weren’t the only magazine hounding its owner, with everyone fighting tooth and nail to get the exclusive. We don’t know what swayed owner Jason Luttrell to opt for ASM, but let’s just say that we are proud to have a feature on what is undoubtedly one of my personal favourite cars that Australia has yet to produce.

Typically this type of fervour is reserved only for that trophy-dominating show car, or a mega-horsepower demo car produced by one of Japan’s select elite. So to have this amount of hype and fuss placed on – of all things – a Landcruiser, might seem a little bit of a waste.

That said, just one look at this thing and the interest its generated is more than justified. It is, with little doubt, one of the most neck-snapping rides you’ll ever see on the street. While most enthusiasts saddle up with a hero car and then embark on modifying one-upmanship to make their ride stand out, Jason went completely against the grain: an unsuspecting platform fitted with totally surprising modifications. And what drove him to do something so unique and distinctive? Destiny really. 

Delve into a bit of Jason’s past and you’ll uncover that his four year mission to build what has been affectionately dubbed the ‘Landbruiser’ was always going to be one of his life’s objectives. In terms of his previous rides, first there was the 1987 ‘bagged Hilux. Then a ‘bagged Triton complete with a Commodore V6 conversion. And a ‘bagged Vito van. As well as Toyota Surf which, as you would have guessed by now, was also fitted with air bags. All of them, particularly the latter, would culminate into the Landcruiser project which would end up costing upwards of 75 large. “I wanted to build something bigger and better than anything I’ve ever done before” he said. If you ask us, he’s accomplished just that.

The Landbruiser’s most striking feature is, of course, its ride height. While most might think that Jason has achieved this simply by fitting airbags, they’d be wrong. This particular project has been heaped with tribulations, with Jason having to resort to custom fabrication parts from head to toe. The mere thought of building such a car is enough to make us dizzy, and so to see such a creation in the flesh is more than unbelievable. It’s logic defying.

The ace card up Jason’s sleeve that allowed him to accomplish so many feats is that he’s a rather well-known airbag guru, founding Living Low Customs in Sydney’s West. Although the business started off out of a car port in 2005, it’s since spawned into one of the largest workshops specialising in custom air-bag work, no doubt growing in reputation as their Landcruiser’s notoriety spread across the world.

As Jason’s project was practically a ground-up proposition, there was little need for LLC to find a pristine example. And so when they came across a repairable write-off 100 Series Landcruiser with front-end damage, it was deemed to be the perfect canvas for what they wanted to achieve.

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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.

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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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This is the car that has monstered our Circuit Battle competition, has won many a Dutton tarmac rally against some of the meanest Porsches, Evos, STis and other GT-Rs and is now a Tsukuba veteran. This is Mark Berry and Russell Newman’s awesome R32 GT-R Skyline.

By the time you’re clicking through these pages, the Berry/Newman car will have gone to Japan and competed in what is surely the holy grail for lap sprinters around the world: a genuine time attack event at Tsukuba circuit, Japan. The event, known as the Rev Speed Time Attack, was held on December 5 (although this story was written shortly before it) and boasted a star-studded entry list that included JUN, HKS, Tomei, RE Amemiya and even two teams from the UK!

What had proven to be adept at monstering the competition in Australian motor sport was going up against some of the most carefully prepared, big dollar, multi-national corporation-backed juggernauts in a knock ‘em down, drag ‘em out battle royale. So, to present a firm challenge to this daunting field full of mechanical insanity, the boys had to take their road-going GT-R into full race specification.

We’re talking about a big dollar new engine that has been built from the ground up, new suspension, a thorough diet to reach a new target race weight and more. The whole car was gone through so that it would do Australia proud when it hit the frozen tarmac early in the Japanese winter and to present a real challenge to the rest of the world.

Taking an all-Australian developed car to the home of Time Attacks (and the Skyline) is a hugely ballsy move, because there is more than just Mark and Russell’s pride on the line. Japan is one of our local aftermarket’s burgeoning new marketplaces, so these guys had to be sure that their products would perform on-par (or better) than the world’s best, because any embarrassment could have major implications for the growth of their businesses.

Before the latest rebuild, the R32 retained most of its street car DNA, produced around 400kW in a responsive and torquey manner to suit circuit driving and ran a best of 10.02 seconds at 137mph on the drag strip. But, to compete against other cars that had been built from the ground-up with only the Time Attack regulations in mind, quite a few radical changes had to be undertaken, rendering the machine a race-only proposition.

Firstly, a race weight of 1300kg was deemed to be one of the main targets for the vehicle, and with much of the original bodywork still in place there were quite a few gains to be had. The interior was already gutted in preparation for the On Track Engineering Chromoly rollcage, while a custom-made carbon fibre boot lid and door cards from Carbon Components got the nod and new gutted carbon fibre door skins were fitted (saving some 24kg each!), plus Lexan windows to replace the heavy OEM glass.

Shedding those kilos helps the performance more than many would expect, with later braking points, higher corner speeds and better acceleration all possible through minimising fat on the car. On top of this, some racers have found that their cars use less fuel (as there is less mass to haul) and that they can then run lighter fuel loads, which helps weight even more.

Along with the roll cage, the chassis preparation also extended into getting the BNR32 corner-weighted, which is a massive amount of work but absolutely necessary to get the best out of the suspension set-up. It’s a technique that many touring car racing teams go through before each round, tailoring the handling for that particular circuit to suit the majority of the bends (either left or right) and something most other Time Attack teams do to eek out the merest of advantages over Tsukuba’s short distance.

Corner-weighting – and this is a simplification of the process – works off positioning the vehicle’s mass in the best location possible for braking and cornering and also managing energy transfer during that time. While negotiating a turn, weight will shift diagonally across a vehicle’s chassis, so in a right-hand bend the weight (and energy) will move from the left rear to the right front, causing issues with balance and grip (otherwise known as understeer and oversteer).

To remedy this, the car is put on scales and the mass of each corner is measured independently from the others and then the adjustments start to raise, lower, stiffen and soften different ends. However, changes made to one corner will affect the other three, as taking weight off the front left will also take weight off the right rear and place more weight on the opposite corners. Much like Old Man Newton said, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, so if weight is wound off struts on one diagonal axis, then the opposing axis needs to be stiffened by equal measure.

The coilovers being adjusted in question are nothing short of the Holy Grail for many tuners: hand-made remote canister Swedish Ohlins units bought through ex-pat Aussie Steve Bijok of Arabian Automotive Technologies in Dubai. Apart from being lighter in weight than a conventional coilover strut, the fluid-filled damper is kept cooler as there is more fluid available and the heat doesn’t get trapped in the body like it would on a normal unit. This means it is able to control compression and rebound forces more accurately as the oil is kept at its peak operating viscosity.

auto show

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.

AUTO STYLE

Wanna learn the right way to deck you car out widebody? Please, let us introduce you to Bernard Ling and his monster ZZT230 Toyota.



For more than thirty years now, Toyota Celicas have been finding their way into the hearts of modifiers and driving enthusiasts around the globe. Since the very first model was rolled out, there has always been something special about the Celica; always something that grabbed peoples' attention. While there may have been some models that captured more hearts than others, you can be sure that for every single generation of Celica released you will still be able to find die hard enthusiasts blasting away on Internet forums about where they might source that rare set of wheels or a replacement bumper for their pride and joy.

For each generation of Celica, Toyota has aimed at breaking ground in one particular engineering aspect of vehicle design: during the ‘70s they worked on creating accessible rear drive sports cars and developing great twin cam engines, while during the ‘80s and ‘90s they broke a lot of ground in making cost effective and sporty 4WD and FWD drivetrains.



From its very beginnings, the ZZT230 model was designed to pave new way in automotive styling. Toyota wanted to try and show the world what could be done to make a car look completely futuristic and yet at the same time be able to age gracefully. They wanted to deliver a shape that would capture people’s hearts and hopefully be looked back on in years to come as another great Celica. What they were aiming for is so very, very difficult to achieve, however: capturing that winning exterior design is like the holy grail of automotive manufacturing and not many styling teams ever get to drink from that mystical cup.

Now, if Bernard Ling's dedication to this particular ZZT230 is anything to go by, we think Toyota may just have come very close to their goals of capturing hearts with their sleek automotive styling. Bernard purchased this Celica almost six years ago and in that time has added to it with only his personal take on the ultimate looking ride. Since being in his possession, this car has grown by about double in size thanks to some of the most extreme aftermarket metalwork you are likely to see on the streets today. The car is wide - and as we all know, wide is good.



Bernard is the kind of modifier that we here at ASM really enjoy. To look at this hardcore, decked out Celica you may think that he has been modifying for decades, building a new project car every year; but in actual fact, the reverse is true. This here 2002 Celica is Bernard's first car and he has told us that prior to starting on this project he didn't know the first thing about cars. We guess then, that their must be something hardwired in certain people's DNA that predisposes them to wanting to take a car and push it to the very edge of what is possible with modification. So, six years ago, Bernard rolled out of the Toyota showroom with a brand new ZZT230 Celica and the journey of customising began.

 Widebody conversions have been prevalent in our scene for a good while now and considering we are all die hard engineering fans, this is something we've been very pleased about. Increase your car's track, throw in some good suspension, plus some wide rolling stock, and you will be well on you way to racing nirvana. But, while it is all well and good to slash up your original guards and throw on some overfenders, how good would it be to actually maintain your car's original lines throughout the new design? This is exactly what Bernard has been able to achieve with this six year project and we have to say that it looks simply amazing.



To achieve the widening, each front and rear fender was carefully and precisely cut and new metal inserts welded in (60mm was added at the front and 80mm was added at the rear). This is the sort of process that can be very tricky, but as you can see from the results, the team at Racing Project has done the job very well. When it came to sorting out a front bar, rear bar and sideskirts, the guys had to once again get the cut and shut tools out to custom fit the Veilside pieces; which were originally designed for a much skinner Celica. Finishing everything off is the rear spoiler moulded into the tailgate with custom numberplate lighting, as well as custom door handles with electric solenoid door release, and a shaved rear windscreen wiper. For those that might be wondering about the colour scheme, Bernard selected a Candy Apple Red base and then went with black for the bonnet scoop, diffuser and tailgate lining.

Look at the car from a few different angles and it still looks so very much similar to the original gracious and flowing lines of the standard model, but catch it in full view of the massively increased track and it looks like you are standing in front of a supercar. To fill the enlarged guards, Racing Hart are the wheels used - 19x8-inch on the front and 19x10-inch on the rear – matched with adjustable Zeal Function B6 coilovers.



As is fitting for a car that looks like it is just about to hit the track, the stoppers on this here Toyota are nothing short of insane. Peeking past the massive rims you will spy 8-piston Brembo calipers and 15-inch slotted rotors up front, while in the rear lies a set of 4-piston Brembo calipers and slotted rotors. What is especially great about Bernard and the way he has built this Celica is that he has been able to have the whole car fully engineered, even with the use of a braking setup that would be just at home on a V8 Supercar.

As you’d expect, the stereo system that Bernard has had fitted to the car is pretty much as extreme as the work he has done with the widebody kit. There is some serious kit hiding away in the dash, and some adequately powered subs ensuring that the car can be heard coming. For all you audio tech heads, check out the specs box for more info.



While engine modifications haven't so far been drastic from Bernard, we think that considering Toyota's original aims were primarily of breaking new styling ground, then this is rather fitting. Toyota wasn't trying to build the most ball-tearing of ultimate performance vehicles, but rather they were trying to make new, interesting and hopefully influential statements about their ideas in car design. Had they gone and decked the car out with an insane powerplant and uber-complicated-electronic 4WD system, it would have no doubt been rendered out of the 'accessible' tag and would have been a rarity on the roads. Thanks to tuners like Bernard though, we can see just how insane a car the Celica can be when given the right treatment.

GIRTH BY SEA

Low, wide and boasting enough power to torch all four tyres, Miranda Moyle’s FATGTR Skyline ticks all our boxes



Go to your computer and give it a hug. Why? Because without a doubt we can thank the Internet for opening up the options available to today’s car modifier. A couple of clicks of a mouse on any regular home computer can see an open, fertile mind being pummelled with images and specifications of insane rides from thousands of kilometres away.

Even better, thanks to forums and hosting sites like YouTube and Photobucket, we can see and hear modified cars from across the world in action. This can be dangerous to your wallet if you own something as easily modified as a GT-R Skyline. Think about the first time you saw a video of a big-power GT-R launching off the line or blasting supercars at insane speeds, and just imagine the havoc that would wreak in a stock GT-R-owner’s mind at the potential maelstrom waiting in their car.

Right now, there are probably GT-R owners amongst the people reading this story about Miranda Moyle’s R32, scanning the specs list for inspiration of modifications to do to their car, dreaming of opening the bonnet of their Godzilla to see a snake’s pit of braided lines, before squinting into the reflection off a highly polished custom high-mounted billet turbocharger. For Miranda, it’s been a long two-year road to get to this point, but when the results are as stunning and well-presented as this, we’d say it is two years well-spent.



From the outset, the 30mm-wider guards and Andromeda paint assault your retinas, showing off the hard work from Adrenalin Auto Styling, who are responsible for the bonnet, front and rear bars, and side skirts. The custom bonnet and front-bar give the front-end a distinctive, angry appearance, while ensuring that plenty of cold air gets through the intercooler and the hot air is expelled out the vents.

Complimenting this aggressive exterior are the 18x10.5-inch Work Meister rims. The wheels are one of the most sought-after rims not only for GT-Rs, but any classic Japanese vehicle. With the extra girth packed onto the track of FATGTR, the wheels now offer more dish than usual and really do enhance the aesthetics to a point of near-perfection.

While some people would think that the car would be pretty sweet at this point, Miranda and her fiancé, Adam Drady, pushed on to build the Skyline into something that would be considered as a righteous interpretation of what many consider the ultimate ‘90s tuner car. This called for plenty of engine mods to the RB26DETT to liberate the bulk horsepower we all know is lurking inside the motorsport-derived in-line six-cylinder. Isn’t it great that there is so much information on the Net about these motors?



One of the tried and true ways of getting that huge power figure is to ditch the two smaller snails for one large, high-mounted single turbocharger. Although it was initially only used in Japan on drag and Wangan-style GT-Rs, plenty of Australians, Europeans and Americans have trod the “big single” route to kilowatt Nirvana. On top of that, FATGTR certainly pushes the right buttons with exceptional detailing on each of the high-performance parts making this engine bay walk the line between a show piece and track tool. Our recommendation is to take some time out to really appreciate it all.

Internally, a crankshaft from an R33 GT-R, ACL bearings, CP pistons and Eagle con rods form the textbook forged bottom-end that can take the bulk of the horsepower increase. On top of that, R32s suffered oiling problems, so with this new short-motor mated to an upgraded Tomei oil pump and Tomei sump there will be no lack of the slippery stuff in the RB, because let’s face it – there’s no point making 10,000kW if your car only does it once.



Other items chosen for the safety of the in-line six are the 850cc fuel injectors, twin Bosch 044 fuel pumps and the A’PEXi PowerFC D-Jetro – which lets Miranda ditch the pesky air flow meters for a cleaner, easier air intake as the D-Jetro runs solely off the MAP sensor.

Other ancillaries fitted to the engine include an HKS twin spark ignition system to stop the boost blowing out the spark at high loads, a Turbosmart e-Boost electronic boost controller and a custom front-mounted intercooler kit from Fantasy Performance.



Up top, the RB26’s head runs OS Giken cam gears and lumpy Tomei 262-degree cams to suit the peaky top-end rush of the Mr Turbo billet Z-P huffer, which is a Queensland made product also seen on Mark Navcic’s GODZLA R32 GT-R. With the large-frame Garrett-based turbo slung on a Fantasy Performance exhaust manifold, and with boost bled off by an HKS 60mm wastegate, Miranda needs the four-wheel-grip of the GT-R when all 22psi hit the tyres in a massive top-end rush.

While they could have gotten away without running the aftermarket cams, the truth is that a high-mount big turbo will make its power further up the rev range than where stock cams will be at their most efficient, so the prudent choice is to change the cams to shift even more of the power towards redline. And when you experience how a GT-R with these mods comes on boost you’ll understand exactly why so many people take this line. If you consider that Miranda’s FATGTR has spun the Auto Salon dyno rollers to 379kw at the treads, that is one hell of a rush to experience!



A stock clutch was never going to cop over 500hp at the treads, so an ORC twin-plate clutch was installed. The twin-plate means Miranda can run a less aggressive pressure plate, but still get the clamping force required by such a powerful motor and all that torque the RB26 is putting out.

Handling is taken care of thanks to the ever popular Cusco coilover struts, while a Cusco strut brace also adds more bling to the engine bay already shining from the huge amounts of braided hose snaking its way around the RB motor, not to mention the polished compressor housing of the turbocharger.

On the braking front, there are a seriously huge set of stoppers peering out from behind the front Work rims, with KTS brand callipers, rotors and pads being given the nod to haul up the four-wheel-drive terror from the insane speeds it can reach. Considering the big power, it’s a very wise upgrade.



Inside, there is a mix of street and track themes with a pair of Bride-trimmed recliner buckets holding passengers in place when the roads turn twisty, and Miranda saw fit to have the door card inserts trimmed in the matching Bride material for more JDM flavour. There’s a pretty sweet stereo install too, featuring a Kenwood DVD headunit, Fusion front speakers, Bzerk amplifier and an Alpine subwoofer.

The Auto Meter monster tacho will mean the driver doesn’t ever miss a shift, but it is the way it has been mounted – with the Auto Meter volt gauge and Defi water temp, oil temp and boost gauges affixed to it in a clock-like layout – that will surely grab the most attention. While most people just mount theirs in a row in the glovebox, or dash-top, Miranda has come up with an innovative and easily viewed solution.

All in all, FATGTR represents a fantastic blend of street detailing and race engineering – bolt on parts and a lot of individuality combine for an exceptionally well finished car boasting plenty of drool-worthy parts. With nearly 400kW at the wheels it certainly backs up the Godzilla legend and should provide plenty of inspiration for others out there around the world.