Triple Threat: Awesome Threesome Part 3 (Video)

Its finally here!

The video footage from our S13 photoshoot and Bukit Tinggi drift run.

You'll be in for a surprise at the very end hahahaha! Be sure to watch it in full HD!

Kudos to FotografiaDeLyzard and his team of visual engineers!

Lastly, a big shout out to awesomepowered.com for organising and getting everyone involved in this great endeavour! 


The Awesome Threesome! from FotografiaDeLyzard on Vimeo.

Triple Threat: Awesome Threesome Part 2

Great news guys. The second instalment of the three part Silvia series is out! My S13 looks so good in these pictures.

So head on over to http://awesomepowered.com/2011/09/silvia-feature-awesome-threesome-part-2/ and enjoy the pics.

Heres a few that you might like :).

Triple Threat: Awesome Threesome Part 1

Good news folks. 

Awesomepowered.com have finally released their pictures of the photoshoot that my S13 Coupe was involved in. This is the first part of the S13 special - the second part will contain the video footage that we caught last weekend. 

So click on the link below and checkout the awesome pics!

http://awesomepowered.com/2011/09/silvia-feature-awesome-threesome-part-1/

In the meantime, here are some of the pictures they took of my coupe:

Triple Threat: S13 Coupe Video & Photoshoot

Last week, I decided to do something different to the usual Sunday drive up Ulu Yam.

Very last minute but it has been on the cards for awhile now - to organise a proper video and photoshoot of S13 Coupes, in and around Bukit Tinggi and Ulu Yam. The reason behind this endeavour was to help promote and provide maerial for two motoring websites which are owned by some friends of mine. They are http://awesomepowered.com and http://www.drift.com.my/v2.

The plan was simple, get three S13 Coupes owned by myself and two other friends to come along, accompanied by support / chaser cars. The convoy assembled early Sunday morning and the Coupes were joined by a Nissan Grand Livina and a Perodua Myvi. They made for ideal support cars seeing as both had wide rear opening doors, so as to allow photographers to film and take shots of the convoy.

Our first stop was Bukit Tinggi and the convoy made its way there via Karak Highway. This afforded us the opportunity to take some highway / wangan shots. For those not familiar with Bukit Tinggi, its a small town in the Bentong district of Pahang, Malaysia.

Upon reaching the foot of Bukit Tinggi, we had to stop and get the filming gear ready. Our arsenal consisted of a couple of DSLRs and ContourHD portable cameras.

We then proceeded up the hill, along it's many winding and twisty roads. This was my first time at Bukit Tinggi and now I realise why its such a popular destination for motoring enthusiasts. This is also where the Berjaya Hill Climb is held annually.

Since I was too busy driving at the time, I'll let the professionals wow you with their work, which will be released soon. They really did a good job in capturing our cars in motion. No mean feat as the red S13 was nearly always in sideways motion!

After burning rubber and leaving skidmarks all over Bukit Tinggi, we made our way back onto Karak Highway and headed up Genting Highlands. While on the highway, we took the opportunity to once again capture wangan style and line abreast shots of the S13s. We even managed to capture fly-by and tunnel run videos! Heres a sneak preview of the what to expect:

Upon reaching Gohtong Jaya, which is the midway point to the top of Genting Highlands, the team took a break and grabbed some much needed sustenance. One of the photographers had brought his Macbook along and this allowed us to view the footage that was captured earlier. Needless to say, we were quite pleased with the end result. With a bulk of the work already done, the last part of the shoot was to take place at the Gohtong Jaya helicopter pad. It looks down onto the valleys below and would make for a very touge-like setting - definitely a good place to end the day. It was blistering hot by then, as it was nearing 2 pm in the afternoon. This is how myself and most of the others got sunburned - something we only realised much later, well after the photoshoot.

I'll leave you with these shots but stayed tuned for future updates as the official photos are currently being processed by our team of photographers. I'm especially looking forward to the videos that were captured! Truly an awesome powered day.

New Project: Time Attack Car

With the R33 GT-R rebuild nearing completion, its time to to start a new project. It has always been my intention to purchase, rebuild and track a car. Basically, I'm looking for a road legal track car to carry out time attack runs in Sepang International Circuit (SIC). Now the next question is, what car to get?

Unlike in Australia, the UK or the States, we Malaysians are shafted when it comes to used cars. In Australia for example, you could purchase a decent road legal Nissan S13 or S14 for as little as RM10,000 - RM15,000 ringgit. Due to the high Malaysian import tax on cars (300% import duties on all foreign cars), used car prices are similarly affected. What this means is that a used S13 or S14 will probably cost three times as much in Malaysia a compared to a similar car in Australia. This makes it a challenge for the average person to pursue his or her motoring dream, to build a drift machine or to own a dedicated track car.

We now move on to the question of what make and model would be suitable for a time attack car. I've narrowed it down to a few budget (and not so budget) vehicles, seeing as this should be cost saving exercise. After all, a time attack car would require a further outlay of money in order to make it track ready.

And here are the contenders with their pros and cons:

 

  Nissan S13 Silvia Coupe

Pros

• Good RWD base to build up from
• Easy to get power out of the Nissan SR20 engine
• Option to retro-fit parts from other Nissan models
• Massive amount of aftermarket parts
• Huge supply of halfcuts and spare parts that are already in Malaysia

Cons

• Can be expensive to purchase
• Difficult to find one in good condition and tastefully modified
 

Honda Integra DC2

Pros

• Light weight
• Rigid chassis
• Loads of aftermarket parts available
• Plenty of halfcuts and spare parts that already in Malaysia

Cons

• Its a FWD, meaning the front wheels have to not only steer the car but also slow it down
• A bit expensive to produce big power being an N/A car
• Parts can be expensive

 Mazda MX-5 (First Gen / NA)

Pros

• Extremely capable chassis
• Engine responds well to mods, especially when turbocharged

Cons

• Manual units are rare in Malaysia
• Turbo kit has to be sourced from abroad (costly)
• Not as many halfcuts and spare parts compared to the other cars on this list
• Cars in good condition still command high prices
• Standard 1.6 N/A engine is gutless and seriously lacking in torque

Subaru WRX GC8

Pros

• Great AWD race car platform
• Capable car even in stock form
• Option to retro-fit parts from STI models

Cons

• Expensive to purchase
• Finding one in good condition is difficult
• Parts aren't cheap
• Stock GC8 WRX gearbox is crap
• Full STI conversion costs a lot of money
• Can be expensive to get big power out of the Subaru EJ engine

 Mitsubishi Evo II to VIII

Pros

• Amazing AWD race car platform
• Very capable even in stock form
• Some models are 'race ready' (i.e. Evo VI Tommi Makinen Edition)

Cons

• Very expensive to purchase
• Difficult to find genuine Evos in good condition
• Will be expensive to produce big power after a certain point

So which car to get? Find out in the next blog posting!