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Posted
Mar 18 2010, 04:20 AM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 37 comment(s)
With this month being dedicated to builds and previews there is one place I knew I had to visit for you guys. You wouldn't be able to find it if you tried, nestled deep in the Chiba-ken countryside, a stone-throw away from the new Sodegaura Forest Raceway. This is where magic happens, you feel it the instant you set foot inside one of the garages where restoration projects are underway. Thanks to people like Ando-san rare Japanese classics are brought back to life here, often starting off from...
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Posted
Mar 17 2010, 01:05 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 14 comment(s)
Sometimes it's amazing what you can find in your own backyard. Or your old backyard I should say.
A couple weeks ago I was visiting my family in the Fresno area when my brother told me about a car shop near his work that I should check out. So one rainy afternoon I packed up the camera and made a visit to Hedges Speed Shop....
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Posted
Mar 11 2010, 11:32 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 27 comment(s)
I've been shooting time attack events in California for a while now, and at each event I always find myself gravitating towards the cars built by Evasive Motorsports. Part of it is the fact they are usually at the top of their class, but another was their perfect resemblance to the Japanese time attack cars we love.
Needless to say, when Evasive main man Mike Chang asked me to come out and have a look at the shop, I couldn't turn him down....
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Posted
Mar 09 2010, 11:31 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 28 comment(s)
Hello Speedhunters my name is Mathieu van den Oever and I am from Utrecht in The Netherlands. After I had stopped skateboarding due to injuries, my love for racing and drifting took over and it has not stopped since. Things got even worse after my first trip to Japan where I got introduced to cars and products I could only dream of before....
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Posted
Feb 04 2010, 08:10 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 52 comment(s)
Sometimes you have good days. And then there are great days. Having taken in the impressive JR Motosport/Sumo Power factory in Rye, Rod and I had one more treat in store courtesy of Sumo Power boss Andy Barnes. We drove out to JRM's separate storage facility in my car; starting up my Alfa GTV, Andy asked if it was a diesel... rather embarrassed I had to say: "uh, no it's a 3L V6..." Okay. I think I need to get a service. Or a new car. When we arrived, I started unpacking my gear...
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Posted
Feb 03 2010, 07:42 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 31 comment(s)
It's funny how things come around. Last November I spent a rainy couple of days down in Rye on the South coast of England. Rye is a lovely town: quintessentially English with cobbled streets and fortified walls (and an unexpected American car show scheduled that weekend), but with movies on the laptop all watched, Medieval tower climbed and coffee shops exhausted I thought I'd take a drive out in the gale to the coastline, across the marshes, as the show looked rained off. Driving out through...
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Posted
Jan 28 2010, 10:17 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 15 comment(s)
Developing new cars and supporting current racers might be their speciality, but Barwell also have a lot of experience running historic cars. Parked up in front of the prep bays are two stunning examples they take care of: a pristine 1969 Porsche 917 and an original 1697 Ford GT40. The Porsche 917 is chassis number 013/34. It was built for the 1970 season, and although it didn't have much success whilst racing with John Wyer Automotive's Gulf team its claim to fame is that it was used in...
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Posted
Jan 24 2010, 06:32 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 8 comment(s)
During 2009 Barwell ran a capacity programme with six cars in action across national and European GT series, Belgian touring cars and various historic events. In Britain, two cars ran in British GT: a full season entry in partnership with the Beachdeen team running their Aston Martin DBRS9 along with run-outs for the new Ginetta G50z. The Ginetta was entered in the Invitational class, bringing a bit more interest to what was a pretty lacklustre season in British GTs. Across the water in Belgium,...
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Posted
Jan 20 2010, 11:08 AM
by
Mike Garrett
with 7 comment(s)
As I sit here listening to the rain outside turning the LA basin into a disaster area, it's time to continue with my visit to Starlite Rod & Kustom right here in lovely Torrance, California.
I've had the chance to visit a lot of fantastic car shops, but as you can see there's something very special about Starlite. In fact, I can't help but feeling proud that such a cool shop is located right in my neighborhood.
Anyways, on with the tour....
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Posted
Jan 19 2010, 12:58 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 13 comment(s)
Last month during our coverage of the Mooneyes X-Mas Party, I did a spotlight on a radical chopped and slammed Chevy pickup convertible. After seeing a sticker on the truck for a shop called Starlite Rod & Kustom, I got in contact to arrange a visit.
As It turns out, Starlite is located right just a few minutes away from me, right here in Torrance, CA. Last Friday morning I headed over to the shop to have a look at the facility and some of their project cars....
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Posted
Jan 09 2010, 09:55 AM
by
Jonathan Moore
with 11 comment(s)
When you arrive at a track and see all the cars lined up on the grid, it's easy to forget just how much effort goes into to getting them there in the first place. Preparation and set-up, aero and data logging, tyre supply and driver management, engine maintenance and body repairs... It takes weeks of work and considerable sums of money just to get a car to an event. Away from the glitz and glamour of F1 and other major series, the majority of motorsport around the world is sustained by small...
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Posted
Dec 23 2009, 02:43 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 43 comment(s)
We all like to dream about cars don't we? I'm sure every single person who reads this blog site has regular thoughts about what cars they want to own. I personally take time every day to think about my automotive plans! There is nothing wrong with dreaming, as it's the act of visualizing that's the first step to building your future. Your ability to realize your automotive dreams will of course depend on your circumstances, the opportunities that present themselves and how you navigate...
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Posted
Dec 22 2009, 11:00 AM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 32 comment(s)
The Z-tune is without a doubt one of the best cars to ever come out of Japan. It's rarity and performance makes it one of the most sought after GT-Rs of modern times, and after looking at how it performs out on the street I though it would be interesting to take a look at the car in more detail. Back in 2006 I followed one step of the build process of the last Z-tune to ever be made. While the guys at Nismo Omori Factory had completed the chassis modifications with the tons of spot welding and...
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Posted
Dec 11 2009, 12:18 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 10 comment(s)
It's upon us. The 2009 Mooneyes USA X-Mas Party, which will be held tomorrow at Irwindale Speedway rain or shine. If you are in SoCal and looking for something to do tomorrow, I highly suggest you head out to Irwindale to check out some of the coolest custom cars, hot rods, and dragsters on the West Coast. As an appetizer to the event, I wanted to post some photos I took the other day when I dropped by the historic Mooneyes USA facility, located in Santa Fe Springs, California....
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Posted
Nov 13 2009, 06:39 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 16 comment(s)
With the Mustang, Ford is in possession of a very valuable property: a modern car with soul and character. Think about it: the vast majority of car companies these days make all of their models with uniform styling features. It's even hard to distinguish between different cars of the same class these days. It's for this reason I've developed a bit of a soft spot for this retro macho machine, especially the hotted up versions that companies like Shelby and now RTR are putting out. The...
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Posted
Nov 13 2009, 11:40 AM
by
Jeroen Willemsen
with 23 comment(s)
Last year, together with Rod, John Brooks and Antonio, I visited the Spa 24 hour race in Belgium and saw the Donkervoort D8 GT for the first time. I'd heard about it on the internet previously, but when confronted with the real deal, I was amazed how good it looked. The car screamed for a closer look, and I knew I had to visit the company someday -fast forward to last Tuesday. After some email contact with Donkervoort , they invited me to come over and take some pictures of the new factory and...
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Posted
Nov 01 2009, 10:44 AM
by
Jeroen Willemsen
with 40 comment(s)
While researching this blog post, I didn't want to make a standard Driver Profile of Paul Vlasblom like what we've been doing with the Formula D drifters. I wanted to turn it into a Q&A type of feature with lots of pictures of his cars, build projects and driving skills instead. Paul's career got started in 1998 when he was working for a Porsche dealership and and was racing a E30. He already loved to slide the little BMW but it never occurred to him it was a real sport. He won the...
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Posted
Oct 31 2009, 09:00 PM
by
Dino Dalle Carbonare
with 22 comment(s)
These are the posts I love the most, allowing readers to get a more down-to-earth look into companies and personalities. Away from the limelight it is always so refreshing to see just how normal people are and the guys at T&E were a great bunch to spend the best part of a day with. I dropped by their main shop in Yokohama to try to get a behind the scenes look at what is one of the most respected aero parts makers in Japan. The man behind it all is Takahiro Ueno, who currently drivers the 2JZ...
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Posted
Oct 27 2009, 02:53 PM
by
Mike Garrett
with 18 comment(s)
Tucked away in a small industrial area of Gardena, California you'll find one the most legit drift shops on West Coast - Garage Boso. While I was there on Saturday shooting photos of Ross Petty's S15, I also spent some time checking out the shop itself and the nice selection of toys that can be found there. I always get all giddy when I visit a shop full of cool projects, and Garage Boso more than delivered....
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Posted
Sep 29 2009, 09:30 AM
by
Rod Chong
with 18 comment(s)
It's going to be several hours before the sun rises in Vancouver, Canada but I'm already up and am working away on my last few BMW feature stories. The first subject to check out is another bit of Munich based Speedhunting that Dino and I did in Germany last Wednesday. We took our two BMW press cars and drove south from Munich for around 100 kms on the world famous Autobahn freeways. This journey is a story unto itself, but I'll let Dino talk about that in a separate post. I'll just...
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