Tabla de contenidos para June 2019 en Fast Car

Fans of the brutally monstrous BMW M3 may be amused to learn that there’s a French hybrid concept nipping at its heels. And whatever your feelings on hybrids, the spec of Peugeot’s tasty 508 Sport Engineered Concept can’t be ignored. Big French saloons have traditionally been a bit of a flop – a Peugeot 605 or a Citroën C6 could never hope to compete with the ubiquitous Beemers and Mercs – but this 508 is a proper looker, and the powertrain sounds like a riot: it starts with the 197bhp 1.6-litre turbo four-pot from the 208 GTI, adds in a 110bhp electric motor, and both of these things power the front axle… then the rear end also gets a 200bhp motor for good measure. Fans of maths will note that…

Premium restomodding is big business these days, as you’ve no doubt spotted. Niche reimagined classics like the Eagle E-Type and Alfaholics GTA have been making nerds salivate for a while, but the colossal PR machine around Singer and their ‘Reimagined’ 911s has forced the idea of premium modernised restoration into the consciousness of petrolheads the world over. And with a boxfresh Ferrari tribute, Surrey-based independents Evoluto Automobili have stepped up to the plate. As you can see, this thing looks jaw-droppingly delicious; the concept is to take a 348 (not traditionally the most sought-after Ferrari in collector circles), and rebody it in carbon fibre to look like a sort of modern interpretation of a 355. Because people prefer the 355, even if it can’t keep up with an Aston DB6…

Stupid bloody thing, the engine warning light on the dash pops up all the time for all sorts of rubbish reasons; there’s never any logic to it. If you’re going to daily a Golf, Octavia, Leon, Passat, Polo, TT, A3, or anything else in the group, you’re going to have to invest in a code-reader of your own, because otherwise you’ll get to know your local garage really well. “Hello, me again, there’s something wrong with my car.” “Engine warning light again?” “Yep.” [wait five minutes while they plug it into the machine.] “Yeah, it’s just phantom codes, we’ve cleared them. That’ll be £60 please.” For fuck’s sake, c’mon. But that’s not the end of it! No, if something like a momentary emissions blip triggers your EML, and you clear…

Name: Vince Knight Age: 30 Occupation:›Cinematographer›› First car: Honda Civic EK (Fast Car front cover – May 2011!) Favourite mod on your car: The Vertex Ridge WideBody – this kit is the only one I like for S15s, it follows the stock lines and doesn’t make the car look too modified. Park it next to a stock-body one though, and you realise how much wider it is! Favourite show: Gumball 3000 Track day or show-and-shine? Track day! I can barely be bothered to wash it let alone make it shine. What’s next? Maybe something American. I’ll report back when it’s green.…

Vossen x Work VWS-1, From £965 (each) I’m no wheel snob by any stretch of the imagination, but we all have our dream wheels, and these are mine. Designed by Vossen in the USA and custom built by the legendary Work Wheels in Japan, these forged, 3-piece collab wheels are utter perfection in my eyes. So much so that, as I’m getting on a bit now, I saved up for what seemed like two Ice Ages, just to import myself a set last year. They’re not what you’d call cheap, and at the time they came with a bonus kick in the spuds from Her Majesty’s Customs too. But you know what? They’re still worth every penny. Luckily if you’re in the market, they’re now available in the UK through…

A boxer engine is so-named because the cylinders punch away from each other instead of sitting all in a line. Imagine a V4 engine (that is, a V6 with a couple of cylinders lopped off), and just keep mentally increasing the V-angle until the banks of cylinders are lying completely flat. You see? The crank’s in the middle, and there’s a pair of cylinders punching out from either side. These engines offer great handling benefits; you get a lower centre of gravity because more of the engine weight is lower down compared to an inline four, so your car has a reduced propensity to body roll in the corners. Your left-right weight balance is also inherently better, with half the cylinders sitting either side of the centre line, and in…

The more eagle-eyed among you may have noticed some of the incredible cars we’ve been showcasing from the mean streets of Thailand over the past few issues, as our snappers continue their epic quest to unearth only the most awesome vehicles from all corners of the planet. If these beasts are anything to go by, it’s safe to say this relatively small South East Asian country is packing an almighty punch on the global modified car scene right now. And a large proportion of this magic seems to be stemming from one tuning house in particular: Garage Unique, based on the outskirts of Bangkok and known for whipping up some of the finest wide-body JDM monsters known to man. We’ve seen just what Garage Unique can offer, then, but it…

The MGB is, for many, the archetypal classic car. More affordable than an E-Type, less terrifying than a Cobra, friendlier than an SL - often referred to in breathy tones as ‘Britain’s favourite classic’ or somesuch, the MGB is every bit a part of the national fabric as the Mini, cups of tea, cucumber sandwiches, and fighting in kebab shops. Impressively, this quintessentially British sports car was produced in virtually unchanged form for eighteen years; the structure was pretty ground-breaking for the early sixties, employing a monocoque chassis rather than the old body-on-frame of the MGA, although it was by no means a clean-sheet design – the braking and suspension systems were developments of the MGA’s, while the B-Series engine could trace its roots back to 1947. The MGB roadster…

Then: £42,000 Now: £5,000 The 335i is a hell of a mover. Its 3.0-litre turbo straight-six gives you 302bhp right out of the box, backed up by 295lb.ft of torque, and they’re decent numbers in anybody’s book. 0-62mph is despatched in 5.4-seconds, and the swoopy coupé body will fool most uninformed observers into thinking that it’s an M3 that’s just disappeared improbably quickly towards the horizon. You’ll find that the cheaper cars will probably have the automatic gearbox but we’d recommend finding a manual, which feels proper, and on the move the 335i pulls off a clever trick: its 295lb.ft of torque is an identical figure to the M3’s, but it’s all available from just 1,200rpm – which is a full 2,600rpm lower than the M3. What this means in…

We’re a modified car mag, so we like to keep politically neutral (and frankly we’d rather be watching old Top Gear reruns than Question Time anyway…). But you’ve probably noticed that, whatever your views on leaving or staying in the EU, it’s making a lot of things pretty complicated, and that extends to driving too. If you’re planning a Euro road trip this summer, or you have your sights set on Wörthersee or Ahoy 100% Tuning or Le Mans, you might want to do your research before you set off. Most insurers have agreed to continue the standard 90-day European cover, but you’ll need to check with yours to be totally sure – and you’ll also need to get a European Green Card as proof of domestic cover. These are…

The moments when art and life intersect are what give reality its true character. The flash in time when Neo sees the girl in the red dress in The Matrix, the interspersed subliminal images in Fight Club, the bits where they talk to camera in Spaceballs, there’s a knowing acknowledgement of the link between fantasy and real life. This is true of videogame cars too: if you grew up playing Outrun, you’ll always be excited by the sight of a Testarossa out in meatspace. Children of Gran Turismo get more excited by the Mazda Demio than normal people do. What you’re seeing here, then, is a real-world representation of a videogame car. Well, sort of. Vince Knight’s scene-slaying S15 is a shimmering vision of Need for Speed fantasy – except…

DIRENZA MK1 FOCUS RS RACE MANIFOLD, £300 The Imperial Blue automotive god that is the Mk1 Focus RS is regarded as a ‘proper’ flat-cap modern classic nowadays, with many commanding higher prices than the completely bonkers Mk2 versions. With that in mind, many choose to keep theirs subtle with just a few well-chosen tuning upgrades. And we reckon they don’t get any more well-chosen than this slick race manifold. Designed to massively improve airflow and throttle response, this fully ported and polished, mandrel bent, tig-welded work of art uses thick 3mm stainless steel for superior reliability. It also has CNC-machined flanges for solid support and an accurate fit. One for when only the finest will do for your pampered project. www.direnza.co.uk TOP TOOL POWERFLEX BMW/MINI JACKING POINT ADAPTORS, £12…

Here’s a cracking DIY Day Job for you and one you can sort out easily in an afternoon. But why do you need a sub in your car, we hear you ask? Well, the truth is that you don’t have to be some sort of drum and bass fanatic to appreciate a few decent lows in your set-up. In reality, no matter what your taste in choonage, without a subwoofer in your system, you’re not getting the whole audio spectrum that’s originally recorded on your music. So, there you go, that’s why you need one – and here’s our guide to how you can whack one in along with the amp you’ll need to run it……

There was a time when it looked like the UK wouldn’t be receiving any more saloon-bodied WRXs. The third-generation Impreza threw a dramatic curveball into the performance car market in 2007, by screwing up all the years of rally-bred sports car heritage into a tight little ball and seemingly throwing it in the bin. It was a hatchback, you see, and that confused people. As it turned out, the performance variants were pretty epic, and they did make a saloon version, just to throw further confusion into the mix for the marque historians of the future – and then the fourth-gen arrived in 2011 and all bets were off. Another hatchback, with an offshoot which was a four-door saloon, the VA series, which wasn’t badged as an Impreza at all.…

Japan’s car culture is unlike anywhere else in the world. For nearly twenty years I’ve obsessed over the place – the cars, the culture, the quirks and mannerisms. But nothing, and I mean nothing, prepares you for the sensory overload that is Tokyo. It’s one of the few places in the world which genuinely exceeds even your wildest expectations… What becomes quickly apparent is that Japanese car culture is everywhere. And that might sound obvious, but it is entirely normal to see LED-clad Lamborghinis casually driving around the streets at all times of the day. ‘Cus cars are used and appreciated here, they’re not tucked away in the hope of becoming ‘appreciating assets’. And then there’s the tuning culture. Nowhere else in the world embraces it quite like the Japanese.…

Name: Dale Masterman Job Role: Sales and marketing executive, events coordinator and resident paint nerd. While The Install Company and Kustom Kolors continue getting the Merc ready for paint, I had a very positive meeting with my mate James Howe of JVC audio fame. James rolled into Meguiar’s HQ armed with a plethora of cool audio upgrades for the W114. Included in the delivery were lots of goodies: a doubleDIN head unit, slimline under seat sub, amps, speakers and even a reversing camera – well, the Merc is a big ‘ol barge and I don’t want to prang it when it’s all painted! I’ve always loved my audio and my aim with the Merc is to build the ultimate cruiser, and a decent sound system is an essential element of…

Master Chef We have mentioned that Jules is quite the cook nowadays and he says his secret is only using the freshest ingredients. That said, we’d steer clear of his latest traditional French dish though – we’re not sure that counts as foraging boss! Shopaholic We’ve said many a time before that our Midge is hands-down the biggest shopaholic in the business. There’s not much more you can say about a tart who owns over 100 pairs of kicks that he doesn’t need… other than never accept an invitation to go to any American outlet mall with him (you’re bloody right there! – Jules). Still, as we accidentally found out this month, his kleptomaniac problems clearly don’t stretch to normal shopping. He’s always so busy that he actually needs the…

In a word, no. Now is not the time to panic. Although things may be about to get a little weird. You’ve probably heard in the news that the European Parliament is planning to introduce mandatory speed limiters in all new cars from 2022, which would apply to UK sales despite Brexit. The idea is to use the Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) system, which reads speed limit signs as well as using GPS data to limit a car’s speed. It gets properly Big Brother when you learn that the plan would also introduce monitoring of driver drowsiness, lane-keep assist, and a data-logger to record what a car is doing before and during accidents. It’s not just the EU that’s working on these changes either – Volvo have recently announced that…

There was a time when 200mph was the holy grail figure for supercars, but now you can achieve those speeds in more new cars than it’s possible to count – including quite a few four-door saloons! So these days 300mph is the figure that’s keeping the mad scientists up at night… and Koenigsegg reckon they may have cracked it. The outrageous new Jesko hypercar is a track-focused monster, unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show as the replacement for the Agera RS. It’s got a 5.0-litre twin-turbo V8 and these turbos are pre-spooled by a clever air recirculation system – which completely eliminates lag – mated to a proprietary 9-speed transmission. The baseline power figure is 1,262bhp, which rises to 1,578bhp when you fill the tank with E85, and Koenigsegg reckon…

The automotive world is shifting so rapidly these days in terms of regulations, it’s hard to keep up. We’ve got news reports about mooted speed limiters being fitted to new cars just a few years from now, countries setting dates to phase out the internal combustion engine as we know it, legislators racing to catch up with autonomous technology… and population dynamics are dictating car design, format and layout too. Over in Japan, the kei car genre (short for keijidōsha, meaning simply ‘light automobile’) works to strict regs governing maximum vehicle size, engine size and power output. But wait – this is no modern phenomenon! No, kei cars were first introduced in 1949, to boost the car industry in a post-war economy when most people could only afford motorbikes. The…

HERTZ UNO SPEAKERS, FROM £50 The guys at Hertz are perhaps most well-known for their seriously high-end offerings, so it’s nice to see them adding a thoroughbred entry-level range to their line-up, especially when it’s one that comes with much of the same DNA. Hertz Uno is a collection of shallow speakers specifically designed as drop-in replacements for your standard kit. Most crucially though, they’re also specially engineered to work directly off your existing headunit, but without compromising on power delivery or fidelity. There’s four pairs of coaxials to choose from, along with three pairs of component speakers and even a shallow 12-inch woofer. But what’s really special here is the incorporation of super-high frequency response and dispersion characteristics, along with the fact they use their patented ‘V-Cone’ technology to…

My first set of wheels was, if I can remember back that far, some 6.5x15-inch BK Racing 7-spokes, which I crammed onto my 1.1-litre Mk3 Fiesta and immediately proceeded to drive around like I owned the whole of Dartford. Good times! Let’s just say I’ve owned more than a couple of sets since then. Having worked on FC for 15-plus years and spent the best part of that reviewing quite literally hundreds of the buggers, I’ve seen many more than my fair share too. But what would I actually spend (and indeed, have spent) my own cash on? Well, here are my FC Favourites… 3SDM 0.05, From £132 (each) If I had a favourite cast wheel of all-time it would be the Ferrari-inspired 0.05 here. In fact, a good few…

1 SAFETY FIRST First things first, from a health and safety point of view, we’d recommend disconnecting your battery first as you’ll be fiddling around behind your head unit after all. Do I always do that? To be honest, no, but I’m not going to send you a narky email if I get zapped either. You know the score by now, use your head. 2 LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION Right, now we’re ready to rumble, so you’re going to need to work out where you’ll be installing your kit and, most importantly, if it all fits. This may be under a seat or in the back somewhere, but for the vast majority of applications, you’ll be putting your sub and amp in the boot. The thing to remember here…

Nope. We’re not going to offer you half the trade price for your car, like those websites. Instead we want to give you the chance to be featured in the best modified car mag on the planet! So, if you own a cool-as-a-cucumber car you think is worthy of Fast Car, we’d love to see it. Please send a selection of good quality images and a spec to jules.truss@kelsey.co.uk, with ‘Feature Car’ as the subject. If we like it, we’ll get back to you to arrange a photoshoot. Simples.…

So last month I finally managed to get the BC Racing BR Series coilovers fitted to the E91! And by I, I mean Midge and I. It wasn’t the easiest of jobs as the car decided it really liked its old suspension and didn’t want to release the front struts that easily, but Midge can be a persuasive little bugger and with a bit of elbow grease, a few swear words and brute force we finally managed to get them out and slot in the shiny new adjustable struts and top mounts. The rears were a doddle to fit in comparison and installation all went smoothly once all the old components were removed. There’s a huge choice of coilovers available for the E9X series: everything from bargain basement eBay specials…

SAM SPENDER’S CIVIC TYPE R FC says: Some EP3 Civic Type Rs live out their lives as hardcore track cars, while others become nurtured show-winning beauties. Sam here has decided to take inspiration from both of these camps when modifying his extremely versatile show-and-go Civic. Now rocking a lick of that iconic bright green colour more commonly seen on Ford Focus RSs (with a hint of gold pearl for extra bling), the exterior of this hatch also sports equally-as-shiny Japan Racing alloys on each corner to ensure it seriously looks the part wherever you catch it proudly parked up. But that’s really only half of the story, with that K20 motor under the bonnet now being treated to a Rotrex supercharger system which helps the car to kick out a…