Table of contents for No 279 March 2020 in NZ Performance Car

Hey everybody, it’s a new year, hip hip hooray! My start to the year in terms of cars was a slow one. I spent more time watching from the sidelines than actively racing as I’d planned to, but that’s race car building; sometimes it just does not go your way. You just have to roll with the punches — not throw your toys out of the cot — and focus on problem solving. That’s enough about my race season shortcomings. What I really want to talk about are some local successes that I think are worth shouting about, and kicking 2020 off with a positive vibe. First of those was the Hoonigan video featuring local wheelman, Carl Thompson. Carl is a talented car builder, someone who knows how to piece…

While his on-track career saw him make 52 starts in IndyCar between 1968 and 1977, and a start at the Indianapolis 500, EJ ‘Bill’ Simpson was better known for his off-track development of safety equipment under the Simpson brand. Simpson sadly passed away mid December last year following a stroke. He was 79 years old. After crashing-out during a drag race at the age of 18, Bill developed the idea of a parachute released from the back of the car to slow it down, which was quickly adopted by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). Shortly after, he identified the need for driver fire protection after a spate of fire-deaths. He enlisted astronaut Pete Conrad to help integrate Nomex fire-retardant material into race suits, and, by 1967, nearly every Indianapolis…

THIS MONTH’S WINNER! TALK TO OUR EXPERTS TODAY! 09 849 4920 /AUCKCAMERACENTRE /AUCKLANDCAMERACENTRE /AUCKLANDCAMERA.CO.NZ…

There are few things that can be considered the benchmark of willpower, commitment, and determination. For some, that may be sailing solo around the world in record time; for others, it may be choosing to run ultra marathons through steaming desert terrain; there’s even those who decide to risk potential expiration while climbing the world’s highest mountain. However, that’s nothing compared to the ultimate test that many of us know all too well: attempting to complete an extensive project car build and surviving to tell the tale. You may recall Wellingtonian Tim Butler’s name and his lengthy Evo I build from NZ Performance Car issue No. 273. Back then, Tim had spent over a decade going through the motions of piecing together his dream car, racking and stacking a total…

The 2019–’20 season of the D1NZ National Drifting Championship has seen some of the biggest shake-ups in the series’ history thus far. The Pro and Pro-Sport classes have been split off for the first two rounds to run as separate entities, with the latter on a reduced schedule format to help ease drivers’ running costs. The two will merge back together at Pukekohe Park Raceway for the official round two over 8–9 February, the venue taking on double duty to also host the season finale on 8–9 May. Teretonga has been added to the line-up, and that is where just the pros went head to head to collect valuable season-starting points. In the series’ biggest live broadcast deal to date, all rounds will be shown live on Sky Sport and…

NAME: CONNOR MCKINLEY //AGE: 21 LOCATION: NAPIER //OCCUPATION: WAREHOUSE MANAGER NZ Performance Car: Hi, Connor. Can you tell us how you got into modifying cars? Connor: Hey! Back in 2010, when I was 10 years old, my dad brought home one of the first Evo Xs in the country. From there, he jumped between multiple performance cars and, in 2012, purchased an R35 GT-R, which made me realize that cars were such an awesome part of the world we live in. I got my first car not long after, which was a 2010 Subaru Legacy GT — I had the exhaust modified and that really started the ball rolling. What was it about the STi that made you want to own one? After the Legacy GT, I traded up for…

JAPANESE PLATE STYLING WITH ALL THE PERSONALISED PLATE CUSTOMIZATION YOU’RE USED TO. THE BEST PART OF ALL? THEY’RE 100% LEGAL. New Zealand has forged itself a unique image when it comes to car styling. With a mix of international influences and local creations, it’s fair to say we’ve got some of the best examples in the world. But if there’s one place we look to for inspiration more than any other, it’s the motherland of many of the cars we hold dear — Japan. Whether it’s simple styling touches like slammed ride heights on big, wide wheels, or the historical influences from legendary motorsport achievements, much has been taken from Japanese styling and integrated into our own aesthetic. With a treasure trove of parts to unearth to help us achieve…

NAME: NATHAN TOLICH //AGE: 24 LOCATION: NORTH SHORE //OCCUPATION: CABINET MAKER NZ Performance Car: Hi, Nathan. We understand your first modded car was another MX-5, how did that come about? Nathan: Growing up, my dad always had classic British sports cars, which helped develop my love for Japanese cars. An MX-5 just seemed right, and my brother used to own one when I was younger so I knew they were good fun to drive. That’s why I ended up buying and modding an MX-5, and I’ve done a bit of work on various daily drivers since. Did you have a goal in mind for this one? At first, I just wanted to do a quick stance project, then fell in love with the car and decided to go down the…

I won’t pretend I’ve been around It’s fair to say forever, because, compared to many familiar names in the modified car fraternity, I’ve been here for only a blip on the timeline. However, in my 15-plus years of attending the local shows, pedalling cars, spinning spanners, and hosting my own grassroots events, I have seen a thing or two and it feels like a decent chunk of time to me. So it always impresses me when some of the early pioneers start rattling off a good 20 to 30 years of history as if it were yesterday; stories of events that are now household names kicking off with a hiss and a roar of delinquency and public menace; the trial and error of taking whatever you could get your hands…

Last year we covered the new motorsports sanctioning body, Australian AutoSport Alliance (AASA), launched locally by LeMons organizer Jacob Simonsen. The alternative sanctioning body offers an alternative choice for permitting, licensing, and insurance for New Zealand motorsport event organizers, competitors, and officials. It was quickly adopted by Targa New Zealand for the Targa Tour portion of the event, while the main portion stayed under the MotorSport New Zealand (MSNZ) banner. Now in 2020, the organizers behind Targa have announced that they’ll switch sanctioning bodies completely, with the local-arm of AASA taking over full duties. “I have decided to go with the AASA for both the competition and tour parts of our three Targa events in 2020,” Ultimate Rally Group director Peter Martin says. “As an event organizer, and someone who…

The name C’s Garage has been synonymous with drifting not only here in New Zealand but around the world for the past decade. Brothers Adam and Joel Hedges, along with a small clique of friends, have been at the forefront of local drifting, injecting style and excitement through their car builds, and demonstrating driving techniques inspired by what they have witnessed first-hand driving at tracks like Meihan Sportsland in Japan. We’ve seen the boys evolve, from running 18s and big BN kits that kiss the pavement and blow up the Internet, to their comp-style cars on the cover of NZPC issue 205, to running a successful drift shop engineering parts sold all over the world. They tried the grassroots thing, and they tried the competitive side of the sport before…

DRIVELINE GEARBOX: Getrag six-speed manual CLUTCH: OS Giken R3C FLYWHEEL: OS Giken DIFF: Nismo 1.5-way front and rear, 4.11-ratios OTHER: The Driveshaft Shop carbon driveshaft SUPPORT STRUTS: Tein Circuit Masters BRAKES: (F) Brembo Ferrari F40 calipers, two-piece rotors, (R) Lotus Elise calipers Ethan Lowe has been around the forever-evolving New Zealand tuning scene for years, gaining a considerable following for his big-power GT-R builds and fastidious attention to detail. He worked for other prominent tuning businesses before finding his very own Godzilla-sized niche in the market — deciding to go out on his own because the after-hours inline-six side jobs had become just too much! Thus the Hi-Power Performance brand was born, and, as they say, the rest was history. Ethan told us, “I started Hi-Power at the end of…

WORLD IMPORT RECORD: 5.55 AT 254MPH (409KPH) We finally got to see a 5.50 from an import in 2019, run by a racer seemingly unknown on the world stage. That said, Dr Arnaldo Rodriguez from Puerto Rico had quickly made a name locally running the Puerto Rican record in 2018, in what was a brand new car. The Scion FRS then went back under the knife for a complete front-end rework. The Toyota runs a billet 2JZ and Precision turbo combination with Microtech ECU and is backed by an air-shifted Lenco. The team has been chipping away at the timeslips aggressively, dipping lower and lower each event that it has attended. We suspect that this is not the last we will hear of the man dubbed ‘Dr Speed’. FOUR-CYLINDER RECORD:…

Mention the name Rain-X and you’ll instantly think water repellent, but the company actually offers a wide range of car care products, including its Headlight Restoration Kit, an easy all-in-one DIY kit that anyone can use at home, with no need for any extra tools. The sun’s UV rays have a lot to answer for when it comes to cars — they give our coatings a seriously hard time. When it comes to headlights, the sun breaks down the protective clear coating on the acrylic plastic, leaving it open to the elements, and over time this oxidizes, causing a foggy appearance. These unsightly headlights not only look absolutely rubbish with that fresh paint job or fresh restoration — if you let it get bad enough it can become a WOF…

THROWBACK Oi, listen up. DTM is going old school! The wheel and tyre giant has listened to what you lot want and launched a new “DTM Old-Skool” range of wheels. Among the first to break cover is the timeless Old-Skool IV mesh-style wheels, which are available in both 15-inch and 18-inch (pictured) diameter. They pack a bunch of dish and are available in aggressive offsets for proper fitment. Rounding out the blast from the past styling is the hex centre caps, featuring red and gold resin. Check out these and the rest of the ‘DTM Old-Skool’ range at dtm.co.nz PERFORMANCE GLASSWARE One for the automotive photographers, the Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 is a four-times zoom, covering telephoto to super telephoto perspectives, and spans a versatile and…

Despite a dominant run for the better part of the 4 Hours of The Bend, Kiwi trio Dan Gaunt, Nick Cassidy, and Shane Van Gisbergen were forced to retire early and give up a possible podium finish. Both Cassidy and late call-up Van Gisbergen debuted at Eurasia Motorsport for the second round of the championship alongside Gaunt, with Cassidy qualifying on the front row in a Ligier JS P217. Gaunt led much of the opening stint, and, at the end of  the first hour, the Kiwi trio led, with the second of the Eurasia Motorsport entries in third. Gaunt was relieved by van Gisbergen followed by Cassidy getting in for the final stint. The run to the finish was a battle between the Kiwi trio and the G-Drive-run Aurus 01,…

VALVOLINE D1NZ NATIONAL DRIFTING CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND TWO TRUSTPOWER BAYPARK STADIUM, TAURANGA It’s been a massive year of massive changes heading into the 2019/2020 season of the D1NZ National Drifting Championship, with a refreshed five-round calendar rolled out. The season kicked off with the Pro-Sport field running a separate round at Drift Matsuri: Spring Break 2019, while the Pros battled in anger at Teretonga Park, Invercargill, for the first time. Now heading into the third round, both Pro and Pro-Sport will reunite in front of frothing crowds at Baypark Stadium in Tauranga. Set inside the stadium as it has been for the last few years, drivers will slide within inches of unforgiving concrete walls as they traverse the custom track, showcasing just how far the sport has come in New Zealand.…

Truly special drift events, especially those at the grassroots end of the spectrum, rarely come along. These are the days that really crank up the hype volume past 11. They prompt drivers and spectators alike to simply celebrate the mere fact that it’s happening — you know, the ones with the hashtags, the countdown timers, the wistful throwback posts about how damn good the last one was. And that’s only the public hype. Behind the scenes of an upcoming drift meet, especially one of such lofty proportions, you can put a dollar on the fact that each and every driver will be focusing on bringing something special. Spanners are spun. Last-minute parts anxiously ordered while eyes are kept peeled for the courier. Fresh liveries are applied. Special guests are even…

Hardpark is more than just a casual park up. Over the handful of years that it’s been running, it’s become an institution. Those in the know pencil in Wellington Anniversary weekend well in advance, knowing that the biggest event the capital city has to offer will be taking place. Its roots, however, go back way earlier than when Falgoon Patel and his Hardpark Organisational Team (HOT) started hosting. The location, Lower Hutt’s Riverbank Car Park, has played host to countless park ups since the late 1990s. Like Hardpark, those early days … er, nights … also grew from small beginnings to countless hundreds of cars. The difference was that back in the dark old days there were plenty of skids and what the locals may describe as ‘antisocial behaviour’. Hardpark,…

Despite the summer holiday season, things have been ramping up at Paddon Rallysport Group (PRG) as our May deadline for the roll-out of our EV rally car quickly approaches. The project has now been split into two main components of the construction. Part one is the continuation of the chassis construction, which is expected to be completed within the next few weeks. Fabricators Mike and Ben have spent more than 500 hours on it. Unlike your normal rally car chassis build, everything for this project has required custom fabrication, including a floorpan to work with the floor-mounted battery system. The unique mounting of the front and rear transmissions requires changes to the firewall, chassis rails, and rear floorpan. The wheel arches and top mounts have all been designed for maximum…

NAME: DARCY SULLIVAN //AGE: 23 LOCATION: TIMARU //OCCUPATION: MECHANIC NZ Performance Car: Hey, Darcy. Why this JZX100? Darcy: Hi, NZPC. I’ve owned a few Toyota Supras before and found a love for JZ power plants. Also, with drifting, I liked how the big four-door car handles, and how it feels to drive on the street. After seeing the video Matt Farah did on The Smoking Tire [YouTube channel] of the famous ‘WAAA’ JZX100, I knew I had to have one. Since then, I’ve owned four of them; currently still own two, including this one. I highly recommend the chassis — it’s amazing out of the box, and, with a few light mods, it’s a super-good car all around. What has your goal been since you started? To make it look…

GAVIN THOMAS’ SUBARU WRX There will always be those cars we “will get around to one day” that end up never really getting the love they deserve. The more of these we can save the better, even if that means selling them to those who have the time and means to make good use of them. Gavin Thomas was one of those who had the time and the means, wrangling this WRX as a bare shell from Dave at Dtech after it had been lying out the back of the shop under a tarp for some time. Completely stripping it with just the doors attached, Gavin used it as a base for a wrecked ’04 V8 that he already had. The running gear, loom, and dash were switched over, and…