Yeah You Know It

We promised it, so here it is.

Courtesy of Pat from Carma impressions we give to you the rendering of what we plan on Bretts 180 to look like in the not too distant future.  He's done the 180-S15 Strawberry face conversion on his previous 180 so we thought we'd give it another crack, coupled with the fender flares courtesy of Rocket Bunny and the planed Work Equips, should look quite the goods.

Another thing that Pat did for us was a short time lapse video of his handy work, however I'm having dramas posting a video because I'm an idiot so chill for a bit and remember that all property belongs so pat and Carma Impressions!

Also, don't forget Capitol Jam this weekend, the nations Capitols premier minitruck show... or the only... anyway see you there!

-Willie

 

Sled's Dead Baby

Sleds are deffinatly not dead, in fact a few that came out to enjoy the sun in the gong this past weekend looked like they had just risen from the crypt!

And thats the way we like them!

It was a wonderful day down the coast this past weekend, while many of the kiddies were enjoying bondi and various other sydney beaches on what was one of this seasons hottest day, we, and a few other like minded enthusiasts headed down to Stanwell Park for the inagural 'Tug In The Park' show.

Bikes, customs, rats, beatniks, lowriders and customs were all present at the show.

Being postponed from the beginning of the year tunded out to be a success as the chrome and patina soaked up the early spring sun.

To be honest, we didnt really know what we were expecting, being tug in the park virgins, we were sort of just expecting a couple rods and bikes turn up and thats about it.

How wrong we were! It was a raging success and you can guarantee the team will be back next year.



It feels good being back in the saddle and covering another show for you guys, Its been a long few weeks since we last posted but rest assured that it was for the best. 

We here at HQ have been working on a few events for those of you in the canberra region, including a charity get together for Movember, deets will come in thick and fast when i get back from hols in the next few weeks so stay tuned.

Again, thanks to the ever wonderful Chelsey Kosalka for her mad photog skills!  Also, towards the end of the year we'll be organizing a skid pan day, we are currently looking at a 10 car half day then bbq, though if we get enough interest we'll look at organizing a whole day of fun skid pan tom-foolery, so stay hungry!!

-Willie

So this happened

That's right gentle readers, the FB poll for bretts drifter closed the other week with the 180 being victorious and let's face it, it was no shock.

 Last Wednesday Brett received an email from his brother, who while trawling the pickles auction listing discovered a beat up little 180, needless to say this poor Nissan had seen better days.  As it turned out, the 180 was going under the hammer the following day, many conversation were had and the decision was made to bid, sight unseen.

Upon winning the Nissan, brett drove it home with the help of a mate with a handy set of trade plates.  Didn't hit boost, we had a peek under the bonnet to discover and aftermarket Chinese turbo... Minus a wastegate, someone had done a dodgy job on the turbo, it was a bit of a mess.

Being that this car is to be registered to start with, all that needed to go.  A few other bits and pieces were among the mess, once we tore everything out, including a shitty oil filter relocation, a turbo timer that didn’t work, boost gauge, connected and rolling around on the floor, which also didn’t work and my personal favourite, 7 neons … 7.

Once the oils were changed, filters replaced, and neons thrown in the bin, the 180 sounded like a car again.

Stay tuned for more updates, including a rendering of what we plan for the lil monster, care of Carma Impressions.

See you trackside

-Willie

1:25.0200

One minute twenty five seconds and 2 milliseconds, that’s all it takes for one flying lap of Eastern Creek Raceway.

Well that is if your Warren Luff behind the wheel of the ‘Nemo’ Evo, running the blisteringly fast lap time and taking the win for the 2012 World Time Attack Challenge this past weekend and with 1:27.1820 the Tilton Interiors Evo coming in second, nearly two whole seconds off first place.

In a sport where every millisecond counts and all that crazy aero mean the difference between places, a two second win is a mind blowing feat.

Many people doubted the nemo evo coming into competition, with their engine blowing at Queensland raceway just a few weeks before competition, the haters came out in droves. Though as the day unfolded the much coveted Cyber Evo, being the reigning champ had much to defend though an engine failure early on Saturday morning saw them bow out of competition.

Being a ‘World’ invitational the call went out to some pretty high profile Japanese and British tuners.  Top Fuel came out with their S2000 running a 1:29.0520, the almighty RE-Amemiya came out with their fresh hurricane rx7 running a best of 1:29.8020. 

Pan Speed came out with their RX8 this year, ditching last year’s rx7 for the deafening roar of their NA 20B crossing the line with a best of 1:35.5750

Under the watchful eye of Suzuki, the team from Scorch racing brought their S15 out for another go, eventually running a 1:28.3290 successfully putting them in fourth place, just nudged out from third by the guys from MCA with they’re crazy S13 with a best of 1:27.8080 making it an all aussie podium finish.

The Tectaloy International Drift comp was held on Friday and Saturday nights, which saw competitors for OZ, NZ and Japan.

Being an invitational, the bar was raised pretty high, with some monstrous weaponry hitting the track.

If you haven't seen this 350 yet, you'd better.  With no expense spared by the guys at Monster Energy, this thing is quite the machine, Check out the full feature in Drift Battle Magazine.

Team Orange came out to compete with their RWD Evo and RWD WRX respectively.

These guys were hitting the first turn at around 160km on the night, shit was getting crazy.

Unfortunately for Mad Mike Whiddett and his Madbul RX8, his comp ended on Friday with some 'engine complications'.  I feel bad for the fans, as the sound of that NA 20B on full noise is quite something to behold.

 

All the action wasn't just out on track as a few clubs were reppin hard out at the show n shine area.

This killer beetle was stanced out all day

I love going to genre specific shows and seeing something out of the ordinary, this beetle would have to be one of my favourites at this years time attack.

Speaking of favourites, Nigel Peitrie from Engineered to Slide was back again this year with his comp 180 and his in the build drift hilux, if you haven't checked out his blog, sus it out here, this thing is truly amazing, i think its safe to say that Australia has a new hero.

As was the case with this year, I know next year will be bigger and better, now that Nemo has raised the bar, lets see who steps up to the plate for next year, we'll keep our ear to the ground on any builds that are in the making and give you guys the hot scoop.

A massive thank you goes out to our photographers Chelsey Kosalka and Aaron Bondarenko for their mad skills, now go like their page!

See you at the track

-Willie

ALRIIIIGHT

Cheeea, fresh off the press!!!!

New BadNewsPanda stickers, they're about half the size of an A4 piece of paper, look hella rad and also have some pretty decent sticking quality. Grab yours today, pm us on Facebook or drop into NewGel and see willy or brett and we'll hook you up for the reasonable sum of 5 of your human dollars.

YOUKNOWIT

Dolls N Shine Rockabilly Sideshow

After following the upcoming show on facebook, it felt that the 29th of July would never arive and with what seemed like a lifetime, the Dolls n Shine Rockabilly Side Show finally came around, with miserable weather all week it didnt look too good, though sunday came and the sun showed us whats up, and a good thing too!  Such a quality show was on, we didnt get as many shots as we would have liked but hey you get that on the bog jobs, we'll deffinatly stay in the loop for the next show, which im told will be in a bigger location and if this weekend was anything to go by, we all have alot to look forward to.

Click the jump on the sidebar for pics.

Dont forget polling for bretts drifter closes this friday!

- Willie

MDTC time attack

Over the weekend we headed out to a driver training centre in Marulan to check out a time attack comp they were running, things started out pretty interesting as neither of us had heard of or knew how to get to the track and once we got there we found out we had our dates mixed up.  Though it wasnt a total loss as we got to chatting with the owner and his crew.  A day later we headed up to see the real action unfold.

The BMW's were quite well represented, with majority sporting semi slicks

This early model swift was throwing down some pretty impressive numbers, quite the competitive entry level track car, it was even sporting rear leafs and a side pipe!

 

  This XR Falcon was quite the sleeper, the fog lights were removed and you could just sneak a peak at the larger-than-factory oil cooler.  Being quite a heavy car, especially for this tight track, the owner opted for a set of lightweight enkei racing wheels, complete with full slicks, though it had a little trouble getting them to warm up on the cold track.

  The poor 200 had its work cut out for it against the onslaught of beemers.

 This M3 was blindingly fast, taking no time to towel up the opposition.

Stay tuned as in the next few months as plans are currently being drawn up to organise a Bad News Panda track/skid pan day, so keep checking our facebook page for updates.

Polling also closes on the 4th of August for bretts new car, so if you dont want him to get a 180, get your friends to vote, maybe for the silvia, the poor S13 isnt getting much love.

- Willie

Honour thy modder...

Fatlace.  Speedhunters.  Nissansilvia.

If you’re perusing this blog then no doubt you’re familiar with these names.  These monoliths dedicated to our most beloved obsession.  Personally, Speedhunters is the first blog I trawl when I turn on my computer, and generally the last as well.  I’m also a regular on NS, if your building a Nissan then there’s no doubt you could build a complete car from the used classifieds alone!

 But are all these international blogs and forums helping the scene or hurting it?

I still remember the day fatlace was registered in my favourites, I was trolling the s14 picture forum on NS and there, sitting in all its glory was a slammed, kitted matte grey zenki S14.  At first glance it looks like regular garden variety primer but upon further inspection it turned out as ‘battleship grey’.  This played quite a part in the colour I ended up painting my 200.  Though with the Fatlace influx came the Hellaflush movement.  In the states they have no laws that govern how high your car must be while rolling, so that we poor sods in Aus are saturated with all these images of super slammed imports and sedans that we could never replicate without some handy air tanks in the boot.  Noooo, 100mm at the lowest point for us, well unless you want to keep your rego anyway. 

On the other side of the coin however, where would we be without the inspiration found abroad?  Anyone remember ‘that 240’ from speedhunters?  Without any images from Wekfest, Hellaflush or Gatebil events clogging up my hard drive I’d hardly be the worldly automotive guru that I so clearly am.  So with our scene being so saturated with all these standout rides across the world, what does it take for us to be surprised?  If you go out to any local show, you can be guaranteed that there will be rides there that took 100+ hours to build that dude spent in his garage with his welder in hand or some kids pride and joy, who probably started an apprenticeship just to fund the custom paint for his fist car.  But because we’ve seen that particular car with wider wheels/ lower stance/ crazy paint we just dismiss it.  Sucks. 

So I think when it comes down to it we just need to get out more and really appreciate the story and effort that was put into them.  Get a back story and if you get a chance, congratulate the guy who took the time and had the guts and vision to build something that he or she can be proud of.  Who cares if it’s not your cup of tea, if you’re involved with the scene in any way, shape or form, you can appreciate what hard work looks like.

See you at the track!

-Willie

Ps, voting for bretts drifter is still on at our FB, so check it out!

BDL sound off

Come and sus out the sound comp over at BDL in fyshwick on Sunday, a few of the crew here at BadNewsPanda will go along and check out the proceedings so come and say hi.

See you there

Willie