If you are a follower of the Time attack series, you cannot have failed to notice the be-winged Lotus Elise of Steve Guglielmi. In amongst the myriad of Japanese machinery, the little British sports car has proved more than a match for the huge horsepower Japanese saloons. Winning by a massive 1.5 seconds at Brands Hatch and being no more than a fraction of a second off the top step of the podium in every other round of 2009. Steve was kind enough to give me a few hours of his time and give the low...
Posted Mar 04 2010, 04:34 PM by Dino Dalle Carbonare with 23 comment(s)
I thought I'd show you guys another cool BNR34 which after the Garage Ito/ProStock time attack monster proves just how versatile the Skyline GT-R can be. As the name suggests, this is a complete Top Secret project, a car that one of my friends here in Tokyo had built with a specific set of goals in mind. It didn't need to be the fastest R34 out there, nor the most extreme looking, it just had to be the kind of supercar that you wouldn't think twice about using on a daily basis. Every...
Posted Mar 04 2010, 06:34 AM by Dino Dalle Carbonare with 43 comment(s)
You are looking at one of the most far out GT-R time attack projects ever created. It cost a massive $350,000 to build and has yet to see the light of day on a race track. It all started back in 2006 when Hiroya-san, a very good customer of Garage Ito in Osaka, decided to see if he could challenge the lap time record at Tsukuba set by the HKS CT230R. Hiroya-san is a very successful business man, and with his company pretty much taking care of itself he decided to dedicate some more time to his passion...
Posted Mar 03 2010, 12:30 AM by Dino Dalle Carbonare with 27 comment(s)
To kick off the March 3rd R33 celebrations I have picked one car that I will forever remember for scaring me silly. It all started with one of those phone calls I often get from Miguel at Newera Imports . Sourcing cars for export means Miguel often gets his hands on some pretty cool rides, but this car was something else. Don't let the 400R graphics on the side fool, you this is not one of the 33 authentic 400Rs that were built, but something dare I say more special. Miguel let me have the car...
Posted Mar 02 2010, 09:15 AM by Dino Dalle Carbonare with 24 comment(s)
For the true Skyline connoisseur there is one model that has for years been enjoying legendary status. It isn't the Nismo 400R or even the Z-tune but a car that was conceived well before these. Back in the early nineties HKS decided to do what RUF in Germany was doing with Porsches, and started to create a high-performance bespoke version of the BNR32, the Zero-R. The idea was to inject the tuning knowhow HKS had accumulated after years of tuning the RB26 and help the GT-R achieve its fullest...
Posted Feb 27 2010, 12:10 AM by Dino Dalle Carbonare with 87 comment(s)
After seeing a widebody JZA80 at Fuji Speedway last month for the HKS Premium Day I was instantly reminded of this Abflug - Curve Supra I shot a few years back. To this day it is one of the most extreme body conversions I have seen, along with another mega-wide Abflug JZA80 I snapped years ago. You can always count on the guys at Abflug to shock and come up with unique designs with this particular GT-05 kit taking inspiration from the Supras that used to race in the JGTC championship, now known as...
Posted Feb 18 2010, 01:30 AM by Dino Dalle Carbonare with 31 comment(s)
Cars are like food. Their main aim is to satisfy and fill your appetite for a variety of motoring cravings. And as of late I fell like my diet has consisted of too much boosted Japanese machinery sprinkled with the odd tasting of more tantalizing Euro exotica. So the other week I thought I'd get myself the motoring equivalent of steak and mashed potatoes, although this particular car came with dollop of hot sauce! I wanted to see for myself how driving and living with a modern day American muscle...
Posted Jan 31 2010, 11:00 PM by Linhbergh Nguyen with 34 comment(s)
I'm a rather big fan of food--any type food really. I'll eat anything if it's in front of me, but when I'm confronted with a dish and I have no idea what to expect, things can go either of two ways: this plate of food can be life-changingly delicious, or Mr. Toilet and I will get to know each other very intimately for the next couple of hours. As we close this month's Misfits and Maverick's theme, we'll take a look at a car that doesn't quite fit in any given category...
Posted Jan 31 2010, 05:00 PM by Linhbergh Nguyen with 40 comment(s)
It wasn't until just recently that modern muscle cars started to shed some of their uncoolness with the younger crowd. Seduction and sexiness are two traits that did not ooze from the last generation of modern muscle cars, like the 5.0L Fox body mustangs, F-body Camaros and Trans Ams. Rather than being sexy, that generation of muscle cars gave the thought of moth balls, stuffy air, decades old Levis jeans and sweaty bottoms! I have to admit that I was one of the many that disliked those cars...
Posted Jan 31 2010, 02:16 PM by Patrick McGrath with 23 comment(s)
A word of warning. This post contains no JDM material. Nada. Zilch. Reader discretion is advised. 'Concours' is a word not often discussed on these very pages. Although it literally translates to 'contest', the word connotes cleanliness, originality and even a certain level of perfection. We've become obsessed with modifications as a reflection of our own personalities. We all all want to be identified as unique, as our own selves which is of course is perfectly natural. But when...
Posted Jan 29 2010, 03:00 PM by Rod Chong with 44 comment(s)
Let's imagine we've just set eyes on this little red wagon/estate for the first time. At a quick glance, it looks like some kind of vintage Ferrari machine. Perhaps the wheels are too large and the stance too low for it to be 100% original, but it does have a pure classic style going. Did Ferrari make a 250 GT Lusso station wagon/estate in the early 1960s? This little red wagon certainly gives that impression. Looking inside the car, we see it carries an Italian theme across. The tan leather...
Posted Jan 29 2010, 09:00 AM by Vaughn Gittin Jr with 92 comment(s)
The Mustang RTR-C is simply a far-fetched dream of mine that came true thanks to the hard work and dedication from everyone that I teamed up with for the project. While it started as a one-off SEMA project and a sick street car for me to rock, it has spawned into something much bigger and has turned into the inspiration of me wanting to create the more affordable Mustang RTR and the overall RTR brand. My initial vision was pretty simple, I wanted to build the most badass modern Ford Mustang street...
Posted Jan 27 2010, 11:45 PM by Dino Dalle Carbonare with 36 comment(s)
If there is a will, there is a way. The Team Takeuchi Lexus IS you see here is quite an interesting car, it was created out of need, and as we will see shares very little with the Lexus IS you and I know. The project was handled by Shift Racing , a highly technological outfit that for years has been building cars that participate in Super GT, Super Taikyu and the Japan Porsche Cup. With the phasing out of the little MR-S, used by some teams up until 2008, Shift knew that they needed to look to the...
Posted Jan 27 2010, 05:14 PM by Rod Chong with 29 comment(s)
On Saturday, December 12th 2009, Linhbergh and I arrived at a rather soggy Irwindale Speedway on a real mission. Among the rows of customs and hot rods attending the Mooneyes Xmas Party event, we needed to find a feature-ready custom to shoot for Speedhunters I had arranged for two pin-up models to attend the Xmas Party event, so we had no option but to find a machine for them to pose with. The weather was pretty horrible that weekend, so we thought a nice big interior would be a great way to shoot...
Posted Jan 13 2010, 06:30 AM by Dino Dalle Carbonare with 42 comment(s)
If there is one tuning shop in Japan that is well worth a look during this month's Misfits & Mavericks theme it has to be Weld . A lot of people make the mistake of classifying it as just a regular tuner, but I've always thought Johnny at Weld does things differently. He has vision and he's never afraid to push boundaries when it comes to building cars. I shot his JZX100 demonstration car before it got its updated 2009 D1 graphics so that is why it may look different in these pictures...
Posted Jan 07 2010, 01:45 PM by Mike Garrett with 34 comment(s)
Years ago, I remember my friends would always show me videos of the Berg Cup hill climb races in Germany. I didn't understand a whole lot about what was going on, but the cars were undeniably awesome. One model in particular stood out to me with it's small, fastback shape - the Opel Kadett. In Europe the Kadett Coupe is a bit of an icon, not unlike the AE86 is in Japan.The Kadett and the AE86 actually share a lot of the same traits - a light weight body, rear-drive chassis, and simple styling...
Posted Jan 07 2010, 03:00 AM by Dino Dalle Carbonare with 54 comment(s)
Here at Speedhunters we try to diversify and bring you the best the worldwide car scene has to offer. And as you have probably gathered by now it's hard to top Japanese car culture, as there is really something for everyone, and then some! I have been holding on to this feature for a while now, waiting for the right moment to post it up. A while back I got a call from Andy at Powervehicles.com , telling me he had just picked up a crazy Japanese custom van at the Tokyo car auction and that I really...
Posted Dec 29 2009, 03:14 PM by Mike Garrett with 50 comment(s)
For me, a car's most important quality is the way it makes you feel when you jump behind the wheel. It's something that goes beyond acceleration figures, chassis design, and the quality of the parts. Sure those things are important, but it's that connection between man's feelings and the machine that defines a great car. Many cars can trigger those feelings, whether it's a high dollar exotic, a simple Japanese sports car, or a home-built race car. But what about an American muscle...
Posted Dec 25 2009, 10:00 AM by Linhbergh Nguyen with 80 comment(s)
I have to admit that my eyes tend to glass over whenever I see an ultra clean car. The car may be done up correctly with appropriate ride height, wheel fitment, clean body work and everything else we appreciate on Speedhunters but I find there's something quite impersonal about being perfect. Owners of clean cars tend to tweak over the smallest details when something isn't as clean or as perfect as they want. I find a lot of these car owners start to lose the enjoyment of owning automobiles...
Posted Dec 21 2009, 03:00 PM by Dino Dalle Carbonare with 37 comment(s)
Following the post on the Z-tune I think there is one other Skyline GT-R we need to look at, an R34 that like the Nismo car was built to be the ultimate street going modified "R." When building the Driving Performer, HKS took a very different route to Nismo by creating something a little more extreme, at least in the engine department. The whole point of this project was to create a comfortable GT-R, a car that could be driven every day but at the same time have enough reserves of power...
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