I got the chance to check out one of the cars built for The Scion FR-S Tuner Challenge over at IAG last week. This particular build is by Chris Basselgia, from Lebanon, PA. Needless to say, it should be an interesting week in Vegas.
I also had the rare opportunity to shoot this minty fresh FR-S! Stay tuned.
–David–
David@maydaygarage.com
The B13 Sentra SE-R is definitely one of the underdogs that have turned into a rare sleeper classic. Nowadays, a pristine B13 Sentra is hard to find, specially an SE-R. If you’re in the market searching for a non-conventional semi-classic Nissan, the B13 SE-R is for you. What makes this early 90’s econo-Nissan so desirable? It’s the classic Datsun motorsports gene in its DNA.
Equipped with a SR20DE under the hood, it gave out a rev-happy 7500rpm and a power of 140hp. Not only having good motor in, Nissan had to balance it’s power with transmission gearing modification and stiffer suspension. With that said, the B13 SE-R is a fun daily driver or an initial platform for autoXing. No offense to new generation SE-R owners, I love the spec-V; but personally, this is the last true drivers SE-R. Simple, light and sufficient power. Slap an RB26dett and AWD conversion will make this econobox a perfect sleeper.
-mark-
mark@maydaygarage.com
Finally back from the final round of FormulaD, I have some downtime from my daytime job and whatever life I have left to finish writing this WekFest post. Actually, this is my third time writing/revising since it didn’t save the first time. I didn’t get to finish writing the second time around because of FormulaD. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to post about my trip to the final round sometime next week (seriously doubt it).
Some of you guys asked us where or what we’ve been doing since we didn’t have a booth up at Wekfest or have one of our epic cruises to the show. In response to that, we’ve just been busy with our lives like the rest of you guys. Johnp has the food truck; Mikey is taking care of his 20 kids as he juggles 5 jobs while going to school full time and working on his 240; Khiem shoots and edits 24/7 at his new job; Danny is in and out of town; Newton works on small budget video projects here and there; Ervin travels around covering events for XDC/HIN; Brad stresses out at work and takes care of Ducky on his off days; and David takes care of personal business as well as coverage up in the East Coast. We may be busy, but we always try to find time to hang out with each other once in awhile whether it be having a couple of drinks at a bar, eating at Café TH, going on a group shoot photo shoot, or just hanging out at the Rice Box.
The one and only Rice Box Truck powered by Rice.
Here’s a video about the legendary Porsche Group C 962 race car by our friends from Maiham-Media. The 962C conquered LeMans back in the 80s which engraved it’s reputation in racing history and skid-marks on enthusiasts’ souls. What better way to celebrate the car than to take it to the streets of Japan.
-Mark-
mark@MaydayGarage.com
One of Mayday Garage’s biggest inspirations is another car blog that you may have heard about. We have been following SpeedHunters for years now, and have become friends with some of the guys there. Besides being everywhere hunting for speed, one aspect that I absolutely adore is their attention to artistic photography. From Linhbergh (just Linhbergh, kinda like Cher or Madonna) to Larry Chen, I’ve envied their abilities to capture automotive moments on this rock we call earth and hope that one day I can be like them.
That said, I’m excited to say that those crazy bastards have made an entire book that’s 400 pages, 700 photos and weighing over seven pounds of pure art. It chronicles everyday of 2011 through the lenses of 14 different, highly talented photographers. It is available now, but the catch is there is only 1000! If you love cars, art, and photography, this is THE book to get for the year. I’m excited. You should be too.
Be sure to check out the book and read a little bit of what went into it here:
The SpeedHunters Book
images courtesy of SpeedHunters
–David–
David@maydaygarage.com
Wait, what? a Camry? Yes, in Japan, this generation Camry was called the Toyota Scepter, In the US its “The best selling car in North America”. For today’s NosWeds, I am not going to talk about why it is the best selling car, I am not answering why every Toyota Camry that you see is champagne gold; but instead, i will share a little bit of racing history specially for the 91-96 generation(XV10).
Typically, people don’t associate the Camry with racing. The Camry is known and popular to older folks because of it’s size, cost of maintenance, fuel economy and reliability. If you were an asian kid growing up in the US, no doubt your parents probably owned one and all you ever dreamed was them handing you the keys; just because they upgraded to a champagne gold Lexus ES. Who knew these cars had potential? Yeah the Camry is an FF with a heavy chasis; but going back into the late 90’s, the 91-96 (XV10) was a contender in the US, South African and Australian Super Touring Championships.
The Camry was against super FR Germans Audi, BMW and other euro cars, Volvo, AlfaRomeo etc; and it gave a good fight finishing 5th and 6th in the BOC Gases Super Touring Championships. Compared to your Civics, Silvias and Corollas, yes, there is a Camry cult lurking around the webz and they have the same passion as the other platform cars mentioned.
That was back in the late 90’s, fast forward to today’s racing scene, the Camry is back but in NASCAR. So far, those are the only generations (XV10, XV30+) that I know that was/is involved in professional circuit racing.
What is more nostalgic than hand-me-down cars from our parents? So if you owned or still drive one of these big bodied 90’s sedan, be proud because compared to the other Camrys, this generation is definitely down in racing history books.
-mark-
mark@maydaygarage.com
