Behind The Scenes of a PASMAG cover shoot

By

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Jul 25, 2012

About a month ago I received an email from Basit from Importfest asking if I would be interested in dropping by a Performance Auto And Sound cover shoot later that evening.

While the timing wasn’t perfect there was no way I was going to pass up an opportunity like this in the name of sleep so 11pm that evening I made my way back down town to a location that oddly enough I can see from my desk at work.

While the email Basit sent informed me that Harvin’s Amuse kitted, twin turbo, 370 was the subject of the shoot Basit made no mention that the car had changed significantly since the last time I saw it.

The familar car white and teal car I was expecting to see now looked completely different wrapped in matte blue pearl vinyl and sitting on dark Vossen CV2 wheels.

Worlds away than it’s previous look but a significant improvement to a car that I previously thought didn’t need improving upon.

After recovering from the shock of the 370’s new look I said my hellos to all of the people present; Rich and Q the production editor and creative director from PAS, Angelo from Focus Films, Harvin the owner, Basit of course, and famous local rig shot photographer Ste Ho.

Ste is one of the top automotive photographers in the area and the person you will see in most of the photos (that’s Angelo up above not Ste) so I was stoked he was cool with me having a peak behind the curtain, so to speak, at his process.

I wasted no time getting my gear out though I was a little disappointed in myself for forgetting my tripod.

Once all of the preliminary shots were taken Ste began to pulling piece, after piece, of aluminium out of his car and eventually this mass of piping and suction cups came together to assemble the biggest photography rig I had ever seen.

Rig’s don’t exactly put themselves together, and it was damn hot in the parking garage, but Ste didn’t complain once.

In fact throughout the entire four hours or so I was present for the shoot Ste was fairly quiet and remained focused on the task at hand, diligently working to get the best shots possible.

The rig ended up having to be configured twice, the long configuration above was used for the front shots while a shorter configuration was used for the rear of the car.

The location within the garage chosen for the shots was a ramp going from one level to another, and judging by the final cover I would guess this area was chosen for it’s simplicity and ease to manipulate.

After each round of shots Rich, Q, and Ste consulted on if adjustments needed to be made to the rig and which angles would be candidates for the final product.

At around 2am the shooting had come to a close and plans were made to pick up where they left off tomorrow at Automatrix to get interior and detail shots of the car.

A comparison of one of the shots from the shoot, and the final cover is below:

Thanks to PAS Ste, Harvin, Basit, and Angelo for having me out.

You can read about this car in the next issue of Performance Auto and Sound which should be in stores next week and see it at Importfest exactly a month from now on August 25th.

Theme Tuesdays: Honda Tech 8 Favourites

By

DaveT

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Jul 24, 2012

5

With no Honda Tech since 2010 presenting sponsor Teknotik decided bring it back with a bang in 2012 by hosting it at Mosport raceway.

As a fan of the Mosport facility and Honda Tech (which was one of the first events I was exposed to some serious Honda builds) as soon as it was announced I was looking forward to checking it out.

Unfortunately* I had a wedding to attend the same day and was therefore unable to attend so like Wekfest, H20 International I’ve compiled a list of some of my favourites from the event for this weeks Theme Tuesday.

ht8-18 — I’ve seen a number of NSX’s on LMS and it always looks good

ht8-19 — There were a number of cars with more modified than this one but whatever reason the simplicity of this stood out

Photo credit: Canadian144 on JDMRides

ht8-1 — Don’t think I’ve seen this s2000 before

ht8-2 — HT8 being at Mosport allowed people to show that their cars do more than just look good sitting still

ht8-3 — I think this car used to be red but since a few other things have changed I really can’t be sure

ht8-4 — Just because it is a Honda event doesn’t mean a few outsiders didn’t get in

ht8-15 — Love the fitment in the rear of this car

Photo Credit: 97lx on JDMrides

ht8-5 — Matt’s car has changed slightly since a week ago

Photo Credit: h46it on JDMrides

ht8-7 — Usually these wheels kind of look like giant lady fingers to me but in black on a black car I like them a lot

Photo Credit sashakthx on JDMRides

ht8-8 — Some of you may recognize this car from speedhunters

Photo Credit: b16aMedia

ht8-11 — Mooner’s Civic back on the road

Photo Credit: DannyITR on JDMRides

ht-22 — Javed told me to expect big changes from his car, and this is a big change

Photo Credit: jdm2envy on JDMRides

ht8-20 — click here to see a picture of Javed’s car previously it before

Photo Credit Lucky27 on JDMRides

ht8-14 — I think the owner of this car is a reader and once confirmed that he does track it

Photo Credit: Pürbread

Obviously with a rumored 1500+ cars I missed more than a couple in this list so keep an eye out on the fanpage for anymore I come across.

*Attending the wedding wasn’t really that unfortunate the wedding was for two of my best friends and open bar,congrats Scott and Melissa!

Featured Ride: Jon’s Mazda 3

By

DaveT

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Jul 23, 2012

16

Like a lot of other platforms the Mazda 3 community can be broken down into three groups when it comes to wheel fitment.

Group one consists of those who are quite vehemently opposed to stretched tires and shudder at the thought of camber outside of factory spec, while group two consists of those who are not afraid of making significant body modifications to push fitment to the limit of the chassis.

Somewhere between those two groups lies group three, those who find that spot between not enough and too much.

One perfect example of a car from this group is JDR’s 2004 GT and second is today’s featured ride: Jon’s White 2007 GT.

As an employee at Nextmod Jon is constantly surrounded by some of the best cars in the city including Nextmod’s own Varis STI and R35 GTR.

Since Nextmod is one of the top tuning shops in the area Jon had all of the resources he needed to build a car that would fit in with his peers right at his finger tips.

Jon’s car, like many featured here, has been an ongoing project that has progressed steadily over the years with modifications coming and going before it ended up looking how you see it today.

Gone is the race inspired look from years past and with it went additions such as as sideskirt exentions, rear flares, a carbon fiber front diffuser, and carbon fiber hood.

Retained are the modifications John felt worked best with the car like the DAMD front lip, Nextmod Windovisors, MS3 rear spoiler and BC coilvers.

The Advan RG-II’s that were on the car before fit it’s previous look quite well but for 2012 Jon decided that fitment is paramount so he went with a much more aggressive set of Hyper Silver XXR 527s in 18×8.75 +20 square fitment.

Wrapped in 215-40-18 Nankanag NS-II’s these new rollers just clear the fenders that have been rolled and pulled by Velocity Autobody.

When the car was in having it’s fenders massaged Jon also had the hatch shaved, which looks great combined with Speed3 lowever valance and set off by the unique Fujitsubo rainbow finisher tip and matching catback exhaust.

As a Nextmod customer, and Mazda 3 driver myself, it’s been great watching Jon’s car continue to progress over the years and I almost feel bad for Jon knowing that working where he works his car can only stay like this for so long before the mod bug starts to itch again and it’s down the road to another great looking revision.

Big thanks to Raymond Tran for working the lens on this feature and I hope to get the opportunity to work with Raymod and RayTran Photography more in the future.

Modification List

Exterior

DAMD front lip
Autoexe front grill
Nextmod eyelids
Matte black vinyl roof
Carbon fiber MPS spoiler
Nextmod carbon fiber spoiler add on
Nextmod JDM window visors
Hella horns
Shaved hatch
Mazdaspeed 3 rear valence

Wheels/Tires

XXR 527 limited edition hyper silver 18×8.75 +20
Nangkang NS-II 215-40-18

Performance

Fujita F5 cold air intake
Vibrant header
Custom straight pipe (done by Advanced Power House)
Fujitsubo axle back exhaust w/ Fujitsubo rainbow finisher tip

Suspension

BC Racing BR coilovers
Eibach rear camber arms

WTF Friday: Well now you’ve gone and done it.

By

DaveT

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Jul 20, 2012

2

PT Cruisers never really looked good, I mean they don’t look as bad as the Aztec and are not quite as impractical as the SSR, but all in all looking back at them I don’t think there are many who would say they are a great looking vehicle.

Good on Chrysler for making eventually making a turbo version to at least try and give them a little more of an appeal.

Bad on this owner however for sticking a cruiser front end on what could have been an quirky little truck.

On my list of things to do to an 80s or so ‘yota pick-up (which I am assuming this is based on the cab) the above is near the bottom,body work looks alright though…

This Rover has absolutely nothing to do with the PT Cruiser above but it made me laugh so I’m posting it as well.

Creative solution representative of the motor? Who knows.

Site Updates

I won’t be attending any events this weekend but here are two that are going down:

Flashback Friday

I am going to see The Dark Knight Rises after work today so here’s a look back at a VW with a Batman themed hood.

How much does a PT Cruiser go for these days anyway?

Event Coverage: 2012 CSCS Round 3 Part 2

By

DaveT

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Jul 19, 2012

2

Continuing where things left off yesterday today’s coverage consists of the cars that caught my eye in the pits along with coverage of the show and shine.

The Round 3 show and shine was actually a lot larger than these pictures illustrate but once the weather took a turn for the worse I focused my efforts more on track coverage and staying dry.

Big thanks go out to Erik and Nine-O-Five Rides for their help with the latter by generously offering up space in their tent for Lyndsey and I to camp out.

Pits

lexus_is300 — Kind of really like race prepped is300s

riley — Riley beside a very interesting e30

e30_1 — I never saw this car hit the track but it looks like it sees a lot of use

e30_2 — Does anyone know more about this car and how it performs? Video maybe…

fpc — Operation catch Spenser on the track: failed

nissan_jesse_2 — If I’m not mistaken he painted this all with rattle cans, he did a good job, not full of tiger stripes

Show & Shine

mitsu_evo1 — Jay of JDM Ego is probably stoked to have his plate on this car (excuse the double watermark which will be resolved later)

mitsu_evo2 — This Evo was from NY but he’s been intown for the past two weeks or so

vw_ian — Idub.ca has new stickers, go check them out

vw_hoodless — Jetta from Toronto Tuner Syndicate with no hood in sight

subuaru_beast — Looks like Leo and Beast got into a bit of a tumble during his last rally

scraped_1 — Scraped Crusaders Rockin the infield

santi — For those who ask why I don’t blur plates, see Santiagios initiative here

nissan_sky_1 — Skyline right after the rain

nissan_sam — I think this is the first time I have seem Sam (and his car) all year

nissan_harvin — Harvin’s 370 in the JVC booth… more on this car next week

nissan_bmw_wheels — At first glance these look like e46 wheels but the more I look at them they don’t…

mazda_speed3 — See this Speed 3 around my area everyonce and awhile

mazda_3 — This Toronto Mazda 3 member makes it out to most CSCS events

mazda_rotary_1 — Second CSCS in a row with a very cool vintage RX-7 in the show an shine

mazda_rotary_2 — Not sure what time capsule people are keeping these in

honda_matt — Matt’s no longer black s2000

bmw_2002 — After it rained this Wide body 2002 took Matt’s spot in the Meguair’s tent

ford_flex — Kiwee in the Standard Suspension booth

honda_8th — Also in the STD (tragic name) booth was this 8th gen Civic that has changed considerably since last year

brampton — Fairly sure these cars all have STDs too….

honda_civic_si — Not sure what the wheels on this car are… but I like them… different

wrapped_evo — Can’t decided if I liked this car before the wrap or after… leaning to before

ford_erik — Finally got to see Erik’s car in person sans kit and new paint

ford_erik_2 — I now want fresh paint, his car looks great

Event Coverage: 2012 CSCS Round 3 Part 1

By

DaveT

-

Jul 18, 2012

0

Leading up to the second ever Canadian Sport Compact Series stop at Mosport Raceway the CSCS staff announced that both time attack and open lapping were full, and at the same time they let everyone know that there was a $500 prize for the largest show and shine team.

Combined these two factors lead to a very busy day at Mosport last Sunday, even after the rain tried to cool things down for everyone in attendance.

Of any all of the CSCS rounds Mosport seems to draw the most diverse lapping field and a very competitive time attack field due to peoples love for the challenging DDT (Drivers Development Track) course.

People also always seem to step things up a little more on this track (to the point of rolling over even) and the competition only got more interesting when the weather conditions began to change and rain began to fall.

The rain did eventually stop and the track dried for good but not before many drivers were forced to compete with conditions that varied lap after lap.

tony — Tony of Focal Point Concepts had to contend with some pretty wet weather during his runs

white_sil_1 — This was one of the first RWD cars I saw out after the rain

white_sil_2 — He managed to keep it on the track despite the traction issues

civic_2 — Stage Four Civc I’ve actually never seen before

stage_four_civic — This one I am a little more used to seeing

civc — Civic from the lapping earlier in the day before the rain started

jay_1 — I’m not sure how but Jay from Stance Factory managed to get the keys of a GT3rs for the day and drive it to second place

bmw_1 — Not sure if this was also a Stance Factory car, but I see BMW on LM’s and just assume

touge_1 — Richard Nadeau driven Touge Tuning sponsored car got second in unlimited AWD

nv_auto_1 — Dov Aronoff in the NV Auto 450HP Impreza got first

kimi_2 — Kimi Quinn was out to try and break a track record again this time in one of his Ferraris

kimi_1 — Didn’t happen but he did get first in unlimited RWD

defcon_teg_1 — Mark Botelho rips in this car

defcon_teg_3 — He ended up getting 1st place in unlimited FWD

defcon_teg_2 — Just a fun car to watch and shoot

The CSCS drift course at Mosport is basically completely downhill and incredibly challenging for drivers to get through without spinning out, and of the entire field only 11 cars managed to make it to top 16 without any sort of spin out or off track excursion.

Before the rain started the top 11 was whittled down to 8 and once things dried those 8 were run in rapid fire (which I actually preferred) until the final tandem consisted of two of the most consistent drivers in the series, Riley Sexsmith and Dylan Sharpe.

Though I was pulling for Riley (what can I say I love drifting trucks) Dylan edged him out for his first podium and first place finish.

drift_Brad_pauuw_2 — I liked this angle too for panning but it wasn’t the best location to show angle.. plus it was kind of a bad spot if they ran off

drift_chris — Thanks to Chris for not running me over even after I had a chuckle at his expense when he spun off

drift_Brad_pauuw_1 — Another shot of Brad

drift_2 — Like I said not best spot for showing off the drivers angle

drift_jesse_3 — I beleive this was Jesse’s first time out at CSCS in his new car

drift_jesse_2 — Can’t remember where he placed overall…

drift_3 — Miguel Pereira in the lower part of the track

drift_riley_2 — “The little truck that could”

drift_riley_1 — Love watching Riley drive

drift_dylan2 — Dylan on his way to first place

Check back tomorrow for show and shine footage.

Theme Tuesday: Muscle Part II

By

DaveT

-

Jul 17, 2012

5

I mentioned in my last Performance Improvements article that as a wee lad the first time I noticed stance of any sort was on a muscle car.

The exaggerated forward rake that was in at the time made it stand out amongst all the factory cars I was used to seeing and it was the first time I realized I didn’t much care for stock height.

So with that in mind here are some of the muscle cars that have been taking of residence on my hard drive.

muscle18 — When it comes to over exageration Japan does it perhaps the best

muscle1 — I’ve always sort of thought the front end on these was a little long… not sure if the rake helps or makes it worse

muscle15_jav — The first Javelin I’ve posted?

muscle13 — Keeping the Trans Am feel going a bit

muscle20 — I feel like I have posted this before…

muscle3 — What would this post be without a car with a blower

muscle7 — One day I will be able to get an interesting panning shot like this… one day

muscle2 — Something like this is very close to inline with my ‘forever’ car

muscle4 — Though I could see being swayed to more of a pro touring look

muscle9 — Not 100% sold on those particular wheels but the stance is right

muscle6 — HRE wheels will probably forever be out of my price range but there is no denying that they are worth the price

muscle17jpeg — This car looks sublte yet sinister at the same time and does 10 second quarters at 128

muscle10 — I still need to see this in person

muscle19 — Well see there’s your problem (The H.A.M.B. tells me this is Ron Mancini’s transmission all over the floor)

Head nod to Ollie cause I think he sent a few of these.

For those wondering the first ‘low’ vehicle I seem to be able to remember was an s10 Blazer.

Event Coverage: 2012 Majestics / Luxurious BBQ

By

DaveT

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Jul 16, 2012

6

A couple weeks ago Rob from Perfromance Improvments let me know that I should check out the Majestics/Luxurious lowrider BBQ at St Marie Curtis Park West.

Generally the word “Lowrider” is more than enough to get me to come to an event but when you throw in the word ‘barbecue’ along with it I am there in a second.

These events are always a pretty good way to spend an afternoon because they atmosphere is incredibly laid back compared to a lot of other events, and the empahisis always seems to be less on the cars and more on a ‘family’ reunion of sorts, infact if I were to ever to an event for the site I would want it to have a similar vibe to one of these than anything else.

I ended up spending the better part of the day at the Majestics/Luxurious BBQ watching cars from Montreal all the way to Ohio roll in and hop out.

chevy_64_blue_front — I put a similar shot to this on the fanpage from the event

chevy_62_impala_front — Quintessential Lowrider shot

chevy_64_hardtop_1 — One of, if not the only, Impala not on wires

chevy_impala_hated_1 — This looks nearly identical to a model kit released a few years ago

chevy_impala_hated_1_rear_three — The kit allows you to set it up like this too

chevy_hate_2 — Would have loved to see this with the top down

buick_regal_1 — The paint on this was wild, lots of depth, flake, and skulls

chevy_elcamino — Personally I can’t say I have come across many El Camino Lowriders

chevy_elcamanio_rear — While I didn’t see it hop it looked more than capable

chevy_elcamino_far — Shot of the same car from way across the parking lot while I was hiding in the shade

lineup_1 — Impalas on Impalas on Impalas

chevy_impala_lineup — Same group different angle

chevy_66_impala — As soon as I pulled up this ‘~~66(?)~~ 68 caught my eye, hard to miss with the yellow on yellow

gold_exterior — This Gold Impala had an insane amount of work done to it on the inside

gold_interior — I am going to assume one of the monitors in there displays the engine vitals.. but who knows

donk_1 — I thought this was sorta priceless, he looked confused

chevy_aqua_7 — This ’60 came off a trailer and was basically spotless

chevy_aqua_3 — This colour is hard to accuratley capture

chevy_aqua_6 — A bit of a closer look at the motor

chevy_aqua_4 — See the saftey star on the right there? If it is original it is worth a pretty penny.

olds_front — I’m told lowriders are aligned like this so that when they hop ball joints to blow up

buick_regal_5 — Up on 3 back to where it was parked

chevy_caprice — I’ve always kind of liked these done up like this… fits

hop_6 — Both could hold their own hopping

buick_regal_4 — The mural work on this one was unreal

buick_regal_3 — Perhaps a little cryptic but nice art none the less

hop_3 — He wasn’t scared to hop it either

hop_2 — This guy showed up later today and immediately started the show

hopper_ohio — This one was trailered all the way from Ohio and looked to be a sure bet for the single pump class

hopper_ohio2 — Bumped and bruised like a well used drift car

hop_4a — Thing’s were looking pretty good

hop_broken — From what I overheard the control arm snapped, tie rod gave up the ghost, and the ball joint went.
He was taking the control arm back to Jeff’s shop to weld so they could put it back on the trailer

lincolin_majestics_1 — One of two crazy Lincoln’s both part of Majestics

lincolin_majestics_2 — Hit’s 3s with ease

lincolin_majestics_3 — Notice the bumper, the picture below explains how it got like that

jeff_1 — Jeff of Switches N Thangs and his crazy Lincoln

hop_5 — Hard to get a decent shot of Jeff”s car hopping as once it started a crowd gathered

Big shout out to Jeff from Swtiches N Thangs and the rest of the guys from Majestics and Luxurious for bringing it all together for everyone to see.

If there’s ever a lowrider event in your town I recommend checking it out at least once and the next one in the area is Saturday July 28th at 2520 Dixie Road in Mississauga put on by True Playaz.

WTF Friday: Business In The Front, Party In The Back

By

DaveT

-

Jul 13, 2012

6

I’ve made no effort in hiding my love for LS motors in all things with four wheels and as such here is another.

While this may not be the only LS1 Astro floating around the net it is probably the closest to stock in appearance I have ever seen, running boards and all.

It’s also clearly not built in a shop or with a high budget, just a guy with some tools who wanted to go fast in something with the aerodynamics of a recycling bin hurled through the air.

When I found it I left the tab open hoping that there would be future updates but sadly it’s a cardomain page so if it will ever be updated again is up for debate.

Either way this otherwise factory (aside from extensive stereo) 91 Astro has 99 LS1 under the hood, er.. dash? Wherever you classify the motors in these things.

party_party_1 — Sleeper if I ever saw one

party_party_2 — ” I got sick of having a collection of burned shoes “

party_party_p — I can see why this would burn shoes

The owner also has a Chrysler New Yorker he says puts down 297HP and 354FBTQ to the wheels and has plans to boost this van because in his own words “Nothing like making a fast van, a scary fast van!!!”.

Those with an active Cardoman account still bug him for updates for me.

Site Updates

Still waiting on new store stock but and I’ll be at CSCS Sunday with what I’ve got.

I may also swing by a Lowrider BBQ Sat.

Flashback Friday

No flashback today only because Tuesday was pretty well a Flashback already. Check out this instead.

Lucky, luck man.

Event Coverage: Euronited

By

DaveT

-

Jul 12, 2012

3

Starting a new show or event is never an easy task. With so many other events taking place in our relativley short season it’s nearly impossible to schedule something that is not on the same day as at least one other event.

Never mind choosing a venue, enticing vendors, and getting participants and spectators to come out.

Lord knows I don’t really want to deal with any of that but the crew at Euronited did and did a damn good job with their first event.

The show had a lot of things going for it: first and formost having Burrito Boyz onsite is never a bad idea, and if Burritos were not your thing the Port Credit location offered tons of other local restaurants within walking distance.

There was even a skatepark a stones throw away if anyone wanted to take their bikes and boards off their car and put them to use.

Having cars parked indoors and outdoors was also a nice touch, especially for those who burn in the sun, and Eurnoited was streaming the event on line which is something I have never seen any other local event do.

I was at the event from beging to about mid way through and the turnout was pretty good, with a little more promotion I could see this show getting a lot bigger in the years to come.

Indoor

Though it wasn’t without it’s challenges (ie the entrance) having indoor and outdoor show space is something few shows in the area have.

It did make shooting a little hard though as arena lighting is weird.

fj_cruiser — Well except maybe this FJ Cruiser that had basically a stores inventory worth of Pioneer equipment in it

Close by the FJ was this TT, which I think used to be on black Porsche twists

bmw_x — Pretty interesting to see one of these modified

5 sets of blacktops… someone is more paranoid than I

audi — Would have been cool to see the Audi’s down the one side and dubs on the other

audi_2 — I keep thinking that sticker reads ‘Chopstix’

mkv_jetta — MKV on a somewhat less popular Vette wheel

mkv_golf — Complete coincidence this and the one above are almost identical shots

mkv_golf_works — Previous Vagkraft winner

mkv_golf_works3 — Follow him on twitter @volkswag

ryan_2 — This car is spotless, one of the cleanest cars I have ever seen inside and out

ryan_1 — Beautiful freshly done interior too

ryan_3 — The owner is a nice guy as well

bankrupt — All of these were amazing examples of well kept older VWs

caddy_1 — Didn’t notice the subtle two tone until looking at the photo later

mk2_gti2 — This GTI was parked a little ways from the cars above but was done in a similar timeless fashion

Outdoors

Outside seemed to continously be filling with cars even though the roll in was supposed to go until 11 or so. Props to the staff for not turning people away.