This morning at about 7am I walked to the corner store and could ever so slightly see my breath, which means only one thing around here: our days are numbered and soon old man winter will begin to grab the GTA with his cold bony hands to squeeze the life out of the 2011 season.
However with events going on basically every weekend of September 2011 isn’t going out without a fight.
There are tons of classes including specialty awards for: Best of show, Largest Car Club, Best Stance, Best Wheels, Best Engine Swap, Lowest Ride and Best Female ride.
Check out the flier below for more additional details:
If the weather is good you have no reason to be sitting around at home this Sunday. My personal plan of attack is BGP show from 10-12isn, Stretch and Poke from 1-3 then back to BGP in time for awards and wrap up.
Also if you ever want to know whats going on in the GTA (with more than my typical one week lead time) my friend Trevor started an event calendar site for the GTA over at tdott.me – Toronto’s Auto Blog
It’s funny, non enthusiasts would view a car theft as a reason to drive a stock car forever more but those of us who are truly passionate about modifying automobiles refuse to let the actions of one low life ever take away the hobby we love.
Josh, who is a web developer and graphic designer by trade, is now an avid VW enthusiast thanks to a local car thief who took it upon himself to steal his Civic SI from a local movie theater parking lot.
Once the red mist of rage that follows a car theft passed Josh picked up his first Volkswagen (a MK3 GTI VR) and the rest as they say was history because ever since he has only wanted to drive dubs.
Of course it also didn’t hurt that in addition to having an incredibly supportive wife since becoming a dubnut Josh has also aligned with one of the top euro centric customizing shops in the area, CHOPSHOP.
Anything that has ever left the CHOPSHOP garage has been a head turner and his platinum grey Jetta is no exception.
This car is actually Josh’s second MKV Jetta because while he instantly fell in love with the body style (and colour) of his first he felt he could accomplish more with the gas motor so he picked up a 2.0t to replace the TDI he had previously.
Once he acquired the new car he wasted no time taking advantage of the new power plant and quickly installed a barrage of parts from the Eurojet catalog including an S3 front mount inter-cooler, aluminum valve cover, and catch can.
APR then came through with more performance goods by contributing a 3″ turbo back exhaust and stage 2+ tuning software while Nuespeed provided the car with a better way to breathe via a p-flow cold air intake.
Exterior wise the Votex lip and side skirt are now familiar with the ground thanks to an Airlift suspension set-up managed by an Autopilot Digital Management system.
This system is also responsible for tucking the 18×8 and 18×9 Work VS MS wheels as far up inside those fenders as possible giving the car a very clean final stance.
While it might seem a little silly to thank a car thief for anything it’s not hard to see why Josh does every time he drives this Jetta, it’s simply beautiful.
Of course Josh would also like to thanks all of the people who helped him with this build inclduing CHOPSHOP and Euroline Performance.
Modification List
Performance
APR Stage 2+ full program software
APR 3” turboback exhaust
Eurojet S3 FMIC
Eurojet aluminum valve cover
Eurojet VTA catch can
Nuespeed P-Flow CAI
Forge DV
Cosmetic
Custom painted FK badgless grill
InPro smoked mirror lights
Votex front lip
Votex side skirts
Smoothed GLI rear skirt
Shaved headlight washers and sidemarkerts
Painted mirror covers
Painted battery box, fuse box, washer, and coolant lids
I’ve mentioned my interest in wheelies in urban developments before on twitter (and perhaps facebook) but I don’t think I have dedicated a WTF Friday to the topic.
Since then I have always been a bit mystified by the fact that people riding dirt bikes in urban areas happen to be so damn good and hardly ever caught.
Easy right?
Growing up in a suburban area of Mississauga (sup Streetsville), where riding a dirt bike (or atv, pocketbike, or goped) on the street is a good way to get hassled by the police, I was more than a little surprised to learn that this is a somewhat common occurrence in parts of New York and Baltimore.
I guess really you only need the throttle
What further stupefies me is that not only do people seem to ride dirt bikes in urban areas with no care for what the local law enforcement thinks they are also incredibly good at doing wheelies.
Legality questions about riding a dirt bike on public roads aside what I would like to know is how the heck did these dudes get so good?
I’ve messed around on a couple 80cc dirt bikes and even with my BMX skills backing me up I can’t really wheelie one to save my life and and from what my motocross friends tell me the skills displayed in the videos below are pretty impressive as far as wheelies go, even more so given the lack of regard for personal safety, near vertical angle, and frequency of one handed maneuvering.
No doubt in my mind if I tried this I would end up in bandages
Wild Out WHeelie Boys Part 1
More riders in NY
Can someone explain this to me or is it one of life’s many mysteries?
Site Updates
This weekend is pretty tame compared to last. I’ve got one show that I am going to tomorrow (traditional hot rod) then after that no more car related activities are on the horizon.
However that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything coming up on the site. I’m still about 3 events/photo shoots backlogged and have three features upcoming including the Liberty one I keep talking about, and hopefully I can find time to throw up that little sticker give away contest that fell through the cracks this week.
Flash back Friday
I’ve got coverage from this years pre 1955 show still to edit so I might as well use 2009s coverage as inspiration.
Here’s the second part of the 2011 Importfest coverage (well third if you include the women). Compared to last year the first thing I noticed when I showed up at Importfest this year was how incredibly busy it was.
While this is obviously awesome it made getting clear photos a little harder than usual, but with some patience I was able to put in work. I tried my best not to re shoot too many of the same cars from the previous coverage so that those who didn’t make the show could get an idea of the variety of cars IF brings out.
I considered breaking this one up into two parts but most people have connections that can handle 50 photos at a time so it seemed unnecessary. However this might not be the best day to browse the site on your phone without ‘borrowing’ some wifi.
Can you tell what this started as?Closer look at the Acura bot, the airbrushing on the side is pretty well doneVortech supercharger shares space under the hood with screen and speakersI'm a pretty big Transformers fan so seeing this nod to the original movie (1984) in the hatch was pretty coolSnapped this shot of it closed up with the wheels on as I was leaving
Under hood and ICE
Couple motor shots I got and trunk shots of vehicles that I didn’t get full shots of.
If I recall this is the motor setup on the Lancer in the Toyo lineupSupercharged G35 I saw at CSCS a few weeks backThis is a JVC demo CRZ , you may have seen me pushing it around on the facebook pageTeam TDS Scion Trunk, pretty dopeThe interior was also pretty stylish
Euros
This VW from Team Refugee took home a few awards in it's classToyo golf once againSic watching over the rydesOne of many cars Sic drove into the showOne of two Importfest BMWsGirl in the background making funny facesBimmersports' euro e36 M3and their drop top 1 seriesThis Audi from STD standard on Forgiatos was pretty wildFirst fully tagged car I have seen locallyPretty interesting looking final result
Toyota/Scion/Subaru/Nissan
It was weird to see this F20 ae86 but not the black and white oneAdam hollered at me on facebook so I was able to track him down in personClean build and he got more vinyl for the rackTook me until today to realize that this car was is the blue Trial Widebody wrapped in blackThese Maximas go pretty well stock can't imagine how this goes... I reckon bat out of hellBit of a Ferrari vibe going on with the wheels on this 300zx
KDM
This is a friend of a friend's car nice to meet you AlvinNot your typical KiaBoosted, wire tucked, Kia with a Ducati coil plug conversion 12" Wilwoods all around too
Infiniti
Nice e36 and Infiniti from 905 rides, the Infiniti owner had a silver one before this I liked a lot tooWrapped Infiniti in the Road Magnet boothI waited a long time to get this shot on show day, should have done it the night before in hindsightDivision R must have a decent tire sponsor because most of them have tons of camber
Mazda
Almost missed this RX-7 that is putting down some serious power to the wheelsThis widebody Veliside RX-7 was recent in Pasmag and won the Meguairs challenge that was going on not too long ago
Honda
Game Over in the Stretch and Poke line upDan took off his hood for showtime, clean, he also brought home third in aggressive fitmentManaged to get a shot of this Accord coupe with no one aroundElevated AcuraBrian bringing some Cali style to TorontoGreat looking build, really came together wellTL from NextmodImportfest is a long day so people begin to go a little nutty...Finally got to meet Javed the owner of this Acura, very nice guy and rocked the vinyl for the show
Domestic
Just one, but it’s sick!
This Impala is one of the best rides Sic has ever brought to a showHardlines setup with some audio mixed in
Now that we are at the end of the coverage I am sure some of you are wondering where the heck all of the Liberty VIP cars are, well half are still being edited and half are with another media outlet in the hopes that they will run some of the coverage both to give exposure to Liberty VIP and second to Stance Is Everything.
However as part of that deal I had to agree to run them after they post so I’m playing a bit of a waiting game, while I wait I might re edit a couple of my favorite shots from the event in higher resolutions so don’t be surprised if you see a ‘re-up’ post in the not so distant future.
Once again thanks to Basit at Imporfest for having me out again this year, and thanks to everyone at the show who rocked Stance Is Everything stickers at the show and those who came and introduced themselves.
Special mention goes to the out of towners Will from Mod For Life and J Kirby Pablo from intuned online.
This year was a blast and maybe next year I will actually put my car in the show, or maybe even try and secure a few spots for some cars. Time will tell.
While the devastation in Japan from a few months ago may not still be fresh in all of our minds, the residents of Japan still need as much aid as possible.
So with that in mind, David Yee of Richmond Hill has taken it upon himself to assemble custom engraved flip keys (made from existing parts) to sell in order to help aid Japan.
Recently he sent a set over some prototypes of the keys he is selling as fundraisers for me to check out, along with photos of some he made for a local car club.
The ones I received are fittingly engraved with ‘STANCE IS EVERYTHING’ and ‘I LIKE ‘EM DROPPED’ and are semi pre-production versions that were made before he started countersinking the bolts (which is how they will be sold).
The badges will be available in several colors.
The flip keys, which arrive with a dummy key blank, can be fitted for almost any vehicle that uses ‘regular’ car keys.
If the car does not use an immobilizer chip, it will be as simple as getting a key copy and having it cut and shaped to fit the holder, people with chip keys will only be able to use these as emergency door keys and not ones that will start the vehicle.
David has a sponsor for this project in the west end of Toronto who has volunteered to help him by getting key copies made at no extra cost to buyers.
Two versions will be available – one without a working key ($30) and one with a working key ($50). This is to allow people who simply want a small souvenir and contribute to be able to do so at a lower cost.
To keep costs down and fund raising dollars high David assembles all of these in house as a labor of love. If you want to help David in his quest to raise as much money for Japan as possible contact him at: [email protected]
Anything we can do as people and enthusiasts is a big help so hats off to David for doing this.
On paper Importfest this year seemed like the perfect place to get lots of model pictures as there were two lingerie contents and a go go dance competition taking place of Saturday.
However I quickly learned that to get anywhere near a decent photo of either of those events I would have needed a zoom lens and a ladder.
So instead I just asked a few of the models around the show if they would like to strike a pose, of course I also capitalized on others asking the models the same thing.
In addition to cars the Sic Ryde area had lots of womenAlex told me he was involved in some sort of contest but I think he just wanted an excuse for women to touch his assThe model was nice though and struck this pose afterYokohama model who almost looks annoyed at me though I askedI ride BMX with this models significant other, small worldI wish the lighting in this area was betterToo many people out in front of these girls so I had to shoot from the sideGot this new filter for my camera, it blurs distracting males out of the shotSeems to work alrightFor awhile the whole Nextmod area was crawling with womenI missed the second round of models that came by right before the awards thoughThis girl went from fully clothed to posing in front of Jermain'es y33 in a flashI suppose that is the power of owning a nice carOne more for the roadSeeing Amy Fay in person... I can see why she is so popularAgain a zoom lens would have been awesome...
That’s the end of the creeper shots, back to cars tomorrow.
Is there such thing as a car show hangover? If so that is what I have after this years Importfest Toronto. This has always been a show that people look forward too but I felt as though this year people were anticipating it even more than usual.
I think the increased amount of anticipation was due to the hard work the Ifest team put in beforehand promoting the show online and at events, as well as the announcement of several ‘feature‘ cars coming to the show from both within the GTA area and abroad.
Personally I was looking forward to the show as it would be my first time attending the show on setup day, and it was an opportunity to meet a huge number of readers for the first time. It’s always cool to see what you guys have to say about the site.
Today’s coverage is most of the behind the scenes stuff though a little of that might trickle into part two as well.
This vibe speaker wall is a big reason why my throat hurts today, it is LOUDThe Acurabot made it's return to Importfest to compete in the 'Elite' categoryI think I heard an audible snap when the guy in the striped shirt int he background turned his headSic Ryde had a huge setup this year, his area was flooded with people (and models) SaturdayThis Civic stopped me in my tracks the last CSCS and did the same at Importfest, it's immaculate and heavily modifiedThis Civic was one of three dope cars in the 'Stretch & Poke!' areaSo Fresh Automotive was nearly done setting up there lineup when I passed byBrightest Speed 3 ever, did very well when it came down to awardsThis Maxima is crazy, the people next door at Fanexpo would have got a kick out of itImportfest supporting their local Chop ShopA3 obsession continues...
I’m not sure how many of you guys have been following this challenge but the cars were all complete and debuted at Importfest. While all quite different stylistically they are all good examples of what can be done on the various Scion platforms.
My goes to the Team TDS ‘Chocolate Love’ because they are a team made up of local OGs.
Kryptonite by Camo customs out of QuebecAnarchy by the SR auto group from BCChocolate love by Team TDS out of right here in Toronto3/4 of the Chocolate love car
Nine-O-Five Rides
The Nine-0-Five Rides team are regulars at Importfest so this years was no exception. I know a couple of the guys in this group personally and know how hard they worked to get their cars ready for the show so it was good to see they all were able to make it.
Erik recently finished his turbo setup and was straight piped at IF so you could hear him coming inQuick look at Erik's new Turbo setupEric and Ty parked and ready for the next dayNot sure if I have seen this Celica before, new addition?I know the Acurabot was in the house but Alex's car went through one hell of a TransformationI hear there is an interoffice lowest car contest where he works and now he's a little closer to the top...
Explicit Conentz
The Exclusive Wheel and Tire backed Explicit Contentz team had a bunch of unique vehicles including a very quick Kia which I will have more photos of tomorrow and Mina’s recently featured GTI along with a golf with an A3 front end.
The body work on this car was incredibly well done even with the hood popped it looked factoryMina and the above mentioned boosted Kia
TSC had it’s own team this year, they also had a meet the day after which I wasn’t able to attend but Spyder01 was if you want to check that out.
Chris' hawk eye is considerably lower than the last time I saw it and still amazingBBS RS FTMFWChris pointed out that there are no WRB Subaru's in this whole line up, go figure.
A lot of Division R was already there when I showed up but a few cars were still rolling in that I didn’t get a chance to shoot. Their area was pretty live during the show though thanks to the support from Cherry Sounds.
Met Tim,a reader with a very heavily modified ProtegeTwo very fitted G35sThis was one of the best applications of a smoke machine I have ever seen at a car showThis looks 1000 times better than the cotton ball trick people were using late 90s
Nextmod
Nextmod got their familiar spot this year and brought out a lot of their show regulars with a few new additions.
Nextmod is big in the Mazda 3 community so they always have a couple in the show with themShea was the first person to rock the new sticker on his 2010White cars still make up a lot of the Nextmod lineupBut they do include a few other carsSetting track records one weekend winning car show trophies the next...If you don't recognize this car take a look at the feature from early this summerAdvan's gone, ADV.1's installed, and dropped, Peter was busy!
Level One
Level One has some of the most recognizable low and aggressively fit cars in the area and they brought them all out for IF.
Serious front lineDan's s2000 had some paint work done before the show and looked absolutely flawlessGot Ass?I love the LM's on the first car and the Civic is my favorite of that generation locally hands down
Liberty VIP
If you followed the fan page this weekend you know I spent a decent amount of time with the guys from Liberty VIP. I plan to dedicate an entire post to them in the not too distant future but I couldn’t leave them out of this post.
Going through the photos I have of these cars alone is going to take some time…. here’s a couple.
Brett, one of the local members, initially parked his LS400 upstairsThis year I really took notice at just how clean this car isEventually he made it down to what would be Liberty VIP's permanent home for the show, the lobbyStill want, still can't afford.This car is straight up insane in person, insane.
Hope you enjoyed this collection of pre show photos. Tomorrow’s Theme Tuesday will be Importfest related and potentially NSFW so be sure to check that out, then Wednesday I will get into the coverage from Saturday.
I must admit I am pretty jealous of Solomon over at Go with Solo because traveling around to Good Guys events gives him the opportunity to see tons of crazy cars, trucks, and vans like this 1985 Chevy Astro that has been converted into a tube chassis drag strip monster that the owner describes a street legal pro-mod all steel motor home.
I’ve seen a quite a few modified Chevy Astros in my day but never one that has been dropped, chopped, tubbed, and given a blow fuel injected big block Chevy heart.
Info on this car in terms of dyno numbers and trap times is a little sparse but pictures and videos are a plenty.
Check the textured flames on the air dam, nice touchThe entire vehicle works both as a show piece and a race beastSolo spotted this at the Good Guys Columbus eventOne hell of a gnarly people mover
Site Updates
Importfest is Saturday which means I can reveal (officially) the new sticker design that’s been in the works the past few weeks.
I am going to be giving these away to a few competitors at Importfest tonight but any I have left over will be free to any spectators who manage to track me down before they are gone.
I plan on arriving about 4 or so tomorrow and I’ll be updating my facebook and twitter with my ETA so if you want one of the pre production versions all you have to do is ask.
Big thanks to everyone involved in choosing the color ways for these new stickers, you will be given full credit in the upcoming contest for a few of these first run special editions.
I should also have some shirts and the store stock on me at the event as well.
On Sunday, if I am not too tired I will be heading out the Meeting of The Mazdas for the first time, should be a good weekend.
Here’s part two of the round three CSCS coverage. Today’s post is nearly double the size of yesterdays so if you are into cars that perform on the track and ones that slide this post will be right up your alley.
I think I spent a little too much time track side this weekend because now I really wish I had the means to build something for the track now and these thoughts can lead no place financially beneficial, anyway onto the coverage!
Pits
While the drag strip was shut down due to a car spewing coolant from 1/8th mile marker all the way to the 1/4 mile marker my friend Steve and I headed out to the pit area of TMP to check out what was going on over yonder. Turns out there was quite a bit of stuff worth taking a look at.
I am jealous of this kid, very jealousClean MR2 waiting to get out on the course, the first MR2 I have seen locally in some timeRSK on J lines perhaps?A look underhoodM3 waiting for it's turn out on the courseBeast of a Subaru sponsored by NV AutoNV auto Miata seen out on the drift courseDays of Thunder is one of those movies I watch whenever it's on even though I have seen it so many timesDrift mechanicsSoarer setup to gripThis Civic was also wearing some seriously grippy showsFat and flushVery nice Skyline on some CR - KaisThis shot gives you a bit of a better idea how many people were waiting to hit the trackTwo very quick cars patiently waiting to tear the track a new oneCooling after setting a new course record, note the hood discoloration
Jag
I like people who think outside of the box and this Jaguar (XJ?) setup for the road course is most certainly outside of the box. The older British gentlemen who brought out this car were very nice and explained that they bought the car for $500 and spent around $2500 turning it into the race machine you see below.
It’s so unique and unlike anything else on the track and I absolutely loved seeing them tear it up.
Looks like they managed to grab some Sailun supportFunny seeing a bare bones Jaguar interiorLooking back I wish I waited until the guy in the background was goneDoesn't look like it here but it is moving quite quickCornered well for such a big cat!
Drag
Another awesome unique car that was out last SundayWasn't able to catch it on the strip so I caught it stationaryIdentify this car, earn internet fameThat same car showing an Integra what's up
Road Course
Track action last Sunday was pretty eventful though I somehow managed to miss both fires and an engine grenade itself.
Aero scraping corneringLined up in one of my favorite locations for panning shotsThe official time this car made it around the track was 1:15:59
Drift
For the first time in my history of CSCS I took some pictures from the area of the course not protected by a wall, making me one of the several people they had to warn that if a car goes wayward your legs might separate from your body.
While it’s most certainly a bit more dangers to stand where I was it does make for awesome photos. Maybe next round I will convince Chris to let me have one of those orange vests and get on track….
Chris about to slide past FiddyWayne was killing it in his is300Another shot off Wayne sliding his luxury sedanThis car is still lookin' super cleanAnthony chasing WayneAnthony leading Ryan Stock through the courseAnthony looked solid all day and was able to take home his first win at a CSCS eventI think Andrew and Humphrey are happier than Anthony lolTandem dougnuts set off the drift expoWho needs both hands anywayRyan Stock lighting it up in the demoBrave girl, e30 drivers can't be trustedTire smoke is good for the lungs right?Fiddy doing what he does best
That is all for this round of CSCS see you at the next round… or perhaps Importfest this weekend.
After two back to back events with flawless weather the skies turned a troubling gray for Sundays round three CSCS festivities, Of course CSCS attendees are used to mother nature pulling these shenanigans and made the trek out to Toronto Motorsports Park anyway.
Personally I had my doubts in the morning but thankfully as soon as I arrived the worst of the weather seemed to have pass which meant there was a lot for me to check out and shoot all day at TMP.
The show and shine coverage gets part one honors simply because it was the smaller batch of photos to get through last night when I was working on this post.
That’s different…
Spotted a few interesting cars and details at this rounds CSCS that I thought were worth sharing.
Really old Wedsports I think they were... not very pretty but probably very lightI over heard a discussion confusing this Camaro with another in the area which means two cars currently look similar to this in the GTAThis wide body Scion had one of the biggest bumpers I have seen in recent memory
Euro
Decent VW showing, but I think most of the BMW guys were at Bimmer Cruise which was the same day.
I saw a picture of this on the Nextmod fan page, lots of tire and pokeToyo sponsored Mk5Calvin I owe you a better shot of your carIdub.ca crew
Asian Imports
Hyundai had quite a few cars out in front of their booth, mostly GensHonda rockin' a sticker bombed lip and classic MOMO wheelsWhat's one more sticker 😉 - Thanks for the supportM3nace rides lineup lead off with this MiataThis color looked great in the slightly overcast lightingNever seen this 3 before, the CF additions in the engine bay are something I should researchElectronics department in the trunkLooks like this Prelude picked up a new wheel sponsor, these wheels are a big improvement over the previousTSX/Accord on CCWse46 m3 wheels? I digConveniently parked beside the above Prelude was G35 with a GTR style front bumper and Work Varianza wheelsClose up of the color matched wheelsI waited far too long to get this shot of Focal Point then cut off half the tent...Closer look at one of the Focal Point SubarusThis Subaru from Montreal has picked up some Importfest and Sic Ryde vinylMaruyichi Auto SkylinePeter from Nextmod brought out his latest ride... those Advans are for sale if you are interestedThis was unbelievably cleanClear cam cover was a nice touchIS250 dumped VS=XXsTuckin' tire like a champ
Check in tomorrow for road course, drag, and drift action. I shot drift from the leg break area this time around so I got some pretty cool shots.
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