Issue 78

Issue 78
April 2008

We're as guilty of preaching the stripped-out, raceprepared word as anybody else; more so, perhaps. With foundations in motorsport, this approach has been one of the most long-lasting fashions our industry could ever ask for.

We keep doing it because it's well proven on power-toweight grounds, even if we end up rattling around inside like a skeleton in a tin can. I'm being deafened on my daily commute by the drone of a straight-through exhaust system and motorbike back box in Project Aygo, so I'm really looking forward to the time when the rear bench and carpet is removed.

I readily admit that if motorway pounding was my sole driving experience (due to the miles I rack up it sometimes feels like it), I'd have shoved the optional silencer up the car's backside a long time ago. But along comes a sinuous A-road, the window gets wound down, and the noise is glorious.

Yes, in a blown three-pot. Then I look at our cover car, Envy Performance's mind-blowing 1100bhp Supra, and seeds of doubt are sown in my mind. When everybody else is resorting to tubular chassis' and desperate, all-excess-weight-out measures that create tinnitus, in breezes a machine that's brimming with all the niceties associated with a grand tourer and dispatches nine-second quarter-mile passes time and time again.

What are we playing at? Why are we enduring masochistic buzz boxes when we could have Bugatti Veyronslaying performance and still listen to Chris Moyles in the morning? Luxury may not be the last word for everybody in our scene but the ascendancy of VIP styles in Japan means it has a place. There's room for all tastes here.

Joe Clifford, Editor

In the April 2008 issue...

Going commando
With an H22-lump under the bonnet and army green paint, Simon Game's Civic is as quick as it is controversial

Full of eastern promise
Prepare yourself for photos galore as we take you through part two of the awesome Tokyo Auto Salon

Generation X
Can the new Evo X prove to be all things to people of all sorts?

Works in practice
Charge Speed has rekindled our love for the works Super GT 350Z by releasing a wide-body kit for our road cars

Got wood?
If JMI Motoring has its finger on the pulse, we'll all want to be sat in the wood-lined comfort of this Scion xD

Heaven on hill green
Welcome to RMA's exclusive Nürburgring track days

Stealth tactics
Stage two Evo tuning package from Turbo Technics tested

Coupé of the day
Nine members of the FTO Owners' Club spin the rollers at Hyper Sports & Racing to compare their V6 engine outputs

Living legend
This UK-spec 1100bhp Supra is no flash-in-the-pan for Envy Performance's Kevin Huntley. After spending eight years and more than £100,000 modifying it, this is one of the finest and fastest road legal cars in the world

The exactist
The owner of this Nissan Pulsar EXA Turbo has spent nine years and $60,000 modifying this unusual beast

Mega drives
Does Toyota Mega Web's Japanese car theme park work?

Dancing on ice
Andy heads to Sweden to sample the ultimate experience day, driving a modified Scooby on a frozen lake!

The one and only
As Jorel Antonio's driving career has progressed, so has his love for his turbo'd Acura RSX Type-S

Race altered Imprezaholic
This Tracktive Solutions-modified Impreza STi II lives up to the Type RA philosophy - Race Altered by name and nature

Back
Want to order this issue?