Roadster Demo Car: Pitcrew Racing

I wanted to put together a feature looking at the Eunos Roadster tuning houses in Japan. The first one I want to look at in none other than the love or hate Pitcrew Racing demo car. A lot of Pitcrew's can look thrown together if not thought out carefully, the Pitcrew Racing demo car on the other hand is nothing like that.

The car is based off an NA6 and features pretty much the entire range of Pitcrew Racing products. The car is set up on carburettors to help give that classic feel.

Here are some photographs on the car,

The interior features some Nakamae pieces that help add to the old school vibe.

Stay tuned for more Roadster tuning shop demo cars.

Practical Sportsbikes

I stumbled across this magazine today when I popped into my local town. My brother had mentioned about the magazine previously but I didn't realise the magazine only caters for 70s, 80s and 90s bikes.

As it's only really these three decades of bikes that I am interested in I have now found my bike magazine fix. Here are a few photos of the magazine,

Whilst I was in town I bought a few tools for the garage too as they were cheap,

British Racing Motors V16 - The Sound of 1947

There are several engine notes that stick the hairs up on the back of my neck, but the BRM V16 has to be my ultimate engine note.

BRM designed the supercharged 1.5 V16 engine in 1947 and it was used in Formula One until the mid 1950s. The engine produced 600bhp at 12,000 rpm. The engine proved to be unreliable at first but the engine was very powerful for the time. Here is a sound clip of the engine at full chat.

Castrol Tom's Supra

In the land of the rising sun the Castrol Tom's Supra was always dicing at the front of the pack in the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC).

The car went through numerous changes after its debut in the mid 90s. The car started off in 1995 as a 2.1 litre I4 turbocharged racer, but as time moved on it shared the same engine that was eventually used in the Toyota Corolla world rally car. The Supra was eventually given the V8 3UZ-FE power plant giving the car additional torque.

Even today the wide bodykit and huge GT wing make the car look menacing, and the headlight turned into an air duct shows that function comes before form.

My first memory of this car was actually through playing Gran Turismo on my Playstation when I was around 10 years old.

Here is a small video showing what the JGTC is all about,

Real Classic Meet - September 2011

I follow the Real Classic message board from time to time and I spotted that there was going to be a meet this Sunday around 11am. Mad Mike on the message board organises these, last time I went I took the Roadster so I thought this time I'd rock up on the FZR. I classify the FZR as a sort of classic bike as in 3 years it'll be 25 years old (the official text book age for being a classic).

When I got up this morning it was raining and I wondered if the meet would be on. After a quick call to my dad and a father son chat (I.e being told to stop being a big Jessie) I got my camera and gear ready to go to the meet. My dad turned up to my place and we set off to the meet.

We arrived at the meeting point and Mike was the first person there. He was on his Norton that was restored in 1976. It still looks fabulous considering that was some 35 years ago.

A genuine mileage of 82,222. It goes to show that if a bike is looked after they can do this sort of mileage.

As more bikes turned up the sun started to shine and the roads dry out.

My Yam sitting there still clean from the day before.

The colours of the Triumph's fuel tank look great when the sun hits it. The colour scheme is very similar to a sunburst Fender Stratocaster.

The fuel tank on this Ariel has two grooves on both sides of the tank, no doubt complex to manufacture.

A BSA having a well deserved rest. The bike and rider has travelled from Manchester.

We couldn't stay too long as lunch was approaching but it was good to see some familar faces and have a good chat again. I've been told to contact a paint shop in Leicester regarding the fuel tank on the FZR and with Stafford Bike Show coming up next month I'll be making a shopping list in the coming weeks.

Project Garage: The Middle and Nearing the End

Thanks to the lack of internet this project has sort of been and gone without many updates. The garage is now complete so this is a huge post showing everything that has been done since I last reported on this some time ago. Here it goes,

I spent quite some time re pointing the brick work in the garage. The garage had been quite badly neglected so whilst I was in the process of cementing the garage floor the brickwork had some attention too.

The shelving was change for lighter wood.

Part of the garage floor that I had to cement. I didn't care that the finish wasn't totally flat, I just wanted a steady surface that I could put weight on.

I made slight ramp into the garage too because I wanted to neaten up the appearance.

Work bench worktop,

I bought some concrete sealer and spent an evening breathing in the lovely fumes,

Once the sealer had dried I bought some garage floor paint and set to painting.

Once the floor was dry I could store the car and bikes in the garage. I then began to mark out how much room I'd have for a work shop area,

Esso sign being put to use that I bought from the Silverstone Classic,

Home made padding so I don't bash the door of the car,

Cabinets in place and my old posters being put to use,

Garage door with similar treatment,

The workshop area. My grandad has his tools set out exactly like this with peg board and clips. I was given some tools to help me start out. I'm sure this collection will grow over time.

Lastly, a touch of my childhood. I went back to my parents house to pick up some bits and pieces and my mum had put these to one side. I wasn't that fussed about them but it was suggested that I kept them. For now they are on display...until I need that room for things.

I still have some posters that need framing and putting up so I still have little jobs to do here and there. On the whole the garage is nearly finished though.