E85 Society - April Meet

In my last post I mentioned that I wouldn't leave it as long before my next post, so as promised, here goes. But first a disclaimer. This post comes with a warning:

So warning over, shall we begin?


Last night I attended the April E85 Society meet and the cars in attendance didn't disappoint. There was a wide range of cars there, from Low n Slow VAGs, to JDM beasts, and even the odd bit of domestic muscle, speaking of which is where I'll start.

My favourite car on show was this 600+BHP Ford Escort Cosworth:

Simply stunning example

Engine bay - Car porn!

Boot build on the Cossie

Many of these cars spent much of the 80's and 90's either upside down in hedges or being plagued with rust, so to see one not only in such good condition, but also modified so well, felt like a very rare treat indeed.

So from one legend to another, Godzilla. There were not one, but three Skylines at the meet. When the White one pictured below arrived, just reversing into the bay it managed to set off the car alarm on one of my mates project cars. I think that this laid down the gauntlet for when I get the GTO back next week. Next meet I gotta try and do that! If it can't in its current guise I'm sure I'd manage it when the 57i is installed.

The blue r34 (also shown below) went one better though, as it left the meet it spat flames, damn big flames. Sadly I left the meet before it, so didn't get any pictures, but the E85 Society on facebook has plenty of videos of it I'm sure.

Loud Exhaust

Flaming Exhaust

 You might just be able to make out that the cars sat either side of the blue skyline are a little special as well. Both are imported JDM Honda's (well... sort of). To the right is an Integra type R. I think that if I was to own a Honda again, this would be the one I'd go for. They seem to carry a bit more presence than a lot of other Honda's, they look awesome and sound great. To the left of the Skyline is a Mugen Civic, not exactly something you see at every meet.

Teggy Type R

Mugen Civic

There was a variety of other Jap cars there, one of which was this rather clean Mitsubishi GTO. It made me a tad disappointed I hadn't been able to get mine back on Friday as planned. but I do look forward to getting her out to meets again soon.

Mitsubishi GTO SR

She is an SR model, so although not as fast as my baby, she is in really good condition in comparison.  This one gave me some goals for body work, eventually....  after she's had a bit of love and attention in the performance department. 

So, as I move on to the next couple of cars I was going to mention, I would just like to take a moment  and pause for a second to point out this is not a JDM society... honest... Here are 2 Supras and a couple of early MR2's:

4JZ Power!

Stock spoiler or carbon? Left or Right?

Toyota should never have changed form this early format

The later MR2s are like a completely different car

I think thats probably enough JDM goodness for today, if that's even possible.

As with most car meets, a large proportion of the cars there were VAGs, many of which rather than modifying for speed, instead chose to see who could make their car sit on the ground the lowest. I always find this relatively funny watching people trying to leave over bumps, but it can make for some admittedly dramatic and good looking pictures. There is also something strangely satisfying about the signature tssssssssssssst of an air bag signifying a VW has just parked next to you at a meet.

 Last but not least is probably the most unexpected car at the meet. Not every day you get a machine like this at your average car meet in a car park on a Saturday night. Dat Lupo tho!

Dat Lupo tho!

There were many more cars there, and I wish I could have featured them all in my entry, but I suppose I should save some for next time! Hopefully next time the 3 of Diamonds herself will feature!


If you enjoyed this post, Check out my previous post by clicking here. It contains less cars, but more humor, lots of laughs in that one... Well... OK... there is SOME humor at least... Check it out.

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Car History

Ok, so this Sunday I fully intended to do a walk-round of the GTO...

I fully intended to do this right up to the point where the Formula 1 Qualifying was postponed until 2pm Sunday due to rain... From that point onward my weekend was dedicated to shouting for Lewis... really, shouting. I was sure if I shouted loud enough at the TV he would be able to hear me across the pond... Guess it worked!


So as I was caught up in the history that was being made on the TV, I thought I would talk a little about my car history.

I didn't sit my driving test until I finished University, and by that point I had fallen into bar management, which meant for my first car I didn't need to resort to buying a 1.0l Corsa with a 4" exhaust (you may need to be a Brit to get that reference...)

My first car was a Blob-eye Impreza. Don't get me wrong, it was not a WRX, and it certainly wasn't an STI, but as a first car in the UK where you have to give your left arm for an insurance policy.... (I'm surprised more of us don't drive automatics for this reason...) this was not a bad car. It was a 2.0l GX Sport, and without a WRX or STI badge, I cherished that word 'Sport' that emblazoned my rear bumper. It was still relatively quick for a first car, and with AWD it felt like a bit of tank. Unfortunately  after 6 months or so the clutch went and I couldn't justify paying for a new one to be fit as someone offered to buy it for the same price I paid when I got it, so alas I had to let it go.

My second car was a Honda Civic Type R - an EP3. It was post-facelift model (2005) which loved to rev, and I loved to rev it! It saw off 0-60 in around 6.6 seconds. It had a fair chunk of power for a car that was so light, 200bhp, and it was enjoyable using that full rev range with the dash mounted gear stick. In all honesty I think that gear stick is probably the thing I miss most about the car... Vtec is good, but not as good as Honda fan boys make it out to be, and the engine could have used a good deal more torque to match its power.

My third car was another Subaru, and another Impreza, though this time it was 2.5l WRX Hawkeye.
With around 230bhp and AWD it did 0-60 in around 5.5 seconds, in all conditions.

Roads like this are why I love AWD. This car is the first car I did more than just normal service tasks on. It was mainly just service tasks, but I also upgraded the brake discs. It was enough to make me start thinking that one day I wanted a real project, that I didn't need any work completed in a day.

When my son was born I sold the car. This was a bit of a mistake. I got another hot hatch instead. I saved money on insurance and petrol but in every other sense the Impreza is the better family car. Its boot is huge and passengers get an acre of space, AWD is practical, especially in an area prone to bad winters. It had 4 doors to my current cars 2. I like my current daily drive, don't get me wrong I prefer it to my Honda, but it wasn't my Scooby... This car is why I got the Mitsubishi, I wanted a fast 4x4 and wanted a car that didn't matter if work was done in a day or not......

I will do a walk round of my daily and of the GTO in a separate entry.

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