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.

If you would like to laugh at my lack of progress in real time you can follow me on social sites by clicking the links below or search the @s :

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E85

So this post is called E85. So we'll start at the beginning.

What is E85?
At a very basic level (and I'll still probably explain this wrong), E85 is a fuel which is made up of 85% Ethanol and 15% petrol. E85 has a cooling effect on the engine, and combined with a higher octane than petrol alone, cars will often be converted to use E85 as a way to gain power. Running on this fuel is what people will be referring to when they say their cars are 'Corn fed' as corn is what is often used to produce the alcohol to make E85, although other sources are available. Don't go trying to shove this weekends left over Smirnoff into your fuel tank though, or worse still an ear of corn into your intake... That wont work quite the same, best research flex fuel sensors instead.

Sadly, here in the UK, it is not as readily available at the fuel pumps as it is large parts of the US and Australia. For this reason I haven't yet converted the GTO to run on corn (more considering meth as that's readily available in the form or certain anti-freezes/screen washes) but I did hit up a meet with the E85 Society this weekend.

Based in the North East these guys have a wide variety of car cultures attending their events, from low and slow stanced Golfs, to JDM beasts so there really was something for everyone. Check them out at  facebook.com/groups/e85society/ 

So as the GTO is off the road I was there in  the daily. We got there around an hour late because the check engine light went on in my mates Golf (just kidding). Even arriving late there was still probably around 100 or so cars there, spread out in all directions.

Stood in the middle looking forward

Stood in the middle looking back

I'm also going to own up to a car guy faux-pas before I get called out on it. When we got to the meet there were a couple of spaces next to each other near the front, so I followed my buddy round the car park in his Golf, where he threw his car into a space. I went to follow into the space next to him, and felt the burning, glaring eyes of many car guys watching to make sure I got nowhere near their rides. I choked. I bailed mid reverse park and went elsewhere (I hang my head in shame!). I parked next to the Vauxhalls instead because, lets face it, no-one cares about them anyway! Joking aside, they were at the back....

How low can you go?

So wide! this pic doesn't do it the justice it deserves!

Nicely low

I'm looking forward to lighter nights so more of my pictures will come out. My phone wasn't liking the photos by streetlight, and I didn't want to look like a complete tool carrying my bridge camera about (I'll probably save that for the shows rather than meets).

Unassuming VW pickup from the front....

VW pickup bed

 I did get a few more pics of other cool cars and stuff but was left with mainly blurs as I wasn't checking they were coming out. I think I am getting lazy with phone pics since getting used to using the proper camera... (rookie mistake I know! I wont be quitting the day job to become a car photographer just yet).

Just as the meet was starting to disperse, the car park was starting to empty and we were about to leave, having mainly seen hot hatches, there were a load of JDM muscle cars that hit the meet. Scoobies, Evos (a civic or two if they count?) and this beauty... this made the night!

Godzilla

And not forgetting one of the best things about this meet, I made it home without the assistance of a flatbed.

If you would like to follow my procrastination and avoiding working on my Mitsubishi project car, you can follow me on social sites by clicking the links below or search the @s :

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