Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2018 i Fast Car

“It’s a massive ballache to drive.” A strong opener here from Andrew Britton, as he climbs out of his extravagantly bootylicious M4. But the fact that he’s saying this with a huge grin on his face tells you all you need to know about human nature in the twenty-first century. We don’t like to make things easy for ourselves. “In his own unique modifying microcosm, Andrew is effectively changing the future” Consider the fundamental psychology of mankind. Primitive humans lived in caves, munching on freshly wounded furry mammals, and basically only had four things to fill their days - the so-called ‘four Fs’: feeding, fighting, fleeing and, er, mating. To survive, we needed to find things to eat. We needed to fend off any creatures that wanted to eat us,…

It’s funny how certain road laws around the globe can have a have a huge effect on the styles of car modifications that are favoured in that particular area. Because it seems that no matter how strict the policies are, our incredible community will always find ways around the problem. Back in Belgium in the early noughties, the government was so strict on people tweaking with their rides that car fans were forced to conceive their very own style to stay under the radar whilst adding personal touches to their motors. Known as the ‘cleaned’ movement, it revolved around smoothing down the standard body panels in favour of eye-catching, lairy body kits, spawning the restrained Euro look we’ve all come to know and love since. You’ve gotta take your hats…

We love a turbo here at Fast Car, that’s no secret. The mischief of bolting what is effectively a metal sculpture of a cartoon snail onto your exhaust manifold, to make your car faster and angrier, really does the business for us. But this month we’ve decided to make some time for the turbo’s partner-in-crime in the forced induction world: the supercharger. This magical little box, mechanically driven by a belt or chain from your engine’s crankshaft, effectively exists to suck in air, compress it, then force it through the intake manifold. Net result? Loads more horsepower. There are various different kinds (roots, twin-screw, centrifugal and so on) but they all exist to do the same job: suck hard, squish, then blow, with this process feeding into the initial stage…

CAMERON BLOCK’S MINI COOPER FC says : Young Cameron has always dreamt of seeing pictures of his pride and joy in FC, and now it’s happened. Snapped up standard as his first car just three years ago, this Cooper has received the mother of all transformations to ensure it stands out from the crowd compared to all the other examples of this hatchback out there – and for all the right reasons. Let’s start with that badass wide-body kit imported over from Italy – how epic does it look while helping to bolster out this car’s dainty dimensions? With some dished Borbet A alloys poking out from each corner and finished up in contrasting gold, this Cooper is really looking the business now. But, undoubtedly, the most unique part of…

Guilty pleasures, we’ve all got them, whether it’s listening to a bit of S Club Seven or taking a sneaky peak at your fit colleague’s Facebook holiday pictures. For us car guys it’s watching Fast & Furious films. We know they’re a bit cheesy but if it’s on TV, we’re going to watch it (A bit like Dirty Dancing? – Midge) (Erm, no! – Jules). But what could possibly be better than watching Dom and Brian while sitting in your pants, chowing down on some Chilli Heatwave Doritos? We’ll tell you what: watching the whole thing recreated in a live action arena. And this is happening, and it’s happening right now. The F&F franchise has launched a series of arena shows that will tour Europe in 2018. After kicking off…

Wheels, they make our world go round, right? It’s pretty clear they do, and it has to be said that we never need much of an excuse to bust out a top-notch products special dedicated to everyone’s favourite modification. No, all we need is for the big man to give us a nod and ask; “what cool wheels are coming out this season?” And, pretty soon we’re all ranting away, foaming at the mush! So, in no particular order, here’s a shed load of our favourite up-and-comers to get you going in 2018… 7TWENTY STYLE 55 from £160 (each) The guys at 7Twenty have been busy carving out quite the reputation in the drift scene over the last year or so. The secret to their success is pretty clear too,…

Track Sculptures, From $99 Are you a motorsport fan looking to fill a space on your wall but think usual canvas prints and pictures are a bit, well, boring? If so, these track sculptures are for you. Linear Edge list 62 tracks from around the world, so all you have to do is pick your favourite and click buy. And if your favourite isn’t listed, they’ll make you a custom design. Precisely crafted from 26 layers of elegant Baltic birch and finished in black laminate – they simply ooze style. They are available in two sizes: the small measures 46cm wide while the full size offerings come in at 91cm, making them the perfect centrepiece to any room. Hanging them is an absolute doddle as each track is supplied with…

Some say, teamwork makes a dream work (though maybe that was just something a mate back in college use to say?). Regardless, that saying holds true for virtually every aspect of team sports. No matter how many super stars you have on your starting lineup, if the team itself is weak, the end result usually follows suit. The same could be said about car groups, or teams as they are commonly referred to in Asia. At first, I always wondered why they decided to call their group teams (being an American, anything with the word ‘team’ in it must refer to some sort of sports by default). However, the more teams I met in Japan, the more I realised their unity and the way they look after each other can…

People often say that you’re not a true petrolhead until you’ve owned an Alfa Romeo. This stemmed from a measure of hardcore dedication: Alfas used to be renowned for unreliability. So, it said a lot about your enthusiasm for cool cars that you’d deliberately buy a car you knew was going to break down, just because it was pretty. Modern Alfas aren’t like that. They’re just as reliable as anything else, and the mid-2000s ones are amazing value right now. The obvious choice is the GT (even though most of them have horrible diesel engines instead of proper petrol ones), although our hot tip is the Brera: this gorgeous, beautiful thing is sublime to behold, supremely well-equipped, and (because they didn’t sell all that well) has real rarity cred on…

No matter how well you think you have things planned, when it comes to modifying, there’s always the chance of veering off in another direction. Eilidh Dunsire thought she had it all worked out. Having a daily commute, she sensibly took her precious S2000 off the road and picked up a stock 1998 MX-5 Berkeley as a runaround. It just so happened the timing coincided with Eilidh’s first sighting of the awesome Rocket Bunny MX-5 kit and that was it. Instead of a daily hack, the Mazda was destined to evolve into the full-on show car and daily all rolled into one, while the S2000 was sold on. An interruption, divine intervention, whatever you want to call it, there’s no doubting that it turned out to be a damn good…

Rotiform SIX, From £170 (each) Made-to-measure designer hoops don’t seem to get any more popular than those on offer from the guys at Rotiform, it’s not just here on the UK scene either, you’ll notice that at all the big US shows like SEMA, every other high-end motor seems to be rocking a slice of multi-piece Rotiform goodness! These no-nonsense wheels though, are part of their cast range so, thankfully, you don’t need quite the same sort of credit limit to get in on the action. A thoroughly motorsport-inspired, one-piece version of their popular SIX split rims, these are still every bit the super-high quality you’d expect from such a premium manufacturer though. They even come with the metal, ‘True Thread’ spin-on hex caps usually found on their forged rims,…

FEATURES • Lead Acid, Gel and AGM battery compatible • 6/12 volt compatible • Short, polarity and overload protection • 75Amp Engine Start • Smart, fast charge, and impulse trickle charge modes New or old, it doesn’t matter what you drive, one day you will go to start your car and there won’t be enough juice in the battery to crank it over. You may have left your lights or stereo on overnight, you may have been working on the car and needed the ignition on, or, like many of us, it may be another project that you just haven’t driven for a while (I’ve found that out myself this month, twice). It’s just a fact of life. And, because most of us don’t replace our batteries every three years…

“I knew it had to be that colour as soon as I saw the car. The more-doors thing really appealed too” You shouldn’t need us to tell you that it’s worth putting at least a little bit of thought in before committing to getting a tattoo. Because having some self-restraint and a well-thought-out plan can make all the difference between getting a tasteful swallow on your arm and having the McDonald’s logo stamped on your derriere in Ayia Napa during a lad’s holiday. We know which one we’d rather live with for the rest of our days. If you’re really serious about modifying your car and plan to reap the benefits of your hard work for several years to come, you could do a lot worse than applying this…

Nope, we’re not going to offer you half the trade price for your car like those websites, instead we want to give you the chance of being featured in the best modified car mag on the planet! So if you own a cool as a cucumber car and think it’s worthy of the pages of Fast Car, then we’d love to see it. Please send a selection of good quality images, and a spec to jules.truss@kelseymedia.co.uk and use ‘Feature Car’ in the subject. If we like it, we’ll get back to you to arrange a photoshoot. Simples.…

Some people are lucky enough to have a natural, keen eye for design. It’s that simple. It doesn’t always take qualifications, the attendance of university or even after school clubs. Some people are just born with it. Not to go all Maybelline on you, but James Brown is one of these people. If I sound jealous, I suppose I am a teeny bit. I mean, have you seen the car that’s spread lovingly across these pages for your eyes to feast on? It’s just beautiful. But, James has always had a keen eye for what he likes and what works, and his latest 190e shows that more than ever. The Essex-based sales manager is no stranger to the car scene. In fact, he’s somewhat of a mogul on Instagram. His…