Tag Archives: Toyota 86

Speed? Hunted.

July 20, 2012 in Events by

In the middle of the Norwegian summer, Gatebil at Rudskogen sees more than 45000 car enthusiasts from all over Scandinavia, England and even Japan making their way across te world to make this event one of the biggest car festivals in Europe!

Rudskogen is located about 1.5 hours  drive south east of Oslo, close to the Swedish border, but that didn’t stop New Zealand’s MadMike Whiddett and Ireland’s Darren McNamara from joining their Norwegian squadmate Fredric Aasbo for the first group smackdown of the Speedhunters super-top-secret drift team.

Hit up the Speedhunters post HERE to see a close up profile of each of the cars and some of the trademark antics of the down-to-earth crew.

Fredric Aasbø & His 2JZ Toyota ’86-X’

July 20, 2012 in 86 / FR-S News by

86 or BRZ? It’s All About Driving Style

July 18, 2012 in 86 / FR-S News by

Take the Toyota and Subaru twins on back-to-back circuit runs and see exactly how each one differs in the real world. The result? Well you’ll just have to watch it!

GT86 vs AE86: “A Small Tiny Turismo”

July 8, 2012 in 86 / FR-S News by

Nino Karotta crosses Europe in a new GT86 to finally put it up against his race-spec AE86 on a racetrack… A must watch!

Toyota 86 Official Australian Presskit

June 5, 2012 in 86 / FR-S News by

While I write my review and impressions of the Toyota official launch day, here is the official presskit from yesterdays launch. Check it out after the jump.

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Get Retro! Panda Edition Scion FR-S

May 26, 2012 in 86 / FR-S News by

Five Axis has been busy! Inspired by the unique two-tone AE86 colour scheme known as ‘panda’ to hachiroku enthusiasts, Five Axis  has released some new ‘Retro Series’ designs for their own special release Scion FR-S (Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ) vehicles.

Japanese Nostalgic Car had the news:

The Retro Series will draw on the new car’s AE86 heritage with a color scheme reminiscent of the original’s trademark “panda” design. Each comes with a Five:AD aero kit, which has a natural line that creates a perfect break for the two-tone transition. It’ll be offered on two colors of the FR-S, Whiteout or Firestorm, which Five:AD is calling High Tech Two-Tone and High Flash Two-Tone, the official Toyota names for what fans have come to know as ”panda” and “red panda,” respectively.

These special edition FR-Ss will be available through select Toyota/Scion dealerships across the US in limited numbers, so if you want one keep up with Five Axis Design’s Facebook page for the latest news.

Here is an as-yet unavailable colour scheme I made based on the silver-black two-tone AE86 design. Let’s hope 5AD get it sorted too!

Which one is your favourite? Or you think Five Axis needs to go back to the drawing board on the panda style 86? Hit the comments and let us know!

2012 Toyota 86: HR Interviewed for Drive

April 28, 2012 in HR Originals by

We got a call late last year about an article Drive was putting together to put into The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. They were writing an article on the new Toyota 86 being released in Australia and wanted the feeling from the AE86 enthusiast community about Toyota’s new car, so we happily obliged.  Drive Journalist, Matthew Campbell and I spent a while in a lengthy interview, so long that they cut a bunch of it out of the final article (pictured above), so here it is in it’s entirety.

Matthew Campbell: What made you get involved with AE86s?

Garth Ivers: They are a fun car with endless types of modification paths you can take. The guys and gals who buy them are usually very much into self-serve, DIY mechanics and fabrication and down to earth, great people.

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Build Thread? Hibino’s 2012 D1 86

March 14, 2012 in General by

Droo-P + AVO Japan (and Australia) + Toyota = One crazy drift machine. With a custom EJ25 turbo motor going in to replace the 4U-GSE / FA20 standard boxer the 86 comes with, Hibino will be more than ready to go head to head with Taniguchi in the HKS offering next month in Odaiba!

Dino from SPEEDHUNTERS was lucky enough to be invited to snap some pics of the build of Hibino’s rig, so check out part one and part two now!

Exclusive: Australian 2012 86 Details Revealed!

March 6, 2012 in General by

Whilst in Japan in February, we made a trip to the Toyota factory in Nagoya (yep, that’s my ugly mug in the picture above) and were lucky enough to get a good hands-on look at a Japanese-market Toyota 86 on display.  Displayed in the ever popular orange metallic, it really seems a lot smaller in person: a real lithe looking lightweight sports machine.

It’s just as externally gorgeous with the interior even nicer than it looks in pictures. It really needs to be experienced in person to really get the true feeling.  The seating position is just like sitting in an AE86 – everything at the exact place you would expect it to be and super comfortable and low at that. Tall people need not worry, its got plenty of headroom, just watch yourselves in the rear seat – at 175cm, I was bumping the rear glass just sitting stationary!  Needless to say, after just sitting in the car, we we’re even more excited for the Aussie version of Toyota’s 2012 sportscar renaissance to be unveiled.

As it happens tonight, we managed to get an exclusive peek at the internal Toyota Australia sales brief document for their local release of the 2012 86 and it’s got some juicy info inside! Lets take a look:

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Watercolour Wonderland

February 6, 2012 in General by

Check out these nostalgic watercolour wallpapers from Masahia Higuchi courtesy of TRD.