A recent trip to the United States allowed me to explore and experience some of the car culture scene in the west coast. Most notable was the “Cars and Coffee” meet every Saturday mornings at the Mazda headquarters in Irvine, California. The informal meet started a few years back when hot rodders would meet for early morning coffee talk at Newport beach. Slowly, the meets would be invaded by European exotics and Japanese supercars.
During the seventies, Hiroyuki Hasegawa, and his partner Mr. Kitagawa decided to start an aftermarket tuning company. Together with a capital infusion from Sigma Automotive Co. they started tuning engines and producing high performance parts. (Hence the name “HKS”). Aside from their popular turbocharger kits, mufflers and high end coilover’s, HKS is also well known for their electronic products like standalone ECU’s turbo timers and electronic boost controllers.
Right off the bat, the current Nissan GT-R makes no pretensions regarding what it can do on the track. In fact it has proven itself to be one of the fastest production cars around any racetrack. This actually comes as no surprise for Nissan engineers loaded it with state of the art technology. With over four hundred plus horses from a twin turbo V-6 engine and a “Nurburgring-tuned” suspension, it’s no slouch. Why they loaded it to the hilt stems from Nissan’s mantra that they should do everything they can to make it extremely fast and handle exceptionally. Continue reading
The air filter is an often-neglected part in car maintenance, most people forget they have to clean their filter regularly and replace it after about a year or depending on how and where you drive. Some of course think of the cost before they decide to replace their filters, as some OEM filters cost Php1,000 or more. They forget to consider however, that a clean and efficiently working air filter saves fuel as it helps the engine breath better. Continue reading
