My first memory of anything Hachiroku, and also anything drifting, started with a gentleman named Katsuhiro Ueo. I am sure many of you remember those short, gritty, AMAZING drifting video clips to first come out of Japan. I know this is technically an AE85, and not a REAL 86, but this was what started it [...]
We’ve covered the 86-X project quite extensively here on Speedhunters, but we never had time to go over the finished car. So what better occasion than 86 Day?
I also love the dark tint matte gunmetal that my painter Espen came up with for our third color. I feel very fortunate to have great people helping me out with making it all look right, because I am concerned with making it work right.
But it’s when that said race car is also part show car and part showcase for your sponsors products it gets tricky, because that’s when certain guidelines come into play. You need to make it look good while still keeping your focus on the actual performance of the car. It’s still function over fashion, but you need to drag fashion with you.
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We didn’t get fancy. We bashed out tight spots in the drivetrain tunnel with a sledgehammer and used tried and tested parts over new and shiny ones. The entire rear suspension and drivetrain setup was bone stock for Gatebil, but we will be running upgraded Driveshaft Shop axles from now on following our CV joint explosion just before the Breisladd (Powerslide) competition.
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In short, what I am saying is this: Most of the things in life does not have to be absolutely pristine. For a race car, you should only really need to take the “perfect” approach to making the car as fast as possible. We all need to compromise somewhere, and if your compromise is to never finish what you’ve started because your standards are too high, then perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate. Using the 80/20 approach on things that are not very important frees up time to spend on what really matters.
Plus, as long as you reach that one end goal for your proejct, whatever that might be, it doesn’t matter if you’re on fire in a pile of junk when you get there. You still made it.
The only cooling problem we seem to have now is that the -20 AN coolant lines that run through the cabin act as a huge heat exchanger. Yeah, it does get pretty sweaty in there.
