SUNNY TRUCK IN USE

Sometimes I forget I even owned this car but thankfully the new owner Mark has kept in touch. The above photo of the Sunny is from the Hutt Valley Motorsport autocross held on the weekend. Apparently the Sunny went great and finally turned a few tires into smoke in the dry. I can’t say just how happy I am that this car went to someone who is taking care of it and is shredding some tires, it makes all that hard work worth it even if it’s not me driving! Mark placed 19/43 entrants, between a silvia and a skyline, nice one Mark.

I believe it is currently in the process of being certified for road use although it was already certified for the suspension and wheels. Will keep posting on it where possible.

Credit to simply vanilla for the photos, thanks!

C’s Garage Welcomes Parts Shop MAX NZ

C’s Garage now powered by MAX NZ for the 2013/14 D1 New Zealand season. Enjoy this edit I put together, a quick taste of what’s to come.

Hampton Downs 12 Hour Endurance 2013

A while back my dad and I went to watch the sunset portion of the 12 hours endurance race held at Hampton Downs. The field was small but the racing still very intense as teams raced into the night. Meeting with some friends in the pits, it was evident that after racing all day they were trashed, walking zombie racers. Their Subaru had been in the pits a few times over the day for repairs to the rear axle, but finished the race. Success.

TERU’S KB110

[vimeo https://vimeo.com/64874022 w=890]

 

NZCMRR Classic TT

Where the magic happens // Benelli at Hampton Downs 2013 // Medium format film

Mt Wellington May 2013

Mt Wellington May 2013

I forgot to post about the last track day I attended back in May, here it is:

Another great weekend at Mt Wellington, I was really enjoying myself and got some great starts which I was pretty stoked on. In the second points race I was following Henk around as he tried and succeeded to past Dave Diprose in the mid field. Feeling very confident in myself I started to line him up too but I ran out of talent and ate shit into turn one when I grabbed too much brake. Thankfully my dad was shooting on that corner and managed a few frames of me skipping along the concrete. I got away with a solid bit of rash on my hip which swelled up pretty impressively and a sprained thumb but otherwise pretty good… bike still goes.

Time to update the 13 and 7 year old tires, get a smaller rear sprocket and some more practice I think. Never the less I still managed a 31.03s PB lap in that last race which is my best time to date on Mt Wellington. SO close to that 30s bracket!

GP125 Seat

To be perfectly honest I had completely given up on this frame. With the engine in pieces and being worked on for my RS125/GP125 swap, this bike no longer has a heart.

I’ve always loved the simplicity of classic flat top frame bikes and after my usual internet trawl of delicious bikes this week, things started to brew again. I cut the end off the frame to shorten up the working area and started playing with a template for a steel seat. With no real intention to build something permanent I got to this point and I’m wondering if I should progress with it, I kind of like it. It’s not perfect as I didn’t intend it to be used and I don’t have any real sheet metal working tools (folder, band saw, roller etc) so I had to be a bit creative with some thick steel and some g-clamps.

I do have a gripe on the GP125s styling. The tank side profile is fairly nice on the eye but it’s chubby. If I was really keen/wreckless I’d cut about 80mm out of it’s width and follow suit with the tail piece but… I’m not to fond of the idea of cutting and welding a fuel tank.

On the RS/GP front, I have ordered a small dentist drill and some carbine tip burrs to port the 2 stroke cylinder. Otherwise, I’m just waiting really.

ADAMS 180SX

 

Remembering the old days

NEW TOOLS

I’ve finally stepped into 2013.

The laptop I’ve been processing on for approx 9 years has finally driven me over the edge. With its 1.6 GHz intel core 1 CPU, 2GB of DDR2 ram and a 60GB hard drive it wasn’t exactly doing me any favours. The screen is broken on two corners, has light patches all over it from being stuffed in a bag whilst around the world, no space bar key and only barely has USB 2.0. I have used it for 99% of all my photographic life (approx 10 years now) and although it has seriously hindered me at times, has been an absolute trooper. I wanted to point that out because it shows that you don’t NEED the best of equipment to learn and produce good work. It certainly helps but in no way is it an excuse for not trying!

Having said that, I am over the moon with the new addition to the electronic family/zoo: a 27″ Apple iMac. Now I’m not a total Apple fan boy but I sure do feel like one in front of this incredible screen, frothing at the mouth.

I’m transferring most of my content over to the new HDD and along the way I thought I’d take a trip down memory lane. The above screen capture is from LR4, from the BBQ meet we had at the C’s Garage pad in April 2011. I might post a few more photos from this as I didn’t really put much up from it.

Enjoy

RSGP125 BUILD3

Suzuki GP125 engine strip down

Here are some more internal photos of the GP engine as I pull it down. I ended up drilling most of the phillips head bolts which hold the casings together as they were corroded down the thread. What a stupid idea it is to use a phillips head, honestly.

This last photo is of the tiny GP gearbox assembly. I wanted to show it to give you an idea on how a motorcycle gearbox works (although similar to a car) in translating the up and down movement of the gear changer to a change in gear. When you push up or down on the changer, a mechanism spins the grooved barrel in the top of the photos. In those grooves are the gear selectors which move left and right depending on the groove. The selectors move the gears on the input and output shafts which engage with each other to drive different combinations of gears and therefore ratios.