Some pictures of a vert I spotted yesterday (not stolen from another blog, kekeke) I'm no fancy photographer so please bare with my reallife/down to earth pictures please.
donderdag 13 mei 2010
Rauh Welt
For good reason people drool over the mad visual impact of rauh welt widebody 911's on blogs worldwide. They look stunning. Eventhough in some coutries modifying a 911 like this is probably considered sacrilege by some porsche owners and purists I cannot imagine there's no one out there with plans to do a 'RWB' conversion outside of Japan with all that web exposure, the surpluss of porsche tuners must be jealous of that. (perhaps overexposure, however resorting to 'elite' cars must ban out the knockoff market). I still remember the first time I saw pictures of their s15 and 930together years ago but I have to say I never really investigated these cars or the company. I've read they've been around for a long time and I know a lot of the RWB cars are now very seriously modified track cars but most RWB porsche's I have spotted myself in the wild looked like they were mainly about the visuals (nothing wrong with that, besides they are porsches allready ^_^). I wonder how the Japanese Rauh Welt owner responds to any inquiries he might get from abroad.
Some pictures of a vert I spotted yesterday (not stolen from another blog, kekeke) I'm no fancy photographer so please bare with my reallife/down to earth pictures please.
Some pictures of a vert I spotted yesterday (not stolen from another blog, kekeke) I'm no fancy photographer so please bare with my reallife/down to earth pictures please.
dinsdag 11 mei 2010
dinsdag 23 februari 2010
donderdag 11 februari 2010
I really don't like Dutch radio stations. The music is all mainstream crap endlessly replayed, there really don't seem to be any exeptions amongst the popular stations, at least during 'normal hours'. Alternative music stations (almost) don't exist anymore since the government auctioned off the frequencies that were too expensive for smaller stations. (Of course the internet provided a solution for that) Then there's the Dutch station Dj's; rambling about random shit, gossiping and often hopelessly trying (ok, I'll admit sometimes succeeding)to be funny are the only things they really do. Talking about the music itself is minimized, because after all telling the same story behind the song you play 10 times the same day, week in week out wouldn't be very interesting now would it? At times, being at work where there's always a Dutch radio station on I'd really want to put my hands over my ears yelling:"LALALALALALALA"(not trying to mimick a certain artist with that) when certain songs are played AGAIN.
Belgian radio stations however are a true relief compared to the Dutch ones, and one of the benefits of living close to the NL/BE border is receiving them on fm frequency. Much more diversity in music, intelligent subjects and quizes (really the difference is astonishing), Dj's actually knowing a thing or two about the music they play and the people behind it. I think it really influenced my taste for music when I was younger, and I'm gratefull for it.
Here's a nice special from last year celebrating the 20 year existence of Warp records on Studio Brussels.
Special 20 jaar Warp | Studio Brussel
Belgian radio stations however are a true relief compared to the Dutch ones, and one of the benefits of living close to the NL/BE border is receiving them on fm frequency. Much more diversity in music, intelligent subjects and quizes (really the difference is astonishing), Dj's actually knowing a thing or two about the music they play and the people behind it. I think it really influenced my taste for music when I was younger, and I'm gratefull for it.
Here's a nice special from last year celebrating the 20 year existence of Warp records on Studio Brussels.
Special 20 jaar Warp | Studio Brussel
woensdag 27 januari 2010
First post in 2010 and it's allready in the end of january. I have to say 2010 so far promisses to become a great year if only I overcome my insecurities and dare pick up the opportunities offered on a plate in front of my nose. I'll hate myself if I don't.
I'm not rich, I do not work in this business (although I've been offered the opportunity) I have no technical background, it's just a hobby, but I do have a weakness for quality, original and rare aftermarket parts. To me it only seems natural to be into Japanese parts since I own an old nissan 200sx s13 which after all is a Japanese car and at the time it was produced there wasn't much of an aftermarket for them in Europe and a huge one in Japan. Still I appreciate original, quality parts that are not from Japan just as well, for example I love my native Dutch AST coilovers, german recaro seats and I also sport a swedish setrab oilcooler, American earl's fittings and some us mazworx conversion parts on my 200sx. But when it comes to model specific parts; 'in the early days' Japanese aftermarket parts used to be the standard for s-chassis cars worldwide, there was simply nothing else around.
Then, after some fictional movies 'the craze called JDM' made the crowd lust after modified Japanese cars but were put of by high prices for those cool aftermarket parts. It brought us a lot of companies that want to make easy money producing cheaply made stuff and knockoff replica's of parts that are still being made, or cool rare discontinued parts. They made these parts easily obtainable for everyone ultimately making them mainstream and I'm not just talking about styling parts.
Everybody knows of questionable ebay 'cheap labour country' parts sellers, there have been countless debates worldwide on forums about the quality of these unbeatable priced performance parts. A lot of people have good experiences with them, especially when it comes to the low tech parts like exhausts and headers, but there's also stuff like suspension arms, coilovers and turbo's. Some wouldn't dare touch anymore after having a bad experience or simply receiving defunct new parts which does not seem to be that uncommon. All in all you could say cheap ebay parts have become a standard now, they often seem generally accepted, and it almost seems silly not to buy them. But in the end most will probably not last very long. And a lot of people don't like them.
There are retailers who shamelessly name their knockoff stuff after the quality parts they imitate; greddy/hks 'style' cusco/JIC 'style' or vertex/uras 'style', it's like robbing the real manufacturers who developped and designed these products the culprits want to benefit from the brand name. Then there are those that copy parts and sell them under their own brand name, as if they were the ones who developed them. In the Netherlands some of these companies are even considered to be original manufactures because most of us simply do not know any better. Driftworks is a very respected name in Europe, but for example they sell replica Ikeya formula suspension arms, and proudly show their production/'development' pictures of s-chassis front and rear knuckles that are almost straight copies of the relatively unknown sp-tec knuckles. Their s15 used these originals for 8 months before they decided to make the copies and sell their used sp-tec ones. Sp-tec did all the hard work in developing them, and driftworks makes cheaper copies ripping them of sales and boasting with sp-tec design in magazines and on forums as if it was theirs. How would you feel about that if you were the one who developed the orginal as a small shop and then have a big name company copy your design and reap the profits. Most drifters will probably not care as long as the parts work and priced right, but it's still like saying:”Fuck You” to an innovating company and innovation in general. Rota is another perfect example of a company that takes complete advantage of 'the craze called JDM' by making decent but lower quality, cheaper, shameless virtual copies of the really sweet wheels out there. To me it just takes some of the magic away, they are replica's so ofcourse they look nice but I don't like them, especially when I see rota's with Advan, Nismo or Volk racing stickers on them. Still for some reason they've become generally accepted (over here in the Netherlands at least), some even act as if they are true quality wheels, somehow it has become an established name and most don't seem to care about what they really are, knockoffs.
In the Netherlands saying that will upset a lot of people, the owners and sellers love their knockoffs.
Bringing it up, subtly, always somehow ends up making you a bad person. I was once completely bashed on a forum, I used to think of as pretty cool with likeminded people, on which after a question about them I supplied some very basic information about the manufacturing process of rims. Rota's method being mostly gravity casting, (and for some models low pressure casting) and that gravity casting is an inferior process compared to forging, but perfectly fine for street use. A big retailer of rota's went balistic on me, ranting about r34's and trackday goers in the uk racing on rota's (seemingly that proves rota's are da bomb) and rota having met several german product quality standards, in the meantime recommending impreza owners to shed their forged sti wheels and buy some rota's. It was like sheep following their herder. Unluckily after some perhaps unwise comments from my end I just left it at. Still, I just don't get it why people are offended when told they use fake parts. It's probably the wisest but it's hard for me to just let people be and say 'whatever floats your boat.' I mean... what's to expect, you're disrespecting the original manufacturer by buying the fake part, disrespect from people in the scene only seems natural to me. Often you hear people saying the originals are too expensive but seriously, if you can afford some rota's you can also save up and buy some original better quality wheels. Or buy a set of used quality rims and have them checked/restored at a price below that of a new set of rota's and making you end up with a lighter better wheel. In general I have more respect for a car with few but original mods then a car packed with replica aftermarket parts. I don't get how you can knowingly buy fake stuff for what you call your passion.
Another thing I noticed in the Netherlands that may relate is 'the skyline craze'. In a few years it has become very popular to import nissan skylines, mainly from the uk. Ask a riced out civic driver (no offence, I love a nicely done civic) what his dream car is and it's probably a skyline. Not a gt-r skyline, no... just a skyline. It's true, a body kitted stock engine rb20de r33 will probably get more respect here than a bone stock appearing tuned r32 gt-r. A skyline is a skyline...
I guess for a lot of people it is mostly about the looks, not the performance and feeling of owning something truly sweet.
A very large (claiming to be the biggest in the benelux) so called 'tuning shop' very close to my old house is a prime example of what feeds the in my opinion low public image of Japanese car tuning in the Netherlands and overall lagging compared to the rest of the world. Their 'fresh from Japan' (with English plates?!) r34 gt-t was featured in the local newspaper as a porsche killer, and 'the well known godzilla from Japan'. The first 'Dutch' addition to the gt-t was a set of rota's as seen in this video that was featured on the website of one of the largest Dutch general car magazines
Other than that the car is shown by the owner of the car and shop making stock diff donuts and in short pedal to the metal shots. Almost presenting the rb25det as if it is a rb26dett. Never giving the slightest hint there's quite a difference between a gt-r and a gt-t Does he think we're all stupid? This shop somehow made a name for itsself selling knockoff/replica bodykits and wheels specializing in honda's, completely focussing on styling. They must have made a hell of a lot of money seeing their showroom today (I mean the building, not the stuff in it). You couldn't get round truly riced out cars with their front window stickers at car shows back in the day. They purchased this gt-t with an original east bear bodykit allready on it, they will never even try to sell those (well, maybe some replica's). They aquired this gt-t to participate in ,what the owner calls: “the races” and Dutch time-attack, with of course the ultimate goal of selling more replica bodykits and wheels and attract customers for their new focus on cheap-end performance parts. In the end probably only further degrading the allready low standard and low public image of 'Japanese car tuning' in the Netherlands. But I really do hope the standard in Dutch time-attack will soon become too much for them to handle resulting in making them leave, one can hope right?
I think there still is a very clear distinction between people who just follow the hype and want to showoff, in this case 'being jdm' and people who appreciate quality original parts and are willing to pay the price. And by doing so supporting the original manufacturers that have spent the time, knowledge and money to develop these parts and enabling them to keep doing so. I wonder how much of a role the knockoff aftermarket plays in the recent bankruptcies of several well known original brands, as well as their add to tough economic times for other struggeling original manufacturers big and small. I also wonder if the knockoff aftermarket will ever get tired of raping the scene and if original manufactures will compromise on quality in order to try and offer 'cheaper' products because that is what so many people show interest in. It would be a shame.
I'm not rich, I do not work in this business (although I've been offered the opportunity) I have no technical background, it's just a hobby, but I do have a weakness for quality, original and rare aftermarket parts. To me it only seems natural to be into Japanese parts since I own an old nissan 200sx s13 which after all is a Japanese car and at the time it was produced there wasn't much of an aftermarket for them in Europe and a huge one in Japan. Still I appreciate original, quality parts that are not from Japan just as well, for example I love my native Dutch AST coilovers, german recaro seats and I also sport a swedish setrab oilcooler, American earl's fittings and some us mazworx conversion parts on my 200sx. But when it comes to model specific parts; 'in the early days' Japanese aftermarket parts used to be the standard for s-chassis cars worldwide, there was simply nothing else around.
Then, after some fictional movies 'the craze called JDM' made the crowd lust after modified Japanese cars but were put of by high prices for those cool aftermarket parts. It brought us a lot of companies that want to make easy money producing cheaply made stuff and knockoff replica's of parts that are still being made, or cool rare discontinued parts. They made these parts easily obtainable for everyone ultimately making them mainstream and I'm not just talking about styling parts.
Everybody knows of questionable ebay 'cheap labour country' parts sellers, there have been countless debates worldwide on forums about the quality of these unbeatable priced performance parts. A lot of people have good experiences with them, especially when it comes to the low tech parts like exhausts and headers, but there's also stuff like suspension arms, coilovers and turbo's. Some wouldn't dare touch anymore after having a bad experience or simply receiving defunct new parts which does not seem to be that uncommon. All in all you could say cheap ebay parts have become a standard now, they often seem generally accepted, and it almost seems silly not to buy them. But in the end most will probably not last very long. And a lot of people don't like them.
There are retailers who shamelessly name their knockoff stuff after the quality parts they imitate; greddy/hks 'style' cusco/JIC 'style' or vertex/uras 'style', it's like robbing the real manufacturers who developped and designed these products the culprits want to benefit from the brand name. Then there are those that copy parts and sell them under their own brand name, as if they were the ones who developed them. In the Netherlands some of these companies are even considered to be original manufactures because most of us simply do not know any better. Driftworks is a very respected name in Europe, but for example they sell replica Ikeya formula suspension arms, and proudly show their production/'development' pictures of s-chassis front and rear knuckles that are almost straight copies of the relatively unknown sp-tec knuckles. Their s15 used these originals for 8 months before they decided to make the copies and sell their used sp-tec ones. Sp-tec did all the hard work in developing them, and driftworks makes cheaper copies ripping them of sales and boasting with sp-tec design in magazines and on forums as if it was theirs. How would you feel about that if you were the one who developed the orginal as a small shop and then have a big name company copy your design and reap the profits. Most drifters will probably not care as long as the parts work and priced right, but it's still like saying:”Fuck You” to an innovating company and innovation in general. Rota is another perfect example of a company that takes complete advantage of 'the craze called JDM' by making decent but lower quality, cheaper, shameless virtual copies of the really sweet wheels out there. To me it just takes some of the magic away, they are replica's so ofcourse they look nice but I don't like them, especially when I see rota's with Advan, Nismo or Volk racing stickers on them. Still for some reason they've become generally accepted (over here in the Netherlands at least), some even act as if they are true quality wheels, somehow it has become an established name and most don't seem to care about what they really are, knockoffs.
In the Netherlands saying that will upset a lot of people, the owners and sellers love their knockoffs.
Bringing it up, subtly, always somehow ends up making you a bad person. I was once completely bashed on a forum, I used to think of as pretty cool with likeminded people, on which after a question about them I supplied some very basic information about the manufacturing process of rims. Rota's method being mostly gravity casting, (and for some models low pressure casting) and that gravity casting is an inferior process compared to forging, but perfectly fine for street use. A big retailer of rota's went balistic on me, ranting about r34's and trackday goers in the uk racing on rota's (seemingly that proves rota's are da bomb) and rota having met several german product quality standards, in the meantime recommending impreza owners to shed their forged sti wheels and buy some rota's. It was like sheep following their herder. Unluckily after some perhaps unwise comments from my end I just left it at. Still, I just don't get it why people are offended when told they use fake parts. It's probably the wisest but it's hard for me to just let people be and say 'whatever floats your boat.' I mean... what's to expect, you're disrespecting the original manufacturer by buying the fake part, disrespect from people in the scene only seems natural to me. Often you hear people saying the originals are too expensive but seriously, if you can afford some rota's you can also save up and buy some original better quality wheels. Or buy a set of used quality rims and have them checked/restored at a price below that of a new set of rota's and making you end up with a lighter better wheel. In general I have more respect for a car with few but original mods then a car packed with replica aftermarket parts. I don't get how you can knowingly buy fake stuff for what you call your passion.
Another thing I noticed in the Netherlands that may relate is 'the skyline craze'. In a few years it has become very popular to import nissan skylines, mainly from the uk. Ask a riced out civic driver (no offence, I love a nicely done civic) what his dream car is and it's probably a skyline. Not a gt-r skyline, no... just a skyline. It's true, a body kitted stock engine rb20de r33 will probably get more respect here than a bone stock appearing tuned r32 gt-r. A skyline is a skyline...
I guess for a lot of people it is mostly about the looks, not the performance and feeling of owning something truly sweet.
A very large (claiming to be the biggest in the benelux) so called 'tuning shop' very close to my old house is a prime example of what feeds the in my opinion low public image of Japanese car tuning in the Netherlands and overall lagging compared to the rest of the world. Their 'fresh from Japan' (with English plates?!) r34 gt-t was featured in the local newspaper as a porsche killer, and 'the well known godzilla from Japan'. The first 'Dutch' addition to the gt-t was a set of rota's as seen in this video that was featured on the website of one of the largest Dutch general car magazines
Other than that the car is shown by the owner of the car and shop making stock diff donuts and in short pedal to the metal shots. Almost presenting the rb25det as if it is a rb26dett. Never giving the slightest hint there's quite a difference between a gt-r and a gt-t Does he think we're all stupid? This shop somehow made a name for itsself selling knockoff/replica bodykits and wheels specializing in honda's, completely focussing on styling. They must have made a hell of a lot of money seeing their showroom today (I mean the building, not the stuff in it). You couldn't get round truly riced out cars with their front window stickers at car shows back in the day. They purchased this gt-t with an original east bear bodykit allready on it, they will never even try to sell those (well, maybe some replica's). They aquired this gt-t to participate in ,what the owner calls: “the races” and Dutch time-attack, with of course the ultimate goal of selling more replica bodykits and wheels and attract customers for their new focus on cheap-end performance parts. In the end probably only further degrading the allready low standard and low public image of 'Japanese car tuning' in the Netherlands. But I really do hope the standard in Dutch time-attack will soon become too much for them to handle resulting in making them leave, one can hope right?
I think there still is a very clear distinction between people who just follow the hype and want to showoff, in this case 'being jdm' and people who appreciate quality original parts and are willing to pay the price. And by doing so supporting the original manufacturers that have spent the time, knowledge and money to develop these parts and enabling them to keep doing so. I wonder how much of a role the knockoff aftermarket plays in the recent bankruptcies of several well known original brands, as well as their add to tough economic times for other struggeling original manufacturers big and small. I also wonder if the knockoff aftermarket will ever get tired of raping the scene and if original manufactures will compromise on quality in order to try and offer 'cheaper' products because that is what so many people show interest in. It would be a shame.
zaterdag 19 december 2009
donderdag 17 december 2009
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