SPARK Motorsports Gymkhana Course

On the 15th May, SPARK Motorsports organised a gymkhana course, which I promptly signed up for.

On the day, over 30 cars gathered a the Punggol Marina, with a choice of steeds ranging from the Nissan Latio to off-road monsters including a RWD converted STi and an RX-7, and all-wheel drive toys such as STi's.

The aim of the day was to practice gymkhana moves and, above all, to have fun!

Arriving on the scene, I changed the wheels of Hagane to the TE37 SL replicas I acquired for this purpose with the help of my friend and mechanic of the day, Victor. 

The day started with obstacle courses such as figure-8, handbrake U-turns, before getting down to the fun little competition at the end of the day. For the occasion, SPARK Motorsports flew down Akina Teo and Leona Chin, two highly skilled drivers from Malaysia to guide us through the course and give us highly valuable tips on how to improve our skills.

The track was simple, made to apply what we had learnt during the day with a couple of handbrake turns, figure 8, a donut and a threshold braking finish, all executed under the pressure of the stopwatch.

At the end of the day, I emerged 4th of the day with a timing of 29 seconds, with Hagane performing well, aside for the clutch that started to get more and more worn off and was starting to slip. I had already been putting clutch works for a few months, and I could definitely feel that it was not going to last much longer.

Nevertheless, I had a great day, and the day finished with huge smiles on all our faces.

Thanks to Victor for your help and Akina Teo and Leona Chin for your useful tips, the marshals and of course the guys at SPARK Motorsports for the pics and videos and the great organisation of the gymkhana course!

Ready to Rumble!

Hagane was now the color I wanted, with a more charismatic exhaust tone and all I had to do was fill up the details.

I've always liked stripes on a car, yet racing stripes can be a real make or break in terms of looks. The line is fine between looking like a doofus in a racer-wanabee car and achieving a proper style. As you might guess, looking like a dodo was never my thing, so I went to find the guys at Project De Creation to make my ideas come true.

My idea was simple: two black stripes, off centre, the inside one thicker and the outer one thinner, which turn to white on the black roof. I also added the 9tro brand in cutout, since I was going to represent the magazine with Hagane. The sticker guys delivered flawlessly, and seeing the result made me realise that the sides looked plain, so I added the same stripe pattern to them, and totally loved the result!

With this and the cold air intake resprayed black, I considered the exterior looks to be done, and moved on to the interior.


Mid may, Spark Motorsports organised a Gymkhana Course, which I eagerly signed up for. In order to get the most out of it and have a bit of fun, I removed as much as I could from my car to save some weight. It was a quite straightforward affair, which I started by removing the spare wheel, jack and the heavy foam and wood floor of the boot. I then finished the diet by removing the back seats (just three bolts and two clips).

As I did not want to kill my everyday tyres pulling handbrakes and potentially creating bald patches on them, I decided to get a set of 15" TE 37 SL replicas for my gymkhana needs, a set I shod with the cheapest tyres I could find, the perfect thing for my tyre-unfriendly passion!

With this done, it was time to get down to business!

Hear Me Out!

Only a few days after getting Hagane back from the spray shop, I finally managed to get my hands on one of the two legal mufflers for my generation of the Toyota Vios In Singapore. This exhaust was developed by Toyota Team Europe (TTE) and offers a mild yet enjoyable upgrade in exhaust sound.

 (On top: the TTE muffler, bottom: the stock muffler)

A couple of hours after getting it, I jacked Hagane up and got busy underneath. Changing the muffler is a relatively straightforward job, which consists in un-tightening the clamp linking the muffler to the pipe and sliding the exhaust out of the rubber support brackets. WD40 or any other lubricant is highly recommended there, and will make the job a breeze.

The TTE exhaust fits perfectly in the stock support brackets and after tightening the clamp back, I lowered Hagane and enjoyed the more baritone tune of the new exhaust - and loved it!