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BALLISTIC B-SERIES

The next level we refer to is the kind of sick power found only on the racetrack. Make no mistake, stuffing a 475hp turbo motor in the engine bay of any Civic will make for one wild ride, but we’re talking about crazy turbo power now. If 475 hp isn’t enough to get the party started, how about 500 hp? Still not enough—what about 550? Now things are starting to get serious, don’t you think? But we think we can do even better than 550 hp. Thinking that 600 hp had a nice ring to it, we decided to see what it took to produce over 600 hp from a turbo B-series.

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SWEET SOUNDS

Everyone wants a killer stereo that rocks. You can’t just roll out in your car without something fabulous to listen to. The factory equipment just won’t work for those who demand more, especially if you are trying to show off. You have to be able to turn up the music and be heard—it’s all part of the game. If you’re going to roll, you know the rules: you have to roll hard and that means your entire stereo system has to be up to the task. Nothing is worse than blasting a stereo and hearing everything rattle and shake. That’s a huge no-no. There is a simple solution to this problem, however. To do a proper stereo installation, you must first lay a solid foundation. The first layer of this foundation is called sound damping or sound control.

Driven Racing Oil’s Break-In Oil Kit BR30 5W-30

Driven Racing Oil developed the original high zinc, petroleum and low detergent break-in oil over twenty years ago. Break in oil is a specialty oil that reduces wear and contaminates when breaking in a new high-performance engine. It provides controlled friction for your piston rings and incredible protection that helps your camshafts break in properly.

Driven Racing Oil’s GP-1 8OW-90 Gear Oil

GP-1 Conventional 80W-90 GL-5 Gear Oil is a conventional limited-slip gear oil for use as recommended by high performance gear and differential manufacturers. Designed for racing and high-performance differentials and transaxles, it’s formulated from USA made Pennsylvania Grade base oils that provide natural film strength, tack, and tenacious cling without relying on polymers that shear causing viscosity loss.

Two-Hour Tech

Improving your S197 Mustang doesn’t have to be an arduous affair. You’re supposed to enjoy working on your car, RATHER than dreading getting off work because you “have” to wrench on the Ford. With that attitude in mind, we recently spoke with Al Kamhi, of Control Freak suspensions, to get his advice on what enthusiasts could do to further the concept of upgrading a Mustang in just an hour or two. But there’s a catch: the upgrade had to make a real difference in the car’s performance.

Driven Racing Oil: GP1 Racing Products

Driven Racing Oil, born from Joe Gibbs Racing, is formulated specifically for all-out race and high performance engines. What makes Driven’s products different? In simple terms, Driven’s products are unique because they always put the “Motor ahead of the Molecule”. While other oil companies are in love with chemistry and have no real world understanding of how the products are actually used, Driven keeps things in the proper order. The oil is for the motor, not the other way around. Driven’s product development team looks at the motor and how it is used; then they design application specific products using a “zero compromise” approach that delivers a measurable performance advantage.

HOW WE BUILT A SHOW-STOPPER
(and Why We Built it the Way We Did)

THE QUESTION THAT we always seem to get asked at shows, at work and even when we are at a restaurant or just chilling at a bookstore is this: Everyone wants to know why Neil and Mei Tjin spend big money on their cars.
If you must know, it’s the love of the game and wanting to have the best of the best. Everyone always talks about JDM-this and JDM-that. Well, how about just getting the best parts from anywhere— Japan, Australia, America, wherever—and putting them on the car?

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FALKEN TIRE DRIFT SHOWOFF

THE FALKEN Tire Drift Showoff was a hit, to say the least. The event was held at Irwindale Motor Speedway on a beautiful, sunny afternoon. Thousands of people attended, which goes to show the outstanding marketing job that Falken Tire is doing to help make a difference in the tuner car movement. The company took it upon itself to give us a taste of what the Japanese market has been enjoying for so many years. Among the thousands of spectators, a healthy number of show cars showed up as well—and why wouldn’t they? This was an Import Showoff event, but this car show was a bit different from the norm. It was a JDM versus DTM show. In other words, Japanese against Euro. The cars that came out were very hot, with enough JDM and DTM on hand to kill you. All the heavy hitters and the big crews such as Team Hybrid, Flux, Tuningwerks Competition and Art-N-Motion came out to show their stuff. While this was a huge attraction, it was far from the main one.

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I.C.E. : IN-CAR ENTERTAINMENT
THE BEGINNING, WHAT’S CURRENT AND WHAT THE FUTURE MAY HOLD

BACK IN THE early days, having a custom stereo meant that you installed a head unit and a set of mid- and high-range speakers. Then the wonders of subwoofers and amps came along. When these components first came out, they were very large and required huge amounts of space to install. They offered, at best, a distorted sound compared with the standards of today. Ten years ago, most enclosures, when they were used at all, were generally a box or a square made of wood. Today many things have changed and much has evolved along the way…

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