Hey Speedhunters. My name is Alex Quail and I’m from Milton Keynes, England.
Living in MK (a few minutes from the Aston Martin factory), and thanks to my group of friends, I have always had an unusual fascination with cars and Japanese culture. Whilst other kids played with their Action Man figurines and skipping ropes, you could find me and my friends racing our Tamiya Mini 4WD cars across the playground. These interests naturally developed in to a love of Japanese cars as I entered my teenage years, and from that point on my life has pretty much revolved around trying to fund my obsessive hobby.
When I learned to drive I got a little Honda Civic coupe, but thanks to insanely expensive British insurance premiums, a single cam 1.6 was as powerful as I could go. Being a reckless teenager, that was probably a good thing. At about that time the whole “JDM” scene was starting to emerge in the U.S, and this is the style I adopted for my Honda. Although I loved my car, I quickly outgrew the civic’s little SOHC engine. I wanted something turbocharged from the factory, and preferably rear wheel drive, so I opted for a Nissan.
A few friends already had GTST Skylines, so I decided on an S14a 200SX. My Dad and I hunted for quite a while to find a good one, and eventually bought the Sapphire blue car you see above.
I can vividly remember the exciting drive home from the dealership. It felt so powerful, despite the massive boost leak from the side mount intercooler! It didn’t stay standard for long, and I quickly started making performance and cosmetic modifications. My budget was tiny (being a full time school student and part-time shop assistant), but I still managed to thriftily buy the parts I wanted.
The car has gone through a few looks over the past 4 years, at one point wearing a Works9 body kit, and several different sets of wheels, but I eventually got tired of the flared fiberglass and decided to go for a more subtle look. The car is moderately lowered on HKS Hipermax Pro coilovers, and sits on Work Meister wheels (Front: 18×9 +14 225/40, Rear: 18×10 245/40). I feel the car is still useable at its current height; I can drive it hard without grounding out or smashing bodywork, although speedbumps and ramps are to be avoided at all costs.
Because of my budget, the performance modifications aren’t as extensive as I would have liked, but the car is still substantially more powerful than when I bought it. Boost is controlled with a cheap manual boost controller, and a tubular manifold has been installed, along with a 3” downpipe, decat and exhaust. A front mount intercooler and custom pipe work was installed when we discovered the massive boost leak from the side mount.
I enjoy blogging and messing around in cars, so in the warmer months I meet up with friends and (attempt) to take photos for my blog http://www.jt-culture.com ]. I’ve been blogging for a few years, but it’s a struggle with all my university work. Once I’ve finished my studies it’s definitely something I’d like to take more seriously, along with learning to take some decent photos. Here are a few random snaps of friend’s cars/meets that I’ve taken over the past couple of years.
I belong to a little car club called Okishima Program http://www.okishimaprogram.com . We’re a group of likeminded guys who mostly drive Nissans, although there are one or two rotary Mazdas amongst the ranks. Some of us (like me) have road cars, whereas some of the guys have track cars, and some have drift cars. We don’t take it too seriously, but we put emphasis on aggressive fitting Japanese wheels and tasteful body styling.
I hope you enjoyed reading a little about the scene we have here in my part of the UK. A big thanks to Speedhunters for having me in their blogroll and giving me the opportunity to write a guest post here.
I look forward to hearing your comments; please feel free to be brutally honest.
-Alex Quail