#4age16v

From Malaysia to Nürburgring, Germany on an AE86.

After searching for one of the very few AE86 videos he still hadn’t seen, shine (@oscarwave) came across a video on YouTube about an AE86 made by Tokyo Tuner. At first it seemed just like a really cool video about a well-maintained and daily-driven Trueno, but it turned to be more than that. The owner of the car was planning to do an entire world-tour on it. All the way from Malaysia, through China, Russia and many other countries (including Baltics) until he reaches Nürburgring in Germany that he plans to race on with that same AE86, as he said it’s to “test the car”.

It seemed quite unbelievable, but after shine wrote a comment under the video saying that we would like to meet him in Latvia if that's possible - the man behind this crazy idea named Hadri contacted us himself, and said that he would be really happy for if we would meet him, help him and his friends to find a nice place to stay for the night and show them around the capital city. Ever since then we stayed in touch, followed the entire trip until we finally met them here in Riga, Latvia.

It was absolutely amazing to see an AE86 pull-up so casually with things packed on its roof, and the car with three people inside, boot full of car-parts and tools. On its way here the car started having some misfiring issues though, but Hadri and his friends weren’t too nervous about it. They were ready to find out what’s the issue, and fix it straight away. All it really needed was a new set of spark plugs and the sound of smoothly running 4A-GE was like music to our ears. Hadri also had some questions about cars insurance, but we figured everything out quickly.

After having proper lunch we went to the place that we had booked for them to settle down and take all the unnecessary weight away from the car. After moving in, we went to explore the city. We had a very friendly talk about all sorts of topics, and shared some presents/souvenirs for each other. It was a really nice chill evening in city of Riga. For dinner we went to try out some traditional Latvian food, and then headed back with full stomachs to sleep.

Next morning shine went to help Hadri and friends to pack for their departure, film a quick-little video and say good bye, but before that Hadri let shine drive the RHD AE86 which was like a dream come true. We got some footage of that as well, but most importantly it will forever be engraved in our minds, and leave a huge impression and inspiration to achieve our goals.

Since Forever // Topp Drift p.1

I met Clive for the first time shortly after snapping the first picture you see in this post. You can tell he hadn’t been on track yet from the fact that he wasn’t yet wearing his Converse sneakers. He drives the same Toyota Corolla hatch he’s been driving for the past 10 years, about the same time as he’s been hanging with Merlin.

Neither of these cars are going to blow your socks off. The Corolla makes due with a first-gen 4A-GE with some head work, and the 240sx is working with an SR20DE. Collectively, these two couldn’t even pump out 300WHP on a good day, but if you think that matters you’re mistaken. I can’t shake the resemblance these two bear to Osaka’s Kanjo racers, from their mismatched wheels, to their mostly stock engines swapped in from more powerful sibling cars. These are two cars built with the sole aim of delivering driving thrills on a budget, through chassis balance. Over the long years that they’ve owned their cars each one has been through several iterations before arriving at their current state, each car carrying bespoke modifications fabricated by the two drivers. From Clive’s chassis bracing and lower control arms, to Merlin’s exhaust and front strut bar, these two have taken the built not bought philosophy further than most.

If you’re the type of person who thinks the 200hp isn’t enough, 1 ride in Clive’s 86 will show you 100hp is all you need.

Toyota Corolla Hatch (“AE86″ Canadian market, 4A-GE gen 1 swap) Nissan 240SX Hatch (“S13″ Canadian market, SR20DE swap)