As usual, I had the car prepped, with some nice modifications before the trip, and a check over from MK Autos in Blackburn, plus some vinyl sticks from Gary at Stickers At Car Shows. Both always provide fantastic service.

Anyway! On to the night before, as usual we all congregated at the departure hotel in Lancaster. Friends old and new, all sitting and talking about life and the days ahead, whilst Rik, Dom, Imran and Dave all talked about the routes, the refinements, the plans for photos, etc. A couple of gins and many laughs later, we all retired ready to get up and ready for an early departure on Day 1 and the first destination of Kielder. A motorway run up the M6 and then across country, when the convoy starts you know you’re on a trip, my favourite bit!

The car was great, sounded as good as it looked, massive acceleration. Popping the odd little flame for those behind but most of all, surprising a lot of more modern machinery with the grip! 315 rear A052s will also help that, but it’s stuck to the road like a turd to a blanket. These old school JDM cars really are holding their own with the modern tyres and a good alignment on them.

When we arrived at Kielder, it was 3 things: coffee, ice cream and photos. It’s such a picturesque place, and we were so lucky to have the C5 Globemaster doing circuits that it just required patience to get the perfect picture of the Supra on the jetty with the monster flying in the background, kudos to Dave Rutter for getting this perfect shot.

Onwards to Scotland… the roads leading up towards Pitlochry as ever were stunning, amplified by this weather we had, the best of any Scotland trip in recent memory.

The rest of the trip followed this perfect recipe of slow and fast roads, scenery, wonderful hotels and fantastic people. Great food and a beer with like minded people after a day of blasting through the Scottish roads is literally just what the doctor ordered. I’m not going to go into to too much detail on the routes, as that’s specific to slap! but rest assured, it’s every bit as good for each year that passes.

Roll on slap! Scotland in 2026 – and until then, he’s a clip of the best bits.

The post Scotland with slap! Adventures first appeared on BlownByTwins.

The only real issue was the extended traffic jam and a solid hour of nose to tail traffic which saw the gearbox temperatures get close to the maximum.

On arriving at the JDM North pitch, we were placed in a pretty disappointing place, right at the back on row 3, and the end of the pitch. So we decided to make the most of it and reverse in to the pitch so at least we’d be pointing out to the passing crowd and I could get the Supra bonnet open to show off the Pulsar G40-900 and the SRD workmanship in the engine bay.

Comments were very complementary! Thank you to everyone I spoke to!

Mooching around the show was a real mix, some fantastic builds, with boundless time, energy and money put into them – right down to your ghost MOT examples, and there were a few…

Was great to meet up with Mark from Pulsar Turbos, and thank him for the endless support, and also with some old fellow R35 owners who were parked up quite close. It’s always great to see great people.

The drive home… TC set to 30% and power turned up to the max. Some controlled exits of roundabouts, power being deployed seamlessly. It’s just a joy. Then the cruise control on, via the M1 north to the M6, and settled in with some Chris Harris podcasts.

This car is special – and it’s only getting better.

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It was an early start in the R34 for the jaunt to Hinckley where I was meeting up with the JDM Performance UK group before the short convoy to Mallory. To be neighbourly, I decided to bring the car out of the garage the night before so I could “get in, belt up and get off” quickly. Nobobdy needs the sound of a cammed RB26 at 5:45am on a Sunday morning.

After proceeding swiftly, I’d earned enough time in hand to stop at the M6 Toll Services, Norton Canes, for a coffee and a pain au chocolate. Wish I hadn’t bothered. Coffee wasn’t particularly warm and the pain au choclate was fresh – once.

Onwards.

Off the M6 Toll is a nice few clear roads which I managed to navigate with an assortment of relatively late braking and a heavy right foot – I was warming the clutch up, honest. The noise of that screamer and the T51r mod to the Pulsar 30-770 is just mega, intoxicating and addictive. It just screams out of the roundabouts or the 90 degree turns, both which filled my journey.

After meeting up and convoying with a really cool and eclectic mix of JDM specials, we arrived. A few Civics, some very nice EVOs, particularly the EVO V and most obnoxiously loud GT86 I’ve ever heard in my life. Ana complained about the noise, but she didn’t even go. That’s how loud it was!

The car was on full show for the spectators and those who knew the Skylines and RB26 in particular were very complementary, especially about the Rajab Racing Intake Manifold – and how it doesn’t look anything like anything else on the market. And the best thing, is that drives like no other manifold on the market either. It gives me such an improved low end that it’s honestly a pleasure to drive.

The journey back happened earlier than I thought. After arriving there for 8:15am and being setup by 8:30, most people were mingling by 9:00 and on their second coffee by 10 past! The show was ok. The marshalls were all very friendly, it was mostly well organised but two things stood out. The first was the amount of halfwits just revving off and the second was the stench of marijuana. Both of which I can’t stand. Especially the revving off. You’re going to knacker your engine. Just stop. Some marshalls were ok, some asked to stop, so there was a bit of a disconnect there. It could have done with some more atmosphere, it did feel a little flat, with only a couple of trade stands on 2 coffee/food stalls. Maybe some food for thought there, literally.

Come 12pm, people were starting to leave. Not wanting to be one to stand on ceremony, I decided to go as well. Exit, stage left. Boost to 1.5bar and let it sing for it’s supper on the way out. And it did. 7500rpm and a screamer pipe, it’s just stunning.

20mpg average across a 200 mile trip, with the clutch and the brakes fully warmed up. A job well done. Roll on the next trip.

I tell you, it’s going to be tough next year to choose between the R34 GTR and the Supra. What a choice to have.

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The R34 GTR did get some attention, it got plenty of it. Under the spotlights, the Emtron livery popped, the Rajab Racing Intake and Pulsar G30-770 Turbo were on full show. It looked fantastic. I might be biased but I think it was the best Skyline there. Certainly the best R34 GTR. But, yes, I am biased. Very.

The car was dropped off the day before, and I arrived thanks to Ana around 10am, and had a great time looking at some of the spectacular looking cars there. Some are show queens, some, like mine, are street driven and well loved and others are somewhere in between.

I do love the differnet takes that people take on their cars. Seeing all different influences from Japanese, to euro, to American. The aggressive road car look really does it for me, but that’s not to say I’ll ignore the stanced look – it’s just not for me.

Thanks to everyone at The Ultimate Show for a great event, and maybe see you at the next one.

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On the way up to Wheels Up North, the car again was faultless, but again I stopped to top of the fuel tank! After meeting up near Preston, we convoyed up and had a little play on the M6, all within the speed limits on some empty stretches of motorway. It brought back some smiles about the first part of the trip to Scotland back in May of this year. And just how differnet, better, faster and more responsive the car is now.

The weather up in Windermere wasn’t great, with some hints of sun, but the car received some really positive attention. People love the engine bay, with lots of “oh look at that”, and “that’s how you do it properly”. I love hearing that, it makes the expenditure, the research and the time without the car all worthwhile.

I also managed to catch up, unexpectedly, with some old car friends, which is always a great thing. Just a shame it’s only once or twice a year to get to see friends. Something we all need to remedy in the future, not just at the next Wheels Up North.

Next event is The Ultimate Show in Liverpool, on Sunday 28th July – the day after I get the Supra…

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The car performed a treat on the way, 1.5bar, 7500rpm, screaming through the much needed lovely summer morning. And it also meant a couple of trips to the local petrol station! Shell 99 was inhaled this weekend!

After TunerFest, I’ll definitely attend more events with Asphalt Knights, they were a really nice and friendly bunch. Would be good to get involved and bring some more high quality JDM cars to them. I think the next even with them will be with the Supra!

It will be nice to have the option to chop and change between cars if one is away for some work with SRD, which lets face it, one of my cars always will be away!

The next event will be sometime in August, in a collaboration with Sunday Scene, I think. But I fancy a longer outing next… who fancies a trip out to somewhere like Dumfries and Galloway? Go and explore some wonderful roads in the south west coast of Scotland.

If the Isle of Man ferry was quicker and cheaper, I’d happily head over there for a couple of days. Screaming through the roads there would be insane fun, and you can’t deny it. But three hours for that short distance and £340 return is just a bit too much…

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How was it? Mega. Honestly. The car is now so eager to go, it’s ridiculous. And smoother. So much smoother. The drive by wire is a revalation when it comes to the responses and driving of the car. On the move, it is just so eager to boost! It feels like it’s chomping at the bit all the time. It’s not scary, but it’s fun – and even though there’s not a huge increase in peak power at the top end, the extra 400-500rpm reducution in spool rpm makes it a much better road car. Read about that here.

What was the show like?

Well first of all, thanks to North West Mustangs, who had a spare space on their stand for me to jump on the end and get me in. But it started off wet, very wet. So, I sat in the car and watched Netflix for 30 mins until the worst of the wind and rain passed us by, then it brightened up and warmed up quite quickly, and we could get on with enjoying the show.

I WON!*

Well, I did, and I didn’t. I was awarded Best High Performance Car, but I had to leave before the awards were handed out, so the runner up was awarded the trophy in my absence. But the first real show of the year and I’ve got a first place, which makes the hours of research, the planning and orcehstrating of moving the car, fitting and mapping, the collecting, etc. It makes it all worth it. I’ll have to go back to Leyland Festival in 2025 to defend my title, which isn’t really mine!

So many people were so complementary about the look of the car, the less is more look. Some people like the gaudy look for attention, but it’s never really been my thing. I prefer the less-is-more look and let the car do the talking. The stickers from Stickers at Car Shows really help the car pop though. Thankfully the judges felt the same.

Engine wise, the car is done. I won’t be doing anything else to it. Externally, it goes for a front end respray in a couple of days. Interior will need a couple of panels replacing as they’re showing signs of wear and I want a steering wheel with some controls on it for the Emtron to take full advantage of it’s functionality. At the moment, we’re just locked into a single map until I decide which keypad and/or steering wheel suits me best…

The post Leyland Show 2024 first appeared on BlownByTwins.

Fast forward a few months and it come around before we knew it! Prep time. Litchfield for a service, new front tyres and alignment, then home to get ready.

It started on the Saturday, the day before the scheduled start. We headed down for dinner with our friends in Kent before heading down to the unofficial start place at the Ashford International Hotel and Spa (nice hotel, slow bar service, nice breakfast, rock hard mattresses). Sunday morning, the smiling faces arrived, it was GO TIME! Some incredible cars there. Incredible. F12 N Largo, McLaren 600LT, Porsche 911 GT3 RS, Aston Martin Vantage F1, Ferrari 812 GTS, etc.

We depart for the short drive to Folkestone, to get the EuroTunnel to Calais and make a real start. We had a (terrible) coffee at the Folkestone terminal before we made our way. Onwards!

The journey began coming out of Calais and heading towards Lyon, our first stop for the night. A lovely place out the edge of the city after a long, but speedy run through France. The standards of the driving over there are so much better than here, and the roads. Shame the fuel is eye gougingly expensive though.

We got some food at a services, a lovely sandwich before arriving at hotel, with a very secure sub-terranean car park. We brought the car up in the morning to ensure it was easier to get the case in and out. The simple things!

Day 2 was the final stretch to Monaco, and The Fairmont Hotel! Amazing place. Absolutely amazing place, right at heart of the Monaco hairpin, for those who know, it’s iconic.

After 3 days in Monaco, including drives out up to Red Rock Canyon, where rain stopped play, and then to Col de Turini where God was smiling on us. Although Ana sat that one out!

We had the best time in Monaco.

Fresh from another lovely breakfast in Monaco, we headed out east along the coast and quickly arrived in Italy where we encountered some pretty awful rain. But, the Italian motorways near Turin don’t seem to have any spray, the road surface in fantastic. Boring for the non-driver, but us on the autostrada, we were all taken aback. Anyway, enough of that, we went through to St Vincent in northern Italy for a night and had maybe the best breakfast view ever?

Lets carry on in to Swizterland, over the St Bernadino pass and then to Germany, and our VPower 100 fuel – which we need over here, and E85!

With a sense of finality, we headed towards Baden Baden for the final night. We indulged in the final nights meal, a few glasses of wine with friends old and new, before rounding off with a gin at the hotel, ahead of the monumental drive home.

In what turned out to be 13 hours, the final drive was long but good. 2660 miles from door to door over the week with some incredible sights seen and some even better memories made. Laughs were plentiful, and still continue several days after.

The Litchfield tuned and maintained GTR was simply superb. It didn’t miss a beat and left a lot more expensive machinery in its wake. It needs a little more response below 3000rpm for roads like the Col de Turini, but as a fast road car, it’s simply epic.

Until the next adventure, maybe with slap! again. They were fantastic.

The post R35 GTR – Monaco bound first appeared on BlownByTwins.

How was the car?

In short, mega. The Lambda Sensor issue aside, it was totally different to the last trip. The power out of the corner was there, I didn’t have to wait for 5000rpm. If I had to downshift, it was 1 gear, not two. From 3000rpm there was usable power, but by 3500rpm it was singing. I actually kept the car on low boost just to enjoy it, 0.8bar, around 400bhp, it was plenty for the twisties! Don’t get me wrong, I did up the boost to 1.6bar on more than one occassion when the weather and the roads allowed.

The clutch was also a revelation, soft, progressive but gripped like a teenage boy when it needed too. Epic.

I can’t wait for the next road trip now with the new ECU, intake and drive by wire. Let’s have some fun.

How was the trip?

Rik from slap! does a staggeringly good job, he has a dedicated photographer in a chase car, plus his able assisstant, Dom, in the Yaris GR (amazing car!). The group is made up of eclectic mixes of people and cars from any all walks of life. The driving standards are high, too, which leads to a confidence in the group, and the radio chatter always promotes a giggle.

The routes are curated by Rik and the hotels are vetted prior to any trip, making it a great trip. Cars are parked in safe places, whilst we indulge in some lovely food and drinks, talking about the days activities.

Roll on 2025.

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