Automotive Journalism

Alright, lately we’ve been having these guest speakers come into our classes and lets just say they’ve been less than optimistic when referring to the ability for students to get their getting feet in the door.

So I took it upon myself to email the editor for Canadiandriver.ca and see what he had to say about getting into the arm of the industry. I’m not going to copy and paste the email but I will give you the general gist of what it was about.

He started off by stating that it isnt very easy to get into but if you have the right qualifications than your already 3/4 of the way there. One of the key things he told me was that I should practice writing like the publication I hope to write for because that’s what they’re going to be looking for.

So I’m much more relaxed now that I may actually have a future in journalism and a career I’d actually like to boot!

New Speed Limits

I dont know what it’s like where your from, but here in the Lower Mainland of BC it seems that whatever street your on, someone feels that the speed limit is too high so they must do half of it. For Example, 25km/h in a 50 and 30km/h in a 60. You can imagine how agrivating this is when the street doesnt have a passing lane. The car always has tinted windows and always seems to be either  a beige or green 90’s corolla, who are these road natzis that think they can control the flow of traffic?! Something must be done, spike strips? Or wait, I have a better idea, why dont we make them actually earn a fucking driver’s license and not just let them buy it…I mean…for fuck sakes.

Taco Del Mar

I remember the days before Tokyo Drift came out, those were the glorious days in which an s13 didnt cost you over $4000 and sixteen-year-olds didnt hog all of the good industrial zones. These kids, they act no differently than when they street race. They dont have spotters around corners, they just yank the ol’ E whenever they feel like it, always just trying to show off but always ending up in an impressive display of suck. Go back to the Taco Del Mar parking lots!

A Life Lesson…

Be warned, this story has more to do with hammers than anything automotive, in fact, I dont think there is a single mention of cars at all…

I remember I was hammering on a fence in the backyard when my dad approached me. He was carrying a letter or something in his hand, and he looked worried. I continued to hammer as he came toward me. “Son,” he said, “why are you hammering on that fence? It already has plenty of nails in it.” “Oh, I’m not using nails,” I replied. “I’m just hammering.” With that, I returned to my hammering.

Dad asked me to stop hammering, as he had some news. I did stop hammering, but first I got a couple more hammers in, and this seemed to make Dad mad. “I said, stop hammering!” he yelled. I think he felt bad for yelling at me, especially since it looked like he had bad news. “Look,” he said, “you can hammer later, but first–” Well, I didn’t even wait to hear the rest. As soon as I heard “You can hammer,” that’s what I started doing.

Hammering away, happy as an old hammer hog. Dad tried to physically stop me from hammering by inserting a small log of some sort between my hammer and the fence. But I just kept on hammering, ’cause that’s the way I am when I get that hammer going. Then, he just grabbed my arm and and made me stop. “I’m afraid I have some news for you,” he said. I swear, what I did next was not hammering. I was just letting the hammer swing lazily at arm’s length, and maybe it tapped the fence once or twice, but that’s all. That apparently didn’t make any difference whatsoever to Dad, because he just grabbed my hammer out of my hand and flung it across the field. And when I saw my hammer flying helplessly through the air like that I just couldn’t take it. I burst out crying, I admit it.
And I ran to the house, as fast as my legs could take me. “Son, come back!” yelled Dad. “What about your hammer?!” But I could not have cared less about hammering at that point.

I ran into the house and flung myself onto my bed, pounding the bed with my fists. I pounded and pounded, until finally, behind me, I heard a voice. “As long as you’re pounding, why not use this?” I turned, and it was Dad, holding a brand-new solid-gold hammer. I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes and ran to Dad’s outstretched arms. But suddenly, he jumped out of the way, and I went sailing through the second-story window behind him.

Whenever I hear about a kid getting in trouble with the drugs, I like to tell them this story.

The Almighty Tofu Wagon

Alright, this being the first post of my new blog I figured it would be best to start with a bang. The AE86 has gained a considerable following over the past few years due to the growing popularity in drifting. I’m not going to explain what the AE86 is because I’m sure if your reading this that you already know that it’s a rwd, 1.6 litre four-banger from the mid-eighties.

If it wasnt for a certain japanese cartoon that shall not be named, I’m sure many people wouldn’t give the corolla gts a second glance because from the outside it looks like a usually weathered (read: rusty) econo-box and it’s true, it is. I think the problem is that these days people are buying these cars expecting to be able drop their tires in the gutter and grip around turns. A stock gts from the 80s is like any other car from the that era, it’s not immune to all problems.

With that being said, the 86 is no slouch once modified. The car is all about balance, a modified 4AG is all that’s needed for this relatively light car. Some tokicos and trd springs can handle the suspension area for the average driver. 300 hp and coilovers are not needed to have fun in this car and that’s why we all modify our cars right? To have fun, go have fun.