6:00am Sunday morning, waking to my alarm. I’ve been asleep for about 5 hours. Too tired initially to get up, I quickly evaluate my day’s plans and figure I can spare another 30 minutes. Reset alarm and I’m back in the abyss of sleep. Four seconds later the alarm is tearing me from my slumber again, but now it’s 6:30am, and I’m more tired than I was half an hour ago. I drag myself out of bed and open the curtains.
I’m on the Sunshine Coast, the skies are bright blue and it’s truly a beautiful day. A welcome change to the rainy summer we’ve had here in Queensland. Today is a special day. The Brisbane Supercar Clubmembers are having a public open day at 11, however I’ve been invited to breakfast on the northside with some of the attendees. This post is not going to just be pictures of the supercars. Often when talking about these events that I get to attend, I hear “What do these guys do to be in a position to throw hundreds of thousands of dollars at cars?” In this post, you’ll get a glimpse into some of those people. Firstly though, I need to pick up Jordan, a member of the Downshift family who will be videoing the day, and be at the first meet spot in North Bris by 8:30. No dramas.
Fast forward two hours. It’s 8:30am, I’m showered, fueled up, have Jordan riding shotgun and pull into the street where John lives. John is the Managing Director of Harcourts Pinnacle in Aspley. His AMG SLK55 is testament to his success and the deposit on the currently unreleased AMG A45 is proof of the commitment that he puts into everything he does.
As I pull into the street, there are already four cars waiting. John’s SLK55, an F430, a 360 Spyder, and an R35 GTR.
This is the first time I have seen the 360 since the Supercar Skidpan Day I covered late last year where it unfortunately blew a driveshaft. All fixed with new running gear, it was great to see the beautiful prancing horse on the tarmac again.
I barely have time to fire off some pictures when my ears are assaulted with the most glorious of noises. Looking up after hearing the distinct sound of paddleshifted downshifts, rounding the corner was a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, another Ferrari F430, and a Porsche Cayenne. The caliber of cars on the day are of supreme standing. Lucky I polished the dish on my Weds before I brought the 180sx out.
As soon as these cars turned up, everyone has a quick ‘hello’ and we are off to breakfast at Cafe Urbano, located on Wilgarning Street, Stafford heights. Cafe Urbano is a great little restaurant that can get quite busy (the reason becoming immediately apparent once breakfast is served). They love cars, so if you’re organising a cruise with some mates, it’s a great place to start off with breakfast. Trust me, the orange juice is to die for.
After a feed whilst everyone else is chatting, Jordan and I headed outside to get some footage. Straight outta COMPTON, the black SRT-8 belongs to the owner of Cafe Urbano.
One of the most unique cars here is this Porsche Cayenne.
Anyone who has been in the car scene here in Australia for more than 2 days should know the company that the owner of this Cayenne runs. CJ-Motor. Wholesalers in aftermarket Japanese, US and UK aftermarket engine parts, CJ Motor supplies some of the country’s biggest workshops, including Mercury Motorsport.
The thing that makes this Cayenne so unique is its bodywork. Packing a Lumma CLR 558 GT body kit and interior accents, its presence on the road is magnified exponentially. With widebody flares, front and back carbon surrounds, carbon vent surrounds and more, this extensive kit gives the Porsche Cayenne OPTIMUM appeal.
Photographing my way up the road I come across this black F430. Owned by Shobhan from Westside Dermatology here in Brisbane, the F430 Spyder was awesome company.
Everyone is now out on the footpath milling around, drivers by slowing to take in the sight of over $1.5m worth of cars. Jordan and I jump back in my car and we do a drive by of all the guys around their cars, filming for the upcoming video feature.
I need to stop for a moment and describe to you what happened next. As I am driving, I can’t take photos. Jordan however, will have video footage of this. Yeah, these supercars are cool, but how often are you going about your days business and hear that exotic acceleration before you see the car, and just stop what you’re doing to find the source? Now combine that with the Airport Link Tunnel. 2 Ferrari F430s, a 360 Spyder, a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, AMG SLK55, Porsche Cayenne, BMW M3, and an R35 GT-R, in a confined space, low gears, winding between 40-80km/h (because of the tunnel’s speed cameras).
I’ll wait whilst you take a moment……..
…aaaaand we’re back.
Arriving at Sirromet Winery in Mount Cotton the cars are slowing to an agonisingly careful crawl over the speed bumps driving up the entrance road. I wonder if any of the exotics hit at all as my exhaust scrapes loudly underneath my car angling over the top of one of the bumps.
I park around the corner from the show so as to not take all the attention away from the cars actually on display and take in my surrounds. To my right are giant wine vats, the smell of such wafting lightly on the breeze. To my left, Richy’s GTR is the first in the lineup.
I step around behind it and I’m seeing double.
Tony proudly showing off his Lotus, out as always. The organiser of the event, a massive thanks once again needs to be extended. ‘SUPA’ as well as having an array of other talents, runs Build Your Portfolio, a guide to success in property investment. His Lotus stands out in the crowd in its very bright yellow skin.
Not only could you throw a stick in the air in any direction and hit a supercar (NB: don’t do this), but there were some very unique other vehicles there. Strolling over to this Austin Cooper I glimpse some carbon fibre in the engine bay…. and then something else very different. A B16 from Honda sits between the strut towers. Very professional work, the detail in this car is second to none.
Carbon everywhere.
The work was completed by ‘Works by Wilson Engineering’ on the Gold Coast. Amazing.
There was one vehicle that people were walking straight past Ferraris and Lamborghinis to be gob smacked over. The BEOND bike. I don’t have enough time to write out the trials and tribulations that owner Steve went through to get this bike on Australian roads. Before it even came to Australia, it was potentially going to be in Transformers 2, and actually IS in Fast and the Furious 4. Vin walks past it on the way to the first race. Check out the build story on Steve’s business website.
Turning my attention back to the event there were a couple of domestics taking place. The first in the shape of this Supercharged Walkinshaw powered R8.
The second in Liam’s 700hp Monaro. He has taken care in the modification of this beast, unlike others that just whack a giant powerplant in the engine bay, he has handling and stopping power as well. The size of his brakes put the Austin Cooper’s wheels to shame.
The cars didn’t stop rolling in. After nearly all of Brisbane’s 86s and BRZs turned up at once…
…there were still exotics rounding the corner.
Derek turned up in his Rent a Dream Car Gallardo.
Nat has upgraded his Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale to a Lamborghini Gallardo.
I’m staring at this Mercedes drive in…
…when I swear I hear a Formula 1 car rev. A mistake that can be forgiven when the car approaches.
Justin, the owner of TrakPro brought his Gallardo Spyder, which is sitting pretty on ADV1s. The sound that comes out of his titanium exhaust is magical.
Now I only have one shot of the next car, and it’s an engine bay shot. We’ll save the body shots for action sequences next week when we cover the Gintani Track day at Queensland Raceway. David is the man behind Gintani Australia, which was started up after contact with Gintani USA to purchase a full E92 M3 exhaust system upgrade. The experience in both product quality and uncompromised customer service was such that the next logical step was to offer these components here in Australia along with the same customer service.
Offering supercharger and turbo systems, charge cooling systems and upgrades, ECU remapping, exotic exhaust systems and carbon fibre body elements among other premium products and accessories, it’s somewhere you Euro boys should definitely be looking.
David’s M3 recently went under the Supercharger conversion.
If you’re from Brisbane, you will most likely have seen Charles and his 8ALLIN F430 about.
Charles runs Asset Home Loans and also specialises in vehicle finance. His F430 moves so fluidly, it’s very hard to get a bad photo of.
Replica or not, this Cobra was FLAWLESS.
I was going to say something witty about this Porsche, but I forget what it was.
I remember explaining to my little brother when he was younger an easy way to spot a Skyline was the circle tail lights. That mistake came back to bite me more than once.
Stay tuned in the coming weeks for the video feature that Jordan is currently compiling. Will be epic for sure. Thank you to all the ladies and gentleman for letting me photograph all your cars and inviting me to another amazing event.
Until next time, enjoy.
– Daniel