July 2010

THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU!

Submitted by Justin on 29 July 2010 - 3:14pm

None of us want to see our cars end up like this:

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If you live in Victoria, it could now happen to you. The Victorian police just this week have annouced they will be enforcing the latest phase of their 'anti-hoon' campaign. Pictured above is the first car to be punished by this new legislation.

With the aid of a court-order and under particular circumstances, the Victorian police can confiscate your ride, hand it to the SES for some quick jaws-of-life practice, then send it to the crusher.

Justification for this new ruling was made clear by the Deputy Comissioner for Road Policing, Ken Lay.

"If we permanently seize a vehicle that is not of a high safety standard, in that it doesn't have features such as ABS brakes and airbags, I cannot in good conscience send that vehicle back into the community." Said Lay. In order for your car to be taken from you and crushed, it has to be:

1) Impounded more than three times (or on it's third time)

2) Owned outright with no outstanding finance

3) Deemed unroadworthy, unsafe OR not meet a four-star used car safety rating. The RACV's (developed by Monash University) Used Car Safety Rating guide is being used as referral material when determening how unsafe a used car actually is.

The first car to meet its demise was a 1997 Holden Commodore owned by a Hamilton resident. Over the fold is a video released by the Victorian Police.

Zoom Issue 150

Submitted by glen on 28 July 2010 - 4:56pm

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Zoom issue 150 – On Sale Now

Contents over the fold.

Pulse Racing -- EVO

Submitted by glen on 28 July 2010 - 3:25pm

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We took a trip out to Pulse Racing in Menai, NSW, and spoke with Paul Fisher who walked us through some of the modifications carried out to the Pulse Racing World Time Attack Challenge Open Class winning Mitsubishi EVO.

Paul explains how some of the modifications their track-based race car can be carried out to customers' street-based vehicles.

Pulse Racing -- Monaro

Submitted by glen on 28 July 2010 - 1:37pm

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I took a trip out to Pulse Racing in Menai on Old Illawarra Road, NSW. I had a chat with Paul Fisher about some of the cars he had in the shop, including their World Time Attack Challenge Open Class winning EVO. Look for a video to be uploaded shortly of this beast.

Random Cool Stuff and Nostalgia (Editor's Archive)

Submitted by 2rismo on 26 July 2010 - 11:01am

In this line of work you're presented with insanely cool and funny stuff on a daily basis. It's what keeps us sane and it works too! (mostly)

Sometimes though it's good to go through the various apparatus cluttering your office and have a bit of a purge. There's plenty of cool stuff saved on hard drives, memory sticks, old laptops, phones and the thousand or so unlabled CD's and DVD's around the place and while it can be cool and nostalgic, do you really need it?

Probably not. That said, it seems a shame to not give some of the more random, amusing or plain ridiculous stuff a final hoorah on the interwebs and so as I wait for my first bucket-o-caffeine of the day to kick in, that's what I'll do.

Rob Campisi's car has been called a lot of things since it hit the scene late last year but the least accurate of these has been "American-Built". Thankfully the track commentator has since been re-educated and the quickest and fastest turbo car in the land is proudly Australian made. This is a shot from the SCF Race Cars sheds in South-West Sydney where every bit of the car was built.

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Jambo testing footage thanks to Rotorg33k.com

Submitted by JAZOOM on 23 July 2010 - 4:51pm

Check out another quality video thanks to the Rotorg33k.com featuring footage from Monday's private test day

Pre Jambo testing at Sydney Dragway

Submitted by JAZOOM on 23 July 2010 - 8:34am

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Things are definately hotting up in preparation for Australia's biggest Sport Compact event, the 2010 Jamboree, with crews trying to squeeze in as much testing as possible before the big day. With limited opportunities to actually get on the blacktop at this time of the year we have seen a few private test days organised on automotive forums such as this meet we caught on Monday (19/07/10) at Sydney Dragway.

There were a number of top level cars attending including Pac Performance in the Mazda6 and we thought it would be a good idea to head down to the track to get a sneak peak at what we should expect when we make the trip to sunny Queensland next month.

Read on over the fold to check out the action.

FREE METHANOL!

Submitted by glen on 21 July 2010 - 3:33pm

When we think of methanol here at Zoom, the first thing that comes to mind is a super-fast drag car. Well, A bunch of white coat wearing researchers from the Oxford University have released an open-paper study that discusses the potential of future technology being used to create renewable “synthetic transportation fuels” such as synthetic methanol.

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The group discuss the concept of Carbon Capture and Conversion, better known as CCC. Due to the amount of carbon dioxide being produced by our fossil-fuel driven infrastructure, capturing the transformed energy or “smog” and converting it to synthetic fuel seems like a great idea.

Eurothrash Tuesday: Euro Trash Stack?

Submitted by Justin on 20 July 2010 - 11:20am

We came across this video and thought it was both shocking yet amazing (because no-one was hurt!)

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Video and more info over the fold...

RTA: FOUR MODS NOT A TARGET

Submitted by glen on 19 July 2010 - 9:26am

After much confusion last week regarding proposed changes to the regulations for the registration of modified light vehicles, I contacted the RTA for a comment to clarify what was happening to hopefully quash any rumours.

An RTA spokesperson has replied with a written comment that removes some confusion.

The spokesperson confirms that the "RTA met with the Australian Street Rod Federation on 2 July to discuss proposed changes to the definition of an Individually Constructed Vehicle".

The RTA spokesperson continues, "Options under consideration may replace current rules in NSW that apply to vehicle modifications".

Most members of the automotive performance industry and enthusiast culture have assumed that the NSW RTA is working on the adoption of the National Code of Practice for the Modification of Light Vehicles. The NCOP is largely understood to be a good thing for NSW workshops and enthusiasts as it tightens up some loopholes while at the same time making the performance automotive industry a level playing field across Australia.

The RTA spokesperson dispelled rumours that vehicles with four or more modifications will be subject to special consideration. "The definition under consideration assesses modifications to vehicles in terms of their affect on safety and does not simply target vehicles with four modifications."

The spokesperson signalled that the RTA is open to consultation which was the concern of a few key figures that I spoke with late last week. "Any changes will be part of a thorough community consultation process before implementation is considered."

We look forward to this consultation process to make sure that the automotive performance industry and the strong enthusiast culture get a fair deal. At the end of the day, the automotive performance industry employs a large number of skilled and unskilled workers in areas with limited and precarious employment conditions that also coincide with a number of marginal Federal seats. On their own, any potential job losses are negligible. However, any changes that lead to negative industry-wide impacts do not bode well for incumbent State and Federal governments.