EUROstuff Magazine #109E | Page 13

Foreword Friends, Motorheads, Countrymen....... lend me your ears !!! 109E # CONTENTS The Cars I f you are reading this, chances are that you would have heard of HOTstuff magazine founded back in the year 2001, when the 6th generation of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions and bug eyed Subaru WRXs ruled the streets with their fellow Japanese naturally aspirated VTEC equipped Honda brethren. HOTstuff was the magazine that started the genre of modified cars reporting and writing here in Singapore, and at the epicentre of street culture and car tuning. It was an exciting era, an intoxicating mixture of Japanese manga Initial D on video CDs and subsequently brought to life on the big screen by Taiwanese actor Jay Chou, and car clubs sprouting via online forums like Subaru Club, Singapore Honda Club and the still active Traction Circle Club based on circuit driving. It was a time when car enthusiasts meet regularly at places like 24 hour McDonalds or your friendly roti prata shops. Many friendships were formed, soundtracks from Fast and Furious movie franchise were downloaded and copied; and rounding at Orchard Gudang was de rigueur weekend rituals. 20 The Lord Of The Ring The Street Culture 32 Radical Demon XOautosport magazine 42 Classy Fusion WX’s MTM A4 Quattro 50 I was roaming the streets with GD series Subaru WRX STi and the legendary Honda NSX, one of but a handful in Singapore in those heady days. And amongst all the activities highlighted above, I always look forward to every print issue of HOTstuff magazine. Even till today, you can still find dated issues of HOTstuff at many workshops and tyre shops!!! I myself still have a few tattered and dog-eared copies in my store room. Jap Inspired Audi TT Qualtro XOautosport magazine 60 The APR Connections ExtremeKars magazine 68 WALD BMW M5er eS4 magazine CarAudio magazine The Usuals 16 86 EUROnews Anything / Everything Auto Culture EUROclub Anything / Everything Auto Culture EUROshop Aftermarket Product & Services The Crew Publisher Managing Editor Editor Writer Photographer [email protected] : : : : : And it all sort of died away......a culture slowly disappearing and all that’s left are sentimentalists and old magazines. What happened? Some blame vigorous enforcement by the authories, others blame the high car prices; and yet some attribute it culture fatigue. But I humbly opine that the simple truth is post 2008, the Japanese car makers vacated the sports coupe segment, bar the excellent Nissan GTR 35 and the supercar territory Lexus LFA; coinciding with the rise of Volkswagen turbocharged all wheel drives and BMW’s continued focus on sporty elements of their rides. And the homespun truth that as the local economy prosper, the more expensive European rides has gone from aspirational to achievable as individual incomes soared. As such, me and my colleagues spent a good part of a year brainstorming how to serve a European car-centric population. A suggestion of a “Euro car version” of HOTstuff delivered electronically and to be downloaded was mooted; and by a majority vote of 2617238 yeas against 1025386 nays, I am pleased to present you the inaugural issue of EUROstuff e-magazine; and yes.....we are that serious....EURO in capital letters, before stuff. 72 Image Dynamic 14 Okay, eyes it should be, for those who are not fans of Shakespearean drama. Motorgasm Tan Mattew Lim Kevin Tan Andre Aryanto Jarett Michael Technical Manager : Jonathan Toh Production Manager : Gina Tan Web Designer : Bebe Lee Business Dev Director : Vincent Ng Business Dev Manager : Eric Ong Sales Executive : Justin Tan Disclaimer: EUROstuff e-magazine is published by www.HOTstuff.com.sg and in association with its respective regional media publishers & partners. All material published remains the copyright of this e-magazine and its respective media owners. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced in any form or means. The opinions expressed by the writers, contributors or advertisers do not necessarily represent those of this e-publication or the crew. Under no circumstances whatsoever shall the e-magazine or the crew be liable for any direct, indirect, special or consequential damages arising out of or in connection with the use of the information made available in this publication. This e-magazine cannot accept responsibilty for any unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or other materials. In this first spin-off issue, we go German!!!! From Ingolstadt, we bring you our very own Lord Of The Ring trilogy - a Audi R8 that could have raced in the LeMans; a classy city ride MTM tuned A4; and my personal favourite - a carbon wunderkind Euromotive engined TTS. From Bavaria, we bring you a slammed WALD kitted BMW E60 M5. And to show age is no matter in car tuning scene....from Stuttgart,