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We went over to the Hong Kong island side where Timmy lives too. He gave us a little preview of how his bro in law uses the 306. Remember that Timmy is a taxi driver that does most of his driving on the Hong Kong side. Much like Takumi knows his way up and down Mt. Akina from delivering tofu, Timmy knows his way up and down HK Island delivering people. Takumi knows how to use the gutter to make the turn and Timmy knows how to use that off camber turn to shift the weight to the rear outside tire to make the turn. No shit, I think Timmy knew where every bump and pothole was because he knew the ideal line going up the mountain. Let's just say that Timmy made sure that Paco and I knew how they roll on the HK side. There was a 996 Carrera with a loud ass exhaust that tried to hang with us, but he didn't have a chance with Timmy behind the wheel. And the 306 had three people in it!
The 306 was rockin a set of classic 15″ OZ Superleggera wheels on some 60 treadwear Federal tires. I was wondering why the car was so damn sure footed and the tires never squealed. The driver's seat and steering wheel were Sparcos. Do those brake calipers look familiar? They look a lot like the stock Z32/BNR32 4 pot Nissan calipers to me. Either way the 306 had no problems stopping for some slow ass Benzes and bimmers that got in our way. The 306 was a blast up and down the mountain. Good times.
Timmy lives just up the street from the Jumbo seafood restaurant. He used to bus tables here he mentioned. We just stopped by to check it out real quick because you have to see it if you're in the neighborhood. This picture was taken from a dock. You have to take a small ferry to get to the actual boat/restaurant. I hear the food kicks ass here so I need to try it out next time.
Top Racing's storefront in Hong Kong. They also have two locations in China.
The next day we stopped by Top Racing, which is one of the premier shops in HK. They are a full service tuning shop that, at the moment, seems to only service R35 GT-Rs. Having won 1st place at the 2010 Macau Grand Prix Roadsport class with Manabu Orido driving the Top Racing R35, they attract a good deal of HK's tuning and maintenance business. Nissan has not officially imported the R35 to HK, but I think I saw almost as many R35s as I saw BMW M3s. In fact, I saw probably the same amount of R35s in two days that I've seen in Los Angeles collectively. It helps that HK is much smaller of course.
In the well stocked showroom was a display case with a bunch of R35 transmission parts from Exedy and Dodson, some Cosworth EVO X cams and valve springs, some HKS electronics, Greddy stuff, etc.
Top Racing was closed on Sunday, but Timmy knows the owner, Mr. Li, so we were able to go and check it out. Timmy goes jet skiing and fishing with Li and friends. Paco is part of their crew too.
Another R35 parked on the Dyno Dynamics chassis dyno.
Another R35 getting some engine work done.
Another R35 in the showroom. That's a nice set of wide ass slicks sitting wrapped up in front there.
Another R35 parked outside.
Upstairs an engine builder was assembling a VR38.
Top Racing is a big HKS distributor so they typically build engines using HKS components. I was there hoping to change that some of course. The HKS rod is ultra heavy duty, but is also ultra heavy. The piston also looks super robust and is a traditional design. The entire HKS piston and rod assembly weighs very close to stock, but offers many times improved strength. I would put the HKS piston and rod assembly in the overkill category for most applications and perfect for drag.
Commercial space is very expensive in Hong Kong so Top Racing has to utilize every inch of space available. For a shop that size, I'd have to say it probably has more R35s in it than any shop in the US that size. Li wasn't at Top Racing that day, but he did meet us for tea the next day at a chan teng. That place was known for their fresh dan tats so Timmy hooked me up and it was absolutely delicious. Anyhow, Li and I spoke some about what Cosworth was doing for R35s, EVOs, and STis, but we got cut short in less than 10 minutes when he had to run because he had double parked his white Ferrari 430. Timmy was playing look out as we talked so Li got away safe with only a minor apology to the cops. The cops were yelling in Chinese, “Dude, are you fucking serious? How you gonna double park a car like this and not expect to get popped?!?! MOVE IT!”
