FRANKIE DeGROOT | News | CONTACT
When the dickheads at Betoota County Council realised they still had eighteen and a half mil in the bank right before the end of the 2004 Financial Year, it was clear what needed to be done; blow the lot on as many roundabouts as possible to make sure nobody higher up realised that too much money had been allocated to road improvements.
So when Gary “G-TEC” Brinks, who grew up in this tangled shitstorm of pointless roundabouts, bought his first car, it was clear that what he needed was not a turnpike cruiser with a high top speed, but a quick, nimble weapon which could accelerate from roundabout to roundabout in style. Sadly he only had $1400, so he bought a clapped out 2002 Civic instead.
Of course the difference between mum’s sensible hatchback and a teenage hot hatch is often only a set of no-name mags and stick-on racing stripes, so a trip to Betoota Auto Parts & Accessories was quickly arranged.
“This is my baby, so I went on a bit of a shopping spree” admitted Gary. “It’s already got a VTEC badge on each side but I bought a couple more; now it has one VTEC badge per cylinder so it’s much more responsive”.
To keep up with this extra performance, some brake upgrades were in order, which came in the form of some stick-on vents before and after each wheel to keep the stock rotors cool.
The factory stereo was upgraded with a Clarion sticker on the back windscreen for extra bass, and a Transformers sticker was added to the petrol door “because I like Transformers”.
But the sky is the limit when you get into the serious car modification scene, as Gary would soon discover when he became interested in the idea of shaving off a few extra kilos for improved performance.
“It was time to take the weapon to the next level so I was going to replace the factory steel bonnet with a carbon fibre one; they’re like ten kilos lighter” Gary explained.
“But they are also hella expensive; luckily the guy at the shop had this carbon fibre stick-on wrap which is pretty much the same thing. It definitely feels 10 kilos lighter. You really notice it, specially through a roundabout”.
