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This past Sunday saw us head out to the Coventry Motofest with our buddies Iby and Taj from Speedwells Refinishers and Perfections Midland, its a show that seems to get bigger and bigger every year, with more o.e manufacturers joining the event as well as the tuning scene, with every marquee presented on individual stands around the streets of Coventry city centre, it was a great day with lots of beautiful cars on display, as well some cars hitting the track that had been made up from the main fly over and under pass roads, the noise was intoxicating.

Alcon Brake Stand, Coventry Motofest

The Alcon stand was the first stand that we were in awe of, sitting middle of the stand was Roger Clark Gobstopper 11, which is mind blowing up close, such an epic machine, just not as epic as the 920bhp RS200 of Pat Doran, we have seen this in various stages of build throughout the years, but this was the car of the show for us, epic is an understatement, its truly is breath taking up close, the details on every part of this car is very special, and another brute of a car running on the Alcon brakes, this company and its product are leading the way, our good friend Anthony Gaylard with him incredible Nissan GTR GT3 build that we are involved with also set up with the Alcon braking system.

Another car that sat on the Alcon Brake stand was the freshly built E30 M3, owner Phil Morris of Drift works and what a very special car, our good friend Craig Taylor of Dynotorque did the S65 V8 engine install and as you would expect it all looks factory, this car really is a bit special, as usual Driftworks have put together another amazing build, which is what we have come to expect from this crew.

Nissan GTR Stand, Coventry Motofest 2018

The Nissan GTR stand had a pretty spectacular line up, with a range of R32, R33 & R34 all present, the R32 stood out as it was an original wide body Evolution 111 factory car, imported from Veilside Japan and it was impeccable, as was the Midnight Purple R33 and beautifully prepared white R34.

We caught up with Matt Clifford from Reflex Design with his Rothmans OLD & NEW slant nose on display, and as always it was drawing the crowds down at Fargo Village, we will be back next year, but this time we will be armed with our own cars to display.

Fargo Village, Coventry Motofest 2018

 

We thought some of our older forged wheel designs has started to reach the end of their life cycle, but our customers seem to disagree. Our old VM1 wheel design has seen some mileage over the years, being fitted to various cars around the world in various finishes, the wheel design that adorned our original VAD 997 RSR has done us proud, it’s still going and still in demand.

Over the last few months we have been following a build belonging to Sean Reid who happens to be a very good friend of Iby from Speedwell alloy wheel re-finishers, Sean ordered the full wide body Supra aero pack and has put together and absolute beauty, what caught our eye was the colour he has painted the Supra, which is a classic 60’s Porsche grey, which suits the conversion really well, and a colour we have yet to see on this particular wide body conversion, a choice we like ... a lot.

The wheel of choice for Sean’s build are our VAD VM1 with the concave profile, matt black centre with gloss black barrel, in sizes 10.5x19 front and 13x19 rear, its one car and build we are very much looking forward seeing this build come to fruition

VAD VF1 13X19 Matte Black Centre, Gloss Barrels

13X19 VAD VM1 custom 2 piece Forged wheel, Matte Black Centre, Gloss Black Barrel

 

Back in the late 80’s I cut my teeth in the ultra-high performance tyre world working for Bridgestone Tyres, the days when they were purely a one brand company before the purchase of Firestone Tyres, working between the sales, technical department and the high performance tyre department, it’s a time in my life I will not forget, selling and working with all the tyres for the exotics of the 80’s all the icon cars, Ferrari F40, Porsche 959, Jaguar XKR-15, and the incredible XJ 220, I remember seeing my very first XJ220 rear tyre 345/35R18 and being in awe, my passion for high performance tyres along with working in the Technical department put me in good stead for the business I'm involved with today, learning all about the tyre, section width, overall diameter, rolling circumference, tyre upgrades, and above all the ETRTO standards (European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation) permitted tyre to rim widths, which has been a very important parts of VAD’s daily business life working with bespoke custom 2 and 3 piece forged wheels.

When Bridgestone purchased Firestone, I left the company to search for a new challenge, this is when I linked up with Peter Luckings from Motorsport Sport wheels, at the time Peter was actively importing and distributing the OZ wheel brand in to the UK market and it was the start of my journey into the wheel world.

OZ Racing Race & Rally

Being involved with the O.Z wheel brand set me up with all the ethics I still swear by today, that quality is everything, and if its cheap, its cheap for a reason, visiting the foundries in Italy and seeing the product being manufactured up close and personal was something to behold, the TUV testing they have in-house was market leading at the time, the Racing department where the Motorsport wheels & three piece wheels were constructed I will never forget, truly awe-inspiring, they certainly lead by example.

Like most European companies they have had a hard time with the infestation of Chinese manufactured alloy wheels that hit the European market, but we are pleased to report that over time people have realised that the quality difference between European & Chinese manufactured product are worlds apart, Chinese alloy wheels are cheap for a reason and I am happy that all of the best European manufactures are back, and back with a vengeance.

I am so pleased to be once again involved with this iconic brand, only this time under different circumstances, with my own company promoting and selling the OZ Racing wheel range.

All of the wheel designs are being added to the website and updates will follow over the coming weeks and we are pleased to be teaming up with the O.Z Factory on all of our up and coming Mini R56 builds with our wider fenders, we will be fitting the OZ race & rally wheel design in the 17” & 18” sizes, along with a tie up with Bilstein suspension, we have some exciting plans for the brand, so get in-touch with us today for any OZ Racing Wheel enquiries.

VAD R56 Mini wide fenders, fitted with OZ Racing, Race & Rally wheel

Render of the all new VAD R56 Mini wide fenders, fitted with OZ Racing, Race & Rally wheel

 
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Office Hours

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Saturday                9.00 am > 1.00 pm
Sunday                   Closed

OFFICE
Unit C20
Rose Hill Industrial Estate
Rose Hill Road 
Market Drayton 
Shropshire 
TF9 2JU


WORKSHOP 

Unit C21
Rose Hill Industrial Estate
Rose Hill Road 
Market Drayton
 
Shropshire
TF9 2JU


Strictly by Appointment  
Art...Some people collect it, We like to build it
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