Ichiban GTR, Bryce's homage to the GT3 racer

Its been a while since we have featured Bryce Jenkins GTR and the main reason being he has simply been too busy with life, not only moving from state to state, but also moving into a new family home in Colorado Springs whist also adding new family members, in the form of Siberian Husky, not one but two, Hakosuka and the latest edition Mishimoto and as all car builders will respect you have to prioritise, which is what Bryce has been doing

With the priorities taken care of it was time to get back on the GTR, and to complete the first round of mods, steam roller sized Michelin tyres were on the hit list, measuring 325/30R20 up front and even wider 345/30R20 for the rear, these have been wrapped around the 12x20 & 14x20 AG Wheels Bryce already had "waiting patiently" so with a weekend of mods, trimming and general suspension set up it was finally time for its first proper outing as a more or less finished build and we have to say it does look pretty spectacular, the wheel and tyre set up are really on point, form and function never looked so good, Bryce still has bits to do but as with all builds does the modifying and titivating ever stop.

Next up will be the straight pipe exhaust system coming from the boys at JC Fab Works, and a new rear GT3 style wing that we are working on for our own BMW Z4 GT3 project, will be re worked for the Ichiban GTR, but that is a few months away whilst we fabricated all the supports and manufactured the blade moulds for the double set up.

Over the next week the car will be photographed by the silky lens skills of Brandon from Woyshnis Media, and we are really looking forward to the money shots that will appear, as the guy has some excellent skills with a camera and no doubt the GTR will be seen on lots of media feeds, especially if Bryce’s Rocket Bunny Nissan 350Z this is anything to go by, this is one GTR that we think is going to infest the internet for many months to come, and with the current crop of cut and paste wide body GTR builds that are everywhere, this beauty is going to be a refreshing change... Hurry up Brandon.

#NissanR35GTR #NissanWideBodyGTR #NissanGTRWideBody #nissanr35 #NissanGTRGT3 #WIDEBODYGTR #NissanGTR #GTRGT3 #Ichibangtr #Ichiban #BryceJenkins350z

APAC and VAD the perfect collaboration

As we cant be everywhere we are always looking to work with like minded companies around the world, having good outlets that can service and supply your brands locally is vital, as we have found out over the last 20 + years it can be risky, but when a company ticks all of the boxes, its a risk worth taking.

One company that has stood out to us for a while has been Auto Performance Aesthetics Centre (APAC) from Maryland, USA, some of the work we have been seeing coming out of their set up has been pretty spectacular, especially the GTR's that do the rounds across various social media feeds, OK so the installation of the Liberty Walk GTR wide body is nothing new but these boys have been hitting the scene from a very different angle, most companies just install the LB over fenders kits as they have been designed and intended, as a riveted over fender, but these boys have taken the over fender craze to a different dimension, which is the main reason they have stood out as they have been blending the kit to the body and if you know your bodywork, you'll understand how difficult that is to pull off, we aren't fans of the LB GTR over fender look for various reasons, but APAC made us take notice of the workmanship and skill its takes to blend a kit like this, they have done a sublime job, and its a kit that looks so much better as a true wide body over a fender add on.

APAC GTR

APAC GTR

APAC GTR

APAC GTR

APAC putting their own twist on the Liberty Walk Nissan GTR aero styling

The say quality attracts quality, so you will understand we were pretty thrilled when Derrick the owner reached out to us for possibilities of working together, after a couple of months of discussions Derrick has decided on the purchase and installation of the VAD GTR wide body aero kit for his own personal GTR, to say we are excited is an understatement, as we know what's coming, just looking at the craftsmanship of the LB cars they have already created just wets our whistle.

Derrick base car is a beauty and he is going to keep on enjoying the standard GTR look for the next few weeks whilst the kit is in production and we ship it out, then we can only imagine what they are going to create and we cant wait, the wheels he already has, which happen to be a crazy wide set of RSV forged 3 piece with a concave centre profile.

for all of your VAD needs for the areas of Washington, D.C., Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia, look these guys up, even further afield its worth getting in touch, if you love your car then you'll love what APAC offer and what they can do for you.

Derrick the owners personal GTR, getting ready for surgery, the VAD wide body kit coming soon

#NissanR35GTR #nissanr35 #R35 #NissanWideBodyGTR #apac #AutoPerformanceAestheticsCentre #NissanGTRWideBody #Nissan #widebodygtr #WideBody

Carbon Fibre and Forged Magnesium 2 Piece wheels

We are always striving for better products at VAD and whilst we are happy with everything we promote and sell, the search for the perfect product is always ongoing.

Midway through 2017 we had a request for carbon fibre wheels from a good friend, the same friend has now taken delivery of his hybrid forged magnesium and carbon fibre monoblock wheel for his incredible AMG Mercedes Benz C Class coupe, the awesome the Edition 1, and to make it even more special it’s the motorsport example, it really is a very rare model, and the focus has been to make the wheels as light as possible and at 7.5 KG I think we have achieved our goal, but we will discuss this wheel and vehicle in minute detail when the wheels are fitted to the intended vehicle.

With the forged magnesium monoblock you have limited fitments, mainly because the widths of the blank forgings are very limited, so we can’t do every vehicle we want with a monoblock set up, for example we couldn't do the Lamborghini Aventador with the 9x20 front and 13x21 rear, because the rear forging isn't available, so we have been looking for another light weight wheel that we can work with that would cover more applications.

There are carbon fibre wheels on the market, but unfortunately the ones we have seen just do not float our boat, basically speaking the wheels are ugly, and for us the product has to look ascetically pleasing to the eye, as well as form & function, and yes we do want our cake and eat it, wheels maketh the car, and it’s no different with a carbon fibre wheel, let’s face it for the cost of these wheels alone…they need to be beautiful to look at.

Well now for the best bit as we now have the best of all worlds, for the applications we can’t do with a 1 piece monoblock, we can now do with our 2-piece carbon fibre and forged magnesium wheels. these wheels have a carbon fibre one-piece barrel, the centre is forged magnesium that is bolted to the carbon flange, with exposed or hidden titanium hardware, we have many applications, widths with any design catered for, be it a 5 spoke, mutispoke, or a design you have created yourself.

So for those customers that strive to want the pinnacle alloy wheel product, we now have every exotic material you could possible wish for.

We have our full carbon fibre forged composite 3-piece wheel, our hybrid forged magnesium and carbon fibre monoblock wheel, and now our 2-piece carbon barrelled, forged magnesium 2 piece.

Sizes and widths for the all-new 2-piece hybrid carbon / magnesium wheels are as follows.

19” barrel sizes: 8.75 > 10” > 11” > 12” // 20” Barrel sizes: 9” > 10” > 11” > 12”

21” Barrel sizes: 9.5” > 10” > 12.5” // 22” Barrel sizes: 10” > 12”

If you are interested in any of our carbon wheel products, in the 1, 2 or 3 piece then please do not hesitate to get in touch with us to discuss your individual requirements.

#CarbonComposite #CarbonFibreWheels #CarbonWheels #Carbon #carboncomposite #MagnesiumandCarbon #MagnesiumForged #magnesiumforgedwheels #carbonfibrebarrels