Do you like coloring things?
Here's another set of activities for you during the quarantine at home.

Grab some crayons with kids. Or if you are an art school grad, go at it with your set of Caran d'Ache.

The post Paper Craft Toyota Cars to get through the Stay At Home, Safely and Quarantine. (courtesy of Toyota Corolla Himeji Dealer Japan.) appeared first on Club4AG.

Picture 1 shows the additional bracket to reinforce structural rigidity of the rear wheel well and upper shock/spring mount.
While the effects are hardly noticeable, it does work to strengthen the section against impact deformation and wear of unibody when the car is modified to higher grip tires and when used over rough roads for extended life of the car.

The post Some intricacies of 86/BRZ Updates that happened for 2017 Model Year appeared first on Club4AG.

Every year in April, the Grand Prix of Long Beach comes to life, held in downtown streets of Long Beach that's transformed into an international raceway of 3.17 kilometers.
This year was special however, with some really special guests from Japan attending as guests.

With the final race for Toyota Pro-Celebrity Race after 40 years of rich history, it was also the last time the Scion FR-S would race with these Pros and Stars of American culture.
86'S (pronounced Hachi-Rocks) in Japanese, are the largest of Japan's Toyota 86 owners club, and some of the key folks came to share the moment at this race, and greet the USA fan-base as well as get a taste of Southern California.  The Tour also included a visit to the California Sciencenter to see the Space Shuttle Endeavour, The Peterson Automobile Museum, City of Los Angeles and Hollywood, A drive through scenic Palos Verdes, and The Toyota Museum USA.

Also in attendance were the creators of the Toyota 86/ Subaru BRZ, Chief Engineer Tetsuya Tada, who we are very familiar with by now, but this time accompanied by Sports Car Planning Division Manager, Hiromitsu Kishi, and the man who is responsible for the beautiful exterior design of the Toyota 86, Chief Designer Takayasu Furukawa.   Cusco International (Carrosser) also came along, with Cusco USA Director, Kenji Inoue as well as the Cusco International CEO, Tsutomu Nagase.   Coming to greet them from the USA side, top sales person of the Scion FR-S in the USA, Jeffrey Chang of Longo Toyota/Scion, Auto-Tuned's Young Tea, Robert Stangarone rocking his RSR FRS, Ryan Nambu's 70's Classic Edition FRS, and countless others who all came to shake the hands that bond the globe as fans of the Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ.  Vossen's Mike Forsythe, Lexus International's Paul Williamsen,  Kaizen Factor's Ryan Bacsafra, Beat-Sonic USA's Eric Kwon, and Socal South-bay 86's Ron Bautista, Sandy Lirag and his family to celebrate the unveiling of the DAMD OEM+ "Vantage 86!!" and hundreds of FRS/BRZ owners of the West Coast!

I guess pictures speak a lot more than my poor English so I will just show you these following photos.   Can't you just see the joy, the friendship, the fun, and wonders that is the 86's fanbase?

The post Hachi-Rock's (86'S) USA TOUR, Japanese 86 Owners Visit the Grand Prix of Long Beach appeared first on Club4AG.

86 Style with BRZ 2015 Fuji Speedway
August 2nd , 2015

Again for the 5th year, the world's largest AE86, Toyota 86, and Subaru BRZ Event came to Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka Japan, this August 2nd, 2015.   On site were 2100 cars, and 5000 people, who all took part in various things from gymkhana, road circuit racing, dirt trial, photography lessons, and many other interactive events.  On display were all the recent concept cars, and production trends, new options, and 100's of aftermarket builders and manufacturers displaying the latest equipment.
Celebrities in motorsports none short of Keiichi Tsuchiya, and Junichi Wakisaka, as well as Akira Iida came out to speak to the audience.
Event mastermind, Mr.Kishi of Toyota also hosted the annual 86 Green Cup as well, which the RSR Team along with Eric Kwon of RSR USA, won the title.

Sandy Lirag of OEM Audio+ came out to launch the Reference 400CF+J to be distributed by Cusco Japan for the Japanese market, wishing to equip more 86/BRZ users with unparalleled audio experience, and was represented by Cusco Demo cars, Bride Racing Seat demo car, and the famous Ushi-Kun colored Maruman 86 built with care by the one and only Hiromitsu Mannen of Maruman Motors Hokkaido.
TRD brought out the latest with Yellow 86 TRD Nurburgring Package, the venerable and notorious limited edition 14R60, and the pace-setting concept racing car, the Griffon 014.
Initial D Girls graced the venue, as well as umbrella gals from every major manufacturers and N1 Taikyu and D1 Grand Prix Teams.

What made it most special for me though, at this event was that it was also the location of my wedding as well.  Accompanied by Mr.Tada, the Chief Engineer of the FT86 Project, as well as Chief Exterior Designer, Mr. Furukawa, my wedding announcement was held on stage with stories of my past introduced to the audience.  It's been a joy to be hosted by Toyota's key officials for the vehicle, and it will be a day to remember as one of the best, if not the best of my life.  Joining me on stage were two other couples who've met with Toyota 86 activities, celebrating their joys in life as well.

Adam Zillin of 7Tune, came to shoot the event and hitched a ride with me on the parade lap of 200 cars, around Fuji lead by the leading 86 Cup car drivers, Drift King.  I had a chance to lead this pace lap in a 86 Open Concept II, convertible 86...

Photo: Motohide Miwa (Club4AG) / Sandy Lirag / Adam Zillin (7 Tune)

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Clazzio Seat Cover and LED Interior lighting

Available now, from Clazzio (A Japanese leather seat semi-permanent cover goes over the stock seats and is held on tightly with clever straps and hooks, is an economical way of giving you the leather seats you've wanted (if you did). The memory foam padding actually gives a more supple hold than stock seats, and feels very snug at lateral and longitudinal g-forces too, unlike popular belief. This product costs about half the price of full leather re-upholstering, and is for all four seats in the FR-S/BRZ.

As we know some car seat covers are designed to fit specific models of cars, while others are designed to fit all cars. If you are looking for a car seat cover that will fit your car perfectly, you will need to purchase a model-specific cover. However, if you are looking for a more affordable option, you can purchase an all-cars car seat cover. All-cars car seat covers are made to fit a variety of different cars, so they may not fit your car as perfectly as a model-specific cover. Seat Covers Unlimited has a wide selection of all-cars car seat covers to choose from, so you can find one that perfectly matches your car and your needs.

However, seat covers alone won’t prevent buildup of dust, odors, or embedded debris over time—especially in high-use vehicles or those exposed to the elements. That's why incorporating regular interior cleaning into your maintenance routine is essential. Even the best seat covers benefit from a clean foundation, and regular detailing ensures that your vehicle remains as comfortable and fresh as it looks.

That’s where a professional touch can make a difference. North Phoenix Detail offers a range of services that go far beyond a basic wash. Their interior detailing packages include deep cleaning of upholstery, carpets, dashboard surfaces, and vents—removing stains and allergens that typical at-home cleaning might miss. For those with all-cars seat covers, this level of care helps ensure that both your covers and the original seats underneath remain in top condition.

Clazzio seat covers are all fully custom made to order with choice of colors, materials, and combinations of them in center and side supports as well as stitch type and color.

Also, I took the same weekend to add some LED lighting to the floor and door courtesy area. The foot well is lit by a two stage LED array, with orange bright at door open, and dark red dim at headlight on and driving, and single red LED beams a broad dim light on the center console to help see the area without having a blinding light source at night.

Updated 6/20/2015

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Chief Engineer Tada visits the launch of Mazda Roadster 2016 (Miata MX5)
source: https://www.goodspress.jp/news/5608/?all#more-5608
May 23, 2015

Chief Engineer, Tetsuya Tadaof Toyota, the father of Toyota 86 (Scion FRS in the USA) and Subaru BRZ, attends the launch party for Mazda Roadster (MX5 Miata in the USA) and had some interesting things to say.

Of what I can translate in local context, here are the summary of what was written in this linked article.

There are rivalries of course, but all those who build sports cars out of passion are friends.
Japanese "sports car" builders shall build the culture and products as a single united community of enthusiasts.
With the launch of Honda Sports 600 and Mazda Roadster, this year will be an exciting one for Japanese sports car fans.
He's had previous contacts with folks at Mazda during the development, to which he claims that this car is built very well, and with accurate targets to what they've set as goals.
It's always much more of a challenge, and a risk to make a small sports car, and just as the Toyota 86, the Roadster is also full of ingenuity and clever methods and technologies.
And while he thinks of the Roadster as a rival to the 86, that he wishes the year 2015 to be a very good one for the single community that is the sports car enthusiasts.

AS for me, a presence and public acknowledgement of Chief Engineer from another automobile firm within Japanese competition is rather unprecedented and uncommon.
This really does embody the recent publicity theme by Toyota for automakers of Japan to unite, and become stronger as a whole though better relations and communications.
It also indicated Chief Engineer Tada's sheer joy of having more cars in the compact sports car segment that will accompany the Toyota 86 (and Subaru BRZ).
For all of us automobile fans, it's really something we should be happy about, that the type of cars we love most, are starting to become available again from Japan, and perhaps influence other car companies to join with more future products from around the globe, just as happened in the 1960's through the 1980's.

https://www.facebook.com/Moto.Club4AG/posts/10205937039481389?pnref=story

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The post Club4AG FR-S parts list for track day outing, guideline to fun. appeared first on Club4AG.

  Here are some details on what’s  been changed on the 2015 models of Toyota 86, in Japan, as reported by XaCAR 86/BRZ Magazine, Volume 7 in Japan.   I've also chatted with  “Mr.T,” the Chief Engineer of Toyota 86 in Japan, and at Subaru, with the performance engineer, "Mr. I,"of Subaru as well in the recent past to share some light on this as well.
The Scion FRS and Toyota 86, as well as Subaru BRZ, which are all built at FHI Gumma plant in Japan, right alongside each other, with Subaru Forester and some other cars, have been in very busy production since 2012.  These cars have seen a ton of media light, a huge cult following, and have been embraced by the world’s sports car aftermarket suppliers.  Accolades as well as the usual nitpicking by both enthusiasts and press have also been something of a huge party on social media as well.

In 2015, some really tiny enhancements were made such as programming logic of the power steering to accommodate a more dynamic driving scenario when in Sport mode VSC.  While this has been mostly to address some complaints for overly aggressive safety over-ride of the Vehicle Stability Control systems, in OFF mode, it will allow the driver to drive it as “pure” as an old analog car as any sports car should, just as before.   The 2015 models also already has thicker rear panels for additional rigidity to address some slight tweaking noticed when users actually went ballistic with motorsports events using the stickiest of tires.   But this hasn’t been a huge difference as most of the users of this genre modify their cars enough to address stuff like this.  A famous change also is the main front strut bolt which became bigger as well, which was hyped in Japan as adding a more linear feel to the car.   But this too, is really a small change that matters to only a handful of owners, as we all add camber-correction bolts to get this up to par for serious motorsports as well from aftermarket sources, along with one of the most common modification, that is coil-over suspension systems.

On the interior department, Japanese 2015 models have been graced with a tan/black interior combination which isn't available in the USA Scion FRS nor any market Subaru BRZ, nor the satin silver interior trim (though we have them on the Limited Edition FRS RS1.0 in the USA in volume of 1500.
The colors haven’t been changed aside from the slight shift of the red to a lighter red, now called “Pure Red” from Lighting Red before, as well as Aslight Blue, changed from Galaxy Blue Silica, making the dark blue even darker for Toyota 86 and Scion FRS, while the BRZ’s WR Blue has shifted to a lighter version called “Lapis Blue Pearl.”

8 Speaker audio system for Japan, since the strong adherence to weight reduction for Japan has limited their models to 4 speaker paper cone system till this next update.
It’s nothing new for the world outside of Japan, as we've had 6 speaker high grade poly-carbonate driver systems already in the USA from the start as standard equipment, and furthermore, some of us are already on the much superior OEM+ system available from Scion dealers and directly from OEM Audio… (http://www.oemaudioplus.com/)

Japan finally gets cruise control – something omitted from Japanese models while the rest of the world had them in BRZ, FR-S, and GT86.

Well, now that it is reaching its fourth year in production, the car is preparing for some revamping.  We don’t have photos of what it looks like (and I cannot show you if I did…) but here are some very strong hints of details of what the changes will contain for 2018.

1. A new front face (bumper and auxiliary lighting, as well as a new headlight assembly
   The plan also includes definitely, new rear tail-lamp assembly.   And yes, nice to know, though I do like the current tail too…  And, for lots of folks, it’s already replaced with an aftermarket one as well, right?
2. A new center console and meter cluster will be part of the 2018 model too, not just colors but also a new shape.
3. A revised power steering module programming to allow sharper steering input at lower speeds while making it less responsive at high speeds over 200km/h to easy Autobahn speed long cruising. (Wait?!  Autobahn Speeds with current engine power?  Well I suppose it does reach 200km/h yes, but not too much higher than that…  Still it is a nice move forward and interesting that they would consider such limited use condition and still perfect it to that situation as well.4.  A revision will be made further, to make a little more adjustments to the EPS and VSC programming, again, mostly to address SPORT mode parameters to accommodate sportier driving.  Like I said before, I don’t even use the VSC on a raceway so this isn't a huge change for anyone seriously competing already.)
4. With the upgrade also will include couples of beefier lower arms and rods, as well as driveshafts that are tiny bit larger and beefier.So….  I guess you are still asking if there is a turbo or any more power added.   They hint that there will be slightly more power, but not in any significantly different way it will deliver it, and changes are more to address things they didn't achieve in the first editions.  I’m expecting a modest increase, but more revisions to cure those tiny bits that needed some attention before.
   Subaru USA though is hinting with an aggressively restyled BRZ at New York Auto show as we speak, so who knows…  Maybe they’re hiding something much bigger in news?
5. A some elements have been addressed in the manual transmissions to allow more durability and resulting precision at the shift lever feel as well.

IN conclusion though, here are my thoughts.   For the folks who sees these minor revision as points in a local car meet, or just absolutely have to have the “what’s new” to post on Instagram, these changes may well be worth waiting for another year or two.   Yes, naturally it will be a nicer car I suppose if the face and tail is something they feel is better looking.  I have my concerns on that though with lots of recent updated cars from all makes.  Anyway that is that.
For those who just love the FRS/86/BRZ however, I really do feel that the current car is excellent, and for those who love to drive with any spirited energy, or at the absolute edge of adhesion on a closed raceway, I would instead recommend that you find a good used one for half the price of upcoming 2018, and just go crazy with a well planned hop-up menu.   While the ‘minor-change’ as Japanese like to call these mid-cycle facelifts, do improve on some key items to help sell more and refresh the car on an ongoing basis, this car is just too good to spend couple of years less of your lifetime and miss out on the fun.   Most of the updates in a typical minor-change can usually be fitted to an older model of the same generation too.   So we can worry about this later…  Much, later…  when the 1.5 gen 2017 will also be a bargain racecar in perhaps 2022?   That’s the way I look at it, and that latter method was how, an old AE86 was enjoyed.  Aging well and being true to the roots, the more it aged.

So just go find one and get with the program really.  I assure you, after 10 minutes, you’ll not care about the small things, as you work your gear lever and smile on your way somewhere not far enough.

By the way, if you want to know more about what is going on with Toyota 86, subscribe to this series of books.  XaCar 86/BRZ Magazine Volume 7.

The post In the pursuit and ongoing revisions of the Toyota 86, Scion FR-S, and Subaru BRZ... A recap, and a look into the future towards 2017 too. appeared first on Club4AG.

Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach 2015, TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, and Pro-Celebrity Race

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