We’ve had a busy month here at Japspeed HQ, and while Paul Smith, Baggsy and the two Shanes may have had the time of their lives ripping up tracks around the UK its the few of us back here in the office and workshop that keep everything ticking over behind the scenes! Here’s what we’ve been up to in the run-up to Christmas in what has proved to be a very busy December…
The first thing to do was to get us all into the Christmas spirit, and what better way to do it than by putting up our office Christmas tree! For a bunch of guys who have no problem putting cars together this proved a lot harder than it should of been but we eventually got there. A few Japspeed lanyards, Samco keyrings and an angel with the face of Hayley Cropper from Coronation Street (don’t ask…) was all the tree needed to transform it from your typical run of the mill decoration into a welcome addition to the Japspeed office.
The workshop has been extremely busy this month and Ant has been rushed off his feet after his well-deserved holiday after what has been a very hectic season. Our recently acquired 2JZ powered Lexus has received the most attention, with new bodywork (front and rear bumpers, skirts and bolt-on rear arches), a new paint job and a whole host of suspension modifications to give it more lock being the order of the day.
Of course we couldn’t have one of our team cars looking shabby and unpainted, so Ant had a busy weekend spraying it up in our trademark black and white team colours. It’ll look absolutely fantastic once it’s stickered up with our sponsors’ decals along with the Japspeed lettering along each side – we can’t wait to show you!
It’s not often that we have all of our cars in the workshop at once but that’s been the case over the last few weeks – in fact it got so crowded we had to redesign the workspace and even move one of the four-point lifts.
Shane Lynch’s S15 has been having some work done on the front suspension and brake setup, while Paul Smith’s S15 has been on the receiving end of some remedial work to the exterior to get it looking presentable, ready to be displayed on the Maxxis stand at the Autosport International show in January.
Ant has also been working hard on our old S14a that we built in conjunction with Fast Car as part of a 48 hour build challenge. The car’s original SR20DET expired not long after completion of the project and the car has been sitting unloved and engine-less ever since. The car has now changed hands and will soon be Ant’s own daily runabout, so a lot of out-of-hours work has gone into getting a new engine and gearbox fitted, along with an overhaul of the exterior. Hopefully it’ll be back on the road soon!
Back on the office side of things and our stock of Exedy clutches has been increasing at a fair rate! We now have most popular models covered; whether you are you after a simple Stage One kit or an extreme Hyper Twin Plate we’ve got you covered.
We’ve always enjoyed keeping in touch with our fans and customers via social media and as a result we have recently signed up to the increasingly-popular Instagram to post our day-to-day goings on, be they here in the office/workshop or out on the road. If you’ve got Instagram, give us a follow! @teamjapspeed
Last but not least all of us here at Team Japspeed would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and hope you have a great festive period with family and friends!
