IAN FIRDAUS

WITH GREAT
POWER BUT WITH
RESPONSIBILITY
THERE MUST
ALSO COME COMES GREATER
GREAT
RESPONSIBILITY
POWER.
 Crow
Bergen, Norway, 2017

PHOTOGRAPHY
Afternoon In The Park
Bergen, Norway, 2017
Burnout Weaponry
Sussex, UK, 2017 Leeds, UK, 2017
Louis XIV Chili
Paris, France, 2017 Depok, Indonesia, 2018

Beloved Pet Eggs

Depok, Indonesia, 2018 Depok, Indonesia, 2018
Coca-Cola
BSD, Indonesia, 2018

Aqua
Depok, Indonesia, 2018

E D I TO R I A L
OLD SPICE
H
i, my name is Marcus Lam and I’m a casual photographer
based in the Lower Mainland in Canada. I’ve always had
a soft spot for photography since the age of 10 when my
parents bought me one of those cheap, disposable cameras
you find at most department stores. It began with “shoots” of
various Hot Wheels and grew into more of a hobby. Being able to
capture that angle that sets off the subject just right and saving
that moment in a photograph is something that I genuinely love.
Fast forward 8 years and I now take photos at car meets, do
casual shoots with friends, and generally just have a good time –
I mean what’s the point if you don’t
enjoy yourself?
I came across the guys at Hustle Garage at the Lower Perimeter
Wednesday Night Meets (#sadvcc). These were the first car
meets I’d ever attended, and me being a bit of a shy person, had
hoped to blend into the background. Instead, I chose to step out
of my comfort zone and speak to people and just enjoy myself
as much as I could. One week, a sweet R33 Skyline rolls up, and
my interest is piqued. Ever since then, Alex and I have been good
friends, and he’s made a great photo subject at times as well.
Enough about me, however. This article is about my good friend,
James Reifert, and his 1992 Lexus LS400. He’s not a Lower
Mainland local but from Bothell, WA, just south of the border.
We met over Facebook a couple years ago and instantly clicked
over our mutual love of low cars and late 90’s/ early 2000’s
Japanese styling. Our friendship didn’t extend past late night Forza
sessions and Facebook discussions in car groups, but as we grew
up, we both got our licenses and ultimately our own
cars. James followed many Facebook pages dedicated to low,
Japanese cars, always wanting to build his own “spice mobile” as
he put it.
We shared plans about how we would build our 180SX’s or
JZX100’s, but of course us being students (James is still in high
school!), our budgets simply don’t allow that right now. This leads
me to James and his car.
James, to me, is what the ideal car enthusiast at his age should
be like. With him being a high schooler, with big ambitions and a
tight budget, I find it incredible he’s been able to pull off a style
like this – one that typically commands big bucks for a quality
build. His UCF10 on paper is the stereotypical simple “wheels
and coils” build, but the sum of its parts is in the details. James
put his attention on areas of his car that don’t warrant extra
attention; rather he focused on details that made the car more
complete as a whole such as the UCF20 rear armrest with dual
retracting cupholders, or the Junction Produce tsuna knot. Details
that don’t necessarily draw more attention to the car but things
that make the car more complete as a whole, at least for James.
The car scene today is fantastic with a constant stream of diverse
builds but more than too often I notice builds that focus far too
much on Instagram fame. This leads to many smaller details of the
car being neglected or builds that settle for cheaper replica parts
because the owners don’t want to save up for genuine parts but
want the Instagram fame.
Being a nearly 30 year-old car now, the body has its dings and
dents which he plans to repair later when Mother Nature decides
to cooperate.
The UCF10 sits on a set of Megan Racing EZ II coilovers that James
bought used and it rides on a set of Auto Couture Supreme BR’s,
in an 18×8 spec, wrapped in 215/45/18 Achilles ATR Sports. The
combo results in minimal rub yet good fit that can be comfortably
daily driven everyday, as James does. The OEM two-tone paint job
and the chrome lipped 2pc wheels set each other off very well and
pulls off the “semi-VIP” look well.
Of course, it could be lower or his wheels could be wider, but
on the short budget James is on, he’s been able to accomplish
something that he is proud to call his own. Future plans for this
car include wider MB Battles, UCF20 brakes, and ultimately just
dropping the car down some more.
Being his first car, James has worked to make his dream a
reality. Instead of being limited by his lack of funds for his “spice
mobile”, he’s worked slowly towards building his ideal LS400 to
his liking, making sure not to neglect any aspect of his car. To me,
that’s the basic definition of a car enthusiast – working hard with
what you got. If you want to check out more of his car, go give
him a follow on Instagram (@midnightsun.jp).
WHAT’S NEXT FOR
GRAN TURISMO SPORT?
GT
Sport has been out for just over a month now and
we were more than satisfied by its unique brand of
pretend online motorsport. But having surren-
dered ourselves to a Gran Turismo game that was predominantly
multiplayer, developer Polyphony Digital has announced that a
new single player mode called GT League is arriving for free this
month.
Given that there’s not actually much of this month left, that
suggests it’ll be landing very soon indeed, perhaps even in time
for the start of your festive week off. As gifts go, it certainly beats
the socks we’ll be unwrapping on Christmas Day.
Most excitingly, GT League will be inspired by the classic GT Mode
from the older Gran Turismo games, perfect for those who des-
perately miss beetling around in an underpowered hatchback in
the Sunday Cup. If you found GT Sport’s existing campaign mode
drier than a mouthful of cream crackers, this should be a refresh-
ing change. And if you’ve already filled your digital garage, there
will be an additional 50 cars arriving between now and March, all
rendered in traditional, almost sarcastic levels of detail.
But that’s not the whole story. We recently chatted to the game’s
creator Kazunori Yamauchi about what we could expect from GT
Sport’s downloadable updates, both free and paid, over the next
year or so. For a start, while there are some excellent fictional cir-
cuits and cars, Yamauchi reassured us that we’d be getting more
realistic downloadable content as well. “So we plan on starting
the DLC in December and that involves cars and tracks,”
he told TG.
“So there will be Vision cars, production cars, cars that have his-
torical importance and then of course we want to have real world
motorsport tracks as well as fun fictional tracks. We’re working
on all these things.”
Once of the most exciting new partnerships in GT Sport is the
one with four time F1 world champion and Nico Rosberg Christ-
mas card list absentee Lewis Hamilton. After the brilliant Ayrton
Senna themed add-on for GT6, which had us wrestling an unruly
Lotus 98T around Brands Hatch, will we be getting playable
Hamilton-centric additions to GT Sport? “I think the relationship
with Lewis Hamilton is going to continue and it’s going to be a
very good one, so I think you can look forward to more content
involving him in the future,” Yamauchi revealed. “And in the same
respect, we actually have a very good relationship still with the
Ayrton Senna Institute so it’s possible that in the future you might
be seeing more content regarding him as well.”
Lots to look forward to then, both in the immediate future and the
longer term. Gran Turismo games might have a legendarily pon-
derous pace of development, but they’re also known for changing
and expanding long after release as well. Here’s hoping for a GT
League-shaped surprise in our stocking this week…
A RT & D E S I G N
 My name is Ian, and I enjoy
photography, art, and design. I
like these things because they
let me explore and express my
creative side, experiment,
and overall just have fun with
it. It’s something I’ve enjoyed
my whole life and I feel like it’s
something I want to continue
doing for the rest of my life.

ABOUT ME