One gloomy and damp Sunday late June 2020, the trak-life trio reunited at Wakefield Park Raceway to relive the joy of (track) days long past. You may speculate that the lack of Trackday Chronicles is down to the fact that the trak-life machines have ceased to exist however it’s quite to the contrary to that. With the resurgence of the …

Zestino – an international tyre brand you would not have heard much about only up until recently with its big marketing push and adoption down under. Despite the European sounding name make no mistake, these tyres are manufactured in China but clearly points out “designed in Japan” as imprinted on the sidewall. Just mentioning made in the mainland is enough …

For the majority of us, you wouldn’t normally associate the words ‘Nexen’ and ‘track performance’ in the same sentence. Furthermore, ‘SUR4G’ sounds like a WiFi router. As many lesser brands have proven over the years though (e.g. Nankang), the game really has changed and there are new viable alternatives to the mainstream out there. It’s been years since Pearl the …

Simple fact – Pearl isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Despite being in hibernation for most of 2018 while I played lightweight high revving Honda games, Nissan is and always has been where my heart lies.After completing Build v3.0 in late 2018, the need for any other substantial purchase seemed very distant. Power and the reliability to support such power had …

To say this post is a long time coming is a massive understatement, most readers have probably moved on waiting for this and are probably driving Golf Rs, Audi RS3s or Elgrands and hanging up the modification gloves. Not long after Part II of Pearl’s build thread I believed i would have sorted out the bottlenecks which hindered the progress …

Here at trak-life, it’s no secret we’re fans and advocates of the Intima brand. Having used their brake pad range for over 5 years predominantly for track purposes, all three compounds offer amazing performance for the price. The Type-D is their track focused compound and are the sole pad used in Pearl (the S15) and more recently in the EP3 …

Headlight restoration products from the local auto shop can do a pretty good job, one of my lens’s was clear proof of that. The other lens however, proved to be very stubborn and to be honest I’m not a fan of Forest Whitaker look. So to return Pearl’s front end to her former crystal clear glory, a 326 Power Headlight …

Great stopping power provided by an effective brake setup isn’t exactly going to win you any traffic light drags or get you crowd approval as you scrape upon entry at the stance meet. Neither is it the most aesthetically pleasing mod. It’s no wonder then that upgrading a brake setup usually sits at the bottom of everyone’s performance modification list …

Taking off the drive belts on your S13, S14 or S15 SR20DET can serve many purposes. Replacing worn belts, replacing pulleys, replacing front oil seal, removing timing chain front cover/oil pump, whipping naughty children… Ok maybe not the last one. My aim in removing the drive belts was to actually remove the front cover to inspect my timing chain, that …

The stock suspension in the EP3 Type R is actually already pretty good – firm, responsive and well balanced. Having clocked in a 1:10.6 time at Wakefield with the stock suspension, it was time to step up the game and tweak the suspension with a set of Hardrace H-S Coilovers. The install is actually very straight forward but without the …