G'day from Australia

[IainK]

Hey guys and gals,

I'm from Australia (juuuust north of Sydney) and bought a Protege5 (known as an Astina SP20 over here) in January. First time I've bought a new car and a little different to the three other cars I've owned (2 V8 Aussie muscle cars and 1 ex-family hack 1984 Peugeot)...

Lots of twisty roads near my place which rules, except we can't get aftermarket bits for the car... Everyone who works on Mazdas does rotaries, not Pro5/SP20s. :mad: :mad: :mad:
We can't even get any Mazdaspeed parts shipped in. You gotta bring them in as hand/carry-on luggage! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Anyway just like to say this forum's beaut and I look forward to getting tips on tuning my little Zoomer...

 

[Kenetix]

Hello mate! Welcome to the board man. We've got plenty of assholes ... and nice guys too. Good buy on the Mazda, great cars. I know how you aussies and kiwis are huge rotary freaks.

 

[AbbyVonNormal]

No aftermarket?! Well, thats not fair!

Sounds like you need to hook up with some people planning to vacation in Australia. They can pack it in the overnight bag!

anyway....welcome(hi)

 

[IainK]

Thanks guys, I get to travel a bit as I'm staff writer on SPEED magazine (we do hard tuned WRX/Skyline GT-R/ Supra / BMW / Porsche etc). Gotta say the Mazda felt limp after driving a 600kW (900hp) R33 GT-R Skyline at a race track last week... I got in the Maz and went, "Jeez, where's all the bloody power gone!!!"

NOTE: Aussies normally say "Jeez" or "F^&k ME!" NOT "Crikey" as a well-known khaki-wearing, crocodile-wrestling Aussie on US TV does...

 

[alexlitov]

Welcome to the board!!!

 

[uclap5]

crikey mate! theres an alligator in my dingy!

 

[twilightprotege]

when you get a change, send me an email etc....i would say i'm the most knowledgeable aussie p5/sp20 owner around....well atleast on here anyway.

i'm in brisbane by the way (yay for me)

later

 

[twilightprotege]

ps, gotta love how you yanks think we aussies speak....oh sh!t, my pet kangaroo is kicking my dingo! hehehehe

 

[mctoone]

Welcome..I have friends in Torquay and I keep promising I will visit..It's only been 18 years since I made that promise! But if I get there, I will bring P5 aftermarket parts!

 

[taylor5]

emblems...

Hey IainK

How bout sending us a pic of your car, especially those emblems on the rear tailgate that say the model name?????

thanks,

Tay
North Carolina, USA

 

[70]

Thanks guys, I get to travel a bit as I'm staff writer on SPEED magazine (we do hard tuned WRX/Skyline GT-R/ Supra / BMW / Porsche etc). Gotta say the Mazda felt limp after driving a 600kW (900hp) R33 GT-R Skyline at a race track last week... I got in the Maz and went, "Jeez, where's all the bloody power gone!!!"

NOTE: Aussies normally say "Jeez" or "F^&k ME!" NOT "Crikey" as a well-known khaki-wearing, crocodile-wrestling Aussie on US TV does...

I picked up an issue of SPEED when I was down there on my way home from Iraq. Cool little magazine, it was the June/July issue with that sweet little red rotary powered Miata.

Welcome to the board, by the way.

What are the two muscle cars you have? I fell in love with the Ford Falcon XR8 while I was there. The Holden Monaro looked awesome too.

What's with all those damn utes running everywhere? Car/truck things like the old El Camino for those who don't know.

 

[cbcbd]

Welcome (hi)

 

[matallama]

Welcome to the forum. And definitely post some pics of your car - it is cool to see the differences between cars sold in different markets. If you have specs to post that show the diffs between the Aussie SP20 and the NA P5, that would be interesting as well.

 

[Sir Nuke]

G'day Iain, and Welcome to our happy little corner of the net, and to our Club. There are TWO BIG fridge'S in the corner with anything you can think of in them...help yourself...of course only take what you can LEGALLY have. (stash)

make yourself at home on one of the big fluffy couches, kick your shoes off, put your feet up on one of the tables, yes we are allowed to do that, mom don't care....and take it easy.

oh...btw....every once in a while a food fight breaks out...so you may not want to wear nice clothes here.

Welcome!! (stash)

 

[70]

G'day Iain, and Welcome to our happy little corner of the net, and to our Club. There are TWO BIG fridge'S in the corner with anything you can think of in them...help yourself...of course only take what you can LEGALLY have. (stash)

make yourself at home on one of the big fluffy couches, kick your shoes off, put your feet up on one of the tables, yes we are allowed to do that, mom don't care....and take it easy.

oh...btw....every once in a while a food fight breaks out...so you may not want to wear nice clothes here.

Welcome!! (stash)

Do have this saved in Word or something? Then cut and paste it in?

It seems lik eyou type the exact same thing every time. And that's cool!

 

[IainK]

Thanks guys and gals!

I had a 1975 "HJ" Holden GTS Monaro (4-door in bright orange with black bonnet). They look like a 1970-71 Chevelle SS 454. That's the closest i can come to describing it. I also had a 1978 Holden Torana (like a Chev Monza but a sedan) that I put a Lexus 4-litre V8 and Supra 5-spd manual in. Lots of fun (450hp + 1100kg = smokin burnouts)!

Utes are sooo cool, they're popular out here as they're seen as a cross between a coupe and a workhorse (Holden Special Vehicles makes a 370hp ute called the Maloo).
I also so work for Street Machine Magazine and they've got a 400hp black & green ute with chrome 24-inch rear wheels & air bags all round. It's hot baby!

You should see the new BA-series Falcon XR6-Turbo. 240kW 4-litre straight six, 450Nm of torque as well... Goes faster than the new 260kW XR8 and 290kW Falcon GT as well....

 

[70]

You should see the new BA-series Falcon XR6-Turbo. 240kW 4-litre straight six, 450Nm of torque as well... Goes faster than the new 260kW XR8 and 290kW Falcon GT as well....

I saw one of those at the dealer also. It looked cool too. I was wondering if it was actually faster even though it put out a little less power.

Cool deal...

 

[LinuxRacr]

Welcome to the forum IainK. Hope you find all the info here useful.

 

[IainK]

Looks like that girl under your name has a mouthful LinuxRacr...

 

[kar10w]

another down under boy here. similar to andrew (twilightprotege), i own a 2002 black mica 323 astina sp20. tis a shame we don't get the mazdaspeed turbo version here in oz .

hey IainK, whereabouts in sydney do you live?