It was inevitable. No one could have stopped this from happening. Not the Big Editor, not Hypertune's marketing staff, not even the advertisers. With the Initial D fever filtered through from movie theatres nation-wide, or should I say Jay Chou fever, it's almost unthinkable that we should run this issue without a feature on the legendary Hachiroku.

That's eighty-six in Japanese if you're still in the dark, after the AE86 codename for Toyota's compact, affordable sports car of the eighties. The white car you see here doesn't pretend to be a pastiche of Takumi's Mount Akina dominator. Firstly, it's the Levin, not the Trueno version with pop up lights. And of course, it doesn't sport the illustrious Panda colour scheme.

But before we look closer at this magnificent specimen from an up and coming drifter who goes by the name of Jerry, it might be a good idea to give ourselves a recap, for a deeper understanding of this cult machine. My personal history with the car dates back to 2001, Hypertune's first year of publication.

At the time, the Batu Tiga Saturday Night Fever was a big event amongst enthusiasts from across the land. Especially the sprint or drag race. Amongst the most feared sprint contenders were the Sabah contingent, who pulled out all the stops and displayed incredible ingenuity and originality to produce some mind-numbing drag cars.

One of the most famous cars was a Yellow turbocharged Levin, and its owner nonchalantly allowed us to drive it during the photoshoot. It was easily the quickest car I'd driven then, and very few cars I've tested since have matched its performance. It was simply stupefying, revving and boosting high beyond belief.

(The rest of the article can be found in Hypertune Vol. 45)

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