oversquare

Bit of a quick mid-week shoot with Dylan’s R35 GTR – gorgeous car in the afternoon sun

Thanks to Bernie for the beautiful XW to shoot, Ford’s should always be blue (I’m a simple man).

So something I want to include with dedicated shoots is a write up and layout as if the shots were going to be featured in a magazine. Once upon a time there were plenty of car magazines around and it was a touch easier to get your car featured when we had stuff like Street Action, Fast Fours, Street Fords etc and not just Street Machine.

I’m constantly amazed by the amount of cars around Rocky – if you need any more evidence, I probably got photos of 70% of the cars as people would stay for halfa, leave and new cars would filter in. Great turn out, lots of extremely tidy cars and no mosquitoes! Unedited photos on the website, edited pics will be available in the Oversquare magazine.

fuji x-t50.

A good car or bike name should be memorable and ideally easy to turn into a nickname. GSX1000 = gixxer, CBR1000RR = fireblade, say ‘busa’ and everyone knows what you’re talking about.

But the GSX-8S. It’s a mouthful and they didn’t give it a model name (like the Hayabusa), so I’m left trying to shorten it into something memorable. The GSX-8R is easy = the gixater (jix-ate-er). Okay that sucks too but you see the problem, I’m really only left with the 8S but that just sounds like an iPhone to me.

Speaking of iPhones, this is my first bike with a shiny new LCD screen and it’s fantastic – light and dark mode, fuel gauge, range, shift lights etc – A+ for that. So what about the rest of it?

The engine is a peach, compared to the SV650 the extra grunt down low is obvious and the fuelling is bang on with the full system which is surprising to be honest. It also makes a spectacular noise IF you splurge for the Yoshi full system, which has equal length stepped headers for maximum high rpm symphonics.

The riding position is great but unsurprisingly wind protection is awful. Unfortunately the light is a bit. of an odd shape, so fitting a screen makes it look even more like an angry hornet and I’ve boldly decided to give that a miss. I’m 5’6 and I’m sitting near enough to bolt upright, so your comfort will vary based on wingspan.

Handling is what you would expect at the price point. The suspension is better than the SV650, but the SV did feel lighter and bit more flickable so there’s a bit of a trade off but having owned both I prefer the 8S, it’s a touch easier to hold a line and mid corner stability is improved vs the SV.

The brakes are lacking in feel but have plenty of stopping power, with the rear abs being a little too trigger happy for my liking. There’s enough tech and all the jazz but realistically you’ll lock it in your favourite riding mode and never really touch it again. You can’t switch modes above 60km/h, which kinda killed the point of switching modes – eg switching to the less twitchy throttle when you’re on the highway.

It’s fast enough – while being VERY sympathetic to my toy I can’t afford to break I managed a handful of 12.3 second 1/4 miles, the combo of a quickshifter and shift light make it a joy to drag race. Worth noting that in a set of leathers and full length boots I’m around 95kg so a more svelte rider would crack an 11 pretty easily.

The looks are what will divide people – it’s a love or hate thing. It looks significantly better in person than any press photo Suzuki put out, there’s a sort of robotic charm to it that I love. I played Titanfall 2 probably 10+ times and that’s what comes to mind – an obedient robot helper that just does whatever I ask it to and makes spectacular noises while doing so.

fuji x-t50

head west & prosper – a brief review of the Mk8 Fiesta ST.

There is no logical reason your daily driver hatchback needs a limited slip diff or launch control. It doesn’t improve fuel economy, it likely increases tyre wear (especially combined with Ford’s torque vectoring) and it makes the front end skittish in the wet.

But it is FUN. Being stuck in traffic and activating launch control is absolutely stupid, but it is glorious fun. Sick of acting like a child and want to cruise quietly? Switch back to ‘normal’ mode and be boring I guess, that’s what the switch is for. Let’s rename the modes for accuracy – Normal = Boring, Sport = Fun, Track = Fun+. And that sums up living with the Fiesta ST quite nicely – FUN.

…but with manners. I owned a Mk7 ST and it was like owning a jack russell – all the energy in the world combined with a complete inability to chill the fuck out. The suspension was always stiff, being a 3 door made it useless in carparks (and for child seats) and a very quiet stock exhaust required me removing the mid muffler to get some note – at the cost of a mild drone at highway speeds.

It was a glorious car, but compromised as a daily driver. The Mk8 seemingly fixes all issues with the prior mode – 2 modes for the exhaust, suspension that is surprisingly compliant but still provides confidence, 4 doors and enough modern tech to make it a breeze on the highway.

Somehow, it’s also a better sports car. The front end is borderline telepathic, with the combo of a Quaife limited slip (Australia only got the full spec model) with a quicker steering rack and throttle response is frankly faster than my brain around corners. Gearing is shorter than the Mk7, which is perfect for the only good road around Central Queensland. The rear end is the only interesting change – it is looser in rear grip than the Mk7, which allows you to pitch it into a corner hard and let the front pull you through as the rear chases. A bit like a jack russell trying to round a corner on tiles..

Is it reliable? Well mine sheared the bolts for the high pressure fuel pump at 60,000kms and in their infinite wisdom Tropical Auto Group decided to not refit the bottom fascia for the windscreen properly – which lead to 30,000 leaves being sucked into the aircon and a soaking drivers floor (fun fact a sneaky cable tie under the centre console will unblock this). But that’s less issues than my last two cars so I’m happy with that.

What could be better? The exhaust manifold is integrated into the head, which makes any exhaust note tuning borderline impossible – it would sound much better with an equal length manifold. As with the prior model, the torque vectoring absolutely hammers the brake pads so the wheels are constantly dirty.

Overall as a daily and something to rip up Mount Morgan it’s a solid 9/10, and frankly a massive shame Ford stopped making them.

konica C35 rangefinder – Kodak Gold 35mm

canon 700D

“What’s the rarest Ford you can think of and how are there two of them here?” sums up the All Ford Day nicely. I skipped 2024 so I can only assume Bill Bourke’s 428 XW was there, but I was quickly humbled in 2023.

My approach was pretty simple – what is something I think is too rare to see? For 2023 I thought I was safe – a Sierra Cosworth RS500. Something that wasn’t sold in Australia, was bleedingly expensive when new and was so easy to steal that Top Gear had a whole bit about it.

I saw two in 2023.

So 2025 approaches and I need to reset my expectations a bit – what is genuinely unlikely to be there? I picked a target – an FGX with a Holy Grail kit from Premcar fitted. Realistically, FGXs didn’t sell that well and the Holy Grail kit was an expensive add on that is fairly desirable now, on top of a model that is holding it’s value well etc.

The day didn’t start well – I saw the weirdest Ford I’ve ever seen in my life on the drive to Willowbank. A Capri that looked like it was AI generated. It was somehow a Capri, but also an XA hardtop and also an XB. Which, it turns out, was accurate – it had XA bumpers shortened to fit a Capri width, an XB bonnet with the same treatment, XA hardtop quarter panels grafted on the Capri etc. Keeps me up at night.

So that’s a weird one off the list but a bit unpredictable. There were 6 or 7 Dick Johnson Grand Prix XEs, so rare cars come in packs. You’d have to be slightly upset to turn up with a weird, rare turbo six Falcon and not only be met with another half dozen, but to also be upstaged by an even more rare and weird turbo six. A Mick Webb XF SVO, which makes rocking horse shit look fairly common.

Hmm what else is on the list? A Force 6 – check, one of 80 or so. A Force 8 – yep, complete the set. Sierra Cosworths are boring now, so what about an Escort RS Cosworth? Check.

So how’d I go on my Holy Grail hunt? I was feeling reasonably confident, people are so confident of future value most rarely get driven…which is what I said as I rounded the corner and saw not just a Holy Grail, but THE Holy Grail – P001, Premcars first Holy Grail kit fitted and a car that remained owned by Premcar itself until it was sold. It was also the LAST FGX XR8 sold, making it effectively the last best Ford Falcon ever sold (noting that the GT-F is sold by Ford Performance Vehicles, not Ford technically).

As far as rare Ford’s go, that one is a bit hard to top and I’m at a bit of a loss what to look for next year – presumably a geniunely article GT40 will drive past me when I turn the camera off..

canon 700D

canon AE1 – kodak ultramax 35mm