“Wanna go for a ride? Hell yes! We jump in Ethan Lowe’s 650kW R34 GT-R. Built by his performance GT-R shop – Hi-Power Performance – Ethan’s latest machine definitely is the perfect shop car”
Lately, the content has been slow on TimeattackR.com — I apologize. I’ve had some huge curve balls thrown at me in the last few months. And, I have been busy creating content for NZ Performance Car Magazine. What I have decided, is that I am going to mix things up a bit with a blog-style approach, to some of the content I have been producing to keep you in the loop — after they’ve been in print of course.
A couple of months ago, I was mowing the lawns. I’ve got a new place and they needed to be done. Interesting. At around 5pm, I was mid-mow and noticed the lighting was perfect outside for a photoshoot — I knew at that point, there would most likely be a killer sunset. “Hey bro, what are you up too? Are you keen to take some photos of the GT-R?” I text Ethan Lowe, of Hi-Power Performance. Ethan is a great friend and customer of mine. I deal with him daily through my Performance Parts Manager role at NSTParts and the GT-R is always something I have been meaning to take a closer look at. Ethan was heading back from the beach, so he asked for a few minutes to get the GT-R ready and we met around 7pm in the industrial park just behind Millwater, Silverdale.
Choosing a spot here was fairly easy. I wanted the background to be as far away as possible. If it all possible, I wanted the ground to slope away, exaggerating that fact even more. All while having the sun setting behind the car. Now, I am no sunset photo expert. In fact, this is only my second sunset shoot. But, what I learned in my first shoot, was that I needed to seriously underexpose the images in order to maintain the detail of the setting sun and it’s colouring.
Thankfully, with modern camera tech and low F-stop lenses, I am able to bring out darker shadow areas post-edit, without losing too much quality. I could overlay images of different exposures in photoshoot, but that is way too much admin and this shoot, funnily enough, was meant to just be for a laugh. But, it did end up going into NZPC as a 7-page feature — rad! For this shoot, I made use of my Canon 5D MKIV, Sigma 85mm F1.4, Sigma 14mm F1.8, Canon 70-200mm F2.8 and Canon 50mm F1.4. I shot this hand-held.
It has to be said, I think this is most likely the best GT-R in New Zealand. The build quality is second to none. It’s an R34 – the people’s favourite – and it has HUGE power. All while maintaining the OEM Getrag six-speed gearbox. At the time of this shoot, the 2.8-litre HKS-stroked engine was boosted by a Precision 6466 turbo. The idle is ridiculous, with the Tomei 280-degree Pro camshafts flexing incredibly hard.
With the sun still shining, I photographed the GT-R from the front. To let the natural light illuminate the body of the vehicle. Being a white vehicle, any light source available can be used to bring out the detail on the body. If it was a black car, it would be a different story.
With warm, glowy front-shots done, I photographed the interior while there was still light. The interior is somewhat mildly done, with the factory seats and interior still intact. However, the dead giveaway in this cockpit is the Haltech IC7 dash, mounted in front of the standard cluster.
The engine bay to me is damn-near perfect. The red wrinkle-coated cam covers, the painted intercooler piping and the use of Plazmaclamps throughout really had me weak at the knees. I can’t help but think the turbo looks a little small in the bay, but Ethan has already taken that off and replaced it was a much bigger unit (more on that another time!).
With the sun about to drop below the horizon line, I had Ethan rotate the GT-R in a front-on three-quarter position (a classic right?). I framed the car how I wanted and switched between two lenses, to achieve different perspectives; the 85mm F1.4 and the 70-200mm F2.8. The 85mm is incredibly sharp and capable in low-light situations and creates a unique perspective, not commonly used in automotive photography.
However, seeing as this might have ended up in print, I needed to be aware that only the front-end will be in focus as the F1.4 lens has a very shallow depth of field. With enough light around, I made the switch to the 70-200mm F2.8. Even at F2.8, it still captures a large amount of the car in focus at 200mm. It’s interesting to see the shots after one another. It was the following shot, that was chosen as the opening shot for the NZPC feature. The Canon lens, still proving it’s might over the much juicier, Instagram friendly 85mm F1.4 lens.
After dark, it was time to head out just to see how potent 600kW feels like on the street. I definitely was not ready for just how much I would be slammed back into the seat! It was unreal — what a feeling! Ethan has since installed a much larger Precision turbo and the GT-R now makes over 800kW at the wheels. He also tells us an Albins sequential transmission is on the way, ready to be installed after lockdown.
All I can say is, thanks for the experience, Ethan! Definitely one to remember. Featuring GT-Rs sure has become something I frequent often now. Good company? I think so! I will be checking out this GT-R once again soon, so I will keep you posted. What do you think? More of these blog-style behind the scenes articles? Let me know! If you want to purchase the issue of NZPC this was featured in, check it out here.