Testing Testing: Keiths 86’s Revisited

Motivation is something I sometimes struggle to find, particularly when it comes to anything automotive. I find myself going weeks on end scrolling through Instagram looking at photos of cars but having no real desire to do anything with mine. Why is that? I’m not really sure but you could probably put it down to over-exposure across the ten or so years that I’ve owned ‘modified’ cars.

But I often find that the best way to get over myself is often to engage with other people in the community. Enter Keith, who responded to a recent IG story I had stating I had purchased some new equipment and wanted to shoot some cars in order to test everything out.

That new equipment was in fact a brand new camera that I had treated myself to and something that I had dreamed of upgrading to for a long time, a Sony A7iii for any fellow nerds out there. As well as being significantly newer than my previous camera, this machine also sported some immensely impressive video features which is an area I think my work has been subpar in up to this point.

I regularly see Keith at trackdays but don’t often converse with him at such days as his SR20 powered 86 appears incredibly reliable and his only issue seems to be keeping tyres on the back of it. You’ll have seen his road-going black-over-graphite here a couple of times before.

Speaking of that track car, it somsething that I was keen to look around in more detail as Keith had mentioned he picked up a shell a few years back after returning from a trip to Japan and he was eager to build a track specific toy.

I was really impressed at how well this car functioned given its ‘simple’ setup. It also had to look the part of course and was given the full ‘run-free’ style treatment from Stevie Rice who did a great job on the design.

Keith didn’t lick his love for carsoff a stone and his dad also has an impressive collection which I got to see including a number of Hillman Avengers and a Talbot Sunbeam rally machine but his coolest asset has to be a separate Sunbeam sporting a 16 valve 4age!

Theres clearly no lack of motivation in this family which is something I’m nearly envious of.

Its always a lottery shooting cars in Ireland at this time of year as the sunlight is often direct and harsh but thankfully we nailed golden hour and there was some mild cloud cover to diffuse that harsh winter sun. Overall, a great day out and something I’d love to do more often. Thanks to Keith and Co for their hospitality and good vibes. Never underestimate the power of chatting shite.