Lauren's 1985 Kouki Trueno

[Lauren]

I decided to have a day out in my car today. Opted to drive to Chester to pick up some vape supplies and pop in and see my old work colleagues. I was a tad nervous as it's the first 'big' trip the car has done since being back on the road all of a day!

Well, I stopped a number of times and checked under the bonnet, but the car felt strong and I've begun to acclimatise to it again. There is a fair bit of differential whine as is the way with these cars and they are inherently noisy, but that's what it was like some 30 years ago.

I've been careful to run the car in, so no high revs, generally not going over 4000rpm, but making sure the engine has some load. Well I took it to nudging 5000rpm a few times in third, fourth and fifth gear and you can really feel the engine come on cam, just after the TVIS opens. The engine feels really strong and in such a light car with it's terribly short gearing, it moves along at a decent rate alright. At the lower end of the revs the engine is typical torquey 4AGE, so it's a synch to drive really.

The controls all feel very light and this has taken a bit of getting used to compared with the weightier controls of the GT86, but really as I have been driving the AE86 since yesterday I'm starting to get used to it all again.

I must admit, I was sitting there on the motorway on the way to Chester and I was just thoroughly enjoying myself being back in the car again. That smile lasted all the way to Chester and all the way home again as I took the A roads on the way back. I even loaded the chassis a little to get a feel for the car again. Sure it doesn't have the precision and mega grip that the GT86 seems to pluck from nowhere, but it felt all of a piece. The suspension is a bit mismatched on the AE86, but it's okay as long as you know how to manage it. I haven't tried booting it out of slow corners as I want to ease the running in of the engine, but the diff locks up just as it always did.

Overall it's just great to be back behind the wheel again and the charisma of the car is winning me over all over again.

Here it is, parked outside my old work in Chester:

IMG_4739 by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr

[Lauren]

Went to Curburough Sprint track yesterday with no intention of running my car. But, seeing as it was pouring with rain, I thought I could, perhaps have some fun with the low grip conditions without hammering the car too much.

https://youtu.be/noByXy12Tt0

My suspension leaves a lot to be desired so all I could do really was second gear powerslides. I'll be honest, for those moments I got it properly sideways it was the stuff of absolute nirvana. Nothing feels better!

Also the noise of a 4AGE on full chat!

https://youtu.be/noByXy12Tt0