July 1993
(Pictured at Far Left) This was the first Turbo mag cover I ever shot. The car was a wicked Austin Healey with a twin-turbo Chevy V8 under the hood. The car belonged to John Davis, who owned an air conditioning repair business. The Healey was built by Harold Kunsman, who was hired by Davis to service the company's fleet of work trucks; but he really was there to build toys like this.
I was sent up to San Jose on short notice and told to come back with a cover. After checking out the car and taking some notes we decide to drive up into the foothills to find a photo location. The car was set up for track days and even to this day it was quite possibly the hardest riding car I have ever been in. It was truly a spine compressing experience. The thing was sick fast though.
As we climbed above the Pacific, the sun was marching quickly toward the horizon and things were getting tense. Then as we rounded a curve I saw a driveway with some crazy mustard plants growing. We pulled in and bribed the homeowners with a free subscription and the rest is history.
February, 1997
(Pictured at at top, 2nd from left) Top Fuel is known for its Honda gear but the company's initial foray into the American scene was with an 8-second Skyline RB26DETT-powered 300ZX. Driven by Top Fuel owner Yasuji Hirano. The Z clicked off numerous 8-second blasts with a best of 8.67 at 155 mph.
I vividly remember we had only about 30 seconds to get our cover shot as the car paused briefly between the LACR staging lanes and the burnout box. I was only able to fire off 4-5 frames with my Pentax 6x7, but as they say, it only takes one good one.
May, 1998
I have always thought that Hirano was influenced by the extreme popularity of the Honda scene in Southern California. He saw first-hand the power of Hondas at the Battle Of The Imports in 1996 (February, 1997 cover date)
He then came back on our May, 1998 cover with the Top Fuel CRX. I don't think there was a real Honda scene in Japan yet (if there was it was in its infancy).
The feature pictures for the Top Fuel CRX were provided by my friend, Masa Saito, editor of Japan's Option2 magazine. Masa would die later in the year testing a Honda built for top speed performance.
At this point in time Tony Fuchs' Integra was the quickest in the world at 10.61 with Top Fuel checking in at 10.67, a run made at a Japanese track.
December, 1996
December, 1997
During this time in Turbo's life we would super-size the December issue for the SEMA show. To look thicker for all the advertisers and to sell that issue to more advertisers based on the expanded distribution of the issue at the SEMA Show.
I liked to run an "Emerging Technology" article in this issue and slap a big inset photo of the item in the upper corner to drive home the fact that Turbo magazine was pushing the envelope. Two of the more memorable leading-edge technologies we explored were the Rotrex belt-driven turbocharger in 1996 and the vented valve concept in 1997.
The half turbo, half supercharger hybrid Rotrex was invented in Denmark by Scanpower Tuning ApS. The unit has a clutch-activated belt-driven 'hot side' connected to a T25, T3 or T4 family compressor housing/compressor wheel via a planetary gearbox.
Eight years later HKS would introduce a variation of the Rotrex at the Tokyo Auto Salon and SEMA. It is currently successfully boosting 350Zs and RX-8s with more applications to come.
In 1997 the company was Aero Tech and the concept was vented valves. The idea was to alleviate stacking, which is intake runner flow reversion caused by a high-pressure ridge behind and surrounding the valve stem and head of each intake valve as it prepares to accept a cycle of fresh air.
Stacking is believed to hurt fuel atomization and engine efficiency so by reducing the effect vented valves will/would increase the volumetric efficiency of the engine. This concept never made it to market but it was quite an interesting read.