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The (semi) Daily AVO
General ramblings and news from AVO turboworld in America, Australia, and Japan.
Hideki Tanabe, proprietor of the world-renowned tuning and parts company Powerhouse Amuse, passed away on September 20 after enduring a long illness, leaving behind his wife, the company he founded and thousands of bereaved fans, friends and acquaintances.
Responsible for the incredible R34-based Carbon-R time-attack car and the S2000 GT1 that many of you will remember from Gran Turismo 4, Tanabe-san was also Powerhouse Amuse's resident tuner, parts designer and race driver.
I met with him personally several years ago to do an article on their S2000, and had a great day out there. He was quite helpful, and was a great person to talk to, even if my Japanese wasn't the best at that time. I even met his daughter there, as she was helping out in the office as well. My wishes go out to them.
Sometimes people get the wrong impression about modified cars, that they'll be unreliable, finicky, prone to anxiety attacks, and generally moody. Yet it was with complete confidence that we literally drove down to Portland from Seattle, fitted an AVO topmount, bov, cat-back exhaust, and several acres of silicone intake piping, ran a new map on the accessport, and took off to California. All on the same day. We even made it to a rock's throw from the California/Oregon border.
It was a pleasant ride, too. The engine was quite torquey with those changes, allowing it to breeze up the steep grades at the passes in top gear. Reminded me of the turbo advantage as we passed several vehicles wheezing up in lower gears, desperately sucking in what available oxygen there was as we went higher and higher.
That was the hardest it had to work on this trip, as between the border area and LA is the loooong straight road with about 4 corners and one 10 foot hill. And, yes, about 500-600 miles of that. Each way. In 105 degree heat as well!
And the only car issue we had to deal with was about 4 billion suicidal bugs. Not a single problem otherwise!
The hardest part of any writing is the start. "It was a dark and stormy night..." doesn't really cut it anymore. So to ease the pain somewhat, I'll just introduce what I am and who I do, I mean, well, you know what I meant...
As for me, I am currently managing/running the AVO operations in America, out of a damp cave in Seattle, Washington. As history goes, it's only a short one of about a year now. Previous to this, I was living in Japan working for Mitsubishi Jidousha (aka Mitsubishi Motors Corporation) for about 15 years. Towards the last 3rd of that I was an automotive photojournalist of semi-fame. And also worked with AVO of Japan, getting more heavily involved as the years went by.
AVO stands for Advanced Vehicle Operations, and turboworld is pretty self explanatory. The name is an old one, as AVO Turboworld has been around for about 38 years in Australia. I'm not an Aussie, btw, though I have odd instances of an Aussie accent to my english - too many years hanging around them in Japan. AVO turboworld is pretty global at the moment, with operations in Australia, Japan, Thailand, and now America.
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