THE JOY OF SIX

Some love screamers, some love thumpers, others love being blown … yep, we’re talking about six-cylinders. By nature of this magazine’s title, sixcylinder engines are a few bore holes short of our natural content, and I bet just mentioning them here is already raising a few different reactions. I know some staunch V8 lovers will think that we’ve completely lost the plot by including a bunch of mini features on some of the country’s coolest six-cylinders in this issue, but that’s OK, as I’m sure that most readers will agree with giving credit where it’s due. We know that the handful of sixes that you’ll see later in this issue is just scratching the surface of the awesome ones out there around the country. In fact, in sourcing cars to include, we accidently ended up with too many for just this issue, so, all going to plan, we’ll have a few more deserving candidates in the next issue, too. Well, unless there’s a total backlash from readers, of course. While the cars themselves may not have a V8 under the hood, they are, for the main part, owned and built by people like you and me, who enjoy the sight, sound, and power of a V8, but for a number of reasons, have stuck with a six. Let’s not forget though, the success that various manufacturers have had around the hallowed grounds of Bathurst over the years — the Valiant Charger or LJ Torana anyone? Or the fact that, when the FG Falcon was released in 2008, Ford electronically limited the torque of the turbo sixes so as to not embarrass the heroes of the fleet — the V8s … For whatever reason, the New Zealand scene doesn’t seem to have embraced the sixes in the same way as our Aussie counterparts have. Sure, there are fans, but not on the same level as the ockers who live and breathe them. So this, then, will be an interesting test to see what you guys and girls think. Don’t worry if sixes aren’t your thing, though, as we’ve got a whole lot of great eights in this issue, too, headlined by a guy who’s owned more than his fair share. Josh Trybula is his name, and it’s probably a familiar one to many of you, for a variety of reasons, but when his wild methanol-fuelled Bel Air hits events later this year, we’re pretty sure that that’ll become the main one. He’s crammed more car builds into his 30 years than most of us will ever achieve in our lifetimes, and, having recently battled cancer, he’s now on a mission to make the most out of life. As such, he’s been ticking off bucket-list items all over the show, which includes getting the Bel Air to the track. We managed to get him to sit still long enough to get photos of the car, which wasn’t an easy task, but, lucky for us, getting a car on the cover is also on the bucket list! We hope you enjoy it. Catch you next month.