DAILY DRIVEN

NAME: SAMANTHA WIKAIRA // AGE: 27 LOCATION: NORTHLAND // OCCUPATION: ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE

NZ Performance Car : Hi, Samantha. How did you get into cars and

what was your first?

Samantha: Hey, guys. My family are all really into motorbikes and cars, so it was only natural that I ended up with the same interests as them. My husband lives and breathes GT-Rs too, so that has kept it going. First car was a Galant, and I worked up to my first S15, which was fairly standard compared to this one.

And what was it that drew you to an S15?

I’ve always loved them. The fact that this was a factory six-speed manual Spec R with low kilometres on the clock sold me on it. It needed a bit of a tidy up, and I thought it would be a relatively easy task — but paintwork and an engine rebuild later ...

Good starting base. Did you plan to go as far as you have with it?

Definitely not. The original plan was just a quick tidy up and to respray the factory silver, but I was walking around the hardpark at a D1NZ event and realized that the possibilities were endless. I’m lucky that my brother Frank at Matt Clifford Panel Beaters is a car painter, so, when the engine unfortunately needed to be rebuilt, we painted the engine bay and, later, the exterior. Henderson Automotive freshened up the engine and Charlie from Charlies Honest Automotive Services assembled it and got everything running and back on the road.

How does it go as a daily-driver?

It makes for an interesting drive, that’s for sure — rural Northland roads are terrible!

And do you have any future plans for the car?

Currently, I have some Tein Super Drift coilovers on the way, so I’ll be changing the suspension and then chucking more money at it to make some power, I think.

Never ends, huh? Cheers for the yarn, Samantha.

ENGINE: Nissan SR20DET, 1998cc, four cylinder; low-mount exhaust manifold, Redline pod filter, GFB blow-off valve, front-mount intercooler, Kakimoto catback exhaust, battery relocated DRIVETRAIN: Factory six-speed, R200 LSD INTERIOR: Sony head unit, Sony speakers, harlequin Silvia gear knob EXTERIOR: Resprayed midnight purple by Frank at Matt Clifford Panel Beaters, modified factory front bumper, custom front lip, S15 Aero R side skirts, smoked tail lights WHEELS/TYRES: (F) 18x9.5-inch Work D9R, 235/40R18, (R) 18x10.5-inch Work D9R, 255/35R18 SUSPENSION: OZ Racing coilovers, Cusco rear camber and toe arms POWER: “Enough to get me to work on time”