WHAT DRIVES YOU?

INTERVIEW W/ MINH QUAN LE

I recently teamed up with Mathew Hughes as we were both wanting to collab on a photoshoot together. Since I haven't featured any rotaries on my blog, we decided to shoot some moody shots of Minh's super clean RX7.

Until now I had never seen Minh's RX7 in person, only photos on Instagram, but when I saw it pulling into the location I chose, (for those who were following along on my Snapchat and IG story, you would have seen us putting planks down so the car could get over the speed bump - the car was ridiculously low) I was taken away by it's subtle, yet aggressive presence. Everything about it was perfect. The colour, the shape, the fitment... if I were to ever own one, this is exactly how I would style it.

I really wanted to get creative with this shoot, whilst challenging myself at the same time (I even had my first attempt at light painting... photos below). So when I saw this puddle before me, I saw it as an opportunity to get a nice reflection shot, which I am super happy with. I really love how the curves of the car contrast with the clean lines of the office building.

Whilst I was shooting the car, I also asked Minh if he would like to be a part of my 'What Drives You?' series, as I was curious to learn more about his car, and his story...

1 | WHAT DRIVES YOU?

I've owned this RX7 since 2014. It is a 2000 model Mazda RX7 series 8 which I bought as a 19th birthday gift for myself. I bought it when I was still on my P plates, so I couldn't drive it until 6 months later. I've always liked the shape of an RX7, those smooth lines and of course that timeless shape. It is what drew me towards purchasing this car 3 years ago.

When I bought her, it was pretty much stock on 19inch chromies. The second turbo wasn't engaging and it required a bit if work. The week I took it home I got the second turbo to engage and then got a big service. Not long after I started collecting parts: HSD coilovers, SSR SP3 in Shadow Black Chrome, Project Kics lug nuts, genuine Mazda OEM 2 piece side skirts, OEM rear pods, feed carbon side skirt extensions, shine auto project carbon duckbill, carbon angry panda rear diffuser, genuine ganador mirros, Recaro SR4s, Bride RO rails, Rmagic gearknob, Apexi pods and intake, RE Amemiya AST and 3 inch catback.

Once I had all the parts, it was almost time to reveal the car at WTAC 2015, so in it went for paint. I opted to spray it the original white, but got the rear quarter reflector, boot and rear wiper shaved. I also got the rear reflector and front lip colour coded for that clean look. Once it had the respray, it was ready to be put it on display at The-Lowdown.com show and shine event for the big unveil, and the response it received was amazing!

2 | WHAT MOTIVATES YOU?

I love the attention this car gets from people of all ages. When people come up to you for a chat about the car, driving it on the street and having people stop to take a photo or people screaming "nice car!!" It's nice to have people appreciate the car.

3 | WHO INSPIRES YOU?

This build was mainly inspired by Hisashi Nishida's RX7. I had never seen anything like it on the streets of Australia. So I wanted to change that! After a lot of reading and looking at heaps of photos, I slowly pieced what I wanted on my car and that's exactly how the RX7 sits today.

To me this car is perfect and utterly timeless, and I wouldn't change a thing. Who else feels the same way?

A huge thanks to Minh for driving his car the furthest it has ever been just for the photoshoot, and Mathew and Andrew for capturing some of the BTS shots used in this feature. I've also included some shots below which were captured by Mathew. I had so much fun working with another photographer, and I definitely want to collaborate more with like-minded photographers, so if you're keen to shoot or have a car that needs some photos, please don't hesitate in reaching out!