Video Review - Hi Octane 2000

Just look at the cover of the Hi-Octane 2000 video and you'll know what it's all about. It's a collage of modern hi-performance cars, ranging from a purpose-built Porsche 911 racer to an EVO 5 and STi shoot-out. What you may not, expect, however, is the unique wit of the sunglasses-essential presenter - Ketzal Sterling. Filmed in New Zealand, you know within the first 5 minutes of the video that this isn't gonna be a down-the-line nitty-gritty presentation on cars. No way! Ketzal is first filmed sprinting (on foot) down the length of a quarter mile racetrack as a lead into the first major event of the video - an Evo 5 Lancer versus a Subaru STi duel. In what becomes typical fashion, the owners slag off each other's car and ooze total confidence. It's all lame-arse corny stuff.

The next presentation is on the New Zealand 4s and Rotary Nationals. Cars running over the quarter mile include a VR4, GT-R, R33 GT-R, Integra turbo and a highly modified RX7. Of course, the drag racing is broken up with some lightweight humour from Ketzal - getting friendly with some of the females and chatting to the vehicle owners.

Now don't expect the "Rally Action" part of the video to be too involving. Only a few snippets of rallying on NZ's muddy roads does nothing but tease you about what you could have seen...

Ketzal's own personal pride takes a beating in the next adventure on the tape. Confident of owning the faster car, his own MR2 turbo gets a whipping from an egocentric NSX owner. Ketzal even reverts to throwing his rubbish out of the window onto the beautiful Honda! This situation is remedied a little later on in the video, when the car goes in to have its throttle body enlarged and a hybrid turbocharger fitted. These works are followed in the workshop and dyno graphs show an overall improvement from 104kW to 138kW at the wheels. Ketzal is happy with his newfound 14.4 second quarter mile performance. Not that he lets his ego get away from him, though!

One of NZ's top racing Porsches is the next vehicle to feature. Able to run to up to 300 km/h on the circuit's straight, the camera goes for an exciting hot-lap - where you can see the 911's going bloody fast. The driver (Owen Evans) then gives you an overview of the car - where he also mentions how it once used to be a drug-runner's car!

Now what kinda video would be complete without a bit of Skyline GT-R dreaming? Ketzal befriends a R33 owner (the car has some mild mods) and cruises around some of NZ's back roads for a while. With a G-Tech on-hand, the car accelerates from 0-100 km/h in 5.6 seconds. That's actually a fair bit slower than it should be - but the lads gloss over this fact quite nicely!

The biggest event in the video is the Option Speed Trial '99. This is where some of Japan's hottest cars come to NZ to run some numbers. Just check out the 500hp turbocharged MX-5, the 550hp Evolution 3 Lancer, the JUN-stroked 550hp WRX and the PP Series 6 RX7 with 680 horses. Be amazed by the wild kit'd Top Secret Supra (equipped with a 700hp four cylinder!) and the reputed 300 km/h Aristo/Lexus - which, Ketzal says, he can buy cheap if it doesn't crack 300 on the trip to NZ... Certainly, the biggest draw card is the Veilside R34 GT-R. See this beast bolted onto a Dyno-Pak AWD dyno and pump out an amazing 1017hp at the hubs - and then spout coolant out of the overflow tank! But the whole purpose of the Japanese visit was to run some top speed figures. Keep your eyes glued to the screen as the MX-5 runs 276 km/h, the Evo runs 300 and the big GT-R pulls off an amazing 346 km/h! The Aristo only manages to do 275 km/h - so I wonder if Ketzal made an offer on it...

Once you've been gob-smacked by those blinding imports, you can watch Ketzal - literally - getting gob-smacked. Over the next few curious minutes, he dreams about "The Fight Scene" where he beats up some thugs on the beach. Hmm, not quite sure about that bit - maybe we'll FF it next time...

Lastly, the battle moves onto the racetrack. This sees a mix of streetcars (all but one) fight it out over a quick succession of laps. An Evo and a STi bustle together, a twin turbo ZX boosts its way to a good finish and there's a surprise crash. It seems our Ketzal isn't as hot property as he thinks, as he puts the rear of his pride-and-joy MR2 into the wall!

Overall, Hi-Octane 2000 is entertaining - but don't expect to learn too much from it. It is, however, the perfect video to put on when you've got some mates around and you want to have a bit of a dribble over some desirable cars and have a bit of a chuckle. Certainly, its mix of awesome cars and person-on-person humour makes this the perfect video to entertain a very wide audience. Even your rellies will get something out of it! And unlike some other videos of this sort, it is also quite professionally filmed and has a cool soundtrack to go with it.

So get some Hi-Octane 2000 action now for AUS$34.95 (US$17.21).

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