2011, It's been one hell of a ride...

2011.

It has been one hell of a year for us here at The Corolla Brotherhood. Considering all of this was just a blog I set up to pass the time, it’s given us all some seriously great moments over this year and it seems like you readers have enjoyed it too. From new contributors to features to first annual meets, it’s been a busy year for us and I’m going to try my best to run through all of the best 2011 moments for a spot of reminiscing.



January
I knew that with the start of a new year I wanted to bring something new to the blog, a new chapter if you will. So I went on the hunt to find someone equally fond of the little Toyota as myself, so Brother Chay instantly came to mind and fit the bill perfectly, so hey presto he joined the family. Chay has bought with him a wealth of retro Toyota knowledge and enthusiasm which has most definitely been one of the key reasons behind 2011 being such a good year for The Corolla Brotherhood. So thanks bro, I appreciate your time and effort more than you know!



February
February turned into a Levin themed feature month it seems, with two spotlights gracing the blog. One on Ben’s 2 door Levin, and  the other on Greg’s 3 door Levin. I met up with Ben at Silverstone where the winter months early sunset served as a pretty sweet backdrop for the photos of his daily driven AE86. Still one of my favourite corollas in the UK, thanks for your time Brother!



Chay hit us with his first full post spotlighting Greg’s stunning Levin 3 door. Chay  went into detail talking about how the car started out, through the project to how it currently stands. A very cool car and I was a fan of the grey over black colour scheme. I’m still yet to see the car in the flesh, but hopefully I’ll get the chance in 2012.



I also attended the BDC Licensing day to bring you guys a bit of drift coverage. Luckily for me there was a trusty old Toyota there sporting a F20C motor too, so it was a good way to kick off a year of Drift photography for me!



March
Heading into the third month saw an interview with famed Irish AE86 driver Eric O’Sullivan. I’ve always been a fan of Eric’s driving style and his highly competitive F20C powered 86 since I saw them both competing at Teesside a few years ago, so I knew Eric had to be in my list of driver interviews this year. Thanks to Eric for taking time out from his up and coming Formula D season and talking some corolla shit with us!



The three of us at the brotherhood also got our hands on an awesome copy of Doriten Magazine from Japan with a full AE86 special, meaning that much of the month was spent starring in awe through the pages with the likes of the Team Mouse cars adorning them.



April
Now this was a seriously sweet month for the Corolla Brotherhood. Chay had been working hard on organising our first annual retro Toyota meet held at the famous Ace Cafe in London and boy did it go well. A great turnout from a wide range of old Toyota's, amazing weather and great coverage from lot’s of paper & web based media it was a resounding success. We are currently trying to organise the second annual gathering so stay tuned for another big one!



We also saw a guest blog feature from the talented photographer, Gancalo Reis Bispo. Gancalo pulled together some great words and photos about Portuguese Hachi Roku owner, Andre Soares and his humble AE86. I’ve always been a fan of Andre’s Corolla since finding his project thread over on the Driftworks forum, so I was really glad his car graced our blog this year. Thanks again to Gancalo and Andre, I really appreciated your input into the web site.



April also bought us another Driver Interview this time with one of my all time favourite AE86 aficionados, Formula D competitor John Russakoff. John kindly gave up some of his time to give us a run through his drifting career and the spec of his Trueno, so thanks brother!



I attended the first round of the BDC at Donnington in the baking sun. It was a fantastic weekend and was great to spend time with the fellow friends & photographers track side.



May
May saw a little spotlight on the return of UK corolla guru Chris ‘Paz’ Parry back in the saddle of an old Toyota with his KE70. I attended a full circuit drift day at Mallory Park to grab a few shots of Paz & the KE in action which was a good sight for anyone who remembers him in the infamous Red, run free kitted Trueno AE86!



Chaydon also dropped an amazing feature on the two 86’s of Cedric Marinet. Both incredible cars and I was very honoured to have the cars featured on our blog, so thanks for Cedric for his time and Chay for bringing us the feature!



July
During July, I spent the weekend up at the Teesside Autodrome for BDC. I had heard that Marc Huxley, the pilot fo the SR20DET powered KE70 had to end his season a little premature due to lack of sponsorship and therefore funds. So I decided to head up to Teesside to catch the little KE in action, grab some photos and try my best to help a brother find a way of finishing the season. It was hands down the most popular car of the day with both the fans and us media folk and was quite a spectacle to watch Marc conquer the more common Nissan’s to take the win. I published a little write up after the event about Marc’s sponsorship situation and a few companies stepped forward and offered him the opportunity to finish the season which was truly awesome news. Thanks to everyone for supporting the ‘Help a Brother’ campaign, here at the Brotherhood and Mr Huxley were blown away!



This month also saw the birth of our newly re-vamped facebook fan page. We had been running a group page for quite a while, but Zuckerberg changed a few things which meant groups were being phased out. Not to be left behind, I set up the Fan page and now we are sitting proud with over 1,300 fans which still makes me smile ecstatically every time I log into the page so thanks to everyone!

August
Another Corolla Brotherhood meet was due for August, and what an awesome event it was. It was the time of the year for the annual Retro Rides Gathering held at Prescott Hill Climb here in the UK. It was one of the best events that we attended as a group in 2011 and we did it in style with a handful of great retro Toyota's on our club stand. One notable attendee on our club stand was local boy Rob May and his famed UK Corolla GT named ‘Black Betty’. Betty has been a serious labour of love over the years for Rob and what an incredible car to watch blast up the hill climb in the baking August sun.



Chay hit us up with another great feature, this time spotlighting Durk Edwards N2 arched Trueno. An amazing corolla and I for one enjoyed reading a little more about the car.



September
During September we decided to team up with Airbrushing specialist Jims Factory to bring you a fresh range and supply of official Corolla Brotherhood stickers. They have proved popular ever since and we wouldn’t have anyone else supply our stickers now after seeing the quality that they produce at the Factory! Be sure to check out the Jims Factory web site and take a look at the bespoke helmet designs they create and treat yourself!



After helping Marc Huxley find sponsorship to finish the BDC season, he managed to grab a top 3 finish in the championship results against a field full of high horsepower Nissan's so a massive well done to Marc and here’s to the 2012 season bro!



October, November & December
The last few months have been fairly quiet for the post count on the blog, but that didn’t mean we weren’t busy with loads of Brotherhood things ready to unleash on you! One thing that we did manage to squeeze in amongst the madness was a feature on a super super clean Hawaiian AE86 2 door Trueno owned by Al Ramiscal. The attention to detail on this car blew my mind and props go to Chay for hunting Al down for the feature in October.



December bought us the news we had been waiting to unleash for a long time, the collaboration with our good friends at Sweet Oblivion to bring you our first official T-Shirt! Billy from SO got in touch with me about doing collaboration and I jumped straight in there as their T-Shirts have always appealed to me.



We exchanged ideas and Billy went away to work on the design only to return to me with more than I could have ever expected! We can’t thank Sweet Oblivion enough for their time and effort with the shirt and we are over the moon with the finished article.



Well there you have it, An amazing year for us and I'm looking forward to what 2012 will bring. Hope all of you have a good Christmas and an eventful New Year!



James & The Corolla Brotherhood family.