MEET Yashnil Singh, 17, who saved his school lunch money to buy himself a car. The boy tells of his love for cars, a stiff sacrifice, and an unrelenting focus to achieve what others only dream of today.
Yashnil says he bought his own car and secured a Provisional Driver Licence at the age of 16 years. He also took part-time employment to get extra cash, juggling his studies in between. Today he is the proud owner of a notable new ride
Yashnil is self-employed working private jobs in home renovations and mechanical.
“I got a 1991 year model Toyota Starlet GT TURBO with a 5EFTE engine and also has a nice blue colour paint job which cost me close to $2000 to upgrade,” he said.
After he purchased the car, his friend and painter Kavi Nadan zapped in an eye-catching colour that turned heads on the road — a vehicle you’d be proud to roll a window down so people can see who you are.
Other friends Francis Vijay helped ship car parts in from Australia and Isaac Ali sent car parts from the US.
“I also could not have done it without Zaran Khan and Kriz Singh for ideas and the long nights,” he said.
Isaac Ali also featured his super ride 8EM UP in this edition some weeks back.
Yashnil said he loved cars, ever since childhood and he had dreamt of owning one of his own.
“When I turned 14 years old, I found a passion for race cars and also show cars. Ever since then I decided to build one,” he said.
Yashnil said he began to collect parts for his car
“I had no money to buy a car so I used to save my school lunch money and get small jobs to collect money to buy one car,” he said.
When I turned 16, I bought a Toyota Starlet did some work and sold it. He said it was involved in an accident so he later sold it for $6000.
Yashnil bought a better one but didn’t have driving licence so he waited until he was old enough. Now at 17 he works steadily collecting money to build his ride currently focusing on fuel setup, engine setup and body shape – all to build a unique ride and fast ride.
Yashnil said other modification include;
* Custom intake manifold,
* Custom exhaust manifold with an “external wastegate” (A wastegate is used to control boost pressure in turbocharged engines)
* TDO4 turbo
* Aftermarket links ECU (electronic and engine control unit),
* Forged engine internals
* Racing tyres (slicks for better traction)
* Custom 6-puck clutch
* LSD gear box
Yashnil says his ride is capable of doing 16 seconds in quarter mile and he plans on going even faster. He readily admits that if he saved for a car he could also make it go faster. Yashnil is one of many prodigies who don’t only make cars look better but feel better.
Fuelled with the energy to explore the world of fast cars, it’s cars like this that makeup a relevantly small but fast growing generation of petrol heads in Fiji.
