The Dream Journey (so far)...
2024 marks 10 years for Dream Automotive, a huge milestone we are incredibly proud to have reached. It's always good to see just how far we've come over the last decade and look at some of our highlights and biggest achievements across the years. Below is a quick re-run of each year since we started out looking at just some of the highlights from along the way!
2023
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FL5 Joins The Fleet
The year 2023 was a big one for us - we acquired our 4th development vehicle, the last purely I.C.E Type R; a crystal black pearl FL5 Civic Type R. The car featured on a series of YouTube videos which propelled our channel to new heights thanks to the huge interest in the latest model from Honda.
Shortly after owning the car, we got it on the dyno and found that it produced considerably more power than quoted by Honda! We had the car professionally painted corrected and PPF'd in a very unique ProFilm Green Diamond film.
The FL5 Type R raised the bar, so we wanted to make sure that we offered the same exceptional experience with our service, products and media.
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FL5 Product Development
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Spirit-R Wheels
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The Green Hell
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2023
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FL5 Joins The Fleet
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FL5 Product Development
Not so long after having the car back from PPF, it was sent to Nitron for development of their Roadsport coilovers, providing the perfect balance between a comfortable daily and capable track suspension setup. We also gave the car to our friends at Eventuri for a few weeks so that they could begin developing their industry leading carbon fibre intake system.
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Spirit-R Wheels
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The Green Hell
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2023
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FL5 Joins The Fleet
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FL5 Product Development
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Spirit-R Wheels
When we mentioned levelling up our product range, we weren't joking around... We dipped our toes into the world of high performance wheel production, releasing our very own forged wheel, the Dream Spirit-R.This wheel is designed specifically for perfect fitment on the FK2, FK8 and FL5 Type R and features design elements inspired by Honda's racing pedigree.
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The Green Hell
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2023
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FL5 Joins The Fleet
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FL5 Product Development
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Spirit-R Wheels
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The Green Hell
For the first time since 2016, we set our sights on the Nurbugring. Prior to our trip, we publicly invited Misha Charoudin, a YouTuber and very experienced Nordschleife driver, to take our FL5 for a spin - he quickly accepted our invitation and a date was set.In June of 2023 we visited the Nurburgring and to put the FL5 Type R, and our aftermarket performance parts, to the ultimate test. Between Misha's laps and our own, we were able to gather a vast amount of valuable data as well as priceless feedback from a professional driver.
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2022
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Growing Our YouTube Channel
We entered 2022 on full chat, focusing on our time attack build and sharing the process on our YouTube channel which was also beginning to grow rapidly.
During this time we strengthened our relationship with Powerflex who made an appearance on the channel. We worked closely with them to develop and release a line of polyurethane bush kits for the FK8, a product which has since proven to be extremely popular.
We were contacted by Jonny Smith, Fifth Gear presenter turned YouTuber (The Late Brake Show), to build an engine for his Austin Allegro sleeper project... of course we said yes!
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FL5 Type R Launch
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Goodwood: Festival of Speed
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FK'ing Coffee Mornings
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2022
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Growing Our YouTube Channel
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FL5 Type R Launch
As we began working with Jonny Smith, he invited us to join him for an exclusive pre-launch look at the upcoming FL5 Type R. We are proud to be some of the very first people in the UK to see the car in the metal and capture some high quality imagery and video of the car! Phil made an appearance on The Late Brake Show's video, sharing his wealth of Type R knowledge with the huge audience.
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Goodwood: Festival of Speed
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FK'ing Coffee Mornings
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2022
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Growing Our YouTube Channel
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FL5 Type R Launch
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Goodwood: Festival of Speed
One of the biggest highlights of the year was displaying at the world famous Goodwood: Festival of Speed for the first time and unveiling our FK8 racecar!
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FK'ing Coffee Mornings
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2022
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Growing Our YouTube Channel
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FL5 Type R Launch
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Goodwood: Festival of Speed
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FK'ing Coffee Mornings
We hosted our first ever cars and coffee, named 'THE GREAT FK'ING COFFEE MORNING' in partnership with Petrolheadonism. We hosted one at the start of the year and one towards the end, which was even bigger and better than the first!
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2021
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Getting Back Up To Speed
After the UK government eased lockdown measures as we moved into 2021, we resumed the development of our own high-performance parts, focusing on intercoolers and oil cooler kits for the FK8. After a year or so of work backed up, it didn't take long for our workshop to fill up with bookings!
2021 also saw us expand our team with someone to take care of social media channels, content creation and the upcoming YouTube channel.
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Ex-Honda FK8 Racecar Joins The Fleet!
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2021
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Getting Back Up To Speed
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Ex-Honda FK8 Racecar Joins The Fleet!
After Honda UK Manufacturing closed their Swindon site in 2020, the opportunity arose to purchase Synchro Motorsport's endurance racecar, alongside enough spares to last us a life time.
We were able to win the car at auction and gave the car a new home with the view of giving it a new life as a time attack weapon!
This car served as an amazing base for our first proper YouTube series where we documented the transformation from an endurance racecar to a time-attack racecar.
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2020
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COVID-19!
Like all businesses in the industry, we were forced to hold back in what we were doing with our development and workshop activity due to the lockdown and restrictions. One highlight from 2020 was that we were able to source the all electric Honda-e ZC7 as a development car and started to develop efficiency focused modifications.
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Stepping Into The Electric Era
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2020
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COVID-19!
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Stepping Into The Electric Era
One highlight from 2020 was that we were able to source the all electric Honda-e ZC7 as a development car and started to develop efficiency focused modifications.
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2019
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UK Time Attack Champions!
In 2019 we entered our first competitive race season with our own development car and came out the other side crowned as the UK Time Attack 2WD Champions.
This season of racing enabled us to gather priceless data about the FK8 Type R platform and put our own line-up of performance parts through the most demanding of conditions.
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Further Product Development!
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2019
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UK Time Attack Champions!
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Further Product Development!
A full season of pushing our FK8 to it's absolute limit drew out the platforms weaknesses, allowing us to develop upgrades and parts to turn resolve them! 2 of the main things we noticed during our Time Attack season were temperatures and the ever so common splitting throttle body hose... we began development of products to solve both of these issues which would release in 2020 and prove to be incredibly popular; our uprated throttle body hose and our hardlagged turbo heatshield!
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2018
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Re-Location!
By 2018 it was time for new home for Dream. Based in the north of Luton, our new premises allowed for a drastic increase in warehouse stock capacity along with the ability to create a purpose built workshop, kitted out with state of the art alignment ramps, a 4wd Dyno Dynamics roller dyno and two fitting bays. This new space primed us to develop our own vehicle set up for the following seasons UK Time Attack Series.
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2017
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First FK8 Joins the Team
We acquired our second new development vehicle in 2017, a polished metal FK8 Civic Type R.
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Cross Compatibility
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2017
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First FK8 Joins the Team
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Cross Compatibility
With the in depth knowledge gained from the FK2 platform, we were able to develop products that were cross compatible with the FK8.
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2016
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VTEC Challenge Safety Car
2016 saw Dream support the Honda VTEC Challenge Race series as Official Safety Car for the Race Season. This allowed us to gain valuable data early on from the K20C1 Engine in the FK2 platform allowing us to fine tune our products during this time.
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2015
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The Website
With our product catalogue rapidly expanding, there became a need to market and retail. This saw the start of www.dream-automotive.com as our online store front.
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Dream Products
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Research & Development
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First FK2 Joins the Team
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2015
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The Website
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Dream Products
The success of our first development car led Dream to push the bar even higher, leading to further development and release of even more Dream Automotive branded products.
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Research & Development
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First FK2 Joins the Team
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2015
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The Website
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Dream Products
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Research & Development
We built a reputation and became instrumental to the R&D and release of various high-end FK2 aftermarket products. We worked closely with the likes of Eibach, Eventuri and Syvecs which set Dream Automotive up to achieve great things in the aftermarket tuning industry.
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First FK2 Joins the Team
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2015
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The Website
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Dream Products
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Research & Development
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First FK2 Joins the Team
In 2015 we welcomed the arrival of our first factory new development car. A Championship White FK2 Civic Type R. This car formed the foundation of what the business would be built upon. Working together with existing and upcoming brands.
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2014
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First Premises
We were based within the grounds of a school for young men with learning difficulties and behavioural issues. We did not want to miss the opportunity to give back to the school and provided training and qualifications for NVQ level 1 Motor Studies.
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A Dream Was Formed
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2014
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First Premises
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A Dream Was Formed
2014 gave life to Dream Automotive. Although initially operating mobile, the first Dream Automotive premises came within only 2 months of starting up the business.
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A long time ago...
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The Idea
The original idea was to develop tuning products to for the fast approaching FK2 platform which used the brand new K20C1 turbo-charged power unit.
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Workshop Controller
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Honda Main Dealer
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Just Starting Out...
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A long time ago...
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The Idea
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Workshop Controller
By 2013 Phil had Honda dealership workshop control over various sites and identified a gap in the market for a new model Honda Performance division or specialist.
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Honda Main Dealer
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Just Starting Out...
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A long time ago...
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The Idea
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Workshop Controller
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Honda Main Dealer
Over the next decade, Phil grew within the network from a Honda apprentice to becoming the Workshop Foreman across multiple sites.
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Just Starting Out...
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A long time ago...
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The Idea
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Workshop Controller
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Honda Main Dealer
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Just Starting Out...
In 2002 Phil began work within the Honda UK Main Dealer Network.
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