The year is 1992 and the small car scene needs to represent...

So began Ewan Kennedy's 'Four Play' editorial to the 1992 issue one of Hot4s. Hot4s Express Motoring Group (EMG) sister publication, Fast Fours, was begun in 1988, so it had a bit of lead on the new kid on the block. The main competitors in the scene, however, were the V8 street machining mags. An example of the way the first magazine was positioned is exemplified by one of the letters from issue two:

Because of the strength of the street machining scene the fours and rotaries scene found it difficult to carve out their own niche. For example, many terms and slang used in the scene were derived from the dominant V8 brigade. The four cylinder and rotary enthusiasts needed to be able to talk about their own scene using their own words. With a few exsceptions, if you think of any word that you would use now to describe an awesome car that word would not have existed in the same way back in 1992.