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I am BEYOND tired today. Elise woke me up and she didn’t want to go back to sleep. In honor of my sleepiness, here’s a journal entry made for you with extreme laziness and unoriginality.

Team Orange was the best at Tsuisou back in the day, and they are STILL the best today. Oh wow, here’s a throwback journal entry when Nadine and I rode with Asamoto and Kumakubo of Team Orange back in 2003.

This is why drifting is fun… not because you can look down on kids with Eclipses thinking “Oh wow, you have no idea what cars are about.” Okay maybe that is part of it too.

On a side note, look at Tanaka wearing a cast and still drifting better than anybody you’ve ever seen. This reminds me of a time when Kumakubo was competing in D1 with a cast on.

So since we had our baby, any free time I have has become rare. You really think… “What is the most important thing that I can doing with my free time right now?” A variety of things come to mind but lately it’s been about my car. I’ve realized that over the years, there have been some badly executed modifications because I didn’t know any better, quick fixes done while at the track, last resort fixes done in order to make it to an event… things that function fine, but don’t show the pride and care I’d like to show in the drift car that I’ve owned for almost 10 years.

I think now is the time when I can spend time on the details and kind of go back and fix the things that I never got around to fixing. A couple weekends ago I changed out my alternator to a rebuilt one. I was really happy with this one because the car runs so much better now and I got to spend some quality time with myself and my thoughts and my drift car as well. Next thing to be replaced is my 6 year old HKS intercooler, which is busted beyond belief. Man, I cannot believe how many aftermarket parts I have been replacing lately! I feel like my car is a relic!

Here are some more recent pics of the Red Thing. I took off the rear spoiler and of course, a shot of the carbon canards on the front bumper.

I hate it when people copy content from other blogs and post it on their own. But I think this time it’s an exception.

I just read from Auto-Otaku, who read from Taniguchi’s blog that he is coming back to D1. I don’t think I’m the only one who felt like D1 has really gone to the garbage can when it started losing it’s star drivers due to D1’s ego flexing and imposed politics. I’m glad he’s coming back to D1, not because I think D1 needs some rejuvenation, but because I think Taniguchi deserves to be in the limelight and I’d love to see him come back from a several year hiatus and just smash the competition like he was never gone.

What is he going to drive? I’m not sure… Auto-Otaku posted a picture of this, but who knows! He will definitely be a threat in this car, or any car for that matter.

I’m sure a ton of you read blogs. How many of those blogs ever teach you anything?

Read this blog and school yourself!
Beyond the Dyno

So I was super happy to find out that my buddy Dai Yoshihara has joined teams with Rhys Millen for 2008. He’s going to be the pilot of the Pontiac GTO! This is really big news because Dai has been a part of the Pacific Rim Drift Team since he came to the USA and he’s always driven an S chassis – which in ways has made him the underdog because while other drivers were being factory sponsored with brand new 500+hp cars, Dai always stuck with the old school – the Nissan Silvia. It’s kind of bittersweet, because I loved watching Dai, Pac Rim, and the Silvia make huge successes together… but finding a title sponsor for 2008 was getting pretty tough for Dai and I’m so glad that instead of finding a sponsor while barely getting by, he finds a sponsor that can possibly take him to a #1 overall finish in 2008. Not that he needs a 550hp Pontiac GTO to do it… I think he’s an awesome driver and one of the best. It will just make it easier for him.

Good luck this year Dai. Give ’em hell!