Well Drift Showoff was today. It was AWESOME!!! The amount of talent out there today was amazing. People have improved SO much… there’s wasn’t a whole lot of spinning today, which is common of most events. Which surprised me, because it was also a decently high speed course. A lot of great guys advanced from 40 drivers to the top 16 and I’m so glad for them. You guys rocked!! As you might know, at D1 drivers search, I was really trying to get good speed. I feel like I did a pretty good job at that. Since then, I’ve realized that my line was lacking… so I’ve been really working on my line. Today, I think I did a good job and I’m really happy. I had some trouble in the morning figuring out what I was doing wrong, and once I figured out the line I was supposed to take it was so much fun. I started the drift towards the top of 3rd gear, and I would use my sidebrake to bring out the apex of my drift, since the turn had a late apex. It was so fun. I had a blast. I made it to the top 8 and I was so stoked because everybody in the top 8 were BAD ASS drivers! I mean, really. It was such an honor to be in the same ranks as those guys. One of my competition runs, I initiated a little too early for my speed and I ended up holding on for dear life to clear the inner barrier… and I made it, nicking the barrier only slightly. However, I forgot to look ahead because once I passed the barrier, I lost track of where I was and I spun. That pretty much took me out of the competition, because I think they were combining scores. But my 2nd run was dead on, I thought, and I hit the apex right where I wanted to, and I ran the exact line that I wanted to, although my line seemed to be different than almost everybody that day except for Taka. I’m so happy because I took the line and speed that I wanted to, and I figured out the course before I had to go home. Doing that made my day… Anyway, congrats to Daijiro and Hiro and Taka and even Rhys. You guys hauled ass out there, and I’m glad that you finally got your wins. It’s all about fun, people! Win or lose, fun will always make it worth it! Ask the guys from Florida!
Browsing Posts in Cars
I installed my new Tanabe Drift Spec parts (traction rods, toe control rods) last weekend and got an alignment at West End in Torrance. What a difference! I’m not sure how they will react when I’m driving hard, but on public roads, they stiffen up the chassis quite drastically.
Something that I noticed lately was my car feeling boost laggy and the power didn’t feel as good as it should. I changed my oil and spark plugs tonight, and it made a world of difference. Actually, the spark plugs made the difference. I’ve been using Blitz iridium plugs for the past year now, mostly because I can feel the biggest difference when I use them, compared to other types of spark plugs. Plus they are easily available (local) for SR applications. Anyway, I’m glad my car doesn’t feel crappy anymore. I lost track of when I changed my plugs last, and I guess they were due. I thought my gutless engine was another thing I had to put up with! Haha.
Next thing to do is change my transmission fluid and my LSD fluid. And try to figure out why my car isn’t boosting at what I set it to. Other than that… I’m almost ready for Drift Showoff!
This past Saturday was car day for me. I put on my new Tanabe Sustec Underbrace, and the Drift Spec Tension Rods. They look great! The tension rods have a rubber boot over the pillowball to protect them from dirt and dust that might get caught inside. Plus they’re chrome and look super duper when they’re sitting on the car! The Underbrace took me 10 minutes to install… it goes in between the two tension rod braces on the tension rod end. I felt the effects right away when I started driving around! I could even feel it during straight line braking. I can’t tell much else, since my alignment is so off right now. The real test comes when I go to the track. Hopefully I can still feel the effects by then. Getting ready for Drift Showoff! I have my new set of Yokohama ES100’s sitting around begging me to break them in. I can’t wait.
It’s funny… I think I should change idiot day to idiot week, since I’ve heard numerous times that week that somebody did something stupid to his/her car. ANYWAY, it looks like Drift Showoff is coming back to Irwindale, and the drifting is going to be open to everybody. Sounds like fun! I can’t wait…
In other news, Nadine went behind my back and painted a new fender and my rear under spoilers that have been sitting in our living room for 4 months. She is so sweet, isn’t she? Plus she bought me this rad ChoroQ… a Sunny truck!!! Is it my birthday already? Hahaha. Anyways, I have a lot of things in the works… not anything too exciting, but it will help me out a lot. I’ll fill you guys in as soon as things start to happen.
Today is idiot day. Did you know that? I know that. Because when I was backing out of my driveway this morning to go to work, I slammed the side of my car into a 2 foot tall tree stump. It made a crunching sound that made my heart stop. I cracked my sidesteps in 4 different places and I crumpled my front fender and the car body underneath my door. And to top it off, I have an interview with Big Little Films for a documentary they’re creating. So now I have that nasty crumple on my driver’s side AND I just went ahead and jacked up my passenger side – and they’re both NOT from drifting! I feel like such a dumb jerk! Thank you, thank you. Have a Happy Idiot Day!
Well I went to Buttonwillow last weekend for Drift Day Pro… an event meant to train Drift Day instructors. It was a really uncomfortable feeling for me to drive on that old familiar track… after a year of parking lot style courses, I’ve learned to let go of my inhibitions and push really hard. Well, even though I don’t go off course very often in those parking lot style courses, even while pushing really really hard, I couldn’t seem to get over the fact that the Buttonwillow course had dirt and rocks surrounding it. I felt really confined on the road course, and I held back A LOT. Even on my parade lap, I acted like I normally would… analyzing the course and figuring out where I wanted to initiate, in what gear and in what speed… but when it came to driving on the track, I didn’t do it. We even did time trials to see how our grip driving skills were, and I did horribly. I was in the slowest 5 of the group of instructors. I sat with Taka and that quickly knocked some sense back into me… it taught me what it feels like to grip drive on the edge of the car’s ability to adhere to the ground… it was very much like my old days at touge… late braking deep into the corner and the highest possible speed, either braking or accelerating as hard as you can with not very much in between… after that I drove a lot harder, but still not as hard as I ususally would in a course designed like that. I want to go back… I regret not going at it like I normally would. But it’s another barrier that I need to learn to defeat… I’m also going to attend more auto-x events and road racing events. If I could control a car like Taka can… I could do anything in a car.
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