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 tagged drifting
So I was lucky enough to stop by Irwindale Speedway on my lunch break on Tuesday… Imamura was there testing and tuning the American Apex’i FD! Ueno was also there with his Soarer. Wow! It was so fun watching them do HIGH SPEED feints and drift the entire outer oval. Next thing I knew, they were setting up a course on the infield and asked me drift too! Andy, Alex P, and Calvin were also out there… it was fun. And we got to go round and round and round until we felt like stopping. Haha, no waiting in line! I had a blast. And I tried really hard to keep a good line. I’ve got a video that Marc was nice enough to make for me. Thanks Marc! Here’s the video!! Thank you Apex’i
Hello internet land! Well, I have videos for you. Here you are:
1st run
2nd run
3rd run
ANYWAYS, if you want to look at me try to get better but fail, you’ll notice that in my first run, I don’t do such a bad job, but I felt like I started my drift too late, and on top of that, I wanted to get a lot closer to the inside of the turn. You can see as you get through to my 3rd run that I do that – however, my exiting speed isnt as good as the first run. What did I realize? That although I put my car where I wanted it to be in the corner, it actually hindered my exiting speed – because I was putting my car at the wrong spot! The apex of the turn was much later than I thought it was… I wasn’t thinking – at all! Anyways, the beauty of video… you can watch yourself and see what you’re doing wrong.
Well, another cool thing is that I’m a new and proud owner of an Exedy Hyper Single clutch! It comes with a 6 puck cerametallic clutch disc, a forged aluminum clutch cover and a steel flywheel. I think it’s good to 400hp! I can’t wait to get it… because then it’s clutch kicking time. I’m beginning to realize that although most people find that kicking the clutch is the easiest technique as a beginner… and then later stray away from it as they get better… and then there’s a point where they go back to clutch kicking – because as you get better, you can learn to use the clutch to send the car to it’s absolute limits and stay there, in control. I guess we’ll just have to see… The D1 drivers search is coming up. It’s on June 15th at Irwindale Speedway. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make it, but for sure I’ll do my best to put on a show for all of those awesome drivers that I’ve looked up to for the past few years. Time to get working on my car!!
Have you seen the most recent DRIFTING magazine? It went out on newstands last Tuesday… go to your nearest 7-11 or Barnes and Nobles and see for yourself! There’s and article about me and Nadine, and there’s also an article that I wrote, explaining a beginner’s drift setup for a 240sx. In other news, I’m just getting ready for Drift Day 5… and then a private event for staff… and then the drift event in Vegas… and then the D1 grand prix screening… that’s 4 weekends in a row of drift events! Man, I remember last year… 4 drift events in the whole year! Now it’s all in one month! Hahaha… amazing. I hope my car as well as everybody else’s can hold up to all of the stress. Anyway, I’ll hopefully see some of you guys at Drift Day 5…
Sorry for leaving you all hanging! The engine is now running GREAT… it wasn’t a boost leak afterall… the wiring to the MAFS was falling apart, and it caused the car to idle fine… but the power wasn’t there. After fixing that, the engine is running STRONG. I mean, the car pulls really hard, and if I put the car into 2nd from 1st gear aggressively, the car will start fishtailing and will spin the rear tires for a while – with 215 Bridgestone S-03 on the rear!! There is still a small whining that is in tune with the rpms… I originally thought it was a loose spring on my clutch plate, but since I changed the clutch and the sound is still there, I’ve concluded that it’s something in my transmission. Good thing I got a transmission with my new engine!
The RS-R Drift Festival was great… again, Club4AG has raised the bar, and again, the US drifters stepped up to it. I can’t believe what a great show some of our drivers can put on for the crowd. I heard lots of cheering… as if this was a “real” driving event! It was great. So here’s my story… I started out with a new engine and new tires on the rears… I figured that I would try using my 215 Bridgestone S-03s on the rear – I didn’t like it. I had 3 laps to figure out my new setup… and I just could not predict the tires, maybe because I just need more time figuring out a rear sticky tire. I’m not sure, but I changed them after my first 3-lap session. The 2nd 3-lap session came around when suddenly I realized that my clutch went out on my 2nd lap. D’OH! I thought my day was over.. I brought my car back into the KAAZ booth, feeling kinda sad that I wouldn’t be able to drive for the rest of the day. Richard (JDM RICE) was nice enough to offer me his car for the competition (the next round was the start of the competition). Thank you Richard! My competing mentality was pretty much over for the day, since my car went bye-bye, but I figured that I could still have fun. So I went out… we had 2 laps to compete, which meant I had 2 laps to figure out his 330hp monster – with 275 wide tires in the rear. Needless to say, I couldn’t figure out the car in 2 laps Hahaha. But I did get a lot closer with each lap… it’s hard trying to drift while trying to overcome a handicap (boost lag under 4000rpms). But I am proud of myself for drifting the high-speed back sweeper… I started the slide in the top of 3rd gear and brought it all the way around to connect to turn 1. That in itself was a big accomplishment for me. Richard’s car is like a challenge for me now… I hope he’ll let me drive it again soon :) That’s the end of my story… congratulations to Alex Pfieffer, Andy Yen, and Ernie Fixmer for doing a GREAT job!! You guys are bad-ass! I saw A LOT of other people out there doing great too… you guys are bad-ass too! haha! Keep practicing… keep pushing the limit… and keep having fun and making friends!
The event last friday was a huge success! Akira Iida, Dai, Nomuken, and Tarzan Yamada were all at Irwindale Speedway for an ikaten… I’m really happy for Andy, Javier, and Alex P. They put on a great show for everybody that night! As for me, it was a pretty embarrassing night. I let my nerves get the best of me… and I cracked under the pressure (that I put on myself!) So at least now I know that I have a problem to get over… so I’m going to do my best to get rid of all the nervousness. I’ll probably do it by going to every single contest until I get used to people watching and judging me…
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