Jun 02

Vegas Drift Practice – May 28th 2016

13254323_10208081972901569_8119236276039466009_n

I Showed up around 7pm due to a bunch of running around and drama that was taken place prior to that. When I Got there, the part was already started and massive turn out. One of the highlights team is the Sloppy boys, they  The name doesn’t seem too popular but they do have some good styles out there on top of some public heat lately for doing Touge, and hood rat stuff.  2016-05-28 21.11.50

The night was nice overall seen alot of different cars was out, a big turn out as this seems to be big event these days than it used to be a few years back.  Staff is always friendly always saying hi and good with names these days.

The main point this event is that I didn’t get to take pictures of the cars mainly because it is the same new norm, 240sx with LSx motor, or 2jz, or some type of American style v8. The hype created from the FD rules and the unwritten rules of how to compete to win using what I still like to call the “cheater” mod. It is really no big deal but I did see an lsx motor in an 4th gen Camaro which is what the lsx motor should be in as per-se GM with GM, Ford with Ford, Nissan with Nissan.  But I am not here to hate on it, I just see more excitement if the motor matched the car.

Drifting has became a new venue to come and see, it is fun and it feels like an awesome hobby that I did get into. Now if I can only get my car working I can finally get back out there and shred more tires.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.tougesw.com/vegas-drift-practice-may-28th-2016/

May 03

Southwest Drift (VegasProAm) – Round 1 – Spring time IFO

2016-05-01 15.23.36

2016-05-01 13.21.29May 1st the starting point of IFO  with this time Vegas ProAm also known as Southwest Drift series, I spent the morning doing some work on the car before I had a chance to head out because prior to the previous days it was raining and I was unable to do anytype of work to prep my car to be apart of IFO.

I showed up around 1pm before they started the qualifying and it was cool if you like the candy car feel and big rigs everywhere. I still see people who drive their super beast out machines that still learning to drive it, some are doing a good job.

2016-05-01 13.22.15There wasn’t a whole lot to blog about this round,  as I am a bit frustrated that I have something simple that should be working and I should be out there having fun too.

I seen some tires, seen some of the 220 crew on the sidelines, it was a good day.

 

 

2016-05-01 14.02.40I also spotted this rare gem.

 

 

 

 

Well, like any other pro-am style event there is a standing of who won at the end, here it is. Good Job to the  16 guys who made it. One day I’ll Rep the S12 in this as for fun. 2016-05-03 21.16.17

Permanent link to this article: http://www.tougesw.com/southwest-drift-vegasproam-round-1-spring-time-ifo/

Apr 12

My day at Formula D Long Beach 2016 Round 1

2016-04-08 16.11.34
This is the second time I have been to Long Beach, but this time at the convention center where I was able to make it to the Formula D round 1. I remember back in 2012 how much eye candy there was from women to candy cars.

Friday, I didn’t get a full chance to make it out but I heard they canceled most of it due to the rain, so I went around to get a layout of the land and it was good, it was wet. That night I took my mom and we went to Roscoe’s house of Chicken and Waffles since the hotel was around the corner.

2016-04-09 17.11.37Saturday, I started early and ended up in a very long line that took about almost 2 hours to get passed the check in at the gates. It was rainy and weird. The humidity makes it feel like I am sweating the rain. I met up with  a few co-workers \ friends in the long line where it made waiting a little easier.

As soon as we got in we strolled around for a bit got some free stuff all around handed out by the vendors who support the popular sport.

2016-04-09 18.42.41 2016-04-09 18.46.42

Some hot models who also there supporting the teams out there getting paid to do what they want to do and that is to look good and be popular.

 

 

2016-04-09 18.26.04 2016-04-09 18.40.04Also got to see some drivers and their machines that will be out there this day shredding tires. 2016-04-09 19.16.39

 

 

2016-04-09 19.17.45
Toyota had some car showcase going on at this event so I was able to get some pictures going.
 

 

2016-04-09 19.17.55

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With wrapping this day up, I was met up with an old friend I have not seen since Middle School. So it was a good day all around.

The winner of the epic drift battle was C. Denofa, followed by second place with F. Aasbo, and 3rd place K. Gushi. The Rain really made it a challenge for these guys, alot of wrecks and crashes that made the day interesting.

When it was over with I too my Mom to Bubba Gump Shrip Co. that is also right there off the pier at Long Beach..

Sunday, just before heading out took a quick one last visit of long beach which was a great and beautiful view, a bit cold for the full beach visit.  But the weekend off was a great weekend overall.

2016-04-10 10.22.25

Permanent link to this article: http://www.tougesw.com/my-day-at-formula-d-long-beach-2016-round-1/

Apr 01

Vegas Drift – 03-19-2016

31916_IG A little late than never, This day, couldn’t be sweeter. I won the raffle for the Formula D tickets in Long Beach.  Well, if you have yet to know my blog I wished I could have posted was more nor less on my success on my S12’s carb conversion, instead while fixing and tweaking a few things I fell asleep from exhaustion.

But the night was great, I got to drift the z33 around a few times in the wet lot.
As the day progresses with the short time, there was alot of people out. Alot of different style cars and only still makes me wished my car was ready.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.tougesw.com/vegas-drift-03-19-2016/

Feb 21

Vegas Drift 02/20/2016 – Follow up

2016-02-20 19.23.08

Vegas Drift,  02/20/2016 – 4pm till 10pm

Today I started out a bit late around 5pm. Why? because I am not driving… but next event I will be ready.

This isn’t too bad of a night as it was a big turn out already and it has gotten bigger as the night progressed up until 9pm when people started to roll out and leave.  Only thing I can see with this even is that for the price it is very short or if feels short so in essence I am a bit glade I was not running this round but also I wished i was because I do like the course lay out.

2016-02-20 19.23.59

In this event they had the course layout on the other side opposed to the one a month ago where when it got dark people where ending up in the trees and the course got sloppy. Tonight the course stayed the same, just the cold weather seems to be a factor on the tires when the sun went down.

Tonight I seen a bigger diverse of cars out there, from 350z, BMW, and some other random cars, most of the cars came for the wet sesh, and that shown as I call a no show for the spectators, personally I find very lame.

Main course will be some random banged up 240’s with ls, 2jz and other swaps banging around. Couple of high power cars that came out, for seat time before the major competition.

Overall; It was cool, I wished it was a longer time out there , wished the wet sesh was closer for the spectators to watch, and most importantly I wished my car was ready. Wasn’t too sure about the mini comp, thought might of been between 8-9pm.

12717514_1665114287074476_6873373489176535242_n

Permanent link to this article: http://www.tougesw.com/vegas-drift-02202016-follow-up/

Sep 29

Street Driven Tour X StanceWars – 2015

2015-09-26 15.51.17
Street driven was something random I never heard before or atleast came to Las Vegas, first off I tried really hard to get my s12 ready and yet when it came to I keep getting new problems. I have been working extremely hard getting my s12 ready and failed due to random problems that keep happening so never nor less my s12 did not make it like I wanted to and this being my birthday weekend it really has got me sad, I also got no family support so doing everything has been solo for me regardless how much this meant for me it was a fail. I can only do so much alone especially when I work during the days.

The event started at 10am, I showed up around 12 noon due to I slept in with very much needed rest. When I showed up, there was a lot of people as I expected a lot for the car show, others for the event. We had a few formula drift pro drifters out there shredding it up as I felt that Street Driven was a tour they put on in support for Formula Drift. I was loosing interest into the show mainly because of the mass amounts of LSx motors are running in this event, lsx swapped motor in a car is not a street legal car not in the state of Nevada that is unless allowed by DMV. Thus Street Driven was more of a show not about street driven cars.

Don’t get me wrong though, it was a fun show I wished there was more to it. I wished I would of had my car running in this event as I would of felt I would be the one S12 in the C class.

Stance wars was alright, alot I mean alot of BMW’s showed up in this one, it would of been nice to see like 4 isle of stance cars at this event though, as one time with Formula D when it was here in 2012 there wasn’t much and I went a head and took a sneak peak and parked my car next to them. 2015-09-26 13.42.46-2I was like notice me senpai notice me!

But as shown in this picture, there was a few nice cars out there I parked in the back out of the way as you may notice there isn’t a Toyota next to me or anything like that just chilling and thrilling.

There was a few nicely done VIP style Honda’s, 350z’s, and Subaru’s. A couple of datsun and a rat toyota truck.

I was actually stanced just in time actually for this event at least rocking new shocks and Canuck lowering springs all around. I was surprised the hits I got with my car how nice it was and so on. What was really funny was when the ae86 levin parked next to me they mistaken that as an s12. I kinda wished I would have had the time to washed her before I came to this event.

2015-09-26 14.47.13But still clean looking s12 sitting there I was trying to be off in the back away from others just to chill as it was my way to keep close to my car and chill.  The 86’s kept on showing up, as the day progressed there was 3 FT86’s and 1 AE86.

Back to the event, they had a few booths setup for selling T-Shirts and other “swag” as they call it.

They did a few parking sliding into the wall of boxes, and other MotoIQ Challenges with drifting a soccer ball into the goal, and around 6ish is when I left was the tire massacre where they burn out on a skid pad till the tires pop. That was when I seen it was a bit ok this is done with time to go before the traffic starts to get bad.

Overall it was nice to get out of the house and away from working in the garage for once. I wished my other s12 was up and running as I would have been getting some awesome seat time.

So far the gathering of photogalleries are the following

http://windinghighwaystudios.com/street-driven-stance-wars-car-show-las-vegas/

http://www.ulfelderphoto.com/blog/2015/9/27/street-driven-x-stance-wars-las-vegas-motor-speedway-92615

I have taken more pictures but they did not turn out as good as the above links. I will update when I find more.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.tougesw.com/street-driven-tour-x-stancewars-2015/

Mar 26

Spirit of the streets – Recap…

drifting spirits of the streets03/21/2015 is the day they had the event called Spirit of the streets hosted by Vegas Drift / Southwest Drift.

The course was designed for 3rd gear guys with some decent power, this case my car doesn’t like 3rd gear for long, but it can handle this course.  I think the first turn is a long sweeper and it is wide open designed for both style low powered and high powered cars is where it got me a bit confused.  If I take it too short in 3rd gear when I hit the turn too close to the inside cones I end up under-steering and if I take too far away and attempt to clip the cones as the wall I tend to loose power fast and down shift to 2nd and attempt to regain speed in which when doing so I end up spinning out. A few times I hit the whole course which was awesome.

2015-03-21 18.42.23I am still learning the ways finding the line and maintaining the line, but it doesn’t help when the cones created in such a way it confuses me, but I don’t care anymore if this was me last year I would be intimidated and stick to the wet course. But sometimes you Just have to figure it out when you get there and when you are there and found that solution use it and remember it. The Pro-Am / FD guys have been in the same situation with their 240 many moons ago, but they do their best on keeping the balance in all the things. VD team does their best as well, they are the legit team to keep up the grassroots in the Las Vegas Valley.

2015-03-21 22.30.27You are out there, out there to have fun and enjoy it. I thrive to get better and for me this is a solo road. I got this is my moto. I really have little to no support especially from my own family but that is what drives me today to become better because if I don’t self motivate myself in doing what I have passion for no one else will and if you can support yourself in doing so you are a very strong person for doing it, and knowing people see it and giving you kudos for showing up and how good you are doing shows a sign that you are in the right path and you can feel proud of your own self motivated accomplishments.

Here is a video of me in the course, it was one of the first runs of the day. (video courtesy of Stephen Kufchak)

Here is another video taken by my friend Stephen Kufchak.

About 8 runs in, I blew up my first set of tires. It was epic and awesome as it has been a while since I have successfully shredded a set of tires. That is how much I was determined on this track, I was ready, I wanted to learn my car even more and this day I have learned my car and have taken her to a potential of another change.  I will post up the new changes over on the GFunk Garage.

This event had a new change as it was not just a practice event, it was also a mini competition for street cars only. I spun out like a boss twice so I earned a 0, But hey… at least I tried.  On the good side I didn’t slam into the wall or destroyed my suspension pieces.

I will be uploading my videos from my GoPro by this weekend as I got some editing to finish. My youtube channel for more information. One day I will start a Vlog of these adventures, and on that note I am off till the next event.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.tougesw.com/spirit-of-the-streets-recap/

Mar 13

Vegas Drift – Spirit of the Streets

spiritofthestreets-march21stAnother nice event happening with Vegas Drift / SW Drift Series. This will be an interesting run as my turbo car is not ready and will not be ready by then as I wanted to be.

But yes, come out and enjoy I will most likely be the only s12 running.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.tougesw.com/vegas-drift-spirit-of-the-streets/

Mar 04

Vegas Drift Practice – Bullring lot on 02/21/2015

10981863_929838390389647_425351701830089923_nAbout this night practice event, it was to bring back some old school tracks. Not fully sure but I think this is coming more as a closure from the announcement from last year in regards to bringing more of an old school and limit the competition with Spirit of the streets, as I have taken notice with South West Drift is starting to launch off this year. Recently the forums has been taken offline I believe it is due to the Facebook groups has more traffic then the forums. Or is t in preparing for the newly to be launch Southwestdrift.com? With little details it is not much more then a rumor mill.

I ran my car that night, I didn’t have much tires but I am definitely back in the groove of things, That day started out rocky as I had to get 2 tires to replaced the recently burned up from best of vegas last year.

thumb.phpThe course was a bit different but it is a bit fun, I didn’t have to shift out of second gear, instead unless I spun out and I did so alot of times due to incorrect power or got thrown off by the misplacement of the cones. Starting off I was flying by the edge of my seat today, I headed over to LLantera to get some cheap tires and then from there I made it around 2:15 to check in and unload to get tech inspected, after the drivers meeting I head back to 7-11 on Craig and Las Vegas Blvd. From there I was greeted with 4 pan handlers asking for change and one was trying their hardest to get the 2 dollars in quarters that I had for air in my tires. They looked bad, looked like a witch from fairy tails all talking with desperation and with massive arm sores.

2015-02-23 20.16.152015-02-23 20.16.39

I had one great night of fun, alot of weight transfer and clutch kicking is my way tonight and multiple times I launched great but ended with a spin out or loosing my line due to a cone in the middle or somehow forgetting where I was located. I learned more with my cars control tonight, it felt great to have fun. Only issue I seen was how long it took per run. I was waiting at least 15 – 20 minutes per run but I had atleast 20 runs that night my gopro only got about 13 runs.

Also I want to shoutout to this guy, as it made my day to hear stuff like this and read it on instagram via #vegasdrift hashtag.

 

Permanent link to this article: http://www.tougesw.com/vegas-drift-practice-bullring-lot-on-02212015/

Feb 11

Vegas Drift – SW Drift Series.

Vegas Drift is doing the South West Drift Series in Arizona for its round 1 in the ProAm series.

The Southwest Drift Series – ProAm 2015 Rd 1 Phoenix AZ 2/14/15

 What: PhoenixProAm Round 1 (Competition)

Where: Bob Bondurant’s West Road Course

When: February 14th 2015 (Saturday) 6:30am-5pm

Cost: $165.00 online Pre-Registration until 2/7/2015

Day of event registration $185.00  – Event capped at 60 drivers

Venue Gate Fee: $10.00 – Children Under 12 $5.00

Course Configurations:  – Bondurant West Road Course – Clockwise (Long Slide Entry)

http://www.vegasdrift.com/store/index.php/event-registration/the-southwest-drift-series-proam-2015-rd-1-2-14-15-phoenix-az-at-bondurant-west.html

Permanent link to this article: http://www.tougesw.com/vegas-drift-sw-drift-series/