Over the Weekend

Who are these people? Why do they have lightning bolts above their heads? It’s because they were SHOCKED by my incredible drifting this weekend. Over the Weekend, I had a chance to join Dai’s Drift Academy located in El Toro Airbase in Irvine, California. Don’t let the title mislead you — it’s not so much of an academy as it is a great self-study practice event. The last one I did had to have been a few years ago, and it was good to relive the parkinglot drift.

^ Me & The Homies’ paddock. The weather was pretty grey for the whole day. So unlike your usual drift event, it wasn’t scorching hot at 3PM.

Rock Lee protects the back of my helmet. I wanted to doodle on the whole helmet, but I couldn’t find my white-out pen. For now, it’s Rock Lee on the back and Ebichu on the right temple.

Here’s everyone at the morning briefing. Some words were spoken… I don’t remember what they were. Something something something about being safe etc etc.

^ How fitting — I got to be car #14 at the event. If you were wondering, I didn’t have any tape to attach the tags to my car, so I had to use the Bride and Option2 stickers which were provided at the registration booth. My apologies to Option2 and Bride… I mean no harm -_-”‘

Some drifting around… this was at the “big turn” on the advanced drift course. Feels like I need more power — it’s pretty hard to clear the whole thing with stock KA and 18″ wheels.

Speaking of “advanced drift course,” what’s up with the lack of braking zones??? Maybe it’s a different story when you’ve got a fast car, but with about 120whp, all I do is hold down the gas pedal and kick the clutch… I mean, I GUESS it’s kind of advanced, but … no wait… I’d call it intermediate. My opinion — give me a tough braking zone followed by a decreasing-radius hairpin, followed by more turns that you actually have to BRAKE for. THEN you can call it “advanced.” Honestly, I got bored of this course after maybe 2 hours.

On a side-note, Dai’s Drift Academy DID supply a big autocross course, which I’m sure had a great deal of braking zones and decreasing-radius turns, but the line for that course was just too long for my level of patience. However, there WAS a smaller autocross course which DID have one turn that required braking. In a way, that course may have been a bit more interesting than the big drift course. P.S., S2000 guys, you guys were doing great, but pull your e-brakes a bit harder or trail the brakes to get around that last cone without understeering. Your cars are so clean There was one red S2K driver who was learning the basics of drift on a small skidpad area. Keep it up! Everyone starts there!

Here’s Tommy’s black FC going around the big turn on the drift course. Hey, not bad…

^ My last few drifts of the day resulted in a blown tire. That’s how you know you’re done for the day! LoL I put that guy out of his misery.

Things getting a bit hairy down there … lol.

And last but not least, here’s my fine artwork of the day. I decided to break the bead of the tire by drifting, so the tire shop wouldn’t have to. I know… I’m always thinking of others

All in all, the event was pretty good. And at $100.00 for access to about 6 driving areas total, you can’t really go wrong, especially if you’re just looking to practice a few techniques or if you need open space to analyze your suspension settings. Speaking of which, the Sustec Pro-FIVEs on my S14 worked great. Every click makes a difference in handling. Definitely more responsive to tuning than my last coilovers. Shameless plug, I know. But what can I say, I’m happy with what I’m working with. Anyways, if you’re looking to get some driving under your belt for a low cost and in a relaxed environment, give this event a try. I believe the next one is in August. That’s all for now; Bye!

-M.