So SEMA’s coming up, my badge was delivered yesterday, so now it’s to time figure out “what I am doing next season?” which brings me to my next topic, American Drifting. What’s going on with American Drifting for 2009? I’ve heard a few murmurs out there, but it looks like the only Professional American Drifting out there is FormulaD. Now I have no problem with FormulaD or American Drifting, unlike some people these days, but I would like some place to compete in 2009. I just don’t “fit” into FormulaD, I don’t have the backing yet. I have been reading up on the Canadian Drift Series, Drift Mania, and I think I will fit in there. Ryan T-U-E-R-C-K (Thanks Tony) did VERY well up there a few seasons ago, and a few of my friends went up there this seasons for a few events and had a blast. So, it looks like I’ll be pushing DMCC while I’m at SEMA which brings me to my next point, Money. I have none. I like money. So does drifting. So does my car that’s not done yet. So does Las Vegas. Without money, I can’t go to SEMA to try to GET money to compete in DMCC. My house likes money too. They TV broke two weeks ago, and if you have to get a new TV you might as well upgrade soooooo, 52″ LCD it was. There’s some SEMA money right there. Speaking of my house, we’re remodeling the bathroom. It’s going to be awesome, but awesome costs money. And guess what? The first payment to the contractor is due the day before SEMA starts. doesn’t look too good. Alright, alright enough of the sob story, I’ll figure something out. You know how it is, everything is last minute.
Back to drifting. GTLive & FormulaD Pro-Am is next weekend. I’m running up there to check it out, I’ll post pics!
Here’s the TV: (Amercian Dad finished while I was writing this, so Family Guy is on)
25:47. Not bad, but lots of room for improvement. Running by yourself is WAY different than running in a field of 15,000. The first mile was spent bobbing and weaving around slower people, walkers, bums (yay ATL), and people just trying to cross the street. That wastes your energy. Also, this downtown ATL course was more hilly than my normal training loop. But, I made it, no stops, no water stops, no injuries. I had a blast and can’t wait for the next one, AND this time next year I want to be at least 3 minutes faster. Thanks everyone for the support!
Since NOPI Drift has been canceled, I have slowly stepped away from cars for a bit. Yes, I am still building my new car, and I will compete in ‘09, but it is kinda refreshing not spending all day and night doing car stuff. I jumped back on the mountain bike and have been biking with Yancey and Greg (RayRay even comes out, but stops for smoke breaks), and I recently started running. Sonja and I are training for a 5K run in Atlanta at the end of September. I’ve never run just for the sake of running before. It’s kinda boring; I’d rather be on my bike, but I really want to finish a 5K. Once again the competetive side of me shows. This past weekend we clocked 10miles running, and 25miles biking. My best 5K time was 32mins. Lots of room for improvement.
The race is 4 weeks away, I’ll keep everyone updated on my progress. Hopefully I won’t end up like this:
So, it’s been awhile, but I will keep this blog alot more up to date. So what’s been up? Colombus was so-so, we had lots of issues with the car. But I will assure you, we will NOT have those issues anymore. Lots of changes ahead, so keep checking back. I have some good news
Work is work. Busy. Work.
We just signed a contract to have one of our bathrooms in the house re-designed, it’s going to be awesome!
We just booked our suite at Fort Rapids Indoor Waterpark Resort Fortrapids.com for our trip to Columbus for NOPI Drift Round 4. I really have a feeling someone is going to get banned from the park, or hurt. Good thing I didn’t tell Damien Bagley about it
Yes, contrary to belief, Wrecked Magazine does exist outside the Internets! They have an office with doors, carpet, bathrooms and everything. No lie! I hung out with Joey and Jason this afternoon, and snapped a few pics.
Jeeze, OK, what have I been up to? Lots has gone on since my last update, so here’s a quick (or not) recap. I’ve been extremely busy working on the car and working on other projects here and there. Two weeks ago right before FormulaD ATL, we had the opportunity of going to the premiere of Drift Alliance’s new movie “Stay Hungry.” If you don’t have this yet, GO OUT AND BUY IT! This movie is awesome, the DA guys have definitely outdone themselves with this film. Have you bought it yet?!?! go to www.thedashop.com now!
Pictures from the premiere:
The DA crew
The dM crew!
Next up, was finishing John Marsh’s car before FormulaD to put in the Mazda booth. Yancey had built him a new motor that needed to go in. Marsh has a widebody Miata, if you were at FD you saw it, if you weren’t, there’s a few pictures below
Right after the motor went in, looking to make sure everything was running right:
After that, we decided to drop the wrenches and enjoy a good, relaxing weekend at the track. Well, as soon as I got to Road Atlanta on Saturday, Justin Pawlak comes up to me asking for a car. Long story short, he went to get his car tuned early that morning, and it blew up on the dyno. So after about 3 hours of making calls, and finding out that any car I could think of was being repaired from NOPI E-town, we tried to roll Struka’s car through tech. I knew it would fail on a couple of things, but I was just concerned with the cage. If the cage would pass, we could fix everything else, but the cage did not pass. So no ride for JTP.
The event was awesome! Great driving from everyone, and lots of close battles! It was nice to go to an event and just relax and watch some good drifting, but at the same time it pained me not being out there.
“Big guys in a little car……..” Patrick and Marlow in my street car:
Me and Carluch:
Shameless Plug
Forsberg was killing it all weekend, but lost first round to Takatori
That Sunday, Sonja and I were taking Jacob and Thao from EDRFT.com around the city when JTP calls again, looking for a place to leave his rig. So now, I have this lawn ornament for the next two weeks. I think I might take it for a spin
Race car talk! She got a new wiring harness. The old harness was a ‘96 which was OBDII, but had been re-wired for my OBDI LINK ECU. I put a ‘94 OBDI harness in to eliminate any wiring issues that may come up. The ECU was completely re-soldered to make sure all connections are good, the heater core was replaced, and my supercharger was completely rebuilt by Magnuson. The new motor is coming along really well, the head was just picked up from the machine shop, and all the bearings and rings will be here Tuesday. I’m hoping to have the motor complete by this weekend.
DJ James came by today and we put in a new soft top. This is the first time I’ve put a NA top in a NB and I like how it looks.
Tops:
Installed:
Greg changed the wheel bearings in his WRX:
Wiring harness, heater core, and A/C Delete pipe in:
Dash back in:
Well, I think that’s about it. I’ll try to keep this updated more.
I got a good amount of work done this weekend, and also started making some good changes. Friday, I drove over to John Marsh’s house to pickup the racecar. We’re putting a new engine in the car before NOPI Round 3, rebuilding the supercharger, and making some other changes.
On the way to Marsh’s house: “Who all seen the leprechaun say Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” <- You’re awesome if you get that
Friday night. The racecar and the street car home together.
Saturday we headed to the shop to drop off the car, and do some spring cleaning and organizing.
On the way…. PUNCHEM!
This is our shop, R-Speed. We are a full service Miata Boutique and mail order. Check out www.rspeed.net If something you want is not on the site, just call and ask us!
Front Entrance:
Showroom:
Office Area:
Sonja’s Office upstairs:
Kitchen:
Warehouse:
The bays. We have two lifts and plenty of space.
Well that’s the quick tour, if you’re ever in the area, stop by and check us out!
Sunday, I went to my friend Greg’s house to pickup a new bottom end and spare transmission for the racecar. This block is similar to last year’s setup, so we’ll be making good power again. After getting my haircut and being reminded of how bald I am getting , I installed a new Garage Vary lip on my street car. I had one on it before, but it shattered after years of abuse.
New block and spare tranny
New pistons. More compression!!!!!
New lip
And last but not least, I picked these up at Walgreen’s. It’s DEFINITELY time to do this.
, I installed a new Garage Vary lip on my street car. I had one on it before, but it shattered after years of abuse. 
