Inland Drift: Perris, CA

4/25/2009 was the grand opening of a new drift venue and organization: Inland Drift. Located at the Lake Perris fairgrounds, this brand new venue was open to all. I was invited to attend by Mark Sanchez, one of the event organizers and former AE86 drifter extraordinaire!

I've been attending drift events and open track events for years, but this was the first time I was faced with a new challenge: drifting with walls. The first initiation point was basically facing a wall, and it did not sit too well with me in the morning. During my first few laps I struggled as I tried to initiate early to avoid the wall. My runs were definitely not good. Luckily one of my teachers and friends Mr. Taka Aono was there to give me the verbal kick in the ass and told me to go faster and initiate like a man (message delivered via Colin Frost, thank you Colin). After finally building up enough confidence, I did as told. Boy did it make a world of difference. Before I knew it, the course all came together, and I was running right up next to the wall, going flat out. What felt really good was looking over toward the crowd, mid drift, and seeing Taka and my friends cheering me on. The wall might be a small obstacle for some, but a big hurdle for me to overcome!

Needless to say I had a great time, and Inland Drift is definitely going to be a venue I'm going to enjoy for a long time! Thank you to Mark and everybody at Inland Drift!

Its a shame they don't do imports

Because that's one funny/cool sticker! How come no import shops here have cool stuff like this?

Or how about this?

Autobuff

Awsomeness. Seriously, why doesn't a magazine for the "Adult Auto Enthusiast" still exist?

Got one!

I'm a nerd.....I know. But I found a local dealer (http://www.shamrocksupply.com/). They're cheaper than anywhere online, and have just about the most friendly staff anywhere. Considering these things are pretty hard to find in the US, I'd say its a score!

Tools! Tools! More Tools!

Ok so I've been on a real tool kick as of late. I've always been geeky about other things, so it naturally followed that my geekdom (which knows no bounds, except "Magic the Gathering") would eventually lead me to tools. For maybe the past 2 years or so I've been putting together a set for home with some of the nicer stuff, and a set for the track with some less spectacular items. However the track toolbox has to be filled with items that are functional, because after all, you don't ever want to strip a nut or bolt and having good tools, or the right tools helps avoid catastrophes. Anyways I have a "dealer" who normally hooks me up with ridiculous deals on Snap On and MAC, but he's been MIA for the past few weeks. In his absence I've done some research, shopping, and engaged in some general nerd-like-behavior. The first thing I want to share is Factory Gear Magazine.

For the ultimate tool geek, there is Factory Gear magazine. Its referred to as a "mook" because its a magazine format, but more generously sized like a book. It has beautiful full color photos, detailed interviews with manufacturers and mechanics. The latter two I cannot decipher since I don't read or speak Japanese, but its still awesome nevertheless. This year's issue covers some interesting new things (which I will show you in a bit) and also dives into the toolboxes of Indy, WRC, and Toyota service mechanics. You'd be surprised at what you'd see in their toolboxes!

I hunted all throughout southern California for this thing....and eventually found it at the Torrance Mitsuya.

This is my new hangout. Club4ag is so boring with the same idiots being idiots, and most other car websites are losing my interest. This site however has so much to interest the casual and hardcore fan of tools and garage equipment. One could spend hours just looking at the photos alone of the beautiful garages that some of these guys put together, and learning the intricacies of some of the tools and their companies intrigues me to no end. I feel about this website how I felt about "Bob is the oil guy" a few years ago. I was mesmerized and captivated. Go here if you want to see how geeky that some of these guys get.

As promised, one of the most badass things I've seen. It is certainly my next purchase, and I've already found a local shop that sells them. As someone else has already said it, "its like Sci-Fi meets tools".

Redline Time Attack '09: Buttonwillow

Boy was last week tough. I thought I blew the ECU in my car when two wires touched the cover the computer and caused smoke to come out, eventually resulting in my car not starting. Usually there's a light that comes on in the ECU, and that wasn't working so I was worried. Luckily Dr. Alex came by and did some troubleshooting to find that it was only a blown fuseable link on the battery side.

Anyways Andy Yen and I decided to drive at the practice day on Saturday, while Dr. Alex was nice enough to tow my car up there. Driving to Buttonwillow in a loud, stiff and hot car is not something I like to do. I did it once, and it sucked. This time around we went all luxury by renting a hotel room for 2 nights (a hotel by the way which doesn't believe in shampoo) and capping off the weekend with a wonderful dinner at Willow Ranch. Their BBQ combo is probably the best ever!

I had fun during my sessions. It took me a while to get back to being comfortable with that track, since the last time I drove there was Redline 2 years ago. I always put off Buttonwillow because its so far, but it is my favorite track. There are so many elevation changes, off camber turns, sweeping turns and genral chaos, that you've got to love it. I didn't hook up my transponder for this event, but during out last session Andy and I ran together. He ran a 2:14 which probably means on that day, i was capable of somewhere around 2:12-2:10. I had to let off about three times on the straights because I was closing in on him too fast.

The thing about American time attack is that the cars are relatively bland looking with lots of home made body parts and tacked on stickers. I usually find them pretty boring but there are a few that are pretty awsome. The Factor X NSX is one of the more awsome machines out there. Its a full blown race car with incredibly sexy body lines.

This 350Z was also pretty awsome. Its running a naturally aspirated VQ engine and sounds absolutely devilish.

As expected, the Crawford car was there as well. I knew it was fast, but didn't really think that much of it untill it showed up in my rungroup. I was rounding turn 1 when I saw it entering from the pits. I wondered if he was going to take it slow so he could warm up his tires (which he probably did) but as I started to get closer to him, I got completely blown away. That car at 75% is rediculous.

All in all, a very fun weekend. There are few things that are better to do during your weekend then drive at the track with friends.