Last Friday, just after publishing our weekly editorial that you all know and love, I got an impromptu invite to Monroe Washington, to check up on the progress of Tony aka "Tatakai" who is a fan of drifting in not only Forza Motorsport 2, but very much a fan of it in real life.
You may remember the
featured article we put together that shows off Tony's super clean FC RX-7, as he embarked on his journey into the world of amateur drifting. Since then Tony has been shutting it down and on a scale of one to ten he is amazing. Take that however you like.
Anyways last Friday I jumped into my AE86 and took the short trip out to Monroe to check the festivities. Needless to say this place was swarming with sideways eye candy, so I figured I would share the wealth. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get out on the track for close-up action shots, but here are some of the rides that populated the pit area.
Check out this trio of Nissan Cleanliness. And what's that you see hiding in the corner over there...
yep...it's none other than an right hand drive, JDM Spec Nissan Skyline R32. This baby was one of two R32 Skylines at this event!
Being a rabid fan of the AE86, I spent most of the evening drooling over all the Corolla's that were at the event, but this one stopped me dead in my tracks. What's "different" about this picture? Take a guess what it is before scrolling down...
No your not delusional...thats a turbocharged Nissan engine in this lightweight AE86. I wasn't able to get the specifics on the engine, but maybe someone can identify it?
This group shot shows off some of the cool rides at the event. I call this one..."Car Lust at Dusk"...Overall it was a great event, and there was some pretty amazing drifting near the end of the night. Along with all the sick rides shown above there was also a 240SX with an LS1 swap from a Corvette...and that was pretty insane to watch to say the least. Either way if you live in the area and like cars/drifting then you should definitely check out the next event at Evergreen. See the official site here for more details:
http://www.evergreendrift.com/Also you should definitely check out the video that Tony put together with footage from this event. You can check it out
here!
I call this one "The Aftermath". You can see the remains of the top drifters showing off at the end of the night. A huge tandem donut left a nice puff of smoke, so I had to take advantage of this R32's perfect placement!And then on the other side of the spectrum you have me and my 1985 Corolla GT-S. Other side you ask? Well yes...I have decided that I will NOT be drifting my AE86 anytime in the near future. For reasons I find really hard to explain, I have decided to "restore" my prized possession to super clean, "can't even mess with this son" status. Of course this goal can’t realistically exist in conjunction with drifting, so one of them had to go.
If you have been reading about the progress of this car then you should know that the whole reason why I purchased the car was for drifting. However It was just last weekend that I gave this car its first official car wash, and I have to say it was an "emotional bonding experience"...or something like that. I just fell in love with this thing, and I don't want to put it through the rigors of drifting (props to those who do by the way). Luckily I have Forza 2 to keep my drifting fantasies alive! Anyways for now I am going to be focusing all my attention on restoring this baby and making it as clean as possible.
A brand new paintjob is in the future for the GT-S... cause you just cant beat the look of fresh paint :)So far I have made decent progress but of course upgrading and caring for an old car (or any car for that matter) is a never ending project. Recently I wired up a new set of JDM turn signals, and fixed a few things in the interior, however there is much left to do! In fact just this morning my bumper almost fell completely off...while I was driving...on the HIGHWAY! I was furious because I expected my new JDM turn signals to be completely destroyed; however I was lucky enough, and stopped soon enough that they are still in working order (clean and secure wiring FTW!!) I was literally on the side of the highway securing my bumper cover with zip ties, and after this experience I think it’s time for a more permanent mounting solution. Anyways check out the pics taken after my bonding experience last weekend!
My favorite shot of the weekend! How could you beat up a car that looks this sexy?More to come with Project GT-S and Evergreen Drift, so stay on the lookout ya heard!