In light of the soon to be filming of the Drift III video, I revamped the look of the blog. More info on that to come!

Top Drift Rd. 2 Lexus party! (oh and 2nd place)

Holy smokes, I have been a slacker with this update... Been busy with work, and actually went to the lake for the first time in like 10 years. Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

Awesome shot of Brian's Lexus SC300

This was probably one of the funnest events all around, on my favorite track of the Top Drift tour, Horse Thief Mile. Charlie, Mike, Justin, Odi,  and the whole Just Drift crew will blow your mind with the amount of awesome they produce at events. Go to one and see for yourself. Huge thanks again goes out to Brian Dewitt, who build a rad car, and has been kind enough to let me beat the crap out of it for 3 events now, you rock buddy. More thanks to Jim Guthrie and Car Crafters / Guthrie Racing for getting me out to the events, Radium Engineering (who has some of the baddest parts out there), Grip Royal, Performance Fuel Injection, Pulstar Pulse Plugs, and Z-4 Graphix for helping a young buck out along the way. I hope I am making you all proud :)

Some wheels n' tires

Thursday
We started off the trip by taking 20 hours to get to cali... We broke down outside of Needles CA, with a busted clutch fan. We limped the truck into town, and Brian and Mikey threw a fix on it that got us to Lancaster for the night. We hit up the Yard House, had some delish dinner and brews, then crashed out for the evening.

Friday
Got to spend the next day at willow, while Jim tuned in the Mustang, I took a few laps around HTM and some around Balcony as well. I didn't want to spend 160 bucks to have full track time, so I kept the driving that day to a minimum, and mostly rode the scooter around. Who knew there was a mini bike track out there. Hit jumps like a boss. We took off and had another epic dinner and crashed out again.

Horse Thief Mile

Saturday Practice
We slept in a bit, missed the practice days drivers meeting... Got the skinny, Jim was in group A and I was in group C. This sure made it easy to have people watch to tell me how bad I was messing up. Practice was going good, and everyone seemed to be killing it. I was short on tires, so I didn't get to practice as much as I wanted to, and actually ended up taking a good long nap until brian awoke me to attend the worlds first Lexus SC300 tandem train party extravaganza. There were a total of 7 SC badged cars, plus a mk4 supra, bringing the total for the chassis up to 8. 6 of them were actual Lexus sc300 body styled cars, and Pat Mordaunt's SC430. This was the largest tandem train I have ever driven in, and it was a freaking blast. So many boats, so little time. I think I learned more about tandem doing that, than I have in the last 4 years of me drifting.

Needless to say, it was good to see some familiar faces, meet new ones and just have an awesome time with amazing drivers and staff.

The beginning of the Lexus party!!!!

The end of the Lexus party

Some tandem with Alex

Some more tandem with Jim Guthrie and Pat Mordaunt, more SC love!

Sunday Competition
Early morning was early... We were up at 6:30am, and out the door by 7 to be at the track for drivers meeting at 8. Got to the track, got pumped up applied some stickers and changed to a new set of tires for the days practice session. My good buddy Andy Barrow was out with us this time, and he spotted for me like a boss, I cannot believe how much having a good spotter helps you fine tune your runs in. Thanks a ton Andy :)

Practice felt awesome, and other than getting my tiger woods on with a hay bale, I managed not to run into anything or anyone else the remainder of practice. I had my qualifying run in my head, and ended practice early to watch everyone else.

There was another drivers meeting to go over what the judges wanted to see in qaul. and then the long wait, as there were close to 25 cars ahead of my run group. I watched as most of the guys in group A made some epic runs and started to get a little bit worried. It seemed as though everyone had on their A games as I watched people in full destroy mode.

I finally got my turn. My first run I was a bit off the first outer clip, but nailed the rest of the course spot on. My second run consisted me railing the 1st outer clip, then dirt dropping the 2nd. My third run was pretty much spot on for what I was doing in practice, didn't get close as I wanted to the 1st inner, but hung tire off the track on the 2nd outer without dropping tire. Pumped. Watched the rest of qualifying and headed off to the drivers meeting with mixed emotions about how I did.

Entry

Off on first outer clip

On on first outer clip

Hanging tire on 2nd outer

Charlie started naming off people, and I kept getting more and more nervous. 16th, 15th, 14th Jim Guthrie, 13th, 12th, 11th, 10th, 9th went by, then 8th, 7th, 6th - Dan Brockett. Huge wave of relief and an even bigger wave of being stoked set in. The 20 hour drive and lack of sleep was now totally worth it.

Tandem - Top 16
My first battle was against Adam Knapik in an s14. The dude was super consistant all day, and was to be tough competition. I lead first, and ran out of gas at the bottom of the hill, lost drift and straightened out, but caught it and finished the course. Adam was right on my tail the whole time. I knew I had to get nasty to overcome the gigantic mess up I had laid down. Bottom of the hill again, on Adam's lead run, he went off track, I was hoping for a one more time, as we both messed up, but the judges gave the round to me. Not the best way to win a round, and I can't wait to battle Adam again soon.

Adam, putting the pressure on

Tandem - Top 8
The next battle was up against JD vet Jason Kim. Rad guy, and rad driver. I can't remember if I lead or followed first, but on my lead run, Jason went off track at the bottom of the hill, granting me the pass to top 4. Don't have enough nice things to say about Jason, and I love driving with him as well.

Awesome shot of Jason and I

Jason's dirt vacation :(

Tandem - Top 4
My top 4 battle was with Tyler Wolfson. I've had the pleasure of knowing him for most of last season, plus these two events. I love that guy. When his car is actually running for an entire event, he absolutely kills it. We had some of the best tandem of my short drifting career, as I knew I would have to follow like a beast to get the best of him. I pushed the car to it's limit and kept up, stayed close everywhere except the downhill section, and prayed I was transistioning at the right times due to the amount of smoke he was making. Get back to the top, and the one more time was called. Another almost identical set of runs were laid down, this time with me moving on to top 2. Tyler, thanks for some of the best runs I have ever had. Let's do this again asap. Also, check out the blog post about this round from them here: http://wolfseitz.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/2012update/

Tyler leading

Tyler following

Tandem - Top 2
Forrest Wang... What can I say, the dude is a machine. I followed first, and due to the power differences of the cars, I pushed a little too hard on entry, and almost rammed him. I was full on foot and e-brake and had to make a correction. By that time Forrest was all the way down the hill, and I couldn't catch up. On my lead run, Forrest was on me like glue and I could hear his turbo trying to suck me out of my seat the whole time. Well done, awesome to battle with you sir!

Forrest being Forrest

The 2nd place finish put me atop the JD standings for the season, a pretty damn awesome feeling. Just need to keep it up for 2 more rounds.

Mike Bolanos, thanks for keeping everyone super pumped up at the start line. Your antics make things so much more fun! <3 it

Thanks to the judges, Hiro Sumida, Justin Pawlak, and Odi Bakchis for the feedback and support, you guys rock.

Congrats to Forrest Wang for taking 1st, and Tyler Wolfson for taking 3rd!

The standings after 2 rounds.

Keep Drifting Fun / Drifting is so Stupid - Matt Petty

Well folks, the video we have all been waiting for as a collective drifting community has finally dropped. For those lucky enough to be in Hotlanta for FD round 2, you may or may not have been at the premier last week, but judging from the feedback, there were people in tears at how amazing it was.

I am honored and privileged to have gotten to know Will, Josh and Skylar (Andy, i'm pretty sure would would get along marvelously) over the past few years, and have had lunch with them in Albuquerque many a time as they pass through on their journeys across America being badasses and what not. Their drive and initiative to help the sport grow and to spread the word about it is unprecedented. Enough about that, I've blabbed on enough about it.

Without further interruptions, I present KEEP DRIFTING FUN :

Keep Drifting Fun from Will Roegge on Vimeo.

Oh, and I made the cover shot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! omg jazzhands

Just Drift RAINDRIFT Rd. 1 2012 Balcony - 3rd overall

First off, I apologize about the delay, I have been waiting for other articles to publish about the final standings, videos more pics etc... but it seems as though they all dropped the ball.

What a weekend. What a week leading up to the weekend. For starters we weren't able to finish my car on time, so just like last year, I was lucky enough to have a car to borrow. This time it came from Brian Dewitt in the form of a rad Lexus SC300 with a 1JZ on stock twins and 8psi. Huge thanks again to Jim Guthrie and Car Crafters for getting me out to the event :)

We threw my car aside, and thurs. night, Brian had caged his SC in 4 hours. Again, this guy is amazing. We added a fire extinguisher, packed the rig, mounted a ton of tires for Jim and headed off to Willow Springs for TOP DRIFT round 1.

First off, there were 59 registered drivers, around 10 had car issues and couldn't make it to qualifying. Mike said this was Just Drifts largest turnout!!!

We pulled up to the track on a sunny saturday morning, and it wasn't even cold... There were rumors of rain for sunday, but for now the weather was perfect. Charlie announced the drivers meeting, and we all cruised over. After cracking a few Ossifer (as Mike Bolanos calls it) Dan jokes, Charlie let us know the details, and separated us into our run groups for the weekend. Jim was in Group A, and was driving the mustang from motorcycle vs car drift battle 2. I was in group B and was in the Lexus.

Practice went well, I had only driven Brians car 2 quick times before this event, and it felt rock solid. I was able to quickly figure out the line I needed to be on, and felt really good about it all through practice. Brian builds epic cars... Everyone was driving well, and it seemed as though qualifying was going to be super tough, as they were only taking the top 16 out of the 49 drivers left.

Photos below by Roger Smith

Sunday morning rolled around and we had 1 practice session before qualifying. We made some changes to tire pressure, and the car became a smoke monster. I was able to put it exactly where it needed to be with minimal correction and it was billowing smoke. All the morning practice sessions were in the dry, but there were some nasty clouds looming in the distance.

The drivers meeting before qualifying was held and the drops started... not much at first, but more and more as the time came to stage for qualifying.

Group A probably had it the worst... The rain was heavy enough to make the oil and tire residue on the track turn into slime, but not hard enough to wash it all away. I sat in the shack shivering with a ton of other people and watched as car after car spun all 3 qualifying runs. Sadly Jim spun twice in the stang, then the motor bogged out coming up to the building and he lost drift. Out of group A's 20 or so cars, only 6 completed runs.

The heavens parted and the rain stopped for group B for some reason, the track was still slick as all get up, but not getting worse. I watched as a few guys from group B completed laps, and I was up. My first run was super conservative, and I actually lost drift near the building... I was understeering. Added a few PSI to the tires for run 2 and completed the lap. 3rd run was close to the clips, but could have been better overall.

The rain really picked up again for group C and many more spun all 3 runs. 23 out of the 49 actually ended up putting down a run that scored points. I ended up qualifying 8th, and Erik Hill took top honors qualifying 1st.

Top 16 battle number 1 was between myself and Adam Levi (sexy red S14). I lead first, and though I had a decent run, seemed like Adam was on my so I knew I had to put down a mean following run to win the round. Sadly, Adam sucked water through his intake and his car died on the approach to clip 1. I moved on to top 8.

Top 8 Battle was vs the number 1 Qualifier Erik Hill - I won, but I'm not sure how I really couldn't see much as the rain was heavy, and the fog inside was limiting. Needless to say I mad my first top 4!!

Next battle was up against Danny Giraldo in an 4AGE Turbo'd 86. My lead run was ok, and he was on me like glue. My following run was good until the building, then he just walked away from me like I wasn't even there. Well done to him and congrats on 2nd place!!!!

I battled Alex Villabrille for 3rd place, great battle as always, but sadly on his following run he spun behind me on initiation giving me the 3rd place seat. Well done sir and congrats on 4th!

George Kilada and Danny battled for first, and George came up with the victory, you guys killed it! Very Well deserved George :)

I was super happy to get my first ever top drift podium, having never drifted in rain, in a borrowed car. It felt really really good to be up there and snag a trophy, Replay XD camera, and 60 bucks towards HPS hoses :)

Overall, one hell of an event put on by Charlie and the Just Drift Crew, thanks to the fans and judges who endured the cold to be out there with us.

The top 16 ended up like this:

1. George Kilada -100 pts
2. Danny Giraldo - 95 pts
3. Dan Brockett - 90 pts
4. Alex Villabrile - 86 pts
5. Eric Hill - 82 pts
6. Karl Osaki - 78 pts
7. Orlando Gamez - 74 pts
8. Luke Paluka - 70 pts
9. Jesse Vargas - 70 pts
10. Adam Levi - 62 pts
11. Andy Hately - 58 pts
12. Thomas Brownell - 54 pts
13. Kevin Arreola - 50
14. Chris Milano - 46
15. Darius Ghassemian - 42 pts
16. Gabe Behrens - 38 pts

Congrats to you all and see you at round 2!!!!

S13's interior and engine bay painted, 5 lug on

Busy busy busy weekend. Friday the car went into paint, and we started getting things ready early sat morning, then buggered off to a drift even at noon. Sunday, we mobbed all day long. More details on that below.

Drove the daily for a few laps, the seats suck really bad, but other than that even with the lack of power, she did great and I had a good time :) Driving Brians SC was a highlight of the day. Love that thing. I also sported my Icon helmet used in motorcycle vs car drift battle 2 :) Love that thing as well, thanks for hooking me up with it Icon!!!!!

Once again, without Car Crafters and more specifically Brian Dewitts help, none of this car would be possible. Period, end of story.

Sunday, we got the brake and clutch master cylinders in, and Brian knocked out some epic new brake hardlines. We also got all of the suspension swapped over, as well as the 5 lug, e-brake, brake bias adjuster, and dash. All thats left now is the motor, wiring, body panels and glass.

Pics! From white to almost neon yellow.

 

300zx brake booster and BMC, new CMC as well. 

Powered by MAX e-brake in and awesome.

Car is on all 4s, 5 lugged and ready for motor. 

Prepped for paint, and leady to lock! A visit from Ernie Vigil as well!

So I was hoping to get the car in and out of paint today, but sometimes things come up. Still a decent update, got a lot of the smaller things buttoned up, and the car and all of my wheels are now ready for paint :) As always, Brian mobbed like a boss on everything all the time.

The harness bar is welded in place, the plates in the back are tacked in, the Powered by Max hydro e-brake base is welded to the plate, holes poked in the floor during sound deadening removal are patched, all plastic clips are off, the raised section of floor where the cat used to live is pounded down. Brian loves his giant freaking hammer.

On Saturday the one and only Ernie "E-Dub" Vigil from Drift 2 stopped by and lent a hand. It was much appreciated good sir!!



I also had to order a few parts that got destroyed in the wreck... Like the brake booster and clutch master cylinder. Got a used z32 300zx one, and a fresh new CMC. Also ordered a new fuel pressure gauge since mine is so cloudy you can't read anything on it. Thanks to getting hooked up with Amsoil, I got some oil and trans fluids ordered as well.

On to pics!

Tunnel up!

Tunnel down!

Testing seat position with my Grip Royal wheel :)

Low rider

Harness bar welded in!

I had a ton of wheels to sand :(

Sanded and clean!

All the photos before this one were grainy, and I thought something was wrong with my phone, turns out it was dust... lol.

Welds R' Us

Powered by Max e-brake base all welded and sexy

top view for some reason

Sitting in the prep area, ready to get sprayed!

The rear.