Picture Of The Day 11/4/09

News From The Gypsy Camp

For about the past year I have had talks with Chris Vriend from Canada about his car and the whole time his car had been down and not running. Well not that long ago he made it out to a drift event for the first time in a while. Even though Chris just got done with his car he is going to be tearing apart and doing even more work on it this winter. After asking a bunch of questions I finally got Chris to send me some pictures of the car in its current state, unfortunately Chris only has a camera phone so the pictures aren’t that great… But what else do you expect from a drunk Canadian that lives in a 5th wheeler?

I want some Model 5’s so bad!

After mentioning what I wanted to do with my car I was sent this picture and saw that Chris had already beaten me to it.

If you don’t know of Chris he actually had a red hatch before this coupe. When I asked Chris why he swapped cars this is what he had to say

“My old hatch, the retired one, had a lot of problems. Mainly the entire chassis was rewired, and totally wrong. Nothing worked or worked intermittently; on top of the massive amount of damage it had encored over the 6ish years I owned it, I had enough”

Chris also told me that he is going to be making accommodations 18’s up front because he thinks the 17’s look to small on the front. So when this thing is all done it should have 18’s on all four corners. I actually did some digging on my own to show how bad the red hatch got.

I fell in love with Chris’s car when it was at this point.

After hitting the wall at Cell Block D, the actual video of the wreck I’m talking about can be seen in the Comrades DVD, a new front end was in order and the car took on a new look.

And it looked bad ass! But Chris met up with the wall again…

I hope to be doing more of these car/driver spotlights over the winter so keep an eye out!

These kind of events would be awesome

For some reason I can’t get my mind off of the snow that is undoubtedly going to fall this winter. Thinking about the snow reminds me of some drift missions that took place and how fun they were. We were going for 5 hours and took a break because we needed to discuss what we wanted to do and after the second wreck we decided what it was time to call it a night. It didn’t matter that it was cold or that two cars got messed up that night we had a blast because there was a peaceful feel about everything. I would love it if the local tracks would allow us to drive there in the snow; it would be a really good time for people who want to learn car control to come out and it would also be a blast for everyone to get a 4AC power Corolla or a KA powered S13 and do no cage tandems. I mean look at this video and tell me that it wouldn’t be fun!

The snow would also make for some very cool action shots.

Local Shop: Garage Autohero

Some of you may have been to the shop in person and are friends with the owner Ray Stonehocker but others my only be familiar with his Datsun 510 that has popped up recently on sites such as Motor Mavens and Speedhunters. Ray is an amazing fabricator and welder; he is constantly turning out awesome quality work. Garage Autohero is a one man show meaning all the work that comes out of the shop is to Ray’s personal standards. Garage Autohero now has its own website where you can find out more information on what Ray can do for you.

http://garageautohero.com

Intec Test and Tune At Evergreen Speedway

On the 8th the local shop Intec Racing rented out Evergreen Speedway and held a privet test and tune day. The highlight and main reason for the event was Dean “Karnage” Kearney the 2009 Prodrift Super Series champion was testing out the Intec Racing Formula D S14.

Here is some raw footage that my good friend and team mate Anthony Carreon shot, thanks dude!

Local drivers Peter Funatake, Nik Jimenez, and Gleb Antonov were also in attendance and gave their cars one last good rip around the track before the good weather goes away for a few months.

And with that the 09 season is drawn to a close…

The last scheduled took place last weekend on the 4th out at Bremerton Motor Sports Park, the weather was super nice and for me the event had kind of a sad feel to it. I was surprised to see a very strong showing from the Canadian Midnighters, and was also surprised how few of the regulars showed up.

Nik Jimenez was out there with his new coupe all painted and lookin good!

Darren Kurtz had an awesome day and on many occasions had everyone yelling with excitement.

I loved to watch this Levin Coupe piloted by Odom Nov, this car made me realize how much I want to try out an 86.

I personally love to see Kenny Murray out there driving, He put in so much time at Evergreen Speedway with volunteer work that he doesn’t get to drive very much. Thank you Kenny for working hard so we can drive, just make sure to get yours more often!

More photos of Danny Sullivan can be found here http://www.flickr.com/photos/dsullivan/

Another AW Films Video!

The latest installment from AW Films. Enjoy

Up Coming Event: Bremerton Motor Sports Park

Just around the corner is one of my favorite events that we have in the northwest. September 6th SCCA Drift is going to be doing the “Big End” of Bremerton and for most drivers its their favorite section of the of the track. For more information and to register visit http://www.nwr-scca.org/Drifting/next-event.php be sure to register early to secure your spot!

Picture Of The Day 8/22/09

Picture Of The Day 8/15/09