Sep 29

Street Driven Tour X StanceWars – 2015

2015-09-26 15.51.17
Street driven was something random I never heard before or atleast came to Las Vegas, first off I tried really hard to get my s12 ready and yet when it came to I keep getting new problems. I have been working extremely hard getting my s12 ready and failed due to random problems that keep happening so never nor less my s12 did not make it like I wanted to and this being my birthday weekend it really has got me sad, I also got no family support so doing everything has been solo for me regardless how much this meant for me it was a fail. I can only do so much alone especially when I work during the days.

The event started at 10am, I showed up around 12 noon due to I slept in with very much needed rest. When I showed up, there was a lot of people as I expected a lot for the car show, others for the event. We had a few formula drift pro drifters out there shredding it up as I felt that Street Driven was a tour they put on in support for Formula Drift. I was loosing interest into the show mainly because of the mass amounts of LSx motors are running in this event, lsx swapped motor in a car is not a street legal car not in the state of Nevada that is unless allowed by DMV. Thus Street Driven was more of a show not about street driven cars.

Don’t get me wrong though, it was a fun show I wished there was more to it. I wished I would of had my car running in this event as I would of felt I would be the one S12 in the C class.

Stance wars was alright, alot I mean alot of BMW’s showed up in this one, it would of been nice to see like 4 isle of stance cars at this event though, as one time with Formula D when it was here in 2012 there wasn’t much and I went a head and took a sneak peak and parked my car next to them. 2015-09-26 13.42.46-2I was like notice me senpai notice me!

But as shown in this picture, there was a few nice cars out there I parked in the back out of the way as you may notice there isn’t a Toyota next to me or anything like that just chilling and thrilling.

There was a few nicely done VIP style Honda’s, 350z’s, and Subaru’s. A couple of datsun and a rat toyota truck.

I was actually stanced just in time actually for this event at least rocking new shocks and Canuck lowering springs all around. I was surprised the hits I got with my car how nice it was and so on. What was really funny was when the ae86 levin parked next to me they mistaken that as an s12. I kinda wished I would have had the time to washed her before I came to this event.

2015-09-26 14.47.13But still clean looking s12 sitting there I was trying to be off in the back away from others just to chill as it was my way to keep close to my car and chill.  The 86’s kept on showing up, as the day progressed there was 3 FT86’s and 1 AE86.

Back to the event, they had a few booths setup for selling T-Shirts and other “swag” as they call it.

They did a few parking sliding into the wall of boxes, and other MotoIQ Challenges with drifting a soccer ball into the goal, and around 6ish is when I left was the tire massacre where they burn out on a skid pad till the tires pop. That was when I seen it was a bit ok this is done with time to go before the traffic starts to get bad.

Overall it was nice to get out of the house and away from working in the garage for once. I wished my other s12 was up and running as I would have been getting some awesome seat time.

So far the gathering of photogalleries are the following

http://windinghighwaystudios.com/street-driven-stance-wars-car-show-las-vegas/

http://www.ulfelderphoto.com/blog/2015/9/27/street-driven-x-stance-wars-las-vegas-motor-speedway-92615

I have taken more pictures but they did not turn out as good as the above links. I will update when I find more.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.tougesw.com/street-driven-tour-x-stancewars-2015/

Mar 26

Spirit of the streets – Recap…

drifting spirits of the streets03/21/2015 is the day they had the event called Spirit of the streets hosted by Vegas Drift / Southwest Drift.

The course was designed for 3rd gear guys with some decent power, this case my car doesn’t like 3rd gear for long, but it can handle this course.  I think the first turn is a long sweeper and it is wide open designed for both style low powered and high powered cars is where it got me a bit confused.  If I take it too short in 3rd gear when I hit the turn too close to the inside cones I end up under-steering and if I take too far away and attempt to clip the cones as the wall I tend to loose power fast and down shift to 2nd and attempt to regain speed in which when doing so I end up spinning out. A few times I hit the whole course which was awesome.

2015-03-21 18.42.23I am still learning the ways finding the line and maintaining the line, but it doesn’t help when the cones created in such a way it confuses me, but I don’t care anymore if this was me last year I would be intimidated and stick to the wet course. But sometimes you Just have to figure it out when you get there and when you are there and found that solution use it and remember it. The Pro-Am / FD guys have been in the same situation with their 240 many moons ago, but they do their best on keeping the balance in all the things. VD team does their best as well, they are the legit team to keep up the grassroots in the Las Vegas Valley.

2015-03-21 22.30.27You are out there, out there to have fun and enjoy it. I thrive to get better and for me this is a solo road. I got this is my moto. I really have little to no support especially from my own family but that is what drives me today to become better because if I don’t self motivate myself in doing what I have passion for no one else will and if you can support yourself in doing so you are a very strong person for doing it, and knowing people see it and giving you kudos for showing up and how good you are doing shows a sign that you are in the right path and you can feel proud of your own self motivated accomplishments.

Here is a video of me in the course, it was one of the first runs of the day. (video courtesy of Stephen Kufchak)

Here is another video taken by my friend Stephen Kufchak.

About 8 runs in, I blew up my first set of tires. It was epic and awesome as it has been a while since I have successfully shredded a set of tires. That is how much I was determined on this track, I was ready, I wanted to learn my car even more and this day I have learned my car and have taken her to a potential of another change.  I will post up the new changes over on the GFunk Garage.

This event had a new change as it was not just a practice event, it was also a mini competition for street cars only. I spun out like a boss twice so I earned a 0, But hey… at least I tried.  On the good side I didn’t slam into the wall or destroyed my suspension pieces.

I will be uploading my videos from my GoPro by this weekend as I got some editing to finish. My youtube channel for more information. One day I will start a Vlog of these adventures, and on that note I am off till the next event.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.tougesw.com/spirit-of-the-streets-recap/

Mar 13

Vegas Drift – Spirit of the Streets

spiritofthestreets-march21stAnother nice event happening with Vegas Drift / SW Drift Series. This will be an interesting run as my turbo car is not ready and will not be ready by then as I wanted to be.

But yes, come out and enjoy I will most likely be the only s12 running.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.tougesw.com/vegas-drift-spirit-of-the-streets/

Mar 04

Vegas Drift Practice – Bullring lot on 02/21/2015

10981863_929838390389647_425351701830089923_nAbout this night practice event, it was to bring back some old school tracks. Not fully sure but I think this is coming more as a closure from the announcement from last year in regards to bringing more of an old school and limit the competition with Spirit of the streets, as I have taken notice with South West Drift is starting to launch off this year. Recently the forums has been taken offline I believe it is due to the Facebook groups has more traffic then the forums. Or is t in preparing for the newly to be launch Southwestdrift.com? With little details it is not much more then a rumor mill.

I ran my car that night, I didn’t have much tires but I am definitely back in the groove of things, That day started out rocky as I had to get 2 tires to replaced the recently burned up from best of vegas last year.

thumb.phpThe course was a bit different but it is a bit fun, I didn’t have to shift out of second gear, instead unless I spun out and I did so alot of times due to incorrect power or got thrown off by the misplacement of the cones. Starting off I was flying by the edge of my seat today, I headed over to LLantera to get some cheap tires and then from there I made it around 2:15 to check in and unload to get tech inspected, after the drivers meeting I head back to 7-11 on Craig and Las Vegas Blvd. From there I was greeted with 4 pan handlers asking for change and one was trying their hardest to get the 2 dollars in quarters that I had for air in my tires. They looked bad, looked like a witch from fairy tails all talking with desperation and with massive arm sores.

2015-02-23 20.16.152015-02-23 20.16.39

I had one great night of fun, alot of weight transfer and clutch kicking is my way tonight and multiple times I launched great but ended with a spin out or loosing my line due to a cone in the middle or somehow forgetting where I was located. I learned more with my cars control tonight, it felt great to have fun. Only issue I seen was how long it took per run. I was waiting at least 15 – 20 minutes per run but I had atleast 20 runs that night my gopro only got about 13 runs.

Also I want to shoutout to this guy, as it made my day to hear stuff like this and read it on instagram via #vegasdrift hashtag.

 

Permanent link to this article: http://www.tougesw.com/vegas-drift-practice-bullring-lot-on-02212015/

Feb 11

Vegas Drift – SW Drift Series.

Vegas Drift is doing the South West Drift Series in Arizona for its round 1 in the ProAm series.

The Southwest Drift Series – ProAm 2015 Rd 1 Phoenix AZ 2/14/15

 What: PhoenixProAm Round 1 (Competition)

Where: Bob Bondurant’s West Road Course

When: February 14th 2015 (Saturday) 6:30am-5pm

Cost: $165.00 online Pre-Registration until 2/7/2015

Day of event registration $185.00  – Event capped at 60 drivers

Venue Gate Fee: $10.00 – Children Under 12 $5.00

Course Configurations:  – Bondurant West Road Course – Clockwise (Long Slide Entry)

http://www.vegasdrift.com/store/index.php/event-registration/the-southwest-drift-series-proam-2015-rd-1-2-14-15-phoenix-az-at-bondurant-west.html

Permanent link to this article: http://www.tougesw.com/vegas-drift-sw-drift-series/

Feb 11

Vegas Drift Schedule – new mini series

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Vegas Drift has split its ProAm up with a new focus called Spirit of the Streets mini series. This is geared towards the grassroots of learning and fun with out the full rules of ProAm and not as competition with the vast iconic cars with the LSx swap or high powered Toyota engine 2jz making even the great drivers to push their current configuration to the edge and no longer it is  fun. VD staff sees this and their answer is the Spirit of the Streets this year for mini in Vegas events as they progress with the South West ProAm series for Formula D license race.

I drive the Nissan RPS12 1987 SEv6 200sx and for me I am excited to see the spirits of the streets, it is a great practice ground for both fun and competition.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.tougesw.com/vegas-drift-schedule-new-mini-series/

May 27

Working on something new.

Working on a new design and new feel on this new business venture here.

  • New design is live, just need to fix the colors.
  • Store Front is coming
  • A lot of sections to be filled.

No forums, we are directing away from this due to the massive amount of spam bots. I do have a private facebook group for TougeSW that I will publish shortly for anything social media related.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.tougesw.com/working-on-something-new/