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Soju

kr
Posts: 1247

Location: South Korea
Occupation: Smuggling Soju
Age: 122
V$: Broke
#155993   2019-05-11 18:51          
It was such a great experience to watch all the drifting cars in glory!

It would have been much better if we brought our drift cars, but being at the event itself was surely fun anyway :)

Added 25 seconds later:

# Lagano :

May the 4th be with you


Last saturday was one of the best ones ever! We were at a drift event in Stroud like you already heard from me or the other guys, we also got another visitor that joined us and even managed to get himself a car to drift! It was Franklin which was also coming from Japan but he actually originates from the USA. I guess this was kind of a home coming for him then, despite being in a different state. Anyway, let's move on to what was going on that day: We got to the track at around 8 in the morning, the event was scheduled at 10am but we took our time to set everything up. Yuan brought some tools and spare tires in the Silverado, then we set up the place and prepared the cars. That said, the ones on the track were me with the Chevelle, Muza with my AE86, and Ben with his C63 AMG, AJ and Marc were riding shotgun in some runs. Soju and 11k drove their cars to the venue but not for drifting, i guess their cars are not really made for that. They had a point though, because at every drift event here is also an impromptu car meet with the spectators' rides which can even turn out better than a fully organized one! That Supra and E36 grabbed a lot of attention for sure! :D


Muza and i did some warmup runs to get used to the car, track and everything. The track itself is actually just a huge skidpad with cones (and skid marks) marking the track layout. There are no curbs or any other things to hit so it's a great place to get a hang of drifting, that's also why i didn't worry about Muza driving the 86 haha. I've been driving it more on drift events lately but the corners here are quite wide and long so i thought i'd have some more fun with the Chevelle!


Several cars joined in soon, and there was a large variety of them! Well the majority was S13s and S14s but even those were modified in many different ways. Some were almost stock...


...and others were full blown drift cars, commonly with an LS swap. Speaking of that, there was also the Holley LS Fest in Las Vegas, Nevada. I was keeping an eye on that event too but why would you go all the way to Nevada if you have a local drift day? Still, i hope i can go check it out some day, with all the potential of the LS engine and its aftermarket i'd love to get some knowledge about it. You can definitely find something interesting there, for example a rotary powered Corvette :))


A few moments later Ben took his C63 to the track, at first everyone was so confused!! Sure, there are also a few stock cars but those are usually beaten up 240s or something equivalent. :P However after a few laps they saw that the Merc is a good contender even in stock form. It has the power, and Ben knew how to use it!


One of the more powerful stock cars was also this Camaro which was doing pretty well too! Like the C63 it's a heavy car to throw around but hey, everything can be drifted with enough skill!


I mentioned that Franklin got himself a car too, and he took it to the track pretty much right after buying it! :)) Well it's just a stock Mustang but he still managed to make some nice drifts, and not running over a crowd in the process.


When i stopped to change the Chevelle's tires i took a walk around to check out the cars and participants, i was interested in who's running in the competition too. I also saw this 240SX which was already familiar to me, and probably all the locals too. Its owner helps with organizing these events, i had a chat with him a few days before the event when registering for the competition. I was glad to see him in person too cause he's a pretty cool guy all about grassroots drifting, also named Ben! He lived in Japan for some time so when it comes to drifting he knows what's up! With that experience he wants to connect the American and Japanese car scene, and that's pretty much what i'm doing at the moment! :D Well in my case it's only for a few people but they should tell the tale to their buddies in Japan too. On the other hand Ben is trying to bring together as many people as possible by making drifting videos, check out his channel here!


Although he's really into the Oklahoma's drift scene and goes to all the local events, he's not going for the competition. He said it's not really his thing, and like i said he helps to get the event itself up and running. That doesn't mean he doesn't drift! His 240 is all set up for it with a wider and lower stance, great steering angle and even a LS1 swap. It's mostly stock and makes just enough power for drifting on small tracks, and it probably has more than enough torque to handle this one too! I like that despite being a drift car it keeps a clean look, well the Type X bodykit is quite mainstream but here it fits really well with the wide fenders and wing.


After some more chit chat we prepared for some tandem runs, we changed the rear wheels and we were ready to go!


Tandems were mostly present later in the competition, well i considered this as a practice run. Back in the day Ben has won a few competitions and drifted on many nearby events, it was obvious that he gained plenty of experience!




Then it was finally time for the competition. It was kinda like Formula Drift, lead/chase tandem runs with 3 judges picking the best driver after each round. Well it wasn't really FD in terms of the cars, drifting angle and proximity but it wasn't that far either! There were some very skilled drifters with heavily modified cars and it was quite a challenge to keep up with them!


After a few tandems and shredding a few sets of tires i ended up 9th! I'm actually quite impressed with the results, given that there were surprisingly many competitors. Also the Chevelle might've been too powerful for this track and it was a bit hard to control it sometimes. Then again, the 86 probably wouldn't cut it for this track either, i'll have to take advantage of it at OMC or Mac park though! Or maybe i need something to fill in the huge difference between it and the Chevy, something like this mildly tuned SC300 here. Now that i have a Supra for a drag car it surely tempted me to build my SC300 this way... :rolleyes:


Anyway, this was an awesome drift day as always, even if it's just a local thing it never fails to deliver! This year i hope i can be present through the whole season, not only because of the competition which adds a lot of excitement but also because of the cars, the people and the atmosphere! I think that's the biggest difference compared to more professional events, everything is more laid back which is totally my style.


*LINK* I also found some footage of the event, it has some great drone shots!