Author Message

BigSmoke

id
Posts: 844

Location: Indonesia
Occupation: Following Those Damn Trains
Age:
V$: Broke
#361   2019-07-28 17:59          
# Sleepin mOnkey : mah boy you seem to be rippin those cars without a doubt r34 must be way better with a spooly boi now we should rip he and the vert some time or maybe a gotbi ver meet tho

I really love ripping these cars man, they're a blast to drive! :cheers:
The HR34 felt compeletely different with the snail added on but it's quite fantastic as well! :D

And yeah we gotta meet up for a vert meet man! :cheers:

# RocketBunnyS13 : AYYYY that was an epic Tsukuba update! Damn I was just there with my S14, didn't get a chance to see you sadly. ER34 needs that turbski yo! And for suspension work I HIGHLY recommend 326Power Chakuriki GT+S Coilovers. Also rad to see Rifky's DC5 (best one on the forums!) and Muzahid's E46 (hottest one on the forums!) getting some track time.

EXTRA EPIC INDEED! :cheers:
Oh so you were there too man? I swear I didn't see your S14 though, but I think Muza eventually did. Let's wait for his words shall we :D
326 stuff should fit Kaede and probably the HR34 very well, might as well try it! :D
I'm glad I've got to see Rifky's DC5 and Muza's E46 again, as well as running along beside them in different environtments! :D


And YAY FINALLY NEW PAGE! It should be now easier to load this thread without literally a ton of pics, soz for that :))

# BigSmoke :
Two Sides of the Coin











With the rest week over, it is time to get back into the action one more time!
And this time I'm not alone as some of my friends joined into the action as well!
And uh, there's also something I should tell you as well. Don't worry, nothing big actually.
But as usual, let's delve into them by checking the update below!














[24 Jun 2019]
Paycheck time! Yap another V$940 landed safely into my pocket as usual. As you might remember form the last update, Rifky(Shez) has agreed to enter the third round of Eastern Kanto Circuit Trial Championship with me, and I offered to pay the registration fee for him as well. To my delight, he agreed and seemed enthusiastic about it. After all it's been a while since the last time he had a proper trackday, and it seems his DC5 has been undergoing a major upgrade as well. So obviously it needs a proper proving ground to see how the upgrades affected his DC5.

So before I register myself and Rifky into the event, I asked him over the details of himself and his DC5 so I can accurately enter them in order to be assigned into one of the four classes of EKCTC. Turns out Rifky still has his MSV-issued MSA UK racing license he brought over from England, which can be used as a replacement of JAF license that is required to enter. It is a good thing JAF is kind enough to accept and evaluate international racing licenses, as well as national racing licenses from other countries. Seeing as his license came from the home of lots of motorsport discipline and series, including Formula 1 and rallycross racing, and the one issuing the license is a well-known name in UK Motorsport as well (they own Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Donington Park, and Cadwell Park to name a few. The owner is the Palmer family, whose dad(Jonathan) and son(Jolyon) has raced in F1), I'm pretty sure Rifky's chance to qualify for the event is more than absolute ;)

Ah yes, if you didn't remember the class system, let me refresh your memory again:
NT1: <=1600cc Road cars, including MX-5s of all generation, but no VTEC/MIVEC/Similar sytsem allowed
NT2: <=2000cc 2WD and 4WD Road cars
NT3: >2000cc 2WD and 4WD Road cars, as well as rotary-engined cars
AT: Anything from above-well, pretty much anything with automatic transmission

As per usual my Silver Queen will enter the NT3 class. And seeing as Rifky's DC5 is equipped with K20A engine, you'd expect him to enter NT2 class right? Well turns out Rifky had installed a stroker kit inside his DC5 like I did to my Evo, therefore bumping him into the NT3 class. Yep, not only I've got companion for this round, he'll be racing in the same class as me! :D As for the stroker kit, I'll let him tell you about it some time.

And as the last step, I asked him to pick a number he likes as his car's start number. In the end he picked number 5, and fortunately no one has picked it yet. Speaking of which, JAF and it's sanctioned series and auto clubs would usually differ numbers that has the same value but different number of digits. So in this case, had someone picked '5' for Rifky's start number, he could alternatively pick '05' or '005' instead. And with everything sorted, I sent him the directions to Tsukuba Circuit for the main event at Thursday. And oh, the registration costed me V$340 in total.

"Hang on Smoke, a race at Thursday?" Well yes- "I though races are held at weekends?" WELL YES, it's at Thursday since the track is used for D1GP season opener (though technically it's been opened with an exhibition at Odaiba) at both Saturday and Sunday, where D1GP will have a double-header event there. Actually this year's D1GP calendar composed almost entirely of double-header events, with the final round at Autopolis being the only single event. In total there will be seven rounds held at Tsukuba, Tokachi Speedway, Ebisu and Autopolis. Back to the calendar issue, this results in some trackday events and the Circuit Trial to be rescheduled earlier, except for those that takes place at the 1000 Junior course and the Gymkhana lot course.

After registering both of us, I surfed the internet for a while and found an announcement: To celebrate the D1GP opener, there will be an open drift session at Tsukuba Circuit at Friday evening, when all the D1 teams have finished unloading their cars and finished their track walks and/or paid practices. The session runs for a full hour from 16.00 to 17.00, and all kinds of drift cars are free to join. With this in mind, and having never drifted at Tsukuba despite experiencing multiple trackdays and competitive events, I decided to join in the fun. But I would like to have someone to share the fun and delivering inputs to my HR34, so I hatched a plan..........

"Yo Muza(Niatross), it's me Edo. Hopefully I don't disturb your work at Omori"
"Oh hey Edo! Don't worry man, I'm pretty much finished for the day. Sup?"
"So I've come across this event announcement, a drift day at Tsukuba"
"Ooooo interesting, when is it?"
"Friday this week at evening. I'm sure you've finished working by then"
"Probably, but chances are I indeed have. I think I could join in"
"YAY! But how about the others?"
"AJ had his own dose of Tsukuba drift already, and he's restoring his RS13U at the moment. As for Marc, you know him"
"Ah I see......so it's only you and me then?"
"Yeah, I'm afraid"
"It's okay though, see ya at Friday my man!"
"See ya there boi"


So there you go, Muza has agreed to join me as well. For the rest of the day, I tried doing Ziga(Lagano)'s suggestion of peeling Kaede's rubber trim (the 240SX vert, if you're wondering) for a cleaner look. After some amount of fuel to remove the glue and polish to refine the results, safe to say he's right indeed. The clean 90s kyusha vibe is even stronger with this one ;)


I plan to attach this slap sticker on Kaede as well, which features......someone named Kaede. Would this fit the vert or should I leave it clean? Let me know! (And my stickers collection has just been updated, feel free to look at and/or pick them here!)



[26 Jun 2019]
Finally, after a loooooooong wait, all of the original parts of Kaede the vert I've put for sale has been sold, netting me a grand total of V$800. But if you're looking for other parts from me, don't worry, chances are some are coming soon to the parts classifieds. Here, I give you a bit of hint: I'm considering to change the wheels of my Silver Queen and HR34.

For the Silver Queen, after hearing suggestions from Muza and AJ(RocketBunnyS13), it looks like I'm going to switch into Volk ZE40s. They're strong track wheels, can be ordered in dark colours at no additional price, and more importantly, 0.5 kg/wheel lighter than the TC105Ns I currently use. The weight saving might be meagre on paper, but hey, in motorsport, every gram counts. And the wheel design itself actually looked like TC105N in some ways. I'm automatically sold.

For the HR34, I've been aspiring to fit Advan TC3s on it. It looks quite fitting and cool to be fit on R34s and drift cars in general. It's ultra strong and quite sturdy for drifting purposes. Normally they're available in gloss or chrome finishes, and I'm seeking the chrome one to complement the HR34's current simple look.

The only problem would be I can't actually buy them yet. Both wheels are rather expensive and I'm aiming to save some money in order to continue the progress of my S15 TA build, which now focused on aero works first. Oh well, to the wishlist they go.


[27 Jun 2019]
IT'S RACEDAY! Just like at the round 2, the Circuit Trial race is held by Team Magnus Auto Club (TMAC). The circuit trial starts after lunch, with driver's briefing held at 11.30, so I don't need to go at early morning. After preparing my race suit and spares as usual, I went off from my crib to Tsukuba Circuit at 09.30. Thankfully brunch time means traffic wasn't so crowded. It was a hot day though, so AC is deployed on full power. Summer has come indeed, and it isn't being kind to me so far.

After arriving to the circuit's gate to pick up the timer beacons and number stickers, I went to the paddock to apply them. This time, I was beaten to my favourite parking spot. But the good thing is, it's Rifky who occupied it! I'm glad he eventually made it to the event! So I giddily parked my Evo beside his DC5, which already has race number stickers attached on the doors. Admittably, my Silver Queen looks timid when it's parked beside the DC5, which turns out has undergo huge changes aside from the stroker kit. Just look at that beauty! :D

"RIFKY MY MAAAAAAAAAN! Finally you're here!"
"AAAAAY EDO! I'm glad I could be here man, the cars here are awesome man! Are they going to race as well?" *points at other cars*
"Most likely so. Ah anyway how's the trip from Tokyo?"
"Had to go from Gunma to Tokyo yesterday evening, which was pure hell. But today's ride to Tsukuba is much better"
"Ah did you drive on the expressway as well?"
"Oh yes! That's pure joy as well, though I can't go as quick as I expected due to traffic. And uh, one thing"
"What is it?"
"Do you know how to install these?" *hands the timer beacons*
"Oh sure sure, let me install it for you. Watch and learn"


And so, I installed the timer beacons to Rifky's DC5 before installing mine to my Evo, as well as applying number stickers to it as well. And then I went off to the bathroom to answer my call of nature, and then to the locker to change into my racing suit. If you're wondering, Rifky has his own gloves and boots, but he simply wears long sleeves and jeans to race. As for the helmet, he rented one from the equipment rental, which is located beside the circuit's canteen. To kill time before the driver's briefing starts, we had some chatter with other drivers and attending enthusiasts and fans, as well as introducing Rifky to the amateur competition world.


11.30
Driver's briefing started and our cars are put under parc ferme condition. For the format of the race, as I've explained before, racers are given only one session to score their time, which consists of five laps: One to get off the pits and warm up, three to score your time, and one to get back into the pits. And as usual we're spilt into some groups of 2-3 cars for the running.

There are 30 cars for the day, which consists of 12 NT3 cars including mine ad Rifky's, 10 in NT2 and 8 in NT1. Understandably and for obvious reason, there's no entry in the AT class. Rifky will start 5th, while I'll start 10th. Thankfully we'll run the cars after lunch so there are still some time to have lunch and do the last-minute preparations before getting into the car. And it looks like Rifky enjoyed the lunch menu a lot here! :D


12.45
It's time to race! Because he's running earlier, Rifky already lined up at the pit exit. As for me, I'm still waiting at the pitlane with AC on full blow. Of course I already told Rifky to turn off his.

Pit lights went green and Rifky's on his way to set his first lap of Tsukuba. Although we had a thorough discussion over how the track goes along the day, we didn't have any sort of track walks, and as I've mentioned he never had a track day here or anywhere else in Japan, so I was a bit worried. I can only hope he could learn quickly.

Loud engine blares were heard from distance and Rifky blasted past the main straight, marking his first hot lap here. His DC5 sounded like an angry legion of hornets with the new stroker. Then he enters T1, fighting understeer in the process.


In the process Rifky seems to learn quickly and produced blistering lap times. I don't have stopwatch on my hands so I have to do by counting with fingers, but from what I can tell he's adapting quickly and his lap times are relatively fast.


In his last final hot lap I had a good feeling this would be his fastest, so naturally I screamed "COME ON BOY PUSH NOW!" internally as he started the lap. Not sure how this ended up at the moment, but of course we'll get to this later.

Finally, Rifky finished his first day at Tsukuba and scored his first lap times. He went for a cooldown lap and returned to the pits. And with the next group running for the track, I turned my Evo's AC off and my group prepares ourselves in the pit exit.



13.10
With the group before us finished their hotlaps, as they went past T1, lights went green and we were off for our session. Here we go for the last laps before summer break kicks in! And oh, the weather might be cloudy when it's my turn to run, but weather forecasts shows no sign of rain. The air was still hot as well, giving one last sauna torture inside my Silver Queen.


START!
It looks like lowering my Evo does have a good effect for it, as my exit for the last corner went much faster and stable. Though this means I have to modify my approach for most of the hairpins so far, I really hope to improve my laptime this time, even if I can't touch 58 seconds territory here.


First impression felt quite good nonetheless, boosting my confidence. This might ended up as my best lap I've ever had. But for now, I gotta curb my enthusiasm. Particularly since both the air and asphalt are hot, frying me, my engine and my tyres simultaneously like I've been thrown into a huge oven.


Lap 2
Lap 1 went very well, much better than I expected. This made my pace for Lap 2 felt better as well, and I've adapted my driving style over the lowered suspensions quickly. Now I've got the clear idea how to drive the Silver Queen even faster.


Now, I have absolutely no idea if this setting will be friendly with other tracks, like, say, Nikko, but so far it doesn't compromize me on public roads (though obviously it absolutely dislikes potholes now) and look, it suits Tsukuba much better, so I guess I'll keep my Silver Queen this way (apart from the ZE40 switch plans obviously).



Lap 3
Final lap! As usual I tried to give all I could so score one more laptime, since it could be a game changer. Since it's very hot inside at the moment, I tried to regulate my breathing in order to keep my concentration and rythm around the track. This is one hell of an unhealthy sauna I should tell you, but nevertheless it's fun and I enjoyed it! :))


As I reached the back straight, everything felt like it's almost disappear, as if I warped into another place with the raucuous, screaming 4G63 engine as the soundtrack. Thankfully, I was still aware enough to notice the final corner. Though does this translate into a fast lap remains to be seen.


Finally, I crossed the line. I took a deep breath and almost choked by my own breath after crossing the line. Cue myself heavily coughing as I enter T1. Thankfully it doesn't turn into something worse, and thus I returned into the pits safely.

14.30
Finally, everyone has fnished running despite some yellow flags in between and the last car has returned to the pits. I and Rifky went to the stewards office to return the timer beacons. Then as we wait for the final results to be announced, I and Rifky had more and more banters with other drivers as we compared our laps and experience, as well as with other enthusiasts and fans.

And for once, Silver Queen received not a lot of attention. The star of the paddock definitely was Rifky's DC5. Rifky turned out to be a fast newcomer, as well as his DC5 looks very fit for purpose, which of course is a perfect recipe to grab instant fame here :))

15.30
The results are here! Let's see how I and Rifky did for this event........................

First off, Rifky's result.
Lap 1 = 1 minute 03.328 seconds
Lap 2 = 1 minute 01.667 seconds
Lap 3 = 1 minute 01.527 seconds

That last lap's time was great enough for him to secure 9th place in class and 10th place overall! And turns out he was the fastest FWD driver of the day as well, though sadly there's no honor for that and he was actually the sole FWD entry of our class. But this proves that Rifky's competence, skills and potential are a lot and is definitely one to watch should he ever make a comeback. I'm glad his first track time in Japan actually ends up very well! And as the reward for finishing in those positions, Rifky receives 2 points in the class standings, 1 point in the overall standings, memorabilias from TMAC as the host of the event, as well as V$100 for the class result and another V$100 for the overall result. I'm not sure if he'll ever going for a TA event again, but if he does, he might still be able to qualify for the championship standings.

And now, my own result.
Lap 1 = 59.534 seconds
Lap 2 = 59.193 seconds
Lap 3 = 58.992 seconds

OH HOLY S**T WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT! The lowering upgrade actually works very, very well indeed! I never expected to touch the 58 seconds territory yet I actually (barely) did it! But what's more unbelievable is this: That lap was enough to have me finish at 3rd place, both in class and overall!! I seriously can't believe this! Not only I have scored a new personal best, I also have set my best racing result so far. Everyone who knows me from the Tsukuba CIrcuit Trial Series and some other, including Rifky, congratulated me for the result. We in turn also congratulated Rifky as well for his spectacular debut.

As for me, here's what I net: I received 15 points for both the class standings and overall standings. This gave me a huge bump at both standings, where now I'm sitting 6th in class and 8th overall. I also received bronze medal for the class podium, as well as a trophy (finally!) for the overall podium. As for the monetary prizes, I won V$750 for the class result and V$1000 for the overall result.

After the podium celebration, I and other drivers celebrated the result. But being a regional event, there was no champagne to be found even for the official podium ceremony, so we have to substitute the champagne with lots of soft drinks bought by the drivers bar me and Rifky. Cue myself and other winners having a Sprite and 7up bath thanks to Rifky and other drivers spraying them for us for the rest of the evening :)) Thankfully, this was done near the canteen, so our cars were safe from the soda torture. After washing my hair in the bathroom and one last call of nature, I and Rifky left the track, with me still in my wet racing suit and Rifky totally being wet from his sweat and the soda sprays.


[28 Jun 2019]
With the grip action over, it is now time for going sideways! As I've mentioned earlier, the event starts at 16.00 so I can go to the track a bit later. But here's a problem: Tsukuba is a pretty fast track even for grip purpose, while so far my HR34 has only drifted at Nikko, which has much slower character. I'm not sure how much power my HR34 currently rolls on, but I reckon it might be too slow for going around the track, let alone going sideways around the track. Thankfully though I still saved the RB25DET turbo from AJ, which still has the OEM turbo and pipings set on. As a precaution should my hipothesis comes true, I brought them along to the track.

When I come to the track, my usual spot has been occupied again, but this time it's Muza and his E46 that occupies it. Just like Rifky's DC5, Muza's E46 has undergo a lot of changes since the last time I saw them. Now it wears full-on CSL kit, sitting on R34 stock wheels, had a custom exhaust and obviously sitting ultra low with lots of camber around. I though this thing was going to be a grip build! The Bavarian Knight has undergo a complete diversion it seems.



As we waited for the track to be green-lit for the run, I and Muza spent some time chattering about the HR34, the changes done on the M3, and my podium the day before. Muza had a rather busy day at Oomori it turns out, and he's still a bit tired. So he told me that he'll going down to the track, but only for several laps to assess the M3 after all the upgrades done to it.

16.00
Eventually, we're ready to run. Muza told me to run first, and he'll catch up later as he opted to do some final adjustments. And so, I lined up at the pit exit.

Lights went green and I went.......into a pool of issues. Of course I can't immediately going sideways at T1, but for the chicane afterwards it didn't have the power to go sideways. Even it has none for the hairpin, which prompts me to pull the handbrake. And it's not a hydro handbrake, so keeping up with the car's rythm is a bit difficult. The power issue bugged me so much eventually I didn't take the final corner sideways in fear of crashing or gravel bathing.


I tried to do a walltap as well. It was successful........kinda. I also failed to do a proper manji entry as I almost cannonballed the HR34 into T1 with somehow entirely locked wheels. This almost destroyed the car and myself. Eventually I can define the problem: The car could pull a drift, but so far I have a problem on holding it sideways.


How about Muza, you ask? Iit looks like he had fun in the E46 even if it's only for while. He were flowing nicely in the E46, frying the tyres like a five-star Michelin star restaurant chef (no, he didn't use Michelin Pilots sadly). Even though E46 is a rare species to be drifted around Japan, it feels like home going sideways here. Ad Muza is arguably the first guy to properly fling an E46 here: Well there was Ryuji with his own E46, but his drift were a form of save from a spin in a grip trackday, so that can't be counted I guess.


He also didn't hold back when it come to the approach of the last corner and T1, where not only he deliviered a lightning fast drift at the last corner, he chained it with a reverse entry at T1! As you can guess, this prompted a fair amount of cheering and hollering from everyone at the paddock. All in all, Muza let himself and his E46 loose and wild once more even though he only went into the track for a while.



After some time, I had enough with the lack of power in the HR34, so I went back into the pits. Shortly after Muza went back as well.

And so, I and Muza spent some time installing and prepping the turbo kit into the RB20DE engine to make a quick solution over the lack of power. We did this quite quickly, as if we're a pit crew in an endurance race. So We gut the front a bit to ease the process........

......install the turbo and the piping, and return the body parts. It is a good thing that RB20, RB25 and RB26 has the same head construction so their parts can be mixed and matched easily and saves quite a lot of time and effort on installing them, as I've once explained here. Welp, the installation might felt like a makeshift lab grade work, but hey, at least it (might just) works.

As we've done the work, Muza was suddenly approached by someone that by the looks of it might has connection to or working for ASSIST, a famous Japanese tuner house that usually works on BMWs. Muza told me he had enough for the day and will wait for me in the paddock while he has a banter with the ASSIST representative. Well I don't mind really, so I went back to the pitlane to enjoy the rest of the allocated time. Noticeably though the car now backfires at some time. Maybe because it still runs NA internals while being turboed.

The turbo installation really has it's magical effects to the car's performance and behaviour. Not only now it's much, much faster, it's also a bit more rowdy and keen to go sideways. This results in much easier and controllable drifts......and also a lot of backfires in between. And oh, also my first reverse entry as well! :D


This also allows me to do what Muza did before: Have a fast drift at the last corner, connect it with a manji and walltap and the main straight, and connect it with a drift around T1. Previously it was pretty much impossible to do, but now? It's a piece of cake arguably, though admittably I'm still a bit too afraid to do a wall tap. I guess I grew up loving this thing soooo much......time for a new missile I guess? Preferably with a car I could feel less remorse when I crash it of course.



The drift day gave me quite an insight of how to enjoy Tsukuba in a different, brand new way. Drifting here requires a different mindset and approach compared to when I have a track day here. But despiyte this, I still could have fun and enjoy the ride along the way. Just like those two sides of a coin.



17.00
Finally, the alloted time to run is over. I went back to the pits to meet Muza and uninstalling the turbo. Yes, it might be powerful and helps me on drifting faster (and going faster in general), but it seems like it had some arguments with the egine internals given the constant backfiring it results along the run.

After a short evaluation over my HR34 and Muza's E46, we parted ways to our own cribs. Speaking about the turbo, I want to have them again, but I gotta balance the setup first. And I guess it is time to have a proper brakes, handbrake and suspension setup for the HR34. But uh, there are still lots of things I have to sort first.


[01 Jul 2019]
Paycheck time again! Yup another V$940 landed on my wallet safely, as well as the monetary prizes from the Eastern Kanto Circuit Trial Championship. For July and August there will be no time attack action at all at both Tsukuba and Nikko as Japan enters summer break. Both are still open for track days though, but so far I have no plans to do one in either locations. I would like to have another tour to Tokyo as well, but it looks like Muza will face busy days at Omori as Nissan drivers seeking summer discounts on parts, AJ still have to sort his RS13U and Marc will either have a trip to Europe again or finishing one of his cars.

As for my own group......Kenichi has returned to Ooarai for the summer break, Rantaro is going to Okinawa again wih his now-fiancee (I'm happy for him!), Ryuji and his sister, Ryoko, is going to New Zealand for the vacation season and Genzo is going back to......somewhere I can't remember in the Kanagawa region. I could go somewhere else like to a beach or a touge route alone, but currently I don't really want to. I need to save my money and admittably I'm yearning for some time of peaceful rest.

I'm still going to reply your messages here, just expect a less frequent amount of updates or even no updates at all. And don't worry, I'm only resting for a while. I'll be back in action and resuming regular update schedule at one of these dates:
-10 August 2019, Ebisu Summer Drift Matsuri preps and main event, probably using HR34 or something else
-23 August 2019, something I can't be sure to happen yet
-23 September 2019, 4th round of Tsukuba Circuit Trial Series

From my lovely and comfy crib, I wish you all a happy, joyful, and memorable summer holiday. Stay safe and healthy, and have fun! :cheers:
















Welp finally finished the last update before the summer break!
Now though, time to see how my wallet prepares for the summer break (counted per July 6th):

















That's all my updates for now, thank you for stopping by and see you soon!

This post was edited by BigSmoke (2019-07-28 18:05, ago)
Still following the damn train since 1992

Visit my RP HERE!

tyretear

tr
Posts: 423

Location: Turkiye
Occupation:
Age: 23
V$: 3978 V$
#362   2019-07-28 21:50          
man your cars look fire! esspecially that evo is an absoulte sleeper!

BigSmoke

id
Posts: 844

Location: Indonesia
Occupation: Following Those Damn Trains
Age:
V$: Broke
#363   2019-07-29 09:42          
# tyretear : man your cars look fire! esspecially that evo is an absoulte sleeper!

Thanks my man! :cheers:
Sometimes I still can't believe that I would turn my Evo from a track day-capable daily car to a compeititve TA racer. And it's actually still dailyable! :)) (though these days the job alternates between it and the HR34, and I guess I've favored the HR34 along the summer break)
Still following the damn train since 1992

Visit my RP HERE!

Alex876

jm
Posts: 356

Location: Jamaica Swift Tune JA
Occupation: Putting illegal camber on cars
Age: 23
V$:
#364   2019-07-29 13:57          
Running good times in the Evo great work!

BigSmoke

id
Posts: 844

Location: Indonesia
Occupation: Following Those Damn Trains
Age:
V$: Broke
#365   2019-07-29 17:38          
# Alex876 : Running good times in the Evo great work!

Aye thanks my man! :cheers:
Still following the damn train since 1992

Visit my RP HERE!

BigSmoke

id
Posts: 844

Location: Indonesia
Occupation: Following Those Damn Trains
Age:
V$: Broke
#366   2019-08-05 19:05          
Heavenly Ocean











Summer has came close to its latter half......and here I am, spending almost the entirety of it alone in my crib.
And as you'd expect, I'm deeply bored to the brink of death. I'm barely seeing the sunlight everyday.
But then, came an offer to spend some time outside, and boy what an offer it was!
Well let's jump into the update to see what offer was it shall we? :D













[25 Jul 2019]
Summer holiday has come close to its second half. But here I am, doing almost nothing every single day so far. Admittably, I planned to simply not going anywhere during the holiday, since I was quite exasperated from all the time attack action along the year. I mean, I didn't expect to have myself being a dedicated racing driver earlier this year, and my decision to become one stems from scoring a decent result in one event :)) Not that I'm mad or regretting it, I'm just.......didn't have the proper physical form to race. I mean you rarely see fat bois racing cars right? :)) Bu tnot gonna lie, eventually I grew bored and want to go somewhere as I barely see the sunlight these days. Oh how I long for a nice, quiet bath for an entire day in the hot springs.....

As for everyone else, they're either quite busy or going somewhere else around the world. Muza(Niatross), for example, is currently having a huuuge amount of service bookings and upgrade requests on his hands. Whether Nismo is offering summer discounts I really don't know, but of course people wants to ride their beloved rides during summer. As for AJ(RocketBunnyS13), he's juggling responsibilities between managing his law firm and continue to refine his S15, which came out quite stunning and savage like an action movie heroine. I heard his little brother (Brian 06) will be at town as well, so they might as well realize that Takahashi bros racing dreams :)) As for Marc(Macaron_moon), at this point you'll know that he's an enigmatic person. He might be either still refining his Evo X or going somewhere around the world to gather parts for it. I heard his Evo X is slated to be a Tsukuba challenger, hmmmm.......

I was going to get my dinner when my phone rang loudly. It was Rantaro calling, straight from Okinawa. I wonder what is he up to these days?

"Edo here"
"Yooo Edo-kun how's it going?"
"All is good my man, apart from I'm being home alone these days"
"Aaaaah you poor boy, get some girls or something! You sounded mellow man"
*chuckles* "Nah man it's just that I haven't had dinner"
"It's quite scorching here in Okinawa but I've some hot and good news for you?"
"Oh yeah? Tell me tell me"
"First off, I didn't expect to find a wheel fabricator here! So I immediately ordered a set for my Merc II"
"Oh great! How much is it?"
"V$3000"
"That's quite hefty for a set of wheels I'd say, but I believe they're high quality"
"Of course they are, and they specialize in retro styles as well. And for the second one, I've imported a car"
"BOI FINALLY YOU DID IT YAY! What is it?"
"Merc W140 straight from Poland. They're quite cheap but in decent condition"
"That's quite far away! Anyways price doesn't matter at this point, did your missus know about this?"
"Well, nah" *laughter* "I don't really want to tell her about this man, she might be mad if I do"
"Gotta keep the missus happy I see. Man I can't wait to see both your Merc II and, at last, a legit Merc"
"Yeah sure man, they'll come soo-ah sorry man, gotta cut this. Gotta drive again. See ya later man"
"See ya later, be safe my man"


Turns out Okinawa is full of unexpected things I should say! I might include visiting Okinawa to my to-do list. And of course I can't wait to see his Merc.

Before I get my first spoonful of food into my mouth I get another call. Normally I would pick the call in annoyance, but because it turns out Ryuji is the one who called me straight from New Zealand, I fixed up my mood and picked up the call in a better manner.

"Aaaah Ryuji-san, Edo here"
"Edo-kun! How's it going boy?"
"Quite well really, just...being home alone here"
"Man I wish you were here, New Zealand is soooo astonishing even in this cold winter!"
"O-oh yeah, I heard it's winter down there. How cold is it over there?"
"I still could stand it but I don't think Ryoko could. Ryoko, say hello to Edo here" ("AAAAA SENPAI IT'S COLD OUT HERE HELP!"-Ryoko)
*laughter* "Get some hot tea, chocolate or coffee, guys. I don't want y'all turn into ice blocks"
"Well we're in our 3rd cup of cappucino as we speak"
"Woah mama! If you guys can get a grea amount of sleep hours later that'll be a huge miracle"
"Well I guess so. Anyway, I found a seemingly good gem for my collection here"
"Oh really? What is it? Rantaro told me he imported a W140"
"Ooooo that's quite a tasty import. Mine is.....I'm sure you know about E36 Compact"
"OHOHOHOOO the compact boi! Quite an opinion-splitter, but much better than the E46 ones"
"I can agree over that. But listen, I got the M-Sport ones!"
"WOAH YES! Wait which one is it?"
"The 318 ones I should admit. But hey, it's a rare commodity in Japan nevertheless. I might going to track or drift it"
"Competitive? Grassroots? Missile?"
"Most likely missile, so Ryoko could learn to drive as well" ("EEEEEEEH?!"-Ryoko)
"That's a good idea actually. Gotta let her drive, probably you should have her to the track as well"
*laughter* "Oh sorry man, gotta drive back to our place. See ya later man"
"See ya"


Welp, another one with another purchase. What's with all the sudden import spree? :)) But not gonna lie I'm happy for them. And yeah, I really want to visit New Zealand some time. And with the end of that phone call, I enjoyed my dinner.

After finishing my dinner and just when I'm about to lie on my bed, another phone call strikes in. It's from Sera, Hinako's sister. It's been a loooooong time since I spoke with either Sera or Hinako. But what Sera is up to? It's rather unusual that she called me.

"Yuan Edo's residence here, anything I can help?"
"Oh hello, Sera-san here. Are you in town currently?"
"Yup, I'm in town and free along the summer. In fact I'm not going anywhere along the holiday season"
"Ah, glad you're here then. Speaking of which, why did you do that?"
"Ah, nothing, it's just.....I needed a long rest. Things has been intense in my end. But I've been resting for too long, so anything I can help for you?"
"Can you drive with me again? Nothing serious, just a vacation trip to Ooarai Sun Beach"
"Oh good, I can do that! So we'll be going with Hinako as well?"
"Yes, and her two friends. They haven't had a break after lots of exams and uni preparations so I thought they have to go for a vacation"
"I feel for them, you're actually quite wise. As for yourself? How's your holiday?"
"Sadly I had none so far, too many cases from clients. It has just been solved recently, so I thought I should take one soon"
"Ouch, I feel for you as well. You deserve a rest indeed"
"Even driving from one place to another is a chore these days, which is why I ask your help"
"Aaaaah I see. Don't worry, I absolutely want to help you with that. Ah yes, so when I should drive for you?"
"This weekend, we'll go at early morning. Is that okay with you?"
"All good ma"am" *chuckles*
"And oh, we'll be staying there for a day, so you'd better prepare some spare clothes as well"
"Good idea actually. And idea where would we stay?"
"Not yet, but I'll look for one-"
"Sorry to interrupt, but I have a local frind there, he might be able to help both for the stay plans and the D-day there"
"Can you try to ask him the best place to stay there?"
"Will do after the call. I'll send the answer later"
"And oh, don't you worry for the fuel and accomodations, it'll be on me"
"Oh really? That's so kind of you, thank you so much"
"See you on the weekend, and thank you very much for your help"
"See you, looking forward to the weekend"


What in the world has happened to me and my surroundings? All in a sudden a huge amount of luck has bestowed upon meee :)) But either way this is a good chance I can't miss. You know those beach episodes in animes and TV shows? Yeah this is it, and I'm going to experience one for myself! :-X I gleed upon the situation before I snapped out of it and call Kenichi, who's currently spending summer in Ooarai, which is his hometown.

"Kenichi, are you there? Sorry for calling this late"
"Oh hey Edo-kun, it's okay man, what's up?"
"All good, all good, though I spent summer mostly home alone. Listen, I need a bit of help"
"What is it? Tell me and I might be able to help"
"Can you tell me any good places to stay around Ooarai Sun Beach? I'll be there this weekend with my friend"
"Oh you're going to be here? Let's meet up!"
"Sure sure, I might need a helping hand over there. Oh how about the places?"
"Plenty, really. The further it is from the beach, the cheaper it'll be"
"Name me some places man, or just send the address of some"
"Good idea, I'll send you some after the call"
"Niceeeee, see ya at the weekend my man"
"See ya, looking forward to see you and your friend"


AFter early plans has been sorted and sent the adresses to Sera, I went to sleep, dreaming about sea breeze and blue oceans, and.......everything else in between.


[27 Jul 2019]
Time to go to the beach! I went off in the early morning inside my Silver Queen to Sera's house. These days I drove the HR34 more than it, so I'd like to drive the Silver Queen again for a while. After a while, I arrived to the house. It looks like the Silver Queen is loud enough now to alert people of my presence, as Sera and all the girls immediately wnet outside upon my arrival. Mind you, the last time I went here, the Silver Queen has no engine upgrades yet.

"Yuan Edo at your service"

I parked my Silver Queen inside Sera's garage before getting into the house and had two cups of tea and some chatter as we wait for Hinako and co. (Seiko and Asuka) to prepare for the trip. Sera had already prepared her stuff much earlier than before, and turns out Hinako and co. had a sleepover in the previous night. That reminds me of the one I had with Muza, AJ and Marc way back in winter.......And I swear Sera's homemade tea and cookies are one of the best I've ever tried :D

With the preparations over and I had one last bathroom break, Sera gave me the keys to her Previa and I get it off her garage. And after loading just about everything to the car, we set off for a nice trip to Ooarai.

Before we went to the highway, we decided to refuel for a while in the gas station near VS Garage (and also Hinako and co.'s high school), and let the girls have one last snack shopping and call of nature. Ooarai isn't really far from Tsukuba but a chance of traffic jam always haunts. And obviously having a sudden call of nature isn't really ideal for anyone.

Refuelling over, we soldiered on into the highway. I and Sera decided to turn on the radio for traffic infos. Traffic was rather crowded but thankfully it didn't lead to a traffic jam, and the radio station we tuned into also plays some J-Pop music so mood was quite light inside the car. Along the way I have some more chit-chat with the girls about unis and/or majors/grades they want to get in.

Hinako says she would enter just about any top unis in Japan (particularly around the mainland), but she's still split between taking law grades and continuing her family's heritage or following her passion and taking a music or arts grade. It looks like Sera didn't mind if her sister chose arts over law, so I assume this was a result of parental intervension. In a bit of inversion, Asuka says she might take just about any major, since she didn't particularly excel or interested in anything, but all she want is to pursue a higher degree somewhere around Tokyo or Tsukuba. Since I have some contacts of Tsukuba Uni lecturers, I decided to offer my help to her, though at the moment she politely refuse. As for Seiko.....she didn't look like being interested to go for uni degrees, though she might eventually enter one if she can't find a job for a year. And that's even if her rich parents offering her a car if she made it into one! And to think all I've got for making it into a top uni was a brand new laptop and 1 TB external SSD.......in turn I and Sera told them about our college days and experiences as we pass the idustrial area between Tsukuba and Ooarai.

Soon we came across a wind farm. Most of us has never seen one before, so I decided to slow down a bit to let the girls take picture of it.

Some time later after a rather dense traffic, finally we arrived at downtown Ooarai. I asked Sera to pick one of the hotels which address has been provided by Kenichi yesterday. After a bit of confusion of navigating around with Google Maps, at last, we have a place to stay for the weekend.



If you wonder how the rooms are split up.....uhh.....I'm alone :)) Sera and the girls will be in the other one for ultra-obvious reasons, though whether Sera can stand another girls sleepover remains to be seen. After I put all my stuff inside my room and had yet another bathroom break, I called Kenichi again to pick a meeting point that can also be a parking lot for our vehicles. Thankfully, Kenichi, being a local, knows just the best place to park our rides. And so, with everyone ready and eager to go to the seaside, we're rolling off the hotel to the beach.

As we approach the beach area, it was quite crowded with people, enjoying summer by either basking thmeselves under the scorching sun or doing water sports such as surfing or water polo. Nevertheless, the girls were overjoyed to see the ocean beyond their eyes. I can only tell Sera it's been a long while since I went to seaside, and even longer since I heard someone being so excited upon seeing seaside. I didn't expect Sera to listen enthusiastically though! :O

We arrived at the parking spot Kenichi told me earlier, and turns out Kenichi has waited for us there. I should admit he's quite clever when it comes to picking up the parking spot: Not only it's quite close to the beach, it's close to another facilities like cafetaria, lockers and changing rooms.

*jumps off the car* "Hey man sorry for making you waiting for us"
"No it's all good Edo-kun, I was here just 10 minutes ago"
"Glad you didn't wait for too long man. Ah yes, this here is my friend, her sister, and her sister's friends. She asked me to drive for them"
"Aaaaaah that explains why you're coming here. But how about yourself, you going to the beach as well?"
"Of course man, I need to cool down and it's been a while since the last time I went to a beach"
"Oh great! I've got a high school friend here. He's a coastguard and has his own patrol vehicle"

After introducing Kenichi to Sera and the girls, we wait for them to change their suits inside the changing room as we change ours inside.....the car. We're boys after all, we don't need to complicate things :)) As we change inside, we continued our banter earlier.

"So what does your coastguard friend drives?"
"Oh, a Beetle. He built it with some of his coastguard friends?"
"That's awesome! Hang on a minute, a stock one or modified one?"
"Of course it's modified you moron, what do you expect from a stock one?"
"No, I mean does it has it's original panels or not?"
"Some are gone, some aren't. Anyways, I'd like you to meet him with me"
"Oh sure sure, I'd like to meet him, please"
"Yeah, I thought you might be interested to see it. I need to borrow his surfboard as well"
"Wait, you never told me you can surf!"
"Oh did I? Yeah I could, but I rarely do. My surfboard has been sold way back then"

Some time later, both us and the girls has done changing. But boy oh boy, seeing all the girls in bikinis and swimsuits that shows their good gracious figures got me and Kenichi like......woah I can't seem to pick where I should start :)) I can only say "dude, slap me" to Kenichi. And then Seiko proceeded to jokingly slap my stomatch out of nowhere. After we stored our clothes back inside the car, we then walked together to the beach.

While Sera and the others proceeded straight to the waters, I and Kenichi walked across the beach to look for his friend and his ride. After a rather long walk, we found him with his car, chilling nearby the baywatch tower. His name is Juugo, and he's been a coastguard since a year after he and Kenichi graduated from high school. Kenichi said he was a top athlete back in their school days, but lack of fund and tight competition made him decide to continue life as coast guard. As Juugo hands Kenichi one of the rental surfboards, Kenichi went off to chase the waves. I and Juugo meanwhile have some talks about the Beetle.

This Beetle was purchased as a rolling shell by Juugo and his friends in the last year of high school. How did he and his friends found an LHD example of the Beetle here is another story I guess. Nevertheless, Juugo and his friends repaired the Beetle using anything they can find around Ooarai before eventually everyone got graduated and they went their own separate ways. Juugo kept the car for his friends since the Beetle was built near his home. After being neglected for more than a year, he continued to bulid the Beetle for the sake of his friends, as well as contacting his friends to propose an idea to turn it into a Baja Bug. Apparently, everyone was impressed with the idea, so he moved on to build it both with his own money and his friends's monetary helping hands. It seems some of his friends are quite rich enough to donate him racing seats and some race-grade parts for the original Beetle boxer engine.

Along the build progress, Juugo kept on touch with his friends, and finally the build was finished around two years ago. And ever since it accompanies Juugo and his workmates on their coastguard duty. Of course Juugo is still keeping in touch with his friends to this day, and sometimes he also would tell about the Beetle whenever it's involved in the duty. Safe to say, it's a monument to their friendship that now serves as a guardian to the travelers coming into and off the beach. And of course the coastguard squad has also other offroaders like Land Cruisers and Jimnys, as well as Hiaces for medical purposes, but because it's a Beetle that sits on huge wheels and racing suspensions, obviously visitors are quite interested upon seeing the car and often it became a photography object.

As I continued to look around and admire the Beetle(oh come on, it's not everyday you see a Baja Bug away from it's home!), suddenly I can feel some hands grabbing my body and pull me in full force.

"Found you senpai!" a female voice suddenly whispers in my left ear.
"Eh-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" I questioned myself before getting pulled over with full force.
"EDO YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHO AIN'T GET WET YET! Eat this!" a male shouting voice follows, while Juugo laughed out loud.

That was Asuka and Kenichi's voice respectively. Welp indeed I was the only one not getting into the seaside yet, and looks like both Kenichi and the girls didn't really like that fact. And so I just kept on helplessly screaming "AAAAAAAAAAAAH WHAT THE F**K NAAAAAAAAAAAH" as I kept on being pulled by everyone into the water, with the girls cheerfully laughing in the background. And as they throw me into the water, all I can say with my weakened voice cord was "Eh......s**t......".

*SPLASH!!*

That huge splash instantly soak me in seconds with seawater. But that's okay, finally I get myself to cool down after a full scorching day. And so, I spent the rest of the dayligt in the waters with everyone, from playing water polo with all the girls to have a (unsuccessful) surfing crash course with Kenichi. But all in all, it was a very fun day, and I get to enjoy the sight of both the ocean and pretty girls soaked in seawater :-X :)) But not gonna lie, the sight of the girls swimming and playing below the bright sunset with some plam trees in the background is quite majestic in my eyes. Though sometimes I still have to fight against the waves, and sometimes, Kenichi approaching with his surfboard ("GET OUTTA THE WAY!!"-"WHAT THE AAAAAAAAAAAA").

With the sun almost completely setting, we finally went off the water and walk back to the parking lot to grab our dry clothes, dry ourselves and change into it. Sadly though, Kenichi can't roll with us for the next day, since he had to go somewhere. After we all changed back to our dry clothes, he bid a goodbye to us, then I and the girls went back to the hotel to get some late lunch and rest.

At night, the girls wanted to go window shopping, so obviously I drive them to the bigest department store there. Before I went in I took some pics of the Estima. God dang it looks quite majestic under the night lights, even if it's just a simple people carrier.

And finally, we went back to the hotel circa 22.00, and we were all tired after spending our day in quite lovely fashion. Once I get inside my room, all I did was get a warm shower, change my clothes, brew a tea, then surf the internet while sipping my tea before I get some sleep.......

.......but not before a knock is heard on my door. I opened and....turns out it was Sera who knocked on my door, all in her sleeping gown(well I can't put it the correct way I guess). I wonder what's wrong?

"Edo-san, sorry if I'm disturbing you, but do you mind if I sleep here?"
"Eh? O-of course you could, but uhh....why?"
"The girls are having another sleepover and they're quite noisy at the moment. I just want to get some peaceful sleep"
"Oh, w-well, okay I guess. We can't crank another cash for another room and there's no guarantee if there's any left so....."
"Exactly, turns out we're in the same wavelength of thoughts"
"I'm not sure if this is actually okay but....yeah just come in. I don't want to make this awkward"

I DON'T EXPECT THIS AT ALL MAN! This is too good to be true! :O As Sera walks into my room and sit on the bed, she grabbed my tea and a teaspoon, continuing in serious tone: "Just don't do anything funny or weird to me, or else I'll slam and wreck your face with these and I'll call cops!", but then continued in a calmer manner: "Oh, but it's your bed after all, so I'll try to give you some space". Terrified with Sera's sudden change in mood, I can only nod slowly in agreement.

Thankfully things are less intense later on, as Sera had a light(but turns out rather long, as it went for some hours) chatter about our personal lives back then and in recent times, striking quite a clear line of just how different how we lived our lives. And then, Sera fell asleep first. First off I tried to sleep on the floor to have her as comfy as possible, but obviously this didn't work, so I proceeded to share my bed anyways, with me on the very edge of it. I should say this is one of the greatest nights in my life, but also one of the awkwardest ones. All I can think was "What is this, an Illuminati experience? Or did I trapped myself into a soap drama dimension?"



[28 Jul 2019]
I woke up in the morning and found myself alone again. There wasn't much fuss last night, and thankfully my facial feature is still intact and nothing was lost. I decided to finish the rest of my tea, clean the cup, and brew a coffee to start the day. But before I went for a shower, there's another knock on my door. It was Sera again.

"Morning, you sleepy man"
"Oh, morning. Are we ready to go again?"
"Don't worry, Hinako and the others are still on shower. Why don't you take yours as well?"
"I'm going to. When y'all done just come here again"
"Good idea"

So I took shower rather quickly, put on new clothes, finish my coffee, pack up for the trip home and wait for the others. As everyone finished shower, get clothed and packed up as well, we left the hotel for a nice picnic-style breakfast near the beach's boardwalk. What's the better way to start the day than having a breakfast on the seaside as the sun rises slowly? ;)

And when we're done, we drove back to the beach to enjoy it while there's barely anyone left. Thankfully the changing room is already available, and the girls has spares to wear. Me? I simply use the same clothes I used to sleep last night :))

As I walked behind the girls, who rushed straight to the waters again, a familiar voice called for me.


"Hey, you? Are you Kenichi's friend from yesterday?"
"Ah, Juugo-san, having an early duty I see!"
*laughter* "Yeah man, this is how I work at Sundays. Where's the others?"
"Kenichi can't come today, got something to do. But you can see the girls over there"
"Aaaaah eager to swim just like yesterday" *even more laughter* "Man I love the seaside in the morning, you can smell and feel it from miles"
"I rarely felt this fresh and inspired, just standing here feels like a dream"
"Hey listen, I can make your morning even better. Wait what's your name again?"
"Edo. Ah yes, I'd like to hear that, what would it be?"
"So Edo-kun, how about a baywatch ride in my Beetle? You might drive if you want. Kenichi told me you're a race driver"
"Oh hang on really? When did he-"
"He told me when he returned my surfboard"
"Aaaaaah......speaking of which, okay I'll drive for us"
"Good! You may go all-out if you want, this thing was built to take lots of punishment, don't worry"
"Thank you so much for the chance, Juugo-san"
"It's all good, Kenichi's friends is also my friends. I also want to see what a race driver can do with this Beetle"


And so, I giddily fire up the Beetle and we're running a high-speed baywatch run, with Juugo commanding on where to go and what to avoid. I feel like those race drivers who compete in the likes of Baja 1000 and Dakar Rally. Offroading is quite fun it turns out! :D Speaking of which, offroad racing as I know it can refer to either technical/adventure ones that requires lots of winching and goes through lots of rocks, trees and insane level of slopes and climbs (e.g. King of Hammers, Rainforest Challenge, Camel Trophy) or speed-focused/rally raid ones where it goes like normal racing, just with less clue about the route and can range from a full day to two weeks (e.g. both SCORE(a day) and NORRA(four days) Baja 1000, Dakar Rally, Baja Aragon, Baja Russia).

I tried to give it all I could, but in the end, it still rides on stock Beetle engine and it rides on beach sands, so I can only extract all the power to a max speed of around 130 km/h. Still, because we're running in a rather limited area even with lack of visitors, this already felt alarmingly quick to me, even slightly more terrifying than what I usually experience in competitive TA events.

There's a sand dune ahead of us. Juugo told me to just hit it at full speed, so I did. What happened next is quite surreal as we catch some air, followed with one hard, bone-shaking landing and a lot of laughter. I feel like the world paused for a while, then my own life force tried to squish me down as I land. But boy that was awesome! :D

Some yards later, we turned around as the sea level increases. We decided to have fun by running the car along the edge of the water. It is a good thing the Beetle was raised quite high, though whether Juugo has the floor salt-proofed in a certain way remains to be seen. But eh, he encouraged me to drive over them after all, so I assume he already did.

Another sand dune came into our eyes, so Juugo told me to just send the Beetle and of course I did! Tthough this time it was a bit more intense as not only I jumped faster and further, it also went a bit sideways so there was a slight panic of rolling the Beetle or breaking the front axles upon landing. But thankfully, none of them happened and we carried on.

All this first-time offroad experience already made me want to build one. But dang, I already want to build myself one! :D I can definitely build one, but the real problem is, where I can run it? There aren't a lot of offroad facilities in Japan that I know. The only ones that I know well are the ones in Ebisu and the ones beside the Southern Circuit Miyagi, both of which are rather far away. Oh well, for now I'll just savour the moment ;)

Finally, the baywatch run is over and I parked the Beetle. Once we hop off the Beetle, Juugo offered me some cold Asahi rootbeer. I grabbed one to cool myself down, and watch the sun slowly raising as I took some photograph of the beach. And of course, the girls succeeded on another attempt to get me into the waters :)) But hey, I got to see them in bikinis and soaked in seawater again! ;)

Finally, after all these seaside shenanigans, it's time to go home. But before all of that, of course we changed into our dry clothes again and had lunch together. Not gonna lie, I should try the seafood here for another time.

After driving Asuka and Seiko home first, finally I drove Hinako and Sera back to their home. And as a token of appreciation, Sera paid me V$300....though the entire trip and that one awkward night is enough for me :)) Nevertheless, you can't refuse a gift and I'm still in need of money, so I accepted it anyways. After returning Sera's Estima to her garage, I drove back home in my Silver Queen. Guess this is a non-competitive weekend I'll never forget in my life. I still can't believe I can spend time with them!


[03 Aug 2019]
It's time to prepare for the Ebisu Summer Drift Matsuri at Aug 11-12, but it looks like I've prepared for too long that I don't really have anything to roll in for the event :)) I could use my HR34 or my Mustang, but I need something I can feel less guilty/remorse to throw around, so what I did is purchasing a 2001 Toyota Mark II X110. Thankfully I scored myself the ones equipped with 1JZ-GE instead of the 1G-GE ones. That thing costed me V$750.


Car secured, now moving on into the upgrades. That car is an auto, explaining the cheap price, so let's just delve into my shopping list, shall we?
-Nissan CD001 Transmission, V$585
-Collins Performance 1JZ-2JZ to CD-series adapter and flywheel kit, V$999
-Competition Clutch Stock Clutch Kit, V$252
-Chase Bays Clutch Line, V$64
-Genuine Toyota Clutch Pedal Assy, V$58
-Chase Bays Hydro Handbrake, V$220
-Chase Bays Hydro Handbrake Line, V$160
-Rev9 Turbo Kit (includes GReddy T04 turbo), V$539
-GReddy Spec-LS intercooler kit, V$365
-Momo Tuner Steering Wheel, V$ 180
-Cusco Negative Camber Front Upper Arms, V$280
-Centric Front Brake Pads, V$17


As you can see, my purchases are either cheap or dubious. That's what you get when you're building your car in a hurry :)) everything should come at the middle of next week, so around 3-2 days to the Drift Matsuri. Yes, I might have to run on stock brakes and suspension. And for the wheels, I might have to either to resort to the stock ones, use the R33 stockies currently fitted to the HR34 or for the last resort, using reps. It's going to be smashed and bashed anyways so might as well get something smashable (of course I'll bring the stockies as well).



[05 Aug 2019]
The JZX110 has come into my crib, so I decided to have a quick test drive of it. So far so good, the 1JZ is eager to rev, steering felt relatively responsive, but the brakes felt a bit like a biscuit. Considering I've blown a lot of money at the moment and so far I fared well with the stock brakes on the HR34, I'll just refurbish it. Oh well, this is truly one financial mistake I've made currently.















Welp, finally updated after a while!
Let's see how my wallet stands as I failed my own target to save up:














That's all my updates for now, thank you for stopping by and see you soon!
Still following the damn train since 1992

Visit my RP HERE!

Niatross

bd
Posts: 430

Location: Bangladesh
Occupation: topkek
Age:
V$: yes
#367   2019-08-05 20:47          
I havent been to a beach in long while ngl
That buggy looks like a LOTTA fun!
Also AYEEE JZX110! As an avid JZX lover, hyped to see what u do with that thing ! :-X


Current owned cars:
- Toyota Supra GA-JZA70 Mk3
- BMW E46 M3
- Nissan Skyline ECR33 GTS25t
- Nissan 200SX Hatchback
- BMW E92 335i
- Nazda RX-7 FD3S Type RS
- Mazda RX-7 JF1FD (USDM)
- Nissan Silvia S14

RocketBunnyS13

ph
Posts: 418

Location: Philippines MNL
Occupation: Yes I ruin cars
Age: 34
V$: wat
#368   2019-08-05 21:15          
YASSSS very epic vacation bool! The Previa sure looks tempting to drive, maybe you can convince Sera to let me drive for her next time? H I H E

Also I'm glad you guys got that break you needed! Beach fun sure is an epic way to get your mind off of things, and the Baja Bug just DOUBLES the enjoyment for sure. From the SOLID pictures I could tell you were having an absolute ball! Haha

And congrats on the JZX110 purchase! HMMMM LET'S SEE HOW WELL THE BUILD PANS OUT GIVEN THE LIMITATIONS

Also HEY HEY NEW WHEELS ON SILVER QUEEN PLS PLS PLS

s t a y c l a s s y

Lagano

si
Posts: 1739

Location: Slovenia West side
Occupation: Taking it easy
Age: 24
V$: :$V
#369   2019-08-05 23:05          
A trip to the seaside always rocks! Especially if you have some girls for company ;) and how better can it get than shredding with a Baja Bug across the beach?! That thing looks like a properly built off-roader so you were able to pull off those epic jumps, man that's one hell of an adrenaline rush. I'd like to build something like that but there's not really that much rough terrain in my area. And you finally got that long awaited drift missile you've been talking about!!! Are those OEM Supra wheels on it by the way? If they are, sell them on and you got yourself a free Mark 2 :)) it's also a bit weird to see that it has a 1JZ as it was used more for the 90's models. Still, that's a solid powerplant for your build, i'm not so sure about that cheap turbo kit but it should be good for a missile lol.

BigSmoke

id
Posts: 844

Location: Indonesia
Occupation: Following Those Damn Trains
Age:
V$: Broke
#370   2019-08-06 08:13          
# Niatross : I havent been to a beach in long while ngl
That buggy looks like a LOTTA fun!
Also AYEEE JZX110! As an avid JZX lover, hyped to see what u do with that thing ! :-X

Aaaah let's go there again some time with the entire crew, we can roll along the boardwalkk or the seaside in the sunset while bumping 90's G-Funk hits. :cheers:

I'll bring that JZX110 to Ebisu Drift Matsuri and see if it can survive a full weekend there. And if it does, I can either sell it or keep driving it as my missile :D

# RocketBunnyS13 : YASSSS very epic vacation bool! The Previa sure looks tempting to drive, maybe you can convince Sera to let me drive for her next time? H I H E

Also I'm glad you guys got that break you needed! Beach fun sure is an epic way to get your mind off of things, and the Baja Bug just DOUBLES the enjoyment for sure. From the SOLID pictures I could tell you were having an absolute ball! Haha

And congrats on the JZX110 purchase! HMMMM LET'S SEE HOW WELL THE BUILD PANS OUT GIVEN THE LIMITATIONS

Also HEY HEY NEW WHEELS ON SILVER QUEEN PLS PLS PLS

ULTRA EPIC MY MAN! :cheers: Dude it's not everyday you spend time with not one but FOUR girls :))
I think Sera might know you from your law firm works, she works at one after all! :D (though a different one) So I guess you'll click quickly and she can hand you teh keys to the Estima. That thing is a great and comfy people carrier, certainly a big break from my car collection.

I didn't expect to find a Baja Bug build here either! Driving one is certainly a huuuuuge fun, and I'm glad Juugo encouraged me to fully send it! :D

This JZX110 project, I'm sure, is the most ambitious and rubbish project I've ever attempted here. Even getting it running would be a great achievement already :)) I expect it to stall, or the clutch gave in quickly, or even the turbo decided to turn into a giant molotov......

Well yes I'm expecting to change the wheel to a ZE40 but......gotta grab some more money dang.

# Lagano : A trip to the seaside always rocks! Especially if you have some girls for company ;) and how better can it get than shredding with a Baja Bug across the beach?! That thing looks like a properly built off-roader so you were able to pull off those epic jumps, man that's one hell of an adrenaline rush. I'd like to build something like that but there's not really that much rough terrain in my area. And you finally got that long awaited drift missile you've been talking about!!! Are those OEM Supra wheels on it by the way? If they are, sell them on and you got yourself a free Mark 2 :)) it's also a bit weird to see that it has a 1JZ as it was used more for the 90's models. Still, that's a solid powerplant for your build, i'm not so sure about that cheap turbo kit but it should be good for a missile lol.

Getting to drive for these girls is one thing already, getting to drive and fully send a Baja Bug is another that I didn't expect! :cheers:
Man you live rather close to Texas so just run it across the deserts there :))

It looks like indeed they're Supra stockies! :O
Once I find a replacement wheel, rep or not, I might just sell them. I guess I can put a rather high price mark to compensate my lost savings :))
It's built at the final years of 1JZ usage so it should be a fine runner. That turbo though might as well turn itself into one hell of a dynamite :))
Still following the damn train since 1992

Visit my RP HERE!

Macaron_Moon

jp
Posts: 144
http://cornhub.com
Location: Japan Homeless
Occupation: Human Lan Evo, or homeless crackhead. Same thing
Age: 27
V$: 2 cents
#371   2019-08-06 15:48          
EVERYONE PUSH THIS LOVE SHIP (pun intended) FOR IT TO SAIL. ALL ABOARD THE S.S SEDO (Sera × Edo) BATTLE CRUISER.

Glad you had your cliché anime beach ep for a few days lmao.

Benny

ba
Posts: 1143

Location: Bosnia And Herzegovina Lukavac
Occupation: Electrictian
Age: 30
V$: V$756
#372   2019-08-06 18:03          
I wish I had some free time for seaside.....
#ThreeMuchProjectsGlingOn

Press on photo

Role Play

Weekly Income : V$1125/w

BigSmoke

id
Posts: 844

Location: Indonesia
Occupation: Following Those Damn Trains
Age:
V$: Broke
#373   2019-08-07 06:04          
# Macaron_Moon : EVERYONE PUSH THIS LOVE SHIP (pun intended) FOR IT TO SAIL. ALL ABOARD THE S.S SEDO (Sera × Edo) BATTLE CRUISER.

Glad you had your cliché anime beach ep for a few days lmao.

OI WHAT THE well it was one awkward night but still......admittably that was so sweet as well :-X

I swear if this kind of sudden beach episode happens again I'll eat my own shoes with Motul oils as sauce, I still can't believe it!

# Benny : I wish I had some free time for seaside.....
#ThreeMuchProjectsGlingOn

Well at least you got your projects going, look at me with a whole train of abandoned projects! God knows when I'm going to finish the S15 and moving into the Tico :))
Still following the damn train since 1992

Visit my RP HERE!

Soju

kr
Posts: 1247

Location: South Korea
Occupation: Smuggling Soju
Age: 122
V$: Broke
#374   2019-08-07 14:28          
Epic vacation moment for you :) That would have been so entertaining :^)

And the 110 you got seem to have some potential in it!

Sleepin mOnkey

jp
Posts: 2459

Location: Japan Universe, Milky way ,Solar system, Earth
Occupation: Automotive engineer Student
Age: 32
V$: 14.750
#375   2019-08-07 16:32          
hey man you seem to be living that Mid engine life now :)) :))

as for the 110 cant wait to see that thing rip at matsuri may even bring the vert
Roleplay: A engine Builder and tuner that lives in Japan and Builds cool stuff.
Cars: Corolla Levin coupe Tog/show car
180SX s13 350hp SR20DET 6MT Babe 1
Supra Sz JZA80 2jz-Gte Vvt-i 2000's Hotboi
240sx Vert HOTBOI 2

CLICCC...

BigSmoke

id
Posts: 844

Location: Indonesia
Occupation: Following Those Damn Trains
Age:
V$: Broke
#376   2019-08-09 16:28          
# Soju : Epic vacation moment for you :) That would have been so entertaining :^)

And the 110 you got seem to have some potential in it!

Oh yes it was sooooo entertaining, ultra epic indeed :^)

I'll see how much can I extrat from the X110..... ;)

# Sleepin mOnkey : hey man you seem to be living that Mid engine life now :)) :))

as for the 110 cant wait to see that thing rip at matsuri may even bring the vert

Man I didn't expect to find a Baja Bug here, let alone driving one! :))

Oh great, I'd like to see your vert at the Masturi yeah! :cheers:
Still following the damn train since 1992

Visit my RP HERE!

BigSmoke

id
Posts: 844

Location: Indonesia
Occupation: Following Those Damn Trains
Age:
V$: Broke
#377   2019-08-10 19:19          
Small Update:
Wheely Good Deals!
(and The Rise of the Meme Machine)














With less than a week to go to Ebisu Summer Drift Matsuri, my newest project has taken it's shape.
And oh, thanks to my firends I accidentally stumbled myself upon the heaven of wheels! :))
The new mods didn't stop there though, as now it also has a bunch of new stickers!
Well let's jump straight into the update to see how it all goes! :D













[06 Aug 2019]
After finishing my works for the day, I continued my search for cheap wheels. And I'm a bit torn on what kind of wheels I should fit to the X110. Aapparently AJ(RocketBunnyS13) had some time off as well and is online, so I decided to have a video call with him for some suggestions. Some time later Muza(Niatross) came back from his job at Omori, so AJ had him joining the call as well.

Both AJ and Muza suggested me to search for used wheels instead of new ones. This seems quite obvious, but if you remember what I said on my last update, I was considering reps instead, so this is quite a lifesaver. Still, I kinda doubt if there's anyone who will sell a full set, as I mostly found people selling them individually or just half a set. Okay, my Weds Albinos on my Kaede the vert was also a used one, but I found them by chance I should admit, and it was located outside Japan.

Both AJ and Muza suggested me to look around the Croooober website, which is famous for selling and exporting wheels from Japan. And yes, it does have quite a lot of 'o's on its name. As for why it has so many 'o's on its name I don't really know why, just ask them by yourself. Besides Croooober, I also decided to look up for used wheels at my trusted shop when it comes to tuning, Nengun.

Both Nengun and Croooober-eh screw it, I'll just throw half of the 'o's and write it as Croober(, AW MAN! So we back in the mine......)-threw quite a lot of surprising deals to me it turns out. Sure, most of the cheap wheels are factory stockies or reps brands that I've never heard of in my whole life, but if you're patient enough to dig deeper there are lots of cheap deals for famous stockies (e.g. R33, R34 and Supra stockies) or legit wheels. And if you're lucky, they'll come as a full set. And if you're really lucky, they'll be sold along with tyres as well! I spent lots of time browsing wheels for sale as I continue my consultation sesh with Muza and AJ, who has suggested to get 18 inch wheels for the X110.

In the end, I was split between choosing AME Shallen XF-55(which is funnily enough a reps based on BMW Style 343), Work Euroline DH, and Work Emotion XD9, all of which came with economic-type tyres(Bridgestone Ecopia, Yokohama Ecos and Yokohama BluEarth respectively), which I don't really mind. Considering my currently limited budget and the fact that the Euroline DH fits better with the X110's looks in general, I decided to roll with it and grab them for a whopping V$245! I, AJ and Muza can't believe ourselves over the price, but presumably people often buy these and they can be easily found on the used market. The wheel I bought has scratches and the silver coating has been peeled off with age as well, explaining the cheap price. Oh well, this is for a missile so it doesn't matter.

Speaking of which, AJ and Muza has an interesting lecture about wheels: In competitive grip races, weight and strength of the wheel obviously matters a lot, you gotta have a wheel that is light enough to make the cars move quicker but also strong enough to face hours and million miles of pressure and torture. In drift events, wheel weight doesn't matter, but bigger wheels will help you on breaking traction to go sideways. Having strong wheels usually helps for grassroots usage, but some competitive drivers may opt for weaker ones. In drag racing it's the other way around, since smaller wheels would also mean lighter wheels and more importantly allows bigger tyres to be installed for maximum grip.

Wheel problems sorted, I moved on into the suspension area. Originally the plan was to simply cut the springs of the X110 to lower and stiffen it, but it turns out doing this incorrectly will ruin the car and even make the car act like a jelly cannonballing into another dimension. So I opted for a cheap coilovers, but this was rather hard to search. In the light of a moment I had an idea of simply combining the stock shocks and get another springs. This might work, says AJ and Muza, so I just went on to purchase a set of Cusco springs for a grand total of V$200. Those and the wheels are supposed to arrive at the same day as the rest of stuff I bought the other day.


[08 Aug 2019]
Finally, everything has arrived! To remind you again on what I bought aside from the wheels and the springs, here's the list:
-Nissan CD001 Transmission, V$585
-Collins Performance 1JZ-2JZ to CD-series adapter and flywheel kit, V$999
-Competition Clutch Stock Clutch Kit, V$252
-Chase Bays Clutch Line, V$64
-Genuine Toyota Clutch Pedal Assy, V$58
-Chase Bays Hydro Handbrake, V$220
-Chase Bays Hydro Handbrake Line, V$160
-Rev9 Turbo Kit (includes GReddy T04 turbo), V$539
-GReddy Spec-LS intercooler kit, V$365
-Momo Tuner Steering Wheel, V$ 180
-Cusco Negative Camber Front Upper Arms, V$280
-Centric Front Brake Pads, V$17

I immediately spent my time installing all the mods, as well as, for the first time, welding the stock differential. There are soooooo many things to install and adjust I had to stop working as night falls and uhhh.....my hair and hands was actually on fire when I try welding the diff :)) Don't worry, nothing else was on fire thankfully, though I got myself wounded and lie powerless for some minutes because of this.

"OWWW GOD THAT'S HOT!" *head hits the underside of the car and bounces to the floor* "ARGH NOT AGAIN!"


[08 Aug 2019]
After nursing my wounds from yesterday and learn how to weld properly without hurting myself, I continued on working on the X110. Welp, I almost burn my fingers again and even trap them between the springs and, but in the end by afternoon I finished my job. And surprisingly despite all the parts quality and various accidents I had while I work on it......IT ACTUALLY STARTS AND ROLLS! :O So to celebrate this, I brought it for an errand run to test it. And what people say about dailying a welded diff turns out to be true.......it's quite noisy on veeeery low speeds :))

Moments later, I arrived at a shopping center. It was rather quiet so I decided to chill for a while and took some pics there. And despite this I still managed to got the attention from people due to the diff's grinding noise........thankfully nothing has broke so far. I was expecting the whole transmission to fall apart to be honest :))


But honestly, I think it still one more touch to be done.........


[08 Aug 2019]
......and that would be stickers! Being a missile boi, I just print my own stickers and slap them semi-randomly on the car. And yes, I slapped some comedic-themed stickers over there, mainly the Ebisu puns sticker (the Ebichu (which is an anime) stickers on the side and Yebisu (which is a brand of beer) stickers on the rear. if you can't see them, basically all the orange stickers). And yes, that SSS and Smoking Sexy Style stickers are taken from Devil May Cry 5. And yes, you can get some of the stickers and many more HERE!

But for now, I present to you......THE MEME MACHINE! It's done and ready to rock the Ebisu Summer Drift Matsuri! And oh, let me know if you're attending the Drift Matsuri as well! :cheers:

















Finally, only a bit more until the Drift Matsuri!
And of course my wallet has taken some hit, and I'll just put it right here:














That's all my updates for now, thank you for stopping by and see you soon!
Still following the damn train since 1992

Visit my RP HERE!

RocketBunnyS13

ph
Posts: 418

Location: Philippines MNL
Occupation: Yes I ruin cars
Age: 34
V$: wat
#378   2019-08-11 07:29          
Very epic looking MEME CAR sir. I need to see it sliding! And maybe join in on the fun H I H E, lemme know what time you're going to Drift Matsuri for skids!

s t a y c l a s s y

Soju

kr
Posts: 1247

Location: South Korea
Occupation: Smuggling Soju
Age: 122
V$: Broke
#379   2019-08-11 12:41          
That looks really epic! You proved people could build a budget drift machine with that price range :)

BigSmoke

id
Posts: 844

Location: Indonesia
Occupation: Following Those Damn Trains
Age:
V$: Broke
#380   2019-08-11 16:04          
# RocketBunnyS13 : Very epic looking MEME CAR sir. I need to see it sliding! And maybe join in on the fun H I H E, lemme know what time you're going to Drift Matsuri for skids!

Welp let's roll together my man! Ultra epic indeed :D

# Soju : That looks really epic! You proved people could build a budget drift machine with that price range :)

Ultra epic indeed :D I can't believe myself that I get this thing from bone stock to drift-ready for less than a week! :))
Still following the damn train since 1992

Visit my RP HERE!

BigSmoke

id
Posts: 844

Location: Indonesia
Occupation: Following Those Damn Trains
Age:
V$: Broke
#381   2019-08-23 12:02          
Burning Rubber Festival
(CAUTION: THICC CONTENT! LOADS AND LOADS AND LOADS OF PICS!)













Finally got time to write again, and it is time for the update you've (probably) been waiting for:
Yup, this is, no doubt about it, the Ebisu Summer Drift Matsuri special update! :D
Join me as I plunge myself head-first into non-stop 36 hours of sideways shenanigans with lots of friends!
Will I and my hastily-built X110 survive and make it out alive? Check out the answer by jumping into the update below! ;)














[11 Aug 2019]
Time to roll to Ebisu, ladies and gentlemen! The gates at Ebisu for the Drift Matsuri opens at 6am, but uhhhh......I don't really feel like to wake up early, since the trip to the circuit would take circa 3,5-4 hours with regular traffic pattern. So rather than having myself wake up in the darkest of nights and suffering an ultra-cold shower, I woke up at 5am to have myself preparing stuff, have a proper shower and brekkie before going to the circuit. Ebisu, by the way, is located at Fukushima prefecture, but don't worry, it's not(if not barely) affected by nuclear fallout as the result of the nuclear reactor leakage some years ago, as my friend Sleepy(sleepin mOnkey) would assure.

After preparing my sleeping bag, some spare clothes including spare undie and hoodie, bathing equipments and a light amount of snacks, I set off at 6am from my crib to Ebisu. If you're wondering, yes, I plan to stay at the circuit for the night. Not only I get to experience the Drift Matsuri the proper way, I also can cut cost over the entrance fee and accomodation. Whether I can sleep comfortably remains to be seen though.

Thankfully the traffic to Ebisu isn't really crowded, particularly because everyone who wants to go there are alredy inside. I arrived at the entrance gate at 10am. Normally Ebisu ticket attendant would charge you around V$90 to enter the track if you want to drive on regular days, but for Drift Matsuri events it's doubled to V$200. At this point I should point out that Ebisu has not only one but three Drift Matsuris, which are at spring, summer and autumn. So if you miss this year's Summer Matsuri, there's still one more chance to experience it at the Autumn Matsuri. And you should come here sometime, it's quite crowded with drivers and enthusiast! It's like finding yourself trapped inside a foggy bee hive performing a marching band show :))

And oh yah, they also offer annual golden pass if you don't want to pay a lot everytime you visit the track. The golden pass costs V$1000, plus V$0.5 everytime you visit the track as an insurance coverage. If you want to go to the track but only want to go watching people go sideways instead of joining them, spectator tickets are priced at V$15. Okay back to my journey, we've veered a bit too far. I headed up to the Minami course gate......but not to the famous Minami course, but rather than that the drift school course first. Since my X110 was built in an barely believeable ultra-short window of time, I want to make sure this thing definitely can go sideways without turning into a box of molotov or thousand kilos of steel knives.

The drift school is, as the name suggests it, a perfect place to learn drifting skills and fine-tuning your car to drift in general. It's short, has lots of corners and covers various kinds of them, allowing easy drift chains and nurture drivers safely, as it doesn't demand much power to make your car go sideways. Also, it's located at the top of the hill near the Minami course, so not only you can watch rookie and newbie drifters learning the ropes of drifting here, when you're bored you can simply turn your back and see the regulars and pros showing how it's done at the Minami course down below.

Here I also met my two friends! The first one is Sleepy with his MS13 convertible missile and HPDE training tool. Read how he built it here and here! It's an LHD MS13 as I've mentioned, exactly the same model as my Kaede the vert. In Sleepy's case, he replaced the engine with (of course!)the good ol' SR20DE, with an ITB setup and some top-stuff performance parts. Originally Sleepy relied on lots of junkyard visits and his crafting skills while building the the vert, but eventually he made it even more proper and handsome now, emitting a mix of bosozoku, drift missile and even Mad Max/survival car vibe. And the overall setup also gives a great platform that he doesn't really worry to let his students abuse over. He can fix it in no time :D


The second one is Rifky(Shez), which you might remember attended the last time attack event together with me on my offer and did very well with his DC5. This is his second car, an S14 Kouki with some mods. He didn't put a lot of engine mods so far, but alredy invested on proper suspension setup and of course those SSR SP1 wheels. It truly screams simple grassroots vibes with the choice of fitment and wheels. Later on Rifky can be seen flinging it out easily, just like cooking a potato inside an oven.


With all preparations and chatters done, I hit the track in a flurry of burnt rubber.

As I expected, the track was relatively easy to drift around, a bit like Nikko but smaller and shorter. I slide around the corners without pretty much any problems........

..........except probably one: The pit wall encourages you to do a wall tap, but not only I rarely perform taps, it's a bit difficult to approach the walls for me. As you can see here, my first try didn't set anyone's heart on fire as I'm considerably still far away from the wall. Oh well, at least this makes linking the first corner and the chicanes much easier to do.


And so, for the next laps I kept on running and chaining drifts, hoping to nail the walltap properly. Sometimes I eventually nailed it like this......


.....ooor I didn't nail it at all, resulting in bitter sights like this. Don't worry, car is fine, though obviously there are some dents and the passenger side window got cracked from the impact. And I'm still able to nail the tap again, smashing the rear bumper in the process. My man Marcus(marcus915) once told me the X110 are strong enough to receive some missile abuse.....I guess he's right, so far it felt like a tank :))

After a while of more runs I decided to finally move to the Minami circuit. Finally I'm going to set my foot to the holy land of drifting! :D

At the Minami paddock I met some more great friends! First off is Franklin(well, Franklin), with his brand new G35 project. Not a lot has done both to the exterior and the internals, Franklin simply replace the VQ-DE engine with the VQ-HR variant and add up som ebolt-on parts, fit a proper coilover set and fitted aftermarket bodykits, then paint it, and et viola, a great looking modern hotboi drifter. The livery looks so nice as well, which might explains why Franklin rained his windows with stickers instead the of placing them on the body sides.


For the second one, the last time I mentioned him, I didn't include a pic of his car. Now here it is, feast your eyes on the period-correct hotboi vibes from Ymani(turbotuned) and his RPS13. As I've mentioned before, Ymani is a grassroots drifting journo and also a huuuge fan of Japanese 90's and early 00's drifting scene in general, especially the hotboi era codified by the likes of A-Bo-Moon team or individuals like Mitsuru Haruguchi, who later found the 326power performance brand(Fun fact: the number 326 can be read as 'Mi-tsu-ru', therefore spelling his name. The same can be applied to Keiichi Tsuchiya's personal brand, K1-Planning(formerly Kei Office), where K1 can be read as 'Kei-ichi'). Therefore missing Ebisu Matsuri can be considered as an uhhh....a sin to Ymani. He's also kind enough to give me some pointers, particularly over the Minami wall straight. He said if you're not confident or fast enough when approaching it, trying to jump over the famous kerb section isn't recommended, and instead just follow the flatter outer areas.


Before I went into the track, I decided to see how Franklin and Ymani run aroud the track to get a reference. I gotta say, their runs are majestic sights you should see at least once in your lifetime.....both are silk smooth and flows like a calm river. With references taken, I went off to the track.


The Minami circuit is quite a blast to run on, but turns out requires quite a lot of skills to have your car going sideways. The first section is fine, but the second one......oh boy. As someone who rarely drifts, particualrly in high speeds, this felt like being aksed to do a backflip as a toddler, which predictably didn't end well as I run uphill and screwed my entry. At least I barely managed to stop the car, so damage control went just fine and I can get back to the action quickly.


But all in all everything went just fine, as I started to get the hang of drifting here. Even eventually I learned how to do a walltap at the straights, though so far I still can't get close enough to get into the wall.



The only other time things went wrong was when I attempted to drift at the same spot I spun earlier. This time though, I went even faster, and as a result I smashed the X110's boot and rear bumper in a failed reverse entry.

But just like as before, the X110 just shrugged it off and soldiered on for more rubber toasting activities.

After a while, I pulled over to the pit lane, had lunch at the circuit's canteen, and move on to the Nishi circuit at the back of the Minami circuit. Normally, Nishi circuit and Higashi circuit are grip-only circuit due to it's high speed nature and filled with lots of straightaways. But in every Ebisu Matsuri they're available to drift around given that you're able to do high speed drifts. And oh, you can still do grip track days as well during hte Matsuri if you want, but obviously you have to yield to the drifters. There are some FWD cars doing trackdays here, mostly cpomposed of kei cars and a bunch of Civics.

I'd say if you aren't too confident on entering the first corner, just don't enter it sideways. On the other hand, the next ones are a bliss to go sideways on. I love the third one though, it felt like going on a reverse rollercoaster ride! :D


I kinda enjoy driving in Nishi rather than Minami. You don't have to link your runs and because it's a grip circuit, I can learn how to drive on the track as well. Usually the Nishi circuit serves as the closing round of Attack Maximum Challenge time attack championship calendar, so I would like to come here again to do some time attack business. And if there are any other interesting TA events here, I might expand my competitive calendar for next year to include visits to this circuit.

At the end of each day of all Ebisu Matsuris, the Nishi circuit will be modified into a short but challenging playground to drift around. This is usually never done on regular days, so lots of drifters will flock to Nishi circuit to experience this short layout. So to elaborate, you start at the exit of T2, then go around T3 forming a queue........

At the top of the hill you'll find a fork. If you turn right, you'll go to the regular long circuit route. To take the short circuit route, turn left, then turn right as you chuck your car to initiate a drift as you go downhill.

As you arrive at the bottom of the hill that usually serves as T1, shed some speed, do a manji and turn left. Do another quick manji to the right to go back to the normal direction. Then follow the usual route as you slide around T2.



You remember those slopes at kiddie playgrounds you used to climb and slide on as a toddler? Yeah, it felt exactly like that, except you're now a grown-up adult in a car doing it manually. The amount of fun, though, is unbeatable, particularly when you got some mates to do tandem, forming a barrage of cars raining down the hill in a flurry of smoke and noise. The action went on as the sun sets......

.....and on, even as darkness fell and the bright moon rises. As you can see, dents are spreading all over my X110 as a result of continous tandem runs up and down the hill. But hey, that's what missile cars are for after all. Had I brought my ER34 instead I might cower in the pitlane for the remainder of the day or even go back home earlier than I should.

Finally, at 10pm, I decided that I had enough for the day and went for a snack and good night sleep. Since it's rather cold outside, I decided to sleep behind my car so I can get some warmth from the exhaust and my sleping bag. Sleeping at Nishi helps too as the pitlane is rather far from the short course, so car noises can be reduced. At this point, most racers are either flocking to Minami or Kita circuit which has better lighting, or to the touge course sandwiched between Kita and Higashi circuit for quite obvious reasons. As remaining cars dances around the track and performing a symphonic lullaby to resting racers, I began to sleep.


[12 Aug 2019]
Morning and paycheck came, the sun rises, and I had quite a great sleep behind the X110. Thankfully everything went fine and none of my stuff were lost. My due, it wasn't all good news though: The track canteen at Nishi circuit hasn't opened yet, and worse, the bathroom has insufficient water to have a shower in. Fortunately, a fellow driver informed me that the canteen at Kita circuit has opened for the day, though the bathroom is corwded there. I decided to just skip bath and went off to Kita circuit.

After a proper brekkie at the canteen, it's time to rock on and run on the Kita circuit. I love the smell of tempura, fuel and burnt rubber in the morning......that's one hell of a mixture to wake up your senses, ignite your mind and spirit, and get you ready for the day.


Just like the Minami wall straight, the start-finish straight at the Kita circuit is another great spot to do a walltap, usually combined with sanpatsu/triple flick as a method to enter T1 in better accuracy. Once again though, it looks like I overcooked it again. Nevertheless, the X110 is still unfazed and carried on running sideways.


The Kita course for the most parts flows much better and is actually easier than the Minami circuit, at least that's what I thought. And so I didn't hold myself back for fully sending the X110 around, as well as joining several tandems.

The fun stopped for a while though as my passenger side door eventually received too much love taps from other drivers, severely bending it. Track marshalls deemed this rather unsafe and told me to pull in to fix it. Thankfully some drivers are kind enough to help me on the door straightening process, even though all we got at that moment are only hammers and crowbars. After all, we're all united here as a huge community, brotherhood and family ;)

Door fixing business done, I went off to the Minami course to grab lunch.....and my, I met even more friends! Rifky, Ymani and Franklin are still sticking around from Day 1, but there are even more famous names on Day 2. Apparently for various reasons they can only make it at Day 2.

First one here is Muza(Niatross) with his new whip, an ECR33. Having worked on Nismo for a while, Muza found it rather ironic for not having a proper Nissan as a daily(he and his good friends does have a ton of S-Chassis, but none are ready to roll iirc and/or registered to his name). Working at Nismo's Omori factory does seem to do some wonders for him as well, as he's able to secure some Nismo goodies to apply on the ECR33, including the BCNR33 wing and Nismo LMGT4 wheels, as well as rare ECR33 optional parts.


Of course Muza is rolling with his entire crew that day! And finally after a looooong while I get to see Marc(Macaron_moon) again, this time rocking a new S15. The S15 was acquired from his good friend and the crew's long-time partner, Jorge(Ward). The Vertex Edge bodykit has been on the car since back then, but the engine was blown and Jorge had no time to restore it, so he handed it to Marc. And finally, after some time, it runs again in fresh and healthy condition.


AJ(RocketBunnyS13) is also present, though somehow I didn't see his lil bro Brian(Brian 06) running with him. This one is another of his S14, bought after destroying one when I visited their garage in a dark night. This one though still has some of the parts that survives form said crash, notably engine mods and front end parts. It's also sporting a brand new paint job and once again posing as one of the crew's demo car. And because this is a demo car, AJ decided to adorn it with period-correct 90s grassroot styling......and boi did he nail it very well!

But turns out they weren't the only one coming in! Turns out the Seoul Tuners boys I met some time ago in America are also attending the Drift Matsuri, as a part of their annual tour program to promote their community and of course, enjoying the homeland of drifting. They came to the circuit together with their lead mechanic and representative, Aho-san, who's responsible to keep and maintain the cars in Japan, since shipping the cars from South Korea to Japan obviously takes some time as they experienced last year.

Here is their jewel of the crown and the start of their tour for the year, a Chaser JZX100 that has been worked on by 11K(11000rpm) and Aho-san for some time. 11K wanted to combine 90's hotboi vibes with some modern-day competitive aura, hence the competition-esque overall look combined with the flake paintjob and loads and loads and loads of low........I can't even believe he could achieve this level of ride height without barely breaking anything! :O All of this are topped with competition-spec 1JZ engine and ultra-strong 326power brake setup. 11K said Aho has fine-tune the car around Japan for some time to achieve this kind of setup, including several visits to Tsukuba circuit. I should admit, this is definitely one of the coolest rides I've ever seen.


Of course the leader of Seoul Tuners, Soju(well, Soju), is also present, but what surprises me was his ride for the event wasn't his own ride! But given the circumstances I mentioned earlier, this actually made sense. This S14 is owned by our friend Ziga(Lagano) from the Side to Side crew, who sadly can't attend this year's event due to various projects occupying his and the crew's schedule. So he trusted the keys of the S14 to Soju to promote both Seoul Tuners and Side to Side, as well as the latter's shop and mod brand, Art of Wheels and Opposite Style.

Just like what I did at Day 1, I decided to watch everyone rip and blast around the track for a while before getting myself into the action. 11K proved to be the fastest of the bunch that I can't catch a pic of him blasting in front of me! :)) Of course everyone will have their own updates so stay tuned on their threads for more pics from them! ;)



After a while, I joined into the action as well, and once again finding myself attempting yet another wall taps.


After a while though, it looks like finally my car has begin to fall apart. First, the throttle jammed mid-drifting, leading to this peculiar sight.

Thankfully the marshalls are kind enough to help me limp the car back to the pits. And so, I spent several next minutes with Franklin, Muza and some other drivers on fixing the throttle at the pits.

Some time later I rejoined the action, but because I'm an ambitious moron, plunged straight into another problem as what I feared became true: I overcooked the Minami wall tap, bouncing the X110 to the other side and almost making it climbing the catch fence.

I managed to get it under control again, though not for long before I found myself slamming the wall again. This resulted in the driver's side window cracked and combined with the previous impact, my steering wheel judders a bit and it look slike the front right arm was slowly falling apart.

Despite all of that, I kept on moving knowing that my car would fall apart anyways. Strangely enough, I got better! I even finally able to do the Minami wall tap properly with a broken car!


But of course my luck didn't last long, as eventually I crashed once more and almost completely crushing the front right arm, as well as finally breaking the driver's side window, spraying debris of glass into my hands, laps and face. Thankfully I wore my trusty helmet and most of the debris didn't pierece thorugh my clothing, so I only suffered from light wounds. And so, I limped it back to the pits for more extensive repairs, as well as removing glass debris from myself and my seat and tending some of my wounds.


As finally I've done fixing the arms and lights with anything I can find on the track, hammer, and welds, the Nishi circuit has been converted to Nishi short course again, so I and all the boys swarmed to the site to enjoy drifting there again and buzz our cars down the hill for one last time.

And finally, the sunset at 6pm marks the end of the Ebisu Summer Drift Matsuri. After one last lap around the Nishi short circuit, we all grouped at the pits to have a quick rest and say our goodbyes before we all part ways to our cribs........

.......except not all of us are going directly back to our cribs. Soju, Aho-san and 11K are continuing their trip around Japan, while I headed to a nearby public hot springs to finally clean myself and having a proper, relaxing cooldown after more than 24 hours of going sideways and fixing my car. Luckily the medic bath(a hot spring area where the water is mixed with various herbs for skin care) is open and not a lot of people were there, so I went straight there and finally have a proper bath to clean my dirty, scruffy and wounded body.

In the middle of glorious bath session someone called me. It was Benny(well, Benny), far away from the US of A. I wonder what is he up to this time?

"Hey Edo, it's me Benny"
"Yoooo Benny, how's your summer apart from working on the Lambo?"
"The Lambo's done and ready to roll so now I'm moving back to the Supra"
"Hey that's great! Glad you've finished it finally, must have costed you a ton"
"It was" *chuckles* "Hey listen, are you free at the moment?"
"Aah yeah, just have finished Ebisu Drift Matsuri my man. A bit of pity you guys can't make it, but props to y'all for lending Soju your S14"
"After all we gotta make an appearance in a way or another" *laughter* "I'd like you to come to USA again"
"Again? What are we going to do?"
"Working on the Supra, probably as well as the Porsche. As usual you can borrow one of our rides if you want"
"Oh cool! Who else is also on the list?"
"Well, only Soju so far"
"That's okay though, my next race is still a long way to go. When I'll be flying there?"
"August 18th. I'll give you the ticket details after the call"
"Okay bossman, thank you very much for the offer. See you when I get stateside"
"Looking forward to your visit, see you there"


Dang, another trip to USA? I thought my summer can't get better than this but IT ACTUALLY COULD! I kinda wish I could bring my Foxbody but given the shipping time, I might not have enough time to drive it stateside. After all, ever since it arrived to the soil of Japan, it simply sat in my garage doing nothing. I'm planning to either turn it into a dragster or simply sell it, but I'm not sure if there's enough interest around Japan.

After hours of hot bath, finally I drove home with no driver window and front arms barely surviving, as well as ruined rear bumper and boot. What's next for the X110? I might bring it to somehwere else like Nikko, Setonaikai, Sekia Hills or Meihan, as long as it survives in the process. But for now, expect myself to halt it's usage for some time.


[13 Aug 2019]
With the X110's intended use fullfilled and the assurance of it's not going to need any spares at the moment, I decided to list some of the stock parts for sale to recoup some money I spent on modding it. So what I listed for sale are these: Stock wheels and tyres for V$2000 since they looked quite fine, stock AT transmission assembly for V$1000, stock handbrake assembly for V$200, stock springs for V$100 and the stock 1JZ-GE exhaust header for V$300.

Later that day, Muza called me on the phone.

"Yo Edo, Muza here"
"Oh hey man, what's up? How's lunchtime at Omori feels like?"
"Ehh....just like your usual high school lunch but better I should say"
*laughter* "Anyways what's up? Anything I can help?"
"Ah yes, AJ and I are planning for a BBQ Satuday night at our base. You in?"
"Um, what kind of BBQ though?"
"Pork, beef, lamb. We might throw some chicken in as well"
"Beef and chicken? Oooooh now that's what I want! Hey we might able to cook some spicy wings as well!"
"Good idea actually, I'll ask AJ and Marc to get the spice ingredients. Oh yah, for the BBQ you can pick any body parts you like"
"That's an absolute yes for me then! At what time of day you're going to start cooking?"
"Sunset"
"Nice, see ya at Saturday then!"
"See ya man, glad you're able to come"


Having a BBQ party before going to USA? Now that's what I call a good life! :D


[17 Aug 2019]
At this point everything I've listed for sale has been sold for V$3600. Finally I'm able to regain some of my money again! :D Later that day I went off to Tokyo to Muza's place to attend the aformentioned BBQ party. Aside from Muza, AJ and Marc, there are some other of our friends as well, such as Rifky, Franklin, Ymani and even Marcus. As I arrive at the HQ, I parked my Silver Queen between Marc's S15 and Ymani's RPS13. AJ's S14, Franklin's Supra and Marcus's BRZ were parked inside the HQ.

Me:*exits car and closes door* "Yo chaps, sorry I'm late, had a bit of traffic thrown at me"
Muza:"Finally, look who's coming boys! Our homie Big Smoke!"
Franklin:"AAAAAAY BIGGIEEEEE!"
*fistbumps and brohugs ensues*
Me:"So anything I can help at the moment?"
Muza:"Oh sure sure, you can chop and beat the meat with me...." *massive laughter* "....rev the grill with Marcus or prepare the spices with AJ"
Me:"I'm in no mood to get dirty so uhh.....where's AJ?"
Muza:"Inside. Franklin, you can go with him"
Franklin:"Yay! Come on Biggie, this way"
*walks inside*

Franklin:"I assume you've cook BBQs before so you're concerned with spices?"
Me:"Nooo, but yes I can cook various things. Reminds me of my childhood too when I see my mom or grandma cook stuff as well"
Franklin:"Sounds like good times I should say"
Me:"It was, and eventually I learn to cook myself. Oh hey AJ, what you got over there?"
AJ:"My man Edo, welcome! Ah you know, just the usual BBQ sauce, salt and pepper. I got some onion, potato, tomato and chili as well if you want-"
Me:"Nice! I'll prep the sauce and dips. A good thing you got both the veggie and sauce as well for variety. Anything else?"
AJ:"Garlic, soy ketchup, and uhhh.....peanuts"
Franklin:"Sorry to interrupt guys, but I'll prepare the grills. See y'all later"
Me: "See ya later mate" *snap hands* "I have an idea. Have you tried peanut sauce before?"
AJ:"Uhh.....no?"
Me:"Let me show you how to do it. Trust me, it's a multipurpose tool. Hand me a bit of those garlic man"
AJ:"Okay. Can I chop the rest of it?"
Me:"Roger that, and don't cry in the process" *laughter, then proceeds to play 'Clair de Lune' on the phone*


Night fell as I and AJ continue to prepare the spices, sauces and dips. Marc, Rifky and Muza were preparing the meat, and Marcus, Ymani and Franklin were preparing the grill. Finally, at 8pm, everything is ready and we start to lay down all the meats. Some are prepped as standard with salt, sauce and pepper, some are marinated in tomato, chili and peanut sauce, some has chili powder and some are marinated with various other combos of spices I and AJ prepared as an experiment and to provide more variety.

After some time, finally we made a hell lot of BBQs! Plates, forks, knives and various kinds of drinks were passed on. Marcus, Ymani and AJ opted to have their BBQs with beer and/or vodka on the side. Franklin, Muza and I opted to have our BBQs with baked potatoes and soft drinks. Meanwhile Marc and Rifky simply had theirs with water and spicy wings on the side. Hilariously Muza and AJ opted to eat their BBQs on their respective rides(ECR33 and S14)'s spoiler :)) I tried this as well, only to find that the Silver Queen's spoiler wasn't wide enough to accomodate my plate. Marc tried this as a joke on Franklin's Supra, only to have his BBQ almost slid off the spoiler and plate, with Franklin visibly brandishing the BBQ knife at him from afar.

Drinks and snacks were passed, stories were told, songs were sung and guitars were strummed(apparently Marc and Muza are able to play guitar, with both of them having an intense guitar duel later on) and we utilized the grill and the rest of the coal as bonfire as we all circled behind the HQ and enjoying our platters of BBQs.....we made a lot of them eventually I ate four of them :)) And in the end Marcus, Ymani and AJ were drunk and high like an Airbus plane they can't even differ which is right and left, so Muza had himself and them sleep at the HQ. Rifky meanwhile had a case of chili sauce overdose and had to chug a lot of water bottles to banish the hotness of the sauce.

Later on I went home to get some sleep before going to Narita airport at the next day for my USA trip. But man, I really would like to have another BBQ satnite sometime.


[18 Aug 2019]
It's time to roll to Narita Airport. As way back before, Ziga will pick me up at DFW Airport at Dallas, TX and this time the plane will depart sooner than before, so I already oke up at 4am to prepare pretty much everything for the trip. At 6am I already have myself grabbing a Grab to Narita Airport, and finally at 10am I departed from Narita to DFW in a 12 hour trip.

I'll tell the rest of it at the next update, so stay tuned! ;)














Wew boi finally got time to write again!
Here's how my wallet stands up after a huge shenanigans at Ebisu and Tokyo:














That's all my updates for now, thank you for stopping by and see you soon!

This post was edited by BigSmoke (2019-08-23 13:29, ago)
Still following the damn train since 1992

Visit my RP HERE!

Macaron_Moon

jp
Posts: 144
http://cornhub.com
Location: Japan Homeless
Occupation: Human Lan Evo, or homeless crackhead. Same thing
Age: 27
V$: 2 cents
#382   2019-08-23 12:48          
All I can say is...

I won hands down with my trusty anime Les Paul and no one can say otherwise :D

Leopard13631

jp
Posts: 99

Location: Japan , Utsunomiya
Occupation: Developing s t y l e
Age: 22
V$: TooLow
#383   2019-08-23 17:02          
Wow that looks like fun af!!! The x110 got full missile status now :D Squad looks fire too I love the look of 13 and 14 zenki!!

r o l e p l a y

Franklin

00
Posts: 301

Location: --- Tokyo, Japan
Occupation: Yesn't
Age: 30
V$: 7585
#384   2019-08-23 17:58          
Dude, that journey was so much fun!
I love the Drift Matsuri event, and i'm glad that i could share this with you guys!
Also you were killin it with your car! You got talent, only you need practice! like all of us
The practice makes the master, anyway, so much fun in that event! I can't wait for Autumn!
Anyway, keep it up, anything u need, hmu buddy!
Love u (no homo)
- Frank

BTW, THE ONLY HUMAN BEING THAT CAN EAT IN MY SUPRA SPOILER IS ME, IF SOMEONE TRY IT, I WILL KILL HIM, OKAY?
I GOT A KNIFE AND A 22' AND I DON'T HAVE FEAR TO USE THEM! lol

This post was edited by Franklin (2019-08-26 00:24, ago)

Chill Life, Good Life ド陰の越
Hotboi Gang (テヂ椅)

Soju

kr
Posts: 1247

Location: South Korea
Occupation: Smuggling Soju
Age: 122
V$: Broke
#385   2019-08-23 20:11          
The event was so great and I felt so nostalgic when I drove the old S14 again :)

Lagano

si
Posts: 1739

Location: Slovenia West side
Occupation: Taking it easy
Age: 24
V$: :$V
#386   2019-08-23 20:18          
Damn boi, you were shredding that Mark 2 a bit too hard there! I know it's a missile but take it easy for now man, it was your first ever drift day with it! Anyway, that looked like one hell of a fun day, as usual when we're at Ebisu with the squad. Also i've never drifted on that slope on the west course, looks super fun! :D

Now i have to decide what i'll pick you up with in Dallas as i don't really have any practical cars lmao. But nevermind that, i'll be waiting. ;)

Nightkid

jp
Posts: 818

Location: Japan
Occupation: yesn´t
Age: 23
V$: idk
#387   2019-08-23 21:28          
Jesus christ poor Mark 2 but hey , that´s drifting . At least you´ve had fun m8 ! Maybe next time i´ll join you guys H I H E .

Sleepin mOnkey

jp
Posts: 2459

Location: Japan Universe, Milky way ,Solar system, Earth
Occupation: Automotive engineer Student
Age: 32
V$: 14.750
#388   2019-08-23 23:55          
hey man it was a blast at matsuri but the goold old vert is definelty lacking some power to keep up still loads of fun
Roleplay: A engine Builder and tuner that lives in Japan and Builds cool stuff.
Cars: Corolla Levin coupe Tog/show car
180SX s13 350hp SR20DET 6MT Babe 1
Supra Sz JZA80 2jz-Gte Vvt-i 2000's Hotboi
240sx Vert HOTBOI 2

CLICCC...

BigSmoke

id
Posts: 844

Location: Indonesia
Occupation: Following Those Damn Trains
Age:
V$: Broke
#389   2019-08-24 05:43          
# Macaron_Moon : All I can say is...

I won hands down with my trusty anime Les Paul and no one can say otherwise :D

No one can top that last performance indeed! :)) It was quite a pleasure to see you at the Ebisu Matsuri and listening to your guitar strums

# Leopard13631 : Wow that looks like fun af!!! The x110 got full missile status now :D Squad looks fire too I love the look of 13 and 14 zenki!!

It was sooo fun indeed! Squad gathering was lit and spirited as well! :D

# Franklin : Dude, that journey was so much fun!
I love the Drift Matsuri event, and i'm glad that i could share this with you guys!
Also you were killin it with your car! You got talent, only you need practice! like all of us
The practice makes the master, anyway, so much fun in that event! I can't wait for Autumn!
Anyway, keep it up, anything u need, hmu buddy!
Love u (no homo)
- Frank

It was quite a pleasure to see you and your V35 going sideways and full send! :cheers:
I guess indeed I have to practice some more, after all I only got to go sideways for some time before the Matsuri

# Lagano : Damn boi, you were shredding that Mark 2 a bit too hard there! I know it's a missile but take it easy for now man, it was your first ever drift day with it! Anyway, that looked like one hell of a fun day, as usual when we're at Ebisu with the squad. Also i've never drifted on that slope on the west course, looks super fun! :D

Now i have to decide what i'll pick you up with in Dallas as i don't really have any practical cars lmao. But nevermind that, i'll be waiting. ;)

Welp I guess I hurled and punished it too much indeed, I almost had to leave the car and take a bus to go home :))
But I'm glad it eventually survived the whole weekend, it was a great missile. Had it was the ER34 instead I might spent more time fixing it.
See ya stateside as well bossman! :D

# Nightkid : Jesus christ poor Mark 2 but hey , that´s drifting . At least you´ve had fun m8 ! Maybe next time i´ll join you guys H I H E .

Yeah feel free to join us sometime! :D

# Sleepin mOnkey : hey man it was a blast at matsuri but the goold old vert is definelty lacking some power to keep up still loads of fun

I'm quite honoured to finally able to see your vert firsthand! :D
All that matters is we had fun indeed :D
Still following the damn train since 1992

Visit my RP HERE!

BigSmoke

id
Posts: 844

Location: Indonesia
Occupation: Following Those Damn Trains
Age:
V$: Broke
#390   2019-08-30 20:43          
Sweet Home Oklahoma
(plus my guest feature from Side to Side thread)











I didn't expect this to happen but I'M BACK TO THE LAND OF THE FREE! :D
Yep, I'll be spending the remainder of the summer together with my trusty boys from Side to Side crew.
This time we'll have a look and fun with their new, shiny toys, as well as looking for a whip of my own.
Let's see what's in the Side by Side toybox by checking out the update below! :D













[18 Aug 2019, later that day]
Later that day, I safely landed at DFW Airport at noon. As I walked off the arrival gate and approaching the terminal, I spotted Soju(well, Soju) arriving as well, so I went to get him. It's a bit painful for me to see his annual Japan trip got cut short due to this, but Soju didn't seem to mind. After all the Side to Side crew lent their S14 to him to use at Ebisu Drift Matsuri, so this can be taken as a way to say thanks to them.

"Hey Soju! How's the flight man?"
"Yoooo you've arrived as well! Nothing much, my back hurts a bit though"
"Let's fix that with a cup of coffee shall we? I'll call Ziga as well, he must we waiting"
"Good idea, my flight meal wasn't much good so I neeed for a tongue fix as well"
"Ouch, I feel for you man. Mine was....well....just a standard flight meal. Bread was good though"

As we have a cup of hot caribbean coffee, I called Ziga(Lagano).

"Hey Ziga, your friendly neighbours is here"
"Ah finally! I'm glad you've arrived safely? Still in airport?"
"Yup, I and Soju are having a bit of coffee here"
"Oh great! I was rather worried about you two, y'know. Okay I'll get there, wait for me"
"Okay man take your time, we haven't finished our coffee yet"
*chuckles* "Must be a good one eh? Anyways see ya later, I got a surprise for you"
"Later man"


Hmmmmmmm, what could it be? The last time Ziga and Benny(well, Benny) picked us from DFW, they used Benny's trusty R33 and their Silverado, which is now in my possession. Don't worry, they've got themsleves a much better workhorse recently, in the form of a Ford F150 Raptor. That thing is HUGE! Now since they planted an LS7 inside the SIlverado before they handed the keys to me, I can only expect them to either purchasing the Henessey VelociRaptor performance pack or doing it by themselves again......probably by fitting another Ford V8, possibly a Shelby V8.

Coffee and quick recovery done, we headed off to the airport's exit, where we saw......a Porsche! And a modern one at that! I was wondering why it looked a bit unfinisehd but that was the hint that Ziga's already here to pick us up. If you're wondering, that's a 997 S, and they got it in the 2+2 configuration, so it's enough to pick me and Soju up. For some reason it sits on Cayenne stockies......though I suspect Porsche actually offered this as an optional wheel for Carreras. As you can see, Ziga has fitted carbon bonnet and front fenders, as well as RUF RT12 bodykit and my personal favourite part, boot and a huge wing from the 997 GT3 Cup/CupR racer!

Ziga got this Porsche for quite cheap, slightly cheaper than my Silver Queen I reckon, for a rather good reason: It was crashed, so it turned up as a salvage titled car. Thankfully only the front exterior parts are wrecked, and both front end and electronics are still intact. Challenged with restoing it to it's former glory and the crew's standards, Ziga bought it and the restoration process is pretty much done, though could use some more perfromance parts. Oh yah, that's what the Side to Side crew do these days: Since they've tuned a hell lot of tuners and muscle cars, they've stepped up their game by modding exotic sports and supercars. Of course Benny got his own exotica automobilia as well, but we'll get to that later.

Being someone that rarely see Porsches up close in pretty much a whole lifetime, I was absolutely thrilled to see a Porsche like this, and quickly fanboys all over it. I mean how did Ziga keep this thing streetlegal with that towering racecar wing? As I, Soju and Ziga shared fistbumps and brohugs, Ziga prepped the Porsche to load our luggage. But hilariously Ziga went to the back of the car, i.e. where the engine is. As we shared some laughter, Ziga noticed that the wing almost touched the rear window. Thankfully, the boot, which is on the front, is enough to contain Soju's luggage, as well as mine. Then we finally got in the car......though there was a bit of a problem: Due to my thiccness, I didn't fit in the backseat. Thankfully, Soju does, so I was on the passenger seat beside Ziga.

Z:"Well that's a sign to reduce chicken consumption intake wasn't it?" *massive laughter*
E:"Oh come on I love chickens! Ii'm just naturally a thicc boi"
Z:"Well they don't call you BigSmoke for nothing after all"
S:"Hey the legroom back here isn't so bad after all, it's comfy enough for me"
E:"Is it? I got a better idea though"
S:"What is it?"
*car starts and we roll off the airport*
E:"Sit sideways man. You sit transversally, with your back leaning to the bodywork, your feet on the seat as well"
S:"That sounds nice but ain't that a bit.......disrespectful?"
E:"Well obviously remove your shoes first man. But yeah, it's Ziga's car after all"
Z:"I don't really mind actually, that sounds like a nice sitting position"
E:"That's how I sometimes do backseat rides on my homeland man"
S:"Eh, sitting normally is already comfy for me anyways"

Before we blast ourselves back to Ardmore,OK, we made a short trip a bit further to Dallas,TX, for some fuel. As you'd expect, owning a Porsche means adding some more bucks to your fuel bills since it has a not-so-huge fuel tank and worse, it's rather thirsty. Could be worse though: Tuning this Porsche is quite expensive, almost every part can be used for either a decent used performance car in Japan or probably a dump truck full of number nines :)) Traffic was rather friendly for us, the interstates wasn't as crowded as I expected. Still, since we're in Texas, it's scorching hot, so AC was on full position all day long, killing fuel consumption even further.

Ziga noticed the fuel is enough to do a bit of sightseeing around downtown Dallas though, so he headed there and we did exactly that. A sight of a huge city isn't exactly new to us, but it's always exciting to see the life and activites running inside it, like those we always see inside western movies. The 997 turns a lot of people's attention in the city, either because it's a Porsche, or because it's a loud one. Or probably because it's an unfinished one running around with bare carbon on the front and unpainted rear bumper :)) Not that I'm complaining though, since as I've explained before, modding a Porsche is a pricey business.

That sight continued at the petrol station we come into before leaving Dallas, the 997's flat six engine was quite loud even in idle, turning everyone's attention and possibly became a social media star in mere seconds :)) Ziga didn't seem to mind this, I guess he's one of the people that believes there's no such thing as bad publicity. With the Porsche receiving it's meal full to the brim, we head back to Ardmore and talked a lot of things, particularly Soju's Japan trip and our weekend at the Ebisu Drift Matsuri. It turns out Ziga's S14 is formerly Soju's, hence Ziga didn't need to think twice to lent the car to him: He basically returned it for a while :)) Of course we also talked about my Meme Machine X110 project, and what the Drift Matsuri had impacted to the car.

But our run for the day hasn't over. As we still experience jet lag, Benny put us on another and crazier shenanigans as the sun goes down. I've talked about this in my guest feature at Side to Side thread, but if you haven't read it, read it over here! :D


[19 Aug 2019]
You know what it is, it's paycheck time! Another V$940 dives into my wallet cheerfully. This time, we get to see some of the latest Side to Side rides, and I'm sure you've been waiting for this. We came to the garage in a calm, peaceful morning and ready to work all day long. Ziga came with his Golf, one of his alternative daily rides. Now as you probably already know, the Side to Side crew has a hell lot of cars, both here in their main HQ at Ardmore and their business base (for their shop, Art of Wheels and Opposite Style. Visit them here!) at Los Angeles. Their collection includes a drift Chevelle, drag Soarer and Supra A80, a Mark II X90 imported straight from Japan, an AE86 with 3S-GE.....and many more. But for now, these are the cars that are going to be run and/or worked on for the day.

You might already notice something very, very peculiar yet interesting. "Is that a Lambo?" Yup, it actually is! This is Benny's new daily driver, a pre-facelift Lamborghini Aventador. Just like Ziga's, this bull was a salvage car. Apparently, Benny told me, this Lambo was driven at speed by a certain young man before he went out of control, and this ended up with him and the Lambo rushing down into a river and was getting close from turning itself into an italian luxury submarine :))

Luckily though almost everything in the back was still dry, and the electric installment were still able to be saved. So all he had to do was fixing and cleaning it up. And do you know how much does this costed Benny when he bought it? An absolutely whopping V$31,000! "Hey, how come he got a Lambo for so cheap?! This is unreal and not fair!" Did you read the part when I mentioned this car plunged into a river? If you do, then you can summarize that this was originally a broken, non-running Lambo. And Benny spent some time restoring and improving it to this condition. All he changed on it was the wheels, which are a set of Brixton Forged Circuit HS1+ (hot damn what a name). This wheel, being a luxury wheel despite it's model name, costed him around another V$5000-6000. It's not everyday you can see a Lambo as handsome as this.....must be a joy to ride on as well! :D

On the rightside of the Lambo, it's Benny's trusty R33 yu've seen earlier, sitting and resting after an unxepected night of racing on the highway, On the left, it's Ziga's 997 which as you've read earlier was tasked to pick me and Soju from the airport and had some time running around Downtown Dallas.

Of course, these aren't the only cars inside the garage. So what else are present on that day? Also uuuhhhh......obligatory Lambo rear end picture because it looks so sharp and sleek. The Aventador is arguably the one that started Lambo's new trend of hexagonal designs(the Murcielago doesn't have lots of edges around it though indeed looks similar, and the Gallardo is at best.....boxy) that still runs to this day. I don't know why really, but I love it though it does end up with split opinions. Some like myself loves it as a refreshment from the designs of yesteryears and as a symbol of Lambo's future ventures. But of course detractors(no pun intended) dislikes it for being too edgy and containing traces of Lambo's parent company, Volkswagen AG. Yep, same desgin traits can be found on the likes of Audi, Seat, Skoda etc......but eh, that's not a huge deal for me. You gotta join forces to survive these days, and after all humans are social beings who depends on each other to survive. Once the idealism of individuality poisons your mind......omae wa mou shinde iru I should say.

On the other side of the garage, there's Ziga's Golf I've shown earlier and, up there in the working bay, one of Benny's new projects, a Honda S2000. The other one is an Infiniti G35, which Benny said would be prepared for SEMA appearance later this year. As for the S2K......Bbenny hasn't told me anything about it yet, but I suspect it'll be either a spare track car or another show and stance car. It's fit for both purpose I should say, though I prefer it to be a track car. It's another salvage as well, with damages to the front end and rear axle. It was driven reckelssly just like the Lambo, but unlike the Lambo it wasn't so lucky as it ended up slamming a high roadside curb. The bitter part is it wasn't the owner who crashed it, but rather someone that is going to repair it. Quite ironic, innit? The owner himself, a middle-to-higher age man was obviously devastated over the sight of his pride and joy destroyed. Benny has promised him a ride-along when this thing has restored to it's former glory.

As for the Golf, this one is a MkII Golf, not sure which trim but certainly not a GTI. This Golf has been one of the longest car that has ever stayed on the Side to Side garage, and eventually it has been finished recently. The Golf in the standard GTI model is already a benchmark and big daddy of hot hatch bois that'll pump your heart and testosterones to the max, but this being a Side to Side vehicle of course has received some enhancements. Most notably is the custom front grille, 16in Desmond Regamaster Evos wrapped in Advan AD08(similar tyres as my Silver Queen, with mine being AD08R variant) and that edgy and muscular Rallye Golf replica kit. Speaking of which, there are lots of European exclusive special Golfs, such as the Rally Golf, Golf Country (basically 4x4 offroad Golf) and the Golf CityStromer (an electric powered Golf). None made it outside Europe due to lack of demand and interest, though the Rallye Golf was considered to be imported from Europe to US market. Sadly though, the one who proposed the idea later died in a plane bombing explosion. And thus, the Rallye Golf never came stateside.

Oh I almost forgot to tell what's inside this particular Golf, so let me tell you to lift all the sorrow state I brought earlier. This Golf isn't powered by anything from VW AG, not even anything German or European. You might not believe it but this Golf is now powered by.....an SR20DE! Yup, the same engine you can find in JDM Silvias and 180SXs. An FWD SR20DE isn't exactly a rare sight to be honest, in fact you can find it more often than the RWD ones. Tthe SR20 powers cars like the Nissan Sentra, Nissan Primera/Infiniti G20(with a BTCC overall title on its belt), Nissan NX-series (an oddball FWD little sports car, designed to go against the likes of Honda Del Sol. Look it up) and of course Nissan's pocket rocket that is the Nissan Pulsar. The SR20DE is present in Australia and New Zealand's highest trim, the Pulsar SSS. The Japanese market got something to top that, which is the Pulsar GTI-R that has SR20DET linked to an AWD drivetrain. Justified though, as it's a Group A homologation special. You can also find an SR20DE inside, of all things, Nissan Serena family van, which can be specced with FWD or AWD drivetrain. The Serena was heavy as hell though, so don't expect this as a sleeper :)) The one in this Golf has been lightly tuned, and produces circa 200 BHP just like the Pulsar SSS did.

Later that day I browsed various sites to see how much an Evo 6 would cost in Japan-ah yes I haven't tell you that the Side to Side crew has the holy grail of all classic Evos, the Evo 6 TME! This one is a rather unique one as it doesn't have that side stripe and painted in purplish blue, which actually was an option. But these days, red paint and the side stripe is pretty much the diktat for JDM collectors. Back to Ziga's TME, he got this one from a federal auction that I tipped to him a long time ago. The TME and the drag Supra was owned by a drug cartel somewhere around Oklahoma, and all of his collection was seized as proofs and then auctioned by the cops. At the moment Ziga would drive the Supra at times, but for the Evo.....he hasn't done anything to it, even probably going to get rid of it.

Back to my browsing activities, Evo 6 prices are pretty much ranged from quite competitive for a regularly used example to basically off-the-scale for a pristine example, including obviously TMEs. But then I saw multiple listings for Evo 5. They, along with the Evo 4 are actually cheaper than my Evo 3 and came with manual as well. Then I checked the Evo 5 specs to compare with Evo 3. So basically the Evo 3 is smaller and lighter, but the 5 has more rigid and wider(though heavier and tax-impacting) body, stronger engine and the one that really piqued my interest, adjustable stock wing! That alone was enough to make myself considering to purchase an Evo 5 to replace my Evo 3......but then again I need to finish the rest this year's time attack events and the Silver Queen has a very special place in my heart. After all, it's my first car and it has seen all the shenanigans and memories that I've made here. But then again, probably the only way to keep myself being competitive in time attack events is switching to a newer car.

Also, it has to be noted that Evo 4, 5, and 6 are the generations that yielded Mitsubishi's WRC driver title quattrick on the hands of Tommi Makinen. The 1998 title was also the only time when Mitsubishi secured bith driver and manufacturer titles. The 1998 title was almost never going to happen had if Carlos Sainz Sr.'s Toyota Corolla didn't broke down at the very last stage of the final rally of the year, 300 meter to the finish line. Understandably, Sainz Sr. was extremely pissed off he kicked the car, and Sainz's co-driver, Luis Moya, eventually decided to throw his helmet and broke the Corolla's rear window after they failed to get it going again. Tommi, who failed to complete the rally two days earlier due to breaking his rear wheel axle(and kept on driving until he was caught by police), was already at the hotel and prepared to catch a plane back home, but not before he had some interviews with the medias over the certainity of losing his title. Mid-interview, Tommi's crew who was spotting for Tommi's teammate, Richard Burns(who won the rally) called Tommi on phone that Sainz has stopped and he has sealed another title(the title fight was only between these two). Tommi was obviously shocked and surprised, and rushed back to the rally venue to celebrate his third title with his crew. Here's some of the iconic scene pics, where Tommi broke his axle and Sainz stopped near the finish line.


Anyways, tell me, should I keep my Silver Queen or is it indeed the time to say goodbye to her?


[23 Aug 2019]
It was a dry and quiet day at the Side to Side garage, only filled with banters, random car sleuthing and window shopping as well as lots of coffees and beer kegs. Obviously I was high on caffeine and bored as hell, so to make myself feel a bit better I decided to go for a drive. But then again, I don't have anything to drive for a while here. I don't want to risk myself involved in a high-speed accident, so I decided to grab the VW Golf for a spin. Tthankfully, Ziga allows me to drive it and immediately gave me the keys for it. And so, I went for a drive to downtown Ardmore.

The Golf drives....just like a Golf would normally do: Keen to turn around and runs sprightly, but not to the point you can easily overcook it. And that's why people love hot hatchbacks: You can drive it to the limit without worrying about jumping too far ahead of said limit and thus running out of talent. You can also still carry your friends and a lot of shopping bags inside it, and most importatly you can still push it on, say, broken roads or dirt paths, unleashing your inner rally racer wannabe in the process.

The SR20DE engine is much more powerful and faster than the GTI engine of the MkII generation. It's also even faster than the Rallye Golf and it's derivative, the Golf G60 Limited, which has 161 BHP. Surely the SR20 augments the Golf's characters by pushing the chassis further to it's limits. In the world of 300+ BHP hatchbacks, 200 BHP seemed a bit mundane, as even a Ford Fiesta ST can reach that figure and sips much less fuel, but here in the Golf everything feels more......interactive and spirited within the car. I like how it looks as well, definitely fits to be seen at autocross and track day events turning multiple hot laps. The wheels and paints may be modern but they also look period-correct at the same time.

The SR20, thanks to a lovely tune and maintenance, also sips fuel fairly well. The SR20 isn't exactly an economical engine these days despite being a multipurpose engine, but then again, being a multipurpose engine, it can be tuned in various ways. Safe to say, the SR series engine is kinda like Ford's Modular V8 array of engines. Well the Modular isn't economical either, but eh, that's American engines for you. But boy, does it actually bulletproof, you can run it without any type of maintenance for a century and that thing would still run for million miles.

Eventually I ran quite deep inside the city, I arrived at what looks like a luxury suburban areas for the riches. Everything is at least two-storeys here, and quite wide....wide enough to have a backyard party properly I guess. I know, my crib is also big, but I live alone inside it :)) I remember what they say about the social life in these kind of environtment: The house may be big, but the social life might be lacking as hell depending the people who own them. Some still got some spare time to have a chatter and mingle with their neighbours at some time, some other....doesn't even know or even care who lives next door. I guess being rich doesn't always mean you're going to have many friends and connection, and thus actually leads to less happiness in this world. For some, friends and family worth more than their own possessions, and they're actually right in many senses. Had if I didn't connect with Muza(Niatross) and friends way back then, I won't be here right now.....in fact I won't be anywhere I should say.

You see, when you're driving, you're not only thinking about what's ahead of you or on your sides, you also think about the world, what happened around it, and what happened around yours. And that's why I love random drives: Not only you drive your car somewhere, it also drives your mind to think, and thus creating a flow of thoughts and opinions as you go further.


[26 Aug 2019]
Well it's another paycheck time bois! V$940 successfully perform a touchdown into the pockets of my wallet. Aaaanyways, drivig Ziga's Golf as a daily was sure a sheer fun, but in the end, it's not my car at all, and I don't wanna risk it for um, unfortunae events, like it being stolen, broke in the middle of a ride, being a road rage target or having a drunken youth lurching into it. And thus, I'm in a need for a beater daily....something that I won't feel guilty over crashing it or accidentally breaking it.

So thus that day was spent by another session of gazing in front of my laptop, spending time browsing for cars. A lot of candidates were considered, from various gens of Civics, some Mercs, an Audi, a Volvo estate, a Golf, a Jetta, even a Prius. But then I found this Corolla for sale. Man I can't believe the price at all.........

MAN IT'S A FREAKING CLEAN COROLLA FOR JUST 50 BUCKS! Ookay truth be told it's not without it's problem. It has a broken head gasket, since the owner's son was probably being a retard and drove the car without any engine oil inside. The car has been sitting for a month ever since, and it looks like the owner got another replacement after all, explaining the ultra cheap price. Still, I absolutely can't believe this Corolla is actually cheaper than my Daewoo Tico, which I bought for V$90 back then

But even combined with the price for a brand new head gasket it's still much much cheaper, which was proven after I got a head gasket replacement here for V$16. That brings the total price for the car into V$66. See? That's ultra unbelievabe. It's surely being faster than my Tico as well. Oh yah, this one is the 1.6 model, which has 4A-FE engine(no, despite being in the same family, this engine is far different from the mighty 4A-GE) that produces 99 BHP, at least when it was brand new. The Tico meanwhile has half the engine capacity and also producing half the power(800cc engine producing 48 BHP).

The price was soooo unbeliveable I had to show it to Ziga, Benny and Soju, to the sheer disbelief and massive laughter from everyone. It was so unbelievable it took me a while to recover since I can't stop laughing. Evntually, as I took hold of myself again, I called the owner to seal the deal. Fortunately, the car was still available, and all I had to do was indeed fix the car and pay 50 bucks to him. Since the head gasket arrives the next day, I decided to go pick the car the day after the head gasket arrival.


[28 Aug 2019]
With the head gasket and cash in hand, I picked up a Grab car to carry me to the deal location. The Grab car was a Chevy Volt, so uhhh......not really much thing to talk about it. But I'm amazed on it's highway capabilities. You see, being an electric car, charger stations aren't everywhere yet, so running out of electricity at the wrong time is obviously a nightmare. But nah, this one sips electric power with ease. Quite quiet too as you'd expect from an elecric car, so I spent some time during the trip sleeping and reading articles. Yeah, electric cars isn't yet a viable option to do fun rides, but if you're either looking for a caling city ride or a short-event racer(e.g. drag racing and rallycross), electric cars could be a great idea actually.

Some hours later, I arrived at the location and notify my arrival via text. Some time later, the owner came out from his crib and cheerfully greeted me. My guess was proven correct as I immediately spotted his new car, a Ford Edge. Not really a pop people carrier but surely a nice car to carry stuff around. As we have some talks about the Corolla, his son and the Ford, I fixed the Corolla's head gasket. This one, as I've briefly explained, is an AE101 with 4A-FE engine. Some of these things has 4A-GE as well, but only for Japanese market models. The Corolla AE10x and EE10x series are usually nicknamed the Great Corolla by fans, or Greco for short. I'm not sure why, but I suspect that was the way it was marketed back then.

Finally, after an hour of fixing and banters, the Corolla is ready to roll again. With the Greco successfully started and all the papers are in hand, I handed the 50 bucks to the owner and the Greco is now officially mine. Time to bring it back to Ardmore and see what can we do with it! :D















Finally got another time to update again!
Here's how my wallet survives in the meantime in the land of the free:















That's all my updates for now, thank you for stopping by and see you soon!

This post was edited by BigSmoke (2019-08-30 20:54, ago)
Still following the damn train since 1992

Visit my RP HERE!

Buzzsaw

uk
Posts: 192

Location: United Kingdom
Occupation: Supermarket Store
Age:
V$: 375/w
#391   2019-08-31 07:17          
Ayyeee man! Great find of dirt cheap Corolla, it reminded myself about my Skyline GTS, I bought it, with very cheap price.
Click here for to my RP thread.

Benny

ba
Posts: 1143

Location: Bosnia And Herzegovina Lukavac
Occupation: Electrictian
Age: 30
V$: V$756
#392   2019-08-31 09:38          
Well well well biggie, that corolla I dunno what you plan with it hehe, but I would definitely advise to switch to the EVO IV/V/VI. Also I got one more surprises in store for you and SoJu today ;)

Press on photo

Role Play

Weekly Income : V$1125/w

BigSmoke

id
Posts: 844

Location: Indonesia
Occupation: Following Those Damn Trains
Age:
V$: Broke
#393   2019-08-31 10:01          
# Buzzsaw : Ayyeee man! Great find of dirt cheap Corolla, it reminded myself about my Skyline GTS, I bought it, with very cheap price.

Well ECR33s are underrated gem indeed, I'd like to see what you can do with it and the RB20 inside it :cheers:

# Benny : Well well well biggie, that corolla I dunno what you plan with it hehe, but I would definitely advise to switch to the EVO IV/V/VI. Also I got one more surprises in store for you and SoJu today ;)

Ooooooh what could it be bossman? I can't wait for what you have on the store :D

For the Corolla, not much really, just something I can drive and bash around without any guilty, and probably something I can bring to trackday for laughs :))
And I guess switcheroo time it is, thanks bossman :cheers:
Still following the damn train since 1992

Visit my RP HERE!

Lagano

si
Posts: 1739

Location: Slovenia West side
Occupation: Taking it easy
Age: 24
V$: :$V
#394   2019-08-31 14:27          
Man, you just got one of the cheapest car in the history of deals, given that it needed just one small fix! I've got some great bargains over the years too but you won with this one haha.

So it's time to replace the good ol' Evo 3? Well then, let's take the TME to the track and you might even want to take it with you. ;)

Buzzsaw

uk
Posts: 192

Location: United Kingdom
Occupation: Supermarket Store
Age:
V$: 375/w
#395   2019-08-31 19:33          
# BigSmoke : Well ECR33s are underrated gem indeed, I'd like to see what you can do with it and the RB20 inside it :cheers:

Sadly, the engine is seized up due no engine oil inside of the engine :facepalm: , but hey it give me excused to buy better RB engine.
Click here for to my RP thread.

BigSmoke

id
Posts: 844

Location: Indonesia
Occupation: Following Those Damn Trains
Age:
V$: Broke
#396   2019-09-06 05:31          
# Lagano : Man, you just got one of the cheapest car in the history of deals, given that it needed just one small fix! I've got some great bargains over the years too but you won with this one haha.

So it's time to replace the good ol' Evo 3? Well then, let's take the TME to the track and you might even want to take it with you. ;)

Welp that was one hell of a lucky deal indeed :))

Also thanks for the TME drive offer bossman :cheers:
Still following the damn train since 1992

Visit my RP HERE!

BigSmoke

id
Posts: 844

Location: Indonesia
Occupation: Following Those Damn Trains
Age:
V$: Broke
#397   2019-09-07 20:26          
Power Player
(NOTE: Some pics are taken from Side to Side and Franklin's thread)












It's the third week of the USA trip and things went ultra wild over here!
This time, we got ourselves a SEMA-grade build, an impromptu rally stage and another trackday!
I also discovered and experienced two different poles of engine power!
Let's find out what exactly happened by checking out the update below shall we?














[29 Aug 2019]
We were going to get some breakfast, particularly after I discovered the got nothing but beer and cola on their fridge :)) The reason of this is that Benny never do breakfast for almost his entire life, while Ziga(Lagano) usually grab sandwiches from 7-Eleven or similar stores. Not that I'm complaining, you might remember that at times my life simply depends on either onigiri or instant ramen, though lately I do also grab sandwiches from either 7-Eleven or Lawson back in Japan. And because they got guests this time (that is Soju and myself), we decided to go to suburban areas(well, almost rural) of Ardmore and go to a depot that serves cheap foods, since all are on Benny for the day. Benny and Soju were riding on Benny's Aventador, while Ziga and I were riding on Ziga's 997.

We arrived at the place as brunch time(10am, if you're wondering) came close. Benny ordered a cup of coffee. Ziga noticed they got croissant and other kinds of cakes available, so he ordered a croissant and Soju grabbed some of the cakes, plus a cup of tea. Me? I was quite hungry so I ordered two egg omelets, a huge stack of pancake, a large bottle of cola and a cup of coffee. Realizing just how big my order is as the others are returning a surprised look to my face, I clarified this: "What? Well the reast are for lunch and snacks at the garage, so I don't have to go outside twice". Benny responded with quite a jab: "Oh yeah yeah, they don't call you Big Smoke for nothing" :))

As we enjoy our breakfast menu and Benny smoked a pack of cigs while enjoying his coffee, I asked to Benny what's the gameplan for the day.

"Hey Benny"
"What, you want to order some more?" *puffs cig smoke*
"Nonono, this is a lot already." *sips coffe* "Uh, what's the gameplan for today?"
"Uh, what?"
"What's the plan for today?"
"Ah." *sips coffee* "As you can see our garage is fullfilled to the brim. We gotta move the S2K somewhere"
"Well you're right, but why the S2K?"
"It's....not our priority right now. Gotta finish the G35 first, deadline is running close"
"Ah I see. Oh hey why not have me and Soju helping on both builds?"

Soju interjects, "Hell yeah, we'll be eager to help. We don't come this far for nothing my man." I continued, "Ha you see, Soju's the same wavelength as my mind"

"......right then. Ziga, what's the next step for the S2K?" It looks like Benny accepts our offer to help! Ziga then listed all the damaged parts on the S2K to be fixed later. After we finish our breakfasts Benny brews a plan: Soju and him will go around Ardmore and some of its surroundings for an empty garage to store the S2K, while I and Ziga head back to the garage, get the S2K and tow it using their Ford Raptor to the brand new garage. With that settled, we parted ways.

Back in the garage, we grabbed the keys to the Raptor, connect it to the trailer, and.....push the S2K onto it. Thankfully though it's a light car, but having one axle damaged certainly makes matters a bit difficult. I mean we don't want to make further damages while loading it onto the trailer.......

After we successfully loaded the S2K, Ziga's phone ringed. Benny and Soju has found a small garage where we can store the S2K in. It's a bit far from the HQ, but the rent cost was quite cheap. We headed there to store the car, then went back to the HQ to continue working on the G35. Not gonna lie, the Raptor is soooooo huge, getting inside it felt like a wallclimbing session and riding inside it feels like being a giant :))

By the way, here's the garage we found and store the S2K in. It's a small garage, formerly owned by a bunch of car enthusiasts. Thankfully some tools were still present as well, making our job slightly easier.



[30 Aug 2019]
Soju and Benny took the key to the Raptor to load the S2K again for sandblasting process, leaving me and Ziga in the garage to look for the parts needed to repair the S2K. But instead of going around the town to look for parts shop, we simply cheated a bit by sourcing them around various junkyards, with anything we can't find to be ordered from eBay instead. This way we saved a hell lot of time and energy....all we had to do is sit back behind the PC and sip some cola and beers :))

But then Ziga's phone ringed. Then he grabbed the keys to the 997, telling me to look for the garage because he had to pick up someone as he tossed the garage keys to my hands. At first I thought he was going to pick up either Benny or Soju...........but then Benny and Soju came back to the garage.

B:"Where's Ziga?"
E:"Going out. Yes, I'm alone here. Don't worry, all safe and sound here"
S:"Oh yah, the Porsche's gone. Is he going to pick the parts?"
E:"Nah, it'll be delivered here later"
B:".....delivered? I thought I told you to go ou-"
E:"That's the power of junkyard and eBay bossman"
B:"......clever boys."

Moments later, Ziga arrived at the HQ.....together with Franklin in the passenger seat! I went off from the PC seat to meet up with Franklin. Of course, fistbumps and brohugs ensues later on. As Ziga and Benny re-introduces the HQ to Franklin, where Franklin can be see fanboying over the Lambo and Porsche as we did back then, Franklin presented a huge box from inside the Porsche's boot and rear seats, which are lots of parts for Benny's Supra! There was a bit of dispute though when Franklin discovered that the Dodge Neon he bought at the last trip had gone, but at least he got a cashback from it.

Franklin then went away to look for a new ride whilst in the US of A, while after all parts has been arrived, Benny went back to the S2K garage to store everything I and Ziga bought earlier.

Later that day, it looks like Franklin has found his new commuter ride. It's a 240SX with 1UZ inside! I know, there are too many S-Chassis in our meals already, but seeing one with 1UZ (or pretty much any Japanese V8) is still arguably a rare sight. It's in nice and clean condition as well, ceratinly worth more than my Greco :))



[31 Aug 2019]
Benny said he's going to work alone in the meantime with the S2K, so we were tasked to work on the G35. Part of this including finally giving the G35 a new heart. And this being a Side to Side build, it's not just a regular heart they're going to fit inside the G35........

Yes, what you're looking at is the engine of BMW M5 E60, the mighty 5.0L V10 engine! This thing produces circa 500+ BHP in stock form and can easily bring anything to 200 mph, and beyond it when the speed limiter is removed. And of course we did remove it! :D This engine is a product of all BMW M experts learned from their Formula 1 program, when they were a strong contender in F1. In fact the engine they produced for F1 purposes was the most powerful among the others on that era, recorded at 900 BHP. As a comparison, the one produced by Ferrari and Mercedes that time produced 890 BHP, Renault and Honda ones was recorded around 880 BHP, while the ones made by Toyota and Cosworth made 860 BHP. This, combined with a decent chassis made by Williams, made them a huge force of Formula 1's start of the 21st century, constantly racking podiums and earning several wins in the process.

The engine was quite heavy to lift, but thankfully in the end we can put it inside and fit the G35. Custom engine braces and mounts as well as several other mods were made to ensure the G35 would accept the V10 engine happily. After the engine works were done, we proceeded to other small things, such as lights and wheels spacers.


[02 Sep 2019]
There was almost nothing to do in the garage other than kept on working on the G35. So to relieve myself up I decided to take the Greco for a ride. Before I went off, I decided to tell Franklin the backstory of the Greco, which you can read in the previous update. As I expected, Franklin reacted in disbelief as he laughed and rolling on the garage's floor.

The plan for today is uhhh.....drive the Greco into some backcountry roads, pretend I'm a rally driver and see if the Greco could survive all the torture I and the road throw to him. Well some generations of Corollas, including the AE86 are used for rally racing purposes, so it's time to see if this one has the reputation as well. Ziga told me to head over any rural parts of Ardmore to find these kinds of roads, so I did. It is the very end of summer as well, so temperature is cool enough to roll on and there wasn't any chance of precipitation, so I don't have to worry about muds.

Some time later, I found what looks like a logging track, which I feel wide enough and not too bumpy to have my Greco in, so I decided to swerve off the main roads and go into the deep forest that hosts the logging track.

Or so I thought. I wasn't all smooth sailing obviously, as I discovered the first bump over the road, enough to send the Corolla on air for a while. Landing is a bit harsh but otherwise all is good. I soldiered on on full throttle, keen to see how much power this thing can deliver on dirt. So far everything looks promising despite this thing barely has 100 BHP.


The Greco surprisingly behaved well even when it lost some grip when I slam the accelerator flat out. Well obviously I'm running on dirt and it suffers from understeer, and the aged tyres doesn't help matters either. But damn, I enjoyed every second of it and better still, I don't have to worry about crashes or hurting the car in general. This was a 50 bucks car after all! If I did this in my Silver Queen either I'll do it slowly or not even doing it at all in fear of dents or scratches.

But some time later, I might have to question my driving manner and what I did just said after I sent the Greco jumping on air. Landing wasn't smooth either but amazingly the Greco kept on running without any sort of problems.....well apart from bent front end I guess?


Some time later, having not learned my lesson and thinking the Greco actually still had it, I sent it flying again. This time though, the landing was really harsh to jolt my searts forward and probably ruining the shocks on all sides of the car. And obviously front end might actually bent at this point. Somehow the airbag didn't pop though. Either it wasn't hard enough to pop the airbags, the airbag had popped in the past before I bought it or it doesn't have one after all. Either way reselling this car later could be quite difficult now :))


After a bit of long driving on compromised shocks and suspensions I found the logging site. It's a bit eerie to see almost everything on the site being empty, but stuff like this are.....inevitable, but also painful at the same time. Nevertheless, gotta move quickly from the site before inviting unwanted attention.

I kept on running on full throttle despite the car being bashed several times. And despite all the tortures I've given it, the Greco somehow survived, particularly with no fallacies on the steering and engine side so far. Eventually I rejoined the main roads later on and head back to Ardmore. Man that's one hell of backcountry rallying I've just did! Not sure if I want to do it again though.....





[07 Sep 2019]
After multiple days of working on the G35, S2K and Benny's Supra, finally we could have a rest. During these times both Benny's R33 and Aventador were rarely used, so I have an initiative to warm it up and take it for a short ride. So as I arrived at the HQ I searched for the R33 keys. The problem was even Ziga didn't know where is it so I had to ask Benny via phone call.

"Morning bossman, it's me Edo"
"Oh hey Edo, morning to you as well. What's the matter?"
"Uh, I've been thinking of taking the R33 for a joyride. Can I?"
"Sure sure, you can take it, just be careful-"
"Sorry to interrput but I can't find the keys to it"
"Ah. I put it inside our key control box"
"Uhhh....where exactly?"
"Ask Ziga where is it, the open it. The leftmost key is the key you needed"
"Okay bossman, thank you for the guide"
"It's all good, see ya later kid"



After the call I went off to the R33 to look for it's keys, and the doors were indeed weren't locked. After a bit of fumbling to search the globebox I found the key exactly where he told me. The only problem was it wasn't a Nissan key......it was a huge Lamborghini key. Yup, that's the key for the Aventador. Did he actualy forgot where is it or what? I was going to grab the correct key but foolishly enough I decided to call Benny once more just to make sure.

"Yea my boy what's up?"
"Uh, Benny, you sure it's the right location?"
"Yes it is."
"I-it's the Lambo key that I found over there"
"Good, you've picked the correct key"
"What do you mean the correct key-"
"Your first job of the day, get inside the Lambo and pick me up"
"Eh, are you serious?"
"Yes I'm dead serious. Now go pick me up will you?"
"O-okay"
"Right, thanks a bunch"


I didn't believe Benny handed me a much faster car for the day! There are two problems though. Number one, I never drove a supercar before, despite Silver Queen being quite fast enough for races. Number two, I forgot where Benny's house is :)) After asking Ziga for the address and directions to Benny's crib, as well as Ziga ensuring me things will be okay if I put the Lambo on Strada('road' in Italian) driving mode, I rolled out to the streets inside Benny's savage black Aventador.

I opted to take a bit of highway to make things faster. Thankfully traffic wasn't so crowded for the time being, but the Lambo sure to turn a lot of heads, from little kids spending the weekend witht their parent, to a lot of teens and socialites hunting the Lambo for Instagram and Snapchat feeds, and even adult and senior citizens! Lots of cameras and smartphones aimed at the Lambo from various sidewalks and inside almost every single traffic cars. I'd like to enjoy the sudden fame some more, but then again it's not my car and the owner is waiting for both myself and his beloved bull.

Some time later I approached the area where Benny lives. Ah yes, let's talk about the Aventador for a while. This thing has entered it's 9th year of prodcution, beginning back then in 2011. Along this timeline it has span two generations and a lot of special editions. This is the very first one, producing a mighty 690 BHP. Funnily enough it produced less power than Dodge Charger and Challenger Hellcat, which both produces 707 BHP. But then again both cars are ultra heavy, weighing almost 2000 kg in the Charger's case and 1880 kg for the Challenger, whereas the Aventador weighed around 1500 kg and has four wheel drive. So clearly this thing is superior. Per Lambo's tradition, it's named after a bull that fought at matador events. Also a trivia: Ferruccio Lamborghini's zodiac sign is Taurus, which is symbolized with, you guessed it, a bull. Ferruccio himself also enjoys watching matador battles along his lifetime.

The Aventador has three driving modes, which are Strada(road), Sport(self-explanatory), and Corsa(race). In Strada mode, the transmission can shift itself or receiving input from your hands, the exhaust is much calmer(though it's still loud), traction control level is high, and the power distribution is set at 30:70 F:R. At crusing speeds like I did at the moment, half of the cylinders also deactivates, turning the V12 engine into an inline 6 just like a Nissan RB or Toyota JZ series.....or Ford Barra series :)) Sport mode will dial the TC down a bit, throttle is now much responsive and the exhaust became louder, power distribution changes to 10:90 F:R but the transmission still could shift itself. And finally, in Corsa mode, the power distribution reverts back to 20:80 F:R but this time TC will be put at minimum and you have to shift manually, and the gearchange speed is much, much faster. As the name suggests, it's reserved for trackday usage.

Finally I arrived at Benny's crib. Benny, who waited at front while puffing more cigs, gets into the car.

"Great, you did it! How's the trip along the way?"
"Oh it was nice bossman, though the exhaust was quite loud"
*laughing* "That's a sign of true Lambo"
"Oh, and people seem to like it. Cameras and smartphones are everywhere!"
"Oh wait what's this? You put it in Strada?" *flicks the mode selector to Corsa*
"Wait bossman WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
"Now, the second part of your mission. Take me to our HQ, and yes, I've put it in Corsa"
"But why?"
"This is your test to see if you can tame my bull"
"Ah.....okay, but with one condition. If I die, you pay for my funeral"
"Nope"
"Okay let me rephrase that. If both of us die, Ziga pays for our funeral"
"That's acceptable" *mass laughter* "Okay now hit it son!"
"Okay here we go!" *slams accelerator hard* "WOAH!"

"Oi not literally! Just drive as you normally do!" Benny scolds and warns me. "Ah okay bossman, I'm sorry for that", I replied. Turns out city driving on Corsa isn't as difficult as I thought. ALl it takes are ultra-sensitive hands to counter the occasional little flick of slides whilst turning, and even more sensitive feet to curb the heavy foot tendency that susually rises from driving thee kind of cars.


As we approach somewhere below a highway pass, Benny told me to go under it, and floor the Lambo for a while, then do several downshifts, so I did. There I discovered why people love Lambos oh so much: The ultra loud and dramatic engine noise felt like a giant monster is going to crush us anytime, emitting a supersonic and devilish aura. Sometimes it's true what enthusiasts say about supercars in general: It's not about aerodynamics, it's about the drama that surounds it.

Speaking of which, back when it's still fully owned by Signor Ferruccio himself, Lamborghini never entered a race, at least as a manufacturer outfit. Feruccio was once actually a race driver himself at his youth. He entered the famous Mille Miglia race with a modded Fiat 500 at 1948. Sadly his effort ended prematurely at 680 mile mark out of 1000 when he crashed into a restaurant. Ever since that incident, Ferruccio has never ever entered any racing activites ever. Lambo's first racing effort came at 1989 under the ownership of Chrysler, when they made a V12 engine for the midpack Larousse team. It was brutally fast but also tragically unreliable. At 1993 they almost made a deal with McLaren for 1994 season, and even the legendary Ayrton Senna liked the engine, but in the end McLaren decided to make a partnership to Peugeot. We know what happened by then: McLaren had a hard time with Peugeot engines, Senna moved to Williams but then tragically died at Imola, and Chrysler sold Lamborghini to Indonesian company called MegaTech.

Under the leadership of MegaTech and eventually Audi AG(which means they're also owned by VW), Lambo produced various race versions of the Lamborghini Diablo at the end of the 20th century, such as the Diablo GT1, Diablo GT2, Diablo SVR and Diablo GTR. Then as the Murcielago came into life, Lambo had a partnership with Reiter Engineering to build race versions of Murcielago, namely the Murcielago RGT, Murcielago RGT-LM and Murcielago RSV. At this point Reiter were also licensed to build race versions of Gallardo for GT3 dan Super Trofeo racing needs. And finally at 2015 Lamborghini established their Squadra Corse, held a partnership with Dallara and built the Huracan GT3 as well as the Huracan Super Trofeo. Reiter still build Lambo racers, but limited to Gallardos, which is now renamed the Gallardo R-EX. Right we've veered wayyy too far from my story, let's catch up now.

Eventually we arrived to the HQ. After lunch and a bit of rest, Benny took us for a trackday to test the R33 again. Benny drive with Ziga inside, while I was ordered to hand the wheel and keys to Soju. Just like our last trip here, we went to Hallett Motor Circuit where my Mustang juggles like a jelly and we saw a three-way battle between Soju, Benny and Lydia(RedCarDriver).

Some time later we arrived at the track. The first thing we did was helping Benny assessing his R33 for track performance, after we did one for street usage some time ago. Benny turned out blazing fast laps, so this should be a great sign of all the Nismo goodies worked.

But then, Benny issued a challenge to me and Soju to test our drving skills and R33's performance even further: "Both of you will drive in pairs inside the Aventador to race Ziga in the R33, each for three laps." He elected to just shotgun ride due to being exhausted after hours and hours of tuning multiple cars.

I asked Soju to go first, since he had much more experience than myself when it comes to taming north of 600 horsepower. His famous and legendary Supra has more power and actually lighter than the Aventador, so this should be a piece of cake for him. Nevertheless, Ziga proven to be able to dish a tight fight against us.

Then it was my turn to run, this time I sort of got the hang of it but Ziga kept on dishing even more intense fight against me. But nevertheless it was quite fun and scary at the same time. This is my first time battling for position instead of running against time, and of course because it's not my car and it's not a touring car racer, I don't want to make contact and hurt both the Aventador and R33.

After both races has finished, we found......Benny sleeping like a log inside the R33. At first I was panicked because I thought he passed out due to things like dehydration or heart attack(hey, it's possible you know), but turns out he's just sleeping due to exhaustion from all his works during the week. We decided to bring him back home so he can rest proeperly.














Wew finally update done! Let's see how my wallet runs this time:














That's all my updates for now, thank you for stopping by and see you soon!
Still following the damn train since 1992

Visit my RP HERE!

Leopard13631

jp
Posts: 99

Location: Japan , Utsunomiya
Occupation: Developing s t y l e
Age: 22
V$: TooLow
#398   2019-09-08 12:51          
Daammnn that's really dope, you get to jump the corolla a lot lol and drive the aventador? You got some real action going on my man :D

r o l e p l a y

BigSmoke

id
Posts: 844

Location: Indonesia
Occupation: Following Those Damn Trains
Age:
V$: Broke
#399   2019-09-08 18:42          
# Leopard13631 : Daammnn that's really dope, you get to jump the corolla a lot lol and drive the aventador? You got some real action going on my man :D

The Corolla is a strong beater after all, no need to worry about damages! This, as Jeremy Clarkson would put it, could be 'the fastest car in the world' for the similar reason as he described his :))

And yeah I didn't expect Benny to allow me to drive the Aventador! Truly a life-changing experience that was :cheers:
Still following the damn train since 1992

Visit my RP HERE!

Franklin

00
Posts: 301

Location: --- Tokyo, Japan
Occupation: Yesn't
Age: 30
V$: 7585
#400   2019-09-09 20:17          
"Okay let me rephrase that. If both of us die, Ziga pays for our funeral"
I laughed really hard with that dude lmao
Really good times dude!

Chill Life, Good Life ド陰の越
Hotboi Gang (テヂ椅)