Private Tuning Hands v3.0

racing slow since '03

Dec. 19, 2004 - D1 USA vs Japan


it was a great event! kuya mark, donna, and vj came with me in this event. we left the bay area on friday for fresno to pick up vj in fresno. we only had the sunday pass for the gt live event so we left for l.a. on saturday. but before head to our hotel, we stopped by 88rotors in el monte to pick up some slotted rotors for my ae86. ken (88rotors) was really cool. i can't imagine how much falken he stocks in his place! the rotors where great: brembo slotted in the fronts and bradi slotted in the rears. we got into california speedway on suday early. we got to see some drifter practice in the early part of the morning. there were a lot of cool cars on display plus tons of goodies for sale. the jgtc cars where hella loud!!! my ears where ringing after their hot laps. the can can girls where tight plus i got a chance to autox a new rx8!

the main event was the d1 usa vs. japan. it was a wild event! ken maeda with his up garage ae86 was buck wild in the qualifying, he got the highest points among the qualifiers. his angle and entry speed ont he first corner was simply phenomenal! big props too to all american drifters. in just a year, they have improved their skills dramatically. for this event, my favorite american drifter was rhys millen and chris forseberg. rhys and his pontiac gto was sick! he was able to pressure some of the japanese drivers. chris was cool too. high speed and high angles, he was able to mucsle it up to best 8. in the end kumakubo in his orange s15 edged imamura in his apexi rx7. it was cool that donna really liked the event, she was already asking me for the feb. 05 d1 event!

Nov. 26, 2004 - Panasport rims

whew, its been a while since i have written here in my diary. i am so busy with school and work that i have missed practically all solo2 slush series events. since thanksgiving weekend is one of the few times i can relax and unwind. i decided to start fixing up my panasport rims! this set came of my sister's bf's supra mk2. he was about to junk it and offered me the rims for free! (provided i get some wheels for the mk2 to roll with) it is a panasport "bananna type" rims, 15x7 w/ unknown offset. i just hope the offset is good for my corolla. the rims aren't in the best of shape: some curb rash, faded finish, etc. so i decided to change to color of the rims. i went with the flat black - silver lip combo. i first sanded the rims to make adhesion for the paint plus smoothening out those curb rashes a little bit. i masked the lip with tape and paper and sprayed flat black on the center. i am not yet finished with the lips so i guess i will just finish this project next week. keep 'ya posted...

 

Oct. 23, 2004 - US Drift @ Infineon


it was a very rainy moring when we got to infineon raceway. i was very happy that my girlfriend clarice would be able to join me in this event. i have been boring her with my drift jibber and finally she will see what drifting is all about. kuya mark donna, and vj were also there just to hang out and make the paddock more lively. the torrential rain isnt letting up so i decided that i will go ze512's on all fours. i would need all the traction i could get in the rear or else it would be even be more difficult to controll a drift with crappy tires in the rear. the course was set-up in a way were we consecutive chain drifts can be executed. bay area drifters are getting good at it! i was particularly amazed by gaylord ~ his god-like controll with his ae86 in the rain is soooo good to watch!

as for me, i did okay, but i wish i did better. especially in the rain, finesse is where its at. i had a difficult time connecting the first two corners and the 3rd one is out of the question. this event really got me thinking, i really need lsd! there are times i feel that i just cannot do some stuff without a proper lsd. i wanted to be sideways before i enter the first gate but i felt that i need to be straight to get as much speed as i can becasue i think thats the only way to stay sideways longer on an open diff. this is also the first time i drifted on falken ze512's and all i could say is that they are great tires! good traction plus the sidewall is stiff enough for drfting. i was happy clarice was able to ride with me in one of my dirft session. it was funny becasue the first drift i initiated, she wanted to grab the wheel! hehehe. i hope she would be able to join me in more events in the future.

this was my first usdrift event and i could say that it was a sucessfull event. what i really liked about usdrift is their event staff people; they are really nice and talk to you when you are on the grid. i would definitely go and support usdrift events in the future.

Sept. 30, 2004 - Yuki is found!



as all of you have seen the the main page news, my dorihachigo was stolen excatly one week ago at fremont bart. my hopes where all starting to fade when i recived a call at midnight from someone saying that they have seen the car. i went to the location with kuya mark and there she was, unmolested and complete. i cannot describe happiness when i actually saw yuki - all complete! thank you very much to all the people that helped out to find my car. she is back home.

Sept. 26, 2004 - SCCA Slush Rd.1 @ GGF

 

i was suppose to drive yuki but she was stolen just last Wednesday. its just too bad; just when my gf clarice can finally go out and ride with me for the very first time, yuki is gone. but that would not let me stop from participating at solo2. as always, kuya mark let me co-drive his civic si. our friend tommy was there with his evo8, yap also was there with his honda crx, and kuya mark's co-worker ryan was also there for the first time in his audi s4. i was glad that clarice had a good time though she got a little motion sickness when she rode with me. my times sucked! a veteran driver tito went to our paddock and gave us tips how to drive the honda. be patient, thats the only way to drive the civic. power shifting is useless because it will just make wheel spin which translates to the car not moving forward. if you feel your slower, you actually faster. i will take this tips and hope to apply them next time around.

 

Aug. 23, 2004 - New (used) axles

me and mark finnally had time to drop the "whiney" rear axle and put in a used rear axle in better condition. thanks to matt, (recoil) i was able to source a used rear end minus the brakes for a very good price. though my car is a kouki version, ('86-'87) a zenki ('85) rear end fits just fine. when we pulled out the old rear end, i just played with it, spinning the axle to see what happens. i was curious why the other end spins the same way. upon further investigation, TURNS OUT I HAVE AN LSD!!! am i worried that ill be switching back to open diff? no. becasue the lsd is so worn out, me and mark can break the lock with our own bare hands. no wonder its acting like a worn out lsd, (shruddering at low speed turns) becasue it is! oh well. the whine is gone! now i can have a decent conversation or can actually hear music in my car.   

Aug. 13, 2004 - Private Event @ Buttonwillow

 

It was a fun, cazy, hot (literally!) event. yuki is unforunatley not in shape to take abuse in drifting. her ring in pinion is shot up so as hard as i could, i left her for buttonwillow. mark started interest in drifting so he brought his nissan 240sx to the track. he asked me if i could instruct him the how-to's in drifting. at the same time i could also use his car to drift as well. our friend tommy and carol was also there as well as donna and vj as well. at first mark was having a hard time starting to drift the car. i constantly remind him of his bad habits. (off the shift knob and both hands on the wheels) we were trying all sorts of stuff in order to induce a car to drift. we did braking drift, clutch kick, feint drift, ebrake drift, and sometimes just sheer power-over drift. mark really liked the clutch kick technique, and he was starting to get the hang of it too. he was also getting the ebrake drift but sometimes,  mark either yanked the ebarke too long or too short. i also asked mark to wiggle the steering wheel during counter and feel the car behave. overall, kuya mark did a great job for his first time drifting.

as for me, i was really happy the i finally tried out a nissan 240sx in drifting. on a personal note, i cannot say that the 240 is easier to drift, (drifting is just hard, period) but i could say that the car has its own unique qualities. compered to a corolla, transferring weight on a 240 takes a longer time. on a corolla, just tap the brakes and you good to go braking drift. on a 240 however, i observed that you have to ride the brake longer in order to do braking drift. i guess that's because of the 240's heavier weight plus longer wheelbase. the other thing i really liked is that this car has torque to light up the tires. (see above) by afternoon, i was getting the hang of mark's 240 and was completing the s-turns. too bad the rear tires cannot hang and just blew its thread off. we also had kumho 711's on his s13 and all we could say is that it sucks! the sidewall was too soft, scrubs on the tire went alsmost to the "kumho" letterings! i would never buy these tires for drifting, the s13 wobbles like a boat. the grip is ok, the sidewall sucks.

tommy also had a great time, he was on the track all the time. but man, the 4g63 drinks gasd like water. during the whole event, his evo consumed a tank and a half on gas! but whats important is that he had fun. we also have a sick ass tent! carol and tommy bought this cool tent that has side curtains to keep inside under the shade. they also had foods and drinks, thanks a lot guys!

 

 

Aug. 1, 2004 - SCCA champ. Rd.14 @ GGF


it's been a while since i went to a solo2 event. unfortunately, yuki's rear end is whining so badly that i do not think it is safe to bring to an event. thanks to mark, i was able to participate in autox by co-driving his '90 civic si. john was also able to participate through sfr's "sponsor a driver" program. our other friend, tommy, was there with his evoVIII as well. it was my first time really to drive a fwd car hard in a track. the handling characteristics were different from a rwd but mark's civic is quick no doubt. good overall balance, his car has good rotation and its handling is very predictable. two drivers are better becasue we get off the grid faster, keeping our tires warm. john did good too, considering it was his first time doing autocross. round 14

 

Jun. 18, 2004 - Private Event @ Buttonwillow

 finally i roll to buttonwillow with a lot of friends. kuya mark participated using his civic hatchback and luis used his ae86 hatch. there where a lot of drivers this time. this means that we had session style event pretty much up to the end. as usual, i used my tire set up that i am accustomed with: falken azenis in the front and used tires in the rear. i was confident that my used tires will be holding good for this event. the thread on my used tires is like more that 75% so i said to myself i'm in good shape. wham! then it hits me after doing a couple of laps, i felt that my rear tires suddenly behaved differently. turns out that my used tires where leaking air, probably where the tire bead sits. no problem! i popped in my other used tire and back again in the track. for a time they where doing pretty good, sustaining high angles at high speeds. but after a while they started behaving funny. instead of hearing a crisp long tire screech, i hear a pulsing tires screech as if the rear tires where hopping. but i am for sure that we here not hopping. then it hit me again: when i let donna (mark's gf) ride with me the tire blew out, peeling the thread off the tire. that it no more tires for me! i cannot risk another used tire because i might have none left heading back home.

there was an incident in the track: a 240 coupe caught on fire because of a loose battery connection. luckily, the driver was not hurt. my friend luis, his first time at buttonwillow, also had a blast. he said he leardned a lot comming out if buttonwillow and track time was excellent. as for me and yuki, we were very pleased with our performance. i did learn how to take the sunrise corner. since it a long sweeping corner plus the fact that a corolla is an underpowered car, entry is nothingness but high speed. i also finally found the nice line for the atlantic corner clockwise that lests me exists sweetly out of the corner. coutner-clockwise is another story, for i usually see myselfy digging into the dirt. great trackday. there is truly no replacement for track time. thanks jeff for letting me ride in your s13 coupe! i was literally my first time to ride in a drifting 240. coupled with an redtop sr20, he drifts at 3rd gear where i usually drift 2nd gear near redline. man, he drifts fast and drifts hard. that was a nice experience for me. i also rode with mark's civic and it handled very good on the corners. i wish i had a chance to dirve his car becasue i want to learn the different sets of techniques in contrilling a ff car at the limit. he did say he was dissapointed with his tires tough; a set of toyo proxis. 'till next time again to buttonwillow!

May 30, 2004 - NCDA drifting @ Altamont

i would like to congratulate ncda for hosting such a wonderful event! i have learned a whole lot in this session. my friend zed took a ride along with me to the event to be my passenger. there were to courses set up for the drift practice: one is the small track where there is a mini-slalom area and incorporated in it is a skid-pad at the later part of the run. the course is really tight and i must admit that the course surface could have been better. alas, it was a good experience because it was my first experience in a really tight drift course. the other track is the main track which is a combination of the main and small oval of the altamont raceway park. this course kicked my ass!!! attitude changes during drift can really throw you out. that is why hardly nail turn one, i always spin out once the cars transitions from the banked plane of the track to level surface. another important skill is finesse; turn one is an off-throttle turn, or at least minimal throttle modulation.

one of the ncda staff asked me if i wanted to join the competition later in the afternoon. i didn't hesitate to say yes, thinking it was done one driver at the track at a time. but when todd ho, event organizer, briefed us drivers, he said it is tandem style competition!!! what did i put myself into! my balls where up to my throat when i was on the grid for qualifying. 1st of my run in qualifying was ok; nailing first corner, as well as the final s-turn. its not clean, but i didnt spin out on those turns. that is the best i had for i spun out on the rest of my 2 trials on the first corner. i waited for the results. hearing my car number when they were announcing the best 16 was on of the best feeling i ever had.

i paired up with mike in his white fc for the best 16 battle. i just cant get a hold of the first turn and i spun out. that probably costed me to advance further. mike took the win to advance to best 8. but for some reason, i rain again! best 8! (i think) i think becasue some of the peeps that advanced to best 8 werent there no more. so i ran against joven in his 240 nissan. i think i did good when i was trailing him, taking good lines and such. but time and again, i spun out at trun one. i was a great and memorable experience. i hope to compete soon.i would also like to thank sro magazine for capturing great pics of my car. keep up the good work!