October 31, 2004
21,108 miles. It turned out to be a very sad and slow October. Mourning the loss of my grandpa and dealing with the fact that I have to wait longer for parts (I've been waiting since July) from one of my sponsors was a big downer. In October, I got to drive an autocross with my daily driver, which was really fun, kart at Storm Karting with my girls...and drift my anxieties out at Drift Day 20. Drift Day 20 turned out to be one of my best drifting practices probably for the entire year. Benson wasn't able to be there with me, but the show must go on...I drove his SileightyMania mobile for the entire afternoon. My sweetheart Tony Angelo was my instructor for about 20 runs hehe. By run #20 I was consistently hitting and pulling off 3rd gear drifts for the first time in my life. It was crazy...it was like I was a machine. It only took me one try and I got it down. Just like when I watch Benson or the boys in Option drop it into 3rd...its like my mind played out what I've seen before and just acted when Tony said try 3rd. Tony was an awesome instructor, and I think I've always had it in me to hit 3rd gear, but no one really took the time to push me haha! Thank you Tony :). So yes, one of my goals for the year is finally acheived...hitting 3rd gear. Next on my list is to practice tandem before the year end. Hopefully there will be another event this year where I can do so. I'm really looking forward to that.

I picked up a new sponsor, welcome Advanced Clutch! Thank you Richard and I'm really excited about my new pretty Advanced Clutch :). My friend Hubert has been with Advanced Clutch for the whole year and is crazy about his clutch...I'm excited! My foot is itching to kick the clutch with my new paint-job hahaha. I'll let you know how that turns out. Myself and the Drifting Pretty ladies are looking for companies to work with for the 2005 drift season. We're trying our best to get out to either FormulaD or World Drift Challenge. As I write this the gals are at SEMA scouting potential supporters. Next year looks so promising already :).

I'll be driving hopefully at the next justDrift event at Willow Springs on 11/13. There Channel 9 will be filming me and the ladies of Team Drifting Pretty for their show "9 on the Town." I'm looking forward to that. I really like the people at Channel 9, they're not corporate meanies, but real people who take the time to really get to know what you're all about. In other news, this month an article about the Dori Puri Challenge, Drifting Pretty's all-woman drifting competition that was on 9/18 was released. It was in full-color in "SEEN" Magazine, a quarterly insert in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. There was a nice story about Drifting Pretty and our first competition. Things are slowly but surely looking up for me. My car should be finished any weekend now. I'm tentatively set to be at the ACT booth at the D1GP at CA Speedway.Before that I also want to shoot my cover feature. The clock is tickin and I'm on my way!!!

September 26, 2004
21,108 miles. Happy Fall. Its been a tough few weeks, even tougher this past week when I found out my grandpa, who was recovering from triple bypass heart surgery, was diagnosed with an extremely rare cancer of the lungs, which is a product of asbestos exposure. The cancer is fast spreading and my grandpa only has a small amount of time left to live. Right now its so hard to keep it together. I have wonderful friends that are there for me, and Benson by far is my rock. I don't know what I'd do without my friends and Benson. Thank you Drifting Pretty girls. Benson, words can't describe how much you do for me (emotionally AND in bed hehe). [Congratulations Ben love for taking 2nd place in today's RS*R Drift Festival in Chicago.] My family is shit. Its small and definitely not warm. Right now I have to be the strong one and spend as much time with my grandpa in the ICU as I can. My dad just asked me today why the hell I go so much...please pray for my grandpa, and for my strength. In brighter news, my car is finally home. Go to my gallery for the newest pics. She is sleeping at a shop nearby, awaiting me to tend to her and put her back together. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to work on her much this week because of my grandpa. I have HIN San Mateo this coming weekend too. I hate leaving my grandpa, but my trip is only one day, so I pray he will be okay while I'm gone. I plan to hold tech days with the DP girls this coming week, at least a few nights in a row to put my car back together. My spirits are elsewheres right now, the car isn't priority at the moment. I want to put everything back together myself. But first I've gotta put myself back together!! Stay tuned, the 180SXxy will be back shortly. Take care of yourself, and please pray for my grandpa.

September 3, 2004
21,108 miles. Its September, and the Drifting Pretty Program has welcomed in 2 new members, Reiko (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!) and Kathrine...and its funny because they both have a lot of family in Hawaii, drive S14's, and are wild party animals. Congratulations you two. And, yes, today was the day, I finally chose the ladiesfor Team Drifting Pretty. Out of 4 applications, I choose 3 ladies, Amanda, Noelle, and Casidi. One of the other ladies withdrew her application. The 3 ladies are original members. They're all definitely amongst the most loyal and dedicted ladies in Drifting Pretty. Its a new beginning now. We go to racing school in a few weeks and then back to the grind attending more driving events. With the Team I hope to set the bar high by not only being the only group of women out on the track, but by showing excellent skill as well. We definitely have a ways to go, but we're on the right track, and with help from Yokohama and a few other sponsors, a top 16 finish is clearly within reach next year. I'm excited, the ladies are excited. We're making history...and its scary! In other happenings...we had our interview with Grip Video a few nights ago. The ladies who applied for the team, as well as one of the new members went on camera candidly to talk. It wasn't a typical Q & A, we each got to tell our story, talk about our driving style, goals, and I even got to talk about all the fucking haters on the internet that talk so much crap about me and Drifting Pretty. It was rejuvinating getting it all out inthe open. All of the girls had some really interesting things to say, things that I didn't even know...Thanks to Grip Video, and thanks to Ray from Veilside for letting us use your office and for babysitting Kristy. Well the weight is off my shoulders, the team is picked, the new program members are here, and the future of Drifting Pretty is in fate's hands.

September 1, 2004
21,108 miles. Happy September. Today the ladies that applied for Team Drifting Pretty and I are having an interview with my sweet Hawaiian Hunnies Grip Video. Thank you Dave, Mike, and Jason. Jason was sent out to Iraq for what he was told 9 months, but now they've changed it to 2 years, we're all praying for your safe journey home Jason. In other unfortunate news, my Grandfather lies in a hospital bed recovering from a triple bypass heart surgery. Please pray for my grandpa, he's having a hard time recovering.Get well soon Grandpa. Its sooo frustrating, not being able to do anything to help...I'll just drift my anxiety off!!! Today, for the interview, I'm going to wear Benson's jersey with his formulaD number on it. Hehe. He IS my favorite drifter hehhee. So its been a few days since my last entry, and I'm still sitting on the fence about what girls to choose for the team. I spent the entire afternoon talking to each of the girls about their goals for next year, as well as their level of dedication to becoming a competitive girl drifter. I found myself telling them about how I used to feel years ago, when I was known only as "Benson's Girlfriend." I love Benson, but I didn't want to always be associated as just his girlfriend...I wanted to make a name for myself and make a difference in the drifting scene. I've tried my best to do just that, and sometimes Benson now is "Nadine's boyfriend." Its funny how the tables turn...and now I find myself giving advice to high potential girl drift queens. I tell them they need to make a name for themselves, and not stay in the shadows behind Drifting Pretty or their popular boyfriend(s). Above all, I want the ladies of Team Drifting Pretty to be the ones that set the bar high on the track, by not only being out there, but scoring at the top. Well, on with the deliberations...I miss my car.

August 29, 2004
21,108 miles. No, my car isn't back from the paint shop yet! It should be done any day now. It was in the paint room over the weekend, and so far only the first of three stages have been completed on the paint. The final round of FormulaD was this past weekend. In Benson's efforts to do well, he lost the motor on the KAAZ car at practice on Thursday,being the small team kaaz is, they could'nt get the car fixed, so Benson was forced to bring out the old Sileighty. Off to Ernie's shop we went to getthe old man back up to par. His clutch was bad, its an Exedy Hyper single, and it completely failed on him. It was the clutch not him...and even though he's sponsored, somehow he can'tget another clutch. Ask him for the details, I just say it like it is. I gave him my HKS 3-puck. In addition, his car was pretty underpowered, so I let him borrow my Power FC, injectors, and Z32 AFM!It felt really good being able to help Benson. I love him so much and want him to have a reliable car that he can do well in. He always seems to get the short end of the stick when it comes to cars and have to "settle." But I think in the long run that makes him a stronger driver, one that can adapt to handicaps well when drifting. But anyways, Benson drove the old sileighty on Sunday, but considering that he had no practicewith them on the track, he did very well. He gave it his all, the car didn't fail and he didn't crash, so I was a happy camper. THe car proved to be still lacking in power, but he got out there and gave it his all. Geez this is my diary and I'm talking about my boyfriend. Long story short, I love you Ben, and I'm proud of you and thanks for testing my power set-up hahhaa. The 2nd volume of Media News..

Media News
This past Saturday, 8/28, an interview me and a few of the Drifting Pretty ladies aired on CMT, it was about street racing, but they went onto talk about women in drifting. I didn't get to see it yet, but so far I'm hearing good things about it. Thank you Aarti from MC Filmworks :).In the October issue of Import Racer! is the first article I've written hahaha, its about my experience at HIN touring with Yokohama. In addition,the car on the cover, Brian's 350Z, is the same one I posed with on the LA Weekly cover, hehe, pretty ironic. Check it out!

I'm in the final stages of choosing members for Team Drifting Pretty. 4 ladies applied for the team and I'm evaluating all their proposals. Its not an easy thing to do. I don't have a crystalball, so I can't say I'll know for sure which of the ladies will become awesome drift queens and which I shouldn't take a chance with. I've been stressing out a little bit aboutthat. The bottom line is that I want to make sure I create a team of high energy, awesome skills, committment, professionalism, and class. Its my dream, and I'm sure many women's dream to seea girl drifting team in action, and more importantly see them do well at events! Its one thing that they're out there, but its a whole different ball-game when they're right at the top with the men. I think of the future of drifting, even so close as next year, and it looks like it will be even huger than it is now. I feel next year is going to be the women's time to shine out on the track. In Japan there are so many women drifting, but no one really cares there. Here in the states, women in drifting is considered rare and pretty damn sexy! Next year will be a good year.

I'm now in the process of looking for a new clutch. I'm looking at the same style I had with the HKS, for some reason I don't mind the harsh racing clutches with the hard pedal pressure and engagement. It feels like I have more control. In addition, I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure out when exactly my car will be finished haha! I have to put my motor back in myself, so its going to take a little bitlonger haha! My goal is to have my car back up and running by the end of September. I'm going to debut it at HIN San Mateo at the Yokohama Tires booth! Finally I can sign autographs and take photos in front of my own car and hopefully do an exhibition at HIN with my friends!

I've got a lot to do, and a lot of my parts are still not here yet! I'm going to take it day-by-day and take my time. I want to put my car back together myself the right way and learn more about wiring and customizing stuff, like bumper fasteners and a pretty mount for my Apex Power FC. With the magazine cover stuff, I still very much want to do it, hopefully by the end of September I can do the photo shoot too.Drama drama. I never thought it would take this long. Wow. Drifting Pretty is hosting a private ladies competition next month, so I'll be driving the old Sileighty :D. The car isn't good enough for Ben anymore,but I think its perfect for me haha!

August 12, 2004
21,108 miles. Its been over a month and all I can say is woah! Not only did I go to Boston and Dallas for HIN, but me and most of the Drifting Pretty ladies took out my engine and completely took apart my car over a span of 3 days. (DP ladies who helped, thank you so very much, and Ernie, thank you for letting us take over your shop!). My interior was sent out to get done, my engine, interior panels, dash, heater & a/c cores thrown away, wiring harness out, engine out, all misc fuse boxes and lights, fenders, bumpers, OUT. This was a pretty traumatizing experience for me, seeing my car like this, but its all worth it. You're probably wondering what the hell I'm doing to my car hahahaha...well I was lucky enough to get sponsored by GP Sports USA, (Shine Street of Carson, CA is now their official US outlet). So they're nice enough to take my car and do a full repaint. My car has been at the paint shop since 7/27, so far the body kit has been fitted, the battery tray and the old air filter brackets have been taken off, the quarter panel dent is fixed, and the car is completely sanded. I was trying to finish by Sunday, 8/15 for Import Showoff, but I don't want to rush, especially because I'm close to getting the coverof a magazine.

Media News
Call me media whore, go ahead say it hahhahaa....MTV/CMT interviewed me and girls as we took out my engine, that will air as a segment on a documentary about street racing on 8/28 on CMT. Also, an article about me in Paper magazine debuted in their September issue. Import Racer (Sept issue) congratulated us DP girls for making the cover story in the LA Weekly, thank you Ed! Pretty ironic, he places a pic of my cover shot next to Verena Mei's pic...the girl drifters are taking over! Soon to be coming out is the October issue of Import Tuner, there you can find the third installment of my insane power page, where we attempt to make 300hp with the 180SXxy, and of course the HIN/Philly Coverage and shots of my honey Sileighty mania at FormulaD ATL. M-E-D-I-A W-H-O-R-E

I've almost anchored a sponsorship with Bride USA, (Bun [Mike Shinoda] ::big hug::) just waiting for the final word from Japan. I love their seats and they're so cute...but my Ergo reclinables are a bit too wide for me, and I get bruises on my little legs from drifting...so hopefully I can get the Zeta III type-S ("S" for sexy small) buckets, which are perfect for 5'2" 100lb girl drifters. HIN this month has been wonderful as usual, again meeting many aspiring women and supportive men. Again I thank Yokohama for this opportunity, I'm so grateful that I get to finally travel and have fun promoting women in drifting too! Well my carwill hopefully be out of the paint shop in another week, then I can finally get back to work putting the engine back and relocating the wiring harness. I'm changing my head gasket to an Apex 1.2mm head gasket (Len thank you;), to better handle the power that I'm making. To sum this entry up people, its been quite a busy month and its not getting any slower. I'm on my way to an ulcer or something! I think I need some chocolate or maybe a nice glass of wine. Until probably Octoberish, I'll be drifting my practice car, my cherry red coupe and Benson's sileightymania mobile (thank you honey). I really love drifting Benson's car, it fits me well, and I drive better in it than he does hahha! In these coming months I hope to finally hit third gear drifts and some tandem drifting, but far away tandem drifting. I need a roll cage though, still fishing for that. I'll seeyou all at the track...hahah and in the magazines. Thank you for taking the time to catch up with me, take care of yourself, have some chocolate and wine.

July 7, 2004
21,077 miles. Just got back from a weekend at the streets of Willow. I drove my 1st Speedtrial event since the new power upgrades. My dyno run on 6/28 set an all-time high for the 180Sxxy at 262 hp to the sexy wheels (1bar). I hate overheating, who doesn't! The night before Speedtrial Benson(thank you honey) & I replaced my stock SR radiator with a new GP Sports one, took out my a/c condenser, and filled my radiator with 50% water wetter & 50% water. At the track I constantly was at 6000-7000rpm and I'd be fine for about 3-4 laps, then my temp would get up to 103 (thank you Reiko for being my temp bitch). I'm going to get a duct in my new hood and mess with a few other things to get the temp down. The response was awesome and of course the power knocked my sockies off. Benson was out there, of course doing what he does best...drifting. He started drifting in front of me, and my left foot got itchy, so I started kicking the clutch on the turns...ahhhhh, that was sooooo fun. But the corner workers condemn drifting, so I was a very good girl and refrained mostly heheh. Throughout the day I experimented with my racing line and braking techniques. I got up to 90mph on the track; my fastest ever at Willow. Much love to XS for doing an awesome job on my tuning. My S15 turbo, new fmic, Z32 air flow meter, and sweet tuning really stepped up my car. By the end of the day at Willow I was comfortable with the power and with sliding it a lil' bit with the new power. Next week I'm taking out my engine (DP tech day) at Ernie's shop to prep my car for a new paint job.

I picked up another S13 a few weeks ago, I forgot to tell you hehe. Its a cherry red pearl 93 coupe. Its a clean chassis and the a/c works, my kind of car! So I'm transferring my HKS coilovers, old viscous lsd, kouki fb, and chuki side steps over to her to make way for my new GP sports setup. The coupe will be my practice car to hold me over while my 180SXxy gets a makeover. If all goes well, the 180SXxy will be done in mid-August, in time for the Nisei Week import showoff. Yes, call me rice girl, I'llbe in my first and probably last import showoff :). Its always something I've wanted to do.While my engine is out of the 180SXxy I'm going to upgrade my head gasket and change out to Nismo mounts (my stock mounts are sagging!!!!). I'm excited to drift my coupe at DD18. Finally going to train n/a style. I hope to learn a lot driving n/a...particularly how to not rely on power. I plan to practice how to throw my slow car into turns fast. Hehhee.

I'm off to FormulaD this weekend in Sonoma to support the love of my life Benson, he'll be driving for Kaaz USA in a white S13. Good luck my love! As well as Yoshie, my driving gal, she will be driving a black supercharged 86. Ganbatte!! Then we'll be off to Boston HIN to hopefully meet some drifting fans. See you soon!

June 22, 2004
Ever since I finished my finals my days have been jam packed. I flew out to Houston, TX for FormulaD to support my love Ben, he did a great job, I love watching him drift; it puts a big fat smile on my face. Even though I'm having a blast travelling to these competitions with Ben, its a time for me to learn. I see what goes on behind the scenes from the judging, politics, controversies, to watching the friendships among the top drifters blossom. For the most part, all of us competing are friends, and its great to compete with your friends and have fun doing it. I really admire Ben and his friends, because they're always so positive amongst each other. They're out there having fun and giving each other advice on their techniques. Its a beautiful thing, something you definitely don't see in other motorsports. I really want to continue with that when I start competing.

I've been sitting back and evaluating my drifting career thus far. I've had so much fun these past one-and-a-half years that I've beendrifting. I've made so many friends and learned so much. I've also been fortunate enough to gain sponsorships. I've worked really hard to get where I'm at today. So many are bitter at me, saying, "she only gets sponsored cuz shez a girl." I really resent that, and its quite the opposite. The difference between me and a guy with the equivalent drifting skills is that I take the time to put myself out there. I spent days, nights, hours drafting up a 10-page, 1500 word, sponsorship proposal, hours writing emails, calling people, building relationships with companies, and most importantly, getting the point out that I want to make a difference in the drift scene, not by being the only pair of boobies out on the track, but by empowering women here in the states to take drifting on and break down the stereotypes of the "dumb girl driver." I've worked my ass off, but finally I'm in a great position to step it up to the next level. For the rest of the year I'm going to intensively train for the 2005 competition year. I've got 3.5 years of road race and autox experience, 1.5 years of drifting experience; its time to utilize all that seat time and knowledge and put it to good use. As a note to myself: I'm going to attend driving school and travel out to Japan for some intensive training before the next season. My goal is to gain the confidence and of course SKILLS I need to become the 1st woman to win D1 and FormulaD. I'm aiming high, because I believe in all or nothing. Take it all in Nadine, and take it all in ladies. Lets get out there and drive.

June 15, 2004
Me, Sarah, and Casidi just got back from our photo shoot for our Yokohama hero cards. We're really excited to see how our photos came out. Special thanks to Kimo, Brad at Lit Creative, and of course my GIRL Kristina at Yokohama Tires. If you're in the area, we'll see you at Hot Import Nights on 6/26 in Philadelphia. Me and Sarah will be at the Yokohama Tire booth signing our hero cards (Casidi & I will be out in Boston as well on 7/17). If you're a lady interested in learning how to drift, we'd love to meet you! Special thank yous go out to Art, Kim, Kristina, and Van of Yokohama Tires for giving us the opportunity to promote women in drifting at HIN!!! In other news, I'm taking my car to Ernie next week to put in my new S15 turbo. When I get back from HIN I'm immediately going down to XS Engineering for my 3rd and final tuning and dyno session. We're shooting for over 300 horsepower :X!!

June 8, 2004
I'm done with my finals! Summer has officially started at Nadine180.com hahaha. I'm taking the summer off from school so I can take care of the Drifting Pretty Program, my car, be a mom, and work to make extra money. I have a bunch of traveling lined up....I'm flying out to Texas & Sonoma to support Benson at FormulaD (i love you darling, i'm here for you). Yokohama is generous enough to fly me, Sarah & Casidi of Drifting Pretty out to Philadelphia on 6/26 for HIN and Boston on 7/17. I'm really looking forward to meeting new people, and of course, promoting women in drifting. How many opportunities like this do you get? I haven't traveled, except to Vegas, so I'm a lil' girl in a candy store right now. Thank you Art, Kim, and Kristina for your support. I'm fortunate to have such friendly sponsors. I call them and ask them things that I'd be normally be asking my close friends about. If you're looking to get sponsors, make sure you have a comfortable, warm relationship with the company, it makes all the difference. Free product is one thing, but product and friendship is another.

In other news, the LA Weekly article has sparked an all-time high in media interest in the Drifting Pretty Program. The whole thing is so surreal. I've been thinking about it...do I take offers to be on TV shows? Reality TV shows? More articles? Movies? Its been troubling me, but I know that I love drifting because its fun, and I'm not in it to get famous. If I bring myself into this media mess, it may change my life forever...in a way that I may not like. I have Benson and Kristy and a fun-filled life ahead of me. Life is indeed too short, but timing is everything. Is it time now to take the media up on their offers? Or is it time for me to cut the media out and concentrate on getting my ass out onto the track? I still have a long way to go in my drifting career. I want to get good, but of course, you can't get good overnight...I've learned a lot these past 1 1/2 years about myself, my car and drifting and there is still so much more to learn. I want to compete. I want to leave Benson in the dust. I want to kick Ernie and Ken's asses. I want to leave the boys in the dust and make them run home to their mommies. I have goals, and I'm going to achieve them. It just takes time and a good heart with a good head. I'm going to leave it to drifting to keep me sane at the moment. My head is spinning. I have so much on my mind, until next time...

XX,XXX miles. May was a crazy month, I had 5 track events in 3 weekends! Let's break it down:
5/15 Drifting Pretty Intensive Drift training day: Camarillo Airport - Finally, an event with no spectators, only pure drifting. All the DP ladies were out on the track in full force. I had a good time experimenting with my clutch-kick...but then I started being too agressive and I snapped an inner tie rod. So, we had an emergency DP tech day on-site at Camarillo and we changed my inner tie rod.

5/16 Drift Day 16: Irwindale Speedway - 1 run, 2 run, 3 run, BEND, another inner tie rod demolished. Ben gave me some much needed Tein hard hard inner tie rods. Thanks (suckaa hahh). I cut the day short and headed off to Autolink for the Drifting Pretty Prospective Members meeting

5/22 Speedtrial USA Road Race: Willow Springs - Me & the DP girls bought out a run group and we were off in circut land. I haven't been to a speedtrial event all year and I realllllly missed driving it. I've found that my line and speed have really improved since last year. I was amazed what a little drifting can teach you about your car...I thank drifting for helping me get to know my car.

5/23 justDRIFT! Invasion: Irwindale Speedway - I was pretty tired from Speedtrial, but I made it out. The event was on the infield of Irwindale. I took one look at the walls and the vision of hitting the wall stayed with me throughout the day. I couldn't shake it off. I was driving like crap, and I was frustrated! I realized that drifting by walls is all a mind game that I need to get over. I drifted for about half the day and realized that I really needed to take a breather and get the walls out of my head. I left and then I get criticisim from some of my friends that it makes me look bad leaving early hhahaa. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. And a girl shouldn't give a crap about what people think. I drive to have fun, not please the spectators.

5/29 justDRIFT private: Camarillo - My honey created the tracks, and he helped me get over my fear of the walls. He set-up a track with "walls" and I didn't hit it once. Wow it really is all in my head. I did really well that day. I was confident, relaxed, free, and of course, I had tons of fun. I worked on making sure that I was comfortable with my e-braking, because lately I've been relying heavily on clutch-kicking. I used the e-brake all day and we're friends again now. My friend Marc was nice enough to take videos of me, so I can finally see myself drifting hahahaa. And of course for me to criticize and learn from. Verena Mei was out there at the track too. It was great to finally meet her. Me, her, Thao & Amanda went to get lunch together. I hope we can all be good friends and be there for each other, because we have that girl drifter bond! :). Verena will be competing in FormulaD in Sonoma (July), good luck girlie!!! Also, Yoshie, my partner, will be competing in it as well. All I gotta say is you ladies go represent!!! I'll catch up with yall at the competitions that are next year.

May 19, 2004
XX,XXX miles. I got the cover of LA Weekly! Thank you Gendi (the author of my article), you're an exceptional writer. I'd never think an outsider, a writer, could get it all right! You found me out and cracked the crazy terminologies of the drifting world. Thank you Gendi, I'll never forget this article or the cover, for as long as I live. TV shows are emailing me, ladies from all over Cali are emailing me, I couldn'tbe more happier about the support I've been receiving since the article was released. If you happen to be one of those people who took the time to read the article and send me an email, THANK YOU, I very much appreciate and cherish your comments and support. I don't think I could go on without people like you all. These past few days have been so great, not because of the attention I've been getting, but because of the continous "pats" on my back for "doing good" for women in the motorsports scene. I really love how my Drifting Pretty Program is turning out. All the ladies make me proud, and so optimistic about the future of women in drifting, thank you DP ladies for coming forward to make a difference in the world. And of course, thank you LA Weekly for letting me share my life, thoughts, and dreams with everyone.

But yes, now, down to the car business...I just arrived home from my dyno session at XS Engineering. I'm doing another power page for Import Tuner magazine. This time we're installing and testing an array of goodies, nice goodies, that I want to thank Scott for helping me get. Today we installed an Apexi Power FC & AVC-R and some Blitz 550cc injectors. My car ran a baseline dyno of 180 hp to the wheels, 10 less than my previous dyno sessino last year. I saw that since that last dyno session I swapped the larger Greddy downpipe to a smaller 5Zigen downpipe to clear my crazy driveway, and of course, there's lotso tire dust in my air filter. After boosting .7 bar, the car put out 204 hp to the wheels. After that, Scott and my sweeties at XS, Koji & Eric, installed the power FC and injectors. My TPS sensor was shot AND my o2 sensor was shot, so we couldn't continue with the session. In addition, since I'm planning to run over 230hp, it was recommended that I purchase a Z32 airflow meter, so off to Superior Nissan I go tomorrow :). I hope to get all the broken/needed parts squaredaway tomorrow so I can get back on the dyno and see what the 180SXxy mobile can run. Next week, again I will return to XS to dyno my new S15 turbo (thank you Superior Nissan!), FMIC (muah to XS), and Sun hyper ground system (doomo). I'm estimating that my car will be putting out close to 300hp once all the parts are in. I don't NEED all that power right now, so I'll end up de-tuning to a comfortable range to drift with; probably in the mid 200's. I'm so excited, and worried for my car hahaha, so much change in such a lil' time, she must be so confused hahaha. After this, I don't plan to do anything more to my engine except install my new radiator hahaa. Anyways, back to the dyno drama I go.

In other news, I held a Drifting Pretty prospective members meeting this past Sunday. We met 7 new ladies who are interested in joining the program...again, that makes me so happy! And since the article, another 5 have emailed me! All you ladies, best of luck on your application! :)

I drove a private drifting event at Camarillo on Sat, and on Sun I drove DD16. All I have to say about those events is that I snapped my tie rod on Saturday and bent the same one on Sunday. Both as result of me being too agressive :X. Oops! I've since, upgraded to some harder aftermarket tie rods, sohopefully I won't be killing anymore! I'm frustrated about the whole weekend, I've been improving so much on the track, but broken car drama got the best of me this weekend. My car will be ready for this coming Saturday (5/22), I'll be burning it up at the streets of Willow for a Speedtrial Road Race. See you at the track baby!

April 30, 2004
19,382 miles. Just came back from my photo shoot for the LA Weekly, a lifestyle magazine. Many thank yous to Gendi over there, I'm sure the story is going to be wonderful! Gendi is a writer for the LA Weekly and has been tagging along with me and the Drifting Pretty girls for a few weeks now, and boy she's seen a lot! Behind the scenes of a chaotic life of a girl drifter. We had ourlast photo shoot last night at Crystal Cove (down by Laguna Beach). Thank you to Brian for letting me use your beatiful 350Z (pics are in my gallery). And thank you to Sarah for keeping me sane all day. The magazine is coming out on 5/13, be sure to pick one up! If you're from the SGV, Wahoo's in Pasadena has them :). Anyways...its been a crazy month. I'm going to break this entry up into a few, because somuch has happened.

April 27, 2004
I flew out to Geogia for FormulaD, to see my Grandma and to support my hotty Ben. Good job honey, you rocked :)...you really inspire me, I love you! What a thought, flying out to Georgia to drift. I can't wait till I can ship my car out and fly to Georgia to Drift. It was really exciting. Going to Georgia only fueled my determination to improve. People kept approaching me at FormulaD and asking me..."Why aren't you competing?" I love the support out there for girl drifters. Thank you to all the drifting fans that were out there at Georgia, much love to Team HeavenZ for making the beautiful banner for Ben, and thanks to that guy who threw us a shirt hehe, its fans like you that drive us to keep drifting! I want to definitely compete, but when I'm ready, especially mentally. Being a woman, I read into things so much more than your typical man, therefore I take my time to understand every part of drifting. I hope to acheive the end-result of being one of the top drifters in the USA, no not top GIRL driter, but top drifter period. I want to be out there head-to-head with my man Benson and my other boys like Ken, Andy, Alex and Ernie. I will compete when I'm confident and experienced enough. People who fall out of the Road Race scene or rally racing or even the drag racing scene assume they immediately know what drifting is all about...sliding your car fast through a turn, little do they know what its all about. And I'm not going to tell you all either, experience drifting for yourself, live the life of a drifter and you'll learn. So many people think its that easy to jump in and compete, but I believe in competing only when you're truly experienced, menally prepared, and have a full understanding of what drifting is all about. I'm moving into my 18th month of experience in drifting. I've learned so much; there is still so much to be learned. Wish me luck...

April 8, 2004
Me & a few of the Drifting Pretty girls changed my clutch this evening at Autolink in Temple City, CA! We wore our new Sparco mechanic suits, threw my precious car on the lift and got down to business. The mechanic left and confided in us to get the job done. Luckily I changed a clutch under supervision a few weeks ago, so this was my second time. In addition to changing the clutch we also changed my rear main oil seal and rear tranny seal. It took us 7 hours, but my new HKS 3 puck psycho clutch is in, biting hard, and hasn't fallen out!!! Thank you to Autolink for lending us your bay, and thank you to KinkyChinky for your muscles. Good jobDrifting Pretty ladies, I have faith in our mechanic work!

April 4, 2004
Just came back from Drift Day Pro, a private event for staff and friends of Drift Association. The Drifting Pretty Ladies and I were out there gaining much needed hours of Drift Day track time. I was working on my feinting skills, ebrake, and clutch kicking. I got a lot of good pointers from my friends, Alex you were a great help :). My tranny was leaking like fountain, but hey, gotta do what i gotta do! Hehehee.I need to change the rear seal for the tranny. At the end of the day I got really tired, but learned a lot. I'm so much more comfortable using mutliple initiation techniques on a single track. I'm getting better now at figuring out which initiation technique is best for certain entry speeds and corners. Thank you to Drift Association for your continued support. We've come a long way, and we're looking forward to having all-Girl drift days soon!

March 27, 2004
Drifting Pretty invaded the AutoX track today! We attended the Solo2 Ladies AutoX school. It hit record attendance at 60 woman drivers (as opposed to the normal 30). We got 5 straight hours of track time. What more can a girl racer ask for!? I haven't been to an AutoX for over 2 1/2 years, it was great to be back.Watching your time improve throughout the day is really rewarding. I was so much more comfortable pushing the limits of my car than before. I thank Drift Day and Speedtrial for that. I got the top times of the day at both tracks. It felt great pushing my car to the very limit, yet not letting the rear slide out. I looked back on my past experiences at autoX'sand wondered why was it so much more fun this time, and it was simple, it was because I had 15 other girlfriends (my drifting pretty ladies) with me on the track. It wasmy dream come true, a track full of 60 woman racers and the men worked the track throughout the entire day. I hope we can hold drift days like that by the end of this year!

March 16, 2004
As you can see in this lovely picture, someone hit my precious car! Everything is just so meant to be...it just so happened that it was the one day that I actually drove my car to the mall, didn't park where I usually park, didn't find what I was looking for at the mall, and then I back out of my spot and some bitch in an SUV doesn't see me and backs right into me. I was already out of my parking spot and she never saw me. She hit me and she still didn't see me, so she kept reversing into my quarter panel. Life is too short to knock a middle-aged bitch SUV driver. I had nothing to say to her, took her info down and drove home. Ihad to drive home like 20mph because the panel is so pushed in that my tire is rubbing against it and its shredding the sidewall. I have really good insurance so they've taken care of me already, but not without totalling my car, but thank gooodness my wheels are worth more than my car hahaha, therefore my market value is higher. So I've gotten my check and they're getting money from that bitch. I'm just happy this happened before I painted my car ;). In other news...this past weekend the Drifting Pretty ladies and I headed over to Autolink in Temple City, CA, where Chinki the mechanic taught us how to change a clutch. We actually changed his clutch on hispersonal rice drift 240SX. It took us 4 hours, but we did it all by ourselves! We're going to change my clutch together next month. I'm trying to give myself a timeline to finish things up on my car. I'm installing my new clutch in early April, I want a Nismo or ORC. Then I'm going to do the final power pages for Import Tuner,where I'm upgrading to S15 turbo (thank you Superior I love you), 550CC injectors, Apex Power FC (thank you Apex I love you), Osun Hyperground system, and an XS FMIC (thank you XS I love you). I'm looking for a tuner at the moment and then I'll be set. Then in May my new mystery body kit arrives and I'm going to paint my car. I'm going to officiallyretire my car and put her in storage and use her for events only. I'm looking around for another daily, because one Daily in the Nadine180/Sileightymania household is not enough. For those of you who came out to D1GP and visited my car at the Superior Nissan booth, thank you for your support! And for those of you who came out and supported Drifting Pretty's 1st fundraiser, thank you very much. Support from the community really drives us. We'll see you at the track ;).

February 24, 2004
18,641 miles. Just got back home from Drift Day 13 at California Speedway. Including me & my partner Yoshie, 11 Drifting Pretty girls were out on the track, drifting away in the rain. The rain really saved all our tires but made the concrete really slippery. I was drifting on my 18" wheels for the first time. Usually I'll put my 15" on the back, but the rain gave me the luxury ;). Throughout the day I was practicing my clutch-kicking technique, and I'm very happy to say I'm quite comfortable with it now. When you initally learn that technique it seems so odd driving through a course a suddenly as your approach a turn you smack your clutch pedal for a split second. After a while though, your foot learns and it becomes second-nature ;). On the skid pad I was praticing wider doughnuts in 2nd gear. At the J-turn I wasworking my steering angle because I kept turning the steering wheel too much and making the car spin, violently I might add hahahah. I learned that you only need to turn your steering wheel a quarter turn when you're initiating, so I pretty much kicked that bad habit of turning the steering wheel 90 degrees hehe.I had a great day, the rain wasn't too excessive, and driving with the girls by my side really made my day. My dream is finally coming true, Yoshie & I have brought the ladies to the drifting table and now we're ready to rock. This drifting season is going to go through so manychanges, and the biggest is definitely the invasion of women out on the track. The Drifting Pretty ladies have soo much potential...before you know it, the ladies will be taking 1st place in competitions. For those of youwho were out at Drift Day cheering us on, we greatly appreciate your support; you don't know how much it means to have our peers' support. On a more technical note...Benson helped me install my new front bumper lip yesterday (thank you sweetheart). PJ also fixed my rear taillight piece. Come visit my carat the Superior Nissan booth this Saturday at D1. The Drifting Pretty ladies will also be representing at the following booths...KAAZ USA, Yokohama Tire, and Superior Nissan, come out and show your support! And of course, please pick up the first documentary about drifting in the USA...Pure Drifting. Me, Benson, and many of the mostinfluential drifters in the US are interviewed on this DVD. This year, I am privelaged enough to be on the D1 staff talking with the media about women in drifting as well as the American drifting culture. I'm really looking forward to being a part of D1, maybe next year I can drive! Well back to my studies I go, I'll see you at D1!

February 9, 2004
18,394 miles. Just got back from Drifting Pretty's first tech and drivers' training day! This past Saturday the ladies met with me and learned about 240SX engines, maintenance, troubleshooting, and tires. We celebrated Kat & Lisa's birthdays at Cheesecake after, then it was off to Storm Karting for a night of go-kart training. We split up into 3 run groups and rantwo heats. Each of the ladies improved greatly from their first runs. After we were done I went out and ran again with a group of guys and one of them t-boned me at 55mph. So now I have a partially dislocated rib and lotso back problems! Thank you reckless guys! Anyways...no go-karting for me for a few months. I'm going to rest up, I've got drift day in a few weeks!

February 3, 2004
18,308 miles. Hey stranger, yes I know, its been a while. I've been cooking up a lot of stuff for 2004, but I'm back on track with this diary. Where do I start!? I changed to 5lug, z32 brakes, and put my new wheels on. I also got myself a Nismo power bar...and I got these really cute floor mats hahaha. I picked up a sorta sponsor/magazine article thing with Apex USA, so I'm happy to say I'll be boosting up and tuning in a month or so (thank you Scott, thank you Len, thank you Apex ;). But really, the biggest news has been the birth of my new Girl-Drifter-Training program called Drifting Pretty. (no the website isn't up yet ;) We've had two meetings so far and have gained about 5 new members just this past month. Throughout 2003 Yoshie (my drifting partner at all the Drift Days) and I kept asking each other, "Where the girls at!!?," Learning how to drift just isn't the same without having some other women out on the track that you can relate with. We wondered... what was the problem...why weren't the girls coming out to track. Could it be the testosterone? The male egos? Or the absense of a women welcome wagon? So we created Drifting Pretty. If you're a girl and want more info, email me (my info is at the bottom of the page). The program gives women a structured curriculum to train on and of course, introduce them to a new circle of girlfriends. We go to autocrosses, road races, go-kart racing, and drift events. We hold tech days and talk car talk over manicures. We have over 20 members now, and I'm excited and hopeful for our students. We hope that we all can get really good together, while of course having fun out on the track. I'm getting a lot of pessimism from men, but I guess that's what I get for stepping in on their territory. Some claim this program to be a media whore, but really guys, all that matters is that we BRING IT to the track everytime. Watch out...the girls are taking over the track. I predict by the end of the year, 50% of drifting event participants will be women. Wish me and the girls of Drifting Pretty good luck!! We'll ALL see you at the track.