home | sponsors | driver bio | car | diary | resources | gallery | projects | link | bbs
2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2001-2002
Chicago here I come?
I just finished talking to my manager and she tells me to plan for Chicago Formula D. Its time for revenge. If you know anyone interested in working with me, the only Team Drifting Pretty driver attending August's Formula D in Chicago, please email Van@DriftingPretty.com, my manager. I wrote the lead article, check it out if you have time!!! Buzz buzz, busy bee! December 2005
Recap!
2005 will be a year never to be forgotten. I think in everyone's supposed "career" in drifting, it goes through phases. Last year I learned how to drift competitively. The year before that I learned how to drift period! This year was my wisdom-building year. I learned so much, not just in terms of my skills, but I experienced the hardships all pro drivers have to face in their first years. The year was full of ample sacrifices on my end, but with it, came ample success.
I debuted the first ever all-woman competition drifting team, Team Drifting Pretty. We just finished our final photoshoot with a Japanese magazine and are parting ways. I learned from that the importance of teamwork, trust, faith and above all, loyalty. When things get serious, some tend to buckle and retreat back into the social norm. For others, when things get serious it empowers them to keep on walking down the hall and opening door after door, taking a peak in and wondering if they want to go in and take that opportunity or shut it and move on to another.
Sponsorships were a big part of 2005 for me. I learned the vital importance of having a manager to pilot the sponsorship plane for you. I worked so hard to represent my sponsors and follow through with my obligations. I even wrote an article about it!
In all my efforts to drive Formula D, funding proved scarce, but I still managed to get funding to help with the FD in Sonoma, CA and Chicago, IL thanks to Yokohama Tire Company. At Sonoma FD, I experienced my first ever crash. It was surprisingly...no big deal to me, and actually pretty damn fun. As I drove my car to the grid after tapping the wall at Infineon Raceway I looked at my friends and said "OOPS!!!!" and started laughing. Right then and there I knew my fear of crashing was done and over with. I crashed, so what. The mechanical problems from the crash were corrected in 5 minutes and off I went to finish my qualifying runs. In Chicago, I was faced with the most dangerous track of the entire series, which consisted soley of concrete K rails and a few water barriers. I don't recall seeing any nice lil' rubber cones there. Out of 45 people qualifying, 20 crashed. I was NOT one of them. I walked away from FD this season with lessons learned and any silly beginner nerves completely thrown out the window.
I finished off the season with the honor of driving at the SEMA proving grounds in Las Vegas, NV. I drove drifting exhibitions and had passenger ride-alongs for an entire four hours. Along with driving school instructors drifting and autocrossing Lotuses and a crown vic...I was the only drifter at the exhibition and the first woman drifter to drive at SEMA. Other days I had the honor of having autograph sessions at Enkei International's booth as well as Vivo Electronics. As I was at SEMA, ESPN2 released their 30 minute episode on Drifting Pretty and Super Street released their monumental article on US's three woman drifters (me, Yoshie and Verena). Special thanks to Vivo Electronics for bringing me to SEMA.
In December, The Drifting Pretty Program celebrated its Second Anniversary at our annual banquet. Top supporters and top acheiving members walked away with trophies and to my surprise, my friend put together a professional quality slide show presentation for the banquet. Many supporters and fans as well as family attended the banquet. Kumho tires even donated a set of tires for our door-prize give away. Fujita climbed on board with me for 2006 shortly before the banquet.
To be continued... July 2005
July 8-9 2005 - Formula Drift, Sonoma, CA
Driving in Formula Drift has been one of my dreams and goals since last year. I toured the entire series with Benson last year and vowed I would do it in 05. I finally have the confidence to drive it and the nerves to handle it. Me & my teammate, Amanda Lam, were the first Team Drifting Pretty drivers to have the FD experience. FD let me know that I "got in" two and a half weeks prior to the event...which was totally nerve-racking! The scramble for sponsors and funding began. We decided to purchase a booth for Drifting Pretty as well and design t-shirts to sell. My car needed a few finishing touches and bascially my teammate's car needed "just" a paint job and a roll cage! We were pressed for time and of course money. I was getting so desperate I was asking for donations on my online Blog. Yokohama did come through with a small amount of funding for me & my teammate but definitely not enough to cover everything. We got a transport sponsor and then they backed out one week before the event. Luckily a good friend of mine, Alex, was nice enough to trailer up my car for me all the way to Sonoma. That was a big relief!
I had an entourage of 13 people rolling up to support my efforts as well as Drifting Pretty. Thank you Cindy, Kevin, Noelle, Reiko, Scott T, Kathryn, Ryan K, Ryan I, Zenia, Zenia's bf, Van, Benson and Alex. You all were my strength in Sonoma and I'm so blessed to have your faith and support. It meant so much to me to have you all there.
When I got in to Sonoma, the day before qualifying, I walked straight out to the track and walked the track with Benson. He got top 8 last season, and he had a lot of good advice for me (thank you love). On the day of qualifying I was surprisingly chill haha! Before I knew it I was staging for my practice runs.
On the first practice run I initiated too early and was going too fast...right after I finished my first practice run, my teammate had hit her rear end on the wall...she went back into the staging line and continued with her practice runs. On my third practice run I hit the wall hahahhaa! I'm laughing about it, now and I was laughing about it then. About 2 seconds before I tapped the wall I was thinking to myself.."oh dang I'm not going to make it haha!" I backed right out and continued on with my run...haha! I got back in line for one more practice run, and then Ben runs up to the car and I dip down low into my seat ashamed and giggling at the same time. He flags me to the left cuz my car was in worser shape than I originally thought. Tony and a few of the Falken pit crew guys run up to the car and get right to work on my car. I peer out and see my headlight smashed, half my fender ripped off and my bumper badly cracked! I pop the hood and my radiator was knocked off its mounts and the clutch fan slicing up the fan shroud. I cry out "oops!!" and giggle a little more. Tony comes up to me and puts his arm around me "its nothing." Hehe, wheew. The boys put the radiator and fan shroud back into place, take off the bumper, and pry a the wheelwell a little bit to keep it away from hitting my tire and I roll back into the line to qualify. A big thank you to Benson, Tony and the pit crew from Falken for coming to my rescue. At the end of the day it doesn't matter what team you're on...its all about helping your friends.
As I sat in the grid, staging for my three qualifying runs I was thinking back on what I did wrong. Taka pounds into my head "don't look at the wall." Benson says, "do your best my love, there is no pressure." I closed my eyes, like I do at every competition before I go out onto the track. I took a deep breath and envisioned me driving my car through the course. I pushed "play" on my mental DVD player. The DVD was scratched or something because I couldn't finish the run! I tried for about 5 minutes straight, trying to play out the entire sequence in my head. Finally I start my car...I'm 20 feet from the start line. Finally I think to myself, hey, its the balcony Nadine...just a little bigger. Do what you do there, just chill. Benson belts me in and all the sudden I'm in third gear kicking the clutch. I'm proud to say the best runs of my day were in qualifying. I did just what my mental DVD player played in my head. I tried my best and gave it my 100%. It was my first event and I shook off the jitters in qualifying...even after crashing. I didn't qualify nor win 1st place, but I accomplished what I came there to do.
Chicago Formula D is next on my agenda. Its time for revenge.
July 1, 2005 - Professional Photo Shoot
My manager scheduled my first professional photoshoot of the year. What a better way to start off my month. A camera crew from Current TV, a new cable station that is debuting in the fall, was on hand again to film the shoot. My reps at Schikane, Stan & Jay rolled out to help me at the photoshoot as well, thank you guys! We shot at three locations and we got a good variety of shots of both me and my car. I changed outfits four times. I had a good time, I love photoshoots. You can see pics from the photoshoot in my gallery.
July 13, 2005
So many events, so much updating to do. Here you go...
June 30, 2005 - Private Practice for Formula D, CA Speedway
A little over one week ago I received my confirmation for Formula Drift. Me and my Teammate Amanda Lam, were the only two from our team to make it into Formula D. Today was the last practice before Formula D, which took place at CA Speedway. They created a mock Sonoma course where you went from a very long straight into a sweeper then back around. I was around the middle of third gear, going around 80mph then I would kick the clutch to initiate. The course was so fun and I really liked the speed. I was going so fast though it was hard to get into the groove of finding where to shift back into 2nd, where to brake...that would cause me to keep going too wide at the exit and mess up my line. After about 2.5-3 hours as I initiated in the middle of third I lost my main brakes and violently spun and ended up 25 feet from a pole. OMG! My brake booster failed on me and basically my car was down for the rest of the practice! A friend, James from Six Autoworks (Thank you so much James) offered his gold S13, recently seen on the cover of Dsport Magazine, to me to practice with for the final hour of practice. That was so nice of him. I learned that all S13's aren't created equally. His car proved to be understeer prone and he didn't have as much steering angle as I do...it was different, but hey, track time is track time and I really needed it. At the end of the day with help from my nice rep at Enkei and my nice rep at Schikane Clothing, they followed me to Baldwin Park as I strutted along the freeway in my drift car with only an e-brake to stop my car. Haha! Luckily Drifting Pretty was having a tech day there already, so we rolled out to Street Image in Baldwin Park, CA and replaced my brake booster, bled my brakes, and changed my LSD fluid. Special thank you's go out to Eric Valdez from Street Image as well as Tobin Honda (Enkei) & Jay Yoshida (Schikane Clothing) for being my pit crew that day. More thanks goes out to Zenia, Michelle, Kathryn, Aileen, and Cindy for fixing my car. May 7, 2005 - Rim of the World Rally, Drifting Exhibition [ drifting footage ]
This was my first ever drifting exhibition. Nitro2go Enery Drinks invited me and six other drivers out to the Subaru Rim of the World Rally for a 30 minute drifting exhibition. When I first found out, I thought to myself...30 minutes is a long time to be continuously drifting!!! When you're having a blast time flies and before I knew it, it was my last run! The event planners were telling us all to give rides to passengers haha, that's a first! So I ended up giving about 6 different people rides. Men & women, both did not know what drifting was. They'd jump in my car exciting and shaking with fear. I was really happy to show them what drifting is all about. I would be sideways, full throttle, full counter and I'd be laughing and chatting with them so they wouldn't get so scared. I think in all there were about 1,000 people crowding around the track...and most were in line to get rides with the drifters. My car was awesome and had no problems with the tuning. I had a really fun time and hey that's what drifting is all about. Finally, I was at home with my fellow guy drifters...I didn't feel out of place at all...I was just one of the drivers and it felt great.
May 14, 2005 - Land Ho Drifting Competition [ drifting footage ]
This was Land Ho's first ever Drifting Competition. Me & the Team Drifting Pretty gals were split up into two different classes. Noelle & Reiko (and program member Kathryn) were put in the intermediate class, and me & Amanda were put in the advanced class. Reiko's axle broke, but the show went on and she ended up driving Kathryn's car. When it was all over, Kathryn had qualified for top 8 and Noelle received "Most Improved Driver" award. Then came the advanced competition. Amanda and I were the first to do our competition runs. I didn't mind, I love just getting it over with!!! We made the first cut, then the second, then on the final cut we had to go again...twice. They pulled the one-more-time card on us! We both were pulling off clean runs with no silly understeer or knotchy corrections, but when it came down to it I was in third gear initiating earlier than Amanda. Both our line sucked, but everyone elses' sucked as well haha. When it came down to the podium, Amanda placed 3rd and I got 2nd. As I kicked the clutch in 3rd gear to initiate the judged turn I realized that no matter what happened, our Team would be coming out ahead...further ahead than any of the other teams/clubs there. I learned that day about what being on a team is truly all about...being there for each other and doing well as a unit, not individuals. Also, the importance of hitting the clipping points haunted me. I was trying to hard to just make it through and initiate early that I was oblivious of the clipping points. If I would have paid attention to them I could have gotten 1st place. It was a great win for Team Drifting Pretty, 3 out of the 4 of us were recognized with awards and I am so proud of the entire team. Congratulations.
May 21, 2005 - Drifting Pretty Road Race at Speedtrial USA, Streets of Willow
Every year Drifting Pretty purchases a 20-25 driver run group for a Speedtrial USA roadrace event. This year was no different. We managed to have 85% of the Drifting Pretty Program members on the track road racing. Road racing is where I started 4 years ago and I miss it dearly. Its killer on your car, just as drifting is, but its incredibly FUN. At the track it was about 100 degrees, but we were very prepared with 3 ez up tents, hella coolers, and water. I was experimenting with my gearing, trying to find the best gear to go through certain turns and it seems like I still need to work on my line through "the bowl." I watched my speed coming out of the bowl at full throttle and I was at 85mph...pretty damn awesome. Now thats a rush. I wanted to kick the clutch so bad!!!
May 28, 2005 - Land Ho Practice, Instructor
I ended up helping one of the DP program girls finally get out on the track as well as being an instructor for the drifting event. Our girl Cindy...after almost a year of waiting hahahhaa...finally she gets out on the track. Congratulations girl! Cindy doesn't get to drive much...not even on the street, so for her to get out to Willow Springs for the balcony event was a big accomplishment for her. The events leading up to the day of though, were nothing but drama. Being a driver, you have to deal with seemingly impossible situations with our drift cars. The night before....After driving to Rancho Cucamonga to caravan with Cindy back to my house in San Gabriel, we start to prep her car. She learns how to change her oil and we move on to changing wheels. We change two wheels and lone and behold the lugnut key strips! (BTW don't EVER get Mutegi lug nuts...they're shit.) Now, the wheel won't come off or get tight because the lugnut key is rendered useless. We sit there staring at the car...shit is she going to be able to drive still!? We remember Amanda, who lives in Pacific Palisades, is the only other person we know that has the same key. Amanda's man agrees to drop off the key on their way to the track in the monring. Whewww. It turns 130am and we all go to sleep.
Long story short...plans change in the morning and Noelle ends up sacrificing her track day at Big Willow so she could meet Amanda on the 14 and 5 to pick up the key. Noelle comes back to my place and we get the wheels on and roll out to the track. That was so nice of Noelle to do that for Cindy. That really just goes to show what friendship and teamwork are all about. Life is all about sacrifices right? These things we do for our friends...its beautiful. Why is it so easy to make those sacrifices and for others its like pulling teeth?
Anyhow, I dedicated my day to instructing. As I instructed Cindy I took on a few more students. I was instructing in the group of novice drivers, who basically have never driven an event in their life. Pretty damn scary. I was instructing this guy in a 350Z, and I was SO proud of him...at the end of the day he was hitting the turns like clockwork. I was instructing him throughout the day and well sniff sniff that was my baby hehe. Cindy rocked the turn as well and sniff sniff...she's growing up into a beautiful woman drifter hehe.
Looking Back...
May was jam packed but I pulled off driving every weekend. These next few weeks I will be recooperating. I need to take my car back to Blast Racing and get her retuned AGAIN...I fucked up, I couldn't decide on whether or not I wanted to run race gas...but for the sake of my wallet I'm going to tune her back down to pump gas.
Its official, I'm going to Sonoma Formula Drift. My team didn't get in though, possibly only 2 will be accepted in. I'll keep you updated on that. I'm going to FD to have a good time. I never drove FD before, so I'm going to see what its like to play with big boys. I'm starting to study Infineon's set up...I see the time schedule and on average you only get one hour of practice until qualifying. Is that a crock of shit or what. You pay $250 to basically get two runs if you're lucky then boom to qualifying and well if you don't qualify then you just paid like $50-60 per run. Well someone has got to make money right? It will be an awesome experience. Me & my entire team will be out there representing Drifting Pretty. Come visit our booth!
As far as other major competitions I'll be driving in, I'm trying to get funding to go out to Boston for RS*R and Canada for Drift Showoff. I'll be doing the local competitions like Land Ho and Drift Day in the next months as well. Wish me luck, I'll see you there. More updates soon!!! May 2, 2005
This weekend was the last practice before my drifting exhibition at The Rim of World Rally. Just Drift luckily held a private practiced for the advanced competition drivers this past Saturday. Me, Ben, and our friend Alex are doing a drifting exhibition at The Rim of The World Rally on Saturday, 5/7 at 6:30pm. Seeing that I just started drifting tandem with Ben a month ago...I've been feening for some more track time. Well I definitely got it at this event. I think it was too much track time hahhaah. I didn't bring enough tires. Me & Ben ran a lot more tandem runs than last month's practice. I was surprised how comfortable I was drifting side by side with Ben. This time I did a lot better leading. I wasn't so nervous about spinning and I was concentrating more on the course than watching him in front of me. I was experimenting with earlier initiation points and setting the angle at the initiation point. I had a problem with setting an angle then changing it half way through the turn...I saw that it was my steering and my lack of confidence at the beginning of the day that kept bringing me to do that. Towards the end of the day I started to get rid of that bad habit haha. In addition, me and Ben practiced funny exhibition stuff like tandem doughnuts and opening my door while doing doughnuts. I think I need to work my arms out, because the g's were still too much for me to hold my door open really wide haha. If the crowd is really pumped at the Rally then I'm going to say screw it and give opening my door while drifting another shot haha. I think the worst thing that could happen is that I let go of the door and it flings open all the way...screw it!!! I'm wondering how the crowd will be and I'm hoping I'll be able to hear them cheering us on. I think one of the best things about drifting is the feedback from the crowd. After Ben & I got finished with a really good and tight tandem round all the drivers in the grid were clapping for us...it made me so happy I could cry haha!!! Silly girl drifters huh! One of my best buds Marc was out there filming, like usual. He got some pretty decent footage of me solo as well as drifting tandem...so hopefully I can get that up for you in a few days. I haven't updated the drifting footage on my site for many many many months.
I dropped the HOT180 off at Blast Racing today to get re-tuned. Hitting 114 on my knock reading on the freeway was enough!!! They called me this evening to give me my compression and leak down test results: #1: 145, 98% ; #2 136, 94% : #3 135, 94% ; #4 137.7, 94%. Since I have an aftermarket head gasket, the target compression does decrease a bit...I think the best compression with my set up would be 160 and leak-down 98%. So its safe to say my engine is a tad bit tired, but for the most part, will last me through at least one more season of drifting. What more can I ask for...I swapped this motor into my car in June of 2002 and she's seen the track and felt my heavy foot for a long time, so I'm pretty lucky! They're going to street tune my car and have it done hopefully tomorrow. Pretty damn quick. I'm really happy with them, they're warm, friendly, and take me seriously. They take the car and totally look it over and test the engine before they start any tuning. They were so picky they were even bitching at me about my silly radiator mount haha. I love it! I'm going to have them re-tune on pump gas (91 octane). I'm going to start running 100 octane race gas, but only at track events. Sometimes I have to drive my car to events or shops, so I want to still have the option of safely driving on 91 octane. This weekend my detonation problems were at their worst...but were completely fixed when I threw in the 100 octane gas. WOW. I was so amazed. OMG. Blast says that if I tune on race gas I could probably get 20 more hp to the wheels...wow what a difference! We learn something new everyday.
I go to Design Haus on Thursday to add more stickers to my car...my scheme though, won't be on till next week, as the vinyl is coming direct from the factory cuz its such a kick ass color hehe. Schikane, my new clothing sponsor is working on signature shirt with me. I'm helping design it and it will hopefully be out in a month. We work really well together and the design is something definitely outside the box. You'll be the first to preview it when we're done! April 29, 2005
Welcome Sun Automobile USA as my newest sponsor! Sun Automotive is famous for their Hyper Ground & Hyper Voltage System. Combined, this awesome system can give you up to 6 additional horsepower. So I put these lil' babies to the test! It took me & Ben & Marc haha about an hour to install. The hardest part of course is finding proper grounding points. You can have the same car and same engine, but there are still like 25 different combinations of grounding points haha. Ben has these wires too and we used different grounding points. Its all the same, it just depends on where you have room in your engine bay to mount the grounding kit. Here are some pics (mouse over pic to see description):
All I have to say is that its amazing the difference a little box of wires made! My car starts better now, no hesitation. The throttle response is actually better now. And horsepower wise, my car is being tuned right now so I guess we'll find out! The Hyper Ground & Hyper Voltage system are soooo cute and they actually make a difference you can feel. Its like licorice for your car...they look good and taste good? Hehe. Thank you Sun Automotive for the cute wires. April 28, 2005
Tonight me & my Team met with our prospective Manager, Van Nguyen. After careful consideration on both our ends, I am proud to introduce Ms. Van Nguyen as my new Manager & Publicist, offically mine & Team DP's "Director of Media Relations & Management". For the past few years I've been gaining sponsorships on my own. I've been really successful gaining sponsorships, but now, as I enter into Professional-level competition, I've reached the limit of my negotiation abilities! Professional -level competition means professional level endorsements and appearances. I've been searching for help since last year, and definitely worth the wait, I'm happy to have Van on board. When looking for representation you need to find a trustworthy person who you mesh well with and feel comfortable with leaving your fate in their hands. I've been talking to a lot of my friends...the drivers and the ones who are actually representing drivers as well. Over and over I kept hearing...hire someone you trust and know. So I'm telling you the same! I've known Van since last year...I worked with her at Yokohama for HIN. Me and the girls click well with her and Noelle & Amanda are happy that she's Vietnamese haha! She will be representing me and each of my teammates individually as well as a Team. The future of a career in racing or running Drifting Pretty on a larger scale has suddenly become a lot more clear thanks to Van. Things are really taking off and I'm ready to move forward with giving a career in racing a shot and expanding The Drifting Pretty Program. Happy times...I'm drifting with an even bigger smile now! Welcome Van. April 2, 2005
This weekend I drove at the Land Ho/Just Drift practice at the Balcony Track at Willow Springs. To christen the new roll cage, I took my first shot at drifting tandem. Who better to drift tandem with than Benson. Me and Ben practiced seperately in the morning...then in the late afternoon we did some runs together. First with me leading then we kept switching off. Since we started drifting tandem towards the end of the day I think in total we only got like 9 laps together, but those by far were the funnest and most informative laps of the day for me. I found that I was more comfortable following than leading. It was hilarious, when I was leading I got all nervous because I didn't want to spin. But when I was following I was ruthless and got a half-a-car length away from the Sileighty. I was so comfortable it scared me. It was really exciting and following Ben really set the bar higher...so I found myself going faster and coming out with better line. I did the best runs of the day while drifting tandem with him. The last run of the day was the best...just like you always hope it to be. I never thought this day would come, to be good enough to drift tandem, with the love of my life and be good enough to keep it and get close. Good times...I'm a happy gal right now. Here are some pics of our monumental first tandem runs.
March 30, 2005Quick note: my 8-point cage is finished! See my car spec page for pics and more info! March 14, 2005
On Sunday I "tried out" for my Drift Day Advance Certification. Out of the 6 applicants...only 2 made it! 1 was me and the other was my friend Mark (KA POWERRRR). I'm really excited because finally I have something official from Drift Association. I've been around since Drift Day 1...they're now at Drift Day 23 and I've been to every single one of them. It blows my mind. It seems like just yesterday I was driving my beat up 180SXxy shitcan and trying to drift with my shitty viscous LSD and 14" G20 wheels! Today I'm drifting at almost 300hp with my 18" sponsored wheels in the middle of third gear. Times have changed and it all keeps flashing by. Before you know it my daughter will be driving. Yikes. I'm already trying to sign her up for kart school, but she isn't tall enough haha. March 13, 2005
Where do I start? Long story short, I got in an accident with my drift car...it wasn't my fault though. I don't drive my drift car on the street unless its necessary. I was driving it for the first time since last drift day and on the way to XS Engineering (for a re-tune) this man made a sudden right hand turn from the center lane and clipped me (I was in the right lane). He was really apologetic as I was yelling my head off at him for minutes. My headlight bracket broke, fender and bumper are both cracked (fiberglass), and my new Enkei RP03 took a nick but wasn't bent. My Battle Version spec alignment wasn't harmed. He settled with me outside of insurance and I came out ahead. Yuck, I hate drama...I want to crash my car drifting! I'm over this though, I'm really lucky it wasn't worse. My car isn't anywhere near being totaled and I didn't get hurt. I already took it to PJ's to get the internal damage fixed and to Alex to check my alignment. Cosmetics wise, I will fix it when GP sends me over their newly released fenders. I think I want to paint my car purple hahaha.
February 14, 2005Happy Valentine's Day! I had one of the best Valentine's days in my life today and I'm on cloud nine right now, thank you Benson. This past weekend I drove Saturday and Sunday at Drift Day 22 over at California Speedway. I remember back in the day when I was still a novice, drift days were a drag because I would get frustrated so easily. I don't get frustrated anymore and I have talented instructors and of course Drift Association to thank. I reminisce about what I've learned from my instructors over the years, Tony Angelo: thank you for giving me balls for third gear, Hiroo Sumida: thank you for being Mr. Patient, Taka: thank you for the constant pointers and for watching, Alex P. thank you for teaching me how to focus, and Benson thank you for teaching me not only how to drift period, but how to relax and have fun drifting.
Both days for me were constructive and fun. I was experimenting with different ways to take a third gear course...I would experiment braking and downshifting at different points in the track. I find myself getting more consistent and when I spin, 9 out of 10 times I know exactly why I did. I remember before when I would scream and cuss because I had no idea why I kept spinning haha! Today I spin #1 because when I'm drifting a new track I tend to not look ahead, #2 I am a lead foot and #3 I steer too much. Boy we never stop learning! I got to drive an FC and Wes' AE86, which both were a challenge but fun as hell. I learned that the FC's stock steering rack is crappy and so is the 86's. The FC isn't as forgiving as the 240...one false move and you immediately spin! When you get past the steering issues I really like both cars. I love the fact that on the 86 I can rev the crap out of it and still not spin it...and with the FC the cockpit fits me really snug and the power is fairly nice. Both of those cars however are old and require a lot of work and maintenance so in that sense it made me love my 240 even more. I realized at Drift Day that over half the people attending now are first or second timers. I took a step back and couldn't believe it...it seems just like yesterday it was Drift Day 5 and I myself was trying to figure out how to do doughnuts! On Saturday I got the chance to help a lot of the newbies at the skid pad, and I've totally been there and now how frustrating it could be. It took me a year to get doughnuts down...pretty ridiculous huh. I saw a lot of the newbies do well and it made my day. I got to give rides to some girls and hopefully they had fun hehe.
I am proud to announce that my newest sponsor is (drumroll please!) Enkei. Enkei is a Japanese wheel company that has been around for a long time and they are known for having really awesome unique designs. I got the RP03's which are 5 spoke wheels. Me & Ben can't get over how detailed they are...cuz after all they're just 5 spokes! For the first time I'm drifting on 18" wheels. It took some getting used to, suspension tuning and body cutting haha. I had to shave my fiberglass fenders (thank you JDM Rice Richard MUAH), hammer the chassis, cut my front bumper and adjust the suspension settings so the wheel wouldn't hit my side steps. It was a bit of work, but the end result is that drifting on 18's is the icing on my cake. I feel like I have more control drifting in third gear and my car looks really cute--cuter than it did with the Work VS-XX. These wheels are noticeably lighter than my previous work wheels too. The guys are giving me "props" & "I want those wheels" lines now...something I didn't get with the works...pretty funny huh. Thank you Tobin at Enkei for making my year, I couldn't be more happy with the wheels!
Last week I did a photo shoot with Jtuned.com. Jtuned is an online magazine which has issues online every month. This month is an all-girl issue with a Kill Bill theme. I was lucky enough to get the cover story. Jtuned's photography is to die for. I'm really excited...the article comes out in a few days. Thank you Fred, Brandon and Steve...you all are cute hunnies.
In other news, I'm having a record number of ladies here stepping up and joining the Drifting Pretty Program. Its amazing and really shows that the face of American Drifting is going to drastically change in the next few years. I am hoping to have an all-girl drift day by the end of the year. And hopefully by the end of next year we can hold a national women's drifting competition. There are ladies in Texas and Virginia to say the least that are taking the initiative to round up the ladies and start drifting. I wish them the best of luck. The future of women in drifting is so bright and I'm so honored to be a part of it. Good luck to you all. January 18, 2005
I'm home from a weekend of Drifting at DD21 and Drift Day Competition. I made the top 16 (out of 43) drivers and I'm pretty impressed with myself...but at the same time disappointed because I know that I could have done better!!! Hahaha. I was more than anything just unfocused during the entire event! I knew that I could drift the course fine but my mind was elsewhere. I've gotta learn how to focus better at competitions. I think its something that can easily be corrected.
The results from the competition are here. I'm happy to say I at least scored higher than a good 36 guys. To my pleasant surpise the competition entries included 8 woman drifters...the most ever in the history of US drifting competitions thus far. Pretty awesome. Half were the women of Team Drifting Pretty. I was really proud to be out there...and proud to make it to the top 16.
I did a shakedown of my hot180 on saturday and to my suprise everything was A OKay. I took her out onto the track and the minute I kicked the clutch she was at one with me again. You see, I haven't driven my car since June of last year because I took it apart to get painted and pretty.
Alex Pfeiffer of Battle Version gave the hot180 an alignment a few days before the event. I watched him do my alignment and learned a lot...and found that corner balancing my car first is vital. I learned what exactly 50/50 weight distribution means too. Things a woman drifter needs to learn hahaha!! I'll post up my alignment specs when I get home...its pretty cool too, we weighed my car and I haven't done any serious lightening of the chassis and it weighs 2663 lbs.
On Saturday was DD21, which was an all day practice. I'm happy to say that I have never drifted so good and fast in my life haha!! I ended that day the happiest lil' girl on earth...so content with my drifting. On Sunday was the Drift Day Competition...I started the day out with a silly fight with Ben and it messed my head up for the entire day. I couldn't focus and because of that I didn't do as well as I could. on top of that, right before my competition runs began, my 240 brainy friend Mark H came running up to me to tell me that my car was detonating like crazy!!! "It could burn a hole right through your pistons Nadine" hahhaa!! OMG becky. XS Engineering did my tuning months ago, but I think now I'm using more of the limits of the car, so the tuning doesn't match my drifting style anymore. I was lucky enough to have Mark fix my tuning in a split second to keep the detonation down to a minimum. Top 16 though is a big accomplishment for me, but next time I really want a shot at making the top 3.
On a sweeter note, I wanted to say congratulations to all the women competing at the competition. I think we all did really well, impressed the shit out of the judges and set a good example for other aspiring women out there. Team Drifting Pretty ladies: MUAH, you gals are my strength and you all make me so proud. Largely because of your support is why I made it into the top 16. Thank you.
All this is good preparation for FormulaD. I'm getting my Team ready for that series and its pretty hectic!!! We still don't have a sponsor to cover our travel and auto transport to the events...but I think a lot of teams don't have theirs either. The clock is ticking, but I have a lot of possibilities for sponsors and we have a really marketable team...things will fall into place. I need to make it happen though. I was writing my own budget for the FOrmula D series...it went over $25,000 and I right then and there snapped off my computer and went to bed haha! Is it me or this drifting stuff is way too expensive?
January 11, 2005
Same amount of miles as 6 months ago. So the 180SXxy has been home since December. Its a new year and I'm going to officially rename my car because of the paint haha...maybe hot180? Stupid name! Well, she isn't 180SXxy anymore...maybe just Nadine's red 180 haha! With the help of my car's KG2 brother, Marc, I finally got a smog. I'm going tomorrow to register my car (registration was due in june 2003 haha!!!). The gauge cluster is fried, so I have no odometer so my miles aren't moving haha!! I have to figure out how fast I'm going by ear. I guess its good training. I've officially dedicated my car as a track only car. I've had my daily driver for a while now...240 coupes suck so bad...there is no trunk. I'm going to drive my 180 around this week though. She's going to come with me to get an alignment and some diagnostic at Gushi Auto. Since the boys helped me put the motor back in the idle has been loping like I have crazy cams and my boost controller isn't working. Gushi to the rescue please!? This coming Sunday, I have the Drift Day competition. Haven't competed since September...dang its been even longer since I've drifted my own car...I've been using Ben's car for like 7 months haha!! I'm excited about it...my only worries are stuff falling off my car hahahaha. So I'm going to spend the week making sure everything is on tight. I haven't given her a shake down yet..so I guess the competition will be her shakedown. That's bad. But yah, I've seen the course set- up and it looks very straightforward and easy. Its similar to the course I drove last Drift Day. I plan to use the same technique and initiate in 3rd gear by kicking the clutch...thank god for my Power FC haha! I just have to rememeber to not use too much gas (that's my problem all the time). Just do that and I'll be home free with a chance at hopefully placing in the top 3. I'm really excited and anxious. Wish me luck :) :).
The rain soaked my car inside. The 180SX hatch windows weren't installed correctly...so I have nasty mold inside my car. Fucking great! The joys of being tyte jdm style.In other news, I'm preparing for Formula D this year with the women of Team Drifting Pretty. We're looking for wheel and cash sponsors. What a combo haha. We're meeting with a prospective cash sponsor in a few weeks. Pray for us. Formula D is really expensive because we have to ship our cars out and fly us all over the states. Its going to be a lot of fun...but yes, very expensive. If you have any referrals for companies that are looking for drivers to sponsor..please send them my way! Off to Gushi auto I go tomorrow. And off to Drift Day on Saturday and Sunday. See you there
Last update February 14, 2005
Nadine180 Style ©2005