Spring is here again

Spring is here again, grass is turning green, birds are chirping and this past weekend the air was filled with tire smoke.
My weekend really began on Friday morning. I tapped into Formula Drift's live feed of the practice and qualifying around 10am and found it hard to leave the computer screen. Formula D has really done a stand up job of making a live production out of the events. There are some quirks in the setup but by the time qualifying got under way they had had much of the major issues resolved. Back in January we decided to "update" the office and waiting room at Import Intelligence that included a 40" flat screen. At lunch I decided to go out and buy an HDMI cable ( by the way these things are ridiculously expensive ) so that we could pump the feed from FD onto the screen in the waiting room. My day was pretty much wasted rooting for all the friends and competitors that were in Long Beach for the weekend.

On Saturday it was time to step into my 2nd office ( the 350z ) and do some testing on the car and prepare it for the serious maddness that is coming to Atlanta May 7th and 8th. The whole car went on a serious diet over the winter and we added a couple alignment parts so that we could get more bite in the rear end of the car. I mounted up 4 Nexen tires for the test day and packed some scraps of Dunlop Z1's, Advan Neova's and some left over Falken's. Basically if it was a 265 or 275 laying around the shop, it got burnt.

Dear scrap tire disposal man: we now have a large shipment ready. There was no shortage of drive time at the Club Loose spring moves event. I guess everyone else's projects are not quite finished yet. I must have made 30-40 passes on Saturday without ever a dull moment. The car is feeling good with the new diet and we are ready for some wider tires.

On a side note: if you were there and were lucky enough to get a ride-along I hope you enjoyed it. I love taking people for rides because it's something that very few of us will ever get to experience. I started talking to one of the spectators there and he asked me if I would take his 16yr old son for a ride. ( Sorry I forgot your name ) I said sure and we belted him in and off we went. He was interested about getting into drifting, his father being a dirt track racer was really wanted to get into drifting also. After I took Jr for a ride his father tried to slip me some cash. I said I couldn't take any money because I do this for fun but he insisted. Being polite, I just put it in my pocket and went about my day. Little did I realize, he slipped me almost the entire entry fee for the event. I really appreciate people who actually see what the costs are of the sport and am very thankful for meeting you. If there were more people like this, the world would be a better place. You sir have renewed my faith in humanity. Thanks again!!!

Additionally, Club Loose is like a family event, Rob was there grilling up some of his famous chicken, Jorge let everyone drive his car and eventually run it into the wall a few times and friends were just reconnecting after a long and snowy winter.

I leave you today with the only totaled car at the event and a sunburn, hopefully he will have his spare shell up and running in no time and I will bring sun block next time. :)