Blast from the past! I’ve been working with Drift Emporium over the past few months, well they’ve been doing more work than I have, on getting this car back on the track. I was so stoked when I found out this car was now in Georgia, and even more excited to drive it. Most of you should recognize it, and for those that don’t, this is the DRFT CWest Silvia!
This car was originially built in Japan by one of my favorite teams, Night-Zone, and driven by Uchi Utsumi. It was later shipped to the US and driven by Chris Forsberg and Tony Angelo.

First phase of the car:

Next phase, from Drift Tengoku:

Then the car was shipped to the States, Tony Angelo and Chris Forsberg drove it. Chris jumped into it at FD Sonoma 2004 and qualified 2nd.

Then it was switched to Sil-front, and painted:

The car arrived in Georgia, as a roller. DE put the SR from the S15 in it. It has some Tomei goodies along with an ARMS turbo, mated to a Nismo 6 Speed gearbox and an ATS Deftforce Diff.

How it sits now:

Pics from an event here in Atlanta last Saturday:

In-car video:

Found this on the Youtubes:

The car did very well for it’s first event in a long time. We had a few issues that you’d expect to have pulling a car right out of a shop, but we ran the whole day, and drove the car back on the rig. The front tires rubbed a little a full-lock, and the car could be a little lower all around. I’d like to thank everyone at Drift Emporium for letting me drive another piece of drifting history!

I think most people around here know, but for everyone else on the internets, here it goes.  I’m building a new car.  I know most of you have heard me say that I want to build a new car for years, but now it’s happening.  The Miata served us well, and she’ll still be around, but it’s time for something new. 

Here she is!

 I’ll be debuting her at ECASB or DriftMania in Canada.  Stay tuned for the build!

You saw in an earlier blog post (I know you good people ALWAYS read my blogs ) that I had to drive my friend Struka’s drift car from Tennessee to St. Louis to a NOPI event because of an issue we had with a support vehicle. Well, we at DG Trials had an event in Nashville, Tennessee last weekend at Nashville SuperSpeedway. Yancey offered to trailer my friend Tyler’s S13 up there on his single car open trailer. Greg and I would ride in the truck with Yancey and meet Tyler up there. Well, in usual “drift event luck” we had an issue with the trailer (this time) and I had to drive Tyler’s car from Atlanta, to Nashville. The ride was ALOT better than Struka’s fully gutted beast, but every time I looked over at Yancey and Greg on the highway in their truck, IN THE AIR CONDITIONING, I swear a kitten died somewhere. We made it to Tennessee early Saturday night, and met up with some other drivers, got dinner, made a beer run, and hung out in the hotel parking drinking beer until 3am. So original I know! Marty drinking beer in a parking lot, who’d a known?! The conditions were perfect on Sunday for the event. It was a small event on a HUGE track, only 20 drivers or so. Everyone improved throughout the day, and we had nothing but awesome feedback from everyone. The infield at the SuperSpeedway is very fast and technical, a perfect training/shakedown course. Check for more events there from DG Trials soon!

Tyler’s Cockpit, the car I drove to TN:

Byron, followed by Yancey and Greg:

Byron. Built to Destroy!

A whole mess o’ White Castles!

Testing out the track in Struka’s car. I love driving S14’s.

Forrest from Memphis. GoGo Ls1 OK!!!!!!

Me working with Struka on his high-speed entries:

Tyler rockin’ it!

David Jones from Atlanta. He makes me want a Mustang everytime I see him drive.

Me low-ridin’ in Tyler’s car. His seat is bolted to the floor.

Today I received another awesome shipment of product from NOS. They have been great supporting me and my crew all season! Keep an eye out for some new products that are hitting the market too!

This is Thom, he helps out at the shop whenever he can. He is a great guy, and a huge Miata enthusiast. His car is ALWAYS spotless! He had to be the first one with a NOS sticker on his car at the shop (Notice the lanyard and coozie too, it made his day!)

That’s it for now everyone. Keep checking back for more updates. NOPI Columbus is right around the corner, and remember, if there’s a drift event coming up for you, just give me a call and I’ll give you a delivery quote

Yes, contrary to belief, Wrecked Magazine does exist outside the Internets!  They have an office with doors, carpet, bathrooms and everything.  No lie!  I hung out with Joey and Jason this afternoon, and snapped a few pics.

Waiting Area:

Tasty Beverages:

JDM PS2 yay!

Jason’s Desk:

Business……

Ahhhhh the booty……

HAS BEEN PILLAGED!!! hehe suckers……

Jeeze, OK, what have I been up to? Lots has gone on since my last update, so here’s a quick (or not) recap. I’ve been extremely busy working on the car and working on other projects here and there. Two weeks ago right before FormulaD ATL, we had the opportunity of going to the premiere of Drift Alliance’s new movie “Stay Hungry.” If you don’t have this yet, GO OUT AND BUY IT! This movie is awesome, the DA guys have definitely outdone themselves with this film. Have you bought it yet?!?! go to www.thedashop.com now!

Pictures from the premiere:

The DA crew

The dM crew!

Next up, was finishing John Marsh’s car before FormulaD to put in the Mazda booth. Yancey had built him a new motor that needed to go in. Marsh has a widebody Miata, if you were at FD you saw it, if you weren’t, there’s a few pictures below

Right after the motor went in, looking to make sure everything was running right:

After that, we decided to drop the wrenches and enjoy a good, relaxing weekend at the track. Well, as soon as I got to Road Atlanta on Saturday, Justin Pawlak comes up to me asking for a car. Long story short, he went to get his car tuned early that morning, and it blew up on the dyno. So after about 3 hours of making calls, and finding out that any car I could think of was being repaired from NOPI E-town, we tried to roll Struka’s car through tech. I knew it would fail on a couple of things, but I was just concerned with the cage. If the cage would pass, we could fix everything else, but the cage did not pass. So no ride for JTP.

The event was awesome! Great driving from everyone, and lots of close battles! It was nice to go to an event and just relax and watch some good drifting, but at the same time it pained me not being out there.

But anyway, the podium was:

1. Rhys Millen (Bridgestone Tires/Exedy Pontiac Solstice)
2. Michihiro Takatori (Super Autobachs Nissan Skyline)
3. Ryan Tuerck (Gardella Racing/Mobil 1/Maxxis Tires Pontiac Solstice)

Now for some pics!

Marsh’s car:

“Big guys in a little car……..” Patrick and Marlow in my street car:

Me and Carluch:

Shameless Plug

Forsberg was killing it all weekend, but lost first round to Takatori

That Sunday, Sonja and I were taking Jacob and Thao from EDRFT.com around the city when JTP calls again, looking for a place to leave his rig. So now, I have this lawn ornament for the next two weeks. I think I might take it for a spin

Race car talk! She got a new wiring harness. The old harness was a ‘96 which was OBDII, but had been re-wired for my OBDI LINK ECU. I put a ‘94 OBDI harness in to eliminate any wiring issues that may come up. The ECU was completely re-soldered to make sure all connections are good, the heater core was replaced, and my supercharger was completely rebuilt by Magnuson. The new motor is coming along really well, the head was just picked up from the machine shop, and all the bearings and rings will be here Tuesday. I’m hoping to have the motor complete by this weekend.

DJ James came by today and we put in a new soft top. This is the first time I’ve put a NA top in a NB and I like how it looks.

Tops:

Installed:

Greg changed the wheel bearings in his WRX:

Wiring harness, heater core, and A/C Delete pipe in:

Dash back in:

Well, I think that’s about it. I’ll try to keep this updated more.

I started taking apart the car last night in preparation for Columbus.  We’re replacing the heater core and wiring harness, so the dash and front part of the cage had to come out.  That’s about all I got done yesterday.  Tomorrow night the engine and tranny is coming out.

Mess:

Cabin:

Current engine.  This will be empty tomorrow.

I got a good amount of work done this weekend, and also started making some good changes.  Friday, I drove over to John Marsh’s house to pickup the racecar.  We’re putting a new engine in the car before NOPI Round 3, rebuilding the supercharger, and making some other changes.

On the way to Marsh’s house:  “Who all seen the leprechaun say Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”  <-  You’re awesome if you get that

Friday night.  The racecar and the street car home together.

Saturday we headed to the shop to drop off the car, and do some spring cleaning and organizing.

On the way….  PUNCHEM!

This is our shop, R-Speed.  We are a full service Miata Boutique and mail order.  Check out www.rspeed.net If something you want is not on the site, just call and ask us!

Front Entrance:

Showroom:

Office Area:

Sonja’s Office upstairs:

Kitchen:

Warehouse:

The bays.  We have two lifts and plenty of space.

Well that’s the quick tour, if you’re ever in the area, stop by and check us out!

Sunday, I went to my friend Greg’s house to pickup a new bottom end and spare transmission for the racecar.  This block is similar to last year’s setup, so we’ll be making good power again.  After getting my haircut and being reminded of how bald I am getting , I installed a new Garage Vary lip on my street car.  I had one on it before, but it shattered after years of abuse.  

New block and spare tranny

New pistons.  More compression!!!!!

New lip

And last but not least, I picked these up at Walgreen’s.  It’s DEFINITELY time to do this. 

….time for the pollen. Every year, for the whole month of April, the pollen comes out. It covers everything in yellow. It flies through the air. You breathe it, you taste it, it gets in your eyes…. It sucks! Plus it makes it impossible to have a clean car.

I stopped by the shop today for lunch and to order some parts to get ready for St. Louis. The car is getting sent to the vinyl shop at the end of the week, I can’t wait to see her when she’s done! It’s going to be insane!