View from the top.
April 10th, 2010Long Beach FD, packed house, doin the wave Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Long Beach FD, packed house, doin the wave Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
I do, kinda. I’m getting it ready to ship to the Northeast, and ill be heading that way right behind it. You will be seeing lots of this hot rod in action, and soon, I promise. Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Media day LBFD, this hot mess of a car showed up. Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
So I have been really busy in the last year. I have been doing a ton of drift coaching/teaching. I have found that all of my years of drifting experience and judging, as well as having to teach myself, has left me very well-equipped for drift coaching. I’ve spent alot of time coming up with a drifting curriculum for all different skill levels. I have found that lots of drivers are able to make really large improvements in a small amount of time with the right coaching and car setup tips. It’s totally rewarding to see that kind of change manifest itself in a few short days.I have been working with one driver in Asia, an Indonesian driver named Rhenadi Arington, his team manager approached me after the FD Singapore event last year, and wanted to know if I could get involved with his team and his driver. I was happy to take the job. I have been over to coach Rhe 3 or 4 times in the last year, and he has made such a marked improvement. I have been all over Malaysia and Indonesia coaching him and helping his team understand car setup. It has been quite an experience, and his last performance at FD Malaysia, where he was able to qualify for top 32, then defeat the number 3 qualifier in tandem was very impressive. Enough talking, I know you want to see pics.
Early morning looking outside my Malay hotel room.
Taking a break from testing, it was like 98 degrees in November. That’s Rhenadi on the right, looking deadly serious.
Posin in front of the old S13, this thing got destroyed at FD Thailand.
The new car, and the whole team after a successful finish in FD Malaysia!
Ok gang,It’s time to dig deep, there are tons of sick kids out there, and I have a friend that is trying to help. My buddy Joe is raising money for a children’s cancer research grant. That means this money could go to making a real difference in the future treatment of kids with cancer. It’s a great cause and he’s gonna look ridiculous with his head shaved.I know times are tight, but ANYTHING you can give makes a difference, 5 bucks, 10 bucks, 25 bucks, whatever, just give what you can, it will make you feel good, guaranteed. It’s only up for a week more, so get to it! I’m off to donate!
Well, after a successful first year as a Formula Drift judge, I have been brought on to take over the role of Technical Manager. I’ve been involved in technical regulations for awhile now. I have been involved in every facet of drifting, from racing to judging, building cars, tech inspections and track setup since 2003, this experience made it possible for me to assume this new role with confidence. I helped revise the chassis rules at the end of last year, with some major changes that will allow many different cars and drivetrain setups to run at very similar levels on the track. I’ve been very busy with answering team questions and emails about new builds and new rules. I am excited about this new role, and aim to act on any issues that may arise in a quick, judicious and transparent manner. Who’s ready for Long Beach?!?!
Seriously, I know you may have already seen it, but just watch this about 9 million more times and recognize how very awesome it is. I can’t stop. I have a problem.
Hey blog readers,I have a ton of stuff to post and it’s been a hectic last few months. The good news is that I have lots of content for this blog! I’ve been really busy in Asia, doing a ton of work drift coaching and helping with some events. As I have had more and more requests for drifting lessons, clinics and personal coaching, I’m currently in the process of making a website that will give people all the info they need about my drift school. One fun thing, is that I’ve got the promo video made, that shows off a bit of my driving and my rx-8 from 2008. Check it out, and I’ll be back soon with lots of stories, pics and vids!!!
Tony Angelo: AMERICAN DRIFTER from Drift Alliance Media on Vimeo.
I know, I know, its been an eternity since I’ve blogged anything, and I have left out many, many worthwhile blog entries. I am a Formula D judge now, it’s been rewarding, and difficult and occasionally fun! I went on a 4500 mile, 2 week cross-country motorcycle trek with a dozen pals, see www.bikeblog.andrewbain.net . There’s lots more in the past, but I have no time to dwell, lets just forget the rest and move forward.
Drift coaching, I’ve been pals with the guys from Rogue Status (www.roguestatus.com) for awhile now, you have probably seen their clothing all over the place and on MTV, they are super chill dudes, and Yo (yes his name is YO) built an S13 (a real silvia K’s edition) for the Gumball 3000 rally. It’s a pretty solid car, and he’d been talking about getting into drifting and heading to a track for a few months now. We finally got it all together a few days ago, and it was super fun. I headed to the track with Jasper and Yo from Rogue Status and Formula D driver Pat Mordaunt. We were short on time, and Yo is new to drifting, we moved right into donuts and figure 8′s, focusing on dynamic initiation and getting him to toss the car properly. Yo picked it up pretty quickly and we moved right onto running one medium sized turn. After a bit of yelling and some trips into the gravel, he really got it going. At the end of the short, but very successful test session, Pat and I gave the car a bit of a workout on the Balcony track, it is a super fun car, and despite the seat being positioned for an NBA star, I was able to lay down a few good runs before the tires gave out. Hopefully we get back out there soon and we can continue this story…….
Yo and his car
Yo perfecting the art of the donut.
Jasper filming while Pattycakes drops Magnum on us!
I wanted to have a video made, to recap my 2008 year in driving, something to document this season of competion, and since the car has really progressed since Long Beach, I figured that would be something interesting to show, as the video plays. This is NOT that video!!!!! I needed a short teaser for some meetings i had a few weeks ago, and Josh Herron was nice enough to whip up this video for me in no time! He just happened to show it to Joey Redmond, who is incapable of holding any drifting media/news from his Wrecked readers, and instantly, it was on the site! I like this video, and Josh did a great job (he always does), but this isn’t the full on TA year in drifting that is coming soon!!!
So like I said: Don’t watch this video!
VID 00015.3GP