Always Busy

Ever busy, I have neglected my personal blog in lieu of S12Silvia.com's blog.  Not having much time remaining after work, school, and homework, all that I have left has been a serious effort to either not fall asleep or simply stare at the TV whilst Netflix is on.  Then on the days off I have had every so often and the weather being quite lenient as of late, I am out during the day driving the S12 enjoying every moment of it.  While out yesterday I had  an opportunity that at one time would have been unique but has since become more common in the past couple of years.  As my Facebook status said:

"There's nothing like blowing by a Smart car in a proper petrol-based car: An S12 that has an appetite for petrol and a love affair with a pair of turbos."


Not surprisingly, I received much interested from my fellow petrol heads and an informative explanation as to why current day Hybrids/EVs, for example the Prius, isn't as environment friendly as they seem.  My only regret was driving solo and not getting a picture or a video of my 'fly-by', not that they appreciated it much.

About S12Silvia.com though, it has been a success.  With eight blogs posted in January alone including coverage of Nikolay Konstantinov at Irwindale and Vaughn Gittin Jr, the site has garnered much interest as of late, gained praise, and has been linked to from other sites - even from Jr's blog.  As was mentioned in the previous blog post, S12Silvia.com keeps me very much busy.  As a moderator and committed content supplier, it is pretty relevant to much of Internet activity as of late.  Please forgive the inability to read the text, but due to the fact that it details current blogs in progress, planned blogs, and blogs in research, it can be considered proprietary information for the site.

California Dreamin'

With august coming to a close, my summer was only beginning to slow.  Seeing that my summer didn't really start until July with Formula D and the following events, I still had until October to call it an end.

In the past, I have visited California on a yearly basis, with the exception of last year.  At times, I have visited California twice in a year.  Unfortunately for me, this year it was not entirely for relaxation.  I did however visit twice with a time span of one month.  Both times I drove my '87 Nissan S12 down and to say the least, absolutely exhilarating - especially through the mountain passes.  Both suspension and engine held through without issue.  Flying through the passes in the middle of the night was the best time; the fact that there was virtually no traffic and the cool/cold atmosphere, the twin-turboed RB loved it.

Come September 9th, I left for Southern California.  As usual when I travel to SoCal, I always stay at my best friends' place in Rocklin, CA.  I have as much enjoyment from staying with them as I do any other destination.  Not digressing too far from the original intent of my trip to SoCal, I was there to attend the nationally known Japanese Classic Car Show (JCCS) that is held annually.  In addition to attending JCCS on Sunday the 12th, I went to a the local Silvia car show/meet that was held in Anaheim on the 11th.  At the Silvia car show I received the trophy for Best S12 and at JCCS I received 1st place in the '80s Nissan/Datsun category.

 



For a full synopsis of the trip, the following links detail it all.  JCCS part 1 and JCCS part 2.

Not a month later I was heading down to SoCal yet again (October 4th) to the Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, Ca.  This time much more work oriented.  I was participating as part of Nikolay Konstantinov's race crew.  Nikolay is at the professional level of Formula D here in the States and is quite a capable driver.  For a rookie, one of three 'true' rookies, and one that only practices 6 or 8 months out of the year depending on weather, he is exceptional.

All was going well until Friday (the 8th) night just after Nikolay had qualified in the top 32 competitors beating out over half the contendors (64 in total) placing 26th place (if I remember correctly).  During a practice run, he followed Drift Emporium's supercharged Z33.  Due to adjustments in the Zed's suspension, the car seemed shaky, so Niko gave more space between the two.  Unfortunately with Randy's adjustment to Niko's rear suspension, Niko being drawn to the lower line of the bank on the track, and the Zed's lack of speed, a situation was bound to happen.  Niko had excellent angle and speeds that when speed trapped were similar to Vaughn Gittin Jr, but when exiting the first corner, he came up too fast to the Zed.  Being so low, the physics of a car drifting would force an arc outward instead of taking a higher line and angling low on the exit.  Well coming up, Niko had two choices: hit the Zed or the wall.  He decided for the latter, which caused a nearly totaled car.  The entire front end, especially that of the right-hand side, met the engine itself.  The car was unable to be driven and was towed to our spot in the pits.  That was at 9:30pm.  We had until 4pm the following day to fix the car to run a couple practice rounds then immediately compete.  With out luck, we faced Gitten Jr, the leader in points and was bound to win for the season.  We had a lot of help from many people both on the track and off the track.  It was amazing to see so much activity and a car rebuilt in so little time.

Very much thanks to the Drift Emporium guys, Nikolay, and Randy, the car was able to run and passed tech. inspection.  When Nikolay drove onto the track for his practice round there was a huge cry of exuberance and cheers from both the crowd and just about everyone in the hot pits.  The night before, Nikolay's crash was well known online and was the most sought after video/discussion on Formula D's website.  Come time for competition, Nikolay went against Gittin Jr.  The first run, Gittin Jr pulled away as any 800hp NASCAR-rated motor in a Mustang would.  However, Nikolay was able to keep enough speed, angle and style that he was able to prove enough of a challenge.  Gittin Jr ended up tapping the wall under the judges booth on the second to last turn causing him to momentarily lose control only seen when watching his front wheels change direction, once counter to the drift and then back to save the drift.  With that, Niko was favoured in the first run, which is something really hard not barring it was Gittin Jr but as a chaser, the odds are against.  All it took was for the second run to be clean on Niko's part and we would have knocked Gittin Jr out of the running.  Things were not good as Niko's RB25 overheated causing the ViPec standalone ecu to throw the whole system into safety mode, thus cutting all power.  With that, Nikolay bowed out unable to continue to compete, thus Gittin Jr won both that round against Nikolay and the 2010 Formula D season.  Despite the loss, the whole weekend not only tested Nikolay and our ability to recover, but it made not only our team stronger and closer, but it was the same with the entire professional Formula D entrants and fellow competitors and their corresponding technicians.

Formula D 2010: Seattle

 The past weekend was one of greater length than would seem.  Saturday July 10th was Formula D here in Monroe, Washington with HellaFlush hosting the car show.  After waiting quite a while for the day to come, the day seemed to be much longer than expected.

As required, I had to submit my car for evaluation before it was allowed in.  Knowing Hella Flush and the current import style, I had my doubts as to whether it would be accepted.  After talking with Shawn McManus shortly after submitting my car, I was less worried and more curious about if it would still be accepted.  Shawn McManus is a photographer who works with the shop I frequent, U.P. Garage, amongst other shops.  He also happened to know some of the guys at Fat Lace/Hella Flush.  He was correct that at the end of the day, they were all automotive enthusiasts.

My car was reviewed and accepted for the One of One show, which I was quite thrilled with.  It had been quite a while since I was last at a car show, and with my S12 finished as of late, I was ready to hit the show scene.  What better way to start out the limited show season up here in Washington than with probably the most publicized one.

Getting up early to avoid traffic and construction, I made it to the track with time to spare.  Like all shows, it is a hurry and wait situation.  Slowly the line of cars shuffled in and were set up.  It was obvious that the Hella Flush staff was grouping the cars by likeness.  Mine being an odd one out, it ended up more towards the back with the other miscellaneous cars.

I went about prepping my car when one of the Hella Flush staff walking over.  We started talking for he recognized my car as an S12 and mentioned that his friend in the Bay area had one.  I immediately knew he was talking about Henry Nguyen and told him I had been talking with Henry for a bit and was just online with him the night before.

We continued to talk random stuff and observations about cars, the car scene up here in Washington, the laws/regulations of Washington compared to California, and the upcoming JCCS show.  Towards the end of it, he looked at my engine bay and showed interest.  I asked him if I could possibly be able to move up the show at the end of the line where the other GTRs were.  he looked over and said that it would be a great idea.  Ten minutes later, he had the spot ready for me to park my S12 at the end of the line of GTRs showcasing the Godzilla of Nissan motors.  As Henry had mentioned the night before, Kenny was a really cool and chill guy who was enthusiastic about what it is we all do.



Throughout the day, my S12 garnered much attention.  It was the best turnout the car had ever received.  Showcasing the S12, it inspired several people to build their S12s they seemed a loss for and a few were caught to be saying that they would seriously consider finding one to toy with.  There were still a few who thought it was an AE86 and even one thought it was a Celica-Supra.  Despite the mistaken identity, the majority of those attending knew it was an S12.  Then there were those who did not have the slightest clue.  It was obvious by the way they looked at the car.  They looked over the entire car perplexed and each one walked to the rear of hte car in an attempt to find the traditional name badge that had been removed when swapping to the Euro taillight setup.  Many of those who were confused were only more so by way of the Australian plates the car hosted.  Those who asked to what the car was were given a brief summary of the S12 and its place amongst the other better known Silvias.

Despite the fact that I own the car, I made sure to give credit to U.P. Garage as it was their craftsmanship that shaped the swap from beyond just a concept in my head.  While the styling and interior were of my past work, if it wasn't for Doug, Erik, and Randy collaborating with me, it would never have been the final product it is today.

At the end of the show as everyone filtered out to watch the final 16 drifters, I ran into a Brit who had moved over recently.  He was walking the show when he saw my S12 and made a bee-line for it.  He knew instantly that it was a Silvia and told me that he had a soft spot for it since many years past.  Apparently when he was quite young, his mum owned one and used to drive it quite often.  We talked about England, Australia and the import scene in both countries compared to that of the States.  Not surprising, he was also the only one who seemed to fully appreciate the Euro spec. headlamp guards and the Euro spec. taillight setup.

With the success of being able to showcase the S12, that was only half the thrill of the day.  It was not until after the drift competition in the pits when the fun truly start.  It can be argued that the true fun of the entire event was back in the pits.  I for one who have been in the pits a few years back can agree with this.  There is nothing more exciting than watching the car be prepped, fixed, go out and return from runs.  During the aftermath of the event, I was able to talk with Adam Burgess, who I met earlier that day along with his wife Sarah.  Adam and Sarah are Australians how moved to California a couple of years ago to pursue their goals.  What makes him so interesting is not what he appears to know, but the breadth of his knowledge as well as whom he knows.  Adam Burgess was the lead tech for the 4-rotor BMI/Snap-On RX8.  While talking with him, Randy found out that not only does Adam Burgess knows heaps about Nissans, but his wife Sarah fancied S12s a fair amount and was keen on taking a gander at mine  Adam and Sarah Burgess/BMI Racing

With much of the spectators gone and those left mainly who took part in the event, I drove my car back to the pits.  There Adam Burgess had a chance to talk more with Randy about the technicalities of the RB comparing both mine and Nikolay's swaps in addition to small tricks that can be done to increase the potential, performance, and reliability of the RB. Not just that, he knew an extensive amount of information on the FJ specifically.  That was invaluable in addition to the contacts he gave us for when we finally build Randy's FJ20 for his hatch S12; one such individual he mentioned of specific importance was Mark Ashford.  It was one of the most intelligent and educating conversations I have ever had with a technician.  It did not just focus on RBs, FJs, S13s and S12s, but ranged to 4G63s, SRs, AE86s, DR30s, the politics of Formula D, Domestics and their efforts to pursue the advantage Imports have, Rhys Millen, and Ben D.  Adam Burgess had a shop in Brisbane, Australia for a while and at the time knew well of Ben D.  That was very much part of what prompted his interest in talking with Randy and I about our S12s.  Not only giving us some interesting commentary on both Ben D. and his FJ S12, there has been a bit of history between him and Rhys, all of which greatly increased my respect for both, especially Rhys.  Towards the end, I was able to grab a moment of Rhys Millen's time, who was willing to banter with Randy and I in addition to Adam Burgess.




As Rhys walked over, Adam joked:
"Hey Rhys, how's it going mate?"
"Not bad mate, you?"
"Fine.  You signing too?  You should know what this is.  You're from New Zealand after all."
"yeah, been a while." a short laugh, "Where would you like it again?"



In the end, I was able to obtain both the signatures of Adam Burgess and Rhys Millen on the underside of my bonnet along with some of the best conversations I've had concerning the automotive world.  I was extremely thankful to the two of them and look forward to having more chances to talk with Adam Burgess in the future.

However, it was not just about my car and the S12 chassis.  I was there representing a few other organizations as well.  S12Silvia.com, Olympia Nissan, and U.P. Garage were the other groups I was pitching for in an effort to hold up my part of the sponsorship each had offered me after seeing the efforts I had put towards my car.  Although last on the list, the day belonged to U.P. Garage and its owner Doug Smith.  One of Doug's sponsored cars driven by Nikolay Konstantinov participated in the actual drift competition.  With Nikolay's skill and Randy's/U.P. Garage's work on the S13 with Type X aero, Nikolay succeeded in pulling off what no one had done in the Pacific Northwest before: qualify for the Formula D comopetition and then proceeded to the top 16.  A huge congratulations to Nikolay and U.P. Garage for all their hard work.  As I drove my S12 to the pits, people were congratulating me on my S12 and U.P. Garage's success on the track.  It was made apparent by hearing the spectators as I drove by that they recognized my car as U.P. Garage's show car and of top notch quality along side Nikolay's S13 as U.P. Garage's drift car, also of exceptional quality.  I felt really happy for Doug.  He has been at this for quite a while and with all his hard work, in addition to both Erik and Randy, it seems to be paying off.

 For more information and pictures, visit the following sites:
S12Silvia.com blog
S12Silvia.com Community: Discussion thread and pics of the show