Friday Night Slide

Usually when I head over to one of Driving Sports's Eastern Creek Twilight drifts, it's to take photos, meet people, do interviews and cover the event. Last Friday was a little different however and a nice change may I add. Getting behind the wheel at Twilight drift night is definitely a more involving way to experience one of these events.

Meeting up with Jerry Yam of HOT4s, Jason Gynn of Zoom Magazine, we headed up to the Creek. For these guys it was their their first Twilight drift night. We later were met by our very own beloved editor Tom who had toiled away all day to have a half cage installed into his 180Sx.

We had a blast of night sliding to ourhearts content on the watered down skid-pan. Having been to a number of these meetings before, I can definitely say that it's becoming more and more popular.

A couple of interviews and a stack more photos over the fold and through Jason's Dribble

I had the pleasure of hosting Jason from Zoom Magazine in my passenger seat, here we're getting ready to roll out into the pan.

 

Jerry wanted to climb into the action so flogged himself a helmet from somewhere

 

This here is Reaper's S14... Now SR20 powered but I could swear there was a rotary in it somewhere!

 

Sure it's safe, but doesn't mean that you don't get some shunts and bumps. When I first spotted this I thought the license plate was a wicked sticker!

 

Tom eventually made it, it was our first time sliding together

 

This is Shantell in her Hachi, we were having a blast out on the pan, a few close calls, and plenty of laughs all around

 

The last run of the night I was joined by John who randomly asked if he could jump into my car... Yeah why not?

 

Thanks to Liam Quirk and his girlfriend Ellie from Street Commodores who shot some photos and to Jason for all the driving photography found on his blog Jason's Dribble. I had thevery greatest pleasure of taking Ellie out for a passenger run, I don't think I've ever sang 99 red balloons so hard in my life!

 

I also got to spend a bit of time with Lenny Lee, a funky friend of mine, Singaporean Circuit racer and drifter, I managed to squeeze an interview out of him as well!

 

STAFFROOM

 

Name: My parents named me Leonard Lee YK but keep calling me son, for some reason. My nickname on all forums is karbonphyber and friends call me Lenny!

 

Day job: I'm a software developer and developing software is my specialty! It allows me to create funky calculators which calculate stuff for the 180SX like rim tuck! No other calculator comes close!

 

How did you get into teaching?

It all started when a friend of mine, Josh, referred me to a thread created by Lee from Driving Sports, looking for people who met the three criteria which were:

1. Competed in drifting and at least qualified top 16

2. Communicates knowledge to others clearly and easily

3. Is reliable and well presented

Of which I satisfy two! Everyone understands Singaporean English don't they?

 

What’s the best part of your job?

I feel there are many ‘best parts’ like having the opportunity to be in the environment where real race mechanics are present, learning more about cars from them and meeting new faces. As the top of my list though, it’s the opportunity to bring someone new to drifting from being a zero to a hero, seeing them enjoy their new found skill and actually executing drift manoeuvres smoothly. The smile that you get from them is priceless and that's what I feel is the best part of being an instructor.

 

What’s your motto in life?

People who know me might start shouting ‘safety first’. But the way I try to live my life is ‘Don't try, Don't know!’.

In ‘Don't Try, Don't know!’ I started working DIY on the car for small projects, as opposed to relying on paying a mechanic and then not learning anything in the process. After starting a few small projects like spray painting, fabricating camera mounts, I had graduated on to the larger projects like changing turbos, clutches, swaybars and recently a 5-stud conversion with the help of the Driving Sports crew who taught me that being forceful helps at times. Now I have a whole load of DIYs which will soon make their way back on to TunedForDrift.com! But for now let’s stick to ‘safety first!’.

 

What do you wish to say to all those looking to enrol into school?

A good firm grasp of theory - whether it be circuit driving or even drifting - will bring you far beyond anyone who's just chucking a car around some corners.

Learn things the right way and you'll always have your knowledge to fall back on, in new scenarios. I'm always keen to meet new people and help them out with drifting, so drop me an email to say hi and I'll see you at a Driving Sports event!

 

Stay Tuned for more action when FF&R goes on the ground or future events!

 

Thanks to Liam Quirk and his Misses Ellie Thorley from Street Commodores for sending over some photos, Jerry Yam from HOT4s for his constant hilarities, Jason Gynn from Zoom Magazine for the drifting photogrpahy,  Driving Sports for a great night

Hoonage and new work

Well happy belated Easter everybody!

Time warp..
It's good Friday, a public holiday... damn it's early... But damn I'm late! 7:15! We all have to be at church at 8:00 am for the prayer meeting! Now 8:30 am is hard nuff on at Burwood on a Sunday morning let alone 8:00am at Baulkam Hills on a Friday public holiday! Oh man I had a hard training session last night so went to bed as smashed as a plate at a greek wedding and would really appreciate the sleep. Anyways I said I'd be there so be there I shall... Damn gotta not be late, it takes 45 minutes to get there usually so that means I have 0 minutes to get ready! So on go the pants, in goes the toothbrush... A quick good morning to mum as I run out to start old faithful... No way am I gonna make it... Oh well, let's just try... Hahahaha... It's double demerits, I'm not silly enough to speed on these main streets... So here's there driving technique for the day... PUNCH it until u hit the speede limit hahaha... Well, I can tell u it works... I get to church at 7:54... Took me 25 minutes... that's a PB ladies and gentlemen hahaha

Anyways... Working back at the video store now... That's right I mentioned it in my last post... Been training with the gang on their Australia's got talent show... Man they work hard... Inspiring... So that's my weekend... but then check this out...

A few crazies are crazy enough to organise a run for Sunday night (double demerits btw)... so we all meet up late Sunday night, this whole time I'm under the impression we're heading out into the boonies for the runs, but lo and behold, we're going to old pacific highway... Hot damn, why not call the police in advance and ask em 2 bring the salad for the party? Anyways, I decide to go, there's a fair few of us... Too many actually... about 15-20 cars meet at the meet point... Mainly hard parkers... So the first group take off... we wanna run... not park... We arrive before the start point and chill for a minute, there's about 8 of us... A few middle easterners see our meet and come to check us out in their 4 door GTST... Realise we're waiting for sumone so they rip a few heli's on their way out hahaha... Real classy boys (sarcasm much)... So we take off for the touge... was a pretty epic run, seems that rwd silvia's do better on the touge than awd rexies and evo's?! So I find I'm stuck behind the awd's at a crawl, we clear the first stage and I'm called to be in second place, and punch off again, during second stage, we come across a T intersection and what else do we see but the boys in blue... Nice... So the guy in front of me sprints out into the hills... and I'm following close behind... This was the fun part hhaha, we actually had something to run away from... Pity we can't keep going to do 3rd and 4th stages, we just pull back onto the freeway and head off to Sevo's for some demo'ing at an estate. So you'd think that was a pretty close encounter hahaha, not close enough... I notice around Baulkham Hills, the car behind me is flashing me like mad, I have no idea what he wants, the car in front of me is acting strange to, he signals to turn into a back street, and doesn't commit... Eventually he does so I follow him, the car that's been flashing keeps driving off on the main road and another car turns in behind us and we end up splitting up, then I look to see who it is and notice the disco lights flare up hahahaha... Oh dang... I pull over and he stops behind me, the car in front turns the next left and get's away... Then... what is this? The copper pulls out and goes after him?! Man I punch it outta there QUICK SMART... a left here, right there, another right, a couple lefts, and I'm in someones yard, I shut my car down and lay low for a while. You'd think I'd go hoome after this, but no I think we were thirsting for trouble that night... I end up meeting the guys again at Sevo's, we hang for a bit, too nervous to do demo's... The dude that got chased got defected, he's pretty shattered, but ok... We all go home...

Fruits Basket is warming up!

Haven't posted so must most... Hahaha Fruits Basket just got really interesting! Volume 17 and some BIG secrets have been let out about the Sohma family... Woohoo, can't wait to go training today so I can read! Hahaha I have a good 10 minute walk from the station to my dojo so I just read the whole way, I look up once in a while to make sure I'm not lost! I wanna say so much about it, but to then I don't wanna be a wet blanket! And check this out, I've never been able to keep up with series, not even a single season of Heroes! And Here I am on volume 17 of a comic!

I'm gonna be grading tomorrow, Double grading for the win! I hope I have the stamina to keep up... Oorah... So from green, I'm skipping blue and onto purple... I'm kinda looking forward to the sparring, I think I've been adding a bit of edge to sparring lately, non-contact sparring is as homosexual as aids (taken straight out of the forums hahaha), but I been making it intersting by blocking my opponents attacks and countering with freakishly close blows instead of just hopping and flopping my legs about like a doll... Hahaha last time when I was sparring against 3 opponets, I even grappled at them, threw them at one another and grappled one oppenent and brought him to the ground... Wanna keep this interesting, gay martial arts ftl...

I been modelling a 180sx in Maya during work hours... I need to get a portfolio happening, but I'm soo lazy... Even at work I just forum trawl all day... How on Earth do I become a Saiyan in this area?

I'm gonna be going to Superlap at Oran Park on Sunday to help Andrew out with more media stuff... Hahaha I just got a phone call from Anf Bilic saying hi... Will be hanging out with him on Sunday

Production Assist at Powercruise

So... What an unforgettable weekend... I've spent the last 2 days, immersed in the haze of burning rubber, the aroma of burning petroleum, with the taste of gritted sweat on my palate and incessant ringing of combustion in my cranial dome. Yes it was Powercruise EC.

It all started with a post on Nissan Silvia forums from Andrew who was looking for a couple of volunteers to help him out with a production assistant role for the Powercruise EC DVD... Free shirts? Free caps? Free entry? I'm in! There was a catch though... You had to be prepared to go on-track, meet and greet high profile motorists in person, go for rides in insane cars, rig expensive film equipment and get involved in the production of a DVD. Alas, prepared to face the challenges, and keen to grow my experience in production and media, I put my hand up and got accepted as one out of two volunteers.

So I rock up to Eastern Creek Raceway, sweet talk the wonderful dear lady at the front office to pass me a media staff vest without having to put a $50 deposit, get to the marshaling area and meet Andrew the producer and Pat the cameraman for the first time.


A brief rundown of what to expect of the weekend, meeting up with Rick my fellow assistant, we then set off into the abyss of roaring motorblocks, spooling turbo's and shredded tires. The job was easy enough, mounting and unmounting cameras to panels, windows, rollcages, making sure they get taken to where they need to be, and just odd runner jobs... Sure this coulda just been another voluntary job to check out something cool and score freebies, but beyond that it was filled to seam-bursting capacity with opportunity for one who wanted to get involved in the scene! Rubbing shoulders with such names such as Luke Fink, Anthony Bilic, the Driftmob team, Trick & Mansweto not to mention working with Andrew Hawkins (ex Ignition DVD, Blood Sweat & Gears now Jet Multimedia). There was plenty of time to wander around, get to know people, check out some crazy rides and having a camera and mount in-hand was license to jump in any car you wished in the open cruise sessions. It was such an insight meeting people from all walks of life, witnessing them come gather together for a common passion in motor vehicles. From young Matt, powersliding in his 2nd car, a Datsun 1600 running it's 2nd FJ20 block, blowing second gear and redline clutch dumping third to initate heart stopping drift, to down-on-his-luck unemployed pensioner Brad in his SLR5000 Torana that he bought and built as a 17 year old, it was unforgettable meeting such a diverse range of people sharing a common passion.

What really dropped my clutch was getting to know the guys in and around Driftmob. So I rock up to the martialing area and all around me I'm surrounded by muscle cars... Loud... Proud... Metallic... Bright... And commanding attention, but then I look through the crowd and find one, two, three, four, five Silvias, lined with a few Skylines... Just chilling out minding their own busines... 'I'm going THERE!'. So in short, I get to spend the next 2 days hanging out with some of Australias finest drifters. Being the production assistant guy, I get to go in-car and on-track to witness up-close, these guys in action!


Here's an in-car shot of Anthony 'Hectic' Bilic as he's getting ready to head out onto the track for the days drift demo, we rigged up a cage cam on his rollcage and my job was to make sure that it was rolling when he hit the track to catch his action. Down to Earth and friendly, Anthony really shows his finesse on the track.


This is the lineup of the drift demo guys... Heading the pack is Andrew's S13 driven by Victoria's Luke Fink... One of Australia's finest... These cars shredded through countless tires over the weekend and Andrew's car ended up blowing a tire and breaking a gearbox!



These are on-track shots of the drifters starting grid... Uwaaaaa! My job here was to make sure that the camera on the blue GTR was running. Basically the cars weren't allowed to be released until I gave the all clear that the camera was on and running! Coooooooooooool!

But of course it wasn't just the drifts that took place... There were plenty of cruises, off street races (drags), burnouts, dynos, show 'n' shines and powerskids! Enveloping the entire raceway in plumes of vehicular madness!


Even a Nissan GTR made it's way to the show... This is the first time I've seen it in person and I got close enough to see the dust that had gathered on it from all the skids everyone was ripping on the track!


The powerskids had my jaws drop to the tarmac... I've always appreciated the deafening roar of high powered big blocks... But to be so close and to smell the combination of methanol, rubber, octane, blood, sweat and gears made it an unforgettable experience! It really was a weekend to remember... It had really ignited a reappreciation in me for the range of motor vehicles that get built and forged a respect and appreciation for those who craft them... These people are just like you and I, some hold day jobs, some don't, some go to school, some like partying hard, others like fishing! Boys and girls alike! Motoring enthusiasm really is alive and well!


This is Trick and Mansweto's Ford Capris, the fastest street registered vehicle in Australia... A-NI-MAL... Trick and Mansweto really are just really loving family guys, it was heartwarming to see 2 honest, hardworking men who's family were all there to support them and have a fun family day out...

All in all, I had an unforgettable day at Powercruise EC... I'll definitely be making a few of the faces familiar ones, and look forward to future events. I'm definitely down for more production assistant work! Thanks to Andrew Hawkins of Jet Multimedia for this amazing opportunity and a truely unforgettable experience... Thanks to Rick for returning my phone and wallet when I ditched em in the suite... And for all the crew and drivers for making the weekend what it was!

Handbrake drift + carpark spot + old lady = jerk + apology

Man that was an EPIC handbrakie into a carpark spot! I regret I didn't take any pics since I was late and excited haha.

I'm up earlier than usual, meticulously executing my morning tasks, closing every task with a hairwidths amount of buffer, I'm not gonna be late to work today... Except there's one MAJOR impediment in my planned path of execution... I need fuel... So I brush my teeth in my shorter than usual morning shower, skip my shave and miss my breakfast, every second counts... I not gonna be late to work today... I have training after work, so I bundle my uniform, water and workbag in a fell swoop through my room, finishing with a cartwheel over my steering wheel and car keys, adding them to my inventory... I'm not gonna be late for work today... I sprint to my car, crispy cool from the morning dew, and spark up her ignition, I return to lock down the house as she idles out her slumber... I'm not gonna be late for work today... Then we trot to the local Shell servo... IMPEDIMENT... It's Wednesday, cheap fuel so there's a massive queue... I look at my phone... 7:33... 7:34... 7:35... 7:36... 7:37... 7:38... Funny how it seems whichever queue I join when I'm in a rush, I seem to choose the slowest one... Finally I get a bowser, Fill her up with some V, then we are off, 7:44 as we punch down the main road, like a footy player faking a pass then dodging a tackle, we sprint and ballet throught the overtoning drone of road cars doing 2,000 RPM and 70km/h, autopiloting towards another day's productivity... My car sings and squeals, sneezing at the height of every high note and on the challenge of every fat arsed moving roadblock... We skip, dance and charge towards our destination, and we finally arrive... 8:00, not much time left... It's dense here, All the spots near the station are filled, I'll have to try the strip that latecomers frequent... As I pull in, it's filled with little metro cars zipping around in 7 point turns collapsing into a spot on the common side of the road... I really don't wanna be late to work... So I thang it up the street... What do I see? A spot? It is! BUT! Oncoming cars! No! It's mine! I rev her up and she sings a note most praiseworthy! I Jerk the steering wheel to starboard bringing her nose in, oncomers are baffled! "What is he doing?!"... "He's gonna crash into the gutter!"... Alas! jumping off the gas she squeals out at pitch that'll shatter diamonds!

...

...

Bullet time... The eerily familiar... The zone in which one makes or breaks... The sound of strapping wind now but a condescending drone... The faces of the oncoming... unchanging, fixed on confused...

Like a wise blind man familiarly reaching for his walking stick, my left hand cuddles the ebrake shaft...

blink...

like a gas fed rifle, cocking into the firing position, my left leg linearly disengages the clutch...

heartbeat...

the ebrake get's called into action with the heart of a zealot.

SCRAWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!

+ an unexpected squeal

As eerily as bullet time crept up, it reciprocally snaps as way... The car pivots around it's front 2 wheels, smoke pluming into my window, I even get a bit of road debris in my eye, then silence as the car is now parked, and idling... Fat and happy, smiling and sly, I disengage the steering wheel, remove the key and grab my inventory... Happy she idles away as I walk off, passerby's and motorists gobsmacked with jaws dropping down to their laps... I skip to the station... Fat... Happy...

I get to the stairs and have an old lady turn around and look me in the eye... She reminds me of Mrs. Horvath, a primary substitute teacher that used to torture us by spending hours on end doing spelling exercises...

"Was that absolutely necessary?"

Oh... I see, she must've been the 'unexpected squeal'... What do I say to her?

"Yes ma'am my brakes are boken so that's how I get around"

Smug bastard

"Well get it fixed you... You... JERK"

And I skip away onto the platform... I made it! with a few minutes to spare! Victory!

But what is this? This nagging voice in my head... Well as I'm writing this I realise, that my response was a bit uncalled for... Really I should have apologised and told the lady the truth... perhaps something more like "I'm sorry ma'am I'm really late and sorry to have frightened you, but I've done courses which teach me how to park like this... I really apologise, I feel really bad for frightening you" would have been a bit more appropriate and truthful. Well let's just say this then... If I ever see her again, how about I apologise to her for my conduct today? There's a deal... I may be parking there again soon, should I come across this old lady... I shall apologise for my smug response today, and for frightening her.

But gosh that was cool...

Sent from my iPhone

motorkhana, running, swimming, 3d, martial arts, production

Sometimes I'll think about how I've now got a blog space and I get excited hahaha, There's alotta random stuff I get up to (like modifying my car, 3d modelling and animation, martial arts stuff) that most people around me may not be that interested in but thanks to blogging, maybe, just maybe somebody who is looking for info on this kinda stuff may have a chance to come across interesting reading! Don't you love it when you come across gems? I think I'll be just spewing my mind on the screen most of the time but if I do think of an interesting article and/or video, I'll be sure to be posting it up here. It turns out that backdating your posts work! So everything 2008 and before is reserved for my articles and writeups! Imagine having a site that hosts the best, info attracting large visiting numbers for a variety of things! That'd be 50 1337! I think my site would have best info, and attract masses to martial arts, cars, film/comic production, maybe even cooking! Heeheehee.

I've decided that I'm going to stop my daily swimming, the pools are getting too crowded as everyone's got the same idea, sharing lanes at the pool ftl. I've always despised running... I hate how it seems to take so long, I hate how it hurts, I hate gasping for air, I hate how boring it is, I hate how self-conscious I feel ARGH! Is anyone else with me? Alas! Because the pool is now full, I must revert to another form of easy fitness. I was talking to a friend while at McDonalds last night and he said I should try running in the city where there is much inspiration, for egsample, the botanical gardens, he says being in that environment and seeing so many other runners inspires him to run, he says music also helps. Hahaa! I must try it sometime this week! Plus I've got my new runners that I bought last week!

SO! FINALLY Dave's given me the video from our Valentines day motorkhana (it was partially my fault for not picking it up off him when he brought it earlier in the week!) I got to work on it straight away, turns out this vid is gonna be slightly longer than 10 minutes nooo =( So it's not youtubable =(... SO I think I'm gonna break it up into 2 parts... It's kinda boring really coz it's the same thing over and over, it's definitely more fun in person! I didn't think about it at the time but I shoulda tried a more movie approach on it... Shots of us getting ready, getting prepped, getting psyched while in the wet weather... That woulda made it fit for a KING...

Anyways, here's some cool music! An oldie but a goodie, it reminds me of the theme song from Girl from tomorrow!

Oorah my firstie!

SO! Eugene reckons I should start a blog, so here goes. Never thought myself a blogger, but I guess it's fun to share cool things that I come across. Hahaha it all started yesterday I guess when I was BROUGHT TO TEARS by this adorable video!



ARGH! I love the music in that video, so these chixorz are a Nippon drift team called Galdori (girl drift)... My eyes teared up when I watched this, the music is to die for! Galdori have drift meets at a circuit in the mountains and they bring their kiddies along and they go drifting! They've got the CUTEST kids too! Check out the kid towards the end of the first song running away with his finders in his ears because of the noise! Hahahahaha!!!

I guess for the longest time, drifting has always been a man-sport but it's soooo good to see the ladies get involved! Especially mum's! I myself was out at easter creek skid pan this past Saturday David and CACA (Christian Austosport Club of Australia) doing a motorkhana... I'll be sure to get the video posted up... HURRY UP DAVID!

OH! I also had this I wanted to put in today when blogging became a topic of discussion on the Nth Strathfield to City train. I CALLED MY OLD TAFE TEACHER YESTERDAY! I can't believe it's been about 5 years since I've last seen and spoken to Vince! It was almost surreal! So I rang the TAFE front office and asked "I was curious to know if a teacher was still employed at the school? His name is Vincent Rossini" the lady was really nice "Yes from 3d Animation, he's still here I'll patch you through to the 3D animation office" And before you know it I hear a distantly familiar voice "freedee animayshun vis is Vince" Hahahaha I immediately teared up on hearing his voice... It was so damned good to hear him again. We spoke for about 10 minutes on small catch up stuff, I couldn't stop saying how good it was to hear from him. I told him about my shitty experience with TB and that because of that I'm afraid to get back into industry, it was encouraging being told that he's heard things about them and not to let that worry me because they were no-good... Hahaha. So anyways, I think I would like to go back and visit the school. It's wierd how I connected well with the teachers and member of staff but not really any of the students? I guess that's what sucked heaps about TB, everyone was like a droid... Sure people are into family guy and games and all that but it's like everyone was a droid playing human?

How much or how little am I supposed to write on a blog? I thought my first post woulda just been a Hi I'm Phils, bye kinda thing... Anyways, I guess I'll work on feedback, if you think I write too much, too little or whatever just tell me via comments! Muahahaha...