s14 Navan street car

Thanks bud

Ah, good to know! They seem to be lasting way better so far

Haha. Actually in Japan the rear arches were fine, just with the clips cut off (instead of being rolled). But since being in this country, rust got in & things got bad. I had a bodyshop in this country "fix" the arches soon after I bought the car, and it was that company that decided to "fix" the arches with fiberglass! Luckily that's all in the past now. Arches don't look all that perfect now, but they're solid as a rock

Haha. Thanks. I think

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Once again, its been a fair time since I've last updated this! Been so busy recently that just haven't had the time!

On the 2rd of August, as a fairly last minute decision, I went to Santa Pod to join the Drift Taxi crew for USC (Ulimate Street Car) show. I went last year for the whole weekend, but found it way too taxing on the car, and on me, so opted just for the Saturday only. I think it was a good choice, plenty of seat time, a great laugh, good company & the car went faultlessly.

I must have had fun as I didn't take any photos at all the whole time I was up there! Luckily, a few days after the event, I found a couple of photos of me show up on Facebook.





After a beer & Chinese with some mates who were up there, I left at about 9pm for drive back home. A lot less stressful & so much easier towing everywhere! Stopped in at another mates house on the way back who were having a BBQ, so actually got home at just past 5am! Unloaded the car, apart from being filthy everything was good.



I say faultless, there were a few minor things that I found. Both my old Bride passenger seat and the passenger Takata harness failed. This was a major PITA for passenger rides as well, so I had to fix that. I bought myself another Bride Brix (one that isn't broken!) and bought a pair of RSA NASCAR-style harnesses. The harnesses are a major improvement!



And finally, my wipers decided to fail (again) half way through the day. This was not ideal when it was raining either! It was the same problem as I had at the Finalboss Matsuri - the linkage. I've since got myself a new 2nd hand linkage, and have also ordered the part from Nissan direct (£15-something). Hopefully that won't happen again!

Next up, I have a hectic week toward the end of August. Sunday 24th is SXOC weekender track time (I'm down for drifting & grip, should be fun!). Then Wednesday 27th is DWYB Santa Pod day which I'm going to along with a bunch of friends! Too busy, great fun!!

 

Thanks

Thanks bud!

You know it

Thanks man. As above, mine were from Enjuku Racing.

Hey man, ah awesome thanks No issues since installing the spacers, touch wood!! You may need another day or so to read this update.. lol

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Ok, absolutely tons of seat time had over the past few days, things have been very hectic, but a lot of fun!

On Saturday afternoon me & Ryan Pothecary set off for Snetterton for the SXOC weekender. I followed him up with my Land Rover and s14 on the trailer. Its so much nicer going to events now and towing, rather than driving the s14 there & back!



We arrived in the dark, was very foggy & cold, and got the cars unloaded, gazebo setup all ready for the morning. I slept in my Land Rover, actually had a decent night sleep considering! Got into the swing of things and remembered how much I love the Snetterton 100 circuit, then randomly my handbrake begins to fail, which is not ideal when ploughing into the 180* left hander at 90mph+

I came into the pits, removed calipers & discs only to find one shoe had completely cracked! I didn't take any photos as I was annoyed & just wanted to get back out there, so for the rest of the day I ran with it de-adjusted and didn't touch my handbrake.

That night, a mate of mine (pit crew) swapped my offside shoe assembly with Ryan's (as his sil80 uses a hydro working off discs/pads), and as my car wasn't completely broken, I bought a ticket to drift on the bank holiday Monday too.



With the handbrake adjusted, a few laps down and it bed itself in, and I really settled into it. Managed to chase Ryan down, with my mate taking 1000's of photos from the passenger seat. So good!



Started to rain, and me & Ryan got a little too friendly. We both spun into the double-apex right hander (Oggies), and ended up smashing into the front of his car with the offside rear of mine. Bugger!



Luckily only cosmetic damage though, so I did a couple more runs, although it was fairly stupid as the track was like driving on ice! Very tired, by around 4pm I had packed up & was on my way home. 3 days & 2 nights at Snetterton sleeping in my Land Rover, I was broken, certainly more than the car!

As always, here's a full incar video from Snetterton (in the dry). I have to say myself here, but I am really happy with my driving over the 2 days. From looking back at my previous Snetterton attempts, you can clearly see an improvement, which is something I always aim to do.

And then the wet track version, along with the crash at the end

Tuesday saw a "day off" (fixing car stuff, sorting tyres, etc) ready for Santa Pod DWYB on Wednesday with a ton of friends. Pod was fun, although I was very tired still I didn't put in my best performance by any means. Its also very noticeable how incredibly different Snetterton is to Santa Pod - almost a completely different driving style has to be adapted to suit.

Either way, I had fun. My main aim was to get some real close tandem runs down with my mate Adam, who's also in our team Throwdown. I think we succeeded









It was all good fun. Half way through the day I pushed a little too hard and actually hit Adam. I don't regret this as its something I've wanted to do for a long time - make contact while drifting and carry on!

It was on the same offside rear corner that I hit Ryan as well, typical. At least I didn't replace the rear light between Snetterton & Pod lol







And again, incar video

Anyway, finished up at Pod a little earlier than normal as I was so tired. The car wasn't doing its best either, a full service and some TLC are defiantly in order now. Here's how she's sitting at the moment



Phew! What a hectic past few days!!

 

Thanks man! Yeah, it felt like a lot of angle in the car too, but I never know if its any good or not haha!

I'm hoping to finally getting round to fitting my 180sx straight cam SR20DET engine in the off-season winter time, along with TD06 turbo, mapped & running by around Xmas time perhaps. Also a half-respray, sorting arches properly, and sorting that dent out are also on the cards

Thanks bud! And yea, indeed. She's taken a beating this year

 

Thanks man

Haha

Thanks!

Ah awesome, thanks dude

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Well, as strange as it is for me to say this, but last weekend I took absolutely zero photos of the car or event in question. Luckily however, others were there to capture the action. Lydden Hill Drift Cup Round 3. This was my first ever competitive drifting event, I've been drifting just over 5 years and I've never done anything competitive, so I was somewhat more nervous than what I'm usually like at practice days.

It was raining the entire drive up (left my house at 3:45am), and arrived just before 7am in an absolute torrential downpour. Luckily I bought a gazebo the week previous, which helped a lot.



The day got started with a drivers briefing, explaining what the judges were looking for in terms of qualifying lines, and how practice & qualifying was going to work. We got 2.5 hours of practice, then lunch, then onto qualifying for Street class & Cup class groups. I was in Street class.

After lunch I did my 3 qualifying laps. 1st lap, 1st corner - spin. Zero run. BALLS! I finished the rest of the run & queued back up behind the other 24 cars. 15(ish) mins later, I was onto my 2nd lap. Calmed down a bit and did pretty well, thought I hit all the clip points fairly well. And again, after another 15min-or-so wait, my 3rd & final qualifying lap was done. This lap I was really pleased with.







After lunch the qualifying results were called out in front of everyone. To my absolute surprise, I qualified FIRST in my class!!! I was blown away, couldn't believe that. Then, after the Cup class qualifying results were called, all of the Top 16 guys from both classes were called in for a Top 16 briefing. This explained furthermore on what the judges were looking for, and what to do in various chase & lead situations. I was teamed up with 16th place qualifier, Ryan Potter.

We had 1 practice run first, then onto the lead & chase battle. I lead first, I didn't look back at all so I had no idea how well or not Potter did. Because of this, on my chase I went pretty hard & got pretty close to him! Was fun to drive with Potter, especially being both Navan s14's!



As soon as we finished, I was called up and congratulated by a marshall who told me I was through to the Top 8! Wow, amazing!!

My next battle was with someone (at the time) I didn't know. Dean Newport in his R33. Suddenly the pressure & nerves got to me a bit knowing that I'm now through to Top 8! It was suddenly real, but because of this I made a few mistakes. I chased first and screwed up my entry. My handbrake "button" locked on & for a split second stalled the car. I managed to regain drift and catch Dean back up though



Then on my lead run, I did pretty well, fairly smooth & was happy. The judges called a OMT (one-more-time!) Sweet. Now that mistake I made is completely in the past I thought, forget that and I have a 2nd chance at this...

I chased again, this time went super hard & tried to get as close as possible to the R33. Needless to say this resulted in some pretty cool photos





I was pretty stoked with my chase run, with minimal mistakes I thought. Then onto my lead. My entry was great, everything going well, but I made the mistake of looking back too much in the worry of where he was, and then miss-shifted from 2nd to 5th gear on clips 6 & 7. My car straightened completely over the last 2 clipping points. DAAAAMMNN. Kicking myself I knew that was it.

Sure enough, I was knocked out & Dean got the win.

However, I had a fantastic day overall and have definitely got the bug for more competitive drifting. I've always said that I never know how good or not I am compared to other people, but qualifying 1st place reinforces my doubts on my abilities. There's always room to improve, and always time for more practice, but its nice knowing that I'm holding my ground at least.

As always, there are videos from my onboard GoPro

My 3rd run qualifying lap (I think my best)

Top 16 battle lead & chase with Ryan Potter

Top 8 battle lead & chase with Dean Newport (and OMT battle)

As far as the car goes, it went as smooth as I could have hoped for. The engine is definitely getting tired now, with VVT rattle at an all time high, and with an odd hot-starting issue.

But as of now, I'm no longer drifting or using the car at all until next year, and until my new engine setup is done. So it'll be a fairly quiet winter & few months in terms of actual drifting, but it means I can take some time to sort the car out, the new engine & turbo setup, and save some funds in time for early next year practice days & events.

Finally, thanks to all involved with the running & organising of DriftCup. Everyone I spoke to was very friendly, very well run, and all the marshall's were on form. Can't wait for the 2015 season to kick off