Update:
Toy Drift 2 fun
I actually wasn’t even supposed to go to this event….Although I had pre-registered… The QH boys soccer team had the second part of a local tournament on Saturday and both games were dead smack in the middle of the event running time…so I had figure’d maybe I would try to get out there for a couple hours at the end of the day but…. Was still unsure I’d have time. Well….Not that I dislike coaching… because I don’t… I actually Love it. But Friday morning I got word that our league matches (Friday night) and our tournament (All day Sat) had been cancelled due to the rain. I called my Buddy Brandon and told him I was able to make it and was amped… But with that… I had to prep the car in far less time than I usually would’ve had. ….
So,…Friday after work, I rushed over to pick up the trailer I purchased from my buddy Mike.. realized I had forgotten to go to triple A to get Plates and quickly diverted to the Autoclub to pay for plates.
It was 4:45 when I was called…. Didn’t have cash..finished paper work at 4:55 and the lady was sooo nice she stayed after for me so I was able to run to an ATM to grab 40 bucks for the registration and new plate. It was 5:15 by the time I got out of there and I knew I was going to miss my window to go pick up the trailer. They had told me that they were going to be leaving for the night at 5:30 but would be back over there in the morning. So I had to re-visit my “To Do” list and re-prioritize what needed to be taken care of. So there were a few issues I definitely wanted to resolve before taking the car back out again. The first one was….my Alignment was Wayy off up front. Even though I had done been VERY anal with my Toe plates and kept checking over and over again… The car was still pulling to the right. I knew I had something wrong, and both drivers and passenger side inner barrels have actually dug a good half inch into my lower control arm. The passenger side was closer to a half inch…the drivers side was about 1/4 inch. So I finally got under the car and started a little sheet. Checked each lower Arms alignment bolts and wrote them all down. Long story short……..I found that I was running less Caster on my Passenger front than I was on the drivers side. I liked the clearancing and tire wear on the drivers side so I figured it was best to use the drivers side as my base. Adjusted the rear Camber/Castor alignment bolt…(forward facing) to match the drivers side and immediately the car only pulled a tad to the right. I was rushed for time but satisfied that the car didn’t do donuts on it’s own….iso I had to tackle the next issue..FUEL! It was roughly 10:45 when I left the House after sorting all my tools and pit gear. I’m the guy who likes to have everything, and hates asking people to barrow things…so I pretty much go down the list of things I need to bring everytime I’ve got an event. Being un-prepared is lame. Anyways… down to San Fernando valley I went… The chevron off Roxford to get my Beloved E85. Price was cheap…..REAL cheap for 22 Gallons! Only 55 bucks!! Hell of a race fuel price huh?!
Rushed home and got back to the garage at 12:30.. only takes an hour and a half or so to go there and back.. it’s a pretty easy cruise.. especially in the prius. So I get home and knew I didn’t have any pre-mix. Was a given a recomondation to use some stuff from autozone…but I threw it in a little water bottle a quarter of the way full with E85 and it had large chunks of the stuff on the bottom. (in the morning it was almost fully separated). It may work if you really need to use Pre-mix and don’t have anything else.. I just didn’t feel comfortable putting it in my tank. Figured if I had to stop driving…. Then shame on me for not being prepared for the un-prepared hah. So “Pre-mix” also made it’s way onto the top of my re-visit priority list. No sense wasting time on things you can’t complete… so I moved onto the next. Just organization of other gear…and loading the truck…which I still needed to go pick up. So I went over to my sisters…Picked up the truck and booked it back home. Loaded up everything the truck and hit the hay late around 2 AM. I specifically remember stopping right after I had finished loading up and staring at the Wolf.. I swear the car sings to me.. I sat there for a couple minutes re-visiting all the time I’ve spent on her. …cracked a half smile and felt accomplished in the fact that I don’t regret a damn second of it. Hit the shower and jumped in bed.
Woke up early, around 5:45 so that I could go grab the trailer......load up and moise on over to the track for the drivers meeting at 7:30. …..but then my buddy Brandon calls and turns out his trailer was being used haha.. I just started laughing and instead of being bothered or pissed…. Felt right at home and was up to the challenge. How the hell were we going to get both cars to the track by 7:30?! Wasn’t going to happen at 7:30…. So I just jumped up.. Called my buddy and told him I’d be over to grab the trailer asap.. realized that I still had My buddy Mick’s trailer at my girlfriends house and that I could use Micks…and Brandon could use mine.. SO I had Brandon go pick up my trailer… He took the new plates with him so the trailer would be legal… then I ran over to pick up Micks trailer at my Gf’s…then back to Brandons house because my new trailer doesn’t have ramps yet lol… so Brandon needed Micks ramps to get his car on.. we loaded Brandons car…
I threw the ramps back on micks trailer…. Rushed back to my house.. Loaded the Wolf up on to micks trailer.. And Brandon called me.. And I new there was more…. That dick didn’t have tires mounted and there wasn’t going to be a tire machine at the track this time around. His spares didn’t have tires on… and his other set were already on the car… So he needed the RAMPS to get his car off the trailer to put tires on…and the tire store opened at 8 HAHA. I was like.. “Pfft…Right up my ally.” Soooo, I was on my way over to the tire store at 7:45 and remembered I needed Premix… Stopped by a local dirt bike shop called “riders Choice” and of course….. they didn’t open till 8 either. Flipped one and headed to the tire shop Brandon was at. I got there and we ended up jacking up his car WHILE it was on the trailer and making sure to go high enough to clear the railing …and Whaaalaahhh. NO Ramps needed.
Brandon was going to meet me at Riders Choice after he was done mounting tires and we’d head out from there. I booked it to riders choice. Walked in and asked them where their pre-mix was. LUCKILY I came across Motul FULL Synthetic…had to look it up online though just to make sure it was compatible with Ethanol. …found more than a few testimonials and purchased a Quart. 3 tears and $20 bucks later I had everything…. Brandon pulled up right as I was walking out…and we were off to Willow!!
We got to Willow at 9:45…Un-loaded the sleds and set up our pits and eazy-up.
The rest was session after session… starting off a bit hesitant and then getting more and more confident.
Pushing myself over and over… Progressing… Going off course…Flying off course and actually catching air once…. Ripping my bash bar off, Losing my bumper… then landing on my bumper on my next off course excursion… Re-fueling,..trying to follow faster more skilled drivers….. Pacing the good drivers… observing good lines… adjusting tire temp… Changing tires….. Re-fueling…Pre-mixing…Eating lunch… Giving High-Fives… Getting footage on the go pro…Laughing…. Scaring myself….giving ride-alongs… Admiring other drivers ability…Trying to improve my line.. Admiring The Wolf and it’s power-band.. Loving her…Promising to take care of her and repair her aesthetically… Promising myself I’ll get better… Having a blast and living life EVERY DAY, As full as possible.. and cherishing the seconds that go past. This is really important to me… because out of all the things in life… the one thing we will NEVER get back is time. “Live and Love life”
Photo Credit for all the cool photos to Ian Myers!!! It was awesome to get to meet you!!
Photo by Ian Myers!!
More Updates soon!