Proving Grounds 2013.2!

I'm not sure if it's just because I've been there a few times now or maybe it's just a great place.  All I know is there's something about Brainerd that feels like home to me.  It's a great place to visit and an even better place to have a car event.  Liquor stores everywhere, plenty of food choices, oh and of course the bad ass race track!

It was Saturday morning and time for the day to start.  Left the hotel and went straight to the track, made sure to arrive a bit early, then unloaded my car and went to the drivers meeting. This one was going to be something special.  They changed up the layout by doing a "key hole" by moving the barricades back and adding an extra section to the layout.  It sure did pay off to add it too, been the best layout yet.  Starts off with long straight, enter into a right hand corner, switch to a left corner going around a light pole and keeping close to the outside walls, a quick chicane, then back into another left corner with some dirt dropping madness on the outside and finished up with a nice manji.  It was setup for a nice fast entry, easy sweep, and a touch of technical switch backs.  After the meeting I went back to the pits to apply my Shiomi Garage decal!

Having been my third time at Proving Grounds the locals there have begun to know me and know what my driving is like.  This landed me a spot in the Advanced group right away, no need to do a million single runs and prove myself, instead I could jump straight into tandem trains whenever I wanted.  That I did too.

Started off by doing a quick feel of the layout, I did really bad, these Maxxis MA-V1 just had too much grip.  So I quick drove to the pits and bumped up my tire pressure more than anyone should ever have to, came back and that made all the difference.

Happy with the car it was time to get myself into some tandem sessions.  Many of which were done with new Big Country Labs wingman, Chris Gonzalez, aka Gonzo.

I must say the runs I had with him were by far the best tandem runs I've every had!  I couldn't have asked for a better way to start off the event, this shot my confidence through the roof and rid me of any nerves I had.

After throwing down some wicked fun back to back runs, Gonzo ran into some over heating issues and had to sit out a few for his car to cool.  While he was doing that I decided it time to see what I was capable of.  It was time to see if I could pull off a backwards entry.

First run was pretty extreme, but not convincing enough for me.  So I came back and went for it again.  This time throwing it down like I've done this before.  Unfortunately I haven't been able to find any pics of it, however there is video.  Erik Blume I can't thank you enough for uploading raw footage of the event, if it wasn't for you I would still be here scratching my head wondering if I pulled it off or not.  To see the clip skip to 10min 57seconds.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEpcGK-sS6Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player

After that the rest of the morning was pretty much all out madness.  Tandem sessions left and right running multiple cars deep, Becca hit up the course, and everyone was having a blast!

Took a quick break for lunch, then after having filled my face full of food it was back to the action... Well, not right away... It had began to sprinkle, then rain, and just as quickly as it came, it went away leaving the track a mixture of dry/wet.  With that having happened and knowing my front tires are extremely worn down on the outside I decided to put in a few solo runs to feel it out.

Then it was back to the tandem runs!  This time I was able to jump into the other groups session so I could run with the Brett, Matt, and Luke.  Gotta get some runs in with my fellow Des Moines dudes!

Did some more Tandem runs with another dirver.

Then it was back to the Des Moines crew!

After a few runs they switched it over to "Advanced only demo sessions" this consisted of only people who were chosen by the event organizers... Oh and I had Luke sneak in behind me for a few.

First day of driving down, time to park my car in the pits then head back to the hotel to relax since I had been deprived of so much sleep due to leaving Des Moines late.

That night was full of the usual, drink your face off, listen to loud music, and roam the camp sites.  They also had some night drifting going on to watch.  (sorry for not having pics, I had a few drinks in me and the last thing on my mind was to take pictures.)

The next morning Becca and I woke up to it raining.  Checked the forecast for the day and saw nothing but more rain... Looks like it was going to be a rather slippery day, not exactly something I wanted to experience with the day being the day of the competition.

Oh well, nothing you can do about the weather, and I for some reason have always found a way to drive well even in bad conditions.  However I still like to play it safe by getting some solo runs in.

Right away I realized it was going to be pretty sketchy for me, my car wasn't too happy.  The day before during my last few runs I had my turbo to downpipe gasket blow out for the millionth time, only this time no gasket handy and I had tack welded the bolts in place so they wouldn't back out which meant I couldn't tighten them down and would have to deal with a massive exhaust leak.  This is what really made things interesting, the car was running super rich because of this making me lose all of my bottom end power, and my front tires didn't want to grip anything in the rain.

Even still I managed to drive just fine, but this made me uncomfortable and not wanting to tandem  since I saw others were having similar issues.

After getting a quick feel for the rain I shut the car down and jumped in with Becca to see how she was going to cope with the conditions as well.

She was nothing but smiles!

Her fronts had plenty of grip, plus with the rain it was making it easier for her to hold a drift.

Not long after it was time for a quick lunch break.

Then as we came back we found the competition had been cancelled.  Majority of the drivers had already called it a day, there just weren't enough people out there to hold the competition plus with the conditions it wasn't exactly something everyone wanted to do.

Instead it turned into a anyone go whenever you want and just have fun!

And not too far into it, there was an ugly wreck between Adam and PK.

The day ended a while after that.  I decided to sit out to help Becca with her driving, then let Tomas who's running Circuit Breakerz borrow my helmet so he could get some ride along video footage with Becca.

All in all the second day was rather pleasant.  It was nice watching Becca improve throughout the day and I was really happy to see her get so much seat time.  Plus it was a nice chance for me to hang out with all the other drivers and talk with people rather then just drive behind them.

Once the day was over it was time to go back to the hotel and relax.

And of course prepare for the trip home in the morning.

I must say I was incredibly happy with this event.  It was way better then the last one and I really hope they continue to be this much fun for the remaining ones throughout the years to come.  It was nice meeting more drivers and getting to drive hard with a bunch of cool dudes.  I can't wait until next time!

Prep for PG2!

Low on money, just finished up fixing Becca's Z32 I found myself in a time crunch for getting my car prepped and ready.  On top of that my turbo of death decided to strike yet again blowing out the gasket on the newly installed elbow and downpipe... I did however get one bit of good luck, that was my 18" XXR's sold with tires which put me back into a good position with money.  So this just left me with getting ready for PG with what little time I had.

First thing first I took care of getting a trailer rental, this way I wouldn't find myself in the same situation as last time.  I rented a nice car trailer from a local trailer dealer and unlike the uhaul trailers I had used before this one had electric brakes.  Not wanting to have a trailer without brakes I went out and bought myself a brake controller.  Which was as easy as plug this in here and mount it here.

I also pre planned my tire situation by ordering another pair of Maxxis MA-V1 tires, then for Becca I gave her what was left of my used tire stash.  Then went to Central Imports to have everything mounted up.  Oh and I almost forgot, a new tire for my Sequoia as well since the one had blown out when driving home at night...

I had been feeling great about my situation.  I had everything planned out to work and have me ready to leave at a decent time!

Only one night before leaving did I find time to work on my car.  I needed to install my wheel spacers, and replace my turbo gasket.

First thing first I set to work on the wheel spacers!

Before even sliding these on I knew my extended lug nuts would be too long and need trimmed.

So to do this I took the measurements of the wheel spacers, held a tape measure up to the studs, and cut them shorter.

Now cut I could mount the spacers.

After that was finished I traced up my blown turbo gasket on some exhaust gasket material and cut that out.

And in no time at all that was finished.  Satisfied with that all I had left to do was cut off my bump stops, remove my intercooler piping and intercooler, and swap out diff centers in my old diff so I could put my 3.63 gears back in the car.  As I started on that I received a call from a good friend Rodney asking me to come over and approve of the Shiomi Garage decals I was having made.

I quickly drove over and got to checking everything out.

I must say he did a great job with drawing them up and getting them made!  Quality work every time I go to Rodney!

Once those were finished I went back home and got back to work.  Removed the intercooler and piping, then went to do my diff...That's when I ran into a problem.  Two of the bolts for the ring gear would not come out even with using an impact on them for several minutes... I had no choice but to give up and call it a night.

The next morning I made a quick trip out to Hickman and dropped off my intercooler piping and intercooler so I could have the BOV flange welded to get rid of the boost leak it was having, and I also had the crack in my intercooler welded up to keep it from finally giving out and completely breaking on me.

I got off work early, went straight to Hickman.  Picked up the welded piping, intercooler, and while I was there quickly made myself a BOV block off plate as I've been thinking about removing my BOV but not fully committed to it yet.

Then it was off to Central Imports to pick up wheels/tires, a trip to the hardware store to buy some new tie downs, then to pick up the trailer.  After I had that all done it was time to finish up the car, load it on the trailer, load up the car with all the tools, and finally set sail for Brainerd!

First thing first, cut the bump stops off!

Then of course look at my added steering angle now that my wheels weren't hitting the tie rods and the bump stops were no longer in the way!

Up next put the intercooler and piping on, then check out my backyard BOV blockoff plate.  Yes I know it's pretty shitty looking, I made it in just a few seconds with some scrap aluminum that I found.  I could care less if it looks fancy or not for the time being.

Now that the car was ready it was time to load it on the trailer...It didn't like the trailer... Bottomed out several times, ended up having to jack up the front of the trailer as high as I could and use boards to help get more clearance under the car.

Once loaded up there was no time to waste!  Down the road we went and into the night we drove...

Prepare For Take Off Big Country Labs Style

Buckle up them seat belts boys and girls, pictures from last months photo session will be dropping soon!

Simulator Practice

A while back I had an issue with my Logitech G27 wheel where after 15 minutes or so it would start to crap out on me.  Would loose all force feedback then restart itself.  After the restart the wheel would only work for 3-5 minutes before doing this again which made it rather difficult to work with.  On top of that issue Live For Speed (the simulation "game" I use) had also decided to have issue with me after a new update on my computer.  The game itself worked however the "mods/tweaks" no longer worked.  The tweaks that I had been using were a steering lock mod giving the ability to increase steering angle and a tire heating/cooling hack which prevented the tires from "overheating" and becoming useless after a minute or two of hot lapping...

Just recently I discovered a fix for the wheel issue, there's apparently a screw that comes loose on one of the motors as it gets hot and needs to be re tightened.  I opened it up and sure enough that was the issue.  Wheel fixed time to get back to the software.  LFS still wasn't working for me so I decided to try rFactor which that too for some reason will not cooperate with me.  So I went back to figuring out LFS, turns out there was a new update that had been released for the game, and newly updated tweaks/mods.  After downloading and installing I was back up and running!

After having a little bit of fun I decided might as well try out a new mod I had never used.  This one giving you the ability to change out wheels.

Happy with how the car looked I decided to get back to using the simulator for its intentions.  Practicing!  Now I know many people will argue against it, but I have what I believe is proof that it works!  Well enough for me to feel as though I have proof!

As some of you know my girlfriend Becca didn't learn to drift on the streets.  Due to tire issues and not having her own drift car at first I taught her on the simulator.  She quickly got the hang of it and was performing on a level I found fit to take on an event.  That's when proving grounds came around, having never drifted before she tackled the event and I felt for her first time ever she did amazing!  Many other agree!  On top of this I too had my own little experience.  In the simulator I would practice backwards entries constantly, eventually learning how to do them in the game.  Once in my car I was able to take what I learned in the comfort of my home and apply it to real life, I must say it didn't take long to learn how to go backwards but unfortunately my car doesn't have the power to plant it... Well until PG2 when I put down my first legit backwards entry.. More on that later, still need to do that update.

Anyway, I got the simulator working again and I'm super stoked to be able to get some seat time practicing new things.  Now that I've gotten extreme angles and quick snappy transitions down consistently as a habit I've decided it's time to start working on wall taps/wall rides.

This is proving to be a lot more challenging then I thought... Hopefully this too will be something that transitions to real world.