Update:
More drifting, well on friday night i skipped the last hour or so of work to go home and rush the last minute things that needed doing for a big trip up to teeside for some drifting.
problem was on thursday i had been pulled over and given a bollocking for the state of my rear arches and threatened with 6points...so i went home and set about fitting the rear bolt onarches on..
i have no photos of the process as i am sans digi-cam. but anyway the rear arch mounting points had long rotted away, so i had to rivet them on. problem was there was only certain points the rivets could go through the arch and into solid metal. so i supplemented rivets with "shitloads of ductape" this makes the car look terrible as the arches are still white, and with tape on looks like they are about to fall off, but c'est la vie. they were on strong, so i set about fitting a harness..trying to fit my undersized fire extinguisher...cable ties saved the day;)
and then after trying to find my wheels and tyres in the pitch black at about 11pm. i was almost ready to set off up to my mates in derby.
obviously my car still is suffering quite bad from water usage, and this 40mile trip was no different, the temperature guage barely moved out of the cold zone, yet i knew the engine was warm and the water was mainly just being forced into the expansion tank. but i soldiered on.
i eventually got to my mates at about, 00.30. late. we then hung out till about 2 then slept till 4.30.
4.30 got up and with me in the supra, and my mate and another mate in the trampdrift black p100. we set off.
i was shitting it, teeside was a good 3hours away, in cars that look dodgy and i just am paranoid about police attention after getting pulled the other day, not only that i had my water issue to contend with.
short cut through the 3hours of brain numbing motorway driving, and we arrived at teeside kart track at about 8.30
teeside kart track is awesome, its hidden in some industrial estate and is a gem of a track, for the drifting we only had the top half of the track, but thats enough to ensure noone is on too long and the track time is flowing.
after changing to some fugly s13 wheels at the back and going through the briefing it was on with morning practice till 12.30
first thing i did on track was misjudge the first corner...bad move on my part as having never driven the course before i should have drifting the first corner assuming it was a hairpin, and finding out it wasnt. i understeered quite pathetically into the gravel. luckily none of the crowd were looking my direction (i hope) and the gravel isnt proper gravel so i backed out and set upon trying to work out how to drift the rest of the course.
first few goes i was struggling with how to make my car get sideways on this tight track.
the problem being, that my car was by far the shittest car there, everyone else had the luxury of fancy diffs, good ARB's and decent suspension and handbrakes that worked.. i had none of that.
eventually though it clicked and i got about 4 or 5 runs in that i was more than pleased with. i found that shiftlocking the car into the first corner then using the manji technique (the pendulum/swaying of the car) into the tight S bend then clutchkicking to keep the revs up to go up the hill, was proving to be quite successful.
anyway i then decided to have a break and let the car cool down and top up water and oil.
i also deceied to change front tyres mainly because the fronts i had been using were my only road tyres to get home and on a hot sticky track they were startin toblister.
the front tyres i changed to was a badmove and after i went backout i found i had no front end grip, and also that the diff (being quite shagged out) would rarely spin 2wheels despite throwing the car around like a loon.
the afternoon saw competition, time. i managed to qualify through the first round and got into the twin drift bit. having never twin drifted before i was up against my mate mitch, his car is nice. i was worried that the superbeast supra would wreck his car with my eratic drifting style.. luckily we didnt crash i span twice and he span once over the course of our laps. so all fair in love and war saw me knocked out and him go through.
afternoon drifting was good to watch seeing plenty of smoke and close twin drifting.
couldnt help to think though a lot of the guys there werent that great but the fact their cars were well sorted machines really sorted it for them, a lot of the time it looks like they are just doing a rolling burnout because they have so much power they don't have to use any techniques apart from handbrake to set the angle then just put the foot down and smoke machine out.
thats the way i see it though and i am happy to be the underdog with my car.
end of the day was about 5.30 we had a bit more free practice just to end the day and that was fun.
i eventually got home at about 00.20 am possibly with a broken car due to water and oil issues but i made it thats one thing.
anyway here are some pictures
doristars.com/v-web/gallery/duk5 check their for more pictures, you can tell quite quickly how bad my car is compared to the rest
