Here is the Facebook event page, please head over there and join to show your support!  : )

http://www.facebook.com/events/504814392893880/

Round 2 of our Lone Star Drift Series will be taking place at Texas Motor Speedway, and will be known as the Tyler Cox Annual Memorial Drift Event from here on out, just like every year we have an NST Anniversary event and The Mexican Standoff. I hope by doing this I can keep his memory alive in our drift community.

When: April 28, 2013. Drivers arrive at 8 am sharp! Spectators arrive anytime from 10am and later. The competition should start around 2:30 pm, make sure you arrive by then. There will be a car show taking place at the same time and at the same location as our drift event.

Where: Texas Motor Speedway just north of Fort Worth off of 35W. Google Maps will find it no problem. We will be inside the infield, take the south entrance tunnel into the infield.

What is it: This will be Round 2 of our Formula Drift Proam points series. The best drifters in Texas will battle it out for their 2014 Formula Drift licenses, as well as sponsorship packages for the 2014 season. There will be open drift practice for our local drivers from 9:30 until 2:30, at which point the competition will start. There will be a car show thrown by The Fitted Agency as well. I will post up info on that soon. There will also be a Forza 4 Drifting Competition with prizes.

Registration: Drifting Registration must be done online by the Wed before the drift event. Registration is $150 for competition drivers and $100 open practice drivers. You must register by sending your payment by paypal to erinshill@gmail.com and include your contact info, the event you are registering for, and your car info. Late registration comes with a $50 penalty, please do not register late!

Forza 4 Drift Competition: The winner of the Forza 4 Drift competition will receive a sticker pack, t-shirt, 3 ride alongs in their choice of operable drift cars on the TMS track, and a chance to pilot Tyler Cox’s white S14 SR20 car at the next Mineral Wells event! This is a fully prepared drift car with a larger turbo, coilovers, massive steering angle, and tons of other items! We will get to see how well your skills in a video game translate into your ability to drift a car on a track! You must be 16 years old to win the chance to drive the car, and you must be able to operate the car including the transmission without damaging the car. You will be competing in the video game in a replica of Tyler Cox’s red S14! If you don’t meet these criteria you will still be allowed to ride along in the car!

Tyler Cox memorial prizes: Anyone in the crowd found representing Tyler Cox at the event in such a way that is deemed special can be taken out on track for ride alongs with the very best drivers we have available. We will also have stickers and shirts on hand to give away. Tyler Cox shirts, memorial vinyl, and anything else appropriate are great ways to get noticed and given a chance to ride in drift cars at this amazing track.

Driver Prizes: The winner of our series will receive:

BC Racing sponsorship package. This will include custom valved and sprung coilovers for the 2014 season, as well as suspension engineering assistance.

Garrett Turbo sponsorship package. This will include turbos for the 2014 season for whatever application you need, as well as engineering support. Plan on running a 350Z? How about TWIN GTX2871R turbos!?!?!?!?!?!

SEMA sponsorship adventure. The winner will receive a fully paid for SEMA sponsorship adventure, which will include air fair, shared hotel accommodations, and a meal plan. Introductions will be made to many potential sponsors, including a tire sponsor, clutch sponsor, your new suspension sponsor, and your new turbo sponsor.

There are additional prizes waiting to be announced.

Go check out the event page over on facebook and join in!  http://www.facebook.com/events/144479169045557/

When: 4/7/13 Drivers arrive at 8 am at the front gate, it is important to arrive on time as this will be a very large car show with a very large line to get in. Fabricated Motorsports will not be running the gate at the event, and the early you get there the more simple your entrance will be.

Where: Texas Motorplex 7500 W. Hwy 287, Ennis, TX 75119. This is just south of Dallas. Our play area will be a parking lot, and the course will be much smaller than a typical Fabricated Motorsports drift course. We will be in extremely close to all the action, with show cars and drag cars all around us, and many thousands of spectators wandering around.

What is it: We will be hosting a practice day/drift demo in the middle of a huge car show/drag event. The event is a lot of fun because you will be around a lot of people who have never seen drifting before, and we will be exposing them to it, and possibly even taking them for ride alongs. The majority of the drifters will be just playing around on a fun and tight drift course which is not a typical configuration you will run at our events, but I have it planned out and it is a very fun track which we ran last year at this venue.

Cost: Drivers cost is $69. You MUST register online, I WILL NOT BE AT THE GATE. If you do not register online, you cannot get in as a driver. PERIOD. All spectators are required to pay the normal gate fee to Import Face-off, I have no control over this and do not collect this fee. Preregister by paypaling $69 to erinshill@gmail.com. Please include your contact info, the event date you are registering for, your full name, and the type of car you are planning on driving.

Lucky 5 drifters: We will be taking 5 drifters and doing paid ride alongs. Only 5 drifters will be allowed to take part in this, and they will be chosen by their ranking in the points last year, or the quality and excitement of their vehicle. The drifters keep all proceeds from their efforts, and it easily pays for your drifting for the day and traveling expenses if you do a good job. These drivers need to bring an extra helmet and a car that doesn’t overheat. If you would like to take part in the ride alongs, you must send me an application message on the fabricatedmotorsports.com forum or on facebook. You must be a consistent capable driver, hopefully high in the points, and having a car the crowd loves is a big plus, as you will come to understand the day of the event! Ride alongs are $10 each and the crowd will line up all day and we didn’t come close to satisfying the lines last year, and drivers keep all the proceeds.

We will be entertaining a crowd and having fun all day. This will be a very relaxed and interactive day!

FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE LINK :  http://www.facebook.com/events/328444940603183/

The 2012 Season is over and done with, and the 2013 Season is upon us.  We added 3 new Formula D drivers to the ranks from our series, so Chelsea Denofa will have some company with the pros.  All three of our licensed drivers are committing to a full season of Formula Drift, and they are going to have a crazy year!  Will Parsons, the winner of last season is building an entirely new chassis, as is Josh Steele.  Stewart Leask is refining his, and will probably have the best luck early season with a more refined car that has been under development for years.  I am super excited for them all, and hope they have as much luck as Chelsea has had.

And that brings us to the 2013 season.  We will again be a Formula Drift licensing body, handing out 3 full 2014 Formula Drift Pro licenses to the winners of our series.  We will be using the same points format for the most part, mostly the same venues, and hopefully will have a bunch of new drivers.  I have some fun tricks up my sleeve just like last year, and hope to have some celebrity drifters come tandem with us, a new road course for our media day, and other little surprises.  With how fast our drivers are advancing in skill I am extremely excited to get my own car together and come drive with everyone!  I am doing a tube frame front end and putting the radiator in the back of my own V8 S13, and building up a turbo E46 BMW as well!

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March 24 Round 1 event details.

When:  March 24, 2013 from 9 am to 7 pm.  Drivers arrive at 8 am to get ready, drivers meeting at 9:45, track goes hot at 10 am.  Spectators can arrive whenever they like, but I suggest around 10 am or a little later.  The competition should start around 3 in the afternoon.  There will be action from 10 am on though.

What is it:  This is both a practice drift event, plus a competition which is a points race towards your 2014 Formula Drift license, just like we awarded Chelsea Denofa and several others.  He is now competing in Formula Drift doing amazing!  There will be an advanced course and a beginner course with instructor help.  It is the same cost to run regardless of which course you choose, and yes, you can move between courses as you wish.

Where:  Gulf Greyhound Park  1000 FM 2004 Rd, La Marque, TX

Price:  $75 for drivers and $10 for spectators.

Registration:  Drivers must preregister online by PayPaling 75 dollars exactly to erinshill@gmail.com, include your full name and contact info in the description of the transaction.  If you do not preregister, we will accept at payment at the gate, but with a 24 dollar late charge bringing your total to 100 dollars.  Please register early because I don’t want to have to charge you a late fee!  Registration closes on Wednesday night before the event at midnight.  After that you must pay the late fee, which is designed to make you pay on time!  : )

Spectators:  You may come and go as many times as you like at the event to get food, or for any other reason.  Restrooms are inside the main building about 50 yard off track in the air conditioning.  There are multiple cheap food choices within a few hundred yards of the track including Wendy’s, Subway, Waffle House, McDonalds, etc for your lunch.  You can arrive or leave any time of the day to watch and hang out, but the competition starts at 3 pm.  If you bring an appropriate car helmet, not a bicycle helmet you can ride along in the drift cars!  Bring cold water, shade, and chairs!

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March 23 classroom clinic on the basics of drifting

NOON TO FIVE PM at Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Texas City
2440 Gulf Freeway
Texas City, TX 77591
(409) 986-6700

The day before the event on the 23rd, we will be hosting a classroom session on the basics of drifting.  I wish someone did this for me when I was starting out, because I spent about a year back in 2003 trying to figure out how to pull an brake and have it do something useful, which is a trick I can now teach in a few minutes.  We will cover everything from how to drift to how to modify cars to drift, and which cars to choose.  We do these classes so you don’t struggle so much when you first start, and so you have more fun!  We will have myself and at least one other person that has been or is currently licensed as a Formula D driver teaching.

Here are the questions everyone will probably be asking.

Cost:  Free for the classroom session.

Who can come:  Anyone, but we will be covering the basics and touching on advanced stuff, but focusing on basics.  Beginners and drivers in their first year of driving would be the ideal candidates for this, but anyone can come learn and ask even advanced questions.  Please RSVP for a spot just so I make sure we don’t overbook, and if you have any questions, just shoot me a PM or text me at 210.269.4071.

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And don’t forget we have a racer program for cheap awesome tires from KENDA TIRES!  If you drive at our events, you get a discount on some very long lasting tires!  I have been getting 20-30 laps out of 1 set in my LS1 car if I am careful about it!   They ship them directly to you fairly quickly, normally you will get them within a few days to a week of ordering them, but don’t wait until the last minute.

http://www.fabricatedmotorsports.com/forum/index.php?topic=2319.0

Please refer here for the main conversation on this topic.

http://www.fabricatedmotorsports.com/forum/index.php?topic=3176.0

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Welcome to the 2013 Formula Drift Proam Rulebook.  Your car should be built to comply with this rulebook.  Please read it carefully if you have questions and try to answer them yourself if you can.  If you ask me a technical question, I will most likely have to refer it to the technical regulations manager from FD, and that could take a bit to get back with you.  The rule book will be enforced gently at first, but as we get to the September FD event at TMS that we will be participating at with our drivers, I have been told there will be ZERO tolerance for violations of the rule book.  This is the price we are going to pay to get an FD event here in our backyard, and get the chance to participate in it.  Also, WE WILL BE THE ONLY PROAM SERIES THIS YEAR TO GET THIS OPPORTUNITY, THEY HAVE CANCELLED ALL OTHER PROAM COMPETITIONS AT THEIR MAIN EVENTS BECAUSE OF VARIOUS REASONS.  I don’t want to loose this opportunity next year, so please take this seriously as we move forward.  Also, please note many of these items are extremely easy to comply with, such as fire suppression.  You don’t need anything crazy for that, the supplemental addendum clearly states that you can run a metal headed inexpensive fire extinguisher properly mounted in reach of the driver.  That could be a 20 dollar fix off the list if you don’t currently have one.  Some of the other items such as deleting bolt in cages will be more difficult and costly, and some even more difficult, such as the changing of subframes and mounting locations of pickup points.  Read the rule book carefully and make sure your car adheres to these regulations.

I have spoken again and again over the last season that these things will be taking effect eventually, and although we will not require racing suits at all of our competitions at this time, when we get to drive at a Formula Drift Pro event, we will be strictly required to adhere to their rule book.  And I assure you, they don’t let things fly just because you drove across the country and spent all your money to get their.  At Proam 2007 in Nevada, they simply didn’t let multiple drivers run their cars until they made their roll cages comply with the rule book, which took all day at redneck shops in town adding bars and welding bolt in foot plates down.

Please look these over carefully!  There are two full PDF documents, don’t skip one!  I have also asked for clarifications of some points and will get back to some people when I find out.

http://fabricatedmotorsports.com/images/Fd%202013%20rulebook/2013%20ProAm%20Supplement%20V1.pdf

http://fabricatedmotorsports.com/images/Fd%202013%20rulebook/2013%20Formula%20Drift%20Pro%20Technical%20Regulations%201.1%2020130

Lone Star Drift Round 3 2012 from Dennis Nguyen on Vimeo.

Say Howdy! Get Rowdy! EP 5 Chelsea DeNofa at Formula Drift Seattle from BC RACING NA on Vimeo.

Chelsea is our very first driver to move on to Formula Drift from our Pro Am series, so we are following his progress very closely. The drivers get together at my house and we scream at the TV while we watch the live stream, and when we get a chance we go watch the events in person. We caught Long Beach and Atlanta in person so far, and we are about to head out to Vegas. So hopefully you enjoy this leg of his FD adventure!

Episode 5 of BC Racing’s mini series “Say Howdy! Get Rowdy!”. This time we take an inside look at Chelsea DeNofa as he makes the new team transition from the BMW E36 to the Mazda RX-8.
Cinematography & Editing by: Cody Slack

Please go here for more details!

http://www.fabricatedmotorsports.com/forum/index.php?topic=3059.0

Round 4 of the Lone Star Drift Series, The Mexican Standoff.

FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE, PLEASE INVITE YOUR FRIENDS! http://www.facebook.com/events/333598686731714/

The concept of this event was simple from the beginning.  Offer a bunch of prize money and watch the competitors tear each other apart.  With so much money up for grabs, how hard will the drivers go?  How entertaining will it be to watch?  How can we make it even more entertaining?  This event was carefully placed the day after XDC finals in Dallas, so that all the out of state drivers could stick around 1 more day and try and take some of the pot.  We also are going to allow drivers such as Chelsea Denofa and George Marstanovic to compete, and they have already agreed to in advance.  This was cleared with both Formula Drift in advance, and every top driver in our series that is close to the winning license spots.  Drivers such as Chelsea are able to win prize money, but not accumulate points in our series.  They will be erased from the points race like they aren’t even at the event in the final standings.  For example, if Chelsea wins 1st and Will gets second, Will gets the full 1st place points in the series.

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September 23, 2012.  Round 4 of the LSD Drift Series.

When:  Sept 23, 2012 from 9 am to 7 pm.  Drivers arrive at 8 am to get ready, drivers meeting at 9:45, track goes hot at 10 am.

Where:  Mineral Wells Airport, Mineral Wells, TX.  Just west of DFW.

What is it:  This is both a fun event where anyone can drive, with an extra practice course so the action doesn’t stop for the non competing drivers when the comp starts.  Then we will have a full blown big money comp.

Price:  $85 for competitors, $50 for open drift.  $10 for spectators.

Registration:  Drivers must register online by paypaling $85 to erinshill@gmail.com.  If you do not register online, we will accept payment at the gate with a 25 dollar late fee.  Please don’t pay late.  Online registration ends as of midnight on the 21st of September.

Spectators:  Spectator fee is paid at the gate, not online.  You may come and go as many times as you like at the event to get food, or for any other reason.  There are multiple cheap food choices within a few minutes of the track including Subway, McDonalds, Chicken Express, Fuzzy’s Tacos, etc for your lunch.  You can arrive or leave any time of the day to watch and hang out, but the competition starts around 3 pm.  If you bring an appropriate car helmet, not a bicycle helmet you can ride along in the drift cars!  Bring cold water, shade, and chairs!

Back to Basics Clinic weekend.  

As cars and drivers have been progressing lately in Texas, we have been trying to cater to them as much and as fast as possible.  This includes the Lone Star Drift Series which is a points race to the 2013 Formula Drift season, as well as more advanced classroom settings where we gave you a chance to pick the brains of Matt Powers and Autocomp Marty.  This is all awesome, but for the first weekend of August we will be getting back to the roots of drifting and trying to gets some new people up to speed.  We will be covering the very basics of what a drift car is, what drifting is, how to drift, the techniques used, etc.  Unlike some of the more advanced topics we have been covering lately, I have this stuff down without question, and can easily and concisely get it across.  This isn’t black magic pro drifting, this is good down to earth stuff which is easy to teach!  We will be doing an air-conditioned indoor classroom session on the 4th, and on the 5th we will be doing a practice drift day and clinic out at Mineral Wells Airport.

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8-4-2012 Indoor Drift Clinic Day

Where:  TBA location in Fort Worth, Tx

When:  Noon until 5 pm

Who:  Anyone can come, but you must RSVP by texting me @ 210-269-4071 or PMing me on the FM forum

What:  Beginners guide to drifting, covering everything up to and possibly including tandem.

Instructors:  Aaron Losey and Stewart Leask.  Both Aaron ( ME ) and Stew are very seasoned and experienced drivers who have about 10 years of drifting experience at this point, with over a thousand tires burned off between them.  Both have been licensed by Formula Drift, and competed in several national drift series.

Cost:  Just a smile

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8-5-2012 Practice Drift Day and Clinic at Mineral Wells Airport

Where:  Mineral Wells Airport, Mineral Wells, TX

When:  9 am to 6 pm

Who:  Anyone can come to drift, but we will be teaching that day for anyone that wants to partake.

Instructors:  Aaron Losey and Stewart Leask.  I can add more instructors if you want to be a part of the event.

Cost:  50 at the gate for driving, instructing is free.  However, to secure an instructor for the day you must reserve a spot by PMing me in advance so I have an instructor for you.  I am pairing 2-3 students per instructor so the students get lots of one on one time.  In order to have the correct number of instructors on hand, I need to know the correct amount of students, so please, reserve a spot as soon as possible.  That does not require prepayment, just a message to me that you want a spot.

FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE LINK: http://www.facebook.com/events/357494394319727/
Please invite your friends!

Round 3 of the Lone Star Drift series!

We are headed back to Gulf Greyhound Park for Round 3 of our series this year. Round 2 was amazing, but was so much work it almost killed myself and my volunteers! I hope everyone had a blast, Matt Powers says he is down to come back out again for another 2 day extravaganza like that one, so that will be coming up early next year. I am also working on some more events where I bring in awesome talent for you guys to drift with like we have done in the past with Vaughn Gittin, Tony Angelo and Ryan Tuerck. I hope to get Chelsea Denofa out here to drive with us again too.

Getting back on topic though, the year has been going fantastically so far for our series. For this event we are going to try and attract some new drivers by having a second learning course, and also by hosting a drifting basics class on the Saturday before the event somewhere in Houston. This will be in conjunction with doing our normal series competition stuff as well, so it is going to be a busy day!

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August 19th Round 3 and practice day details.

When: August 19, 2012 from 9 am to 7 pm. Drivers arrive at 8 am to get ready, drivers meeting at 9:45, track goes hot at 10 am.

Where: Gulf Greyhound Park just south of Houston.
1000 FM 2004 Rd La Marque, TX 77568

What is it: This is both a practice drift event, plus a competition which is a points race towards your 2013 Formula Drift license, just like we awarded Chelsea Denofa last year. He is now competing in Formula Drift doing amazing! There will be an advanced course and a beginner course with instructor help. It is the same cost to run regardless of which course you choose, and yes, you can move between courses as you wish. Judging will be Derrick Rogers and Chelsea Denofa.

Price: $75 for drivers and $10 for spectators.

Registration: Drivers must preregister online by PayPaling 76 dollars exactly to erinshill@gmail.com. If you do not preregister, we will accept at payment at the gate, but with a 24 dollar late charge bringing your total to 100 dollars. Please register early because I don’t want to have to charge you a late fee! Registration closes on Wednesday night before the event, which is 15th of August, at midnight. After that you must pay the late fee, which is designed to make you pay on time! : )

Spectators: You may come and go as many times as you like at the event to get food, or for any other reason. Restrooms are inside the main building about 50 yard off track in the air conditioning. There are multiple cheap food choices within a few hundred yards of the track including Wendy’s, Subway, Waffle House, McDonalds, etc for your lunch. You can arrive or leave any time of the day to watch and hang out, but the competition starts at 3:30 pm. If you bring an appropriate car helmet, not a bicycle helmet you can ride along in the drift cars! Bring cold water, shade, and chairs!

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AUGUST 18th drift basics classroom clinic with Chelsea Denofa.

NOON TO FIVE PM at Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Texas City
2440 Gulf Freeway
Texas City, TX 77591
(409) 986-6700

The day before the event on the 19th, we will be hosting a classroom session on the basics of drifting. I wish someone did this for me when I was starting out, because I spent about a year back in 2003 trying to figure out how to pull an brake and have it do something useful, which is a trick I can now teach in a few minutes. I have taught about a half dozen of these types of classes, and it is pretty informal but to the point. We do these classes so you don’t struggle so much when you first start, and so you have more fun! Chelsea Denofa of recent Formula Drift fame will be teaching at this classroom session with me.

Here are the questions everyone will probably be asking.

Cost: Free for the classroom session.

Who can come: Anyone, but we will be covering the basics and touching on advanced stuff, but focusing on basics. Beginners and drivers in their first year of driving would be the ideal candidates for this. You must RSVP with a pm to me on a forum you read this on if I am a member, and a few days before the class if you don’t know where it is text me at 210.269.4071 for the location if you haven’t seen it posted.

When, how long, where:
NOON TO FIVE PM at Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Texas City
2440 Gulf Freeway
Texas City, TX 77591
(409) 986-6700

Say Howdy! Get Rowdy! Rebuild Edition, Chelsea DeNofa’s 18 day Hustle from BC RACING NA on Vimeo.

A inside look at Chelsea DeNofa and team as they rebuild a new BMW chassis for his 2012 season.

Special Thanks to all the crew, fans and sponsors who made this possible.

Cinematography & Editing by: Cody Slack

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Chelsea is our first driver to move on from our local ProAm series with his new Formula Drift license, and he is doing awesome this year! Check him out on his Facebook page over at: http://www.facebook.com/ienjoydrifting

You can find him over at http://www.facebook.com/ienjoydrifting

Oh, and he also is running our BC Coilover Racer program, so contact him if you drive at our events for a rad deal on suspension stuff!

Say Howdy! Get Rowdy! Episode 3 “Chelsea DeNofa at Formula Drift Palm Beach from BC RACING NA on Vimeo.

Cody Slack just sent me over the link for another really cool long form video he made for Josh Steele at the last round of XDC. The video clocks in just over 11 minutes, and it is an interesting journey following Josh from cleaning his bro truck, all the way through watching him and other drivers tear it up in AZ last month. I love to shoot video myself, so I am jelly that Cody has the opportunity and the attention span to get this stuff done, and done so well.

Go check out Cody’s site @ www.apexusblog.com

Go check out Cody’s site @ www.apexusblog.com

I am super proud to present to you our biggest weekend of the year, the double header Lonestarbash + Lonestardriftround2.  We will have Formula D driver Matt Powers driving with the best from Texas, along with a chance for our drivers to win Formula Drift licenses, and much much more going on.  Please go to the following link for more info!

http://www.fabricatedmotorsports.com/forum/index.php?topic=2964.0

Say Howdy Get Rowdy! Ep.1 Chelsea DeNofa at Formula Drift Long Beach from BC RACING NA on Vimeo.

I just wanted to say congrats to Chelsea Denofa, the first driver licensed by Fabricated Motorsports that is competing in a full season of Formula Drift.  Cody Slack is covering his season of driving, and if you check around on his Vimeo page you will find lots of neat coverage by him.  Go check out his Facebook page and say hi!  http://www.facebook.com/ienjoydrifting

Stephen’s cage. from aaron losey on Vimeo.

Stephen Bayles is a newer driver in our Texas Lone Star Drift Series, put on by Fabricatedmotorsports.com. I put this video together to introduce him to the general public, and show some of the preparation it takes to get a car prepped for competition. Autocomp was awesome enough to let us use their space to put a cage in Stephens car, and Aaren Smith was awesome enough to do most of the work. While Autocomp didn’t exactly build this cage, it was just done over there out back and off the clock, at a certain point Marty ( the shop owner ) took pity on us and welded the entire thing up. The significance of that is the welding portion of the cage is a few notches, pun intended, above the rest of the build quality LOL. It wasn’t enough he was letting us use his shop space to put something together without expecting anything in return, he had to jump in when we fumbled something and just do it for us. We were actually lucky he didn’t make us start over, because if you know Marty, if everything isn’t absolutely perfect, it isn’t allowed to leave the shop. Fielding has been learning that as he helps Marty of at Autocomp on his S14. Fielding will make a part and it will be so close to correct, and Marty will make him throw it away and start over.

Stephen is a perfect example of a large part of our competition field, super excited to drift and learn, but many years behind the experience level of some of the other drivers. One thing he has going for him is the help of a lot of nice friends. The Handicap Mafia boys stick together.

So thanks again to everyone over at Autocomp that took care of Stephen, along with his friends for helping with the project. Aaren Smith and Marty Mary. I felt really guilty watching them work hard and get dirty as the plowed through the project, but someone had to shoot the video and stay clean.

Music by The Shins – Australia

Shredder prep school from aaron losey on Vimeo.

Over at Autocomp Racecars Fielding and shop owner Marty have been hard at work getting the old Shredder mobile up to 2012 spec. While it isn’t necessary at all to have a car with a tubular front end, big hp, and bling wheels to go have fun, some people just can’t leave well enough alone. Fielding seems to be one of those people. Never taking the easy road, he strives to be different and over the top. This season he is trying to up his game with a new motor swap with more cylinders than his last setup, better fitting body panels, and tons of clever and interesting additions to the chassis. I have been having a lot of fun editing videos lately, and learning as I go, so please enjoy the video. You can see my shots and pans change slowly as I add gear too! I got a sweet jib and some other gear to add to my arsenal, so hopefully my production quality continues to climb.

As I write this post, I am also looking over new footage I have been shooting of Stephen Bayles car. Stephen is quite a character just like Fielding, and I hope to capture his personality in his video. The reason I am doing a feature on him as well as Fielding is Stephen plans to compete in the Lone Star Drift Series this year and get his tandem on, so he is up here at Autocomp getting a cage done just in time for round 1.

So please, enjoy the video of Fielding and go watch him tear up Gulf Greyhound Park on March 17 down in Houston!

Interestingly enough Nissan themselves has presented the S-chassis and Skyline communities with a few options of their own over the years. They’ve created a 6×1 pattern inner CV with ball/cage outters for many chassis that are very strong and can stand up to big horsepower numbers (such examples include GTRs, Q45s, Z33s and Z32 TTs). I’ve done my research, I’ve explored many options and I’ve played with many combinations to figure out what works best for my program. I wanted my solution to be economical in a sense that it came out of another OEM car and could be had relatively easy in case of problems. I wanted my solution to retain my current ring and pinion sizing (while physically upping the size and strength of both the ring gear and the pinion themselves). Most importantly I wanted a strong CV with the option of purchasing an abundant amount of axles without breaking the bank. I purchased everything from Q45 axles to an entire R33 GTR subframe assembly before I found what worked best for my combination.

(as you can tell, there’s no combination I haven’t tried or thought of)

My final effort was a 350z differential setup. They came with the offering of a 3.3, a 3.5, a 3.7, a 3.9, 4.1, 4.3, 4.6 and even a 4.9 ring and pinion offering. The LSD units are as stout as the GTR units and their output shafts are the beefed up Nissan OEM 6×1 pattern and design. The pinion size alone puts the 240sx R200 to shame and comes from another Nissan so it all stays within the family (a 2005 Nissan Frontier 2wd unit). The axles are just long enough to be in a good operating range on my car and will solve my overextending issues as well. For a car that doesn’t have a wide rear end setup like mine you can also you (1) Z32 TT axle and (1) Q45 axle to get an oem width combination to receive all of the exact same benefits, but you will have to swap to a 31 spline outer hub.

As you can tell, I’m very proud to display my choice of LSD manufacturer, and here’s why. OS Giken offers quite a few benefits that you won’t find with other LSD manufacturers. For starters there is no initial break-in required on an OS Giken LSD. The machine tolerances and finish quality is set to a very high standard and therefore no wearing of the plates is needed before the differential is ready and operational. OS Giken utilizes more plates than most, if not all, LSD manufacturers per application. This results in less wear and a longer lifespan from your differential. Upon ordering you do not simply offer them a part number and receive a product. OS Giken can tune each differential to your individual application should you wish to utilize this option and can increase the ramp-up or reaction time inside the diff. Preload adjustments can be made and internal cones can be swapped to adjust aggressiveness of the unit itself. I found this to work very well for me as I’m a firm believer in 3 things being custom suited to each car:

-shocks and springs
-differential
-suspension and alignment

Each should suit the driver and the application at hand, and OS Giken offers you that adjustability. I can’t even express how proud I am to be working with such a prestigious company and I look forward to a great year with them! Additionally, I knew that the installation was going to require a professional approach as pinion heights had to be reset and measured to make sure everything meshed well inside the differential. When you’re in there its a good idea to go ahead and order all fresh parts so you don’t find yourself having to dig into the differential later down the road. For the installation I looked no further than Jason at Texas Drivetrain Performance. Jason researched the specific application I’m going for and made sure everything was going to be suited for my particular car and work out well. There’s a lot of myths floating around about Z33 output shafts and Jason knew just the answers we were looking for. His knowledge and professional installation has been above and beyond each and every time I needed his help and I just can’t thank him enough for wanting to be a part of this car.

So now we approach the installation. The Z33 differential doesn’t just bolt into my subframe, I had to modify the front upper bolt holes to set the differential height similar to that of the 350z and keep my pinion angle in check. The rear cover however, does line up with (1) existing bolt hole in the s14 rear subframe. Here’s sort of a quick glance at some of the work required.

Nobody knows these products better than the OEM manufacturer, they built them. So when Nissan chose to leave the upper diff nuts as a “caged nut” setup I knew it’d be in my best interest to take the extra time and retain it.

Additionally the pinion flange had to be drilled out to accept the bolt pattern of the 240sx driveshaft. So that takes care of the drivetrain. The transmission is built strong and sturdy thanks to Texas Drivetrain Performance, my 1 piece steel driveshaft is still holding up great, and now I have a fully built and 100% brand new z33 rear differential and OS Giken 1.5 LSD with newer/longer/stronger rear axles. The motors fully built, what could be left? Well, Powerfab Automotive has a little something up their sleeves. Keep checking in, we’ll be waking up the motor rather soon with quite a large power upgrade for the 2012 season!

For more information on me and the followup of my car check out www.stewartleask.com
Thanks for reading!