Karting is considered one of the purest forms of motorsport. No wings, susupension, or team orders. Not too long ago I visited the SKUSA Super Nationals, held at the Rio Hotel and Casinoparking lot in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is like the world series of karting, with 425 competitors from 25 countries. A bunch of talented drivers showing off their skills to hopefully one day step up into bigger and better things, even a couple of drivers from F1 and Indy showed up in their ranks.
Nelson Piquet Jr.
Michael Schumacher
Sebastian Buemi
With fields as large as 40 compeititors this made for some great racing in all classes. I haven't been this excited watching a race in a long time.
Even hachiroku invades karting.
If it wasn't for the F1 drivers attending this event, I probably wouldn't have attended thsi event. Definitely worth the money to watch alot of great racing. You'll probably see me here next year, hopefully driving ;) For more information on next years event click on their website.
Another year another set of trophies. Going through the piles of crap that I never seem to let go. I created another set of trophies for the Annual Grip Day, which is happening this weekend 11/28-29. I wonder who's going to take home my pile of crap.
Here's a link to my previous work if you haven't alread seen it.
Watching some of the best drivers in the world up close and personal is a wish for many motorsports fans. For the lucky few it's a dream come true. I have to say i'm one of the lucky ones. Wasting time on the net like I usually do, I came across a post on Cold Track Days that Michael Schumacher was going to be in Las Vegas to race at a kart event. It was hard for me to believe such celebrity such as him would be at a kart event. So I had to make the trek to Vegas and find out.
Since I can only be there for a day, I headed out early to catch the start of the event. After a few hours, low and behold the man himself. It's truely hard to believe i'm so close to this guy so I took full advantage of this photo opportunity.
Since he's retired from racing it's like I lost the chance to ever see him race. But today i'm one of the lucky ones. Watching him race was so awesome. I can only imagine how the drivers felt racing against him. I wish it was me dueling on the tarmac with him. Time to retire the corolla and get a kart.
Decided to make new seat bracket, after looking at the racing on the cheap blog. This time it was going to be solid mount. The previous one was on a slider, but it only locked on one side. I also wanted to use my new bender too.
Lots of cutting tack welding and test fitting tryin to get this to work.
Next time i'll try different route for the passenger side. A much more simpler route.
I received a text today from a friend asking how I was doing. Never really thought about it until now, but around this time, I was sitting at the doctor's office trying to get a referral for the hand I broke at the Pro Am event at held at the Red Bull Drift finals. At the time I was out of a job for a few months and was really debating if I should have even signed up since my future was unknown. But it's one of those what if situations, so putting everything on credit and taking money out of the savings to cover my expenses. Do I have regrets? Nope, at least I had a chance to drive this event. Even though the results were less than spectacular it's one of those things if you don't do it, you'll never know what would have really happened. But on a happy note, that week I also got a job. Never knew breaking bones gave people the edge in an interview.
Dunno if i'll ever use it. I don't come across cars with external regs. Don't even know if the guy I got it from way back then even used cause it looks so new. It measures the temperature of an alternator regulator. This was when cars had their regulators mounted outside. But i'm sure you guys already knew that.
The original Snap-On box with label, I wonder how old this piece of equipment is? Could'nt find much information on the net.
They suck. Well another has bitten the dust. On my last run of the day, with tires running on cords. Should've stopped when I had the chance. But at least the car ran flawless. Since most of the year i've been running into stupid issues left and right. At least changing doesn't take much effort.
Way back in the day, there were a few enthusiasts that liked Corollas and motorsports. With Moto's idea, Club4AG was born. Since then it has spawned the Corolla and drifting craze ten fold. Now it's 2009 in Primm, Nevada, right at the Nevada/ California stateline. Going back to it's roots of Corollas and motorsports, the dedicated people from Vegas drift, Drift Association, and AE86 Nights bring back the ideals that is Club4AG.
A 2 day event bringing the car show, autocrossing, and drift.
Day 1 was the autocross, which i'm sure everyone knows if gripping through sets of cones. Some may balk at the idea, but like everything else, it takes skill to do this sport. Anyways there's was tons of seat time. I decided to use street tires since I really didn't want to use up r compounds. The surface was slippery since there was fresh dust from the newly constructed course. I did a bunch of mornings and posted up high 38's. After that, I decided it was time for a beer break. Don't worry I didn't drive after that, I wanted to get the party on early.
Since the following week was SEMA some cars destined for Vegas decided to stop by and check out the event.
mmmm Turbo.
The celebrity of the weekend
Moto
Day 2 which I'm sure many were looking forward too, the drift and car show event.
The drift course was tricky. It was laid out with a 3rd gear entry if you have enough power accelerate. With a decreasing radius right turn so you'll need to scrub speed before then so you don't wash out. But too much loss of speed means not finishing the course. So drivers needed to find the balance.
The car show brought out some nice Corollas.
Coupes
Hatchbacks
Props to the people who were able to bring out their rides out to the middle of nowhere. No queen mary or orange county lakes up in here.
At the awards ceremony I won 2 trophies.
I was very happy. Hey Naoki where you going??
And very wet.
The event went really well, but of course when you have a collaboration of Vegas drift, Drift Association, and AE86 Nights, you wouldn't expect anything less from their hard work. Kudos to them and the many others who helped support the event. And of course to the owners themselves who came out to party and show their spirit. This is what Club4ag is all about.
Next year: ?
As the event ended I think about what's next. Due to low turn out, it maybe the last Club4AG sanctioned event. I hope it isn't so, but for now the future is a blur if there will actually be another event.
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