120 MPH Drift Entry, Working For @AdamLZ & Behind SimHQ - Behind the Event | Circle of Drift #141 - The Circle of Drift

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome back to the Circle of Drift podcast presented by SIM
HQ, where we interview some of the most interesting
personalities within the industry.
My name is Dawson and today we are back at Good Life for Part
2, where we'll dive into what it's like to work for Adam LZ.
Conji I've been watching Adam since like I was in high school
and so just seeing it in person,which is like surreal.

(00:20):
Why you should just LS swap yourR30?
Two, I've gotten a little bit ofhate from it and it's just like,
why didn't you put an RV in it? And then I look at the RV
pricing and then I looked at howmuch I got the LS where I'm like
kind of a no brainer A. 120 mileper hour back.
He's here at Good Life. I know it's possible to do it,
it just kind of requires you to dig deep and like look for those

(00:40):
balls that are somewhere in yourpants, you know what I mean?
Like. Some possible problems with the
new FD rules. Yeah, it really sucks.
Like, it's unfortunate. Joking everyone.
'S like you know the reality that we live in.
And obviously, so much more. So look below the video and make
sure you have smashed that subscribe button.
And without further ado, let's get into the episodes.
Yeah, I've been wanting this forever.

(01:02):
I've been in the field wherever they throw at me, brush it off,
pick myself up. Moving on a little better.
Hey, Yeah. Ain't no errors, baby.
It's a new error. All right, well, as most of you
know, SIM HQ is presenting sponsor of the podcast and we
have one of the hello, hello SIMHQ owned.

(01:22):
I wouldn't be an owner. I'm just like, you know, I'll do
the videos. I'm the behind the scene guy and
a little bit on camera too so. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, people see your face a lotonline, so from all the SIM HQ
stuff. So I guess tell me a little bit
about yourself, who you are specifically, what all you do
for Drift HQ, some HQ, all that.Yeah, so my name is Joey.
A lot of people call me Coffee just because of the Instagram

(01:43):
name. So either or.
Where did that come from, by theway?
So long time ago, you remember when PlayStation got hacked and
like that was like a whole big thing, like super far back.
Maybe I've never been huge into video games.
So, so I used to play with my homies and I would drink coffee
a lot and one day I lost my account.
I was like, OK, I'm going to make a new account.

(02:03):
What should the name be? You know, you should be a cup of
Joey. You're always drinking coffee.
I'm like, that's a little bit long of a name, but I'll just do
coffee Joe. That works.
Out. Yeah, that's perfect.
Yeah. So I'm kind of worried about
that from there. And then media name as well.
Same thing just carried on, you know, just kind of had the same
username. Yeah.
So, but yeah, at Drift HQ and SIM HQ, I am marketing media.

(02:25):
So anything that has to do with brands or doing any
advertisements for the products that we sell, that's all through
me editing photos and video. Ours not too loud, right?
There they are. We're just going to have to deal
with. It yeah, no, it's fine.
But yeah, editing photos, video,advertisements, buyers, you name

(02:45):
it, that's all that I handle at work.
And so on the occasion though, like I'll hop in and do the
YouTube stuff wherever hands areneeded.
So, but yeah, mostly just the marketing end of it.
That's awesome dude. So how has it been working?
I guess close hand at the compound with all of these guys
that everyone watching watches on a daily basis.
So it's kind of like my blowing.So my first time at the compound

(03:09):
was like the biggest eye opener.Chris Rudnick had invited me
over there and I met Joel, whichis a film HQ, and it was just
wild just to see all the houses,the actual like compound and
stuff. Because mind you, I've been
watching Adam since like I was in high school.
And so just singing in person was just like surreal.
And you know, meeting Joelle became really good friends with

(03:32):
him and he's the one that not only got me into Drift HQ, but
also help me get some other jobsalong the way.
That's sick. Yeah, Joelle's always been a
very cool every time I've talkedto him and stuff.
He's a really good dude. Very mellow too.
Just funny, super relaxed. Yeah.
So good. That's crazy, dude.
OK, so when did the media journey ever even start?

(03:53):
Like what made you go down the path of cameras and just all
that stuff in? General So my younger brother
took photography seriously in high school OK And at the time I
was just like playing video games more than anything else in
skating and like I used to watchdrifting a lot too.
And I used to go through cars, like my biggest car that was
like hey, I kind of want to do something with.

(04:15):
I used to have a Nismo 350Z, yeah.
And I was like, man, like, it'd be cool to like do this, like
vlogging stuff. But then like, I don't feel like
I'm the type of person to be on camera.
I'm always kind of like just watching others and like.
That's unique man, cuz most video or most camera guys in
general, photo or video, yeah, not more.
They would never opt to be on camera themselves.

(04:36):
That's crazy. It's weird to me sometimes.
Like, I don't think of it like, hey, I want to be on camera and
just like doing this. I just want to show people cool
stuff and then that's it, you know?
But yeah, my younger brother, hetook photography seriously.
And that was kind of like a little kick in the butt.
Like, hey, he's doing well during this.
Like you can do it with carbs because he used to do it for
like festivals or just like for stuff from like his classmates

(04:58):
and stuff like that. Cool.
Yeah, to. Do photos for them.
So I was like, it's a really cool thing.
I see him having fun. I want to do this too.
So my little brother was a big inspiration.
And then like kind of divulging through YouTube was just like, I
found creators and I was like, yo, what they do is really,
really good stuff. And like I fell in love with
just like cinematography in general.
And just like the way that people portray the story really

(05:19):
hooked me. And I'm like, I really need to
pick up a camera. That's crazy.
Yeah. So I guess what was one of your,
like, first jobs that you did within the industry that kind of
broke things off? They really got things started.
Really. Shooting car meets and stamp
shows. Really.
Yeah, it was a big stance. Cape it.
Was like just like by yourself just doing it for.

(05:40):
Yourself just learning a lot of like I was in the car scene like
I had the cars, but like a lot of my homies and I kind of got
out of it a little bit they werelike hey, since you're shooting
now do you want to come to a meet and like just.
Get some photos and some. Video and I'm like yeah, sure.
And then like they started inviting me out to like slammed
enough Riverside stuff like that.
So I'm like yo this is what I want to do and like meeting a

(06:02):
lot of the other media creativesthere at like Riverside and
shows like that like you kind ofjust learn and expand and it's
like I want to keep progressing.I want to be at this guy's level
and then this guy and like, it'sjust it's another eye opener for
you that like keep advancing your skills, see other people in
the industry do it. And like I really like take
appreciation to the stance worldbecause it's like what made me

(06:24):
take this seriously. Yeah, so who?
OK. Whenever you were trying to like
look for jobs and stuff though, what who was your first
influencer that you pitched to or how did you pitch it or how
did you even score the job in general?
Influencer wise, the first person that I ever worked with
was Andrew Sheridan, a Mustang lifestyle.

(06:46):
So I used to work in an ice cream shop in high school and I
was always great with the customer service.
So like I met people from my town that would come by
regularly and they remembered mebecause I remembered their
order. So they never had to like be
like, hey, I need this. I already knew.
And so one of them was a big carguy and he's like, hey, I'm
sharing a shop with this YouTube.
He needs a media guy right now. Like what would you charge him

(07:08):
to like come in here and do stuff for him for a little bit?
And so we worked out a deal and I worked out with him for a
little bit and then. How much did you charge to start
off, if you don't mind saying that?
I was super cheap, like my firstcouple of sheets were like 50 to
100 bucks. Like and how?
Like. How are you justifying what that
was worth at the time with having little information?

(07:29):
I wasn't really too like mindseton the money yet.
I was just having fun. So it was like money was like a
second thing and then just shooting just said like happy
experiences, like what I was like driving for.
Perfect. Yeah, that kind of opened the
door for me. And then especially shooting
with Andrew helped me get into TRC.
Oh, OK. Yeah, so I've worked with Hobby

(07:51):
on and off for like a year and ahalf, almost two years.
Gotcha. Yeah.
OK. So like a lot of the head to
head series that we did at OSW, that was a hand behind that as
well. No shit.
Yeah, man. Yeah, that's super cool.
Yeah, we used to hold, like little head to head series.
So like, he'd have, let's just say a racer from Orlando versus

(08:14):
someone from Miami. Yeah, just like figuratively.
But they would come out to the track, we'd get the content with
them and we'd put them head to head.
It was a good little series. OK, so I guess whenever you
started becoming more known and people started seeing your work
and recognizing who you were, when were you like, all right,
I've got to really justify how much my work is worth versus how

(08:35):
much time I'm spending, so on and so forth.
Because you could really dig yourself a deep hole.
Yeah, by charging so little and just being flooded with work.
Yeah. So I think I took money a little
bit more serious after I left the CNC shop I was working at.
Yeah, the CNC shop was like my backbone for the main part.
That was like my day-to-day and like whenever I needed to take

(08:58):
off time to go and do a shoot for someone, I just put it in
and just go and do the shoot. And it got to the point where,
like, I was raising prices and like, it made more sense for me
to keep doing shoots because I made more than what I was making
at the CNC shop. Yeah, OK.
Then I also kind of like had like a small little fall out
with them, but it was just more of like a, a self respect matter

(09:18):
than anything else. So, but I started realizing that
like I can make this much with ashoot and I'm making more than
what I used to at work. So I'm going to just take this
full time and doing freelance full time is like a very serious
thing. Like you got to make sure that,
like, you're really motivated and active in what you're doing,
otherwise you're going to fail and plummet.
And there's seasons just like any other business will like,

(09:42):
feel. Yeah.
You'll go through a season whereit's like you're making all this
banking out of nowhere. It's like things start.
To dry. Dry up and like I face that and
I'm like, OK, this is where I need to start like kind of
strategizing how I'm going to like keep making money and stay
freelancing for longer. Or do I want to hop out of this
and find something full time? What were some strategies you
you kind of came up with? Really the website kind of

(10:04):
helped a little bit too. Like how do you mean making
myself like a little bit more like professional?
You can. Oh, oh, OK, got it.
Having a proper website and stuff like that.
And then like words of mouth wasalways like really my thing.
But like I started to try to push the website a little bit
more. Yeah, the people can go on
there, book whatever they neededme to shoot, and then I couldn't
go out there and handle that, arrange scheduling and stuff
like that. Yeah, that's cool.

(10:26):
Well, OK. So how do you break down as far
as, let's say I wanted to hire you for an event, what would
your proposal be? Essentially, what do you provide
packages that you can choose from?
Or what I would do with the wedding, I would provide you
what my day rate would be. And then everything that you
would get from assets like photo, video assets to anything

(10:48):
that you would want edited. Or if it was like a, a
subcontract kind of thing, like,hey, I just need you to come and
shoot and dump in the footage. I just give you just a basic
day, Ray. I'll just come out and do it.
Sick. OK, so that's that makes it
fairly simple. Yeah, just choose what you want
and go. I I make it like worth my time
and then worth whatever I'm going out to shoot cuz usually
it's something cool. Yeah, Well, good.
Well, as far as this event, we're at Grid Life South

(11:10):
Carolina. So what are you fully covering
here? Obviously Drift HQ, so that's
the main basis of it, but is there anyone else you're
handling or? So with Drift HQ and our
activation, we'll handle any photo or video assets for like
our sponsors. So anybody you see across like
our Trailer VC, Kansai Tire, Streets, you name it, we'll go

(11:32):
out and we'll get the content for them so that they don't have
to directly be here. I'm sure they'll pop out.
Yeah. We like to help them out as much
as they like to help us out, youknow?
Who are the primary ones? So like obviously I would
assume. BC Gary, BC Gary, Con Side Tire
Streets, SP Tools and hold on, it's drawing a blank right now.

(11:55):
SP Tools, Prisma Energy and thenLink.
OK, yeah, and not to like send off any secret sauce or
anything, but what are these companies looking for as far as
content? Like what specific stuff are
they wanting to curate A. Lot of stuff with our booth, so

(12:16):
interactions with their productsis if you go inside of our
booth, you'll see like our Garrett display set out so you
can read information from like AG 30 is perfect for this
application leaders wise. And people will be there walking
up like reading the information,maybe messing with the yeah,
stuff like that. And that's kind of stuff that
they want to see alongside of like other cars that may be out

(12:38):
here running their stuff as well.
And that's where you come in, yes, it's just the other cars
part or like booths or yeah. So it's not necessarily like.
Just only in the booth. You're sitting there recording
someone interacting with the fucking thing.
Yeah. No, like I'll be out here.
I've done like maybe 10 laps already just looking for assets
for our sponsors. That's so crazy.
Yeah. So when you're looking for stuff

(12:58):
that's more not just car based or unique, what what shots, what
are you trying to get for the sponsors?
A lot I personally like to give them like interactions with
stuff where like self driving the car looks really good, like
they have a super clean engine Bay like for instance, like is
Serpos like gold? I think that's cool.
I'll send that off on my go. This is safe.
Send this off to them. They'll appreciate this, Yeah,

(13:19):
stuff like that. Damn.
Yeah. All right.
So whenever you're going, I have, I have a shit load of
media questions because I do this stuff myself.
Whenever you go into an event, do are you like planning ahead
specific reels that you're goingto make or obviously there's a
long form that's going to come up the whole thing.
So I assume that's being planned, but what else are you
walking into? A day of I like to at least get

(13:41):
out of video saying where we're at and like, you know, showing
the booth and showing the first couple ways of people coming in.
That's something I like to put out first until you get people
to come into the booth, you'll see the posts and be like, oh
snap, I didn't know drift shoes here, let me go pop over just
that them seeing it on their phone and already being at the
event, they're going to be like where they at right now.
I'm going to go over to them. It's like people love the merch.

(14:03):
People love to see the activation.
You get to go out and try like things like our seats and stuff
like that and like see, like, hey, maybe I want this for my
cartoon. So just that little interaction
can get someone to purchase something and then boom, we're
making a sale right there. Did you know that any of this
was as valuable as it is until you started working for Drift
HQ? No, not at all.

(14:24):
Like I never, I wouldn't say I didn't see the value media
because I definitely do see that.
But like, I didn't see like the corporate end of it where it's
like how relations like this canhelp expand and grow.
Yeah, it's crazy how intertwinedeverything actually is.
Yes, you start getting into it. Now, if you were ever to

(14:45):
essentially not that he's going to, but branch off into your own
thing, would you now feel more confident knowing a lot more of
the inner circle and how things work and so on and so forth?
I would say so. Like I love the Drift HQ guys.
Like I don't ever see myself really leaving, but like in the
hypothetical like that, there would have to be a little bit

(15:07):
more of like a thought process until like what I would take my
journey into kind of the same thing with the wedding program.
I used to work for a wedding company for two years and in
that time of working with them, this is like during my freelance
time, I used to do a lot of gigswith them.
And so like taking all the information that I learned from
them, I started marketing and doing my own weddings, which
helped out tremendously. Weddings are insane.

(15:29):
They're a lot to shoot, but likea lot of people don't want to
shoot weddings, but they'll shoot a drift event.
Both are super long shoots and you're going to be exhausted by
both of them. Absolutely.
So it's like the money was really there with the wedding
stuff. So like, I kept into it for
that. But like, yeah, it's just kind
of thinking about like what I would personally do.
I want to do a lot more kind of like narrative or more cinematic

(15:51):
work. If I ever did anything like, you
know, separating off, I couldn'treally see myself doing like the
YouTube vlogger stuff. I would see myself more like
kind of like a crispy, Yeah, kind of like that more show
coverage kind of stuff and a little bit more narrative work.
And another big thing that I really love to see is learning

(16:12):
about certain places that you visit.
So like, I used to watch this motor Blogger, can't think of
his name off hand right now, butin California, he would go
around to different like, food spots and he would eat there.
But as he's riding out, he wouldpoint out different, like
historical places on the way outthere.
And I always found that so. That's cool.
Yeah, Yeah. So you kind of try and like.

(16:34):
Tie the history. Replicate.
Yeah. I get it, I get it.
That's so cool. I've been there so long and like
I've only like Ventured, Tampa, Orlando, Miami, but like not
other parts of Florida. So I kind of want to branch out,
move around a lot and it's same thing like North Carolina.
I used to come up here, North Carolina, to just go see my
friends and it'd be cool to likesightsee and then like do like

(16:54):
Tail the dragon. Never been out there.
No, I've lived in Tennessee my entire life and never been to
the Tail of the Dragon, so I totally get that, yeah.
It's just stuff I want to sightsee, you know, So just
like, explore the country, life is short.
Like I don't want to just say stuck in Florida.
I want to see. That I get it.
Yeah. So, well, last question on the
camera stuff. Yeah, If you were to suggest to

(17:16):
a beginner videographer a great camera setup, rig setup, what
would you suggest to buy? It depends.
So I personally went from being a Canon user to a Sony user and
it's just because I fell in lovewith the colors and I really
feel like you gotta chase the look that you want.

(17:39):
But if you were asking me if I had to redo it all again, I
would personally skip the M50. The M50 is what I started.
With two M50, no way. Yes.
Same here. Loved that camera.
It was such a simple camera to use.
Yeah, I would say if I wanted tokind of start taking things a
little serious and like be in the Sony realm already like a

(17:59):
6500 or like their newer models,that APSC line was like really
cool. And then like once you kind of
like figure out your crafting, you're like, OK, it's time for
me to get like a full frame camera.
A7S3, FX three, depending on what you're shooting, if you're
a photographer, the like A7R4A7R5, something like that.
Yeah. I wouldn't like be the person to
go to like flagship Sony and do like an A1.

(18:21):
I don't. I really want to spend that kind
of money in the camera right now.
And then like me personally, I've kind of like teetered the
idea of like a Red, like a Komodo since they dropped in
pricing. They're like 2529 something like
that now. They're that cheap now they've
dropped down. Jesus, I didn't know that A.
Little bit more affordable and then like you still have to go
and like buy canning glass, stuff like that, but a little

(18:43):
bit more affordable. Now it would really just be like
me finding the space for that size of file.
It's a massive. That's true, man.
Yeah. Even dealing with these black
magics that I'm dealing with now, stuff is.
Really good too. Oh, it's, it's fantastic.
But the like you said the file sizes are they get high up
there. Man, like I'm running in my
A7S3, I have a type A card and it's fast of reading and

(19:09):
downloading information super fast.
I've been experimenting with DCIwhich is a format shooting
format and I've been messing around with true 24 and it looks
incredible but it's such a huge file size.
Damn. Yeah.
There's always a downside to everything.
That's great. You won't.
Call it the costume, your memorycards.

(19:30):
Yeah, yeah. Man, that's awesome.
Yeah. Well.
As far as this weekend and the cars that are out there, is
there any drivers out there thathas been impressing you or like
cars that you've loved? This guy coming here right now.
It's Justin. Oh dude.
He's great. I love that guy.

(19:51):
Cool guy. I went over there because I was
like I said, I was shooting for a sponsor.
So I'm like yo, this guy is perfect.
He's got vibrating, he's got energy, he's got con side.
I mean, just shoot all of his cars and he brought out three
cars and was like. Yo did you get him on camera
too? He's like a talking to him, but
he's pretty cool. I chatted with him in person
that he's just such a cool dude.Yeah, I feel like he'd be good
on camera. Yeah, but but favorite cars, at

(20:12):
least seeing them out here, I gotta give it up to the boys at
Coreworks. Oh yeah, Greg's car.
Chris Ward, I think his name is Top Garage.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Super cool car.
Love that thing. And then, yeah, Greg's car is
super sick. He was talking to me about how
his car is set up like the end style cars you might do.
I love running end style cars, so I can understand this Bill.

(20:34):
It's so sick. That's awesome, dude.
Hell yeah. Well, I understand that you do
have an LSR 32, correct? LSR 32, It was 32.
What? Why?
Why that car? When'd you get it?
What's going to be the purpose of it?
All of that. So purpose of the car kind of
like a show drift, if anybody's like looking to like hop on and
I can do something with them like grassroots, for instance,

(20:56):
or GK tech who I'm like doing work with right now, kind of
just like demonstrate their carson a car.
That's like not a common swap. You know what I'm saying?
Like you see 32's out here, but you don't see like anything more
than like an RVJZ swap, the occasional Sr.
Which yo seeing an Sr. the 32 it's pretty.
Simple super sick. LSR 32 is kind of like a dime a

(21:18):
dozen. The Australians really did it a
lot. But like here in the States,
it's like you don't really see it.
And I have a guy named Pedro. He goes by gyms on Instagram,
gyms 32. But he's been helping me out
with the entire swap because I found his video on YouTube
originally. I'm like, OK, it doesn't look
that complex. It looks good in there.
Let's run it. Yeah, I'm gonna do it.

(21:40):
So I did a wedding in exchange for the LS by 350Z diff and
axles. And I'm like, I'm about this.
I'm going to go through and sendthe LS in there.
I've been facing some headaches that we've been like
troubleshooting, but it's going to.
Be a What are some of them? What was that?
What are some of the headaches? By U joint from the steering
column to my rack, the starter'sjust so fat that it hits the

(22:01):
starter and so I get like 180° of rotation.
That's it. So there's a company called
Hexagrage, they do a VQ swap forS chassis, and I'm getting their
U joint that they use for their starter situation as well.
So it's just a slippery unit so that you can get your full lock
and not have to worry about it. Hell yeah.
I did the GK tech extension piece because it wasn't reaching

(22:23):
because we relocated my rack andmoved it forward to try and see
if we can remedy the issue and then also get away with not
having to worry about bind. But still nothing.
The usually just a little bit too fat where you're going to
bolt it down to the rack. It's just it hits.
That mark, I get that, that's cool, though it I would agree
it's not as common of a swap that you would normally see for

(22:44):
a 32. It's going to be like, what is
that? Yeah, yeah.
Is that RB 30? No.
It sounds so weird. Do you feel like you're going to
get any hate or have gotten any hate from it?
I've gotten a little bit of hatefrom it and it's just like, why
didn't you put an RB in it? And then I look at the RB
pricing and then I looked at howmuch I got the LS for.
I'm like kind of a no brainer A.2 No, I'm going to get roasted

(23:09):
if I say that. Never mind, I'm not going to do
that. Like I did work in exchange for
parts so essentially got the motor for you can.
Think about it. That way versus spending 7 grand
mile motor that I don't know thecondition of it and then putting
that in may possibly have issues.
But if I ever did an RV build, I'm sending it straight to Lee.
Let Monster do all the work on. It unless it's never been

(23:31):
opened. If it's never been open, leave
it the fuck alone. Yes.
Put a head drain on RB. Yes, yes, yes, do that, do that.
I'm doing that, yes, doing that,but.
Head drain studs gasket. Yeah, for the day.
Oh yeah? Well, what's the plan for it
moving forward? What else is left on it?

(23:51):
All that. Stuff so currently the kit that
I bought because KE conversions are a company out in Australia
and they sell the swap kit for the car.
I ended up not using their transvalve because I'm not doing 256
so I'm doing a ZF from a 46 put that in there.
MP parts for the shifter drive shaft pro.
They did the drive shaft like I said I have a 350Z diff in there

(24:15):
and then S14 subframe. So my drivetrain's basically
intact besides putting my angle kit on, and my arms are for the
for the rear. But shit, yeah, like.
I say it's just a tuna way, no? No, no, I wish.
I really wish. I'm just completing the systems
right now. So I already completed cooling,
did everything for that. So radiators and fans are in,

(24:36):
steam port's done. Yeah, I'm moving on to oil.
Just got my oil cooler kit done once That's kind of all saying
complete. I gotta worry about my gas tank
because rust is a thing with ourchassis.
Yeah, of course. The car sat outside for a good
like 2-3 years so when I got thecars at shell it was already

(24:58):
like disgusting it. Was resting, falling.
Apart and it being outside, justwater heat, it does its thing.
It's Florida. Of course.
Quickly SO. Can't help it.
No. Damn.
So find a tank solution. Hopefully I'll be back up on the
road quicker than expected. But we got Josh over at the
compound. He's our fiberglass guy and he

(25:19):
wants to try and take a crack atit.
So if he can get it done and I don't have to worry about buying
a tank. Mint.
Yeah, dude, that's so good. Hell yeah.
Yeah, cuz like, dude, buying a GTR tank, it's so expensive and
then like I don't want to leak what else I'm going to do.
And then it's like, I don't wantthose tanks to go up in price,
but the other tank solution I'm going to do is kind of a direct
swap. Some modifications are needed,

(25:40):
but I could do that. But I'm still worrying about
rust because they're also another metal tank, yeah.
So and not going fuel cell. No I don't want to cut up the
car. My buddy just did all the work
on the car from all the rust remedy to everything else and
painted my trunk as well. I'm like, I don't want to cut
his work just yet if this thing gets smashed up.
I think it's so hilarious that you want to respect the car just

(26:04):
enough to not put a fuel cell init but not put the RV back in
it. Sorry I had to call you out for.
That it's all good. It's.
All good. Yeah.
No, I think that's. Cool RV you think it's like back
in like 2018 pricing like 25103 grand?
I would have done that all. Right, right.
I love the sound of an RBI thinkthey sound amazing, especially
working with Lee from Mazda. Bro, the R34 amazing car and

(26:29):
then the when he had the E 92, the RB30, the RB 32 because it's
choked out thing sounds amazing.So it's like I can't I can't
doubt the RBS are great. Like I just did what got handed
in my in my plate, you know? That's fair.
No, I totally get it. Yeah, I think it'll be a good
car either way. Oh yeah, it's gonna.
Be fun. It's gonna be a fun little

(26:50):
routing car. It's a 5 three.
It's got a single turbo. My buddy JP, he works at mass
Work so he's been doing all the fabrication work on it.
Sig Yeah. Hell yeah, man.
Well, I'm excited to see it. Yeah.
No, you have to get it out theresoon.
Yeah, but let's talk about some SIM stuff.
Yes. So obviously you're doing a lot
with SIM HQ. Let me just break down what

(27:11):
would your suggestion of a full SIM rig setup be?
Full SIM rig. So are we talking motion or non
motion? Non motion.
Keep it a simple rig, even non motion monitors, no VR.
Someone trying to get into it orsomeone that's like already kind
of like drifted a little bit andthey're like, OK, I want to hop
in and just do this. Do both.
Both. OK, so if you're looking at it

(27:33):
from like a budget standpoint and you kind of want to get in
Alpha Mini P500 pedals, the DS8 shifter and then the TB one
handbrake, it's like the prime like starter setup and then
figuring out your base. A lot of people don't have the
room for like a big base setup. Yeah.
So it's like you can do like thesmaller version track racer and

(27:55):
it's it's it's small enough you can do like the the curve 49
inch screen and be fine with that.
But, like, if you don't have theroom and all you're using is
just your desk, we have the little mouse to put the Alpha
Mini on, like, a desk mount. Yeah.
So you can do that. It really depends on, like, your
situation in space. But moving up, like, if you're
like, OK, I'm already serious about drifting.

(28:15):
And I kind of want to, like, keep advancing my skills or,
like, I want to practice a trackbefore I get there.
And I want to feel like I'm in my car.
P-1000 pedals, either an Alpha Mini or an Alpha U depending on
what you want feedback wise. Yeah, I feel like Alpha U
because I want all that detail and just being able to
experience both. I really enjoy the Alpha Mini,

(28:36):
but if I can afford the Alpha U I'm gonna do that.
So, okay, the Alpha Mini though,that is a fairly new yeah base,
right? Like it's, it's just hit the
market this year. Right.
No, it's, I think it's been out for a little bit.
Oh, OK. It's been out for a little bit.
We there's a a product that we can't talk about yet because
stuff is still going. On right, right but.

(28:57):
It should be coming into the market and hitting more of that
like budget kind of area. So there's something.
To keep an eye out for. That'll be cool.
Yeah, that's crazy, man. SIM stuff is really impressing.
Impressing me just as far as notall.
I've said it a million times, but what drivers it's breeding,
but for me alone, just I got it just simply because I felt

(29:18):
behind not being able to practice tracks before I got
there and stuff. So that's been the biggest thing
for me is just being able to do that and small little details.
Dude, it's. Crazy.
For me the SIM stuff kind of started out.
It was like I had a little Logitech G920 and I used to play
with that. Like I had the little desk
thing, like you screwed up in there and had the little pedal

(29:41):
set in the shifter. And I was playing Forza at the
time. I didn't really take Sims so
seriously and I was like, this is cool.
I grew out of it because I was like, I don't really get the
feel I want. So my buddy ended up buying a
Moza and he was like, yo, you got to come try out a set of
Corsa and you got to try out my new SIM.
And I'm like, OK, cool, let me go over there.

(30:01):
And I tried it here and there and I'm like, it's cool.
I fell in love with a Seto, but I wasn't in love with the bass
and then. What was it about that bass?
I think detail, a little bit of the detail and feedback I was
just not 100% happy with ever since trying the SIM magic
stuff, I'm like, this is as close as I can really get to a
real car. And kind of having like proof of

(30:25):
that was we went to a spot called the compound, not like
the LZ compound, but we call it the compounds in South Florida.
Yeah. And my coworker John, he was
like, you've been on the SIM long enough.
You want to like, try my car? And I'm like, are you serious
right now? Sure it is.
Started driving. I'm like dude, his car kind of
feels like a BDC car and this iscrazy.
No way. Yeah, and I'm like muscle memory

(30:47):
feeling like I'm in the SIM. I'm like, yo, this is so sick.
Like the transition because I was more when I had my cars, it
was just like I used to just go do Donuts, a little burnouts.
I never took anything serious. But like taking the SIM stuff
serious 1st and then going to a car, like his car that already
has FDF and he's already set up.I'm like yo, this feels like
second nature. Why do you think the adaptation

(31:08):
from SIM to real driving is so much easier than starting in a
car first? I think that you get the hand
eye coordination and you get thevisual cues off the rib from the
SIM versus you being a real driver and having to not rely on
G force and the visuals. But like you feel your car more
when you're in your actual car. So you kind of feel out where

(31:31):
the track is, how how much grip,how much slip that you feel
through your tires as you're driving.
And then you compensate through that, like moving over, you lose
all the G force unless you have emotions, you lose all the G
force and you're like, OK, now Ikind of got to readapt and like
learn where my transition. Points are, yeah.
Because, like, you'll know in the track, all right, I'm going
to send it here. And I feel this little bike

(31:51):
there. Then like, you're on the SIM and
like, OK, I don't know where that bike points at anymore.
Yeah. Now you got to learn the visual
cues of that map. That's that's a great way to
explain it, actually. I always just say like, it's
this, you're taking away your most important senses for
driving. So it's like, that's what messes
you up. Yeah.

(32:11):
I think that it trains you a little bit more to kind of be
like responsive in where you're looking, especially if you're
running like a triple monitor setup.
You're already constantly looking.
Or the guys who do VR, yeah, like I can do VR that it'll get
me a. Second, yeah, I can't either.
Yeah, I like the triples. I like to just naturally turn my
head and look at the screens. Yeah, VR gets me a little bit
motion. So, OK, then why triples versus

(32:32):
just say a very, very large curved monitor?
I just like it kind of like surrounding me because like when
we have our triples at the compound, they're like.
It's like more of a submersive feeling.
Field of view, you know what I'msaying?
Like the 49 inch. I think you're getting to like
about here. I don't know if like.
On Yeah. Well, but like about here and
like I feel like I'm kind of looking more forward and when

(32:53):
I'm running the single, I kind of like the like the neck
effects on. So like the head motions going
yeah, versus like no head motiontriple screen and I'm looking
where I want to go. I could definitely see that
being better Yeah, I've got to try that yeah, when I come to
Orlando single screen or trouble.
Well, right now I'm just using. I'm waiting on y'all to finish

(33:14):
my rig. So Speaking of.
Yeah. We're waiting on some stuff to
show up, that's what it is. But yeah, I'm just working with
AG 29, the PlayStation version of the Logitech.
Whatever, same shit. So you've been on that?
Just on a normal TV screen. Dude, you gotta like record
yourself with like a Gopher or something like your first

(33:34):
initial reaction driving with the alpha mini or what did you
get alpha mini or alpha you? I honestly have no idea what
they put in it. OK so say whichever base you got
does your honest reaction between the two and put that up
because bro it's a night and daydifference.
You go from a belt driven wheel I'm excited to a direct drive
and you're just like yo the amount of force is insane.

(33:56):
I can potentially like flip myself like this.
Torque yeah I just told Chris I was like dude, I don't I need
one that is just simple yeah compact as possible.
I don't know enough about SIM stuff, so like just.
You just want. To get put what you think is
best on it. I'm cool with that.
Yeah. And that's what he did.

(34:17):
So depending on your pedal set too.
I mean, if you got like the P-1000, especially like the
hydraulic stuff, yeah, it feels insane.
Like the brake force is crazy. I'm excited.
Throttle and clutch response. Like you don't feel like you're
driving a car with like an on off.
It's all active. It just feels so good.
That'll be like the rumble motors or like the haptics in

(34:38):
it. You turn that on and you can
feel the vibration of the punch.Yeah.
So you you get a bike point, dude, that's cool.
Mess around with Simpro. Like once you get it like drive
the car's stock I got. Your number now I'm just going
to call you. Yeah, just call.
Me, I'll help. You set that up, I'm going to
bug the shit out of you. Try really experimenting with
your setup because like we can give you what to put in just to

(34:59):
get started. Yeah, when it comes down to you
of like, OK, my car drives like this, let me change this tune a
little bit in Simpro or in the game to feel a little bit more
like my car. That's crazy.
OK, I'll do that. Yeah, symptoms really, really,
really important. Like mess around with it, Dial
in the settings the way that youfeel like will help you advance
in real life driving. Just rock with it.

(35:20):
Awesome. Yeah, All right.
I'll definitely test that out. And I guess last thing I got for
you is just what is your advice to anyone and getting into
media, whether it's SIM stuff orwhether it's drifting in
general? Drifting in general, media,
everything. If you're passionate about it,
go for it. Like there's nothing stopping

(35:41):
you. Like I said earlier, life is
short. Experience everything that you
can now and just keep your mind to it.
Cuz if you don't like stay focused in your craft, whatever
it may be, you're not gonna achieve it. 100%.
And there's so many people that go out and trying to like, oh,
this didn't work out, I'm just going to give up.
No, you take the knockdown because we've all faced it.
No matter if you're a big company, small company, someone

(36:04):
just starting something like if you're becoming pro or moving to
this level that's so high, you're going to get knocked down
a lot. It's like learning to roll with
the punches and just keep movingforward.
Absolutely love the way you saidthat.
That was great. All right, dude.
Well, I appreciate you stopping by.
Always welcomed on, of course. This was really cool.
He gave a different perspective to it so.

(36:25):
We got to do this, but like driving on The Sims and like
dude. That's it, we'll do that.
That'll be super sick. I should be down for FD Orlando.
So I think the rig should be ready then too as well.
So hopefully I can just do it online and you can be on it.
And then we got to get you with the with the car packs too, like

(36:45):
all the car packs. Like if you need maps, car
packs, you just go straight to our website and download
everything. Literally everything like one
stop shop, by the way yeah, how obviously I'm I'm working with
some HQ, but like anybody can just call up and be like I need
help me build this yes. OK, we'll point you in the right
direction as long as it's like, you know what you're trying to

(37:08):
set up through us. So like if you don't have like
the greatest information on likethe bases, like what to choose
and stuff like that, we'll help you.
You know what I'm saying? Like especially with pedals, I
feel like pedals and like steering wheels is very
important because it's like whatstyle of driving you can do
because not a lot of people buy a SIM to go out and drift people
like you've seen today driving SR3 cars.
Yeah, look at Nate Hamilton, he's practicing on our SIM as

(37:30):
well. And it's like it helps you get
that seat time. It helps you focus and dial in
for something like this when you're trying to podium and you
want to keep like beating your time and like advancing.
And he's, they're proving it. We just talked to TJ too.
They're fucking proving it. Dude was P8.
I. Don't know where he's at today
because I haven't stopped by yet, but yeah, you know, just
said stuff like he's out here, he's new to it, he's killing it.

(37:52):
So crazy. And just keep practicing.
You can't deny the benefit, that's 100% true.
Exactly. So like any motorsport, you want
to do rally, you want to do timeattack like this drifting, like
get the seat time in the SIM. You don't have to destroy your
car off the RIP. You know, you get a real life
car, you can hit respond. I don't know if you can do that
in real life. I haven't figured it out yet, so

(38:14):
I don't know. If someone figures it out, let
me know because I'd love to know.
It's great. But yeah, bro, you can destroy
your car as much as you want in a game.
I don't know if you want to do that for your pockets in real
life. So it's like, do it on the SIM,
get good, go do it in real life,have fun.
Absolutely, dude. Well, really appreciate it, man.
Thanks for taking the time and Iguess have a good rest of your

(38:34):
weekend. Thanks.
Dude, I appreciate it you. Appreciate it, dude.
Oh yeah, Let's take a break fromthe podcast real quick.
Winter build season is finally here and let's just say if
you're still rocking the stock steering wheel, that has to
change. I wanted to team up with Grip
Oil on this and bring you guys some very clean and simple
grassroots Euro steering wheels.And trust me, it won't be just

(38:58):
so lousy. One or two different style
steering wheels. So if you consider yourself
grassroots and you want to support the podcast by grabbing
one of the Grip Oil collab wheels, customize it to the way
you and your car are, make it match.
Make your car look good? Go grab a steering wheel.
Get back to the podcast. Nature's on this time.
You guys have obviously seen himbefore on a previous episode,

(39:20):
but how are we doing this weekend, man?
How are you? How are things going?
Great. Yeah, it's great seeing you
again. And luckily this time I didn't
get stuck in in Nashville, I guess.
Oh yeah, I remember that every night.
That was crazy, dude. I can't believe I didn't get off
that plane for like 8 hours. Yeah, you're stuck on the tarmac
for 8:00. Hours, I know.
I think I was like losing my mind because I didn't have
anything to eat like all day anyway.

(39:41):
So luckily we're like, not in the winter now.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But no, it's great being out
here at Great Life again. And last year was the first time
I came out to this track, and it's just amazing that you can
go like 100. And I actually broke.
So I broke my record from last year which was 122, this year
127 into the King which was likeinsane.
Let's turn one right down the street.

(40:02):
No, no, down the street I'm going like 112.
I think it's like the the back way over there.
It's like 127. Yeah.
So that was that's pretty nice. Definitely like really scary to
do because I just like don't lift the entire time.
But how do you still have gear lift?
I no, I like definitely I can feel like power like like over

(40:22):
the power curve. Yeah, You know what I mean?
Because I think I'm like last year my Rev limiter was at 6500
RPMS. This year I think I'm hitting it
at like a 6700 RPMS and like that extra 200 RPMS.
It just kind of like falls flat a little bit.
Yeah, because we're already at peak power, peak torque I think
by then, so. Is that not scary coming into
turn? It's like you have no ass behind

(40:44):
it. No, yeah, I mean, luckily I'm
not, I am being like a little cautious, but it's kind of weird
like when you're that high in the RPMS, you can't really
clutch kick because there's no there's nowhere to go.
So it's just going really fast, pulling the handbrake and then
making sure you're not over rotating.
Because I think if I do go off, I'm probably going to do like a
several barrel rolls and it won't be a good time for sure.

(41:04):
You know what I mean? And I definitely had like a code
Brown moment earlier this today.Oh no.
Oh yeah, it was wild. So I was, I did, I was doing
back ease yesterday into turn 1,which is super fun.
And you know, the way I approachthat, it's just like try to
undershoot it a little bit everytime and then kind of push that
start point a little bit furtherback, if that makes sense versus

(41:26):
the other way to do it, which isjust a way overshoot it and
possibly end up in the barriers or whatever we.
Don't want to do. That no, but today I went like
just full out. I was like, all right, let's go
faster than I have been like let's carry some speed through
the like last turn into the leadup or whatever, and then I went
like I think I did like a 180 and then I was like I was like,
oh, this is like 2 backwards. And then I got on the grass and

(41:47):
then I my tire, the tire barriers were to the right and
luckily I yanked the wheel to the left and like just saved it
like kind of through the skin ofmy teeth.
It was like fine, no damage, no,nothing.
But like it was, yeah, they theykind of told me to like calm it
down a little bit, but I don't think I want to do that
honestly. No, yeah, you can't make me
call. What are you talking about?
I mean that's literally the onlyreason you come to this event,
right? For the the road course.

(42:08):
Yeah, exactly. I mean, like that's the fun part
about it. And you know, I definitely see
others. It's scary.
I mean, I most people they kind of lift, they either don't do
that really fast turn that I wastalking about earlier or they
lift way before the turn starts.And like, I get it, it is scary,
but I'm here to like push myselfand like, I know it's possible
to do it. It just kind of requires for you

(42:29):
to dig deep and like, you know, look for those balls that are
somewhere in your pants. You know what I mean?
Like or or not if you know to all the the women.
Driving True. Obviously you have more balls
out there than most people driving that course.
So you know when you drive a grid life on a road course, you
get stuck in a traffic jam quiteoften, so how are you even

(42:49):
getting a full lap? I feel like there aren't that
many people here today where that has been a problem.
I will like, so we'll air to thesafe side of things.
If I see somebody even kind of like at the start of where I
would enter from, like especially on that long straight
away, I just like will call thatoff because it's definitely not
worth it to like run up on somebody them not expect me to

(43:10):
be there going that fast. Do you know what I mean?
So, you know, that's fine. But for the corners, like the
first turn where it's blind, youknow what I mean?
Sometimes last year there was anissue where like the car kind of
popped out of nowhere after I'd already started my initiation.
And that was really scary. And I hesitated for a second and
it was all right. Yeah.
But it was like a Oh my God, dude.

(43:32):
Like this is not good. So luckily I think it's been,
it's been smoother this year. So I haven't, you know, had to
kind of worry about that. But I will tend to probably
drive faster or just stay behindsomebody if you know, I want to
chase and stuff like that, right?
You know, it's in your opinion what is track etiquette out
there with something as big as this scale and like good of

(43:53):
drivers so on. I think something that's
difficult for Drifters out on road courses is they don't don't
necessarily have that full training of how to drive like a
road course normally. Do you know what I mean?
Gotcha. So this year it's been pretty
good. Like you need to definitely stay
off the racing line and you needto maintain speed.

(44:13):
So even if you're going on the straight away, like I've
definitely been to events not here, well, even last year here,
maybe like people will be driving in the middle of the
road going like 5045. Do you know what I mean?
And it's like, you don't even gothis slow on a highway.
You're like, what are you doing?What are you?
Doing. Do you?
Know what I mean? So it's like even if I'm not
drifting, unless like my tires blown up or something, I'm still

(44:33):
going 8090, I don't know, it's probably pretty fast.
Yeah, you know, but like stayingoffline, checking the mirrors,
that's another thing that you always have to do.
Just make sure like you're out of somebody's way and like when
you're not drifting, just pull off to the side where somebody's
not going to be, you know, entering in and whatever.
And then it's smooth. But it's just when you have
people that are kind of in the middle of the road or like, oh,
I need a cool down lap going like 20 miles an hour, it's

(44:56):
like, well, that's not even. That's not cooling anything.
Yeah, the. Air is not getting into your
radiator to, you know, actually cool anything.
So like you're probably just better off like pulling off to
the side, right? And like, you know, relaxing
that or whatever, you know what I mean?
So yeah, it it can be interesting though, for sure,
depending on who is out on trackand what skill levels are out
there. I honestly am not Yeah.

(45:17):
I mean, I think Grid Life this year has implemented an
interesting way of registering where you had to sign up for a
competition license. So I think that actually, I
mean, it's unfortunate there's like another fee you have to pay
on top of whatever, but I think that fee discourages people that
may not be up to par on their skill level.
And so, you know, if you're, if you're serious, then you will

(45:39):
pay the fee, I guess. And then that kind of lends
itself to having a higher quality of driver.
Maybe maybe that's why they did it.
I have no idea why they did it. Honestly, I was a little
surprised and not super happy with it that now I have to pay
an additional fee for like not even and it doesn't it's not
like it counts towards a discount of, you know, track
day, whatever. So you know, I you know, I look

(46:00):
from their standpoint, I understand why they did it.
It seems to be helping from a traffic standpoint, like on out
on track. So you know, it is what it is.
It's fine. I'm here to shred.
So let's let's do it. You know what I mean?
I do. I do like the concept of making
it a little bit more. What's the word like inclusive

(46:22):
or exclusive whatever I'm tryingto say well.
Those are two different, sorry. Yeah, exclusive, exclusive, but.
Yeah, but again, I don't like the idea of tacking on another
price. I know that sucks but.
I feel like they could do that without, like they could
definitely vet heavy, like, you know, club loose where I drive
up in New Jersey, Yeah. I'd like to see it more like

(46:44):
Drift Appalachians. Yeah, very good style.
Where it's a vet it's more directly vetting to a specific
driver. There's no real application
based type deal, it's just you're just invited or you're
not. Yeah, exactly.
But. That's cool.
Well, is this the only good lifethat you do usually?
So, yeah, I think this year I'm gonna try to do Lime Rock as

(47:04):
well. The one in Connecticut.
Yeah, it's, you know, there's some scheduling conflicts for
the ones in the Midwest that so unfortunately don't.
I know at least one of them, like I can't go to just because
of another event that's like on the same weekend.
But yeah, they're pretty fun. I mean, it definitely reminds me
of Hyperfest. Have you been to Hyperfest yet?
I have not yet. Are you gonna go to this every
single time it conflicts with something else I need to be at

(47:27):
got it. So more than likely I won't be
able to, but I I want to. Yeah, I mean, like, these events
are a lot of fun. There's lots of people, lots of
stuff going on and. And I kind of like how this is a
little bit tamer than Hyper Fest.
Hyper Fest can be a little hectic just with people.
This is a very mellow grid. Life.

(47:47):
OK, Yeah. This is as mellow as grid life
gets. OK, got it.
That makes a lot of sense. Yeah.
So I mean, these events are super fun, but I do love
competing, you know what I mean?So I kind of like that format
more because I feel like I have something that I'm aiming for
driving wise, if that makes any sense.
Whereas here, yeah, I'm like outhere messing around and I am

(48:07):
trying to like go out and like best, you know, the things that
I've worked on, you know, on andoff track or whatever.
But it's not like the same like level of motivation that
competition kind of brings for me, if that makes any.
Sense I get that Yeah, well how do you find the balance in
running a program because obviously you can't bank off of

(48:28):
competition based sponsorship stuff like you have to implement
some of these types of events I'm sure well, I think it's.
Like good to have a mix, right? So it's not just about
competition, It's not just aboutdoing these to me.
Like I like being able to go back and forth and do both.
And in some ways I'm actually using this weekend to test for
next weekend, which is the gambler last year won the 2:30

(48:52):
last year won the 235 championship and we'll work on
defending my title this year. And so it's the RX7's first time
out since last September when I had this like crazy diff blow up
issue. So basically I broke the
opinion. But then when that happened, it
decided to RIP the entire diff out.
The subframe axles are gone, Dr.shafts gone, subframes like

(49:15):
gone. That's like the most expensive
incident that I've ever had. And I didn't even crash the car,
you know what I mean? It was like I don't know what
happened. This is at Summit point.
I was just out there testing. We had just put a new clutch in
a clutch masters FX-1000 and yeah, I don't know what
happened. Like I went from I was like mid
drift 2nd to 3rd and when I wentto 3rd I just hear this bang

(49:35):
like immediate. I was like, OK, probably broke
the DIF. And then as I'm like chugging
along trying to get off the track or whatever, I like feel I
like make the turn off the trackand do like an escape Rd.
Then I feel my car like run overor something.
Get out of the car. No, yeah, get out of the car.
And then like 50 feet behind me is like Dick.
And I was like, how did that even happen?

(49:56):
Dude? It was.
Nuts, that was. So dude, yeah, that was last
September and then over the offseason we did a 488 DIF kit,
but that company that makes it was pretty bad in timing.
Like we ordered it in September,didn't show up until December
and then they sent the wrong brackets.
So it didn't really get to us until like January.

(50:17):
Jerry Yang did a great job at putting that kit together.
We also replaced the trans because the old dog box was
blown up a bit so and it's seen some abuse and over the years
and Jericho I guess doesn't haveparts available for them anymore
and it was a Jericho Hightower dog box.
And so we ended up going to AG Force now and then.

(50:39):
The biggest upgrade though for this car is working with Haltech
to implement their Rebel LSECU as well as their PDM and then
the EC10 dash. So.
What is the benefit of those? It's just having going from,
it's really focused on reliability and driveability.
I would say so yeah. The previous iteration of that
car was just stock computer HP tuners.

(51:02):
The cold start was well, cold and hot start.
Hot start actually was OK. The cold start was terrible.
The car had always just stall like bringing off the trailer.
It was really annoying and I felt like there was no way to
like datalog as well was. That E85.
No, it wasn't just 93 palm 93. So with the full stand alone,
the hall tech rebel, it's reallygreat.

(51:22):
I mean it comes with a terminated wiring harness and an
ECU for like 1500 bucks, which Imean, back in the day when I did
like a Jay-Z swap in my E30, I think I spent like close to 1500
bucks on this hack job of a wire, you know what I mean?
But like no, it was like missingan alternator plug like one of
the, the wire from the MAP sensor to the ECU was separated.
So it was like breaking up all the time couldn't figure it out.

(51:43):
I was like, well, the map sensorlooks like it's there and like
trying to find a, a MAP sensor for A1J, you know what I mean?
Like didn't come in this country.
So I think I found one and like no, it didn't work.
You know, it didn't change anything.
I was like, Oh my, I remember that drove me nuts.
So it's cool how easy it has gotten to swap, you know, your
car now versus this is probably like 12-13 years ago or

(52:04):
something like that. Yeah.
And yeah. So anyway, the LS like that ECU
combined with the PDM, it's justmore of a a new fresh way of
wiring stuff together versus like the classic fuse box and
fuses and that kind of thing. It gives you more control and
has like that nice Cam keypad which matches my other car

(52:24):
because like the 86 has another ECU and then can keep that and
all of that. And then the dash of slay is
really nice. Like it does look on the in car
stuff. It looks huge and it is, but at
the same time when I like glancedown at the dash.
It's so much. More convenient, I can actually
like. See, you can distinguish stuff
better, it doesn't blend. Because before it was just a

(52:44):
bunch of like old gauges and stuff and like those are fine,
but you know, I wouldn't look atit at it until after the run.
Concentrate too much to. Actually see it, but since it's
so big, like it's easy to see everything there.
So it's been really great working with Hall Tech and we've
just finished that like 11:00 PMthe night before Red Life.
So then we got 4 hours of sleep,drove from Jerry's in Atlanta to

(53:08):
here. So that was 4 hours and we made
it so. Well, at least you made it.
There you go. It seems like the car's been
ripping too. It has, yeah.
Everything's been great. We've adjusted the tune a little
bit to just dial it in, you knowwhat I mean?
Like it was kind of bogging in 3rd, which was a little weird.
And it's also weird having a different trans and different
gear set as well. Fair.

(53:28):
So like the car is definitely like I'm adjusting to driving
the car with, you know, versus the old transmission versus the
new new transmission and all that.
But yeah, the car feels really dialed in now.
We're just kind of fine tuning different, like little things
like I wanted the fans to come on after the car shuts off to be
able to like have it cool a little bit.
Yeah. It's.
Iron block still Sorry, it's an iron block.

(53:49):
It's actually aluminum so it's an LS1 5 seven liter with a Cam
385 wheel. Nothing.
Crazy. And but the other car, the other
the pro car is getting a dart block and nitrous.
So we're getting rid of the entire supercharger set up for
reliability and weight savings too.
So we had an issue with the well, we've had issues with the

(54:10):
supercharger ever since it got put on the car.
But last year the rock got stuckin the belt at Utah and
definitely like killed my confidence in practice because
the car was driving on like halfthe as it was supposed to.
I didn't drive well in practice,didn't drive well in the
competition and felt for like the third year in a row got ton
of understeer in at Utah becausethe turns are so long and it

(54:32):
yeah. So it's sort of like, all right,
well, let's try to take some weight savings off the front.
Let's I like the power. I want to make the same, if if
not more. Yeah.
And so you know the NALS blocks don't really last past 700
horsepower. So that's why we went with a
dart block and then Wiseco Pistons, GE piston rings, manly

(54:53):
crank and rods and dart heads aswell and with like a Holly high
R.E.M. Intake in the nitrous express
nitrous system, so. That'll be an animal.
Yeah. So that'll be really
interesting. I haven't driven a car with
nitrous before but really looking forward to.
I think that'll suit your driving style a little better
anyways. Yeah, I mean, I, I do like the

(55:15):
NA setup in this car. The supercharger is is great,
but sometimes I feel like it blows the tires off the car a
little too easily. You know what I mean?
I. From an outsider perspective,
when you post a lot of in car footage, so watching you drive
the RX7 versus the FD car, it's so much more fun watching the
RX7 like you're actually drivingthe piss out of it rather than

(55:37):
you know, just kind of guiding the FD car, right.
With as much as you know you, you probably wish you could beat
the shit out of that car. You can't.
It's just not that type of car. Yeah, I mean, I feel like it's
just something that also has to do with comfort behind the car,
right? Even though I've had the like
the 86 for longer than the RX7, I drive it a lot less.

(55:59):
I did try to change that towardsthe end of last year when after
I blew up the RX7, I ended up driving to Atlanta, getting the
86 and then going to the Gamblerfor the final round.
And then I ended up with a perfect event, qualified first
and won the thing and then won the championship.
So that was like a dream come true out out of like that
horrible story earlier. Like at least it paid off in
some way. Absolutely.
And then having that car with methe rest of the year, I ended up

(56:22):
going to like Drift Nirvana for 100 Drifters of December.
It was like practicing Backeys through like one of the corners
on main, which is really fun. So I was like trying to beat the
crap out of the car And just again, it's always good to get
practice out of or when I can. With that being said, it's like
such an expensive car to run. It's like, really painful.
Also when you're like, by yourself without a crew running

(56:45):
that car, you have to come in and refuel and change tires
after like a minute and 1/2 or two minutes of driving.
It's just like, Oh my God, I just did this.
Like, yeah. It's all crazy.
Yeah, I know. It's just like, you know what,
All right, I like showed up. It's like, oh, I showed up with
10 tires, that's good for like 5laps, you know what I mean?
And like, all right. Or, you know, 10 laps, whatever
it is. So, so yeah, it's it's just

(57:08):
tough to get practice in that thing.
And that's kind of where you rely on the simulator to to try
to make up for that. What so I know we talked a
little bit last time about you having a completely different
chassis and set up for a seat time car rather than your comp
car and you didn't really plan on doing, you know, an 86.
Would that even help honestly? Because I mean like to do an LSA

(57:31):
basic LS swap 86 and like it would be somewhat the same, but
is it really? I would say, I mean, I look, I
think between the RX7 and the 86.
I think they both drive very similarly.
Both are front rack. Both have you know, a big angle
kit that is well, one has wise fab.
The other is a custom angle kit.But you know, as long as you can

(57:51):
get them to drive similarly, like I don't think it would
necessarily help that if I had like a clone of my 86 but with
less power, I guess, or maybe itwould be better.
But you know, when it came to a cost thing, the RX7 was more
cost effective. Ironically, it was just.
The. Circumstances of that deal, the
circumstances of that deal were just so that it made a, it was

(58:14):
like the only car that made sense.
Like I think there was another like LS386 that somebody had
built with Wise Fab that was going to be like 35 or $40,000.
Yeah. And then the RX7 I paid like 25
for. So, you know, it was like, fuck,
it was honestly a kind of a friend deal that I got.
Obviously it has to be. There's no sane minded human

(58:36):
being is just going to sell thatto a stranger.
But I mean, it's look, it's not perfect.
Like, the Tour is definitely torn up a little bit from when
the DIF kept smacking it, you know what I mean?
And it's a full race car, right?So it doesn't have, like any of
the amenities that, you know, a normal FD streetcar would have.
Yeah, which is fine, but it's sick.
You know what little amenities there were, Features and stuff.

(58:58):
Right. I guess you know carpet, you
know, sound windows, I guess. I mean it has fiberglass doors.
That's that's probably like the coolest thing.
About Bob of headlights? Nope.
Well I got rid of those I have like the.
Oh yeah, that's right. Yeah, actually it came with no
headlights. It had like covers.
Oh, gross. So yeah, I really like the
sleek, the R.E.M. EMEA knock off.
Like, yeah, those are good. Yeah, those are.

(59:19):
Those are super. Cool.
I love it. Hell yeah, dude.
Well, what's the plan for FD this year?
Like, what are you? What do you have going on?
Yeah. So really excited to continue
working with Moroso and on the new engine program.
Yeah, and Nitrous Express and race winning brands, which owns
all of those companies like DartManly, the Wiseco and JE piston.

(59:40):
So all those companies together along with Haltech actually too
they they own that one as well. So we're you know, that's like
the big plan for this year is tochange the motor setup on the 86
and then the ECU was the big item on the RX7.
Other than that, you know, we'lldo pro spec, we'll do the
gambler, we'll do a couple of grid lifes and and then other

(01:00:02):
events like All American Week demo at Fort Bragg, which is
really cool with the veterans Trust did that last year.
And you know, it's really just trying to build upon what we've
done in terms of results and to keep going and to keep
progressing. That's always kind of the goal
that I strive to. And you know, like last year I
did improve. I think I've improved every year

(01:00:24):
in FD ranking wise, which is great, but I would like to
improve a couple more spots thisyear.
Of course. Yeah.
Why wouldn't you? Yeah.
Oh yeah. Well, as far as FD goes and some
of the changes they've made thisyear, what is your opinion on
like the whole petitioning thing?
Like being if you're so low in the bracket you got a petition
to be back in, how did that sit with a lot of people?

(01:00:46):
So they did that has like that has been the way it's worked for
a while. I like how they cut the pro spec
cars down from like 46 or 40. I think of it they were up to 48
at one point last year like thatwas.
I know it's just too many honestly because like our
practice like pro gets way more practice than we do.
Too many people with blue balls.Yeah, so I like how they cut the

(01:01:10):
number down to 40. You know, the point system is
interesting. I'll you know, I'll let them
like that's fine. If they want to change the rules
like a little bit and you know, make the way the points are
fine. Like whatever.
The way the seating bracket works is kind of weird though,
like noticing after pro. Like I think Stookie is now
ranked 5th or something like that because he won the seating

(01:01:32):
bracket and then I think he won one battle to top 16, so you got
into top 16. So I feel like they that point
system is a little wonky and nothing against Dookie.
I think he's a great guy. We did compete once and I did
win, which was awesome, but I will.
Just throw that out. There, but it is kind of weird
how like, OK, you win the seating bracket, you only have
to win one battle and suddenly you're like top five in points,

(01:01:53):
right? And like, will that happen next
time? No, but it is just kind of like
a wonky weird, I don't know if you change the numbers, if it
makes any sense or yeah, I don'tknow what to like.
They're they should incentivize seeing brackets perform and not
just bow out like they did last year.
And some battles, you know, depending on what like, oh, if I
draw, if I win this battle, I draw James Dean.

(01:02:14):
If I forfeit, then I don't draw James Dean.
You know what I mean? I think there was that.
Kind of thing going on, just tooblack and white.
Yeah. So I don't know, I think there's
probably still like they change stuff every year, so maybe
they'll revisit the points if itworks well, then maybe they
won't. Yeah, it's too early to tell.
Just, I just noticed something like that after one event,
seemed a little odd to me. Do you know what I mean?
But then like the other changes of like cycling drivers through,

(01:02:38):
I don't know, you know what I think the biggest thing I'm
disappointed in is their focus on international drivers that
don't show up because they have.What do you mean?
40 spots allocated for Pro goinginto this year and now they have
33 drivers because they had several people back out.
So it's just a little weird. I mean, it's like, you know,

(01:02:58):
we're not an international series from like from an event
standpoint or sponsor standpoint.
So why would you? I mean, and I get it, there's
fans like they do. Like playing the game.
All these international drivers do have fan bases and obviously
my teammates are international drivers, so I love them of
course. But.
I'm more so talking about the ones that don't show up right.
Like that really does hurt the sport when you have 33 drivers

(01:03:21):
in a series that should be 40, if that makes any sense.
Yeah, Do you know what I mean? I certainly get that.
So I would like to see them maybe not like, you know, it's
like, all right, well, if you actually can show up, then like
you should show up. But if you're going to, I don't
know what what? Was the reasoning for that.
You don't have to name their names or anything, but like what
was the reasoning for them not? I mean, I think it probably

(01:03:43):
comes down to money is what I'm guessing.
I don't know all story. I know a couple of stories and I
don't know everybody that, you know, was supposed to do it and
backed out. I don't, I don't know every
single one. But I have like seen that it
came down to budgets. And this year with, you know,
the uncertainty in the market and the tariffs and like all
this crazy stuff, Like I have directly heard from several

(01:04:06):
business, from companies and partners that it's harder to
expand or even continue the samelevel of support that I've been
fortunate, fortunate enough to receive in previous years.
Yeah. And yeah, it really sucks.
Like, it's unfortunate. That everyone's like.
You know, the reality that we live in, and I can understand
that's like, you know, an issue.But at the same time, if you're

(01:04:29):
coming from overseas, I feel like you need to have your
budget set like way far in advance to make this actually
happen. I think it's a lot tougher to
come from. It's not something you should be
finalizing at PRI. Right, exactly.
I mean, but at the same time, you know, beggars can't be
choosers. And sometimes you just have to,
like, go in and lean in with thehope that you'll be able to make

(01:04:51):
something happen. Yeah.
But when it falls through, it just that.
But I think when it falls through, it overall penalizes
kind of the sport and stuff. So I don't know what.
As long as the changes are made to compensate for what has
happened, then so be it, right? We're along for the ride.
Yeah, but. So overall, it'll be great to
see. I'm excited to see the last

(01:05:11):
round. Yeah, Long Beach too.
I know there's been a lot of feedback against having it in
the same place, but in reality it Irwindale was the same play.
I mean, it's LA, Yeah right. But I think if you've ever been
to Long Beach, it is by far the coolest atmosphere at, you know,
in formula. Dress it looks like it.
I've never been, so I don't. Know.

(01:05:31):
No. And it's something that you
don't really get to see on TV, but when you're physically
there, like right now we're looking at a bunch of trees and
a bunch of nothing. Yeah, yeah, that's what most
race tracks are, right. But in Long Beach, you're in the
middle of a city. And I love like, the
architecture, the culture, everything behind a city is
like, I love it. I live in Navy Yard in DC, so
right in the heart of it. Like I have a really nice view

(01:05:52):
of the capital and it's awesome and I love that that
architecture aesthetic and whatever.
And I also love racing, right So.
Outside of racing, he's got a big brain, if you didn't know.
Anyway, but when you combine both the cultural aspects that
cities can bring alongside what drifting from a culture can
bring, that's like a really coolmesh.

(01:06:14):
So having a different, like if it was going to be the same
layout, that would be kind of boring.
But I like how they're changing it up, doing a new layout and
still keeping it in a unique venue.
Yeah, still in the middle of the.
Season I think that's like the right trend and I've been very
public about, you know, my thoughts on hey, let's kill
Orlando for the Miami F1 track, let's get rid of Saint Louis for
the Chicago NASCAR track becauseI think again, like bringing the

(01:06:38):
sport to more people and more accessibility yeah, just brings
a lot more eyes on what we do and I want to share what we do
with as many people as possible.And so to make it easy to go to
versus here, you know, like thistrack's awesome but how easy is
it to get to this track? You know what I mean?
How many? Like how many hours did you
drive to get here? We drove a little over 7.

(01:06:59):
Right. And I was and I.
Don't even have a car with me. Right.
And I'm seven from DC and then we were four from Atlanta.
So you know how many? I think it takes real dedication
to want to drive that many hoursto go anywhere.
Like on a you're definitely not doing this as like a day like,
oh, let me just use my Saturday go to grid life for a couple
hours or whatever. It's like, no, this is like a

(01:07:20):
full weekend thing. And I don't think I think there
are more people that would be interested in showing up to
Formula Drift or any type of event for a couple hours and
then going and doing something else, which is totally fine.
Just like any, any like sports event, right?
Like you don't camp. I mean, some people camp out.
Some people like go and travel with baseball teams and football
teams and all that, but beyond? Me, but yeah.

(01:07:40):
But I mean, some people, I mean,but yeah, I would say most
people just kind of show up for a game and then they, you know,
they're going to dinner afterwards, going out afterwards
and maybe, you know. Like they make tight deal, that
kind of thing for most people. So anyway, like I would love to
see Formula Drift move to to more things like that.
Yeah, I would too. Do you what company do you think
it would take to jump into Formula Drift to get that

(01:08:02):
started? What?
Company. I feel like it would take
dollars. I would, I would guess to put on
like a stadium, like a Drift Masters stadium.
I did. I did talk with Ryan and I was
kind of guesstimating that. I'm sure he's looked at the cost
more than I have. But if you were going to put

(01:08:22):
like a Drift Masters type event together, I'm guessing it's
probably a minimum of five mil to get it going.
But if you think about it like there are ways to make that
revenue back, right? You're not.
When you're at a stadium, you don't just have the typical FD
way of doing things, which is you buy 1 ticket, gets you
wherever, whatever seat, right? Just like any baseball game you

(01:08:43):
go to. You can buy the $10 ticket, you
can buy the $50 ticket, you can buy the $200 ticket, the $400.00
ticket, the $10,000 ticket. Do you know what I mean?
So by combining like those levels of spending and that
level, like those different tiers of audience incomes and
all of that, it can be highly profitable.
Now with that being said, it it also is highly risky of like

(01:09:05):
what if you lose like 5,000,000 bucks, right?
So I get both sides to it. But ultimately, if we want to
scale and if we're going to callourselves something really
similar to Formula One, I would at least like to be close.
You know what? I.
Mean. To that level of enthusiasm, I
mean, I so in DC, like there area lot of women that love F1,

(01:09:26):
they love the drivers, they lovethe stories.
They don't know anything about cars.
They can't tell you the difference between engine
transmission differential, whichis totally fine.
I think that's more inclusive ofoverall audience participation
by making it more about the drivers and the teams and the
stories than it is talking aboutthe different technical aspects
of the cars. Now don't get me wrong, if we're
sitting here watching a driftingpodcast, you probably like the

(01:09:48):
technical aspects of the cars totally fine and love talking
about anytime somebody wants to know something about the RX7 or
the 86. I'm happy to have like that 1020
minute conversation about all those different types of things.
Now, with that being said, thereare a lot more people out there
that would rather focus on a story than they would on, you
know, a technical piece. Of yeah, yeah.
So yeah, it's just, I don't know, I see a lot of F1 merch

(01:10:11):
out and about just in DC and I'mlike, why isn't that, you know,
why are there? Any formula drift?
Yeah, it could be formula drift.Come on, It's like, what do we
need to do here? Is like, is the Netflix series
the answer? I don't know because
unfortunately we were not the first movers there.
So would it have the same impact?
Yeah. Maybe, but I think there's still

(01:10:32):
a way of packaging the product in a a marketable way that kind
of does those things that I was talking about, like attracting
more women and, you know, peoplewith higher incomes will
naturally bring, you know, just more eyes on the sport.
And I feel like those those two demographics are just
underserved currently in in drift.
Yeah, yeah. And.
There's nothing wrong with our current audience.

(01:10:53):
I love our current audience. It's just I want it all more.
Yeah, yeah. We want it to be more inclusive,
right? Hell yeah, dude.
Well, that's some good insight and some good advice.
I really appreciate it. Is there anything else you want
to share as far as this year coming forward or?
No, I think that's that's like kind of the big the big stuff.
So really appreciate you lettingme come on and chat and you

(01:11:15):
know, would love to love to do afull episode again sometime.
We'll get it done. And we're like, not in the
winter anymore, so that's alwaysa good sign.
Yeah, I don't. I don't need to get stranded.
In that we're cold right now, but it's just don't think about
it. That's true.
That was great chatting and yeah.
That's a good way to sign off. I know.
There you go. All right, Good chatting, dude.
Go have some fun out there. Sweet staying away oh to the

(01:11:38):
ceiling trust no bitch can't catch no feelings.
I've been taking a long flights from the Bay with bezel hit home
run. I'm a ball like Jeeta.
I just want 444 then I leave. I'm a young pop star caught a
boy Justin Bieber got a little money.
If you want a teacher whole lifea movie you can watch it in
theater. Staying away.
Oh, to the ceiling. Trust no bitch.
Can't catch no.

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120 MPH Drift Entry, Working For @AdamLZ & Behind SimHQ - Behind the Event | Circle of Drift #141

Episode Transcript

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