Behind FD licenses, Problems with comps & Retiring LS 350z? w/ Ryan Acevedo | Circle of Drift #153 - The Circle of Drift

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Picture this right, you're a self kind of funded guy from
Florida and you drive all the way out to Utah as a privateer
in pro spec and you lose in seating.
That's a 10 to $12,000 weekend and you might have only done 3
laps. Ryan Acevedo Ryan Acevedo coming
to us from Jacksonville, FL in that 2003 Nissan 350Z,

(00:20):
thankfully removing the VQ and popping in NLS 'cause it sounds
so much better. He'll stranger to drifting.
I believe he's he's hailing out of Orlando and highest are
Fortunato Spectrum Bell Race works 350Z.
Is the car that you have appropriate for what you're
doing now? This is an interesting
conversation because after this weekend, my answer is no.

(00:42):
It's like you want to push so hard that sometimes you push
more than you're capable. Of you think as far as the route
you're taking now, will still lead you to FD.
When you're making a big decision like that, like
changing pathways, if you're betting on yourself, at the end
of the day, if you're a good person and drifting and you
drive hard and you represent companies well and they'll
support that and they'll back that regardless of what happened
and see another guy and he was like, yeah, I'm getting into

(01:03):
drifting right now. Like I can't wait to do like an
LS swap Z and stuff. Why do you want to do that less?
Because it's cool. It's going to drive the cost of
your driving up. If you're worried about the
build cost and the operation cost, just leave your Z stop
change. Welcome back to the Circle

(01:27):
Adrift podcast. I want to say thank you for
stopping in every single week for a brand new episode.
This show is presented by SIM HQwhere you guys can always save
5% off on their website with code Circle Adrift.
Or if you're new here, I want tosay thank you for stopping in.
We interview some of the most interesting personalities within
the industry to give you guys the best information possible.
Today we are back at the 4th of July event from Drift HQ with

(01:50):
Ryan Acevedo and has competed innot only Clutch Kickers but LS
Fest and all sorts of other competition.
And he's here to share his insights on that or if you
should stay away from competition.
So without further ado, let's get into the podcast.
All right, well, we got a new face.
Yeah. You've never been on so yeah.

(02:11):
Used to run his own podcast. But Ryan Acevedo, you think you
guys know of? Tell him a little bit about
yourself for anyone that doesn'tknow.
Like a quick little a little brief here real quick.
Let's get an overview. My name is Ryan Acevedo.
I've been drifting since 2019, so about six years now.
Just kind of started with my dad, father son drift program.
Like we've got a 350Z with Ade no angle kit, nothing.

(02:32):
I drove that for a little while and kind of got into competing
when like V1 and clutch kickers rolled around like at Emerald
Coast and went out there with a Stock Z, beat Kevin Lawrence,
and like that got my foot in thedoor within Juku Racing.
And then ISR came on board and Igot kind of brought into that
family and we slowly expanded tothe V8 swap.
I started competing more and more, did a few seasons of Pro
AM, got P2 in that championship,won a few events.

(02:55):
Now I just kind of Fast forward of title, sponsored by ISR
Performance and still working with those guys closely.
Obviously we run our own program, V8 Car, travelling
around to big events like this, LS Fast Grid Life 4th of July.
Not competing this year, but something new so.
Competing for the birds anyways.Yeah, I've done it for about
four years now and this is the first season of like no

(03:16):
competing. And it's definitely interesting.
It's like, I don't know, it's a full new perspective for me
because when I got into driftingand wanted to get into drifting,
I was like, I want to be an FT driver.
Like that's my goal. And at the end of the day, like
it still is my ending goal at some point.
But where I'm at now after like 3 years of pro, yeah, it's just
kind of like, yeah, it's just hard, you know, I mean like
drifting is hard to get something in return, right?

(03:37):
It's hard for drifting to provide something to you in
terms of, you know, monetary andbeing able to do it.
It's really on you as a driver. What I've learned is to build a
personal brand or build a business, right?
Like those two things are going to be able to bring your return
to where you can drift and make your return in the industry.
But climbing the ranks and drifting doesn't inherently
provide that by itself. And that's something I learned
through competing and trying to get into FD and prospect and

(03:59):
what not. So any side of it, none of it,
right, it does not make you money.
No, it's hard, man. It's it's brutal.
So it's rough. Crazy.
Well, you mentioned clutch kickers.
Yep. And I got to be honest, that's
the first time I ever even noticed who the hell you were.
Yeah, I was seeing the car I because I drove it as 350Z
obviously still do at the time and the disease just stood out.

(04:22):
So and you had the big ISR logo on the side at the time, right?
Was it? Which color did you see it in?
Because every year we changed it.
Was it Gray and gold or Gray andpink?
Gray and gold. Okay, so that was like V1.
I was like right when I got on board with ISR, that was the
first season, first very basic livery like that car was super
simple. It was like CD009 60 LS 2 iron

(04:43):
blocks, so LQ 9 and just made like 400 horsepower and hat
stock Z division. So it wasn't even crazy.
It was like 3500 lbs of shit. That was OGV 1.
So you saw like the early, earlystages of me competing then.
So that's cool. Hell yeah.
I didn't even know you were around that like watching and
like, I don't know. I would have never thought you
were keeping me back then. So that's.
Like I was just I had a stock VQcar and I was just going to

(05:03):
event kind of like you when you.Started.
That's how everybody starts. I feel like going.
To get that. Yeah, yeah.
But we all got to start at that same place, you know?
While you're watching exactly, you were just kind of in the the
dream part. Yeah, 100% you were a.
Little bit you were there I heard so I like it.
Dude how was clutch kickers backthen?
How did why? What's your opinion on the fall

(05:25):
off of it? Clutch gears V1 was awesome,
right, like you had the the sickEmerald Coast like cart track
kind of deal and it for the mostpart, like it was a decent
equalizer. I think they pushed the
equalizer thing a little too much.
It wasn't like really it was a good equalizer, but it's like no
matter what, like the fast, like800 horsepower gripped up dog
box quick change cars with good drivers, we're always at as at a

(05:45):
huge advantage, right, So like there was always a chance for
like the load and then horsepower cars to make a play,
but it wasn't like it was some sort of crazy equalizer like
that little go Kart track over there is probably more of an
equalizer. You can't even go over 20 miles
an hour. Damn near the pro cars.
But yeah, so clutch kickers was sick.
And then obviously it went over to like the Freedom factory,
which that was. I feel like, I don't want to say

(06:06):
the start of the downfall, but like I think an event or two got
missed from weather, right? And then, you know, they had the
financial issues and stuff and then it got it fizzled out and
then Ken bought it. I guess they bought like the
name or the brand. I don't know all the details on
that. And now it's like running out of
a mid pond. I kind of want to go out there.
And did you go to round one or? No, I haven't gone to any of the

(06:26):
the rounds yet. I know they're having one this
weekend too. Like right now, right?
Yeah. I just personally I don't really
know when they are. Yeah, I know the schedule got
changed a couple times, which I think threw a wrench in a lot of
people's plans, which is kind ofa bummer.
Well, it's not even that. It's just like I, I kind of, I
think everyone saw that it wasn't going to be exactly what

(06:48):
Clutch Kickers was. And then like the the lack of
media coming from Clutch Kickersand the quality of that media
not being there, it really throws a damper in the name.
I think. I feel that and it doesn't.
You just don't know. Yeah, we all have this like
perceived image of what Clutch Kickers was like the production
that the Castleberries had from the start, the staff, and then

(07:12):
now it's same name, same braiding, same marketing, but
not the same product necessarily, you know what I'm
saying? So I can see that.
And I think that's probably whatsteers like a lot of the OG
drivers away. But the money's there and the
track is there, so I want to getout there at some point.
I got to try and fight for the money.
I got to recoup some money. Mid pawn's a great track too,
so. I've never been.
I want to drive it so bad in. Itself, I just wish they would

(07:34):
market it better. Like everything's there like it,
it's it has what it needs to work mid pawns, amazing track.
So definitely if you ever get the chance.
I want to drive, definitely go, but I but I do agree with you,
like the not like the lack of marketing, but like you don't
just unless you're kind of in the scene and in and around
midpod, you don't like it's not like in front of your face all
the time, right. So there's not like this like

(07:55):
kind of built up frequent hype around it on social media.
I would say there is, but like in a niche circle the attention.
Span's gone, man, so everything's all reels and
TikTok and da da da da da. All these quick fancy looking
reels and stuff, like I rememberI think it was probably the
third round they ever did. Like it's the the winning driver
got a a sucker or a juice. Box, I got like a I think I got

(08:18):
a pack of goldfish, one song andI was like, this is the best
thing ever. I'm dying.
Yeah. It's just small details man.
It it really makes it and I, I wish.
I think they'll figure it out. But yeah, yeah, it's going to
take some time though, so. But hopefully they can get
there. Ken seems like a a very
respectable, nice guy. He has like so much effort and
involvement in drifting. Like he wants drifting to expand

(08:39):
and scale so much. He's investing so much of his
own time and money, which like so many other big people could
be doing. And he, he does it the most
like, you know, so yeah, he lives there, so.
His whole life. Revolves around it.
Yeah, it's sick. There's not many people like
that that are willing to, that have the finances and the
ability to and then choose to like actually try and push
drifting to grow as the whole rather than like just for
themselves. Especially on a go Kart track.

(09:01):
Yeah, right. In the middle of nowhere,
Alabama. But it's in a decent location.
It's like kind of close ish for people to drive within like sub
five hours. Yeah.
I think like what really down through like OG clutch kickers
was once it went to like that West Coast, Central Florida,
like Tampa on that coast, it added like 7 hours for so many
people compared to just going toEmerald Coast that I think at

(09:23):
that point people were just like, I can't make that trip.
Like, I mean, you had guys like Mike Pollard coming out from
like Colorado and then that was already an insane drive.
And then it's like, hey, by the way, it's an extra 7 hours now
each way. Like that's an extra day or two
of travel, you know, I mean, that's money people got to take
off your crews got to take off the fuel like that adds up
quick. So when you're when you're
trying to budget and. Then the cost of the event

(09:45):
itself went up. Like didn't the driver tickets
and everything go up? I think I don't know what they
were charging for the season tickets because I I didn't like,
I knew that it wasn't something I was going to drive this year.
I was going to kind of see how it played out as a series and
cuz everyone had this like we'resaying this perspective and then
it's like this whole new thing, new track, new organization.
It's like you were just kind of going in blind around 1.

(10:06):
You have no idea like whether it's gonna be a success or not.
I know there was like a crazy low number of drivers, like less
than 20 or 20 or something like that, so it'll be interesting,
but I hope Ken can can. I hope it powers through it.
Yeah, because there's it's, it'sgood money, it's a good track.
It's like where in drifting do you find somebody giving out 100
grand for a competition? It's like essentially almost

(10:26):
nowhere. That's like far and few in
between. I feel like that's why 70
people. Came quite a few that are
getting there now like CMD, theyit they're they're.
Throwing up 40K? Yeah, they're throwing up.
Money don't even hardly market it that way at all.
And so I mean, there's other events.
Like it, but definitely. Yeah, well, it'll get there,
but. Definitely.
You're obviously branching away from that competition stuff, so

(10:47):
tell me a little bit more why specifically you want to venture
away. Yeah.
So I drove pro AM for three years in a row down in Florida
with US Drift Circuit. First year I placed like top
five or six. Second year I got placed second
in the championship. I barely missed winning it.
I won two of the four events, first place.

(11:07):
One of them I was like literallyhungover throwing up.
I did like 2 practice laps the whole weekend.
Freddy's like yelling at me. He's like, I need you to, I need
you to get another lap, one morelap so we can like get some
data. And just went into battle, won
the event. That was a crazy one.
That was round 4. But yeah, did that.
Got P2 in the championship, which didn't technically earn me
a license. So I guess the dealio nowadays

(11:27):
is P1 gets a license in most proAMS like the series and then,
you know, you could you have like the right as a person to
petition like if you got second or third or even if you didn't
get second or third. So I petitioned in on my P2
championship as well as like some podiums with Holly LS Fest
and like placing well out there,you know, beating and battling
like Kuman Rahimi, Derek Madison, like holding my weight

(11:50):
out there. I petitioned in, that got
denied. So I was like, OK, well, that's
not going to work like that. That was kind of a stab on the
gut. I was like, all right, you know
what? We got P2.
I feel like we've proved ourselves like what else do we
need? You know what I mean?
Got 1-2 events in Pro AM, got P2in the championship.
Only missed it by a few. Went to all these events,
traveled across country, like battled out with the big dudes,

(12:10):
have a well-rounded program and then got like told no.
So that was a bummer. And then after that I was like,
alright, we've done pro am for three years in this small series
in Florida. I've barely been able to like
create any marketability becausethe events are small.
There's a low online presence with the with the series and
there's a very low in person turnout with the series.
So like when you commit to that and that's what you revolve your

(12:31):
whole year around, you almost hinder yourself in a way, right?
Because you're putting yourself and you're wrapping your whole
season around these small events, like small scale
viewership, you kind of limit their growth you can do on your
own as a driver versus coming tothese bigger events.
Drift HQ, 4th of July, Holly LS Fest, Grid Life.
I mean the media and the marketing that comes out of
those events is top notch, right?

(12:51):
So you get so much more, I feel like in that aspect.
And then once I realized like I wasn't going to necessarily
probably get my license to Pro Am because I would have to like
win it again. And then like I said, the
opportunity cost is everything. I just mentioned before you miss
out on doing all that unless youhave $1,000,000, right?
I mean, if you're crazy rich, like sure, go do 4 rounds of Pro
AM and in between all those rounds go drive every grid life,
go have fun at every big event, right?

(13:12):
That's like, we all wish we could, you know, be in that
position, but for most of us that's just not possible.
So you got to pick and choose how you structure your series.
And so this year I kind of just wanted to step back.
I was like, I'm going to take a break, I'm going to drive these
big events, I'm going to go to Grid Live, I'm going to drive
these dream tracks that I wantedto drive that I've been unable
to because wrapping our whole live around lies around Pro AM
and stuff. And so, yeah, this year I was

(13:33):
like, let's do Grid live, let's travel around the country.
That's it. A few of those come drive CMP,
like we'll still compete at Holly LSS because like in my
opinion, that's like one of the best comps out right now.
Like you get all the pro guys, it's kind of open.
You can just apply to registers.Out in Texas dude it's that ones
wild. It's an old FD track, right?
So it's like, you know, 80 to 100 mile an hour entry depending

(13:54):
on the run up. You're running a real FD layout.
Cars are gripped up. You got Jake Wise out there, you
got Jack Davis, multiple FD drivers come out.
You know, so same with East in Kentucky.
You got Dirk Strat and Derek Madison human or he me like you
can go to these events and drivewith FD drivers, not being an FD
driver in on these sick tracks, whether it's like Texas and FD
layout or Bowling Green, which is just like a sick little

(14:17):
circle track with a cool infield.
So it's cool. I feel like you just get a
little bit more out of your experience and it allows you to
grow your marketability and audience.
So that's why I'm doing it this year.
Has it helped? Do you?
Have you seen a noticeable difference?
Yeah, for sure. And what's crazy is when when I
kind of built this schedule and planned around this at PRI and I
was like, all right, now I got to like pitch to my sponsors
that hey, like you've been supporting me because you

(14:38):
believed in me as like a young competitor, privateer, father,
son program chasing after FD. Now that I'm spending not doing
yeah, yeah, yeah. Now that I'm spending my year
not doing any of that, you know,how can we make it worth it for
you guys? And that's, that's when, well,
the marketability and the understanding of like kind of
operating your program like a business comes in, you know,
being able to pitch your sponsoris like, we're going to go to

(14:59):
these events with this amount ofviewership.
This is the in person ticket sales, this is the companies
that are putting on for the event.
This is who's going to be there filming, you know what I mean?
And then you put all that together and pitch your
sponsors. And I knew it was going to be a
good year when all of our sponsors were on board with it.
Like we got more in sponsorship capital this year than last year
and like, I'm not competing at all really.
I'm just going to two LS fest events.
So to have our partners like kind of believe in our vision

(15:22):
and, and me as a person and coming out to these events and
representing them to believe in it and give me more than before
was an eye opener. I was like, whoa, like you don't
necessarily have to compete. You know, if you're a good
person and drifting and you drive hard and you represent
companies well and, and there's value in you and what you can
provide to them when you're at events, they'll support that and
they'll back that regardless of what path it is.

(15:43):
Because I think we all get kind of hyper fixated on like the
path to drifting is like being apro Formula Drift driver.
But it's like, it doesn't have to be like, you know what I
mean? So yeah, that's that's where I'm
at. So what, what deliverables
specifically did you iron out for the, your, your sponsors
this year doing this stuff rather than the competition
because they're banking off of live streams and like all this

(16:03):
other stuff, right, Right. It's what for the most part,
it's reaching out to them and figuring out what kind of
content we can create for them, whether it's at the event before
the event in the shop, whether it's something for like KBD or
something for Holly, right. And then because we have put
together like a very professional program, companies
see that and believe in that. And for example, like Holly, we
work with them on their own ventures whenever they do like

(16:23):
media shoots for like Simpson suit products and in their Holly
performance stuff, they they ownStilo.
So, you know, when we were out at Texas, we had a scheduled
shoot with them for all that gear.
So they benefit from that comingout to those events rather than
competitions that they're not going to be at, you know what I
mean? So you come out to their event
like that, they benefit from that.
And yeah, a lot of media stuff we're able to get, I think a
little bit more like attention and grabby reels that work on

(16:47):
social media with people that aren't into drifting.
When we're able to drive these big tracks and hot lap and get
so much footage of bombing this entry over here at 100 miles an
hour. I mean, I did more laps on this
big track than I usually, it's today that I usually do in like
a comp weekend, you know what I mean?
So it's like we get so much footage and we're able to shake
that out and provide that with our sponsors.
And we have a dedicated media guy that shoots all of that and

(17:09):
it's everything's contracted forthem to be able to use and for
their own commercials and stuff like that.
So that's what they get out of it.
And it's very similar to what they would get out of it when
we're competing. I just think they get a little
bit more out of it because more driving, a little bit different
quality of life when it comes tothe footage and stuff and the
type of footage they're getting.So it's similar stuff.
I think it's just you just kind of take a little bit different
of approach more a personal attribute instead of like a

(17:33):
competing. This is what the pro guys use
buy it kind of deal like, which I feel like it's a lot of the
sponsorship and competitive surfing it's.
Like it's more relatable to the average person.
Like they they see you doing an event that they dream of, that
they know they can do with the car they want or whatever the
fuck and like they will follow that just like even if they

(17:54):
don't even process it in their head, like they they naturally
will veer towards those parts over another company or whatever
just because they're seeing it. For sure they see like a, a kid
with a car and a good presentation and a cool livery
and like, you know, the a dream Z build and then they see what
he's using and they talk to him and, and we're out here at these
non competition events. It's like we get to talk to so

(18:15):
many people like the amount of kids that I've talked to that
are here that are either driving, are spectating that
have DE HR350Z. They're asking, you know, what
arms are you running, what handbrake, what angle kit,
that's all like, you know, at the end of the day that drives
sales. You know, that's in person, word
of mouth and the way you have tolook at it is like wise fat, for
example, is here or like ISR is not here.
But for ISR to come out here as a company, they're going to

(18:38):
spend, you know, quite a few $1000 multiple thousands of
dollars getting out here, getting some representatives.
But if you got a good driver that you can invest in to market
your product at the event, talk to customers, say, hey, you
know, you know, I want to build AZ, what do I do?
Then I start talking to them. I explain to them what we use,
why we use it. And then they believe it because
they're seeing me out there go 120 miles an hour down the
street with my ISR arms and theygo home and they buy them for

(18:59):
their Z, right. And then ISR didn't have to be
out here. So you know what I mean?
Like they sponsor, you sponsor agood driver, you get a good
return. And yeah, feel like that if you
approach it like that, it works good.
Like, and I've learned that evenkind of like hustling my own,
like, parts business and stuff, you know, I'm like a driver.
But then at the end of the day, I'm like directing people where
to buy stuff because they're like, oh, where do you get it
from? And I'm like, well, well, I sell

(19:20):
it, but you can buy it from anybody, you know what I mean?
So that works good on my end as well.
So yeah. Well, do you, do you think as
far as the route you're taking now will still lead you to FDI?
Don't know, you know, that's a gamble.
You know, I feel like you literally any choice you make
when you're making a big decision like that, like
changing pathways, it's like you're betting on yourself at

(19:40):
the end of the day, right? You're betting on what you're
going to be able to do over the next few years.
You're trusting your gut that you're navigating it the right
way and you're going to be able to execute it the way in your
head. This, you know, cool, great plan
that you're scheming up is goingto work.
So I guess we get circle back into a podcast in like 3 to 4
years and I'll be like, remembereverything I said?
It didn't really work for me, but we'll see.
You know, I hope it does becauseI want to drive FD right?

(20:02):
Like I don't have any animosity after getting like my petition
denied. I do think as I've gotten closer
to formula drift in in in the industry with so many drivers
that drive in Pro 1 and Pro specin my own process of trying to
petition, I do feel like there'sa lot.
Of politics behind the scenes that don't get shown to people.
So there's like a big kind of misunderstanding of what how the

(20:23):
process works on paper and how it might actually work into
effect. And that kind of opened my eyes
a little bit. And I was like, you know what?
Like, maybe this isn't for me right now, but I want to circle
back to it. You know, I love competing
whenever I get in a drift car, I'm just a competitive person.
So I'm like, I want to figure out a way to prove that I'm the
best guy there. And for me and drifting, that's
drifting competitions. And in America at the top level,

(20:43):
that's Formula Drift. So that's still the end goal.
Just got to figure out how to get there.
Basically. I would like to get there and it
be paying for itself, right? Like right now, you know, we run
a small budget program. We do have sponsors helping out,
but you know, we're father, son,family, mother, father son
program. So it's like we do what we can,
we travel, we make a name for ourselves and we have fun and
compete. But once you get some prospect,

(21:05):
you know the cost of that rises.You know you're going to spend
anywhere from like 5 to 10 grandan event.
So you know you're spending 4060.
I know some guys that are spending 100 grand a year
running prospect at a very high cost, very efficient, like Max
effort level. I think Tommy Lemare said I
could be wrong. Don't quote me.
I think he said he was spending six figures running pro spec,
which like that's you got to have $100,000 basically to be

(21:27):
able to throw out the window. You know, you have to be in that
kind of comfortable of a financial situation.
He's got a very expensive car. Yeah, yeah, too.
Had a crazy one. To maintain an even.
Crazier 1 so. So I, I don't know, I mean, I
assume the reason I bring that up is because here like just
now, I just had a made a great relationship with SB tools.

(21:49):
Never seen them in my life, probably would never run into
them at an FD or any type of like competition specifically,
but I did here at a fun event. I feel like, and you you can
correct me if I'm wrong, you probably made more raw random
connections this year doing all of these cool events than you
ever did pro AMS. Yeah, definitely.

(22:11):
There's just nobody there. Events, right?
There's yeah. Like these localized pro AMS
you're driving in a competition series where the only real
partners and vendors that are there are, for the most part,
local companies because it's a small scale event at smaller
tracks. It's not something that's
advertised in its big budget as an event like this where you got
all these companies on board coming in, you know, why is FAB
coming in from like overseas essentially?

(22:32):
And when you get here and there's all these vendors and
there's all these drivers from out of state that have
relationships with other people,you realize, like the ability
you're able to network here versus being at a smaller event
and premiums for the most part are pretty small events.
So you know, you're, you're, I think you're absolutely right,
like. I was always curious how great
example about it too, because like.
When we're at Grid Life, we meetwith people and it's it's people

(22:53):
that go to Grid Life because of how crazy Grid Life festivals
are in the marketability and theexperience and how many fans
come out. That's their customer base.
Because that Pro AMS, it's like when I feel like companies
probably get steered away because it's like their
customers are the ones driving, but they're already, they've
already bought their products, right?
So it's like you're the only people you're marketing to and

(23:14):
that you're in front of is the spectators.
But if there's a small amount ofspectators and they're not
necessarily drivers or people building drift cars, it's like
who out there is buying your product?
Where it's like here you've got all walks of life, you've got
all the fans that are coming outthat are car guys in South
Carolina. You've got grassroots drivers
that are building cars up, getting into competition stuff
and they talk to Wise Fab or Turbo Lamic and Drift HQ and big

(23:37):
network sales happen. You know what I mean?
It's like connections are made, sponsorships, you know, brands,
relationships with individuals grow.
So no, you're absolutely right. I just wish people understood
the insurance and outs of it a little bit more.
And then like even at the highest, like there's very few
that have made it to a very highsuccessful level by just going

(24:00):
and doing the Pro Am route and going up as a race car driver.
100%. It just does that.
Drifting is not rich enough, right to compensate for that.
So there's always Chris Forrestburg, for example, Nos
and Nissan, majority of the stuff that he does specifically
as deliverables for that has nothing to do with FD.

(24:22):
Right, right. It's almost.
Like the only thing with FD is he's running the logo on the
car, correct? And then the booth, right?
He's doing shoots and like commercials and all sorts of
stuff for Nos and definitely on it.
They built him a truck. Yeah.
And when you see a lot of that stuff, it's like the footage and
the stunt driving in it, whetherit's with the Z or not, it's not
at FD. It's shoots him using his car,

(24:43):
his abilities, his package that he offers as a person, as a
marketability perspective. It's him using that.
And then however Nos wants to structure it, right, like Taco
Bell and Frederick Osmo with thewhole Rockstar thing.
They're not using Osmo footage, driving an FD, or at an event
you know Taco Bell's not at. Formula.
It's a .5 second clip that goes in a commercial.
Right, exactly. And it's just him driving his FD

(25:06):
car. But anybody seen that that's not
a different, they don't know that that's FD.
They just see like a badass racecar driver in a Rockstar
sponsored car doing a burnout through the drive through.
So, but no, I, I, I think you'reright.
I think you're absolutely right.That's that's cool.
And I think what a lot of peoplefail to realize is that like,
like we're saying like how it how you kind of grow through it
and the return on it does not just come through climbing the

(25:28):
ranks and drifting. Look at how many like pro spec
drivers come into pro spec that are just running their own
program that go balls deep. You see them for a few years and
then they're like, oh, they're not in pro spec anymore.
But people like just kind of forget about them and like don't
think about it, but it's like you have to look deeper, like
what happened to them? Why are they not there?
Why can they not do it anymore? And it's like, because getting
there in the prospect didn't just open up all these kinds of

(25:50):
doors for them. Because it's like you said,
drifting is just not, there's not that much money in it at the
moment. The sport is not generating that
much capital as an entire, you know, model.
So it's like these guys get in, they do what they can, self
funded and sponsors, but becausethey're not getting any return
just by being NFD, once that runs out and they can't afford
to do it like that anymore, theyhave to pull out, you know?

(26:10):
So yeah, it's really up to you as a driver to.
Do it. Yeah, like not trying to we're.
Not trying to. Discourage anyone from doing it.
Like if you want to do it, do it.
Just keep an open mind that you have.
To for sure has to, and this kind of transparency needs to be
talked about more, I feel like. Yeah.
And that's the whole point of this is like, I mean.
You know, I mean, there's picture this, right?
You're a local guy from Florida.I'll use Ryan Kaufman as an

(26:33):
example. You're a self kind of funded guy
from Florida and you drive all the way out to Utah as a
privateer in pro spec, right? You go all the way out to Utah
and you lose in seating. That's a 10 to $12,000 weekend
and you might have only done 3 laps.
And you have 0 deliverables? Yeah, from that. 100% and you
know, it's heartbreaking, yeah. You know, and, and your sponsors

(26:54):
might not care that they didn't get the, you know, an exceeding
amount of driving or result. You know, if they believe in
you, they're like, hey, you wentout there, you made a presence,
you made your best effort. Sometimes that's part of it.
You know, we, we still get our deliverables from most of our
sponsors like contract, right? No, it hurts definitely.
And at and at the end of the day, when you're a self funded
small program, like if you spent$12,000 to go to Utah, do 3 laps

(27:16):
and lose and seating and don't even get to compete, that's
$12,000 that you've been puttingback that you've been working 60
hour weeks for, for that, you know, for that event to go out
there and make the best you can.And then sometimes because of
the nature of it and Motorsports, the nature of that,
it just doesn't work in your favor and you're out
immediately. That money's gone.
You know, you still got to pack up, you got to pay all your guys
still, you know, that's that stuff doesn't go away just

(27:40):
because your weekend ended early, you know what I mean?
So it's a lot of money. What?
OK, so since you've done this and now you've ventured out of
the competition route, what whatwould you suggest someone just
do if they just want to be a race car driver?
Just do what drifting do what you find, what you actually want
to do, and just do what you love.
If you want to compete, compete,but you don't have to go compete

(28:03):
in FD. If you don't have enough money
to run pro spec, but you really want to be a competition drift
car driver and you love to compete, go run the gambler.
Go run either series of E town right.
You've got like the is it a 235 series?
Is that what it is? Correct me if I'm wrong.
Small tire series, we'll call itthat.
I don't know what the size is. They have a sick small tire
series that they run sick layouts in really sick northeast

(28:24):
drivers and East Coast drivers and occasionally central and
West Coast drivers come out and drive and they also have the
unlimited series. Go drive Holly LS fest if you
want to compete, but it's not necessarily in your budget and
timeline to try and make it to FD.
You can still compete in drifting right?
And you might even find that youmight be able to milk more out
of the return drive those eventsand marketing yourself as a
driver, then chasing the FD ladder.

(28:45):
If you want to drive these crazy, if your goal is to drive
1300 horsepower crazy gripped uppro cars and call yourself a,
you know, professional drifter at the highest level, then yeah,
chase FD. You know, it might not be in
your best interest, but if that's, you know, financially,
but if that's what you're set on, figure out, try and figure
out a way to do it. But I think a lot of people just
think that's the only route. So then they do get sucked into
that rabbit hole. But there's other options out

(29:06):
there. You can go drive CMD.
You can go drive E Town if you want to compete and drive with
pro cars, you can do that outside of FD.
There's events for it, you know what I mean?
We do it at LS Fest. If I went to CMD, I'd be driving
with Jonathan Eerin and Taylor Hole and all these guys, couple
other pro spec guys. You can drive with these guys
have a chance at making money and still drive your badass pro
car. And if you don't want to do that
in drifting, if you just want tocome to these big events like

(29:27):
Drift HQ 4th of July and you've got a sick Sr. car and you want
to go bomb down the hill at 100 miles an hour or you want to go
drive the car track and stack upwith your homies, you can do
that, right? So figure out what you want to
do in drifting that you really want and make that happen and
don't feel like you need to be swayed one way or another.
Absolutely. And keep it in your budget.
Right. Like if like I was talking to
another guy and he was like, yeah, I'm getting into drifting

(29:48):
right now. Like I can't wait to do like an
LS swap Z and stuff. And it's just like, why?
Like what? What why do you want to do that
less? Because it's cool.
It's going to drive the cost of your driving up.
You know, why don't if it's if if you're worried about the
build cost and the operation cost, just leave your Z stock
for now. Put wise fab on it.
Go through the ring of drifting and get C time and have fun,
right? But well, Speaking of be

(30:08):
patient, you're obviously going to a lot more deliverables this
year since you're just doing funevents.
So right, Is the car that you have appropriate for what you're
doing? Now this is an interesting
conversation because after this weekend, my answer is no.
Right. So like we've got a 700 roughly
7. It makes like 600 up the tire
off bottle, you know, 600 wheel horsepower, 427 dog box, quick

(30:33):
change, like literal pro spec car.
And we're out here driving it atevents like this in Grid Life
Rd. Atlanta.
Some tracks you need us on a horsepower at the end of the
day, tracks that you need us on a horsepower, you don't need 6
to 700. You can come drive this big
track out here with 350 to 400. Yeah, so I've got this usually a
sweet spot. I've got this crazy, you know,
decently gripped up, borderline high pro am pro spec car and it

(30:58):
gets runs on race gas, it goes through tires in two laps on the
Kart track. I was still only getting 3 even
driving at 40 miles an hour, right?
So I'm in a tough spot where it's like that car shines in
competition use. It doesn't shine at events like
this. So I'm in a position now where
I'm going to build another car basically like I'm sure some
people that follow me that may be watching this, they they know
that my ND Miatas for sale and my VQZ and that is specifically

(31:22):
to buy a new car and build it into like a three to 400 wheel
horsepower like full interior rad drift car.
What are you wanting? I don't want to say I can't say.
I can't say. What engine platform do you want
to go? With either SRJZ, I want
something that's not V. 8 Full support.
Yeah, I've driven V eights for the last four years.

(31:44):
It's either been V6 or V8. My very first car that my dad
and I built was a SR20 red top, just stock T25 turbo is my high
school daily driver. I was 14 years old so.
It'll be an S chassis. I guess, I guess the guy's out
of the back. It probably will be.
I don't know, I want to either do an S chaser or BMW or maybe
even something Toyota like a chaser or something.

(32:05):
Because with this with this car,I want to do something that's
like something that I dreamed about as like a 1415 year old
kid right before I started competing and was like, I need
AZ with AV8, you know what I mean?
So I want to do something cool. I haven't fully set my heart on
something just yet, but it's going to be something cool that
can have full interior and AC and B Kitlow with some Sitcon's
eyes lip on Fender fitment for the most part with some nice BCS

(32:27):
drift. Good.
But it doesn't have to be drifting 100%, which I already
know some people are going to call me out because I'm sure
I've said it in the past that that's not the kind of drifting
that and here I am. I'm kind of circling into it.
Yeah. I just want to be able to but.
That's the thing you have. You're we're all human anyways,
we have. The we all make mistakes.
We shift our perspective. Yeah, there's literally nothing

(32:47):
wrong with changing your mind. There's nothing wrong with going
through the paces and going through years of experience and
growing as an individual and through drifting and then
figuring out like, hey, right now this might not be what I
want to do or what's best for me, so I'm just going to do this
instead. And that's OK, right?
Like so a. Couple years ago I would have
said that I absolutely am dog shit at the SIM and I don't

(33:08):
understand it, but now SIM HQ isa presenting sponsor.
Yeah, and I drive the SIM every fucking day.
Which by the way, if you have enough money, get a SIM first.
You want to get a drift? Get a SIM.
Save 5% with Circle Adrift. Yeah, save you some.
I know it's not much, but that shit's expensive.
No drift HQ and SIM HQ. I love how much they I love how
much they invested in growing the SIM world in offering like

(33:29):
the best bang for buck, most affordable products, which in my
opinion is the SIM magic stuff, which they're heavy on pushing
and they stock it, They keep it ready to go.
They offer you kits like literally ready to buy.
They're like, hey, you want to get into drifting, start with
the SIM. What's your budget?
We've got a package for you. So shout out, Adam.
Shout out. You don't.
Have to know anything about it. Just literally just message
them. And I, I, I respect them a ton

(33:51):
for that because that's what helps go drifting, right?
The, the kids that are out here that are 131415, you know, their
parents might be able to invest in a SIM, but they can't invest
in a full car. And for them to be out here
putting that much effort and growing that side of it, that
gets people into drifting. That inherently grows the sport
and grows the industry, whether you, whether the old heads want
to like it or not and think, youknow, SIM driving is silly.
It gets people into drifting, itgets kids trained, and it grows

(34:13):
the. Sport.
Yeah, the way the sport works. At the end of the day, there's
more people everyday combined ona set of course a drifting than
there is at any drift event in the country.
You know what I mean? What's the what do you think?
What drift event has the most drivers?
What is it? Maybe 200 drivers has been the
most driver count ever. Drivers.
The one I've been to with the most drivers was probably no

(34:34):
Star Bash at Drift Indy. There's all close to 300.
Cars, close to 300 cars, I guarantee you right now if we
went over there and open a content manager, there's more
than 500 people drifting on a SIM right now as we oh,
absolutely, nation or worldwide.So that's the people that are
going. How many countries had Sims too?
Yes. All over this long, countries in
Europe, guys in Australia, New Zealand, like there's even guys

(34:56):
in South Africa drifting on Simslike it's literally everywhere.
Do you think it'll become more than just a tool in the in the
industry? Obviously we're getting like,
you know, SIM competitions and stuff, but like, is it ever
going to be that big of a thing?I don't know.
I mean, I guess the answer if you look at E sports through
every other aspect, the the short answer would be like I

(35:17):
guess obviously. But I think it would be bigger.
Yeah, because there would be more.
Money in it, right? Bigger prize pots, all of it,
right? Look at, I mean, look at like
games like CS GO, Rocket League,like my buddies, like it's a
couple of my buddies are professional Rocket League
players, right? And like they literally play for
universities, right? And they play for school and
they go to these giant tournaments and these people are
paying out like crazy money because E sports is that big.

(35:39):
There's that many people playingRocket League, there's that many
people playing CS GO. It'll be so much easier to get a
million people drifting on a SIMbefore 1,000,000 people in the
real world can afford to drift afull season, right?
So it looks sick, It's easy to watch, it's easy to do, and you
can do it at anytime anywhere. You can stream it from anytime,
anywhere. Comps are virtual.
You don't even have to be in thesame building, the same state,

(36:02):
the same country. Look at VDC, you've got guys in
Florida live tandem battling on the the biggest drifting
competition virtual platform ever against some guys in like
Lithuania or something, something crazy like.
That's very true. So it's like, I think, yeah, I
think it definitely, it probablyhas the potential to grow bigger
than IRL drifting at some point.Yeah, I mean.
What do you think about the stigma of the people starting in

(36:25):
a car and then venturing to the SIM that just can't wrap their
head around it? What would you tell?
Them that's a tough thing over that bridge.
Just got to stick with it. Like I have some buddies that
have tried my SIM that are like literal pro Drifters, but
they're on the older side and they never use Sims.
And you come to a SIM from real life driving and you don't have
any of that motion, right? The only senses you have on a
SIM are sound and visual cues. You know, I guess with a motion

(36:47):
SIM, but that's not most people,right?
You even with the most sensitive, you don't have G
forces. You don't feel your body pulling
one way or the other forward or backward.
So they they've spent years driving these real cars.
So they have all the elements, right?
And then you get on a SIM and you're accused of where you're
at and what's happening are visual and audio, you know,
hearing the car break loose. And when you start on a SIM,
that's all you have. So you just get used to it like

(37:08):
that. And then when you come to the
real world, you have even more senses.
So it's just easier. But, but when you come the
opposite way, it's hard. You go from having all these
senses and, and these abilities to feel the car and feel what
it's doing. And then you get in a little
seat and you've got force feedback speakers and a screen
and that's it. And, and it's, it's discouraging
at first, right? Because there's guys that can

(37:28):
drive an FD that they get on theSIM and they struggle and it's
like, how does that make sense? You know, at first at service
level, their logic is probably, well, this isn't accurate.
I can, I drive professionally, but I can barely do a lap on the
SIM. This is a waste of time.
I don't even need to learn this.Not real.
If it was real, I'd be able to do it.
But that's not, you know, that'sa narrow way of thinking about
it. You know, you just got to stick
with it, get used to the lack ofsenses and then understand that

(37:52):
you can use the tool for perfecting timing of
transitions, learning tracks before you get there and stuff
like that. And all skill levels of driving
can leverage that from the SIM, no matter how good you are.
That's why James Dean plays the same.
I mean the top drivers in the world play the SIM.
Manala is probably the best example.
Literally all that kid does to my knowledge is just goes to
school, works on growing his drifting program and Sims and he

(38:13):
spends so much time on the SIM with his his family and he's.
So set up for success dude. Absolutely.
He's like one of the best drivers in the world.
The kids what, 14 years old grinds the SIM and it obviously
shows that it works. This.
Year now. That is crazy.
I mean, that kid has, but guys like him and Osoli have like the
biggest futures ahead of them. They're in their like infancy of
FD and they're just knocking down the big dogs like no

(38:35):
problem. Oh, I talk to Osoli all the time
because he's pretty local. He's in Tennessee, so.
Shout out to Osoli. That's my dog.
I was his first battle ever, which is crazy, which I won by
the way, I'm undefeated against Conor Osoli.
Not to not to brag or anything, but.
I am undefeated. I've never lost to Osoli.
The One Battle. Oh man, no, he's a good dude.
He's just some guy. I told him myself is you just

(38:57):
need to stop taking yourself outlike that's your only.
Problem and that's that's a hardthing for drivers to overcome I
we I battle at every event it's like you want to push so hard
that sometimes you push more than you're capable of but a lot
of times you don't need to drivethat hard to beat the driver
you're beating you know if you're a better driver, your
average run is going to win you the battle if you're the better
driver, you know if. You're the fun run is going to

(39:17):
win you the battle. Exactly the smooth, consistent,
confident run that you're doing when you're having fun, you know
what I mean? That usually ends up being your
best lap so. I love it, dude.
Well, is there anything special coming up this year that you got
going on? Other than building a new car
and just driving all these grid life events and these new
events, we're doing not really. Nothing crazy, nothing out of
the ordinary, nothing crazy special.

(39:38):
You're still going to keep that car, right?
Yeah, Oh yeah, yeah, that car isnot going anywhere.
Will it just be retired or like no?
No, no, we're going to still drive like LS fest.
So at a minimum, we're still going to do 2 comps with that
car a year and then gotcha. Now I'll have an Ave. to maybe
take away from some of the fun events, right.
So let's say this is a kind I'll, I'll give you a little
inside scoop. This is how I want to structure
my year next year. I want to do like 2 events,

(39:59):
Holly LS Fest, East End Texas with the Z with the big boy car.
And then I want to do the eventslike we're doing right now like
Grid Life Rd. Atlanta, Grid Life Lime Rock,
maybe this with like a 400 horsepower capable car that's
not the pro car basically. And then I still want to try and
make it out with that car to something like CMD or if clutch
kickers. Becomes a really sick thing I

(40:22):
want to go to clutch kickers. I've never driven mid pawn and
there's money involved so it's like I get to drive a sick new
track and there's money involvedand I get to go compete in my
big boy car. So yeah, I'm going to mix it up.
I'm going to probably do like half comp and half fun events.
But the difference being a very similar schedule to this year,
but the difference being the funevents will be in a different
car, right? So instead of dragging the pro
car out everywhere, it'll be like we'll work with our

(40:44):
sponsors and build a sick, stylish, capable car and do the
demo marketing events in that and save the Z for the rowdy
comps. So yeah, it's not going
anywhere. I still want to beat up on all
the pro guys and show them that I'm better.
So I got to, I got to knock downthe pro spec guys one at a time
with my car being an amateur. So I'm coming for all of them
every time I'm out there. So that's where I'm at.

(41:06):
So yeah, no, it's not going anywhere.
That's awesome man. Well cool, I love it and always.
Dude what is just a random 1 dream build?
What would it be? Dream build, man, This is you're
asking me this at a good time because if you would have said
this last year, I would have, I would have, I would have
probably came up with some crazycomp car.
I guess my dream build would be,I'm trying to think back to my

(41:27):
roots, like what would I appreciate as a kid?
And now my dream build would be a really sick S 15 Sylvia with
like a Mazworks SR20 in it. I don't know the details because
I'm not an Sr. guy. Some sick like 506 hundred wheel
horsepower SR20 bold yeah with like the mazorx motors are

(41:48):
great. They proved to work, so yeah,
Maz works SR20 S. 15 at about 3:50 and an S chassis.
I feel like that's probably peakDude all you ever.
Need My first car was like a 230horsepower SRS 14 and it's like
it was the best car ever. So now I got to figure out how
to get back to that one way or another.
And there's some cool SRS chassis out here.

(42:09):
Driving at the cart track and the big track and seeing that in
person again, I was like damn, like how do I make that happen?
That's I got to figure out somebody buy my me out, somebody
buy my ZI got Moves need to be made.
I'm trying to move in silence but I can't.
Cool, I hope you figure it out man.
I want to do an S15 I guess maybe S14A Zenke.
We'll do a zenke. That was my first car was a
Zenke so maybe I circle back anddo like Zenke.

(42:30):
No budget Maz works SR20 like crazy build.
That would be cool. Zinke has a dream car is a wild
choice. That's my first car.
It's hotspot. It might not be my dream, but
you know, it's my my. First car was out front wheel
drive. I don't.
Want to talk about it? What'd you get?
Oh, I think isn't it? You had an eclipse or something?
What was it actually? No, it wasn't your first car.
She had an eclipse but no I had a an SER spec V Nissan Sentra.

(42:55):
That's right, Sentra. I remember we talked about this
briefly and I couldn't remember what it was.
What do those things have? The two five, it's like a
actually, it's like a front wheel Sr.
It I was going to say, isn't it the front wheel drive Sr. setup?
I think it actually is, yeah. Dang, but yeah.
That's crazy. See bro Sr.
Sony honey God. Damn we all are.

(43:16):
The time and time went. On you have RBZ so like what's
that like? It's it needs work.
Yeah. Like the the swap is really
cool. I think the motor is perfect for
that chassis. Like that's interesting.
It fits so much better than the VQ because like I'm I'm putting
together a manual swap on AG35 sedan.

(43:39):
I do not miss how horrible they are to work.
On oh there's like no space the VQ is like so wide even though
it's a little V6 I just like hate it.
Barely any room to work on anything.
When you put like AV8IN AZ you get more side to side room it's
crazy. That's so stupid to me.
Yeah, that. Does the RV fit decent like
lengthwise like so the core support?
That's the problem, so. You can.

(44:00):
Fit it with the factory course port but it doesn't like it's
it's really close so I just havetwo fronts.
So but the problem you run into is there's still front sound so
the oil pan hits the subframe. So in order to get it far enough
back, like I'm for example aboutfour or five inches away from

(44:22):
the false firewall. OK so I because these have that
weird thing like the false firewall than the real 1.
Now the RB weighs about the sameas a VQ, but it's so much
further over the front subframe that it makes the car so
twitchy. So you have to convert it to
rear sump and I'm going to cut the false firewall out.
Get as far back as possible and the motor mount should line up

(44:45):
perfectly with the the factory subframe mouse.
OK. That would be CQ is supposed to,
yeah. That way you can get some weight
distribution back because we battled that in our car all
year. It would put more center
distribution because the motor is so much longer.
Yeah, it's with ZS. What I have found with ZS after
having two and then them both being different, one being rear
rad right fuel cell all the way in the back, you know behind the
axles. We moved all that towards the

(45:06):
center. Like we put the six gallon fuel
cell where the factory saddle would be located on one side and
then moved the radiator as far forward as physically possible
in AZ. So where all that weight is now
in front of the rear axle and asclose to the center as possible.
And we got the car driving a lotbetter.
ZS love to be close to that factory weight spec and weight
distribution. Once you kind of steer away from

(45:28):
that, just from the nature of swapping a car and and putting
what's not supposed to be in it in it, it starts to drive a
little wonky, which is probably exactly what you're talking
about. So that's cool that you've kind
of already figured something outto try and experiment and combat
that get the motor back and kindof.
Get it's been all slacked together from day one like it's
a budget build for a not budget motor.

(45:49):
Yeah. So like I just wanted to see if
it was even possible to make work appropriately and like if
it had an engineer involved, it would be an amazing swap to go
with. But maybe somebody, Maybe.
Zombies to just do like a nicer they need to maybe someone needs
to just build and. Develop a proper.
Like RB swap set up to really hone it in.

(46:10):
For a scene. So you're going to work on that
yourself. Oh, that's.
What I'm going to sell. I've asked, been asked so many
times for people to. Yeah, 'cause now for me to make
them, I don't even. Know I'm like, dude, I can't do
that. Yeah, I don't even know another
RBZ. I'm sure there's got to be one
out there, but like. There's a couple RB26 or sorry,
yeah, a couple Z's that are RB26and then AG 35.

(46:34):
That's RB25 neo but I've never seen AZ that's 25.
Yeah, which probably means there's not many companies out
there pumping out like super well engineered and developed
parts for the swap. No, not at all.
Which if you can do that, do it.There was one company, I think
they were called CJ Motorsports or something back in the day
that had a motor mount kit but their shot burnt up and they

(46:55):
never came. Back shit.
Damn that's unfortunate to hear it.
Yeah that's always stuff to comeback from.
My parents house burned down a year ago.
Any kind of like residential or business related fire like is a
nightmare. Especially dealing with
insurance and like rehoming and regegade.
Fuel. They had a warehouse fire.
Oh, shit, I bet that was bad if it was fuel.
It is. Gosh, man, it's tough.

(47:16):
It's brutal. It's a lot to figure out.
A lot of money and insurance only works so fast.
I mean, that a lot of times business owners and homeowners
get caught in a pinch. I mean, I saw it first hand with
my parents and they thankfully are in like a re, you know,
built home basically. Yeah.
Now finally moving back in. So that's cool.
Random lore, but Oh yeah, that also threw a wrench in our
program last year because that happened last year and it was

(47:39):
like we were, my dad wasn't living at home.
We didn't have our home garage. We just had our shop and they
were living out of a hotel for alittle bit and then a rental
home. So it was like we were,
everything was scattered from where we would normally operate,
having our home garage and the shop working on stuff throughout
the week to where it became likea huge wrench in the plans.
But we're getting back to it, so.
Well cool man, I'm excited to see how this goes for you.

(48:01):
We'll see in a. Different route, Yeah, Fingers
crossed. I mean, my dad always says you
got when you're the one doing it, you got a front row seat.
So, you know, damn right we're going to find out.
So we'll see how it goes. Well, cool man.
Well, best of luck to you. Thank you Do.
You want to shut your sponsors? Out yeah, shout out everybody,
everybody on the car, ISR Performance, BC Racing, locals,
pubs, Zach Nova, Kansai Holly performance, Stilo Simpson, the

(48:24):
guys that keep the car looking good, keep the car running good,
keep me safe and looking good. And all the guys in the industry
that just support us, that allowus to be out here drive events
like this and present ourselves in the program and represent
them. I know I didn't get to name all
of them. Thank you all.
Yeah, we literally would not be able to do this without you
guys. So yeah, thank you on the.
Appearance part I will say the car looks way better with the

(48:46):
vertex style KBD kit. Oh my gosh dude, everybody hit a
nail with that one dude, the KBDlooks so good.
You rock KBD and you rock Kansaiwhere we got similar ZS right
KBD we got kansai's everything looks good grip royal, so we
work with a lot of the same people and they have both of our
ZS looking sick. Irving got nailed it with the
the V style kit. It looks baller It works on

(49:07):
obviously comp cars and more style built cars and then the
kansai. They got a a shoe for everybody.
You know whether. I'm running the set well I guess
when the car is working the sevens this year.
Oh, you got the sevens now? Dang, you have the Neos and the
Sevens. With the the purple gel caps.
Oh dude I love on the other see we got the white tandems that we
powder coated with the pink gel caps to match the car.

(49:28):
It looks so good now we got the Chrome Rokus so we just run the
Chrome caps. I do miss having the pink gel
caps. Right, I ran the Chrome neos
last. Year the Chrome Neos look good.
I remember when you posted your wheels on a box I was like, I
hope they're the Neos and you were like, bro, you would never
believe it. They are and nobody gets it.
I was like hell yeah. Because for some, I feel like
the Neos are a little bit uncommon and drifting right.
I feel like more people just gravitate to the the Roku and

(49:51):
the Tandem and now the Seven. But all the console wheels are
so good so. Off in the pictures, like when
you just saw them online, they didn't look nearly as good as
say a a tandem right? Right.
You know the Roku is too. And I think that comes in a
wheel. Design with a tire wrapped
around it and everything and it's all complete.
Holy shit that wheel looks so good.

(50:11):
It's it's a little bit more unique of a wheel design.
So when you see like the tandem 5 spoke and whatnot or 6 spoke,
whatever it is 6. I think when you see that and
you see the seven, it's a wheel design that you see on pictures
and can immediately like imagineon a car.
It's classic design with a spin.But the Neo is such like a
unique out there, kind of just like real stylish, different

(50:32):
type of wheel that when you see it in pictures, it might be hard
to imagine it like looking good on your car.
But then you see it and you're like, damn, you know, this looks
sick. So I like the Neo.
I almost went with the Chrome Neos.
Sure, the man. Yeah, I'm like Vicente, let's
talk a little wheel change up for next year maybe, or maybe
I'll run them on this new build,you know?
Never know, that could be the move.
Could be the move CBTMCBTM. If you don't, if you run

(50:54):
anything other than Chrome. Oh no, I got to do.
Chrome I got to do car. But I will say this, I do like
like the hyper silver or the silver the hyper.
Silver because I mean, that's what I'm running.
I think it suits the purple thatI did this year way.
Better than the Chrome. I love the silver man.
I love like the silver tandems, the light silver ones.
I ran the gun metal ones for a bit, but the actual silver
tandems, that's probably my favorite cons.

(51:15):
I will to be honest. So Oh yeah, that's what that's
probably what I'm going to be onwhatever this next car.
Is all right. Well, hurry up on the new car.
Yeah, I know. I want to drive it.
Trust me somebody, if you, if you're looking for pre
advertising, if you're looking for a 2016 NB Club Miata, bang
my line. Or well, my C's already sold
actually, so Oh well, darn. The black VQ seat time car is
gone. She's no more VQ actually, I

(51:37):
guess in my life at all. Good, not good.
Those things run forever. I mean, yeah.
But like, that's the best motor out there.
That's God's motor. You know what I'm re re dream
build. Can I?
Can I get a redo real quick? Yeah, let's run it.
Straight pipe VQHR on nitrous ina fucking S15.
Give me that right now. Give me dog box quick change 350
horsepower nitrous HR straight pipe ISR with the resonator cut

(52:00):
out in an S15. Dream car right there, caged.
Clip that. Yeah, clip that.
Only that, no. That's it.
That's dream car. I could win.
King of OSWI could win. I don't know what else I could
win. Probably just King of OSW beat
around Andrew Grendel on that thing or something.
So. No, I clip the clip the the part
where I said what like what the car the next car is going to be

(52:22):
and. Then and then put that rage
bait, people are going to be offthe hook.
They're going to be like bro what's a waste of an S15.
I love it, dude. All right.
Well, I'll let you get back to it.
Man, no, you're good. It was good to finally knock
this out. We've been talking on Instagram
about doing this for a fat minute, so it's cool that you're
out here doing the podcast at events.
I love that. Got to that's like the best
thing you could be doing. Thank you.

(52:43):
Man, I appreciate that. Yeah, dude, I love it.
I love the show. It's cool watching you.
You're like the best host for it, so it's perfect.
But dude, thank you for having alot, dude.
I appreciate it. You're always welcome, man.
Yes, Sir. Go have at it and I guess enjoy
the rest of the event. Yeah, you got to soak it up.
It's hot out here, but. Viper, we need those fans,
right? Trust.

(53:04):
No bitch. Can't catch, no feelings.
I've been taking long flights from the Bay to bezel hit home
run. I'm a ball like Jeter.
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, I can teach her
whole life. A movie.
You can watch it in theater.

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Behind FD licenses, Problems with comps & Retiring LS 350z? w/ Ryan Acevedo | Circle of Drift #153

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Behind FD licenses, Problems with comps & Retiring LS 350z? w/ Ryan Acevedo | Circle of Drift #153