VgeasDrift Last Event of 2012

                  This event was a bittersweet one for me. it starts the day before when my best friend crashed his car during a practice of the course. I was pretty bummed that we weren't able to tandem together, but we will get him a new car built and be ready for the next Vegasdrift Pro/AM season.

so on to the actual day of the event. This only being my second event i have entered in my car i was still pretty nervous, and this event was one of the biggest turn outs in three years so there was plenty of talent there which didn't help my nerves. the track was setup with a high speed third gear entry into a long sweeping right. im not a fan of right turn initiations, so that was another obstacle for me to overcome. well i was able to shake my nerves off and make a couple of passes, Then i was really able to get comfortable with the course. here is a crude video i made with my go pro just sort of hacked together but you get the idea.



I learned a lot from this event like how pushing your clutch in during transitions helps, ebrakes can help you get a little farther if your coming up short on a clipping point, and how making sure you have good tires. and keeping new ones on to help keep your grip up, This helped me out in being consistent. i really only went out there with 2 goals in mind, 1 stay consistent and 2 work on trying to hit the clipping points and put the car in all the right spots as if it were a judged event. i also learned that my tires were CRAP, i was running the Achilles 2233 in a 225 45 17 and all they did was chunk chunk chunk. they have very little grip and they chunk like crazy i have no other experience with Achilles tires so im not going to say that all Achilles tires are bad. but take my advice and DONT get the 2233's. luckily Ever had some spare wheels since he wouldn't be driving this event. So half way through the day i switched to his wheels, after i had already gone through 2 sets of my Achilles tires.  i pop'd on his fresh FEDERAL 595 tires and boy what a difference. The grip was better, the smoke was better, they wore evenly with no chunking, and they lasted a long time. im very satisfied with the federals and will be running then from now on, and most likely i will get the federal rsr tires for the front as the 2233 are even chunking on the front of my car.

so by the end of the day i was feeling good, had some good tires on the back and felt like stepping it up so i tried running a few of my first ever tandem runs. below is the only video i have that my girlfriend took on her phone from the bleachers.



the video is very poor quality but you get the idea, i am the lead car.

Also check out this video by Tommy Suell, im supper excited that i made it into this video there are some pretty cool shots of me i really like the shot where im being followed by Josh Guild. Thanks again Tommy for including me in the video.



so to wrap it up i would like to thank Nick for putting on a great event, and for all the VEGASDRIFT staff that made it possible. i would have to say that this event was one of the best ones in a while. i would also like to thank everyone that came out to drive and to watch we need big turn outs like this so we can justify having practice events more often. If your still having doubts about coming out to drive at a practice event cause your embarrassed of your car or the skills you lack, you should really think about making it out to the next event. everyone is so nice and helpful out there, there was no egos and there was three separate tracks a figure 8, and small 1st/2nd gear course and then the main course. please don't let drifting die in Las Vegas.