I’ll never forget

Posted on July 3, 2009

While tidying up my desk at work I found this: the pitlane wristband from the D1GP All-Star World Championship, which we competed in two years ago. I had completely forgotten that I had kept it as a souvenir, and the memories came rushing back as I held it my hands. When I got home, I went through my computer’s archives and dug out the pics I took to relive from the trip.

Sometimes I have to pinch myself, as I can’t believe that in less than 12 months an innocent conversation would lead to the birth of a racing team, which would then see us compete at the world’s highest level of drifting. You see, it was during a brainstorming session that the whole notion of Auto Salon having a drift car was conceived. I can still vividly remember the conversations I had with Simon, our BDM, that would lead to our partnership with Industrie Clothing and the formation of a drift team from the ground up. While it was a dream come true (who wouldn’t want to build a near budgetless car?), it quickly turned into a nightmare. Building the car and running the team was not only extremely tiring but incredibly stressful, and I’d be lying if I said there werent’ moments where I wanted to chuck in the towel.

However at the tailend of the 07 season - having won the last two races of the five round Drift Australia championship - we were all high as a kite. Simon and I quickly began liaising with our sponsors to see if we could somehow make it over to the U.S. to represent Australia in the D1GP All-Star World Championships, which were held at the famous Irwindale Speedway in California.

A little known fact is that I had been talking regularly with Chiaki from D1GP USA for many months, and they had extended us an invite to race as early as May. However Drift Australia had asked us to keep the invite under wraps as they wanted to promote it post-season as a ‘top three championship finishers invited to D1GP’, and we obliged.

It wasn’t until the eleventh hour that we scraped together enough of a budget to commit to D1. If I remember right we only had two weeks before our container would have to leave our shores. It was a considerable exercise, as not only did we have to ship the car, equipment and team (six of us in total), but we also needed to rebuild the motor in the S15 as we had run it almost to the point of destruction at the final Oran Park round. Those who attended that particular race will remember our S15 returning to the pits after each battle with smoke pouring from the bonnet vents; we were pushing it to its very limits.

Every day after work, I’d head down the road to IS Motor Racing - who handled the majority of the build - to do a six hour shift preparing the S15. As I have tendencies to be a paranoid perfectionist I’d fuss over every single detail, so much so that I probably drove Indy and Paul, our two mechanics, completely insane. “Have we done that, is that ready, surely we need to change that?” I would run around the workshop with checklist in hand, obsessed that we were going to overlook something vital.

Simon had secured a budget big enough to allow me to return the car back to its perfect state, and that’s exactly what we did. Every single body panel was replaced (including all four guards, bonnet, boot, bumpers, skirts, diffuser and even the dry carbon doors, as Luke Fink had destroyed the passenger’s side at the last race), the entire car reskinned in chrome (the S15 isn’t painted; we used chrome vinyl because it was more reflective and lighter), rebuilt the bottom-ends of both the primary and spare engines, overhauled the dog gears in the two transmissions and replaced all of the dead parts in our inventory. I wasn’t leaving anything to chance. I even had every single nut and bolt checked, torqued and then marked with a Posca to confirm we hadn’t missed any.

Paul and Jono at Heasman Steering/Bilstein also redid the alignment and fitted brand new shocks, and Indy gave the SR20 its most aggressive tune to date, pushing 360kW to the rear wheels on pump fuel. The rev limit was also raised to just under 9000rpm, in anticipation of the demands of racing on a banked oval, something we had never done before.

Eventually we did two back-to-back all nighters to get the car ready for shipping. And that’s when things started getting a bit complicated. As I didn’t want to leave anything to chance, I wanted every single spare packed into our 20ft container which, when you consider was already filled with 30 tyres and the S15 itself, was a near impossible task. Spare engine, ‘box, three diffs, extra panels and so on were crammed in. I knew it was risky, but we installed some supporting beams into the container as a last defence in case all of the gear came toppling onto the car.

Here’s the view from our Marriott Courtyard hotel. We were staying in a rather ghetto part of LA as it was close to the track. We were certainly jealous when we found out one of the other Australian teams was rocking it in a five star hotel in Beverly Hills!

Regardless, the bed at the Marriott Courtyard goes down as the best thing I’ve ever slept on. Also gotta love when hotels give you half a dozen pillows. Excuse the mess!

Allen at Tomei Japan hooked me up with one of their American dealers, Shutoko, who were kind enough to lend us their workshop to prep and store our car. Sharing the same facilities as Kure Motorsport, they had a pretty big garage space and even gave us a hoist all to ourselves.

However when the container arrived, we struck a rather significant dilemma. The truck’s trailer didn’t have a side-loader (a contraption that lifts the container off the trailer and places it on the ground), meaning there was no way for us to get the car out. After a dozen calls back to our Australian shipping agent and twice as many to their U.S. branch, there was still no resolution.

Without any other option, we had to unload everything by hand. 16 wheels, 30 tyres, spare engine, gearbox, et al.

This was the moment that I shat myself. Having removed most of the equipment, we could finally see the car. However the partition we had put in between the car and parts was knocked on its side. Uh oh.

Talk about a close call. Due to the container flexing (probably when it was lifted on and off the ship), the supporting beams had slipped free and dropped straight down, missing the front of the car by mere centimetres. On the right you can see how the tow-hook tore through the partition.

Only way to get the car out of the container was to get a flat-bed tow truck to butt up against the tailer. Our tow truck arrived with two Latinos who, for whatever reason, kept high-fiving each other. They’d back up the truck, say “you the man!” then high-five each other. They’d tilt the tray, high-five. Unload the car, high-five. No doubt they also high-fived each other after they pinged me US$140 for the urgent call out.

Here’s Paul lifting the S15 to change all of its fluids. The blank spot on the doors was for the D1GP sponsor decals.

Overall I was pretty relieved that the only damage the S15 sustained during transport was a bent tow-hook. And so, with a week before the event and no emergency repairs required, we decided to head to Vegas to meet up with fellow Aussie competitor, Robbie Bolger. On the way our rental almost ran out of gas when we missed a service station and had to double-back. Being stuck in the middle of the desert wouldn’t have been fun.

Since our Vegas hotel was booked out, we were upgraded to the MGM Grand Tower. Here’s the view from the balcony.

Shame we were out the whole night and didn’t get to enjoy the rooms! Robbie and I spent most of the night at a black-jack table, where the dealer went on an incredible streak. For ten hands straight the dealer never busted and always had at least 19. I think Robbie dumped at least three large that night!

During the race weekend we were certainly humbled. Not only were the U.S. and Japanese drivers a lot faster than we had anticipated, but they were also driving cars specifically tailored for the circuit. Custom diff ratios, unique alignments (to compensate for the track’s banking, teams were running positive camber on one side) and formidable power outputs. Even when we pushed our S15 beyond our normal boost settings, we still couldn’t keep up with the works teams; and that was in a straight line!

Here’s a pic after one too many laps and a tad too much tyre pressure. I’m always amazed that driver Ferds can still hold a drift when a tyre suddenly delaminates! Considering we knocked-out Youichi Imamura - who at the time was the most successful D1GP driver of all time - and finished in the Top Ten, I was very happy all things considered (video here). I don’t think I’ll ever be fortunate enough to do it all again, and so I’ll forget all the hardships and just cherish the experience. This is definitely one of the highlights of my career.

Scrawl

Posted on July 2, 2009

Thanks to computers, my writing has turned into complete shite. Mine has to be the laziest, most illegible scribble. Doctors? Bah, they have nothing on my squiggle and loops. Sometimes I can’t even decipher what my own hand has written!

Stupid is as stupid does

Posted on June 30, 2009

(Photos by Zitian Yap)
It was sometime last year that lottery jackpots started getting pretty substantial. One of the first big ones was by Powerball, and if my memory serves me right the jackpot was around $40-60 million. On the day it was due to be drawn, I had the day off and was bumming around at JDM Yard, catching up on all the industry gossip with Zi (I always find it ironic that the aftermarket scene, which is overfilling with testosterone, can be so much like a sewing circle).

When one of their customers happened to mention that night’s lottery, it was as if a light bulb went off above our heads. In total synchronisation, we both came up with the idea of getting everyone we knew to pool together cash to buy a Systems entry, something that neither of us had done before. Basically a Systems entry gives you more numbers than the amount drawn, dramatically increasing the theoretical number of games.

And so we started going through our phones, dialling number after number. After our second or third call we had our sales pitch down pat, and I think out of the 20 or so people that committed, there was only two that declined. It was as if we were selling stock: we’d bark the pitch down the phone, confirm the amount, hang up and then dial the next person straight away.

The amounts that people chipped in varied, ranging from $50 all the way through to $400. The premise was we’d buy the biggest Systems entry we could, and if we were to win then it would be split in proportion to how much you put in. It was starting to sound like a fool-proof plan. And after an hour and a half, we had pooled together nearly four large.

With only half an hour left before the newsagencies closed, there was no time to collect all the money, so we withdrew from our bank accounts. It must have been quite a sight for the person behind the newsagent counter: here were two bums in hoodies packing a thick wad of cash, ready to splurge on a Systems 17 entry (I think it was the equivalent to something like 6000 games). Considering how big the store owner’s eyes were bulging, I think they had never seen anyone buy such a big ticket. He’d look at the cash, look us up and down, look back at the cash, and then ask us again if we were serious. Carefully, he counted and examined every note, probably thinking they were all counterfeit. He even held each one up to the light! Considering how it was near closing time, there was a long line of irate people behind us, who were facing a very good chance of missing out because of two gangster-looking fools.

Since we had prepaid on behalf of so many people, we decided seal the ticket in an envelope and not look at it until everyone had paid up. This would prevent anyone from pulling out if we didn’t win anything. That night, I must admit that I was pretty excited. In fact I think we all were. On MSN we were all browsing domain.com.au, showing off which house we’d buy. Tempting fate? You better believe it.

But we did end up winning. Though not Division One. Nor Division Two. In fact, we won - wait for it - $11. To this day none of us have cashed it in because of the sheer embarrassment of having to hand over a $4k ticket to be verified. I think Zi has it framed up in his shop actually. Even though there was a record $90 million OzLotto draw this evening, none of us mentioned anything about Systems entries. There were no calls, no sales pitches, no pool of cash. If there’s an upside, it’s that we’ll be laughing about it for many years to come!

Bruno premiere

Posted on June 29, 2009

When the cinema audience screams excitedly as the host asks: “Does Sydney want to see lots of c*ck?!”, you know you’re in for a truly interesting night. And that’s exactly what happened this evening.

Anna had mailed me a super cool bday pressie, which were some passes to the Australian premiere of Bruno. Held at the State Theatre, Market St was absolutely chaotic, with the police and security struggling to contain the crowds from spilling onto the roads.

All of the fuss was over Sacha Baron Cohen, who had made spectacular entrances at all of the Bruno premieres in other countries. This time was no different, with Bruno strutting down the middle of the road wearing little more than chest armour and with a horse in tow. Although the horse wore blinders, it was still getting pretty startled by all the flash photography, and there were moments where it looked like it was going to bolt.

Before the movie started I was desperately trying to find a bathroom (for some reason they had closed off the main ones), and after a couple of wrong turns I bumped into Sacha himself, struggling with his armour to make it down the stairs that led into the theatre. His minders pretty much had to support him from both sides to stop him from toppling over!

Earlier on in the year I saw some unedited snippets at a seasonal preview, and so I knew what to expect: Bruno takes the very fabric of social convention and political correctness and douses it in flames, in a way that makes Borat seem PG rated. Everyone bar the most sadistic will find a moment or two in the movie a tad uncomfortable, but I guess that’s what it’s all about. While I’m sure there will be many who will be mortified by the movie, I found it much more entertaining than Borat. The quip about Mel Gibson had me absolutely in stitches.

Faux pas

Posted on June 28, 2009

Excluding Friday night’s crazy dinner,I didn’t really have a weekend befitting a birthday as I’ve been stuck in front of the computer for the past two days. That said, I have a nice bottle of red beside me to ease the pain, which was a gift from my good friend Chris. I was surprised to see him at my bday dinner, and I did a completely unintenional faux pas of blurting out “What are you doing here!”

I think he might have taken it the wrong way as being uninvited, but I was just surprised that he was in Sydney, as I thought he was in Vanuatu. Since leaving IS Motor Racing, Chris has been jetsetting all over the world. Although mainly for business, the tropical destinations that he visits will surely make anyone envious. Indeed he had to leave the dinner early as the next morning he was flying out to Bali. Have a safe trip bud!

The craziest of nights

Posted on June 26, 2009

Around a month ago Zi from JDMyard reserved a room at Wagaya for my birthday. Although I had been looking forward to it, I was super exhausted as I had to stay up the night prior to converse with a business contact in France.

Wagaya’s not one of my favourite Sydney Japanese restaurants, but Zi assured me that we’d have a great time since we had a room to ourselves and the touch-screen menus meant we wouldn’t be constantly interrupted. Effectively we could run amuck, which was exactly what we did.

Ever since I was old enough to hold a driver’s license, I swore to never catch public transport ever again. I hated the weirdos, the stench, the constant delays. Zi is similarly prissy, and so when he told me he was catching a train into the city I didn’t believe him. In fact I bet him $20 he wouldn’t do it. Perhaps it was the financial incentive, but Zi brought the ticket to prove me wrong. He even BBM’d me with images of him on the train.

Fended off 20 hungry people to snap this shot before it was wolfed down.

Lotus chips. So nice.

Sushi roulette, just like Russian roulette. Each plate has one sushi stuffed with wasabi, and it’s a great game to play with friends. I was lucky the first two rounds (poor Julie was crying when she copped a loaded one), but on the last one I was caught out.

Unfortunately I don’t think it’s appropriate to reveal the crazy antics that went on that night (although I have a feeling some videos will leak onto YouTube). Fuelled by over 80 Asahis, this was a night that none of us will be forgetting soon. And I don’t think it’ll be ever be repeated either, considering the amount of money we lost to various dares. The Wagaya staff didn’t look very happy with our rowdy behaviour, and after four hours they were dropping some not so subtle hints that we should leave. And that’s when we were given the longest bill I’ve ever seen!

Catfight

Posted on June 25, 2009

Even though soccer’s not really considered a contact sport, you have to expect the occasional knock or two (I seem to be getting my fair share recently). Now while 99.99% of the time I’m a super calm person, I was super pissed at one of our recent opponents. Elbowed in the nose, OK. Kicked in the knee, OK. Shirt pulled, yanked and twisted, OK. But then he resorted to scratching me with his Freddy Krueger fingernails. That sent me over the edge. The good news is that we’ll be going up against that team towards the end of the season. Evil Charles is already planning sweet revenge!

Still full from Yum Cha

Posted on June 25, 2009

Today was a day I’ve been dreading for, well, a year. Because it’s my birthday, which aren’t fun when you’re an adult. I’ve now turned 28, and you might as well round up that sh*t to three-oh. The guys and girls at work did a good job of keeping my mind off the fact I’m an old fart by taking me out to yum cha at Marigold. We were so hungry that we started eating before everyone arrived!

Eleven hungry people meant that we practically ate a trolley and a half of food. Since we arrived just before closing time, the restaurant owners were probably delighted that we finished off whatever they had left!

Mango pancakes are nice but I’m certainly not addicted to them (I’m an egg tart fan). Kula and Chantal on the other hand, are the complete opposite. Even though Kula had stuffed himself full, he still managed to find some stomach space to fit five of these in!

Sydney hospitality

Posted on June 24, 2009

Friend came up from Melbourne for a short work trip, so we headed out for dinner at Din Tai Fung.

Even on a winter Wednesday night you still have to wait for a table!

Open kitchen so you can see the surgeon-like precision as they craft the dumplings.

Everything you order is just a preamble to what you’re really here for: dumplings.

Perhaps it’s just me, but Din Tai Fung seems to be slipping. Don’t get me wrong, the dumplings are still great, but they’re just not as nice as what I remember.

Afterwards we headed to the Four Seasons Hotel for dessert. As I was quite stuffed, I only ordered a drink. The menu made it sound so nice: “organically grown tea, the zest of fresh lemon and the warmth of ginger.” Then this bottle came out. Cmon guys.

Write more why don’t you

Posted on June 23, 2009

Pulled on one of my favourite tees the other day: an old J Lindeberg shirt I picked up three years ago. I hadn’t worn it for quite some time, and before long I noticed something irritating my hip. Turns out it was the care tags, which are ridiculously long. Why the hell does a t-shirt need two care tags that are nearly 4-inches long? They’ve written an entire chapter on them!

Memories

Posted on June 23, 2009

Back in my uni days I used to juggle two part-time jobs, one at AMEX and the other as a department editor for a free press magazine. They weren’t glamorous jobs by any stretch of the imagination, especially on the magazine side of things. Since it was run by mates (who I met via AMEX), it was a very small operation, and every month we’d have to do the mag drops ourselves.

On delivery Saturday, I’d stumble out of my house at 7AM - with bed head, clacking in thongs and nursing a hangover - and drive a beaten up, column-shift Hiace van (because no one else drove manual). We’d borrow the van from one of the guy’s dads, stuffing the back with the thousands of magazines we had to deliver. After we had finished all the drop offs, we’d always park in the loading dock outside Emperor’s Garden in Chinatown to grab takeaway. Like true fobs we’d be squatting in the back of that Hiace as we ate our lunch. Today I happened to be in the area, so for old times sake I grabbed the same thing I did back then: roast duck with rice. Oh the memories!

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