I took some photos before and after the Sunday Funday podcast, and here they are!
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Hey everybody! No, you’re not having a stroke. This is a special bonus episode of the CAMcast! Mike went up to SevenSix on Sunday morning, sat on the couch in the lobby, and asked Team Scoundrels a few questions over a few beers. The Scoundrels are Anthony Barnes, Blaize Potts, Chase Garrett, and Nico Wallace. There are probably some more, but those are the guys who were there. There was also a puppy, and we got a guest appearance from Estevan!
Stream the episode above, find it on iTunes, Google Play, and wherever else you get your podcasts, or download it right here. And while you’re at it, find the Scoundrels on their various social media outlets:
That’s a lot! Get to following. And while you’re doing all of that: find us on our social media, subscribe to the CAMcast podcast, and subscribe to our YouTube channel!
SEMA was over! Oh glory it was over! We love going to SEMA, but good lord it gets tedious after a few days. You see amazing cars, but you see them sitting still. Static. Yes, you can admire the craftsmanship (or lack thereof in some cases), but you don’t get to see them do anything. Thankfully, there was a VegasDrift event the day after the show closed. Earlier in the week we helped Jason Smith get prepared for the event, so we figured we’d pop in and say hi.
It took a few hours, but we eventually did see Jason. Before we did though, we saw Ian Perri. It was nice to see him, and it was nice to see him drift in person.
Blaize Potts came down, started a small fire, and did some skids.
That’s not Scott, that’s Brandon! Yes, Brandon Wicknick was driving a V8 car. Will he see the light that is low end torque, and not having to wait for the power to come on? God willing, he won’t.
And Forrest Wang is powered by pizza. Anyway, here’s a gallery
It was a nice day out at Utah Motorsports Campus! Mostly sunny with some intermittent clouds, sport bikes from the Apex Track Days event wailing on the West Track, and tires howling in the West Paddock from the drivers of the final Salt City Drift event of the season. At the end of the day, there would be two winners crowned: the winner of the event, and the overall season champion! Let’s see how that all played out:
In third place in the day’s competition was OP Anderson! Despite organizing and being one of the guys running the event, and despite having a box stock Saturn Sky Redline as his chariot, he managed to go out and slay enough to get on the podium.
In second place was the man, the myth, the Southern Dandy: Blaize Potts! We finally got to see his LS powered FC RX-7 ripping, and rip it did. Put a pin in this, cause we’re gonna get back to him in a minute.
Taking home the win was Trevor Malan! Trevor’s S13 has everything that the internet seems to love: sparkly paint, big Weds wheels, a DMAX kit, JDM nose, it’s dumped, and it’s a ripper. And it has something I love: a dude behind the wheel who’s down to drive. Doesn’t matter how cool your car looks, or what parts you’ve thrown on it: if you can’t/won’t drive it like it’s supposed to, then you’re blowing it.
This is John. I like John, cause he’s down to get weird. Here he is in his Wisefab equipped E36, munching a cone. It also has some crazy stiff springs out of the Lyfe Motorsport GTR. It was quite a sight to behold.
This is Devin. His Corolla has Arizona tags, lives in a garage in Michigan, and has a BEAMS 3S-GE under the hood. He drove, in that Corolla, all the way from Michigan just to drive in this event. And it isn’t some well sorted, fully developed Corolla. Very recently it was just a lump of 80’s Toyota, sitting in his garage. He got the car on the ground, got it running, then got it running well enough to drive across the goddamn country to slay some tires. Think about that for a second. Devin is the man.
In addition to the actual competition, there were two games being played: limbo and table. Not quite sure how limbo worked, but the guy who won got some cash. Good job there, fella! It looked like Blaize was going to take the table win, until Nick Stucky showed up. He was having car troubles, but finally managed to get his car running. He did some tandem with Scott Bradshaw, and then he went for the table. Name of the game was to drift through the last two turns of the course, then slide your car to a stop next to a table. You needed to be parallel, or close enough, to the table to be in the running. Blaize set the bar pretty high, or low, but Nick cleared it in whichever direction was necessary. He slide to a stop mere inches from the table, on his only table run of the day!
Speaking of tables (AWKWARD TRANSITION), here’s the podium for the season championship: in third place, with an E30 325, is Hayden Campbell! He might have taken second if he drove the event, but third isn’t bad!
In second place is the guy who used two cars this season: Blaize Potts! He sold the KA24DE powered S13 coupe, and was handsomely rewarded for doing so. Look at that 2nd place trophy and moderately priced champagne!
And the winner of the 2016 Salt City Drift driver’s championship is: Nick Nengas! Proving many things this year (any seat time is good seat time, the 350Z is a solid platform for damn near anything, looking like a child has its benefits) netted him the top spot. It wasn’t an easy task, there were some guys who could shred, but Nick shredded harder. Now, what do three guys with champagne do with it after they’ve received awards?
There was much rejoicing. And so ends the Salt City Drift season. It was an enjoyable one, a solid one, and hopefully one that has a bigger succeeding season. Congratulations to the winners, the people who tried, everyone who came out to support the events, and especially the folks at Salt City Drift. They’re trying to bolster this community we have by hosting these events, and it’d be killer to see some more folks driving, or even volunteering at these events.
Anywell, until next time, dear readers…
Somethings happen because someone works hard, long hours, for days and weeks on end. Somethings, like this shoot, happen because of pure circumstance. If, on the day I saw two of the cars featured here, I decided to make a left turn instead of a right this might not have happened. Thankfully, I made that right, and got the ball rolling on this shoot.
The two cars I saw were the Black FD and the purple SW20. Seeing either of the cars would be awesome, but seeing both, cruising around together brought up all sorts of images of Daikoku Futo. I put the word out on Facebook, and almost immediately someone responded.
Brad, the owner of the red FC RX-7, said they were friends of his. He acted as go between, and helped set up the shoot. Oh, and he drives a red FC. A red coupe with pop-up headlights? Let’s look further at this child of the 80’s.
Captain Coolpants might not have some cool things (like a turbo, or torque) but he does have some sweet ass S5 taillights. That’s gotta count for something.
And the 17″ Racing Harts, courtesy of a Mazda Protoge5, fit nicely. And the gold looks great with the red. Enough of the opener, let’s get to the feature and headliner.
Mid-engined sports cars hold a special place in the hearts and minds of us enthusiasts. Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lotus, even Acura made their top tier sports cars mid-engined. And so did Toyota*. It’s fitting that Tayler’s MR2 wears purple, it is after all the color of royalty.
Wedged in the middle of the MR2 is the venerable 3S-GTE, a two liter, turbocharged four cylinder that also powered the all wheel drive Celicas that eventually got Toyota in deep trouble with the FIA. Thankfully, there isn’t any sort of trickery going on in this particular motor, but it is making all sorts of glorious noises.
A modern classic like this needs modern classic wheels, and the 5zigen FN01R-C fits that bill perfectly.
Those same wheels, albeit in a different color, set off the classic lines of Kaiden’s FD. Like its contemporaries, the Supra and 300ZX, the FD RX-7 ditched the angular lines that defined the previous generation and became more rounded and smooth. While it came with pop-up headlights from the factory, Kaiden’s has been fitted with a set of flush mounted lights. Despite the omnipresent lights, the shape is still instantly recognizable.
The front bumper, fenders and hood have all been replaced with pieces that shed weight and help with air flow. Air flow, especially through the engine bay, is key when you’re dealing with an engine the size of a basketball, but weighs as much as an LS1.
But what an engine it is. Despite the publicized “short comings” (they’re not the torqueiest motors, but they can make plenty of power without eating apex seals every other day), the 13B is a legendary motor. It has powered some blisteringly fast cars, and if you can shove one into a Miata, you’ll have yourself one hell of a roadster.
I’ve noticed something with the youths. It seems that they’re gaining an appreciation for some of these modern classics. It could be because they’ve realized that the more mechanical cars have a feel that the current cars don’t have, or they might be dropping into their price range. I doubt that last part to be true, but then again, when I was in high school my budget for transportation was enough to grab a new shop deck for my skateboard every now and again, so my views may be skewed. Either way, seeing more of these cars in the hands of young enthusiasts is a good sign for the future of us, the enthusiast.
Spring is in the air and we, as gear heads, need to take to the streets and enjoy this. On Sunday the Utah Japanese Classic Car group got together at Sugarhouse Park to ring in the season with what they called the Spring Fling Pot Luck. If you’re in to classic J-tin then this group is for you, and if you were able to make it out to the park you got to see some treats.
There were a pair of classic Celica GTs in attendance. Both coupes were 5 speed models, and were rather bright. You can see some American muscle influence in the noses of these vehicles, very reminiscent of early Camaros and Challengers; however, while the Americans were spry for being as massive as they were the Celicas were just spry.
This beautiful, Datsun wagon made its way out. More impressive than the wagon, and its cloth sunroof? The fact that it made it out of the park. That exit is gnarly!
Who doesn’t need more RX7s in their life? Everyone does, and there were examples of all three generations out, but this FB really caught my eye. It’s not a concourse car, but it isn’t a wreck that that’s rotting away. It’s a simple driver that’s hopefully spreading the good word of Reagan era rotaries to the masses.
FC RX7s have been on the rise for a while, and for good reason. Like all 80’s import FR coupes, they look amazing. A few simple exterior modifications can transform a mundane runabout into a jaw dropper, and there were plenty of turbo models produced. Nary a man alive can resist the Siren’s song that is a turbo 13B.
This was, arguably, the most gorgeous car at the meet and is in the running for most gorgeous car to ever be produced. The FD RX7 didn’t look like its contemporaries when it was new, and nothing has come along since to rival it. This one is a bit different than the ones you see running around. There isn’t a Mazda badge on the exterior, but it does have an “efini” badge on it. This is because Mazda, like Toyota and Nissan, opened up a luxury division. Their’s was called efini, but only operated from 1991-1997. And unlike the Lexus and Infiniti brands, efini existed only in Japan. That fact explains the most obvious feature of the car: it’s a right hand drive model. You’re not going to be finding efini RX7s littering your supermarket parking lot, so seeing one in person is like finding a unicorn.
Second generation MR2s were out in force. These mid-engine runabouts have been turned into Ferrari F355 lookalikes by some idiots overly enthusiastic people, but thankfully the ones at the meet were clean examples that weren’t sporting prancing horse badges.
IT”S A SUZUKI CARRY! WE’VE HIT PEAK JDM!!! This is as good a place as any to end this post. There’s a gallery below, but I won’t blame you for spending your day basking in the glory that is the Suzuki Carry.
The sun rose over a chilly Miller Motorsports Park. The rain had stopped, but the already slick surface of the west paddock was puddle ridden. The drivers arrived and unloaded their cars, and prepared them for a full day of drifting.
Nick and Brandon gathered the drivers for a meeting and a rundown of the course. Some showers had returned, which made it feel even colder than it did earlier. After fielding few questions and introducing the DJ (Joey Harrington, aka G-Type, aka The Hair, aka Trueno the Panda), the drivers went out for a parade lap. And then the fun began
The guys took the first few cuts somewhat conservatively. I say somewhat, because the slick track was a bit of a trick to get used to with the water.
The cones at the entry of the first big right hander took a beating from a few of the drivers, but then OP went on course…
DERP! By the way, the E36 M3 is apparently built like a tank. His car showed no signs of damage, and he gave ride alongs the rest of the day.
Turbo and N/A S chassis were taking cuts, mustaches not required.
Your favorite Pro/Am drivers and the resident Formula D driver were out giving ride alongs, and showing off some tandem skills.
Then this showed up. Things were getting wild, crazy even.
Thankfully a contest broke out, which calmed things down. David Curtis took the win, and whatever prize came with the respect and adulation. All was calm.
Well, at least it wasn’t weird.
What the hell?
The last and final event of the Drift Utah season is tomorrow, September 21, in the Midway at Miller Motorsports Park. $6 to watch, $5 for a single ride along, $20 for an all day Ride Alone Pass, $90 to come take some solo cuts, $140 to dance with a partner. Register here, and make sure to come spectate by 4pm. Thats when the contest starts!
And as always:
Words and photos by Michael Chandler
