Ever since I bought Volk TE37 on the M3, I had to get Volks on all the cars I have. Obviously that is a lot money so I had to do baby steps. 4 years ago, I bought Volk TE37 for the AE86. Its the discontinued Ueno specs (14×7 et0).
Last year I bought one Volk TE37 for the Land Cruiser. Why one? That’s because I didn’t want to rock a spare stock rim, and at the time, all I could afford is one haha. This year, System Motorsports had an overstock sale for a set of TE37. Conveniently my size for the Land Cruiser.
I had to get it. With fuel prices going up, and supply cost increasing. It will be matter of time before the Volk TE37 gets more expensive.
Just have to put it on the Land Cruiser, when it gets back from the shop. Time to get a set for the Tesla next. Might be another year before that happens. I will be looking around for good deals.
I track because it’s a place for me to get my need of speed. I see people drive fast and wirelessly in public roads. I used to be that guy.
You might think you are a good driver, if you drive fast in public. Driving the car in that manner makes the car more unpredictable, and the driver’s movements causes that. You also have the element of the unknown road conditions. You are posing a danger to yourself, and to the others around you. It only takes one wrong move to ruin your life. Do you really want to take that chance?
Trust me, you are not impressing anyone when you drive fast in public. No one cares, if anything it’s just being annoying. Just goes for the same for the take over meets. Doings donuts and crashing into people, cars, or curbs. Life isn’t a video game, where you hit reset if you mess up.
People might say “Oh its soo expensive to track”. All I hear is excuses. Most track events can range $150 and upwards of $1000. You can find a track event in your budget, just have to look around. I would find events with SCCA, NASA, motorsportreg.com, or even Facebook event post. Amature or grassroots track days are very affordable. The cost to go to an event is cheaper, then the cost of going to jail.
Track day offers an environment where you can drive over 100mph, and not worry about going to jail. Tracks layouts have plenty of run off, and yes, some more then others. Driving at that speed and near the limit will teach how be smooth with your car. Play with weight transfer, and understand the concept of car control.
That is why I always come back. I like to drive fast, and not worry about going to jail. When I got my race license that rush is something indescribable. I thought HPDE was fun, but doing wheel to wheel racing is an experience on its own.
I hope y’all drive safe in public. If you want to drive fast, please take it to the track.
I remember my first track day. I was nervous, and excited at the same time. My first thought was “Am I going to blow up the car?”. Eventually something will go wrong. That fear I had lingering, actually motivated me to go for it.
My thinking was, “I’ll try it once. Experience what it is like REALLY driving fast.” That first time was a great experience. The M3 did great, I didn’t crash, and had a great instructor guiding me. Nothing went wrong. I was hooked.
But I think there is another side to this too. What if my 1st track day experience was bad? Be it I blew up the motor, or crashed, or had an argument with another person. This might have put me off, and not want to track ever. I’ve seen that with other people, and had a terrible experience their first time. Would I want to go back?
To me, it would have probably motivated me to come back, because the joy and skills learned from track day is a talent that isn’t gained on the streets.
I’ve hit some are hard times with car stuff. Back in 2011, I had a 2009 VW GTI, and the timing chain tensioner broke. This is known issue from VW, and since I have warranty, I took it to VW dealer to get it fixed. Unfortunately, my claim was declined. The reason is because my GTI was modified. I was quoted $10,000USD to get a new motor and labor. This was terrible, because I owed money on the GTI, and now I need a new motor. Talk about ultimate fail. But I didn’t say “fuck it, I’ll just get it repo’d.”
You would think, because of what happened I would probably get out of the car scene. But I didn’t take that route. I saved up money, and after 1 year I was able to pay for the motor install. During that year, I was still making payments on my broken GTI, and driving my Miata with no AC. Living in a ghetto studio apartment paying $600 a month. It was hard, but my passion for cars never died down.
This brings me to this… It’s how you look at life experiences. You will have great times, and their will be times of doubt. During the low, you have two choices. You can abandon ship and do a 180. You’ll choose a different path. Or you can stick with it, and figure out a way to keep on doing what you think is very important to you. Both choices are not better then the other. Whatever you choose, you’ll want to make the decision that improves you as a person. Meaning you don’t become an resentful asshole.
Of course, you WILL have a bad experience at the track and say “this isn’t for me, I will never do it again.” That could be because, that hard time you felt was so discouraging it wasn’t worth it to come back. Or in the same situation you might think “track problems happens, and I’m going to figure out how to get ready for the next event.” That could be because, the enjoyment being at the track outweighs the disappointments.
I’m an optimistic guy. I’ve had tons of track issues: car catching on fire, blowing up a motor, body contact, or event spending 2x that amount on gas since last year. All things that discourage me from racing. But when I put the race suit on, and line up for grid, all those doubts disappear. I’m stress free, and this allows me to return to life as normal sane person. The car control skills, and finding the limit safely is a great outlet for me. Finding a hobby that you really enjoy is very important for work life balance.
The most valuable thing to learn is, figuring out what is most important to you. Figuring out that goal you want in life. When you hit the hard times, you get up, and stick to your goal.
First time at Hallet Motor Racing Circuit, and it was hot. Like temperature hot. The weekend was 100F with 98% humidity. Felt like I was in a sauna. It was tough in the race suit.
Regardless of the sauna weather, the track is very fun to drive on. It a shorter track more suited to the lower HP cars. The straights, you’ll hight 4th gear with fast flowing corners. The elevation changes are nice, and blind corners, will test how big of balls you have.
During practice, my contact on the left eye became misaligned. I could tell, because my field of vision was foggier on the left, and the right was very clear. Couldn’t really remember where my turn in was or braking zones.
Then in race 1, my exhaust decided to yeet itself. Thankfully no serious accidents. What happed was I had an old crack on the exhaust which got worse from the heat and eventually caused the part of the exhaust pipe to break off.
Thankfully, the guys at Texas Track Works and Norwood North Italia did some track side welding! Got me ready for the next race. Unfortunately, I didn’t race in the last event because it was too hot. I was already fatigued and didn’t want to risk crashing because of heat exhaustion.
My friend Tony, gave me his old cool shirt set up. I’ll have AC in the race car for the summer races!
It’s okay if I didn’t do my last race. I still had a great time with the homies. We had crawfish on Friday, Saturday was cheeseburgers, and for late dinner. We had midnight ribs, the Oklahoma BBQ way. I will be back next year. Next race is at Leguna Seca!
What a week. First time going to nationals, and first time going Laguna Seca. I have been prepping for this since my race in Hallet. I got enough race points to make nationals, and now 100 percent committed.
I paid for transport with the other Spec Miata friends. The cost was 3,000 USD to transport round trip. Yes, its expensive, but I would have paid roughy that much if I trailered the 86 with my LC. Since I had enough points on my credit card, I got a free round trip ticket to Monterey and back to Houston. Win, win.
Best part about the transportation, is having space bring my tools, and sets of tires. I wish I was paid to race, and fly all over the world. One day maybe.
My car made it to Leguna Seca before me! Getting excited, and also nervous.
I arrived later that day and picked up my Turo car rental. It was cheap rental, but the car was kinda eh. Thats a different story. Anyways, I got my rental, and then drove 20 mins from the airport to Laguna Seca!! I was so stoked at that point. I met up with Anthony for the driver registration. We recieved a swag bag, umbrella, and couple paddock passes.
Then I picked the 86 from the SM crew, and I parked next to the Honda Challenge boys. Mainly because we all sharing the Airbnb. Easier to go in one group.
Wednesday, I arrived 4pm and made it just in time for registration. Thursday I didn’t sign for the extra day of practice. I explored the Pacific coast highway with Anthony. My non racing adventures I’ll make another blog post. Lets just say Norcal, and Bay Area are very beautiful with the perfect weather.
Leguna Seca things. Unfortunately there is a sound restriction, because of the home owners complaining about the noise for sometime. The really sad thing is, Leguna Seca was built before the homes.
Friday was my 1st day of practice and qualifying. I went around the ring road to get views of what other car where doing. Some corners, they were not lifting, or just a brief lift of the gas pedal.
I did my first practice session and was great! Manage a 1:57 on my first time out. But in Grand Turismo 4, I was getting 1:48 with similar set up.
Post race, just waiting at impound. Make sure my car is in compliance. Unfortunately I have the lowest HP in the race class, and 320lbs over my minimum competition wt.
After practice, it was qualification number 1. we Had 4 quali before the Sunday race. The quali was there to help determine the race group for the green flag.
In the 2nd quali, I had two exhaust bolts that decided not the live this life. Ended up dragging my exhaust to paddock, and interestingly, I didn’t get black flagged. I knew my car was super loud, basically running open headers.
That is why I have spare bolts. This time I double nut and red loctite on the bolts.
No issues after that!. Except for my exhaust mounts was bending from the g forces of corkscrew. The car ran great, and that’s all I cared about.
Saturday, I arrived at the track early to make my dyno appointment. This was to make sure my car is compliant with ST6. Which honestly, would be surprised if I was over my HP.
The dyno graph look healthy with nice flat torque line throughout the RPM and nice increasing HP line till redline. Made 110 whp and 90 tq. Small numbers, but I’ll take it. Yes I miss the power of the M3, but the 86 is teaching me soo much as a driver.
The NASA inspectors where gawking over my 86. I think I’m the only grip 86 that is legit racing. I really need to get the word out, that the 86 can be great grip cars too. Nice battle for the old Hondas and Miatas.
After dyno, I had my 3rd quali and still managed 1:55. Not really improving on time and other racers in my class was at least 3 seconds faster then me. I was only faster then one car. Not really great, but I know the car is not optimized for ST6 like the other cars here. So knowing that, it did give confidence I could be a good driver. But also made me think. I might need a driver coach to teach me where I can improve. Yeah I could mod the car more to optimize ST6, but I think I should do driver mod first.
Dai had cracked rotors. He is on willwood 4 piston front, but its a conversion to Corrado rotors. No one in the Honda crew has Corrado rotors. Dai ended up having to buy a GSR spindles from the racer friends to run his willwood BBK to GSR rotors.
Dai didn’t get to finish his race weekend unfortunately. But he made the most of it, and explored San Fransisco with his family. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.
Quali 4 was the last one before the big race on Sunday. But the quali was different. This was a race quali. So wherever you placed in this race will determine the grid position in the big race. I love race starts, I try to take advantage of the cold tires, and get in front before the tires start to warm up for the competitors. That way, I can be in front, and get defensive to hold my position. Basically hold them off till the checkered flag. Works most of the time.
I finish the race, and place 5th. But I was DQ’d, and will start at the very back. During impound, my lip on the bumper was 0.5″ too long. Not within ST6 rules. Bummer, but rules are rules. I did manage to find a way so I wont get DQ’d for my Sunday race.
Scott had some spare foam rolls, and I just ziptied to the lip. Now Im compliance. Tacky, but you gotta work with what you have. Main goal is racing, and finishing it.
Zip ties for the win.
Sunday comes, and its a big day. Rain was called in the forecast. I woke up to heavy rain, and getting nervous. I have no wipers. Yes, I have rain-x on the widows which helps wick water away, but not sure how well it would hold up.
The Spec Miata race was before our race, and looked like the track was drying up with sun out. But in the near distance, you can see dark clouds looming. Norcal is know for its micro climates, I just hoped the rain stayed out for our race. This was probably the most nervous in race that I’ve felt. I was thinking “if its rains, will have have that inner Tsuchia in me or pull my inner Aryton?” Nah, probably not, those drivers are Gods. Im just here trying to have a good time.
Thankfully the rain held out just in time for finish line. I made it!!! Raced Leguna Seca, and the car drove on its own power!!! The best feeling in the world!!! I might not have gotten podium, but just being here was a win for me.
Takes a lot of hard work and overtime to make racing possible. I always ask myself why even do it. And moments like these is why I do it. I do it because speed, and going fast is in my blood. I respect my life and the others around me, so I race at tracks. I get the need for speed here. Just being one with car, is something you never experience on public roads. This is my hobby. This is my passion. I do have people also discouraging me, but in the end of day. I’m the one that still has the drive to keep going. And I will, till I can’t anymore. Thank y’all for the love and support. Appreciate it.
Going though the old photos, I stumbled on old nostalgia. Back when where all broke, and in college. Austin was still a cheap place to live, I-35 rush hour traffic was only on rush hour. The cars we had people didn’t want, and now probably worth a lot if we didn’t mod them. Good times with the Natsukashi Garage crew. We all grew up, but the same vibes.
On the last post, I was talking about how to get into racing, and cost behind it. Some of you might get discouraged, and maybe not want to go into racing.
But there are ways to hopefully make racing more budget friendly.
You can volunteer your time with a track organizer for corner work, or whatever they need you for in exchange for free track time. Organizers always need volunteers since renting out a track for an event can get expensive, and probably don’t enough money left to pay for additional staffing. Personally, NASA offers free track time if you volunteer your time to help out. Volunteer you time for a track weekend, and you’ll get track credits for upcoming events.
Another way to get free or discounted track time is becoming an instructor. But to become an instructor you do need to have track experience under your belt, or better yet have MSF (motorsport safety foundation) accreditation. This option, you’ll have to pay initially. The MSF level 1 cost $50, then to get to level 2 you’ll pay $500. Once you become an instructor, you get the free or discounted rate for the race weekend. Again, you’ll give your free time to instruct, but you will have your own session tracking. The downside is, if your have car issues, you might have very little time to fix it. After your session, you’ll be instructing, and then go out racing shortly after, depending on the schedule.
What about getting sponsored? Yes, you can do that, but I think its very hard to get 100% sponsored. I have sent sponsorship proposals to companies that I have used their products on the AE86. Only 2 said yes, and was very small discount. I got 10% off my order, and in exchange, I had put a sticker on my car. I think the only way sponsorship works for the benefit to the driver, is if you have a big media following. If you do get that big sponsorship, you’ll be in some kind of contract with that company to plug them in the media. That what I’m thinking since I’m not sponsored in a big way. But the pro drivers I see racing, that do have the big media presence seems to have the big companies logos on the car and race suits. If they are on TV or streamed, obviously people will see the company logos. For me, I just don’t have big social presence, but I’m working on it to hopefully make it grow.
Regardless, you’ll still need to put in the effort. No one is going to hand you a free track day. I hope his article helps you. See y’all at the track!
Yes, getting into racing is expensive. Even at an amateur level, like me, its still expensive. But if you compared that at a pro level racing, that has a race team and media coverage. Amateur racing is pennies compared to pro. This is how I did it.
With summer upon us, that means Texas is going to get hotter. And hotter temperature makes camping for sweaty nights, or is it?
One of the nice features of the Tesla, is camp mode. This allows the Tesla to be “on”, and turns off sentry mode to conserve energy. I would be able to sleep inside and tesla in full comfort regardless of the temperature.
Wanting to see how camp mode works in the real world, I booked an RV campsite at Palo Duro Canyon State Park. I book an RV site because it has electrical and water hook up. Accord to the Tesla GPS, I would have arrived 15%, and for sure would need a place to charge up.
Currently in 2022, rising gas prices is making travel expensive. In Texas is about $4.30USD a gallon for regular, and diesel hitting $5USD per gallon. Anther reason to take the Tesla since EV charging is significantly cheaper.
The downside with EV charging is more frequent stops and some places required longer changing. The longest I had to charge was 50mins. The next supercharger was decently far so, had to charge longer to make it. But you have to guess how much you have to charge. Tesla will automatically let you know when you have enough charge to make to the next destination. It very accurate and that easies the range anxiety.
The RV site has 50amp hook up meaning its the NEMA 14-50 outlet. The same one i have at home. The is also 30amp hookup which charges slower and you need an adapter for it. I do have that adapter just in case the 50amp didnt work. Thankfully I didn’t have issues.
Surprisingly, the weekend we arrived, there was a cold front. Temps in the 40s at nigh with highs of 70s. The Tesla didn’t have to work to hard to maintain a nice 68F. We brought black out shades to block the sun rays and also provide more privacy.
The advantage with camp mode is I don’t have to bring as much camping gear since I can sleep in my pajamas and not worry about freezing or sweating. Camping at establish campsites, you are provided with restrooms, showers, water, and shaded area with a table.
We stayed for 3 days and was beautiful. Palo Duro is the Gand Canyon of Texas and felt like I was in Sedona, Arizona or Red cliffs of Nevada. We hiked 6 miles, and end up becoming a 5 hr hike. Kinda tough on the climbing the ledges but the views where wonderful.
Weather was clear sunny skies, but air was dry and you can feel the UZ rays beating down. I got sunburned from the hike. Our dog, Lambo, was happy to be inside the Tesla and rested temps set at 68 degrees.
Our sleeping arrangements was simple and comfy. Wifey set folded the rear seats and inflated the mattress made for the Model 3. It took a little bit longer to set up compared to the rooftop tent on the Land Cruiser, but wasn’t an inconvenience for us. Once set up, the space inside the Model 3 is tight. I think of sleeping in those Japanese pods. I think car camping in the Model Y or Model X would be better.
I think this is the future of camping. We drove a total of 1,314 miles, spent $94.03 supercharging and $52 for the 3 day RV campsite. If we drove the Land Cruiser I would have paid at least $500 on gas averaging 10 MPG. Not bad at all.
Would I start camping in the Tesla more, then using the Land Cruiser? Probably not, and for one reason. The Land Cruiser will take me to places that cars or RVs cant go to. This leads to more private camping and better views that are less seen. To me, that the most important thing.
Of course if Im going to established campsites, I will take the Tesla.
Natsukashi Garage 