I have cleaned up the website store making it easier to order our stickers and have also dropped prices!! Order today!!

Click link to go to our sticker page!!

Mark your calendars chaps

SIGN UP HERE!!!

driver registration will be limited to forty drivers.

spectators and crew members will be allowed.

This event is open to both drift and grip drivers of all skill levels.

• 8pm – gates open
• 8:30 – tech inspection and drivers meeting
• 9:30am-12 – hot track
• 12-1pm – lunch break
• 1pm-4pm – hot track
• 5pm – off facility (no exceptions)

your vehicle must pass nasa tech and you must provide your own
dot and/or snell rated helmet.

Click here to register for the event!!!

With the great success we had at our last Yahtzee cruise in March, it has been decided to make this a bi annual event! This cruise will be taking place on Saturday, September 25th, 2010, at 4PM. Proceeds from this event will be going toward the Norfolk, VA chapter of the Recovery Outreach Mission. Please come out and support this great charity and those that are less fortunate in our community. See you there!!

Event Details:

• Saturday, September 25th, 2010
• 4PM – 2AM
• $10.00 regular registration
• $20.00 VIP registration (Includes free race at AIK stop)
• $100 pot to winner
• Pre registrations qualify to win prize pack!

Prize Pack Includes:

• Wash/Wax/Vac. Gift Cert. – Courtesy of Shea with Coastal Details
• Armor All Complete Car Care Kit
• HID Kit – Courtesy of Shawn with Rameybuilt
• SAGEauto Tee Shirt – Courtesy of Gary with SAGE Auto
• Stock or Modified Gift Certificate – Courtesy of Joey with Stock or Modified
• $25.00 Gift Cert. for RE_Spec Garage – Courtesy of Danny with RE_Spec Garage

Game Details:

• YAHTZEE RULES FOR THOSE NOT FAMILIAR
• 13 turns per player throughout cruise
• Each participant will show up at the first stop on the cruise and recieve a cruise packet including a map of the route, address to each stop on the cruise, score card, and a cruise sticker to be placed on their vehicle’s windshield during the event. Each player will also be issued a number
• From this point you will proceed to a table to play your first 3 turns.
• The object is to fill every slot on your score card.
• The player with the highest point total at the end of the cruise will win a $100.00 prize.(in the event of a tie, the winner of the prize will be determined by a sudden death best of 3 rock paper scissors match)

It’s not too often that a group can really help out one of it’s own when they are really in a rough spot in their life. Our car club, Sumospeed, recently had a chance to help our one of our members and friends, Steve. Steve is an avid car enthusiast and has built multiple cars in the past including a Subaru WRX STI and a Scion XB. He recently purchased a 1991 Nissan 240sx from another club member and friend, Danny, with plans of building a dedicated track car for drift events. Danny had previously used the Nissan coupe as his track car but it had since been stripped of its engine, headlights, body panels, amongst other things and was sitting outside of his house next to his garage.

Early this year it was discovered that Steve had a cancerous brain tumor. He needed to have surgery and chemotherapy to get everything removed. This process was going to take  a lot of time as well as a lot out of him both physically and mentally. He had begun building the 240sx and had purchased a stock 240sx engine (KA24DE), Amistad Dish wheels in 18×11 -13 and 18×13 -3, purchased a body kit including a wide body, coilovers, and had already mounted the rear over fenders on the car when he had to leave for treatment.

It was at this point that Danny came up with the idea for all of us to chip in and finish Steve’s car by the next local drift event at that point, Driftwater, in Moyock, NC on July third. Unfortunately Danny wasn’t able to participate in the early phases of the build due to him being on cruise for the Coast guard for a month. We decided the best bet for a location to work on the car was going to be at a local shop at which Danny is a partner, located in  Virginia beach, Virginia, Sage Auto/RE_Spec Garage. Being that we were going to be working on it after Steve returned home from his first round of treatments, this location was perfect due to it being about an hour away from his home in Gloucester, Virginia. Once everything was delivered to the shop Steve was told by one of our club members and good friend of his, Erasmo, that the car had been put into a storage unit with some overflow items from the shop by Danny and that he took the key with him on cruise by mistake.

With Steve out of the way and none the wiser, we began to work on the car. This first step was to get the body and engine bay cleaned up and prepped for paint. Due to the car sitting outside at Danny’s house in between him no longer driving it and Steve buying it, the engine bay had collected a significant amount of surface rust, in addition to some previous damage resulting in weak points in the inner fender wells from Danny’s wheels rubbing through. Before the body work started we got the clutch and brake master cylinders, brake booster, power steering reservoir, and all other misc. parts out of the engine bay, leaving it completely empty. Next our resident body man for this project, Brandon, patched a hole in the inner fender well on each side of the bay, sanded all of the rust and residual paint left in the bay off, and got it primed for paint. We then all chipped in for two nights to get the body sanded and ready for paint. It was realized at this point that with the wheels Steve had chosen to put on the front of the car (18×11 -13), his 20mm wide body front fenders were not going to work, they were too small. We decided to go ahead and order 50mm wide body front fenders through Raceonusa.com to match the 50mm rear quarter panels he was running.

The next step was to get the car on the trailer and take it over to Greenbriar collision in Chesapeake, Virginia, where it was due for a fresh coat of BMW sapphire black pearl paint for the body and engine bay. Our paint specialist Reid, arranged for them to spray the car at no charge for the project. Upon loading the car on the trailer, we realized the HKS coilovers that were on the car were completely blown and leaking oil. We opted to order a fresh set of ISIS coilovers as well as a braided clutch line front the master to the slave cylinder through our club sponsor Enjuku Racing.

Once the car returned to the shop after paint, Erasmo and Stephen, another club member, put the engine in the car. Erasmo also donated a Isis cat back exhaust and Stephen a steering wheel for this project. Stephen’s steering wheel was then installed with the assistance of a NRG quick release hub donated by another club member, Tim. Next we installed new projector style headlight housings donated by another club member, Mark, in addition to a movement HID kit that I threw in.

The wiring was the next hurdle to be cleared in this project and it would prove to be the most difficult. The engine harness was donated by James, a club member, but what we didn’t know at the time was that the harness was from a 1995 240sx, the generation following that of the car we were working on. The primary issue we ran into was that Danny had previously wired the car for a very simplistic setup strictly for the track and much of the engine bay harness, including both fuse boxes, had been lengthened and tucked inside the car behind the dash. Without Danny there at the time we could not figure out what went where and ended up scraping the entire harness that was in the car for time’s sake and buying a new one from the junkyard. Once Russell, another club member, dropped off the harness, the wiring began. The harness on both the driver and passenger sides were run up on top of the fender support to prevent any contact with the larger then normal wheels that were going to be installed on the car. Once everything was plugged in on the harness it was Danny’s turn to jump in and work his magic. He returned just after we got the harness installed from his cruise and was super eager to jump in. Danny realized that the harness was from the wrong generation of car but managed to rewire what we had to make it work. With the help of Russell, Mark, Grant, Ricky, and multiple other members chipped in the get the car started and running, the coilovers installed, and brakes completely put back together and working correctly. Once the car was started and running the rest of the build was just buttoning up loose ends.

We unfortunately did not finish the car prior to Driftwater, however, the event organizer and Sumospeed member, Dan, was nice enough to bump him to the next event free of charge. At this point Danny planned a BBQ at the shop to reveal the car to Steve. He was obviously not told about our ulterior motive, just that it was a team BBQ. The last few days before the presentation were spent putting the final touches on the car. Chris with CN Stainless bolts fitted the car with a stainless dress up bolt kit, Stephen finished getting the suspension/fitment perfect, a custom intake built and donated by a friend of the team, Shawn, courtesy of his shop, Rameybuilt, was installed, and finally some vinyls representing all parties involved with the project that were donated by Dale courtesy of Beach City Customs, were applied to the rear glass.

Now was the day of the presentation. Everyone met up at SAGE/RE_Spec Garage at about noon. The car was detailed and then a close friend of the team, Natchez, courtesy of his company Projekt Photo, in addition to our club member, Stephen, did a photo shoot of the car, and it was then parked in front of the shop where it would await it’s presentation. Steve’s parents then arrived to participate in the day’s activities. They were in the loop from day one but had also not seen the car in it’s current state. Upon seeing the car, his father was in disbelieve that it was the same vehicle (both of his parents had helped Steve work on the car when he was sick, which is what motivated Danny to have this build), and his mother broke down into tears. Everyone then gathered inside of the shop, where Danny thanked everyone there that was a part of the build and got a little emotional himself, as did many others in the room.

Erasmo then arrived, Steve riding as his passenger. They parked on the side of the building and came in through the back bay doors, preventing Steve from seeing the car out front. Upon coming in and greeting everyone and mingling a bit, Danny grouped everyone inside and began his speech. “Now everyone knows why we are here today, but Steve doesn’t.”. At this point his parents came out (they had been waiting in the closed office). He then announced why we were all really there, everything we had done and what everyone had chipped in as part of it, then proceeded to go bring the car around. Steve was already in shock and even shaking a bit before the car pulled in but his smile really lit up when Danny pulled the car into the shop. Steve was in disbelief as we went through everything that had been put into the car and he couldn’t believe it was the same vehicle he had purchased from Danny months earlier. Next we presented him with a valve cover that we had gotten powder coated courtesy of Brian with SAGE auto and all signed so he could have a memento to remember everything from.

All in all it was a great experience being involved with this build and I am extremely happy with the outcome and also extremely happy that he loved the car as much as he did. I want to give a huge thank you to all of my fellow Team Sumospeed members for putting many of their projects on hold, donating both time, money, and parts to this build. I also want to thank Ken with Enjuku Racing for giving us a great deal on any of the parts we needed for this build, especially items from ISIS performance. This also could not have happened without contributions and donations from local companies Rameybuilt, CN Stainless bolts,Beach City Customs, SAGE Auto, RE_Spec Garage, Greenbriar collision, and Projekt Photo. I hope everyone enjoys reading this article as much we enjoyed participating in this build!

We have a HUGE gallery from this past weekend’s Driftwater event out in Moyock, NC. I want to thank everyone that came out and made this event great, Dan for setting up the event, and of course John and Ian Magor who provided all the pictures. This is a very large gallery but please take a peek and some of the shots!! Thanks for viewing!!

Last Friday our photographer Ricky, Jason and Gary with SAGE Auto, and myself all met up and went out and shot the two SAGE Mitsubishi Evolutions. Both cars are quite eye catching with Gary’s Evo being fitted with a Voltex street front bumper with canards, front and rear 30mm fenders, Rexspeed MR vortex generator, APR GTC-300 carbon wing, JDM Evo IX headlights, JDM Evo VIII Tail lights, Nagisa auto tow hook, and a fresh coat of Lotus Exige laser blue paint. Jason’s Evo in contrast has been fitted with a C-west front bumper, JDM Evo IX rear bumper, JDM Evo VII tail lights, Voltex rear diffuser, APR GTC-300 wing, Seibon CWII hood, Evo IX MR vortex generator, and a fresh coat of Lotus Exige Krypton green paint.

Gary’s car is rolling on 18″x10.5″ +15 Enkei RPF-1 wheels in a SBC (super brilliant coating) finish. To speed up the slow down of Gary’s car, it has been fitted with Powerslot rotors in the front and rear as well as Hawk brake pads in gthe factory calipers. Gary’s suspension has also been upgraded with Tanabe Pro 7 coilovers with TEAS active suspension controller. Gary has also upgraded the engine bay of his Evo with the addition of  an ARC exhaust manifold heat shield, ARC spark plug cover, 10.5 hotside turbo upgrade, HKS Hi-Power exhaust, Matan tuned ECU, 3″ downpipe, and a Buschur ported and coated O2 housing.

The interior of Gary’s car has been totally altered by adding a Nardi deep corn steering wheel, Splash steering hub, Bride Zeta III Hyper red bucket seats, Bride head rest pads, Nagisa super low seat rails, HKS turbo timer, ARC shift knob, Autopower 6 point bolt in cage, Orbital dual din conversion with HVAC conversion, AVN 5435 navigation unit, and a Blitz SBC ID electronic boost controller with boost gauge.

Jason’s Evo has had a substantial amount of work done to the engine bay. It has been upgraded with a AEM EMS, AEM water/methanol injection, Brian Crower 272-degree intake and exhaust camshafts, HKS cam gears, HKS kevler timing belt, HKS head gasket, Precision 780cc injectors, ARP head studs, Greddy Spec-V intercooler, Greddy lower intercooler pipe, Bushur Racing Upper intercooler pipe, Tial 50mm BOV, Magnus Street Intake Manifold, AFI exhaust mainfold, Forced Performance White turbo, Forged wastgate, Helix downpipe, and a Bushur Racing exhaust.

Putting this new addition horsepower to the ground is an ACT HD 6 puck sprung clutch, ACT lightened flywheel, Shepherd Racing stage 1 transmission, Shepherd Racing stage 3 transfer case, and a rear differential built to Shepherd Racing specs.

The suspension of Jason’s car has been upgraded with Tein Flex coilovers and Cusco type 2 lower arm bars. Rolling underneath these items are a set of Volk TE-37 18″x9.5″ +22 wheels redone in a custom blue color. Jason’s interior has been gutted and now is the home to a Autopower 6pt roll cage, GT Spec trunk cage, Kenwood DNX 7120 navigation system, AEM UEGO wideband controller and a Apexi turbo timer.

I want to thank both Jason and Gary for coming out and allowing us to shoot their cars for this feature. I also want to give a huge thanks to Ricky for shooting this feature for us. Thanks for looking!!

Huge huge HUGE thanks to Raz and his girlfriend for getting this thing in my car today while I was at work!  He said he didn’t have anything else to do…so I showed up, bolted up the transmission mount and got the car back on the ground to check out how it sat.  It settled a little more then a 1/2 inch.  It looks like I can space the motor mounts up about 1/2 of an inch, so I am going to do that and put the collars back on the top of the coilover mount and raise the car about a 1/3 of an inch, so my oil pan clearance will be a little less scary (and well above the subframe)!  I will be making a hefty skid plate as well.

While the car was up I took some shots of the suspension mods to show how the arms sit.  I am not done tweaking it all, I have to put the misalignment spacers on it still, which will give me another 12.5mms of adjustment from the flat adjustment shot (28.XXmm).  I was also pleased to see I had about 2 inches of travel before I hit my fender frame rails, even at this extreme of a height.  I just can’t wait to get this thing rolling!

We had a great turnout out at Springfest yesterday!! I want to thank everyone that came out, to those that registered for the show, for those that helped sponsored, and all the people that helped planned and run the show!

There were lots of people taking pictures out there and lots of them floating around online already. The gallery below features photos taken by Xavier Delos Reyes and I want to thank him for these greats shot. Check out more of his photos HERE

The grand opening meet had a great turnout. I wanna give  a huge thank you to Gary, Danny, and the rest of the guys over at SAGE/RE_Spec for having everyone out and putting on a great event! Huge thanks to Xavier for the shots, check out more of his work at his Flickr account. Thanks for checking it out!!

I had a great time out at Driftwater this past weekend. I highly recommend these events for anyone looking to track their car for fun, get some extra seat time in between events, you name it. This is easily the cheapest road course event you will find in the area. So keep an eye out on here for the next event and enjoy the pictures from the last one below.

The pics were provided by one of the driver’s father, huge thanks to him for them.