Get ready to drift – Jason’s S15 Silvia

Last March, Jason's S13 drift machine was given an honorary tribute on Gordini's Pit Stop before it had to be taken off the roads for a well earned retirement.

With Formula Drift coming up, Jason's back, this time at the wheel of an S15 Silvia, provided by his partner, Perfect Power Performance Garage. This workshop, located at Kaki Bukit, is specialized in building and maintaining racing cars. With a current specialty in making drift machines out of ordinary RWD cars, Perfect Power Performance Garage's high quality and affordable services are also gearing up to handle track cars with the coming of Singapore's Changi racetrack.

This Silvia has been painstakingly hand-built over the years by Vic, the owner of Perfect Power Performance Garage for his own drifting needs. This car's story to become a drifting machine worth the name became three years ago, when Vic bought it after deciding to give drifting a go. As his skills improved, the car's drifting potential was also honed by her loving driver's hands, adding, of course, and LSD, but also bucket seats with five point harnesses, a roll cage, a sports exhaust, an array of gauges to keep everything under control, and all the nitty gritty that turns a common car into a drift machine.

With his driver out of wheels for Formula Drift 2011, Vic decided to let Jason take the wheel and the Nissan is now being tuned to this drifter's preferences.

Two weeks away from the only official asphalt-tearing event in Singapore, the Silvia will undergo a heart transplant in the form of a new, bigger turbo to propel her heavy chassis sideways the way Jason needs it to.

GT Radial, Jason's main sponsor on his S13, is back again on the S15, providing him with a lifeline of racing rubber that gives him the chance to stand up to the competition in two weeks. Liquimoly Asia and Asia Apparels are also standing by Jason's side to power his drifts.

The only sad part is that this Silvia is, just like her predecessor, reaching the end of her life on Singapore roads, and the country's laws will, sadly, once again be claiming the life of a respectable drifting machine.

Jason's story as a drifter is far from being over, and Perfect Power Performance Garage has already received his next machine, which will be built over the coming months...

Get ready to see this candy pink S15 in sideways action for Formula Drift, representing Singapore under the colours of team GT Radial. Gathered under the tyre brand will be a total of five drivers coming from all corners of Asia, so keep an eye out for them as they mean serious business.

  

The Stuff of Legends: Jason's Driftmaster S13

If you hang out in the automotive world, you'll mostly find two types of cars. The first types are show queens, perfect looking cars, not a scratch on their thousand-dollar paint job, with nice and shiny parts under the hood and perfect upholstery inside. These cars are the stuff dreams are made of, but to me, they lack something. That something is what the second type of cars have: a history. Scratched paint, cracked bodykits, used up leather on the steering wheel, the side of the seat peeling off due to too many in and outs, dirty engine bays, and, very often, half of the driver's life thrown in the raw, gutted rear are part of the things that give such cars a Soul. 

This is what makes a car priceless, especially to the owner who, when looking at a taped up part of a bumper, can remember how and when it happened.

Cars like these are not to be featured in an empty place or closed road; they belong on the open road, mixed in the crowd. That's where they "grew up" and this is also where they will die.

This S13 is such a car. Her story begins three years ago, when Jason bought this second hand 200SX after his desire to learn drifting won him over. Choosing the S13 for its low price, abundant aftermarket support and overall affinity with drifting, Jason asked Perfect Power Performance at Autobay Kaki Bukit to help him with the build, and about half a year later, this drift car was born. 

With the support of GT Radial for the tyres, Jason then started learning how to drift and ever since that time, has been spotted training and competing at many events in Malaysia and Singapore, racing under the colors of his very own Team Driftmasters.

His first donuts in January 2008 in Kulai Malaysia have seen him improve his control on his trustworthy S13 and this Nissan has seen, over the last two years, the asphalt of over 15 events, ranging from drift demos such as the Asia Auto Salon 2009, to major drifting events like Formula Drift Singapore 2010 and the Mettle Games 2010. 

Over the months and events, Jason has managed to get a good series of sponsors for his 200SX too, continuing his partnership with GT Radial, but also getting endorsed by LiquiMoly Singapore, DOTZ Wheels Asia Pacific, GEN Concepts, Oakley, Asia Apparels and Red Bull Singapore, with the Wings Team. 

Sadly, after all this fame and events, pride and hardships, this S13 is nearing the end of her life, and is due to be scrapped soon, due to Singapore laws. Her chassis is tired and softened due to the strain of this very demanding motorsport, her body is cracked and scratched, riveted and taped up, holes are appearing all over the undercarriage, preyed on by rust, but when you sit in the passenger seat, with Jason at the wheel, none of these matter, this car gives it all, and will continue to do so until the day she has to be taken off the road. And when that day will come, just by looking at this car and all her imperfections, you'll know that she took her owner for one hell of a ride. That, to me, is the Stuff of Legends.

Now, to all the show queens (and their owners) out there, stop boasting, and give this S13 the respect she deserves.

Gymkhana GRID

Most of you have seen those three amazing gymkhana videos where Ken Block slides, spins and does more mind-blowing things with his Monster Energy Drink Subaru Impreza STI and Ford Fiesta.

With over 70 million views, these viral videos have been one of the greatest motorsports videos on the Net. If you are one of the few who haven't seen them, here they are. If you have already seen them, it never hurts to see these amazing videos one more time:

Gymkhana Practice -

Gymkhana 2, the Infomercial -

Gymkhana 3, Ultimate Playground -

Well it so happens that the king of the gymkhana felt a little bit alone in his motorsport and decided to launch Gymkhana GRID, in December 2010.

Gymkhana GRID was founded by Christopher Willard (the co-founder of the Redline Time Attack Series) and with Ken Block in to design the track, the rules and regulations and promote the sport, we can expect nothing less than a new motorsport discipline that is planned to grow the way Formula Drift has.

Gymkhana GRID is open to all types of RWD and AWD cars, and for the launch event, the Gymkhana GRID Ken Block Invitational that took place on December 3rd and 4th 2010, some of the greatest motorsports drivers were invited to compete against Ken Block himself, such as rally drivers like Dave Mira and pro drifters like Vaughn Grittin Jr, Daijiro Yoshihara and Tanner Foust.

To promote the Gymkhana GRID Ken Block Invitational, a rather fun video was released on the net, giving a first view of what's to expect, along with featured drivers (excluding Travis Pastrana because he moved to NASCAR, as teased about in the video).

The concept of Gymkhana GRID is Close to Formula Drift as it sees competitors running in duo around a "small size" course. The limitation in size of the course is practical as spectators can see most, if not all, of the action from any place around the track. The competitors are pitted against each other in two rounds, once again like Formula Drift. But that's where the similarities stop. In Gymkhana GRID, the drivers compete against the clock and are not sharing the same track, but are competing on "mirror" courses that not only require driving skills, but also a lot of mental work on the drivers as they must compete both in precision but also in speed.

The layout, designed by Ken Block, includes a high speed start, figure eights, boxed donuts, and a lot of power sliding.

The Gymkhana GRID Ken Block Invitational's final round saw Ken Block and Tanner Foust going head-to-head in similar 600+hp, AWD Ford Fiesta, and even though Ken Block blazed around the course, Tanner Foust showed superior car control skills and won both rounds to claim the first ever Gymkhana GRID trophy.

Here's the final round of AWD Gymkhana GRID pitting Ken Block and Tanner Foust -

Who said Ken Block, the founder of this motorsport, would have an easy win?

The art of going sideways

Last weekend; I attended the Drift Clinic organized by D Experience. To me car events are really what get my blood pumping, and the opportunity to stick my nose under the hood of these beauties, and to talk with the drivers (when they have some time to spare) makes my day.

Of course things could be even better if I could bring my own car there and join the pack on the black top, but unfortunately I don’t have wheels yet (note: that’s something to get asap… just a little bit more patience, I can do it!).

So I did what I could with my camera, trying to catch a bit of the action to share with the world later – I apologize, I’m as good with a camera as Robert Pattinson is at being a good actor, so the shots are really not that good.

And at one point I actually wondered: “for someone who doesn’t has C16 (racing fuel) running in his veins, drifting must actually seem boring, no?” I mean, looking at loud cars going round and round on a small track marked out by cones, while making a lot of smelly, dirty smoke must seem to be a bit pointless. Why do people even do it? – I have to admit, it was real torture to try and think that way…

Then I got in the passenger seat of Adam, from Team Stamford Tyres. He stepped on the accelerator and took me for a ride, and suddenly I had the answer to my question: people do it for the rush of adrenalin, the speed, the fun, and that very unusual feeling of going sideways in a car. I tell you, it’s totally worth it!
I actually filmed each of the three runs I was sitting in the passenger seat, but the filming doesn’t do justice to the feelings you get while drifting.

Here are the videos, from my youtube:

Run 1


Run 2


Run 3

So honestly, if you have the opportunity, take a ride in a drift car, I promise you won’t regret! And who knows, you might just get addicted too!