Nopi 2013: Drifting, Stance and Everything in Between.

So Im little late on writing this post but better late than never. Nopi this year decided to hold a small drift expo with its usual show and I have to say It felt really good to get invited and even better to actually have as much fun as I did. Drift events are usually show up, setup, slide all day, pack up and go home. But with Nopi it had a really laid back atmosphere, since it was a 2 day event there was no rush to drift as much as possible, and of course there was a giant car show going on all around us to check out during breaks. It was a really good time, so click read more to check out some of the awesome drifting and really awesome cars that came out for the Nopi car show.

Internet love: Team Yellow

Ive been following the Team Yellow guys from Norway for a long time now, and its looks like they have really expanded over the years. Seems like a really cool group of guys that are really into everything horse power related. Road Racing and Drifting seems to be there jam, and reminds me a lot of the racefriv crew if all of our cars where painted the same, Subarus, Nissans, Corollas. Wait a minute......that gives me a good idea....Anyways check the Tandem of Die video below to check out Europe's own Team Yellow.


Team Yellow 2013 from Team Yellow on Vimeo.

Also Ive  been slacking on the blog lately, but good news, NOPI, scooter projects and other random shit will soon be back on the blog like normal. Thanks for staying tuned everyone.

Project: Red Rocket - A Little Mud on the Tires

The Atlanta Region SCCA put together their first rallycross event last month, so I was finally able to take the Eclipse out for some fun!  The track consisted of some sections on a dirt oval with a couple of detours through the grass infield.

Photo Credit: John Schellenberg
The Red Rocket in its new playground.

Read on after the jump to see how the GSX fared in its first outing.

Motorsports Trends, which sports are hot and which ones are losing fans?

Ish and I were talking at lunch about motorsports because we are both driving in events this weekend.  He's drifting and I'm going to do some solo rallycross again.  We had this long discussion (for the most part we agreed which is rare) about which sports are growing and which ones are losing fans.  This was all just hot air and bench racing until I remembered that it's possible to use the Google trends analysis to gauge interest in certain search terms.  Now we can reveal which sports are as hot as "Miley Cyrus VMA Twerking" and which ones are dying the slow death of "Yolo Swagger". You'll need java enabled to see the charts embedded in this post

Get Involved - Drag Racing

The series continues with the first form of motorsport:  Drag Racing.


Get Involved is a series of posts detailing a forms of grassroots motorsports on a weekly basis.  I write these posts with one goal:  To get you to bring your car to an entry level motorsport event.  I want you to stop buying parts, stop planning for 'some day,' stop building the perfect car, and register for an event.  It is ridiculously easy to have fun with your car right now, as you're currently driving it.  You don't need a racing license.  You don't need a roll cage, a fire suit, or expensive modifications.  You do need $40, a valid state issued drivers license, and a car in safe driving condition.  It doesn't matter if its a stock Camry, a tuned Civic, or a $75k Corvette, there's a place for you.  There are a number of ways to get started - whether you want to drive on asphalt, dirt, or a race track.

You can see the full list of event types here: Get Involved.  This page will be updated as each installment is posted.

Project: Red Rocket - Alive and Driving

Its been a busy six weeks since my last post for the Eclipse.  I left you with a car that was running - barely. It would overheat, wouldn't shift into 2nd and wouldn't pull full power.  Well, after a few new parts, some troubleshooting, and a lot of elbow grease, she is up to full power!  It turned out that getting it running was only the first half of the battle.  Read on after the jump to see the completion of the project.

The Red Rocket makes is debut on Main Street.

Racefriv Fab: Welding Differentials

I've always loved fabricating things, it's one of my favorite things to do and its actually rare that I get to break out the welder but lately I've been trying to change that. When my good bud JJ asked me to weld his diff for his beast V8 S13 build I went by, picked it up and got to the melting.  While I was at it I took some pictures to share with everyone. So click read more to check out my welding setup and what it looks like to weld a diff.

 Full Disclosure: I am not a master welder by any means, nor do I claim to be an professional diff welder, this is how I do it, weld your drivetrain parts at your own risk.

A rare Z06 Carbon edition comes to town.

I recently had the pleasure of photographing a friends Supersonic blue Z06 carbon edition Corvette.  Before I was contacted about the shoot I didn't even know such a thing existed, so I wanted to share the photos and delve into the details.

Get Involved - Rallycross

The series continues with an option for those who like to play in the dirt:  Rallycross.


Get Involved is a series of posts detailing a forms of grassroots motorsports on a weekly basis.  I write these posts with one goal:  To get you to bring your car to an entry level motorsport event.  I want you to stop buying parts, stop planning for 'some day,' stop building the perfect car, and register for an event.  It is ridiculously easy to have fun with your car right now, as you're currently driving it.  You don't need a racing license.  You don't need a roll cage, a fire suit, or expensive modifications.  You do need $40, a valid state issued drivers license, and a car in safe driving condition.  It doesn't matter if its a stock Camry, a tuned Civic, or a $75k Corvette, there's a place for you.  There are a number of ways to get started - whether you want to drive on asphalt, dirt, or a race track.

You can see the full list of event types here: Get Involved.  This page will be updated as each installment is posted.

A Fine Fairlane From Ford

I love old cars that get driven around on a regular basis.  Probably because my old car hardly ever sees the light of day.  This 62 Fairlane gets a good share of use while the owner Luke works on his other projects.  It tells you a little something about Luke that this is his most dependable car.  Click on the read more link to get on with the story.

Get Involved - PDX / HPDE / Track Days

This entry details the easiest way to get time on a proper race track: Professional Driving Experiences, High Performance Driving Events, and Track Days - all different names for similar activities.

Get Involved is a series of posts detailing a forms of grassroots motorsports on a weekly basis.  I write these posts with one goal:  To get you to bring your car to an entry level motorsport event.  I want you to stop buying parts, stop planning for 'some day,' stop building the perfect car, and register for an event.  It is ridiculously easy to have fun with your car right now, as you're currently driving it.  You don't need a racing license.  You don't need a roll cage, a fire suit, or expensive modifications.  You do need $100, a valid state issued drivers license, and a car in safe driving condition.  I doesn't matter if its a stock Camry, a tuned Civic, or a $75k Corvette, there's a place for you.  There are a number of ways to get started - whether you want to drive on asphalt, dirt, or a race track.

You can see the full list of event types here: Get Involved.  This page will be updated as each installment is posted.

Southrnfresh 3!!!

Finally after a year hiatus SouthrnFresh put on their annual show with Southrn Fresh 3 at Jim R Miller park and it was awesome. Also after a lengthy hiatus, Cory's S2000 was finally painted, slammed, tuned, and sorta legal, so it was the perfect combo to take out in the sun and see some cool rides in. I took a ton of pics at the show so click read more to check them out.

FY Friday: A scary thought.

I dont think Ive ever posted a "tumblr" looking quote photo on here before, but I wanted to share this because it really hit home. I think its totally true, thats when a car is truly fast, when your scared to even drive it, when you know it has the potential to really fuck your day up, when you fire it up and you know its only going to bring you trouble. I know I feel this way about the my LS240, I get the nervous shakes just firing it up, its a monster, I know Phil feels this way about his 5.3 liter 68 Mustang, he almost never even drives the thing and its an awesome car, because lets face it anything 50 years old with 400hp is pretty terrifying. I think its pretty fitting to have the Group B Audi on the Nordschleife, I cant even imagine driving something that insane on the 'ring., that would truly be a fuck yes moment. As an added bonus Ive added a 9min youtube compilation of this rare Audi after the jump wink wink. So hit more and check it out!

Get Involved - Autocross

Get Involved is going to be a series of posts detailing forms of grassroots motorsports on a weekly basis.  I write these posts with one goal:  To get you to bring your car to an entry level motorsport event.  I want you to stop buying parts, stop planning for 'some day,' stop building the perfect car, and register for an event.  It is ridiculously easy to have fun with your car right now, as you're currently driving it.  You don't need a racing license.  You don't need a roll cage, a fire suit, or expensive modifications.  You do need $40, a valid state issued drivers license, and a car in safe driving condition.  It doesn't matter if its a stock Camry, a tuned Civic, or a $75k Corvette, there's a place for you.

There are a number of ways to get started - whether you want to drive on asphalt, dirt, or a race track.  We're kicking the series off with the easiest sport to get into: Autocross.

You can see the full list of event types here: Get Involved.  This page will be updated as each installment is posted.  Read on to find out how you can get some quality seat time in your very own car.

Global Rallycross @ Atlanta Motor Speedway!

The GRC circus finally came to A-town and we got some cheap tickets to go and see how much fun we could have.  GRC had already been to Brazil, Barcelona, Munich X games, New Hampshire, Bristol Motor speedway and the LA X games.  Barcelona had been rained out but I had watched most of the racing from the other events.  Of course I am rooting for the Subaru Puma team who have not had a good start to the season. Their cars still look like mine even if under the skin they have been radically modified.  Their Youtube series called launch control is also highly recommended.  So how did they do?  How about Tanner Foust and Ken Block? Read on for the Saucy details

racefriv Project Car Updates! and a little of whats to come.

I've been a little quiet here lately on the blog but no worries, here at racefriv that just usually means we have been working on our projects and getting things done in general. I have made a few updates to some of our project cars so I went out and took some quick snaps before the rain set in. Click read more to see what we have been up to and a little sneak peak of the future.

Also I know I'm a day late but happy 86 day anyways!

Project: Red Rocket - Judgement Day

The GSX spent a long 2 weeks at the mechanic.  It turns out the oil leak was due to the cam shaft seals that I never installed...woops.  The oil drip was from a hole in the turbo oil drain line.  Both of these were fixed in pretty short order, leaving a week to troubleshoot the reason behind not being able to get into 2nd gear.

Notice how its not in my garage!

Read on to follow the final week of the Eclipse build.

Now for Something Different - Rallycross!

Every now and then we mention our tame racing driver Christian, sometimes we even let him post an article on here.  Christian is an avid autocrosser as well as SCCA member, corner worker and occasional instructor.  We've been bugging him for years about how there is no rallycross program in Georgia, and each time he assures us that Atlanta and middle Georgia SCCA are trying their best to make it happen.  This past weekend, for the first time we got to play in the dirt, it was awesome, we want more, and If we don't get any more we're going to start killing the hostages.

Hit the jump to find out just how awesome it was.

Project: Red Rocket - Total Eclipse of the Heart

With race day two weeks away, the GSX is fully assembled, but won't start.  My original goal was to have the car running two weeks before the race so that I could troubleshoot any issues that arose from daily driving.  Well, it looks like the troubleshooting is going to begin before she gets driven anywhere.

An engine needs 3 things to run: air, fuel, and spark.  I'm obviously missing at least 1 of them.  Follow me after the jump as I sort through each one to get this car going.

Project: Red Rocket - Reassembly and 1st Crank

Well, its been a while since the last Red Rocket update.  That's because most of the action has been taking place in the mail, so I haven't had much to talk about.  The biggest delay involved the cylinder head.  The head I had turned out to be bowed, twisted, and decked beyond spec.  This thing had a rough life.

Illustrating the many ways in which the head was unusable.

While I was waiting for a new head to come in, I took the time to clean a few parts and give the interior some TLC.