Me & a few of the Drifting Pretty girls changed my clutch this evening at Autolink in Temple City, CA! We wore our new Sparco mechanic suits, threw my precious car on the lift and got down to business. The mechanic left and confided in us to get the job done. Luckily I changed a clutch under supervision a few weeks ago, so this was my second time. In addition to changing the clutch we also changed my rear main oil seal and rear tranny seal. It took us 7 hours, but my new HKS 3 puck psycho clutch is in, biting hard, and hasn’t fallen out!!! Thank you to Autolink for lending us your bay, and thank you to KinkyChinky for your muscles. Good job Drifting Pretty ladies, I have faith in our mechanic work!

Drifting Pretty invaded the AutoX track today! We attended the Solo2 Ladies AutoX school. It hit record attendance at 60 woman drivers (as opposed to the normal 30). We got 5 straight hours of track time. What more can a girl racer ask for!?

I haven’t been to an AutoX for over 2 1/2 years, it was great to be back. Watching your time improve throughout the day is really rewarding. I was so much more comfortable pushing the limits of my car than before. I thank Drift Day and Speedtrial for that. I got the top times of the day at both tracks. It felt great pushing my car to the very limit, yet not letting the rear slide out. I looked back on my past experiences at autoX’s and wondered why was it so much more fun this time, and it was simple, it was because I had 15 other girlfriends (my drifting pretty ladies) with me on the track. It was my dream come true, a track full of 60 woman racers and the men worked the track throughout the entire day. I hope we can hold drift days like that!

Someone hit my precious car! Everything is just so meant to be…it just so happened that it was the one day that I actually drove my car to the mall, didn’t park where I usually park, didn’t find what I was looking for at the mall, and then I back out of my spot and some bitch in an SUV doesn’t see me and backs right into me. I was already out of my parking spot and she never saw me. She hit me and she still didn’t see me, so she kept reversing into my quarter panel. Life is too short to knock a middle-aged bitch SUV driver out. I had nothing to say to her, took her info down and drove home. I had to drive home like 20mph because the panel is so pushed in that my tire is rubbing against it and its shredding the sidewall.

I have really good insurance so they’ve taken care of me already, but not without totaling my car, but thank gooodness my wheels are worth more than my car hahaha, therefore my market value is higher.  I’ve received my check and they’re getting money from that bitch. I’m just happy this happened before I painted my car ;).

This past weekend the Drifting Pretty ladies and I headed over to Autolink in Temple City, CA, where Chinki the mechanic taught us how to change a clutch. We actually changed his clutch on his personal rice drift 240SX. It took us 4 hours, but we did it all by ourselves! We’re going to change my clutch together next month.

I’m trying to give myself a timeline to finish things up on my car. I’m installing my new clutch in early April, I want a Nismo or ORC. Then I’m going to do the final power pages for Import Tuner,where I’m upgrading to S15 turbo (thank you Superior I love you), 550CC injectors, Apex Power FC (thank you Apex I love you), Osun Hyperground system, and an XS FMIC (thank you XS I love you). I’m looking for a tuner at the moment and then I’ll be set. In May my new mystery body kit arrives and I’m going to paint my car. I’m going to officially retire my car and put her in storage and use her for events only. I’m looking around for another daily, because one Daily in the Nadine180/Sileightymania household is not enough.

For those of you who came out to D1GP and visited my car at the Superior Nissan booth, thank you for your support! And for those of you who came out and supported Drifting Pretty’s 1st fundraiser, thank you very much. Support from the community really drives us. We’ll see you at the track ;).

18,641 miles. Just got back home from Drift Day 13 at California Speedway. Including me & my partner Yoshie, 11 Drifting Pretty girls were out on the track, drifting away in the rain. The rain really saved all our tires but made the concrete really slippery. I was drifting on my 18″ wheels for the first time. Usually I’ll put my 15″ on the back, but the rain gave me the luxury ;).

Throughout the day I was practicing my clutch-kicking technique, and I’m very happy to say I’m quite comfortable with it now. When you initally learn that technique it seems so odd driving through a course a suddenly as your approach a turn you smack your clutch pedal for a split second. After a while though, your foot learns and it becomes second-nature ;).

On the skid pad, I was praticing wider doughnuts in 2nd gear. At the J-turn I was working my steering angle because I kept turning the steering wheel too much and making the car spin, violently I might add hahahah. I learned that you only need to turn your steering wheel a quarter turn when you’re initiating, so I pretty much kicked that bad habit of turning the steering wheel 90 degrees hehe.I had a great day, the rain wasn’t too excessive, and driving with the girls by my side really made my day.

My dream is finally coming true, Yoshie & I have brought the ladies to the drifting table and now we’re ready to rock. This drifting season is going to go through so manychanges, and the biggest is definitely the invasion of women out on the track. The Drifting Pretty ladies have soo much potential…before you know it, the ladies will be taking 1st place in competitions. For those of you who were out at Drift Day cheering us on, we greatly appreciate your support; you don’t know how much it means to have our peers’ support.

On a more technical note…Benson helped me install my new front bumper lip yesterday (thank you sweetheart). PJ also fixed my rear taillight piece. Come visit my carat the Superior Nissan booth this Saturday at D1. The Drifting Pretty ladies will also be representing at the following booths…KAAZ USA, Yokohama Tire, and Superior Nissan, come out and show your support!

Please pick up the first documentary about drifting in the USA…Pure Drifting. Me, Benson, and many of the mostinfluential drifters in the US are interviewed on this DVD. This year, I am privelaged enough to be on the D1 staff talking with the media about women in drifting as well as the American drifting culture. I’m really looking forward to being a part of D1, maybe next year I can drive! Well back to my studies I go, I’ll see you at D1!

18,394 miles. Just got back from Drifting Pretty’s first tech and drivers’ training day! This past Saturday the ladies met with me and learned about 240SX engines, maintenance, troubleshooting, and tires. We celebrated members Kat & Lisa’s birthdays at Cheesecake after, then it was off to Storm Karting for a night of go-kart training. We split up into 3 run groups and ran two heats. Each of the ladies improved greatly from their first runs.

After we were done I went out and ran again with a group of guys and one of them t-boned me at 55mph. So now I have a partially dislocated rib and lotso back problems! Thank you reckless guys! Anyways…no go-karting for me for a few months. I’m going to rest up, I’ve got drift day in a few weeks!

18,308 miles.  I’ve been cooking up a lot of stuff for 2004, but I’m back on track with this diary. Where do I start!?

I changed to 5lug, z32 brakes, and put my new wheels on. I also got myself a Nismo power bar…and I got these really cute floor mats hahaha. I picked up a sorta sponsor/magazine article thing with Apex USA, so I’m happy to say I’ll be boosting up and tuning in a month or so (thank you Scott, thank you Len, thank you Apex ;).

Drifting Pretty
The biggest news has been the birth of my new Girl-Drifter-Training program called Drifting Pretty. (the website isn’t up yet 😉 We’ve had two meetings so far and have gained about 5 new members just this past month. Throughout 2003 Yoshie (my drifting partner at all the Drift Days) and I kept asking each other, “Where the girls at!!?,” Learning how to drift just isn’t the same without having some other women out on the track that you can relate with. We wondered… what was the problem…why weren’t the girls coming out to track. Could it be the testosterone? The male egos? Or the absense of a women welcome wagon? So we created Drifting Pretty. If you’re a girl and want more info, email me (my info is at the bottom of the page).

The program gives women a structured curriculum to train on and of course, introduce them to a new circle of girlfriends. We go to autocrosses, road races, go-kart racing, and drift events. We hold tech days and talk car talk over manicures. We have over 20 members now, and I’m excited and hopeful for our students. We hope that we all can get really good together, while of course having fun out on the track. I’m getting a lot of pessimism from men, but I guess that’s what I get for stepping in on their territory. Some claim this program to be a media whore, but really guys, all that matters is that we BRING IT to the track everytime. Watch out…the girls are taking over the track. I predict by the end of the year, 50% of drifting event participants will be women.

Wish me and the girls of Drifting Pretty good luck!! We’ll ALL see you at the track.

17,224 miles.  Me & Ben bought our 1st car together, and its another 240 a pretty 92 Green S13. Since getting her last month, our cars have finally gotten a vacation from being driven EVERY SINGLE DAY. We had the SoCal240SX Nissan Owners Festival, dd10, dd11 ahhhh!

For those of you who attended the Festival, thank you very much! It was a big success and I owe it all to you guys! I just came back from DD11 which was on the 13th. I sold my Work Ewing mesh, so that dayI was rolling on 15’s all around. It felt pretty much the same for me. I had a fun time and spent the entire day out on the track, being as persistent as I could to GET IT RIGHT. Lately I’ve been having a drifting block in my mind, I’ve been thinking about crashing. I’ve been trying to calm down and not think so much about it; finally at this event towards the end of the day I forgot about the danger of hitting a pole.  My doughnuts are perfected.  Yoshie & I have been working more on our initiation. We’ve been working together and we make a great team. Together I know we’re going to do really well, its all about teamwork and having fun.

Attention all Aspiring Girl Drifters:
We’re holding our first girl drifter meeting next week at a secret time and place. For the first time the ladies of our future girl drifting team “Drifting Pretty” will be coming together. I’m really excited. Remember, if you’re a girl or you know a girl that would be interested, send her my way! Me & Yoshie have a great girl drifter training program for 2004, and you don’t have to have an SR or a manual tranny or an lsd to participate.

I’ve managed to get a new S15 turbo for my car (Thank you MIKEY at Superior Nissan) and my new Work VS-XX wheels have arrived off the boat (thank you 5Zigen USA). And thank you to Yokohama for your continued support (hugs to Art & Kim). I’m doing my 5lug swap and Zbrake upgrade hopefully this coming weekend, so I can finally put my wheels on. I’ve come to the conclusion that for me, all the resources are there for me to become a good drifter, I just need to try harder!!!

My New Year’s resolution is to improve drastically at every drift event and kick Benson’s ASS! Wish me luck.

16,542 miles. I’m back from Drift Day 8. At this drift day I was babysitting the skid pad and one of the intermediate courses. I tried out my new tire set-up…Yokohama AVS Sports in the front, and Yokohama AVS DB’s in the rear…LOVED it. When you’re a beginner like me you need that break-it-loose-easy set up AKA sticky in the front, slippery in the back, and I acheived it. The Sports & the DBs were consistent all day and didn’t get too slippery when they heated up. On the skid pad the DBs smoked crazy, at one point I lost myself in the smoke. I’m going to keep this set-up for a while.

Before Drift Day I went to KAAZ and replaced the old viscous LSD with my new/used (Benson’s old KAAZ) 2-way LSD. Ray & Saji at KAAZ were nice enough to put my Tanabe rear subframe spacers in as well. I love those things, they’re blue!! Its a set of 8 and they’re made out of this really cool nylon & glass fiber mix. Metal spacers are the shape of a “C” and are known to be harsh sounding & feeling, but these are perfect circles and the sound is subtle. They make it easier to oversteer and guide my car. Benson loves them too, too bad I jacked him.

I got my oil changed at Gushi Auto, I have to make a note of that, change it again Nadine next month. I’ll be heading up to Las Vegas for SEMA & Drift Day 9. Also, registration is opening up for the Nissan Owners Festival, have you signed up!? Everyone who is anyone is showing up to this major all-Nissan event. On a further note, my wheels have not left Japan and nor has my new cute aero goodie. Wish them a safe journey home.

And lastly, where are all the girls at!? If you’re a girl (or a guy who knows a girl) interested in drifting, please let me know. I have some big plans for girl drifting in 04 and would like to hear from you! Take care guys and future girl drifters, see ya at Vegas!

15,578 miles.Today I had one of my 1st video interviews for a upcoming drifting dvd. Me & Ben were interviewed, or should I say grilled!.  They had a lot of good questions for us that really strained our brains! I had a really good time. I’m finally realizing how big drifting is getting, they’re making DVD’s and me & my friends are in them. Its all flashing before my eyes.

I’ll keep you posted as to when this new DVD will be out, and don’t forget Grip Video volume 5 is coming out soon, they’re featuring BenLove on there. Thanks to the guys today, (you know who you are, thank you for giving me & Benson the opportunity to be a part of something so cool!)~

More news, I’m now sponsored by Yokohama Tires!  Finally, some support for my girl drifting efforts ;). I’d like to send a special thank you to Art Michalik & Kim Hernandez at Yokohama.  I submitted a sponsorship proposal and met with them and really had a good talk about my future in drifting.

I’m trying out their AVS sports at the moment. I plan to run AVS sports in the front and ES100s in the rear for drifting. So far, the AVS sports are quiet, smooth, and quite grippy (all this tested via my hotheadroadrageskills). I can’t wait to try them out on the track. My next drifting practice is October 19th at Irwindale speedway. It isn’t soon enough! My foot itches and so does my e-brake pulling hand.

Its been a couple of months since my last drive on the track, hope I still remember how to kick the clutch!  Next week I hope to go down to KAAZ and install my KAAZ 2-way LSD (thank you Benson love). I feel like I’ve earned the new lsd since I’ve had the viscous one on for this entire year! My fuel pump kept tripping its fuse, so Friday I picked up a Denso fuel pump (Thank you to Wayne at Phase2 Motortrend). Me & Ben installed it overnight and got high off the gas fumes, I haven’t ever looked inside my gas tank, pretty scary. My car runs smoother now and a little bit faster, it could be in my head.

I’m not so sure what color to paint my car now. It should be the end of October when my new wheels come in and I take my car in to get painted. I’m trying to decide whether I should pull my engine for the paint job or not. Decisions decisions…Anyways, make time fly so I can go make sure I didn’t forget how to drift. Take care, drive safe and don’t forget, you crazy boys, keep it on the track!

15,305 miles.Long time no write! Well for those of you who went to the Official Summer 240SX meet hosted by SoCal240SX.org, thank you very much! We had a great turn out. I met a lot of new 240 people and saw a lot of cute 240’s! We hope to have one more meet before the year is out.

8/31 was D1 Grand Prix, me & Benson we’re out there representing Drifting Magazine. It was really fun meeting fans of drifting magazine! Thank you Ed Loh for giving us the opportunity to sport our rice mobils at the booth. That whole booth display experience was a 1st for me & Ben, and all we gotta say is wow.

This past month I’ve had some free time to daydream and plan for the future of the 180SXxy. I think I have created the ultimate 180SXxy MasterPlan…

I’m 88% sure I’m changing her color to @#(*(*&. Its a secret:X. I’ve officially ordered my new wheels, in a crazy secret size, chosen by the one & only wheel freak my love Benson (:THank you handsome).

I’m putting together my 1st sponsorship proposal. Its really exciting…the time has come to start putting my hand out and get some sponsors, more specifically tires & a big turbo & a boost controller. So yes, paint, turbo, boost up, fmic and interior. I’m looking for a good interior place to do my rear seats and side panels on the door. If you know anyone or anyplaceshoot me an email. Thanks.

My goal right now is to get a feature and cover of a magazine. Its more of a dream that I hope I can make reality. Oh yah, and I want to get better at drifting! These things take time, but I’m starting now, wish me luck, should we start a count-down?!

Meanwhile in reality…today I was driving home and went over a dip and the 180SXxy konked out. I couldn’t get her started after that. I thought it was something like IC piping, but no luck. My SileightyMania & my Hakujin Driftaa Ernie looked at my car (which was stranded) and figured out that it was the fuse for my fuel pump. Crazy stuff. Pretty scary, guess my wiring or my fuel pump tripped out when I went over the dip. I’ve better stop driving so crazy and upgrade my fuel pump already. So before I start my crazy journey I’d better pick up a new fuel pump.

In these next few months I’ll be planning the big SoCal event, and also a meet, stay tuned here! Take care all, I’ll see you in a few.