Archive February | JM Racing

Feb 16 2012

Formula Drifting in Panama

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When I got offered the opportunity to drift out in Panama City for the 3rd year in a row in the Lucas Oil Nitto Tire S13.5 I was so thankful and happy! Thank you Formula Drift for making it possible for us to interact with all the hardcore Panamanian Drift fans! They are amazing! From the past year experiences, they all would wait hours upon hours in line to get an autograph.

I had to make sure all the decals on the vehicle was current and updated. So I ended up staying up all night applying on S & A Design white vinyl around the drifting machine! Good times!! It was so cold that night, I ended up getting the fever the following day at 105F…. We usually cool the Nitto Tire Mazda RX-8 with ice in Vegas but this time around I had to ice myself off in bed…lol lesson learned: Put on more sweaters next time… Instead of 2 put on 5 layers!

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Before we shipped out the Lucas Oil Nitto Tire S13.5 out to Panama we made sure that the car was good to go and had plenty of power to smoke up the NT05’s. Click Here to see the vehicle running on the DynaPack’s at Road Race Engineering.

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Thursday, February 2nd Kevin Lee at Nexus Visuals and I meet up with rest of the Formula Drift driver/crew members and caught air heading to Panama City. What a beautiful view it was out the airplane window. I was so excited and amazed! Because of the great view I couldn’t sleep although I only slept about an hour the night before.

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During the flight I finished up the track layout for us to run. It’s always helpful to have this copy in the dash of each driver’s vehicles. Afterwards I enjoyed watching my favorite movie SENNA! If you haven’t seen it you have to watch it!! It’s about a passionate legendary Formula One Driver with a heart of gold!! I respect him so highly and look up to his characteristics/beliefs!

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Once we arrived, we went straight to TV Max Sports Studio to be interviewed on live television. We had a blast getting to know the staffs at TV Max and was great to experience this fun adventure!

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The following next morning the crew was up super early to prepare the drift cars and bikes for a Press Conference show. Here is Steve Choi @Formula Drift and Kevin Lee @NexusVisuals preparing some filming gadgets. It’s great to see Kevin Wells in the Formula Drift Flannel, FD couldn’t have picked anyone better as a Tech Director!! Many friends respect and look up to Kevin Wells very much!!

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Here we are setting up our pit area with the Lucas Oil Products and Genius Tools. Not only do fans love playing with the Lucas Oil Gear display, Steve at Formula Drift was having a blast!! lol… This display shows how effective it is to run Lucas Oil Products on any type of vehicle, motorcycle, truck and boats… The list goes on and on! Make sure to check out their web site www.LUCASOIL.com for products that’ll make your machines run more efficient!!

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The drifter and bikers warmed up their machines. It was great meeting the street free style stunt riders: Nicholas Brocha, Ernest Vigil, William Dixon, Destiny Peace and XDL organizer, Randy Grube.

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On the left is BisbaLinda Ramsey and on the very right is Edisa Yau @JSpotPanama @21CenturyFox have been a great fan of the Lucas Oil Nitto Tire S13.5 since the first time I’ve met them 3 years ago. I’m so grateful to have their support and always interviewing us every year! Thank you ladies!!!

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Here is what it looks like to be seating on a driver’s/event organizer’s Mas Movil point of view at the Press Conference.

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Many of the event Sponsors, TV Channels, Radio Stations, On-line media, magazine companies, friends and fans enjoyed our exhibition runs during the Press Conference. We ended up giving ride alongs to everyone that joined us.

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On Saturday we helped finish up the track layout and got good amount of practice in our drift cars. At the same time we made sure to give more ridealongs to the media members and our fans! It was great to see everyone’s excitement and funny face expressions the passengers would make.

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Here we are cruising in our Lucas Oil Nitto Tire drifting machine waving hello and showing thanks to all of our amazing fans!! I love Panama! The fans are so nice and welcoming! They can make some noise!! The louder they got the more aggressive my driving got! Click Here to view the in car footage from a passenger’s point of view.

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The main organizers from Mas Movil and Tony S. Mock, Josemaria, Ricky… had something in store for me this year. As a great gift they got me a Panamanian Soccer Jersey to wear under the Lucas Oil Nitto Tire race suit. During the driver’s introduction I ended up zipping down the suit to show respect to all Panamanians. When they saw me supporting the Panama Jersey the crowd went wild. I never felt that type of energy before! I got the goosebumps from the positive energy in the air! It’s an honor to have all of our Panamanian fans accept me as a fellow brother this year!

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We brought a lot of Lucas Oil Products like Synthetic Racing Oil, Powering Steering fluid with conditioner, Contact Cleaner, Slick Mist Wax, Octane Booster, Gear Oil etc…. It came into great use for all the drivers and even bikers.. We all ended up needing GENIUS Tools or Lucas Oil Products on all the vehicles and motorcycles.

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A great fan and a drift driver himself Bolivar Fung was nice enough to let me have his clutch fan.. We ended up running two electric and one clutch fan to push out more hot air under the hood of the Lucas Oil Nitto Tire S13.5. I’m glad and thankful to have dedicated fans that’ll go out of the way to support us!

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Feeding nothing but the best into our Engines…. LUCAS OIL for the WIN!

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It’s great to see families getting involved with the drifting scene in Panama! Even 3 year olds love it!!! Great meeting you Ryan!!! Be good and always give it all you got!

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Peace be with you all! :) We’re drifting so hard that our side mirror flew off somewhere onto the track… such a random piece that fell off. Usually it’s a bumper from tapping the barrels or one another. LOL

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All the drivers and teams ended up taking pictures with all media partners and fans! We were having a blast out in the Panama heat!

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BisbaLinda Ramsey ended up winning the ride along contest for Mas Movil. She drew this wonderful work of art for us and framed it! I was filled with joy and had to hold my tear of happiness from flowing out of my eyes. It’s so meaningful for me to have this type of support!! Whenever we may get discouraged we can always think of our dedicated fans and keep on going to do our best out at the track and off the track! Thank you Linda!!!!

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Here is a funny shot of me. We made sure to iron on the Turbo By Garrett patch onto the Lucas Oil Nitto Tire suit before the event. The Garrett GTX 3071r is a perfect match for the SR20det engine! Garrett by Honeywell builds the best turbos for all types of applications! It’s going to be a phenomenal year running with all of these quality products on the S13.5! panama-2012-action-angle

Thanks Kevin Lee @ NexusVisuals for the great photos!! If anyone needs a photographer or videographer for a special event free feel to contact Kevin Lee @NV! He has a lot of experience and also produced the Lexus LFA video/commercial.

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It was so hot the brake fluid kept boiling. So we ended up spacing up the hood more and taking the headlight out for better air flow through the brake master cylinder. Thank you Kevin for your expertise!

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Pulling stunts and Freestying…..

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Tandem riders Destiny and Bill putting on a show for the crowd!

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Here we are for the autograph session… The Panamanian Die hard fans of drift was lined up for hours and made sure to take pictures and get an autograph from each driver/riders. The so long that I thought it’ll never end. Cyrus Martinez driving the Final Speed Garage Z33, Fredric Aasbo driving the Need For Speed Supra and Ross Petty driving the Garage BOSO S14 did an amazing job of putting on a phenomenal show!! We all worked together to hype up the crowd and show them what Formula Drift drivers are capable of. Good job guys!!! Had a blast driving with you all!

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Overall we had a successful Xtreme Drift and Stunt event at the Mas Movil Figali Convention center! The finale was wild and we thought we were going to explode the engine… We kept drifting for a long duration for the final session and ended up running the engine temp up to 122C which is way beyond what I normally run. But we didn’t want to stop because we felt the fans and each others excitement, so we kept on drifting.

I’m sure if we weren’t running on such an amazing product like Lucas Oil, Turbo by Garrett, built LS Auto engine, tuning by Lod Ampho (Apexi Power FC) @Road Race Engineering, the motor would have seized. I’m so confident and have total faith in all of my partner’s products! Here’s a Video Clip from a drift fans point of view!

Thank you Family, Friends, Fans, Lucas Oil, Nitto Tire, Bergenholtz Racing, LS Automotive, Road Race Engineering, Turbo by Garrett, Sam’s Auto Land, S-Empire, Nexus Visuals, ACT, GENIUS Tools, Apexi, Evolution Racewerks, SEIBON, K1 Speed, Megan Racing, AIT Racing, ENJUKU Racing for your amazing support and making it possible for us to live the dream as a drift team! We couldn’t have done it without your expertise and support!