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Before heading out to
the December 2003 Hawaii Hachi Cruise, I stopped by Colin Lau's
house in Kahala. For those of you that don't know Colin, him and his
son Chad build and race junior dragsters and go-karts, but have
recently been bitten by the drifting bug. Colin and IKON office
systems are also responsible for almost all of the printed materials
you'll find at the Drift Session.
Anyway, Kell and Chad
were busy working on their new project car, a 1987 Mazda RX7 (FC3S).
Originlly from Kauai, Kell and Chad were able to pick this car up
for a good price and were busily stripping down the entire car for
its future life as a drift vehicle.
By the time I saw the
car, the entire interior was gutted and Kell was getting the engine
ready for removal as well. Kell had originally planned on putting a
4.3 liter 6 cyliner Chevy motor into the RX7, with hopes of
impressing friends in Japan like Signal Auto and Team Julius.
However, due to the
current regulations of the D1 Grand Prix, Kell decided against an
American powerplant. Since every other event organization in America
copies the D1 format word for word, Kell thought best to not do
something which might outlaw his car from ever being used in big
competition.
A few phone calls
later to his friends at American Honda in California, Kell was able
to secure a S2000 Honda motor, which boasts a 9,000 RPM redline and
240 horsepower. According to the guys at American Honda, the S2000
makes a great road race car, but not a very good drifter. We'll soon
be able to see how the S2000 engine does in the world of drifting,
even though it's in a different vehicle.
Look for the motor to
be installed on this vehicle soon as Kell and Chad hope to have it
on the track by early 2004.
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