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It was a rainy day
all over the island of Oahu, storming in Honolulu and scattered
showers across the leeward side. Dedicated drivers remembered that
the Drift Session only comes once a month and braved the roads out
to Hawaii Motorsports Center for a day of vehicular mayhem.
The day was mixed
with heavy downpours, light sprinkles, and periods of sunshine;
giving the track temperatures ranging from nipple popping cold to
sauna like humidity. Luckily for our drivers, the Drift Session runs
rain or shine but the damp roadways proved challenging for beginners
and veterans alike.
Shortly after the day
began, our friends at KHON News 2 referred reporter Emily Chang and
her video journalist James to the Drift Session. A photo opportunity
was quickly set up and the news team was on their way to the track.
After the recent string of high profile speeding and racing related
accidents on Hawaii's roadways, KHON decided to cover some of the
positive aspects of the motorsports community, rather than typical
doom and gloom.
Reporter Emily Chang
was placed with current 2004 points leader Barry Wong to do a quick
interview about the hows and whys of our peculiar sport. After a
little convincing, Emily agreed to go along for a ride in Barry's
SR20 powered 240sx on the Road Course side of the track. With
James the cameraman in the back and Emily in the passenger seat,
Barry flawlessly executed medium speed drifts throughout the Road
Course, doing his best to terrify his passengers.
After meeting with
Barry, Emily went on to interview Paul Umholtz, the former Hawaii
FWD Civic drag race record holder that has since turned his
attention to drifting and road racing. Paul explained the finer
points of tandem drifting and even went so far as to give the
"tandem hands" demonstration, showing news audiences
across Hawaii how one hand follows the line and angle of the hand in
front. FYI, when demonstrating drifting to your friends, the
"tandem hands" remain hands open and palms down but the
"wheel direction hands" remain hands open and thumbs up.
Once the news crew
left, it was back to normal at the track as Star 101.9's DJ Yung Jon
Q started spinning tunes for everyone and Sportcraft's Kell
Komatsubara pumped out race gas for all to use. Even Grip Video was
in the house this past weekend as they followed around their new
team driver Ross Petty making his rounds at the track.
Ross Petty, the 5
time Drift Session Champion and winner of the 2003 Signal Auto Drift
Challenge and 2003 Drift Showoff debuted his new team name "Boso"
at the track. While still always down to rep his original "Team
Murder" from Okinawa, Ross thought it would be best to change
the name to something a little less offensive, at least while
drifting in this country.
The drift competition
ended the day this month, after being postponed due to rain delay.
23 drivers entered this month's competition, hoping to win the cash
pot as well as the prizes generously donated by our friends at Auto
Chem Systems, Central Anime Hawaii, Pearlridge Napa, and VP Racing
Fuels.
Speed is the name of
the game at the drift competition as drivers barreled down to Long
Course Turn 1 for a single pass. Everyone seemed to be having an off
day, as many drifts were mistimed and distance was improperly judged
causing many mistakes and stutters in the competitors' runs.
At the end of the
day, it was Barry Wong, once again taking the top spot and retaining
his commanding lead in the 2004 points championship. Drinks were on
Barry that night as he walked away from the competition with a $100+
cash pot and 5 gallons of 103 octane race fuel.
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