Just some crappy driving from Final Bout: Special Stage Central this past July. The car is feeling good, but certainly need some more seat time to feel better pushing it harder.
Garage Vary’s car for TAS this year was a nice surprise, among all of the overdone wide kits that were so prevalent. I absolutely love the hood and the front fenders.
Moving to the rear of the car is where I start to lose the warm and fuzzy feeling, but it might just be the Work Seekers that just ruin it for me. Sorry, just have never been a fan of this style wheel on a sports car. The rear bumper with the openings don’t flow well with any of the lines on the rear of the car, but here too, I’ve never been a fan of vents behind the rear wheel arch. Surprisingly, I really like the wing.
Just say no to useless dual exhausts.
In summer of 2014 it had been over 4 years since being in Japan, and somehow, I had survived without a car for fun the entire time. Taking part in Final Bout in the late summer of 2014 as a judge really gave me the bug – and I was determined that in 2015 I would not just watch, but jump in and drive. The feeling of standing on the sidelines in 2014 was something I did not want to repeat. In late fall of 2014 I began to realize, I needed some sort of project in my life, not just a turn-key car. After much thought, going between another Roadster or maybe a simple s-chassis, I decided to build a Corolla. Not the cheapest or easiest route by any means, but it was something I had wanted to do for many years. I had been looking for the right chassis for a few months, and finally decided on a SR-5 chassis located a few hours from Chicago. It had been stripped down and painted but with all the parts in boxes, even GT-S parts for the conversion. I originally decided against it for a time, but after finalizing the direction for the drive-train of the car, found it to be the best option. Once thing that I knew from the start; the car would need to remain in Chicago and be built there, while I was stranded in Honolulu some 4,000 miles away.
One of the things that I am always thankful for, is our amazing community in Chicago and the Midwest. With a few phone calls and texts, long-time friends Proceed agreed to run and pick up the car and as many of the related parts they could fit in the car.
It was a cold, snowy day in central Illinois – and there were some challenges not planned for in getting it home, but they made it happen and I am so very grateful and thankful. This is why I love drifting; everyone is out to help and keep the spirit alive.
Prior to the pickup of the car, my longtime friends and go-to shop TF-Works had agreed to take this project on. Without being able to wrench on the car myself, there was no other place I would rather have doing the work on this project. So after a few weeks of storage with the Proceed gents while awaiting a slot to open up at the shop, I was able to have the car moved and the real work began….
Thanks to some very good friends this place is back up and running. At this point, I am sure not many read or visit blogs much, however, plan on updating if for nothing else than myself. In the coming days/weeks I’m planing on going through the build of my Corolla over the last year. And yes, my heart is still with Mazda and the Roadster – I still dream of my NB everyday and am delighted with that Mazda has done with the ND chassis. I think the future for the car is bright, and I hope to pick one up myself shortly. But for my recent history, all efforts were focused on the Corolla, something I have always wanted – it was time to make it happen. It was a long but short 8 month process, but very happy with the result:
So, the wait was long. Dig as I could Mazda did an AMAZING job of keeping this car under wraps until the official unveil last week. The more I look, the more I like….and have a feeling I’ll be placing an order when I can. More than the modern looks and interior (finally!), the lower weight and balance should be amazing. Mid-ship FR? Yes please. 2200lbs? Yes please. At first I was a bit unsure on how I felt…however this render from Jon had me hooked on the potential of this car’s looks…lets just hope when they announce the power plant we are still in the game….