transworld

Friday, May 9, 2008

How to Drift: Angle explained

Hey drift fans, it's been a long long time since I updates my blog here at Drift In Japan. But I found some cool illustrations showing drift angles of different types of cars.

Let's have a look shall we...

FR - Rear wheel drive drifting angle

You'll notice with the angle for FR drifting, it starts early and ends later - meaning you're drifting for a longer period of time. If you are thinking you're going to straighten up and need more angle, you can just give your car more gas and you can swing the back out. That's why FR drifting is the most popular because it's the easiest and lasts longest.

FF - Front wheel drive drifting angle

With FF cars, the front wheels are doing the driving. The drifting is initialted with the hand brake (e-brake) and starts early but finishes early too. You need to be straightened up and heading straight in the direction you want to go. You can't power the car to get more angle like an FR car.

AWD - All wheel drive drifting angle

AWD drifting line is similar to the FF line as the main pulling wheels are the front ones. The angle starts a lot later and finishes early. I've never actually drifted an AWD car, even though I drive a WRX on the street, but from what I hear, they're the most difficult of all types of cars to drift.

NOTE: Tale a look at the line of drift. This line can be applied to all types of corners. You go wide at first and when you hit the apex, you need to be heading in the direction you want to go.

Drift hard, live safe!

Stu from DriftInJapan.com

How to Import a Car from Japan Yourself

Hi drift and Japanese import car fans!

The average Joe drifter doesn't know how to import a car from Japan, so today I want to tell you a little about how to get your favorite Japanese car into your country.

Most people go about importing a Japanese car through an agent or dealer. This is fine, but it can be expensive when unseen expenses arise.

Basically, you give him your "dream" car description to and he goes out to find one by searching the Japanese used car auctions or looks through ones he already has for a car that matches.

He then purchases it on your behalf, puts it on a boat to your country and arranges all the import and customs forms. It arrives and another agent picks it up and arranges the customs clearance and pays import fees/taxes etc.

After that, it's ready to be registered and driven on the street!

You're all happy....untill,

Untill, your jaw drops when you see the bill for the services and then all the 'extra' unseen charges that have added up! You've got your car but not any money left for gasoline to drive the darn thing! But there is a better way to go about importing a car from Japan.

You can actually save a whole lot of money when you import a Japanese car by yourself!

Here's how to do it.... There is a membership website full of expert guidance that will show you the easy way, step-by-step on "how to import a car from Japan by yourself".

The lifetime membership will set you back a little under $40, but when you consider the hundreds, if not thousands of dollars you will save by importing your Japanese car by yourself, it makes sense to get the expert and personal help.

For more information and help about how to import a car from Japan, click here to visit www.ImportaJapCar.com

I highly recommend it for anyone looking to import their very own Japanese performance car without wasting money on an expensive agent.

Happy drifting,
Stuart -www.DriftInJapan.com

Cars of Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift

The line-up of cool drift cars in Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift is what made the movie as memorable as it is. With nothing less than the best Japanese drift cars making the cut for the movie, its drifting fans heaven.

Lets have a closer look at some of the cars of Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift....

By far the star car of the Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift has to be the FD Mazda Rx7 with the black and orange duco over the Veliside bodykit. I actually know the guy who sold them that FD and I saw the original while it was still a junker :)

The Mafia's bad guy's black Nissan 350Z which everyone gasped as they watched it drift up the spiral driveway in the car park. That stunt was done by NZ/USA drifter Rhys Millen without any CG, he did it all with just the car!

The red Lancer Evo was a head turner too as Evos are generally known as all wheel drive cars that don't really drift. This is the car he practiced and learned to drift in.

Japanese drifting and racing legend Keiichi Tsuchiya made an appearance as a fisherman when the red Evo was practicing at the wharf.

I remember he says "kountaa wa osoi ne" which means "He's too late with his counter steer."

The 'girl' car, sky blue Mazda RX8 appeared an was driven by Australian actress Nathalie Kelley. I love RX8's but not this one. The color and body kit weren't the best suit for it. I guess they were trying to make it girly.

The 1967 Mustang Fastback (as pics above)was thrown in the plot to mix up the cars a bit. We see new Mustangs drift but hardly ever old school classics like this one drift! But this one was a little different. It had a Nissan RB26 powering it instead of the old ford V8 engine.At the time of the movie's release, I asked Kumakubo san (Pro D1 Driver) about the cars of Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift (he was a stunt driver in the movie) and he said the Mustang was the worst car to drift out of all of them. He mentioned the Evo was the best drift car...and that's probably the reason he built his Evo 9 drift car for the Japanese D1 competition.

The Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift is a movie you can switch on and watch anytime. You don't need to follow the story, just watch the cars, girls and drifting. That's more important anyway!

Drift hard, live safe.
Stu - www.DriftinJapan.com

Monday, May 5, 2008

war tanks

Britain-built Tracked Rapier, which was armed with eight Rapier SAM Missies and Smoke Dischargers.

Mazda Premacy Hybrid

The Mazda Premacy (known to the U.S. as the Mazda5) Hydrogen RE Hybrid is equipped with a transverse-mounted hydrogen rotary engine that converts energy from hydrogen combustion into electricity. Mazda plans to begin leasing the vehicle to select customers sometime in 2008.