The past three weeks have been a whirlwind of chaos and awesome. Round 2 of Formula Drift has come and gone… and with it came some SERIOUS life memories. At one point I think we had 13 people staying at my house. Every night it seemed like someone new. While I am glad things have returned to normal… I can honestly say it has left me slightly depressed! So many good times, I don’t even know where to begin. Race week started a bit early… when my good friends Will Roegge and Joshua Herron made an S.O.S. call to me. Their 1974 Volkswagen van had broken down a few hours south of Atlanta in LaGrange. The ‘Westy’ is their home-on-the-road during primary photography for their cross-country documentary, “KEEP DRIFTING FUN”.
After procuring Tyler’s trailer at midnight, Wes and Lieze and I rocketed southbound for a rescue mission. Halfway there we got a call that the van started… so we met up with them on the highway just to be safe.
The Westy wasn’t running well at all… so with cue from Eugene, we took it to Barry Palmer Auto for a diagnostic eval from an air-cooled guru. The van’s motor had no compression, and was in need of a transplant.
I picked up a new roof spoiler from paint at Jeff’s Auto Restoration to replace the one that flew off in-tow last year.
My tow-hooks came back from KILLIN’ EM. Fresh hit of satin black to hide the ol’ red. Thanks Scott!!!
Picked up a few miscellaneous parts for the car. Water temp sensor adapter from TRM and a new cabin AC filter. I also snagged a new OE radiator, spark plugs, and wiper blades (not pictured).
I re-worked the wiring for the back of my gauges… including some quick-disconnects for easier maintenance.
I got frisky with The Destroyer™ and pulled the front end apart.
So I could bake the lower light housings and hit the reflectors yellow. While the grill was off, I had Jeff hit the chrome bits with paint to match the body color… and I re-wrapped the Chevy emblem with black vinyl. I also installed a 3000K HID kit from DDM Tuning.
We adopted an awesome (outside) cat. Lieze named him Meow Meow.
I had Pho for the first time.
I gave the e46 a much-needed wash before taking her to the track…
and the next thing I knew I was being bombarded with water balloons by kids in the neighborhood.
Luckily my friends Drew Fishbein and Ross Fairfield were there to catch the action for their site OMGDRIFT!
Then Formula Drift came crashing back into my life full-force for FD Pro Am. I put my game face beard on for an amazing weekend… which I will leave for another post.
The day after FD was a Southeast Drift event at Turner (more on this later). Tons of FD dudes came out to shred with us local-folk.
Then the new 2.0L motor for the Westy arrived via freight.
We took the van back to Palmer Auto where Barry and Mikey took the reigns from there to get the van back running in tip-top shape. The larger motor with mechanical lifters will make the rest of Will and Josh’s voyage on the high-seas of FUN much better.
Slowly… all my house guests began departing to their corners of the globe… leaving behind some amazing memories and awesome times. Will and Josh were the last to return to the road in the Westy… headed north to Jersey by way of Charlotte, Richmond, Baltimore and Philly. With everyone gone, and my house back it’s quiet state, I’m left to reflect on how lucky I am. Not only has this crazy motorsport taken me places I never thought possible… it has also introduced me to some of the most creative, talented, and overall BADASS DUDES on the planet. And for that… I am truly honored and extremely grateful.
<3
I’ve been sick… so I’m late posting this. PRETTY. WILD
Now… someone from BBC fly all of us over for a show cameo.TopGear.com
photo c/o Sir Shawn the SmithThe private DM test-session on the road course at Atlanta Motor Speedway was SICK. Insane high-speed entries, and equally as fast course-exits. I remember looking down as I was apexing the last clip and the speedo was at 85mph.
My buddy Chad Copeland brought his wild Datsun 620 over last night for some assistance putting some war-inspired shark graphics on the truck. It had been a while since I had done any vinyl work, but it was definitely a fun install. Each side was in 3 separate layers, so it took a little while to get it all on there. I feel like I want the eye to be larger, and lower in relation to the mouth, but overall… I think it turned out awesome!For more about Chad’s truck… check out his website!
Sit back, crank your speakers, and prepare your life to become the equivalent of a Maxell commercial, as the automotive-filmmaker’s dream team that is Will Roegge and Joshua Herron announce “Keep Drifting Fun.” This will be their first feature-length production about grassroots drifting in America. Over the course of this year, the duo will be taking to the streets of the U.S.A., living out of a van, eating mostly peanut butter. For obvious reasons (cough Slide America), I am insanely excited to see this come to fruition. It has been nearly four years since we shot Slide America, and as far as I’m concerned… it’s about damn time we get another dose of where grassroots drifting in America is REALLY at, in a current timeframe.In the meantime, enjoy this section of the video, from our members-only drift event in Nashville.
And remember… KEEP DRIFTING FUN.
OR ELSE.
Even though I “revamped” the Slide Style™ site about six months ago… some sort of muse was pushing me to scrap it, and do something else. The hosting was up for renewal, so rather than renew, and keep the hacked up WordPress store that had too much going on, I opted to move everything over to a Big Cartel storefront. Keeping things inline with “less is more for 2010”, I stripped everything down to the barest of essentials. Dare I say that it looks MUCH better? The added functionality that Big Cartel provides, like easier combined & international shipping profiles, made the move that much sweeter.I have some new items making their way to the store over the next few days, so keep your eyes peeled!
For many many weeks now, the dM fam has been meeting up in Cabbagetown on Monday nights for some killer all-city midnight rides. We chose Monday nights because the streets are literally dead across Atlanta, so the rides are much safer. Some nights we pedal until the sun rises… as far as 20 miles throughout the night, spanning various routes around the metropolis. These rides are a BLAST, and further proof that it doesn’t matter what we’re all doing – we bring the riot with us whenever we are together.
A Soiree in the Hamptons. from Andy Sapp on Vimeo.
This video is collaboration between myself, and Will Roegge. Will shot all of the footage last November at a secret invite-only event in Nashville. His amazing edit STILL ranks as the most viewed drifting video on Vimeo. I wanted to try and focus on a different aspect of drifting with this video. I wanted to peer into what really makes events like this so special: the people.The DriftMechaniks crew has an amazingly strong bond. It may sound cliché – but we are a family. Truth be told… it doesn’t really matter what we’re doing – we have the best of times when we are all together. That is what I wanted to explore with this video: the family and friendship we share at these events. If you take that camaraderie away… then well… it’s just… drifting.BIG thanks to Mr. Roegge for flexing his creative genius behind the lens, and allowing me the privilege to work with the footage!Hopefully you enjoy this look at what I feel is a more intimate side of this crazy sportIf not… please return to taking drifting way too serious and continue not having any fun. EVER.
Some still frames I’ve been wrenching on from a collab project with Will Roegge. Will shot a TON of footage at a super-secret private event last year. It has taken me forever to get around to this footage… but I am super-stoked to be working on it. I’m trying to explore some new avenues with this video, and I’m pretty exited about the progress!
Rod asked me if I would like to write a ‘Guest Blog’ on Speedhunters, which is now live on the site! Carlos “Panda” Richard and Cody “Coco” Wellons helped me immensely with the photography for the feature. We shot the car inside the walls of Oakland Cemetary, which is as visually stunning as it is historically significant.Big thanks to Carlos and Cody for the snaps, and to Rod for the opportunity!
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The shirt I designed for our demo at the Motorsport Nationals. When it wasn’t pouring insane amounts of rain, we sold a lot of these tees. If only we had the insight to make raincoats. :P
If you’re interested in picking one up, they’re available over at Slide Style™.
BH Design coming through with an amazing chop of what pretty much sums up DriftMechaniks in one image: something that makes zero sense, that you will never understand… much less be a part of.
