I was unaware of the video game called Trackmania, but I happened to stumble upon an awesome replica of my car made for the game! Looks like the ‘Forza Painter’s Pack’ I made got put to use!

Special thanks to user ‘nickrod808’ for taking the time to make the replica! It looks awesome!

This project started out as a way to help the Forza community in their painting efforts. I have received many requests for high-res graphics to use as reference in the painting process. I then used that as an excuse to get better acclimated with Adobe Illustrator, and create a comprehensive guide to the vehicle’s 2007 livery. I have always enjoyed technical drawings in their precise structure and perfection. One thing led to another, and the next thing I know… I spent an insane amount of countless hours creating this. I learned a lot about Illustrator in the process, and it is my hope that this will help any aspiring Forza painters re-create the car’s likeness.

I have a ton of respect for everyone painting Forza replicas. I (still) don’t have a 360 to be familiar with the process, but as far as I know… the tools available are very crude and difficult to use. This painter’s pack took me FOREVER, and I already had most of the graphics on file! I cannot fathom how long it takes to create some of these replicas. Hats off to all you Forza painters for your hard work and attention to detail!

Click here to download the Painter’s Pack. (7.4mb – 5400x3600px)

12×18″ posters are available on Slide Style™.

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!

Snagged a new floor jack today. My $20 Pep Boys jack lasted me about 5 years… so a new one was long overdue. I couldn’t waste any time with the stickers. Had to stick it before the dirt and grime sets in.

My point-and-shoot won’t capture the SPARKLE.
Stickers make the world a better place.

A random snap of my good friend Tyler Clayton’s Weds. Tyler has some of the raddest sticker placement (and selection) on his cars out of anyone I know… and the DriftMechaniks sticker on the lip of his wheel is no exception.

We started pulling graphics off tonight. Can’t there be an easier way to get this stuff off? I can’t feel my fingers. Backing all the holographic vinyl with plain black was the best idea EVER. It made removing most of the graphics SO much easier.

I went out and snapped a few shots of the E46 tonight. These are the last few pictures of her all suited up with graphics.

Tomorrow it is all coming off.

I had the drift car officially stripped of all her vinyl for about two whole days… then she got wrapped with new graphics! It was kinda cool having her all black and shiny again. With those ol’ Racing Dynamics tucked under the wheel wells… she was indeed looking more old-skool euro – much to my liking.

I got the primary base of the new graphics on the car about an hour before I had to be at the track for Round 2 of Formula Drift @ Road Atlanta. I got most of the sponsor logos on the car at the track, and actually finished the rest of the application after race-weekend.

I designed everything in Illustrator… and it’s kinda crazy to see it go from the screen to the car. I’m an old skool veteran to vinyl application… but never anything this large in scale. I couldn’t have got-r-dun without Tracy’s help at Batlground. Everyone conked out asleep, or went home… but she stayed up to help me hinge the vinyl onto the car… proving once again that Batlground is the BEST ever. Thank you Tracy!!!

Ol’ grrrl is finally starting to look like a racecar instead of a street car with more stickers than you can count. Now… about some aero…
;P< This is a screenshot out of Illustrator of the file I was working with:.

Weeding vinyl on carpet isn’t much fun.

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On three… I’m going to close my eyes, and this will be applied… 1.. 2..

THREE! Man, that was easy. ;p

Batlground and Gran Turismo East logos complete.

Headed to the track with more vinyl work to do…

At the track…

On the track…

For those of you who didn’t get a chance to see it live, here’s the mayhem… 6 O’clock news style!

Here’s the story behind the feature:

I was contacted by the PR department of Formula D about a week before the Atlanta event, and was advised that they had given my contact information to Fox5 News about a television spot showcasing the series, and my participation as a local privateer campaigning the series in it’s entirety. They advised me not to count on it for sure… and to beleive it when we see it – but sure enough: Fox5 Sports hit me up!

One of the sportscasters came down to One3 and interviewed me (none of that interview was used)… asking the normal barrage of drift-related questions: what is drifting, where did it come from, how is it judged, how I got into it… etc. They shot some footage of me at my desk, and told me that Karen would meet me out at the track on Friday morning.Formula D secured a full hour (which was later whittled down to 15 minutes due to track restrictions) of “practice” time to shoot the news spot. It was going to be Alex Pfeiffer, Casper Canul, and li’l ol’ me. Alex and Casper were going to run tandem, and I was going to run solo. We got on track, ran a coupla solo runs… and Casper blew his water pump.

They ran up to my car and said “Okay… you’re gonna run tandem with Alex… you up for that?” At this point, I had only run tandem with friends in parking lots… but I wasn’t about to pass this up. “Let’s do this.” I told’m… and it was on. There really isn’t any other way to describe it, other than it was fxxxcking insane, and fxxxcking awesome all at the same time. It’s just like Casper says in his interview… everything happens so fast – it’s wild! Karen then met me back in the pits and interviewed me again. She was really stoked on drifting. I thought it was cool that she was so amped about the sport.

Anyway… Slipstream (Formula D) is AWESOME for setting this up. It was an amazing opportunity that I would not have been a part of if they hadn’t pulled for me. I feel really lucky, and extremely thankful. They are the BEST!!!

Who knows… maybe next year they’ll do a follow-up! ;)

The inevitable had to be done. After over a year of procrastination/exuses on my behalf… Hooman and I finally got our li’l eight-six one step closer to how we planned it. The car’s original 1986 panda red/black combo needed a refresher of sorts… and she finally got it! $65: 11 kans of krylon, two rolls of painters tape, one fine-grit sanding block, one sunday paper, and two 5-hr day’s work… and I present to you – Atlanta’s ONLY white/black panda eight-six!

Step 1: Wash her down & remove excess drrrt.

Step 2: Wet sand any problematic areas (such as the Jesus fish a previous owner applied.

Step 3: Rattle-can the wheels ultra-flat black.

Step 4: Begin masking off windows, tail lights, & trim with painter’s tape & newspaper.

Step 5: Bust out the Krylon.

Step 6 (not really illustrated): Mask & paint lower half of car & hood satin black.

Step 7: Leave her sit overnight & start the next day with a fresh head clear of Krylon dust.

Step 8: Tape & mask the black portions of the car to prepare for the white. Use the sunday paper to aid in covering the black portions you already sprayed.

Step 9: Start the white paint application.

Step 10: With the white paint applied, give her some time to dry & cure.

Step 11: Take dorky picture of self with gas mask on. (BTW, I highly recommend one of these – especially if you’re doing this in a poorly ventilated locale.)

Step 12: Unwrap your work carefully and slowly… the paint still hasn’t completely cured, and you don’t want to destroy hours upon hours of work.

Step 13: Bask in the glory as the fruits of your labor are fully unveiled.

Step 14: More post-completion poses.

Step 15: Bring her to the surface & back into the real world!

Hooman and I are the biggest dorks on the planet, and we love every minute of it. We had to Initial D the thing. This was a team effort for sure. I was primary masking technician, since I’m so damn picky about detail… and Hooman was primary paint general, since he’s the rattle-can master. We could not have done it so well individually. I thank him for putting up with my time-consuming mask techniques… I think it turned out AMAZING!