Ask ERNIE FIXMER Something!

[Ernie]

We all had a good time Friday,.... but why dont yo tell us how all the BS unfolded in your eyes. Poor Cas was flippin out..Again Happy B-day old man!!
Stinkin Yokomo!...LOL! Congrats too....

Booney

Sorry...sometimes I don't get time to post twice. So check out www.modified.com racer's "live" diaries

[Ernie]

Sorry...sometimes I don't get time to post twice. So check out www.modified.com racer's "live" diaries

here is a link

http://www.modified.com/sportculture...ieshome.html?1

[Ernie]

I will havet to tell about the party a little later.

[Battle Drift]

Hey ernie

whats up dude,

I was stationed in Okinawa, at Kadena. My and my friends used to drift Aja, Awase, Yomitan (im sure you know all the local drift spots there, so i dont need to name them to you) Heres my question, not a very serious one...have you been able to get over not having CoCo's curry since ur back in the states. Hahaha, i know it sounds retarted but man id die for some Coco's right now...also did you ever go to the bannana show out on gate 2 street?

hahaha, hopefully youll answer me, good luck this year and keep on doin what you do man.

-Carlos Disla

[Ernie]

whats up dude,

I was stationed in Okinawa, at Kadena. My and my friends used to drift Aja, Awase, Yomitan (im sure you know all the local drift spots there, so i dont need to name them to you) Heres my question, not a very serious one...have you been able to get over not having CoCo's curry since ur back in the states. Hahaha, i know it sounds retarted but man id die for some Coco's right now...also did you ever go to the bannana show out on gate 2 street?

hahaha, hopefully youll answer me, good luck this year and keep on doin what you do man.

-Carlos Disla

Sorry to dissappoint you man, but I don't like curry. I can eat it, but its not on the time of my list when it comes to hungryness. In fact one night that turned out to be a bad night (talk to my friend Booney) started with some curry.

Maybe another dissappointment...I didn't make it to the banana show. I did make it to "the stage" near Cocusai dori in Naha and a few other places. I spent the majority of my time sideways though. So much so that some of the local japanese drifters claim that I knew more spots to drift than them.

See you soon, Ernie

[Battle Drift]

hahaha

well i cant blame you for never having gone to the bannana show, but not liking coco's? haha, anyways what was ur favorite street spot to drift in oki? Ever have any bad wrecks there?

[Ernie]

well i cant blame you for never having gone to the bannana show, but not liking coco's? haha, anyways what was ur favorite street spot to drift in oki? Ever have any bad wrecks there?

favorite Okinawa drift spots in number order...
1. Irijima also called AJA or "four corners" This place was in the city streets near a port...it had curbs to hit on both sides and I did hit them from time to time. Only damaged the front right suspension once and tore off like three exhaust systems by getting too close to the curb.
2. Higashi (a mountain road just north of the city of NAGO) there were these "binjo" ditches or rain ditches on either side of the road that wheels could easily drop into and the car would be stuck...I did this only once. I did get lucky and drove over the ditch once or twice too.
3. Senaga-jima (a small island drift spot at the southern tip of NAHA airport) I once got my AE86 up on two wheels and nearly rolled it at this spot with some assistance from a road edge pot-hole.
4. Benoki dam (a mountian drift spot near the nothern tip of Okinawa) I have a picture of my old S13 Silvia with a severly damaged rear left quarter panel from this tree that jumped out in the road and hit me...while on a high speed downhill run.
5. Nago Circuit (this was above the city of Nago...one of the only legal places on the island to drift) I have seen many cars destroyed at Nago, but I have been pretty fortunate to not destroy any cars here. I did burn a few clutches out and snap a few e-brake cables. This is also where I might have learned to drift on a bank...not as severe as Irwindale, but somewhat similar.
6. Ishikawa (a small road with only like two or three turns in Ishikawa city) this place was rough on the cars...it had a lot of potholes and grates that popped tires on occasion. At least ten to twenty drifters frequented this spot on a nightly basis.

Hopefully you guys like this, I have more places, but I couldn't tell ya...

[illegalgarage]

I heard from Sam you blew an engine on friday?
and stayed up all night swaping in a new one.
Thats crazy, its cool to see you can drive and turn a wrench.
O well good luck to you in the next event , (FD chicago?)

Max

[drift matic]

hey ernie whats up, How did you join team murder and what was you favorite car in okinawa

[Ernie]

I heard from Sam you blew an engine on friday?
and stayed up all night swaping in a new one.
Thats crazy, its cool to see you can drive and turn a wrench.
O well good luck to you in the next event , (FD chicago?)

Max

I did blow an engine Friday...we have had frequent tuning problems with this car. To be honest I did not stay up to help change the engine that night. This team wants me to focus more on my driving so a good nights sleep is important. I have stayed up all night changing engines before though before a race...kinda like last February at D1 round 1 2004 with Rotora. I will be running all the Formula D events for sure.

See you soon, Ernie

[Ernie]

s13daver

Here I will go into a little more detail as to my adventures in Okinawa. I started driving an AE86 by recommendation of one of my friends then named Corporal James Rose. He dove a GTE 4 door skyline. No one in the current little American drift crew from Futenma Air Station had an AE86 so I would be the first in their crew. Little did I know what that little car could teach me. I ended up driving it for about six months and helping my friend Steve out with his CA18 powered S13 Silvia. I installed an S14 turbo for him and he saw how good I was at working on the car. He decided that when he left he would sell me the car. That poor car turned out to be my main battle wagon. I had a several little incidents with that car, but I would say that I learned a lot between that car and the 86. I new of the infamous drift team called Murder. They had a reputation for being kind of bullies on the street and putting the pressure on up and coming drivers at Okinawa favorite drift spot called Irijima or "four corners" (Aja). They were one of the best teams I had ever seen of all the active teams in Okinawa. I always wanted to be a part of their team and eventually started asking their leader who speaks pretty good english for a shot at earning a sticker. His name is Yasu and actually went to one of the American schools on the island where he picked up his English. It took me about a year to get him to give me an appointment for a tryout. When the time came there was really no one at Aja. It was like 3am after everyone had gone home.
After conquering Aja I moved onto the mountains and developed my skills even more there. I spent a total of three years over there pretty much practicing at least 4 nights a week for three to four hours a night. So when people tell you they have 5 years experience....ask them what kind of experience, how frequently did they practice, and how determined were they to be good at it. I can elaborate more, but I am running short on time right now. Hope you guys like it.

Ernie

I guess I left out the finishing part with the details....here is the rest of how that night I got my sticker went.

Yasu did not bring his car that night, because it was in the shop getting a new clutch installed. He owned a red S14 "zenki" style Silvia. It was powered with the stock SR20 running and open wastegated TD06 turbine. The sound from this car was one of a kind. It was definitely the most intimidating car on the street. He actually showed up like I said at around 3 am in a little mini cooper with all his friends. One of the drivers on his team showed up with a black SR20 powered Skyline type "M". Yasu came and talked to me for a while. He asked me how things were going since I lost my license. I told him things were ok that I still got out and played a little. He did not realize that I had a car ready to go. So I told him, "Hey man I did bring a car tonight, are we gonna run?" He was like, "Oh Yeah ?!?"

I had taken my friend Pete's car hostage and built it up a little toward's my basic specs. It was a black S13 Silvia "Q's" converted to a "K's" (turbo powered) We installed the required ball bearing S14 turbine for the quicker spool, locked the viscous differential with an extra shim to make it a 2-way, and wired the R32 fuel pump wide open for consistent wide open running. I think we might have installed some JIC coilovers too.

Yasu saw the car and was like, "Ok man you're not gonna kill me right?"
I was like, "Common man, just get in the car and lets go for a ride."

So he did and away we went. He had not driven for months. His car had been sitting. While he was away attenting to some business of some kind. He was pretty impressed and told me that he could probably not run at this level anymore since it had been so long. About halfway through the session of burning off the used tires I had found he got a phone call...I heard him saying in Japanese "hi-hi" which means fast. Then I realized that I was being chased by the SR powered R32, which explained the headlights just turning the corner at the end of the street everytime I dissappeareed around the next street corner. This went on for a little while, but soon the tires gave up. Yasu got out of the car pretty happy and handed me some small "tomodachi" or team friend stickers. I did not realize that they were just friend stickers until he explained it too me a few minutes later. Yasu dissappeared for a few minutes. When a he came back he handed me a larger sticker with the little quote at the bottom that says, "Bayside in Okinawa Since 1995" He said that was reserved for team members only. The small one they give to many people and associated teams, not team members.

Thats how it happpened...I hope I answered your question.

See you soon, Ernie

[s13daver]

WOW, i could read that story over and over again.

[vrtblacksheep86]

Man and then the next day was sheer hell!...Well, in the end I guess it was all worth it bro!


See ya around soon brother and here's to your success in the Form D series..

Booney

[drift matic]

thats was a gret story ernie I HONOR YOU GOOD LUCK

[Whisky]

Hey Ernie,

Its all about nitro r/c drift baby! I just can't get excited about my electric car after drifting my nitro. When you wear out those little rings on the Yokomo tires, lemme know, I'll bring you some ABS to slide over the wheels. Works great and lasts forever. Of course, you probably have an r/c tire sponsorship too, haha.

Booney, dirty booty is for Hinga pirates! wait, maybe that didn't come out quite right.. lol