Donnie's JAPAN ADVENTURES Thread

[BigGameHit]

Sup Guys

Alex asked me to post up my time here in Japan. Its been awesome outside of military work. I have met many people that I watched on tv for years and done cool things. Ill use this to show what im up to In japan from Racing to Snowboarding to Jiu Jitsu etc.

Little Information about me:


My name is Donald Jackson, I am originally from Baltimore MD and currently stationed in Misawa Japan. I have been actively participating in motorsports for 10 years now. I am a SCCA member of the Washington DC Region and MotorLand Speedway in Nango Japan. Before I began actively racing, I spent several years learning/building and maintaining full-on street prepped cars and gaining lots of road knowledge. When I am not performing my duties as an Airman in the United States Air Force, I am busy working on and preparing my cars for various events. My current and future plans are to enter as many events as physically possible in order to build my racing resume and gain higher skills. After my Air Force retirement, I plan to race more frequently on the ProAm level.

__________________

The Saga Begins Arrival in Japan August 2008. The first thing I did upon arrival was go to the local drift track the following day along with upgarage, autobacs etc. I found and purchased my R33 for 4k. I wanted a R32, but all the ones available were AWD.





The Toilet cleans you!!!












Here was the car when I was looking to buy it.... as soon as I took ownership, the stripes came off immediately. Also Painted the Misters gold.



3 days later





Car was pretty clean but I only had the mindset of drifting.. so the cleanliness would slowly disappear lol. Went drifting very shortly after buying the car













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Owning a Skyline is not as special here... they are like civics. This was not a Planned Photo Shoot... just happen to be the spot I parked in.. Thought I would take the picture though.



Shortly after I embarked on drifting the R33, It began to feel good to me and I would try different things.. well one day things went wrong and I smacked a wall pretty good. luckily the junkyards are full with cars junked by Americans so parts are not really an issue.




Yes that is my tire print on the wall.










time to go looking for parts... and then onto the hobby shop to hook up with other drifters

[BigGameHit]

A few swings of the hammer and things are somewhat back in order







Random shots from Track Days which if we can help are every weekend. We burn junk tires from the auto hobby shop on base.











yes the girls are super bad *Censored**Censored**Censored* here



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In line waiting for Instruction From Naoto Suenaga of Team Orange

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Tokyo Auto Salon 2009

Ventured 8 hours down south to Tokyo to check out the Auto Salon. We were representatives from our site in GaijinDrift.com. We were allowed to obtain press passes and a front row seat to everything the Auto Salon had to offer. For this being my first time in Tokyo and at the Salon.... its was completely awesome to hang out and talk to the D1 guys behind the scenes with my baby Japanese skills.






























Photos by: Allan Arcega

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Drift Demo by Erik Elder

[BigGameHit]

Sadly In this area of Japan is the worst in relation to snowfall but that yields lots of fun in the mountains snowboarding.


This is the view outside of my window.



All of that Snow is eventually blown this way... 2way in the snow is not very fun on purpose lol.




When the track is frozen over, we venture to the mountains... drifting standing up is what I call it. The picture below is me standing on the Peak of the mountain in the previous pictures. elevation of something like 5000 feet or so.









I also embark on arm baring people in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu... for those that didn't know.. what is now BJJ started in Japan Ironically in the same place I live right now.





Submitting a Blue belt on my first day as a white belt lol.... not that it really matter in the grand scheme of things



Racing doesn't stop at our track though, its year aroudn. I competed in a Snow Time Attack. I came out with the fastest time for any FR vehicle there. I personally thought I did bad and left before the weather got worst.... :/







The gentleman in this picture was at the time 17 and highly followed by Team Orange. He is now 18 years old and part of Team Orange. Just finished his first season of D1SL. Very cool little dude and sick driver He will be D1GP in no time.









Photos by: Allan Arcega

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With the winter comes time to stock up and install parts. Im about to upgrade my turbo setup to an Holset H1C. Also got new D2 RS coilovers to replace my blown Kei Office coilovers that were ruined in that snow time attack.













Running Power FC with FC Datalogit.

[BigGameHit]

Drift Matsuri 2009 Ebisu Circuit

This has to be one of the most baddest *Censored**Censored**Censored* drift events on the planet. Its held three times a year. 36 hours of straight drifting. Many cars don't make it past 3 hours because the drivers go nuts instantly with their Missiles. I had a great time and drove along side D1 Champion Daigo Saito at some points of the day. Awesome time.







Me sliding my buddies 180 throughout the day. Was my first time drifting a car that was not mine. He gave me permission to kill it and kill it I did.











multiple wall taps



Luckily we had the parts to fix it and continue into the night.


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Prepping for MSC, D1SL and Spring Drift Matsuri 2010












drifting around town picking up parts from UpGarage a buddy spotted me in traffic. Which is Horrible in Japan.









Parts pile for Matsuri

[BigGameHit]

While Deployed To Iraq for 8 months, I ordered a host of parts. Last week I installed my GT-R over-fenders to cover up my damage in the rear... FRP and tire debris don't mix, I already cracked them up in some places drifting the other day.









point of no return.

[Jonny Fonseca]

nicec pics! i like ur tire painting on the wall!!!

[Ninja Asaassin]

AWESOME!!!!!!

and the tire print is epic also

[Slapshotnerd]

Cool story bro.

I remember seeing you at Tokyo Auto Salon '09 at the drift demo. I shot a few photos, then went back inside to keep shooting. It was pretty fun.

Good luck with D1SL

[alex]

hi Donnie! when will you start working on your RB25 turbo upgrade?

[cfrost]

man that snow racing looks fun

anybody else notice anything..... odd..... about this picture?

[alex]

man that snow racing looks fun

anybody else notice anything..... odd..... about this picture?

odd, what do you mean? drifting is "blowing up" over there...

[cfrost]

hopefully his girlfriend doesn't find it

I wouldn't want it to rubber the wrong way

[BigGameHit]

Hey Slapshot, what were you wearing?? We had so much access that day man.. was awesome to be able to cut infront of 1000s of people lol.

hhahaha Liz actually has a hole in the back of her neck. she feel out the window at Ebisu.. I need to fix her.


As far as the turbo, I just got my Gas Mig Welder in the other day. I have to locate tanks. Im waiting on my 3in Mandrel piping to come in the mail at the moment. Today I will place an order for my couplers and misc parts. Once everything rolls in It will be a weekend affair to get everything on.

More Pictures to come!!!

edit: Video added

[BigGameHit]

Sand blasted and sanded the Freddy Intake manifold, Also going to polish the compressor housing of the turbo. Going to polish both soon enough.



Re-routed and cleaned up my data-logging equipment. I have logged while drifting. This mount is very stable and can be taken out of the car with one flip of a switch.



Some random "only in Japan" photo of me inside of a 7 11/Wawa type store called Lawson's. They are all over Japan almost every couple feet it seems. I'm standing in the Porn section... yes... you can buy a soda, chips and the latest smut mags/dvds lol.



Tracks In Japan

Hello

More and more people are getting active in motorsports which is a great thing to me and justifies the money you spend on the car. It also ultimately proves your cars worth and test/improve your skill as a driver.

Using the interweb, I posted this to let people know whats available to them in Japan should they visit. Just mouse over and click on the Tracks name for more info. The best method of translation is yahoo or google.




Motorland Speedway





In my area we have Motorland Speedway. Our track is relatively new to the area and gets popular each year. I would like to say GaijinDrift.com is responsible for any buzz that is generated in the states about this track.

From this point on is a list of Tracks from the Northern most parts of Japan to the South ( excluding MSP )




Northern

Tokachi Speedway
New Chitose Motorland
Hokkaido Speed Park
Shiraoi Carland
Sportsland Sugo
Sendai Hi-land
SS Park
Ebisu
Link ( actual name )


Central

Nikko
Gunma Cycle Sports Center
Central Circuit
Twin Ring Motegi
Kanetsu Sportsland
Okegawa Sportsland
Honjo
Tsukuba
Minami Chiba
Mobara Twin
Fuji Speedway
Nihonkai Maze
Owara
Sportsland Yamanashi
YZ-Circuit
Autoland-Tsukude
Ina
Motorland Mikawa

Southern

Suzuka Twin
Motorland Suzuka
Meihan Sportsland
Bihoku Highland
Nakayama
Motorworld Sportsland
Tokushima Kartland
Sportsland Tamada
Hadashi Tengoku
Setonaikai
ASAN (racist)
Mobility Omuta
Hiroshima-Circuit
Autopolis
DEC Sekia Hills


(list subject to change)


Sources:

http://www.Google.com
http://www.TrackPedia.com
http://www.7tune.com/complete-list-o...trackscircuits



Geographically here are some of the more popular places. just for reference.

[BigGameHit]

March 13 2010

Got my exhaust piping in for my new system from Mandrel Bending Solutions in MD, I used them to build the exhaust for my KA-T setup on my S13, Good service. Im going to do the back half tomorrow if all goes to plan.





Having major left rear camber issues after last track session which included a few rough ditch drops. Today I changed out my A-arm just one day after changing out my traction arm and rear upper control arm... I still have a really bad camber deal going on. I will be changing my rear hub assembly soon.. if that doesn't fix it... My sub-frame is bent for sure :/. I was going to pick up the pretty cool DriftWorks complete Hicas delete kit which many drifters rave about.




My R33 has an electrical hicas system. I pulled the fuse on it after day one and had it aligned. The bushings at the end still present a issue as they have give. The Driftworks kit takes them out of the equation.


After trolling the Junkyards the win of Nissan's simplicity was evident yet again. I will be possibly switching to a Non Hicas sub-frame from a S14 or NA R33... Honestly will cost less than the Driftworks kit and yield the same results with the addition of a couple more aftermarket parts.




Oh Yea here is that KA-T S13 I mentioned...... I miss it alot actually.


Summit Point Drift Nirvana








Blew the clutch on my very last drift event stateside at Old Dominion Speedway in Manasses VA and replaced it on the spot hahahh.

For those that are may be wondering what the "240 EM " stands for.... I also like grip just as much as drift. I give autocross much credit for giving me more car control than I once though I had. I was an active member of the Washington DC SCCA region. The pictures above took place one day after completing an Auto-x events.

I was very pleased with my low level KA-T setup as it was the most reliable my car had been since ownership. It was the first time that I realized spending money the first time on quality parts in important locations mattered.