Clear skies, glaring sun and intense heat was the order of the day for the second round of the 2009 Lateral Drift Championship held at the Greenhills Open Parking Bay 6 in the City of San Juan last May 23. A total of twenty-seven participants came to the track to show-off, compete and simply have fun. The track layout designed by David Feliciano proved exciting for the competitors throughout the day up to the tight tandem battles.

The Destroyer drives the AutoIndustriya.com Cefiro hard

Kevin “Bad News” Tayao drives his AE86 smooth as a golf putt qualifying on top

D1 Grand Prix US competitor Cyrus Martinez take the Motul-Autoplus Nissan 240SX for a demo run, smoking tires and showing his moves.

Making his way back to the top of the podium was Team Yellow Cab’s Alex “X” Perez, who won a very narrow victory over Team Forced Speed’s RJ Obiedo who spun out just before the finish line. Rounding up the podium finishers was first leg winner Jason “The Destroyer” Choachuy.

Final Result
1. Alex Perez
2. RJ Obiedo
3. Jason Choachuy
4. Chukri Prieto
5. Kevin Tayao
6. John Boban
7. Jeffrey Villanueva
8. Joema Montaner

Drifting is about showmanship. It’s not just about the turbo under your hood, the exotic suspension setup you have, or the number of horses your engine is pushing out. Looking good is part of show drifting. Wild bodykits, hot rims, shiny paintjobs, and cool graphics play a big role in the drifting world. Make them work together with a top-performing car and you’re on your way to the top.

To give the boring executive car some serious attitude, we went to A-toy Bodykits who hooked up with a set of fiberglass bodykits for our A31 Cefiro project car. The main man Atoy Llave provided us with a custom aero hood, Type-U front and rear bumpers, aero fenders and side skirts.

With the new bodykits, a new paintjob was in order. We chose DuPont, the world’s leader in paint as our refinish partner. The car was brought to Fil-Carrozzeria paint and body shop to give it a new shine as they fixed some slightly rusted parts of the nearly two-decade old car. After nearly four weeks of preparation, the car was rolled out of the spray booth with its new shiny silver and blue combination DuPont finish.

Graphics come in all colors, shapes, and sizes. Since this was going to be the AutoIndustriya.com Drift Car, we decided to go with stripes in a very familiar color – blue. It took one whole week to come up with the final design for the car, which was supposed to be edgy at the same time properly represent the website as its rolling ambassador. Many thanks go to Archie Garcia for coming up with the design.

Nice bodywork needs to be finished off with a hot set of rims. Our good friends at Rota Wheels provided us first with a set of wide offset Torque-R’s in gloss white finish. Michael Rojas of Rota Wheels then told us about this new wheel finish he was planning to try out. We chose the Rota D2 wheels as the design to be used for the prototype of the RS (short for Rainbow Shot) finish. The RS finish is similar to what a burnt titanium exhaust tip looks like. The result was a very unique finish, which matched up really well with the whole new look of the car. Wheels need to be finished off tires. Kumho liked our project and sponsored us with their KU31 Ultra-High Performance Tires.

For the interior, Momo provided us with the drifting-inspired Atomik lineup of products, which included pedals, shift knob and finished off with the deep-dish drift steering wheel. For the seat harness, Momo also provided their 3-inch racing harness. While your three-point safety belts are good enough for the street, proper four-point or five-point seat restraints are a must in motor sport competition. For seating, we chose Recaro, the world’s leading manufacturer of sports and racing seats. We installed the Pole Position Furious racing shell, the entry-level model, which is FIA certified for motor sport competition. An FIA certified racing shell can spell the difference between life and death in the event of a serious accident in motor sports.

Although not completely necessary for a regular drift car, these aesthetic modifications however will be necessary if you want to actively compete in the world of drifting.

Tire smoke, cool cars, and extreme sideways action was the order of the day in the season opener of the 2009 Glade Sport Lateral Drift Championship at the Greenhills Promenade Open Parking Lot in the City of San Juan. Many of the competitors for the pro-series came prepared with new cars, and new setups. New graduates from the recently held Drift Underground amateur series also came to play with the pros.

Bryan Revilla, Jason Choachuy and Alex Perez closely watching the practice session.

Alex Perez with his Nissan S13 in new Yellow Cab Livery hoping to defend his crown one more time.

Kevin Tayao smokin’ rubber in his newly supercharged and newly painted AE86 with shiny new rims as well.

Bryan Revilla aboard his new Nissan Silvia S15 proudly powered by his parents.

Jason “The Destroyer” Choachuy in his first outing with the new Team AutoIndustriya.com Nissan Cefiro A31.

The Destroyer takes first stab at the 2009 Championship Series, taking the final win against Revilla in the finals aboard the new Team AutoIndustriya.com Cefiro sponsored by Kumho Tires, A-toy Bodykits, Informatics Valenzuela, Recaro, Rota Wheels, Motul, Autoplus, Momo, Alpine, H&R Suspension, Du Pont, Fil Carrozzeria, Motor Pro, Remixx Clothing, and DMF Drift.

Final Result
1. Jason Choachuy
2. Bryan Revilla
3. Alex Perez
4. Kevin Tayao
5. Dan Javier
6. Jeff Villanueva
7. Giovan Bernardino
8. Franscisco Blanco

Chassis Preparation

After the alignment, the car was then brought to DMF Drift Garage for seam welding to stiffen the chassis for a rigid platform. In preparation for the process, the stock RB24S engine was taken out of the car also in preparation for the new engine transplant. Seam welding minimizes the chassis flex making the car easier to control and more predictable in a drift. It also helps maintain the alignment done on the chassis. A custom rollcage was then installed in the car for further stiffening and safety after the seam welding process.

Suspension

In order to have a proper footwork to put the car to the ground, a good suspension is required. The stock rear cradle was taken out for an R32 rear cradle to be installed, which would allow a better differential housing to be put in place. To handle the height and damping, a set of XYZ Racing Super Sport Coilovers from Makna Marketing were installed. A set of pillow-ball suspension plates was installed to allow adjustment of front camber. A custom front underbrace done by DMF was also put in place to further stiffen the chassis. It was finished off with a Cusco front tower bar.

For better adjustability, it is recommended to change also the front torsion bars to allow the adjustment of caster; and rear lower arm for rear camber adjustment. These two parts are just some more additional parts to make the car easier to drive and drift better. There are more adjustable parts that would make it better but also makes the cost more. We decided to forgo these for the meantime as we are trying to build a basic drift car.

Brakes

One of the most important things that you need to consider when you plan to make your car perform better is to upgrade your brakes. As they say, if you don’t brake, you’ll break your car.

We decided to upgrade the brakes coming from an R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R. These brakes come with cross-drilled rotors in all fours, four-pot front calipers and twin-pot rear calipers. These come with PCD 5×114.3 hubs, which allow for a wider choice of wheels and provide a lot of stopping power. The surplus calipers we acquired came with a nice red powdercoat finish giving it a very aggressive and fresh look after they were cleaned.

Once regarded as an executive’s car, the Nissan Cefiro was a popular car in the early nineties when it was released. But now, the car is seen in a different light or in drift terms as a different approach angle. The once reserved and serious car is now being used as a project car for drifting because of its long wheelbase and rear wheel drive configuration.

Also in a different light is Atoy Llave of A-toy Bodykits who is more often known for his wild bodykit creations and extreme aesthetic modifications who is now into the performance scene as well. Being bitten by the drifting bug recently after he joined one of the drift clinics organized by the DMF Drift School, Llave has built his own drift car from a Nissan Cefiro.

However, a plain looking Cefiro would not be enough for him, so a custom widebody FRP aerodynamic bodykit and ground effects were added to the car to put the A-toy trademark on the car, while carbon-fiber aero mirrors and a carbon-fiber rear wing adds some contrast. Custom graphics made by Winner Graphics were also added to further enhance the car’s drift car appeal. The look is finished off with white ROTA P45Rs wrapped with Avon ZZ3 tires.

Under the hood is an RB25DET engine transplanted from a Nissan Skyline R32 GT-S. The intercooler from the R32 was also used and custom intake and exhaust pipes were done by Fremuff. Some additional parts are an HKS Super Mega Flow filter, Blitz blow-off valve and an Apex-i AFC Neo for instrumentation and minor fuel delivery tuning.

In the roadholding section, suspension is handled by a set of TEIN Type HA coilovers and a custom built rollcage. To further stiffen the chassis, it was also seam-welded by DMF. The brakes from the R32 were also transplanted to compensate for the engine’s extra power.

This is one mean car inside and out, and goes sideways. What more could you ask for?

Engine: RB20DET Engine, HKS Super Filter, Blitz Blow-off Valve, Front-mount Intercooler, FREMUFF Custom Exhaust System, APEX-i AFC Neo
Suspension: TEIN Type HA Coilovers, CUSCO Front Tower Bar, Nissan Skyline R32 GTS-T Brakes, DMF Custom Rollcage
Interior: Momo Drift Steering Wheel, Kazama Shift Knob, DEFI Black Face Boost Gauge, DEFI Black Face Water Temp Gauge, Cobra Bucket Seat, Drift-spec Handbrake Lever
Exterior: A-toy FRP aero hood, A-toy FRP front aero bumpers, A-toy FRP rear aero bumper, A-toy FRP aero front grill, A-toy Carbon Fiber Drift Wing, A-toy FRP Front Diffuser
Wheels: 17 x9.0 ROTA P-45R Wheels, 215/45R17 AVON ZZ3 Front Tires, 225/45R17 AVON ZZ3 Rear Tires

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