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This year the rules for racing have changed in all organizations. All rules are now more strict when it comes to driver safety. This is why I had to install a roll cage, racing seats, racing harnesses, fire system, window netting, and replace my sunroof glass with fiberglass.

I am also required to wear a racing suit, racing gloves, racing shoes, upgraded helmet, and all fire resistant under garments. The final safety item is a HANS device. The HANS device is worn over the driver's shoulders and the harness is placed over it and secured. The HANS device has two clips that fasten to the driver's helmet. The Hans device keeps the driver's head and body together, and prevents severe neck injury in an accident. I am not sure if this is a mandatory safety item in Japan, but it is necessary in almost all racing organizations here in the US.

Hopefully I never need to test this item out!

I recently took my car to a very well known fabricator (Louie of L*Con) of roll cages and had him custom install a roll cage to meet the time attack requirements. It took roughly 4 weeks, but the quality is excellent! The cage is positioned as close to the cars structure as possible, and it is very difficult to even see the roll cage from outside the vehicle.

Along with the roll cage, I got a new seat, harness, and window nets. I was fortunate enough to be sponsored by Sparco, and got the Sparco Pro 2000 seat and 6pt harness. I will be getting another seat, harness and full safety gear (driving suit, gloves, shoes, etc.).

On October 29th, me and my friend Gabe attended the Modball Rally. I'm not sure if there are any events similar to this in Japan, but it is extremely fun! We started in Los Angeles, traveled to San Francisco, Death Valley, The Grand Canyon, and ended in Las Vegas. The event is not a race, and is on public roads... so it is more like a large caravan of cars traveling together.

Each day we would drive during the day, and then once we arrived at our destination we would go to a party. The event happened during Halloween, which is why in the videos we are wearing costumes at the parties. Gabe and I filmed during the entire event and edited videos to share our experience... please enjoy them!

Rare JDM: Modball 2010 Day 1
Rare JDM: Modball 2010 Day 2
Rare JDM: Modball 2010 Day 3
Rare JDM: Modball 2010 Day 4
Rare JDM: Modball 2010 Day 5

Modball Site

This was my first official race... every event so far has been a practice day, and not an official race. We went to the Redline Time Attack in Pahrump Nevada, roughly 300 miles from Los Angeles. They have a very nice track there called Spring Mountain. It was originally designed to teach high performance driving, so it is very difficult!

I had a great time, and did very well! I am still having difficulties with my power steering system, and will be making some changes very soon to fix the problem. In the 2nd video, you can see where I went too fast into a very sharp turn and had to drive off track... this was very scary! Luckily, nothing happened to the car and I was able to complete the event and drive my car home.

Today we finally positioned the engine, and welded the motor mounting plates to the frame. The engine, transmission, and drive shaft all fit perfectly, and we now must pull out the motor one last time to paint the engine bay.

Now that the motor position is final, we can start to mock up the v-mount setup. The radiator will be slightly angled, and the large intercooler will be above it. We must modify both the radiator and intercooler, as well as make custom mounting brackets for both. The intercooler end tanks will be cut off and reworked so they point back towards the engine instead of sideways.

Temporary placement of intercooler and radiator-


The original mounting tabs will be removed from the intercooler.