Check out Urban Racers coverage of the FD tech inspection days before Round 1 Long Beach. Plenty of new cars and drivers showed up to get pre-teched for the season.

Vegasdrift LLC proudly presents VegasProAm 2011 – Formula Drift’s Southwest Official ProAm licensing series. VegasProAm will consist of three events at the LVMS Bullring lot and the fourth and final event will be hosted at Formula Drift round 6 on The Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s Custom built FD Course.

For the second year in a row Ernie Fixmer (Formula Drift Judge/Pro Driver), Mike Bolanos (“Exotics Racing” instructor and FD license holder), and Tommy Suell (Formula Drift Driver and “Exotics Racing” Instructor) will utilize the Formula Drift standard scoring system judging  “Speed” “Line” and “Angle.”

The competition format consists of 3 judged qualifying runs, followed by either a “Top 8” or “Top 16” tandem battle.   Drivers that finish  “Top 3″ in the series will earn a 2012 Formula Drift Professional License, and an invite to the “ProAm Cup All-Star Invitational.”   This year, Formula Drift introduces the “ProAm All-Star Invitational,” in which all newly FD licensed ProAm drivers will have a chance to compete against one another to determine who is the “Best Amateur Drifter” in the country. The event will be held at the Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, California in conjunction with the Formula DRIFT Championship Finale on October 7-8, 2011 and replaces the former, “Formula DRIFT ProAm Nationals.”

VegasProAm Schedule

• VegasProAm Rd 1 – April 23rd 2011

• VegasProAm Rd 2 – June 11^th 2011

• VegasProAm Rd 3 – July 30^th 2011

• Formula Drift Rd 6/VegasProAm Rd 4 (Final Round) – August 26-27 2011

VegasProAm Rules and Regulations will be similar to last year’s series; minor adjustments will be made and announced on the Vegasdrift Forum and on the VegasProAm Website.  Sponsors and Prizes will be announced shortly.

Competition Format Book – linked soon

Vehicle/Conduct Rule book – linked soon

Vegasdrift Forum Series Information – http://www.vegasdrift.com/forum/index.php/board,62.0.html

Registration will open shortly

Last month Garage “Get Nuts Drift Laboratory” hosted a drift demo BBQ to raise funds for shop upgradings. Get Nuts opened its gates to the public and displayed some serious tandems and trains. FD drivers Patrick Mordaunt, and Get Nuts’ own Forrest Wang were among the drivers that created a fog of smoke on that windless day.

Vd – So, we’re here with famed local drifter Rainier “Fashion Show” Ramolete. Ray is going to give us an extensive behind the scenes tour of Get Nuts. We saw some awesome builds at the demo with some jaw-dropping fabrication. Give us a background of the shop and tell us about some of the projects you guys have going.

RR (pictured below on the right) – Our shop is made up of a group of friends with the same common interests. We pretty much live the drifting lifestyle,  and all of us want to progress in the sport in one way or another and be able to survive doing what we love. Whether it be to go pro at driving or set the standards with “drift/driving style” in our work, and benefit from learning the drive techniques/ build techniques from hands on training.  Get Nuts is not your average automotive shop, but more of a grown man’s playground (not a strip club), college for drifting/building cars, mixed with an experiment/testing facility hence “Get Nuts LAB”. Most of us came into drifting through extreme sports judged on style like skateboarding, BMX, surfing, snowboarding, and motocross, so not only are we a fully functional fabrication facility + repair shop. We also have our own skate park, drift skid pad, and many mini motos that keeps us having fun doing what we love. What sets us off from most shops is the attention to style and details which explains the building of drift cars that are now internationally recognized through magazines, and online publications.

Forrest’s one off roll cages and chassis bracing is what we are mainly known for. Since 2002, Forrest has been setting the standard for grass roots garage built drift cars, and now has had the experience from also being a part of the team at Full Race Motorsports in Arizona for a couple years, learning hands on from the best fabricators.Full Race has been renown for their quality craftsmanship with turbo manifolds and custom fabrication as seen in many mainstream magazines and proven race cars. With over 10 years experience as a fabricator for “drift” style cars, and the technique honed while at Full Race, Forrest is now living the dream with his own full fantasy factory: Get Nuts Lab. A facility to practice drifting, build his own cars, build one off customer vehicles, and hone his skills all at the same time.

We’ve had the opportunity to build cars for the drifting community. Drivers such as, local FD licensed Josh Guild’s Yellow S14 (Full Cage),
FD Pro-am contender Shawn Coward (Full cage, V-mount, Tub fenders), Yao’s white coupe also received the full treatment.

Vegasdrift’s very own Nick Dizon’s car is receiving the full treatment as we speak including Roll Cage, Tubbed fenders, and custom tube chassis rear section.

Here are some other projects we have lined up at the moment:

S13 Truck converted demo car- Full Tig welded roll cage, custom tubs, chassis bracing, and truck conversion.

D1GP driver Tyler Cox’s S14. Getting the full treatment: full cage + custom tube chassis front end, tubbed fenders,  and full chassis paint.

Local customer Adam’s 240sx hatch- nearing completion, receiving full roll cage, rear bash bar, front bash bar, tubbed fenders, stitch welding, and chassis reinforcements, and custom fully chassis paint (monster green) spray by Get Nut’s very own Garret Nikolich.

Local Customer Jay’s Skyline R30 (very rare)- receiving full SR20DET swap, engine bay paint, and wire tuck.

In the future we will be expanding into a full one stop drifting fab shop/ retail store for parts, and will be holding more drifting demonstration days/ meets with live DJ’s and car shows, so be on the look out!

Vd – What are this year’s plans for everyone at Get Nuts?

RR - This year we are working towards expanding the shop through advertising as a team and hitting many drift events/ competitions with a team of black cars showcasing the work of our shop, while holding more drifting demonstration events to cover cost. Here is a rundown of everyone at the shop’s plan this year:

Forrest is just now nearing completion on his revised O.G. S13 Silvia with a 600hp 2JZGTE swap, made with in house motor mounts + tranny mounts, custom V-mount intercooler, custom aluminum charge piping,  and all custom stainless exhaust from the turbo. Forrest will be competing in Formula D for the 2011 Season in this car as a privateer with no major team in a car built by himself WITHOUT a V8, to prove you don’t need a V8 to be competitive. Be on the look out for Forrest this year, since he will be a sight to see.

Jesse Hanna is also finishing up the final touches on his car in order to hit up drift events and compete this year also in VegasPro-am. Surprisingly, Jesse is only 20 years old and has completed a full build on his car from the fabrication, to the paint and assembly. Here is Jesse’s car as it sits:

Traverse Hilsabeck’s black and yellow 240 hatch has begun getting a fresh revision for this season of pro-am. He has torn down his car again, and has been adding more reinforcements and a fresh coat of green chassis paint. Traverse will be competing this year @ VegasPro-am competitions.

Garret Nikolich’s M30 is getting a fresh 1JZ motor revision along with tubbed fenders. definite upgradings from the old RB20 setup. Garret will also eventually be competing this year at VegasPro-am.

As for me, my plans are to revise my car again. I will be tearing the car down to bare, and will be adding a tube rear end, tubs, custom intercooler setup, and fresh motor, paint, and clutch. I’m planning on hitting as many events as I can next year depending on my income, but my main priority as of now is to get the shop website up and going, along with making more videos, and online publications to get the attention of sponsors for the shop.

As a team we are looking to stay on it with work ethics in order to prosper doing what we love to do! Be on the look out for Team Get Nuts in the 2011 season!

Vd – It’s safe to say that everyone at the shop is with the program as far as competitions and fabrication goes. From the bottom up, what would you say would be the best way to build a rolling chassis?

RR - From my standpoint, a rolling chassis should be built within means, however built to hold up to the abuses of drifting with attention to style. There are many components of a drift car that need to work together in order for a drift car to be safe, fun, and crowd pleasing.

First off,  CHASSIS RIGIDITY:
In order to compete, drift at highs speeds, or even have the opportunity to tandem at most drifting events: chassis rigidity/ stiffening is crucial for better handling and for the most part, your very own safety.This can be accomplished by adding a roll cage with door bars, stitch welding the chassis seams, and reinforcing weak points in the chassis with added bracing/ gussets which in turn makes the car more rigid, with well improved handling handling characteristics. Adding a “bash beam” bumper supports also help to keep the frame/ unibody of the car straight from low speed impacts and improve air flow to radiators/ intercoolers by decreasing in size from the stock beam.

Second off, SUSPENSION/ FOOTWORK/ TIRES
SUSPENSION: That being said, next step would be the crucial things such as the overall stance and final effect of the vehicle which also benefit the way the car handles. this is where we’d recommend upgrading all suspension components including: a good coilover setup, adjustable STEEL rear suspension links, new bushings pressed, aftermarket tension rods, and especially steering angle modifications. Weld in reinforcements between the tension rods, and under front LCA’s also provide better feedback to the driver especially with good tires and correct alignment. In drifting, “steering angle” means A LOT. The further your wheels can turn, the more drift angle you can achieve which results in less spinning out, and the ability to pull off drifts that will blow minds. Steering angle can be achieved by modified spindles, spacing your tie rods, and relocating the steering rack.

WHEELS/TIRES: Tires play a huge role in a drift car too. Usually having a wider overall stance (due to lower offset, increased width wheels) lowers the cars center of gravity while also drastically improving traction and stability. A common misconception in drifting is “the less traction the better”, however it is the opposite. You actually WANT traction in a drift car in order for it to feel predictable and hold consistent speed. Having good tires, is one of the most important parts if you are looking to be competitive, or drift at higher speed safely. The more traction, the better but also more expensive. As a grass roots drifter, id suggest going with a tire thats most affordable with the best wear characteristics, but still being a performance tire (for heat handling purposes). There is a broad spectrum of tires in the market suited for this purpose.

AESTHETICS: Here at get nuts, we emphasize on the “style” portion behind drifting. Remember, in drifting “being a good driver” is only half the battle. Drifting to us is not racing, but more of an art form similar to skateboarding, freestyle motocross, BMX, or even figure skating. You’re car should be an expression of yourself for people to see, it makes it that much more entertaining, not only for us, but for spectators + fans.
This is achieved from the aesthetics portion of the vehicle:

Some of you may not agree, but drift cars need to have character. Not necessarily baller parts, but just attention to style if you want drifting to become a more respected motor sport.

AERO/PAINT: Don’t run your car unpainted with 400 non-matching panels,  unless no ones watching or its a purpose built beater missile annihilation car. I’m not saying you need an expensive candy paint job and real Vertex body kit either. Simple things like cheap aero/ wide fenders and single stage paint still look amazing when done correctly, and cost is still fairly affordable. Painting the engine bay, and raw portions of the vehicle benefit the cleanly factor. You wont attract dust/ grime in the engine bay, plus it looks amazing for years to come! Having aftermarket wide body fiberglass fenders benefits the stance and handling of the vehicle, and surprisingly doesn’t get battled as easily. Fiberglass as opposed to sheet metal is a lot more flexible and does not dent/ ding and is easily repairable when cracked.

DRIVER POSITIONING: A good driver position is very important. This is all personal preference, however more drifters prefer sitting low at a tilt, with a good amount of steering wheel spacing achieved with a concave wheel and a quick release hub. Ideally you want the steering wheel close to you so your elbows are bent, however not too much. depending on your height, you want to sit lower to where your head clears the roll cage with a helmet on.

SEATS: Seats are very important in a drift car since they hold you from swaying around during moments of high G forces. Don’t cheap out on a racing seat/harnesses especially in drift car with a roll cage. Spend the extra and get the real seat for the value of your LIFE! The market of racing seats is very disperse, but you want a seat with good support that will hold you. Depending on your size/ preference this can be a long task. Stay away from seats that are built of metal frames since they only have bottom mount rails, and can become uncomfortable over time. Ideally, you want a seat with a molded 1 piece shell, high side bolsters, good shoulder support, and a side mount for the seat rails.

Things like e-brake placement and shifter height also benefit you depending on your style of driving. This is personal preference, however ideally you want the extra leverage when shifting at the sacrifice of shift time. So find the ideal shift knob that feels comfortable in height for you.

Vd – What is the worst moving violation ticket received by someone from the shop?

RR – Aside from a couple impounds here and there and maybe 1 or 2 reckless driving violations between the other guys and myself, Not as much as you’d think! I, myself like to drive like a grandma on the street to avoid any more speeding tickets.

Vd – Impounds here and there, lol! Do you guys have a website or other point of contact?

RR - We are working on getting a blog site for the shop/ team up very soon, so keep an eye out! for now, follow up on the shop on facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/Get-Nutz-Laboratory/130458357011198, or check out for video updates on our youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/getnutslab

As for work inquiries, please email us @ getnutsdriftlab@gmail.com
We are appointment only! Please schedule an appointment before visiting the shop. Thanks

Vd – Well, thanks for grand tour Ray! We’re all looking forward to the next Get Nuts demo day/BBQ and we wish all of the drivers at GNL a solid 2011 season. Is there anyone you guys want to shout out?

RR – Yes, thank you to all of our fans and customers! also thanks to STANCE Suspension, DMAX,, Full Race, and Garage Boso, and AutoRnd, and InsaneSpeed (tuning) for all the support! Also thanks to Patrick Mordaunt, Jon Jimison (DJ pessimist), Mike Burns + AZ crew, and Melyssa Grace for making a memorable opening ceremony!

Here are some pics from the BBQ if you missed out!

Photo Credit

– Jason Sudds
- Brenton Ho
- Kid Yosh photography
- Edward Ochoa

Vd – Aaron, You’ve probably driven in more events then you can remember. Tell us about yourself and how you got into drifting.

AE – Well that’s flattering, honestly I haven’t been to THAT many events, and I actually kind of remember them all for something. I suppose I can start out simply, my name is Aaron Nicolas Escobedo and I got into “cars” at a very young age – elementary exactly. I remember it vividly because we were asked to go pick out books from the library and I would also choose cars/airplane books. I was hooked from very little.

I got into drifting mostly because my brother was into cars and was 5 years older than me, he would take me to the street races when I was very young (around 12) and I watched and learned from him. However, the biggest thing he always told me was that this stuff doesn’t teach you much and that I should concentrate on “turns”.  It was also around this time that I got into stuff like Initial D, Gran Tursimo, and  go karting. I always thought of drifting as natural, never really anything special. However, when I got my first car at 15 (circa 2003), the first night I owned it, I went out and tried drifting, mostly attempting to just learn more car control…honestly I think back now and realize how dumb it was, my first “drifts” were fients at nearly 70 mph……and btw, it was a Ford Escort

My first event to watch was D1 US in 2004, and my first actually drifting event was in 2005.

AE - Well, honestly I use this maita to daily, and I set my goal from the start to not put money into it. I bought the car for $500 and got it running, and haven’t done anything to it besides put a Sparco Evo from my FC on it. I personally have no real plans with the miata other than go to school and work with it, it gets great gas mileage J.  I do suppose though, I wanted to show people that you don’t need anything special to go out and have fun, even if it is quite literally the ugliest thing out there, I still have a blast driving it, even if it is open diff.

However….I have been working slowly on two secret projects, I’m a broke college kid though, and who knows whenever those things will come out.

AE – Well, I’m into a lot of things, I really enjoy playing the piano, working out, I’m pretty good with HTML and photoshop, and I know C++ I like to play star craft and love to people watch. Probably the weirdest combo ever, but I love the “science” of all things and have a burning passion to figuring out how things work.

Oh, and the typical go karting, and working on my cars…..and oddly I actually like doing my homework

Vd – What are you plans for the 2011 season?

AE – Well, I don’t have many plans, I am in school and my main objective is to finish that up, I will continue to drift for fun but I doubt anything serious will happen for me unless someone gives me and offer I can’t refuse, however, honestly I just plan on finishing school.

AE - I would say, watch and learn from everything you see, hear and touch. Me personally, I learn best by watching others, and I have watched countless others in drifting and I know what I want to do based on what others I have seen do. The best advise is go out there, never be egotistical, learn from everyone and everything, because you are never the best, there is always someone better. Oh, and let me drive your car.

Vd – What do you think would be the most important resource in a post-apocalyptic environment. ?

AE – Ummm….Coercion.

AE – Oh man, this is going to suck….First off, my brother for teaching the ways, my team mates for helping me in everything, Dave Kato for being my second father, and helping me in impossible ways. The VD staff, especially Nick, Ray, Wes and Mike !! Josh’s(all three) and Ray. And I know I’m going to miss A LOT of people, please don’t hate me to hard, you know I love all the help and SUPER appreciate everything and anything that has been of help throughout the years, truly. You know who you are !!

Photo Credit – Joel Cada (Third 3ye Photography)

– Larry Chen – Driftfotos

– Kid Yosh (Kid Yosh Photography)