Oh my!
Swarve Oblivion
Sweet Oblivion stickers. The choice of champions and gentlemen around the world. Haha gotta love that silly photo of Dan, who is sporting a full set of the Sweet Oblivion stickers on his drift car. (photo by Ross Lanson)
Orders for my designs have come in from every edge of the planet including England, Wales, Ireland, Germany, New York, California, Canada, Australia.. I couldn't be happier with the response to Sweet Oblivion stickers going on sale. As a humble graphic design graduate, and as one of the writers of this little blog, it really does feel good to know that a lot of cool kids out there get what we are about here at Sweet Oblivion and want to support and represent us with a sticker on their whip.
Thank you all for your orders and support, with special thanks to Jord and Alex of Drifted, Daniel Bridle of Motormavens, Dan Chapman of Driftworks, Rich Hudson of Okishima! and last but not least my favourite sticker man Dan Verge.
I'm down to the last few of each design now so get your order in quick if you want some thing sweet and sticky in your life!
Buy your Sweet Oblivion stickers here
The photos above are just a handful I've found. We'd love it, if you have found any pictures or links, to please share them with us by loading them onto the wall of the Sweet Oblivion facebook page.
What's in the box?
Post from Japan is still one of my favourite things to wake up to. This parcel has been a long time coming and
I was very excited to get inside. I've been searching for Shakotan Boogie books ever since I first read about them here back in 2007 and more recently here. Luckily for me, I have a friend in Japan and together we have been on the hunt for a full set of the Shakotan Boogie books. Finally we found a set for a good price and bought them.
After waiting patiently for them to arrive, I opened the box this morning to discover my friend had popped in a surprise Drift Tengoku magazine for me too. Thanks Minami!
I'm so happy with them! And don't think it would be too bold to say that these could be the only copies and very possibly, the only full set of these rare books in the UK!
Oh and my favourites from the Drift Tengoku magazine..
A C34 looking rather cool on 15"s
Flush and tuck on this R32..
The Tengoku R32 looking as good as ever..
..and some (hey they ain't too shabby) dori gals! :D
Meanwhile, in Australia..
Davey Clarke, keeping things awesome in Australia with his turbo 4AGE KE70.
And then it hits you...
...inspiration.
Its so angry, so simple and so clean.
Built by the guys at Racetec, this bike blends the old AMA superbike style with modern components. This is inspiring me more than anything else at the moment.
Its so angry, so simple and so clean.
Built by the guys at Racetec, this bike blends the old AMA superbike style with modern components. This is inspiring me more than anything else at the moment.
JDM Allstars Round 2: Donington Alpine
What an awesome video from Josh Allen! and what looks like another epic weekend of drifting that Matt and I missed. However, graduating from uni is a good enough reason to be absent me thinks! With fresh degrees tucked in our back pockets, free from education, unleashed back into the real world, you can expect a lot more action from us over the summer. Peace!
SO sneaky
Here's a sneaky look at what i got upto last wednesday with Redline magazine.
First i did this...
The full feature should be in the July issue, out in june, so take a look. The results might suprise you!
First i did this...
Then i went up against this...
The full feature should be in the July issue, out in june, so take a look. The results might suprise you!
What really grinds my gears
After getting back from the never lift drift day to find this all over the back of my car......
I knew something was abit, erm, broken.
So up she goes and I'm greeted with this nice big hole in my diff casing!
The crown wheel was badly scoured to, but as it was just around the edge its fine for now.
The worst part was cleaning the diff out to find this nice little hand full!
So with the diff cleaned out and the damaged double checked I had to fix it fast. I'd been invited to the Redline magazine performance test day in two days time. I managed to find another gearbox and diff combo, as they are one unit on the Volvo 340/360 range, but I didn't have time to collect and fit it.
That left only one option. Chemical metal. It wasn't an ideal fix but it held the oil and when the diff was rebuilt it span fine with no bearing damage and would last the Redline magazine day and give me enough time to collect the new gearbox and diff.
So with the car back in one piece I was ready for for an early start and a day at Santa Pod driving the handing course and running the strip.
I knew something was abit, erm, broken.
So up she goes and I'm greeted with this nice big hole in my diff casing!
The crown wheel was badly scoured to, but as it was just around the edge its fine for now.
The worst part was cleaning the diff out to find this nice little hand full!
So with the diff cleaned out and the damaged double checked I had to fix it fast. I'd been invited to the Redline magazine performance test day in two days time. I managed to find another gearbox and diff combo, as they are one unit on the Volvo 340/360 range, but I didn't have time to collect and fit it.
That left only one option. Chemical metal. It wasn't an ideal fix but it held the oil and when the diff was rebuilt it span fine with no bearing damage and would last the Redline magazine day and give me enough time to collect the new gearbox and diff.
So with the car back in one piece I was ready for for an early start and a day at Santa Pod driving the handing course and running the strip.
Never Lift
I got a call from my friend Mike last week to say he had arranged a new and regular drift practice day to be run through his new website, Never Lift. These days are set up to be fun for anyone, in any kind of car, to come along and drift. No bullshit, no pressure, just plenty of seat time, a cheap price, good people and a good time. The track is in Birmingham, at the stock car stadium in the Birmingham Wheels complex. This track is a place a lot of people won't drift because of the high wall and no run off but its wide enough for anyone one to come and have fun without to much fear of crashing. The perfect day for my first drift day of the year!
So early the next morning i swung by to pick up a new face in Dtown but an old hand in the drift scene, Oscar. Oscar has just started the same motorsport course I'm just finishing in Derby and also has few super swedes of his own.
Keep an eye out for a full feature on both his 16v powered sleeper and his 200bhp turbo drift 360 soon.
When we arrive the day is already up and running, with a slammed E36 setting the bar high from the off.
After getting into the inner track, I was met by Matt, who's in charge of the track, and told to make myself at home. So before sorting the car, I had a walk around to check out the other cars.
These two super slammed E36's have to be the lowest road cars in the UK. Both converted to 2.5l, these cars look tatty but get driven hard everyday.
This E36 compact was joined by the drivers wife's daily because it was his first track day and he wanted a way of getting home in case he hit the wall.
The last two cars were this E36 325 and a Vauxhall Carlton, with its 3 ltr straight six engine.
After passing the basic skills figure of 8 test, which everyone does to prove they are safe to head out on track without an instructor, I saddled up ready for my first few laps.
This track is all about line in order to link to two corners, taking a nice wide line as far down the straight as possible to manji into the next corner with no need to straighten up.
In the Volvo, you cant ever lift because it'll bog down and lose angle. So with the throttle pinned and no hand break, momentum is key. Momentum and big balls.
After this shot was taken i went into the next corner a bit fast and clipped the curbs on the inside and bent a wheel. Not much damage and I kinda like the way you can see the blue and white curb paint around the rim.
In the afternoon, the track was run in reverse and mike raised the bar by saying we should have a wall scraping comp. I was game so decided to try and clip it on the was in and out.
I managed to get within a few inches but never managed to touched the wall. Having to manji in, facing the wall the wrong way until the last minute was some of the most exciting drifting I've ever done!
Next time the wall is mine!!
Mike did manage to tag the wall.
Celebrating by posing for the crowd.
We wear wall scrape dents like medals.
Overall this was one of my most fun drift days, and at only £20 it was a bargain! Hopefully these days will be regular and more and more people will come along. I'll keep the blog up to date with Never Lift website progress.
After dropping Oscar off and parking the car up, I noticed something stinky on the back of the car.
Damn. Transmission oil.
So early the next morning i swung by to pick up a new face in Dtown but an old hand in the drift scene, Oscar. Oscar has just started the same motorsport course I'm just finishing in Derby and also has few super swedes of his own.
Keep an eye out for a full feature on both his 16v powered sleeper and his 200bhp turbo drift 360 soon.
When we arrive the day is already up and running, with a slammed E36 setting the bar high from the off.
After getting into the inner track, I was met by Matt, who's in charge of the track, and told to make myself at home. So before sorting the car, I had a walk around to check out the other cars.
These two super slammed E36's have to be the lowest road cars in the UK. Both converted to 2.5l, these cars look tatty but get driven hard everyday.
This E36 compact was joined by the drivers wife's daily because it was his first track day and he wanted a way of getting home in case he hit the wall.
The last two cars were this E36 325 and a Vauxhall Carlton, with its 3 ltr straight six engine.
After passing the basic skills figure of 8 test, which everyone does to prove they are safe to head out on track without an instructor, I saddled up ready for my first few laps.
This track is all about line in order to link to two corners, taking a nice wide line as far down the straight as possible to manji into the next corner with no need to straighten up.
In the Volvo, you cant ever lift because it'll bog down and lose angle. So with the throttle pinned and no hand break, momentum is key. Momentum and big balls.
After this shot was taken i went into the next corner a bit fast and clipped the curbs on the inside and bent a wheel. Not much damage and I kinda like the way you can see the blue and white curb paint around the rim.
In the afternoon, the track was run in reverse and mike raised the bar by saying we should have a wall scraping comp. I was game so decided to try and clip it on the was in and out.
I managed to get within a few inches but never managed to touched the wall. Having to manji in, facing the wall the wrong way until the last minute was some of the most exciting drifting I've ever done!
Next time the wall is mine!!
Mike did manage to tag the wall.
Celebrating by posing for the crowd.
We wear wall scrape dents like medals.
Overall this was one of my most fun drift days, and at only £20 it was a bargain! Hopefully these days will be regular and more and more people will come along. I'll keep the blog up to date with Never Lift website progress.
After dropping Oscar off and parking the car up, I noticed something stinky on the back of the car.
Damn. Transmission oil.