It was January 2004 when Dr. Emory Chang came asking me for help getting his car ready for D1 and Formula D events. The car was already halfway into the project and deadlines are coming up. With Jspec.com¡¦s resources and help from friends, the car was running but still had a lot of bugs to work out. An RB26DETT-powered gold/yellow s13 240sx hatchback drift machine is not a easy thing to build, especially within a time period of 3 months. In March??, we finally got to take the car to Laguna Seca for the Road & Track Drift Competition. There we met Conrad Grunewald, a Skip Barber Racing School Instructor ¡V just like the driver of Emory¡¦s car, Rich Rutherford. As we watched them compete on the track, Conrad said ¡§I can do that, but I¡¦ve never drifted in any events before.¡¨ So I said ¡§I¡¦m sure you can, you¡¦re a professional instructor and race car driver.¡¨ Then I had an idea and told Conrad, ¡§We have a spare S14 chassis at our shop and we can probably get enough sponsors together to drift that thing next year.¡¨ He replied, ¡§If you build it, I will drive it.¡¨ With that in mind we headed home, and a week later I called Conrad to confirm with him whether he¡¦d drive it or not. He said ¡§Yes,¡¨ and that he wanted to try something different and that it might be fun too. We decided to build the S14 for 2005 drift events, but needed to see how good Conrad was before investing all the time and money into it. We purchased a SR20DET-equipped white s13 hatchback from a friend and drove it up to Laguna Seca where Conrad tested the car and practiced drifting it around. All we could say is ¡§Wow, his car control skills are really pro level.¡¨ With a handshake and a Gentlemen¡¦s agreement sealing the deal, Conrad agrees to drive for us in 2005. The deal is he will continue to be our driver unless he gets an offer from Corporate level (ie GM, BMW, Toyota, etc.), but he will not leave us to drive for another shop. On August 14th, Conrad drove our white s13 hatchback at California Speedway during the D1 Driver Search and qualified. Now we have to finish the S14 ahead of schedule, by Dec 11th for the D1 Driver Search Championship. With help from SoCal240sx members¡XJason Ng, Richard Tang(jdmrice), Levi(land ho), Ken Flores, Mark Hutchinson, Alex Chang, Ernie Fixmer,Mark(Brakeoff.com) and our pit crew chef Ryan Mcdonnell the car was finished and was able to compete in the Driver Search Championship event. During the event we didn¡¦t expect Conrad to do well, as the car was not tuned. The car was not making enough power to drift the first oval bank, but by showing his clean race line and car control skill. Conrad made it to the JGTC/D1 Japan vs USA Competition. We wish him luck for the December 19th event, and we¡¦d like everyone to come out and cheer for all the American Drifters. We like to thank the following people who helped in the whole process. Eileen Huang (big nose creator) Jeannie Fong Dean from Hawaii Mike from Circuit Sports. Kyle Matsushita from socal240sx.org(for the great artwork on the side of the car) he also design the jspec logo and tshirt. We also like to thank the following sponsors. Yokohama Tire Turbonetics 5Zigen Phase2motortrend AIT Racing The Wheel Supply Currently we are looking for sponsors for the following items: Suspension arms/Coilovers Exhaust Seats Brakes Cash to pay for travel expense Please contact Jspecusa@aol.com if you are interested in becoming a sponsor. Thank you for reading. Team Jspec Team manager: Sam Chang Driver: Conrad Grunewald Pit Crew Chief: Ryan Mcdonnell. Pit Crew: Ken Flores, Levi Maffey, Kevin Pratt,Cole Viernes |
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