9th Annual Drifting Pretty Banquet

2012 Drifting Pretty Slideshow from Drifting Pretty on Vimeo.

From Marc Mondoy, our incredibly talented Drifting Pretty videographer: "Every year, I'm in a mad rush to get these vids done for the banquet. But my intention for these vids isn't just for the banquet, or even to show friends and family wh at Drifting Pretty's all about. I make these vids for you!

As we're in the middle of this journey together, it's always hard to take a step back and get a perspective on how great these times are and how fortunate we are to have the people we do in this family. So these vids are just a tiny time capsule for you to keep for years, hopefully decades, to occassionally look back and reminisce. My wish is that way down the line, you'll show these to your grandkids and hear them say "Wow grandma, you're totally badass!"

So in the end, even though it's a lot of work, it's an honor for me to be able to put together something that shows just how amazing you all are!"

And with that, the 2012 Drifting Pretty Slideshow :) Thanks so much Marc! The banquet was hands down a tremendous success... How much did we fundraise? I believe well above what we were shooting for. This celebration of the year's memories and accomplishments-- it's just an amazing springboard to look towards what the future holds. I love this family :)

Drifting Pretty Banquet and Ladies' Autocross 2012

Our 9th Annual Drifting Pretty Banquet is coming up this December 1 (same day as the last Super Series race of the season-- oh wow....). All proceeds go to the Drifting Pretty Foundation! I will also add that banquet participants have a chance to win a very gracious donation from our supporter, Falken Tires, which are... you guessed it, tires! I'm fairly sure someone reading this would like to win tires.

We invite you to spend an evening in honor of Drifting Pretty and our 9 years of efforts to break down the barriers for women in racing.

Drifting Pretty has become a labor of love for our 21 members & staff.  Each year we put our best foot forward to put on an even bigger & better banquet than the last.

Purchase tickets on our official banquet announcement page <3

As for racing this weekend, the FC and I spent the day with the Drifting Pretty ladies at ladies' autocross school today! I started at 67 seconds and got down to a 62.6! Best of the day I believe was in an S2000 at 58.9. Ahhhh two seater roadsters are so light and tossable....

Best part of the day was that it was the first time autocrossing for quite a few of the girls and they seemed to be having a very good time :) Karen Zaterman was my instructor for the majority of the first session and then later on suggested that Lisa Severy, the event's coordinator and racing instructor for 20 years, jump in to help me get over a 63 second plateau that I was stuck at. Lo and behold, immediately after Lisa's tough and highly appreciated critique of my driving, I dropped more than half a second :D I am very grateful to them both! Got to love this neverending battle towards improvement...

November Super Series

Here are my results for Super Series. Less than stellar during heat 1 :( I was being silly. Heat 2 was ok, I gained one position and kept from losing any.

I grabbed these times from the Iphone version of http://www.race-monitor.com

My main race went pretty well though! I started 15th and ended 10th. I was able to grab 3 spots in the first lap. Either the kart was missing top end power or the track was losing grip so I was a whole second off my best time of the day (or perhaps I was tired, who knows?).

Next post will be on the Drifting Pretty K1 GP next weekend and the Ferrari F430 I'm driving on the same day....

In other news, Initial D Stage 5 is out! Check out the one video on Youtube below. The cars in the opening theme definitely suggest that the manga will be followed pretty closely :) I am enjoying the rotary love all over it! http://www.youtube.com/embed/uyl0hIJxlq4

Sevenstock 15, Super Series, Autox, Photoshoot... Busy!

Since my last post, I have managed to make myself absurdly busy. The epic-ness of Sevenstock 15 at Willow Springs will be one for the history books, especially with the 110 strong caravan that we used to take over the freeway for 50 miles from Santa Clarita to the destination. It was a beautiful show with a great mood and finally, some 4 rotor action tearing it up Big Willow. I wonder if there will ever be another chance again for one of those.

Photo Courtesy of Bubble Tech

Guess which FC is me! Day after Sevenstock, I had a practice day at the CalSpeed kart track. Week after, I had the CalSpeed Super Series Round 10. I was none too pleased with my performance that day-- I lost one position in both heat races and my last race. I had gained a few spots and wasn't able to keep them :( However, I still managed to improve since my September race and gained more points than ever. The same night of the Super Series, I ran over to Temple City to meet with the Hsu family so we could hurry on over to K1 Torrance with the Drifting Pretty ladies for a bit of hot lapping competition! That same evening, we previewed the Spirit House, host to our upcoming 9th Annual Drifting Pretty Banquet. And then Saturday, I went autocrossing at Fontana.


I did my best to ensure pointing the car before applying power so it seemed to work well. I started at 62.2 seconds and ended the day with 60.7, about middle of the day's average times. A fellow driver was kind enough to let me try out his stock Miata so I got to try that out. I wasn't really accustomed to such humongous body roll...

Yesterday, which was Sunday, I was invited to do a podcast in Long Beach with William and Davis from Primer Podcast. I must have said something silly over the mic-- first time doing something rather public like that! I fumbled over how many rotors were in the 787b. I was thinking to myself, "What is wrong with you??" I got nervous and must have spewed out silly knowledge!! Oh well. Big thanks to these guys for opening up their home to me for this super opportunity.

Last but certainly not least, Nadine Hsu, Benson Hsu, and Marc Mondoy brought out their gear for a super photo shoot for all of us Drifting Pretty ladies. My time behind the camera was just splendid and thanks to Jenny Sprite Espejo Nakamura's super make-up talent, I didn't look so terribly tired... Photos in the next post!

Time for me to pursue the elusive creature named sleep.

8th Annual Japanese Classic Car Show 2012

This was the first year that second generation Rx7s were allowed to enter the show, so by all means I made it my mission to be a part of this fantastic event! Glen, aka DivinDriver on Rx7Club forums, pointed out gleefully that I was officially the first FC Rx7 to pass the gates into this show (woohoo...).

As always, JCCS is run like a tight ship next to the majestic charm of the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA. I think just over 300 cars produced from as old as 1963 to 1986 filled the lot-- I got to bring the FC since S4s began production in this time range.
I am really looking forward to next year's! This a great show full of really amazing owners and cars.