MattWaldin.com Blog Pipe v2

Cause for alarm: The state of America's 20-30 somethings.

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 02:43:00 +0000

For me starting in mid 2011 I started noticing a slight change among my friends and peers. As I was departing my 20's and opening a new chapter on my life. I started to feel my friends ( some close and some distant ) change. They were changing in a way that I didn't quite understand at the time. The more time past I just wrote it off as people getting married off, having kids and opening new doors themselves.

Now it's 2013 and I see this pulling back spreading into the slightly younger generation. I'm talking about the people who have become so socially inept that the only outlet they have is Facebook or other electronic outlet accessed by a device. They converse by typing, they communicate by IM, SMS, EMAIL and a bunch of other acronyms that 10 years ago meant nothing. This type of social decline, I feel, is ruining the worlds youth. The people who accelerate in life will most certainly have a well rounded communications skill set. Kids listen up: It is important to know how to communicate face to face, be able to convey emotion and passion for whatever you are talking about. You will not achieve this skill set sitting behind a computer, playing video games, texting your friends or being a recluse to society. I urge you PLEASE go out, talk to a teacher, a peer, a hitch hiker or even a bum for god sakes.

Just the other day I nice elderly woman called into the shop to make an appointment for her grand-son. We chatted it up literally about nothing for a good 10 minutes. The day of the appointment the young man came in and I found out he was almost 27 years old! He was the product of 15 years of playing video games and having very little interaction with the 'outside world'. The comfort zone for him certainly was not looking me in the eye and telling me what weird noise his car was making that day. Fortunately for him, I got the 411 on his car from his grandmother. After handing over his keys out came the cell phone and gaming noises started to fill the room quickly. I really felt bad for this chap. Somehow along the way between my Atari 2600, my 286 PC and my Nintendo my parents taught me to limit my time on these things.

It's not just video games harboring these people. It's anyone who solely uses an emotionless type of communication. Somehow I've made a connection from these socially awkward people to their commitment levels also. More people will say maybe 100% of the time to any commitments so that in the event that a World of Warcraft showdown is going on they have the opportunity to do absolutely nothing with their day. Somehow via electronic communications it has been socially acceptable to be flaky as hell.

People of technology based communications (This means you!): Be a better person, eliminate 'maybe' from your Facebook event responses. Commit and be a reliable person. Yes or no and then execution, it's really that simple. Your friends will thank you and you can be that guy or gal who is rewarded with a great relationship with your peers. ( and maybe even a call from Jail to bail them out )

Lets help these people by picking up the phone next time. Go out and do something......ANYTHING

/Rant

To my fans, enemies and for general announcement.

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 22:01:00 +0000

This my official resignation from any organized form of professional drifting. All things must come to an end. I am at a point in my life where drifting for sponsors is no longer fun or appealing in any way. I am sorry to my followers and fans for my departure but this kind of circus-hobo life only is good for so long.
Will I still drift? Yes.
Will I still compete? Yes.

In a very serious effort to 'Keep Drifting Fun' I am resigning from any scheduled drift events. I'm going back to the way things used to be; When I wanted or when it can be afforded. I realize the desire to run at the top level of the sport. It is a great accomplishment that i am proud to say i have done, but unfortunately sponsor money does not grow on trees, everyone in the drifting industry is bleeding money and to top it all off I feel like drifting in America is extremely politically biased. The people who make drifting non-political know who they are and deserve a pat on the back for fighting a good vs. greed battle. Today in drifting there are more politically charged decisions happening than ever, most of the die hards know it.

I have met great people in my travels and hope to stay in touch with them from now until forever. To drifting fans world wide; now your chance of a ride-along is much better! Keep supporting drifting and please find your local organizations. Go hang out, help out, chase cones and get Involved; you will meet some of the most humble and down to earth people ever here.

I'm still going to post here but it may seem a bit random at times. Stick with me, it will still be an interesting ride. The adrenaline junky in me is only stoking the fire. ;)

Late ECB video

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:18:00 +0000

This video kinda remins me of the 'ol skateboarding videos. The music makes you want to break stuff, the cadence explains this whole event to a tee.

Club Loose: East Coast Bash 2011 from Mike Spock on Vimeo.

[ FLASHBACK ] The Best of 2010.

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 03:05:00 +0000

Here are some highlights from 2010 DMCC season. More updates coming soon,

Enjoy!

BEST OF DMCC 2010 from Driftmania on Vimeo.

HELIX Drinks Signs Matt Waldin for the 2011 Formula Drift Season

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 19:01:00 +0000

HELIX Drinks Signs Matt Waldin for the 2011 Formula Drift Season

(Little Rock, AR - January 3, 2011) - HELIX Drinks is excited to announce their
title sponsorship of the Matt Waldin Racing professional drift team for the
2011 Formula Drift Series. This sponsorship combines the energy of HELIX Drinks
with the skill and power of two-time DMCC champion drift racer, Matt Waldin
and brings that partnership to the eighth season of the world renowned Formula
Drift series.

HELIX Drinks will support Waldin and his 2008 Nismo 350Z for all Formula Drift
events in the United States allowing him to be a true contender in the series.
HELIX Drinks and Matt Waldin Racing will team up for the entire series and for
other industry events and programs throughout the 2011 season.

"HELIX Drinks is a great new energy drink and I couldn't be more excited
about this partnership. It's an honor to be pairing up with such a forward thinking
company," said Waldin. "Plus, I really love the product and I can't
wait to share it with the drifting community. With HELIX coming on board as
our title sponsor, we have everything we need to be competitive in the Formula
D series and we can't wait for the season to start."

Waldin, who is well known in the drifting community, has won back to back championships
in the Drift Mania (DMCC) series in Canada and is now poised to make a huge
impact on Formula D, the world's leading drift series. Waldin is known for his
aggressive driving style, charismatic personality, and his down-to-business
2008 Nissan 350z.

"Matt's skill, energy, and passion for drifting made him the perfect choice
to bring HELIX to the sport. Matt has shown that he will act as an innovative
partner that will help propel Helix to the next level," said Mike Englisch,
Marketing & Product Development Manager for Helix Drinks. "We are looking
forward to a successful season with Matt Waldin Racing."

The Formula Drift series starts in Long Beach, California in April and continues
across the US through October. TV coverage of the entire series is provided
by Versus. For more information, visit www.FormulaD.com.

About HELIX Drinks
HELIX Drinks was founded in 2008 with the mission to create a line of drinks
that consumers not only want to drink for energy but for taste and quality as
well. HELIX Drinks first product offering is HELIX Energy + Ginseng powdered
energy drink mix. For more information visit www.helixdrinks.com

About Matt Waldin
Matt Waldin is an accomplished professional drifter with two back to back DMCC
series championships. (09-10). Industry insiders, series owners, and sponsors
alike, all consider Matt Waldin, in his cutting edge 2008 Nissan 350z racecar,
the driver to watch over the next few years. For more information please visit
www.mattwaldin.com.

Drift, break, rebuild... History repeat itself?

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 03:09:00 +0000

As the 2010 draws to a close we have to be thankful for all the wins on and off the track we have accomplished this year. I am extremely thankful for another DMCC championship season as well as great support from my partners. Thanks, without you it would not be possible.

At the end of the year I like to take a vacation. It's just the type of break I need before my team and I get ready to re-build and plan for 2011. I only do this because it's fun. When it stops being fun I swear I will quit.

(Actual picture above)

Update for Drift Mania game for Iphone / Ipod Touch and Ipad

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:31:00 +0000

News >> Drift Mania Championship 1.1 (Update) is Now Available! Sep 07, 2010

Download here: http://drift-mania.com/2010/09/07/drift-mania-championship-1-1-update-is-now-available/

We are happy to announce that Drift Mania Championship is now available as a free update on the Appstore.

We listened to everyone’s feedback and made major improvements on top of including additional content! You can now also unlock Matt Waldin’s (DMCC Champion) drift car featuring his official sponsors: NGK Spark Plugs, K&N Engineering, Mishimoto, Import Intelligence, Competition Clutch, Selex Suspension and BC (Brian Crower).

If you like Drift Mania, please rate it 5 stars when an update comes out! As always, your 5-star iTunes rating and reviews keep the updates coming! Thanks for playing Drift Mania Championship!

Here is the list of new features and changes:

Issues Fixed: The leaderboards now display up to 15 characters Rare freeze issue when loading a track or after a race (before replay) Overall performance improvements Reset career option

New Content: 2 New Circuits: Expert and Master Circuit 2 New Cars with unique physics and handling

New Options: Acceleration using new Gas Pedal or original Throttle Bar Steering Sensitivity Adjustment Ability to disable “Crowd sounds effects” Manual selection of leaderboard type: Online, Local or Events New Leaderboards features:

New categories: Expert Circuit, Master Circuit, Best Combos Special leaderboard for Live events and scheduled competitions Local leaderboard option

Others: Smaller throttle bar on the iPad iPad animated loader indicator Memorization of last car, color or track previously selected Higher resolution car textures Practice mode results screen with Best Combo and Top Speed

Hot like fire, Waldin scores another victory at DMCC

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:12:00 +0000

Hot like fire, Waldin scores another victory at DMCC
Round 4 Montmagny, QC Canada

West Chester, PA (PRWEB) Matt Waldin Racing backs up their win at
XDC last weekend with another first place finish at Round 4 of DMCC in
Montmagny Quebec Canada.

Matt Waldin states "Montmagny is one of my favorite tracks in the
series because of the strong entry on a slight bank, then into a technical
section and back out onto the power alley to the second bank for a smokey
finish. Fans love it because they can see everything and the pictures
from the event are always breathtaking from the beautiful landscape surrounding
the track."

Matt and crew got to the track on Friday night to get some practice time
in while the track was falling in temperature. Since Saturday's competition
was at night this was a critical step in preparing his setup for the main
event. His crew set the tire pressures low and were constantly adjusting
the car to get the most grip in the cool Canadian air. Once the car was
dialed in the crew logged the pressures and headed off for the evening.

On Saturday there was a long practice session where the crew once again
set the car up for warm track driving to get a good qualification score.
The anxious Canadian fans trickled in from 2pm and by 5pm the house was
completely packed. "This track always surprises me in terms of fan
turnout. The track is about an hour from any major city in the middle
of the countryside but these fans don't mind the drive - there is a good
show to watch," said Waldin. Qualifying fourth out of all the drivers,
the team was set and ready for competition. The sun set and the StreetGlow
neons were starting to illuminate the track for the main event. StreetGlow
stepped onboard to support the entire DMCC field for this one of a kind
night event.

The first round of competition Waldin would face Canadian native, Mats
Baribou. Baribou pilots a Toyota Chaser and has a lot of power to go along
with it. His lines are always ultra consistent and at the edge of the
track. Waldin leads first and puts down a qualifying-like run and Baribou
spins in his attempt to follow Matt's aggressive line. The drivers switch
position and Waldin sticks to Baribou's door like glue. Waldin takes the
win.

In the top eight, Waldin was bracketed up against Carl Nadeau in his
V8-powered BMW. Waldin had been beaten by Carl in the last round of DMCC
Round 4 and he was making sure that the same did not happen again. Nadeau
is a very fast driver so putting the 350z on his door would be Waldin's
biggest challenge in this battle. Matt led the race first again with a
clean run and the drivers switched positions. On the follow run Matt initiated
in his door and stuck on the BMW with everything that the 350z had. In
the second bank nearing the finish of the track Carl lost drift and then
regained it but it was too late, his back tires had hit the grass on the
edge of the track and sent him into a spin. Matt was closing in on the
BMW on the final section of the track and ended up smashing into Carl
at the finish line. The bad news was that the car was seriously damaged,
but the good news was that Matt moved on to the top four. The crew scrambled
to get the car back into the pits and get all the suspension checked out
before the next round. Luckily, the 350z sustained major body damage and
zero damage to wheels or suspension components. The whole team forced
Matt to ignore the damage to the car and would not even let him look at
the right side of the car until after the competition was over. After
stretching out his sore collar bone from the wreck, Matt took the car
for a "test drive" around the track to make sure that the car
was able to move forward in the competition. The car's suspension had
remained untouched, so the team coached Matt and got him lined up with
Pat Cyr for the final four of competition.

At this point Matt was a little shaken by the previous round but it was
time to put on the "game face" once again and line up against
Pat Cyr. Cyr has moved on over Waldin many times in the past so this was
going to be no easy battle. Matt lead first and put down an extremely
fast run. Matt concentrated on speed during this run since Cyr's Toyota
Corolla is lightning fast. Matt pulled it off! Cyr was unable to keep
up with the Z in drift and when Waldin stuck it on Cyr's door the entire
run. The team had moved onto the top two!

For the first place spot on the podium, Waldin would face "Steady
Freddy" Girard (2008 DMCC Champion). It was all or nothing now and
Matt stuck it on Girard's door throughout the entire course to claim the
win. On the follow run, Girard took out the first clipping point which
sealed the deal on the first place spot for the battered and bruised team
Waldin.

Matt Waldin is proudly partnered with Mishimoto,
Selex Suspension, OverDosed
Performance, Import Intelligence,
Competition Clutch, K&N
Filters, NGK Spark Plugs,
Brian Crower, Oakley
Inc and EBC Brakes

Round 4 Teaser Video from DMCC.

Teaser - DMCC rd4 Drift Night

Special thanks to Andrew Goodman
Studios for the fantastic pictures!

XDC Englishtown Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 01:17:00 +0000

XDC 2010 Round 4: Englishtown Raceway from enigMatt on Vimeo.

CYRIOUS PRODUCTIONS - LET 'EM TALK from Cyrious Productions on Vimeo.

Waldin takes the win at XDC Round 4 Englishtown NJ

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:58:00 +0000

West Chester, PA (PRWEB) Matt Waldin Racing slides to a first place finish at XDC ( Xtreme Drift Circuit ) Round 4 in Englishtown, NJ.

The weather was 95 degrees and the skies were clear of any rain for the weekend. Twenty-seven drivers from coast to coast met at the Englishtown road course on Friday, August 6 for initial practice and qualifying late in the day. Many of the DMCC drivers from north of the border were in attendance for the weekend, as well as DMCC staffers and president, Eric Belec to cheer on the Canadian drivers on for the weekend.

After laying down a couple solid practice runs on Friday in the 350z Matt put her away early on one of the hottest days of the year to conserve tires and the engine of the 350z.

Up next was qualifying where Matt would prove that the lack of practice wasn't a big deal on his home town track. Matt set the bar high with the fastest entry speed of the day at 83mph into the first corner of the track and managed to crank out a second place finish for qualifications. This would put Matt up against number fifteen qualifier, Zachary Catlin in the Chevy Camaro. A classic Import vs. Domestic showoff would start the day on Saturday.

Saturday was here and it was time to stage up for the main competition. The stands were packed and the Remix Car Show was in full swing when Catlin and Waldin staged up to get the competition underway. Uncharacteristically, Waldin lost the car into a spin on the banked section of the track and avoided a near miss from a closely following Catlin. Angry with himself for making such a rookie mistake, Matt knew that he would have to put on a hell of a show in his follow run to overcome the error. The two drivers switch positions and Catlin puts four tires off in the first corner! This ended up in a "one more time" since both drivers made mistakes, so they staged again. Matt put down two solid runs this time and really put the pressure on Zach at the end of the course to seal the deal on the round.

Next up was Chelsea Denofa in the green turbocharged BMW. Denofa is currently the series points leader and was tough to beat. Waldin was able to pull off a win by tucking in close throughout the entire track and making very few corrections.

After the smoke cleared, it was time to head to battle with one of the other hometown boys from the track and number six qualifier, Justin Tureck in the white Nissan S13 240sx. Justin's brother is Ryan Tureck of Formula Drift so great driving definitely runs in the family. Justin's entry speeds were very fast and very consistent all day in practice. This would be a tough battle to win. Matt stayed on course and had no fear tucking in on Justin's door. Staying constantly close was where this battle was won. Matt said, "When I looked in my rear view mirror at the end of this race, Justin was still on my door and I wasn’t sure I had won. He was right there the whole time. The judges deliberated and the word came over the radio that I had taken the win. Yes, we are in the final 2!"

The last battle of the day puts every drift run Matt has ever done into the wayback machine. For deciding the first and second place spots Matt was set to run Nate Brasz. Nate has been drifting just as long as Matt has and in many of the same East Coast events. Nate has always been a formidable opponent and won numerous events that they both attended. Matt lead first and put down a solid run with a slightly better line than Nate making him a lot faster at the finish of the course. On Matt's follow run he ran Nate all the way to the entry and literally put his front tire inside of Nate's rear rim. There was a light scuff on the front wheel of the 350z that Matt was extremely proud of after the event. The light scuff wasn't enough to throw Nate off line at all and Matt knew that for the first place run he had to stick like glue. Nate's nickname is "The Robot" because he is so consistent and Matt used this advantage to get closer than he would to most other opponents.

The winner had been decided and Matt Waldin and crew had taken the win! It was a great event for the team and since this event was close to home the whole Waldin family finally got to come to an event where he ended up on top of the bracket. “Having my local friends, family, and my Canadian friends at this event made the win even sweeter,” said Matt.

Next up is DMCC Round 4 in Montmagny, QC for this weekend. Stay tuned to the media, we plan to back this win up with another one to close the points gap from our current second place standing to first.

-----
Other "braking" news, Matt Waldin and team are extremely proud
to welcome Brian Crower Performance
Products to the partners list. Brian Crower has been extremely generous
in supplying the hard parts in the bottom end of the engine that we are
preparing for the end of the 2010 season. With the new parts and switching
the tuning over to E85 ethanol the team hopes to be in the 550-600hp range
just in time for September.

Oakley Inc. has paired up with Matt
Waldin racing and is the official sunglass supplier for Matt and the team.

EBC Brakes has partnered with Matt
Waldin Racing and supplied a set of their "Yellow Stuff" brake
pads for the 350z which will surely be put to the test with the new power
levels.
The "Drift Maina Championship" game for Iphone, Ipod touch & Ipad is nearing 400,000 downloads worldwide and is the #2 downloaded game in Japan. An update to the game will be released soon where you can race actual DMCC cars including Matt Waldin's 350z.

More pictures and drifting stories avaliable at Wrecked
Magazine

DMCC Round 3 - not the normal

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 00:57:00 +0000

DMCC round 3 brought us to iCar raceway in Montreal ( Laval ) Quebec Canada. We loaded up the rig and hit the road on Friday not knowing what to expect of this new track.

Saturday came and we only got a couple runs in before the sky opened up and dumped hurricane style rains on us. After the rain let up it was back to practice. There 2 main puddles on the track and the rest of it was drying quickly. The surface is concrete and has amazing traction except in the wet. As soon as the car hit the wet spots it was like driving on ice. We made a few passes just to get the hang of the track in the wet in case of rain on Sunday. After we managed to get a couple solid runs down we packed it up for the day and waited for Sunday to come.

Sunday was completely dry all day and all the drivers were relieved that there was no rain in the forecast. Mid-day it was time for qualifying. I took the line that I thought was the right line for the course but it ended up being a lot slower than the other drivers. On a side note, since this was the first event ever at this venue, DMCC was off schedule and drivers meetings were not on time. I had missed them on both Saturday and Sunday. I really feel that this is where things went wrong for the weekend. I look back at all the pics from the weekend and my line looks too tight on clipping point #1 which would explain the low speeds. Normally the idea is to be close to the clips but there were tire marks very wide on this one which must have been the ideal line for higher speeds.

Picture from after clip 1 into transition to clip 2.

I ended up in the 8th position for qualifications. (Ewww) I usually expect much more of my self. This put me up against Carl Nadeau in his V8 powered BMW. He had tagged the tire barrier in practice and I sat in line marveling over the fact that the trunk had a new latch in the shape of a ratchet strap. I got the word over the radio to stick it to him on the first run (I followed first) Carl had one of the highest speeds recorded in qualifications. I knew I had to give it all she had to match the speed of this car. We took off and I latched onto the quarter panel of the BMW int he first clip but ended up correcting a little but going into clipping point #2. Back on his door for the finish..... We switch spots and I run my line. Carl wasn't as close as I had thought ( back to the tapes ) but his line was better and didn't have any corrections. My minor correction was the nail in the coffin for the weekend.

I am very proud of the wall of trophies I have amounted over the last 7 DMCC events in 2009 and 2010. 7 Podiums in a row has to be some kind of record somewhere. :) I am super excited that I have two of the only 5 Carbon Fiber trophies from 2009 in my possession from first place finishes last year. Pat Cyr has the other 3 so they are super rare. Now the only way you can get one of these bad boys is to win a Formula Drift event.

Pic: I call it "le wall of trophies". Actually: "le mur de trophées"

I am thankful that Carl went on to take the 3rd spot on the podium. All good things have to come to and end at some point and it was just my time. Getting used to being on the podium and then suddenly not being there is quite a shocker but I think this is just the type of reality check that I needed to keep pushing harder for the rest of the season. At the end of this event I end up moving down a spot to 3rd place in the rankings.

You can also get discount tickets for DMCC using promotional code DMCC-23 for the remainder of the rounds.

The next event on my list is XDC New Jersey and then off to Montmagny, QC ( One of my favorite tracks in DMCC ) On that note, I think I'm about due for a front tire change as well.

Sightings

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 02:31:00 +0000

Check out issue number 92 ( August 2010 ) of DSport Magazine, we got some sweet coverage from Formula Drift Atlanta.

Don't forget that DMCC I-Car is this weekend! If your in the Montreal area make sure you come out and watch the pro's take on a brand new track.

Round 2 DMCC & other things

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 13:11:00 +0000

Things at the nine to five have been crazy lately so I have not had the chance to update the blog in a little bit. Past events are DMCC Round 2 and BMR's Pagoda / Duryea HillClimb.

We took 3rd place in DMCC, there were some epic battles in this round, here's the report:

DriftMania Round 2 Video - JHDproductions from Jordan Hamelin on Vimeo.

One of my favorite Fan Video's from Round 2:

DMCC ROUND 2 MONTMAGNY from Santiago Baptista on Vimeo.

The BMR Hillclimb was a great venture into other types of racing, we set the fastest time in our class in the serious runs going up the 1.1mile switchback filled road at 64 seconds. Not bad for being a drift car!

On sunday the fans started lining the hill so we decided rather than race up the hill it was time to put on a show. We had managed to source a set of 295's for the weekend but that didn't change a thing. SCCA and the people who run the BMR region are very nice and welcoming folk. I politely asked them to let me know if I was getting to crazy on the hill. They never said a thing and the crowd loved the action. Even some of the other drivers at the end of the day were sliding around just for fun!

Who said we could'nt play with F1 style cars?

Miller in the "Sunbeam Tiger"

Most of the guys in the completely custom chassis were running some form of motorcycle engine. With nearly 200hp on tap and weighing in at 900lbs makes these little shifter carts a load of fun to drive! Sequential transmissions also!

Here is a video of the hill from an in-car camera on an MR2

And a Fan video of turn 4 on the hill:

Next up is DMCC Round 3 at ICAR, a new track for all of DMCC.

Auto123.com Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:46:00 +0000

Check out this interview from DMCC Round 1 in Montreal.
http://www.auto123.com/theshow?videoid=6124

In this episode they also tell you how to setup an F1 car for racing in Montreal as well.

F1 Montreal, Drifting, New cars - Awesome!
Enjoy!

350z and S14 for sale, 25000 crons.

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 01:52:00 +0000

So for only 25,000 crons or cr ( Forza Speak ) you can buy the Tuner Icons crew from 2009. :)

On a side note, we are prepping the 350z for battle on one of my favorite tracks. Montmagny Quebec for DMCC Round 2 this weekend. Check back later on for the streaming updates starting this Saturday. Good luck to everyone running XDC this weekend, this is the first year in 8 years that I will regretfully not be attending Hyperfest.

Good times win or loose. We know how to have them

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:32:00 +0000

A video was sent over this morning from the event at Formula Drift Wall NJ. Good times!

Double Header - DMCC RD 1 & FD RD3

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 01:11:00 +0000

DMCC round 1 always seems to have it's fair share of problems. Sometimes it's logistical issues, sometimes mechanical. Friday morning we loaded up the party bus with an all female pit-crew for the weekend. Things were going as planned and we actually left on-time.

About 24.5 miles into the journey to Montreal, Quebec the ABS, 4x4, TCS and SLIP lights all illuminated on the dash board.The truck was still going strong and I got out to check it out. We were towing almost to capacity. Everything looked fine and I just shrugged it off as a bad wheel speed sensor or something. We made it to Mahwah, NJ and the truck's gas pedal stopped responding to my inputs. After a couple hours of on-the-side-of-road Chuck Norris style diag we determined that we needed to explore other options. We soon found a rental truck , a Chevy Silverado. The mom-and-pop rental place was cool with us strapping our trailer to it for the rest of the ride. We left Silver Lining on the side of the parkway with a note. A little over an hour later the NJ state police called and said that they were towing the truck and it would have to remain in impound for the holiday weekend. We re-routed their plan to Damien's house so we could move it at our leisure. The cost of towing it to Edison, NJ was about the same as the storage fees anyhow. The women were great throughout all the drama and we were all happy we were on the road again.

Friday night we arrive in Montreal and enjoy seeing the familiar faces and a couple new ones. Alex Pfiffer is the replacement judge for the now retired Stephan Verdier. Alex doesn't speak a lick of French but absolutely knows how to maximize the fruits of his surroundings. This pretty much means that anything can happen when you hang out with this guy. We were excited that at least the replacement was a fellow seasoned veteran ( and legend? ..something about chubby and chunky) of the drift scene.

Saturday we wake and head over to the track early to claim our pit space for the weekend. It was 75 degrees and sunny outside and we were excited to start driving for the weekend. We decided to try out some K---a (Insert sponsor request here) Tires for the weekend so we aired them down and went out for a couple laps to warm them up. We ran 16 laps around the course until they needed to be replaced. We were completely floored that the tires were lasting this long and had an excellent amount of grip. By the first set we had our line and pressures set and we were pretty much ready for qualifying on Saturday.

Saturday was the main event and the stands filled up quickly. We mounted up a fresh set of tires in the morning and went for 2 practice laps to scuff them in and prepare for qualifying. We had a couple of identical runs in qualifying and secured the 4th place position. The competition got underway shortly there after.

The stands were packed and the first round we were paired up with Justin Forsyth. He seemed like he was still getting the car dialed in for the year and versus a proven setup, we moved on to the next round.

Next in the top 8 we were paired up with Tania Bourbonnais, Tania had been laying it down all weekend and had really been working on improving her skill set behind the wheel. Her runs were consistent but I was able to mimic her moves a little closer than she could with mine.

The top 4 battle was the most epic battle of the day. Brad Carlton was the number one qualifier and on fire all weekend. He had speed and a good line around the course. In the past I usually faced him in the top 16 but he has shown that he has been studying hard in the off season. I was determined to show that "with age and experience come domination." (-Circa 2010; Jim Waughen) I put my front tire inches from his front fender in the first turn. In the second clipping point his car started to over rotate and he ended up in a spin. On my lead lap I rode the wall hard to make sure that we didn't end up with a one more time.

For the first place position spot I faced Marc Landreville. Marc was extremely fast and very consistent all weekend. We pulled off the line and Marc had the opportunity to lead first. His line was a bit shallow on his lead run but I stuck as close as I could to this bullet coming down the pike. We switched spots and unfortunately my follow run was not quite enough to claim the top spot on the podium. I leave this event satisfied and very fortunate to be running Formula Drift in the consecutive weekend.

We end up with the 2nd place spot on the podium and we are very happy with this position. Next stop on the DMCC tour is Montmagny, QC which is one of my favorite tracks. I cant wait to chase that top spot there.

The story doesn't end there. On Monday we head out and in the middle of the Adirondacks the trailer decides that it's going to blow a tire. We were already heading into a logistical nightmare having a rental, 1 dead truck that needed to get back to PA along with a trailer. Damien stepped up and helped us out in a big way by delivering the other truck to the shop for repair. The one blown tire wouldn't have been so bad except a second tire decided to fail and that left us on the side of the road and waiting for tire service. A trip that should have taken an easy 8 hours turned into an 18 hour affair.

On a side note, we would like to welcome OverDosed Performance as a partner for 2010. Please check out their website at odv2.com

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With only 2 days back in the office this week was an extremely taxing one. Formula Drift, Wall NJ was here and practice started on Thursday. We managed to get to this event without any problems what-so-ever and everything seemed to be turning around. Friday we laid down a blistering qualifying run that put us in 18th place out of the 32 drivers. This is a personal best in the Formula Drift series. We rode the wall all weekend and pretty consistently as well.

Saturday came and we were paired up with Ken Gushi in his RWD Scion. Ken had the top qualifying speed. His runs were a little inconsistent overall but we were still going to tackle this with everything we had. Unfortunately his ninja like speed pulled too much of a gap and the race was won on proximity alone.

I leave Wall NJ to ponder what kind of damage I could do if we had more tire and more power in the car. I guess only time will tell. Maybe we will see some forged internals for the Z sooner rather than later.

DMCC this weekend and all Female pit crew

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Thu, 27 May 2010 02:42:00 +0000

.........ok except for Canadian pit chief Ed Imbeault, for the first time in history we are loading up the rig with an all female pit crew and cheering squad. This weekend marks Memorial Day here in The States and Round 1 of DMCC in Montreal Canada. DMCC is always a great time, the language barrier is just enough to handle and when we communicate, we are the ones with accents (cool). If your in town this weekend please stop by St. Eustache for Round 1. If you see us at Eggspectations, be sure to say hello and we will congratulate you on picking the best breakfast Montreal has to offer. Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening calamity will be sure to include St. Catherines and Cresent St activities.

Talk to you on the flip side, here's the commercial!

Dmcc Commercial RD1 // 2010 // dmccdrift.com - French [HD] from XCHD.tv on Vimeo.

Yo-Parts and Mishimoto at Formula Drift Atlanta

Mon, 17 May 2010 16:37:08 +0000

Join the voice of Formula Drift, Jarod DeAnda and Matt Waldin talking about all the Mishimoto goodies installed in the 350z for this year.

Cast: Import Intelligence

Tags: Mishimoto, 350z, Matt, Waldin, Formula Drift, Atlanta and Round 2

Formula Drift Atlanta - the good, the bad and the ugly.

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Wed, 12 May 2010 12:51:00 +0000

The weekend started out with a practice day on Thursday when we suffered a throwout bearing failure inside the transmission. This limited our runs for the day to 4 and we were stuck replacing the bearing at the mid-afternoon practice.

Friday's practice session went a little bit smoother but we only had an hour to dial in the car for the track. Constantly playing with tire pressures, it was time to get into grid and qualify for the main event on Saturday. We laid down a couple solid runs and waited for the rest of the field to post up their numbers. We were excited that we had one of the highest exit speeds of the weekend. The exit speed is measured coming out of the horse shoe and is typically where the men get separated from the boys. By the time the rest of the field put up their best runs we were stuck in the 32nd qualifying spot. Not where we wanted to be but we are happy that we made it to Saturday. Some of our friends didn't even make the main event. We were running the #1 qualifier on Saturday which was Tanner Foust. Now, Tanner has the 800hp Nascar powered Scion. With almost double the horse power, it was going to be an extremely tough battle to overcome.

Saturday came and we were staged up against Tanner, the lights on the tree dropped and we were off with Tanner leading first. I stuck as close as I could on his door and felt that the follow run was pretty good. I put the blinders on and we re-staged on the line with me set to lead the 2 cars into the depths of Atlanta's drift course. I put up a solid battle but it seemed too easy for Tanner as the Scion's power was no match for the 350z. At the end of my lead run around the last turn the engine let go and sprayed oil all over the place. The Track, Tanners Car and the engine bay of the Z were covered. It took quite some time to clean up but we have to be happy we didn't loose to Tanner by a spin or an amateur maneuver.

In the meantime we got the car back to the shop and the Drift, Break, Re-build, Repeat process is in full swing. We will have the 350z up and ready for DMCC Round 1 in Montreal at the end of the month.

Just thought I would share a video that one of our…

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Mon, 10 May 2010 14:14:00 +0000

Just thought I would share a video that one of our biggest fans made. Brought to you by WonTon Productions here is the finished product!

Preparing for Formula Drift - Atlanta, GA

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Mon, 03 May 2010 23:58:00 +0000

The oil is changed in the Z and the tires are being mounted. Wednesday we hit the road for the first big event for our team and we are ready to place some tire marks on some hot Georgia pavement. This track is one is one of my favorites out of all the places I have driven. It's triple digit entry speeds combined with a little technical section make this track a lot of fun.

Here is a link to the video from last year so you get the idea.

Don't forget, you can now watch Formula Drift LIVE on Friday and Saturday by visiting Formulad.com/live I highly suggest figuring out a way to connect your computer to a large TV. This is a fully produced program with announcing and great camera angles.

For those of the less fortunate without a high speed internet connection, feel free to stop over at Import Intelligence for an oil change and to catch some of the action!

Talk to you guys on the flip side!

Local Scene Media does Spring Moves @ Englishtown, NJ

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:34:00 +0000

A video from a couple of weeks ago turned up in my inbox today and I thought I would share. Big thanks to Local Scene Media for putting this together! If you have ever wondered what it was like to ride along, here is a great shot. I'm loving this view from the helmet mounted cam!

The 2nd annual Drift Camp is in the books

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:23:00 +0000

Last weekend completed the 2nd annual Drift Camp held at Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, PA. This was the first time the drag strip ever had a drift event at their venue. The event got off to a great start, we had 2 courses setup and every driver got an amazing amount of runs. All in all it's nice when people take the time while packing up to thank you for a wonderful event.

Here is the official video courtesy of WonTon Productions.

Hopefully we can get something going yearly at this venue, the parking lot is brand new (slightly used now) so there are no pot holes or unforgiving obstacles to avoid.

On a side note we added a spoiler to the Z to aid in down force for the year. I personally thought the car needed something on the rear to complete the look and I think we have found it. The wing is a GT3 Porsche replica in carbon fiber and definitely adds the rear grip we are looking for.

In addition to the wing we are proud to announce our new suspension partner: Selex Suspension Selex is a Canadian based company that has been making aftermarket and OEM suspensions for just about everything for years. We are extremely excited to have them on board with us for 2010. They manufacture every part at their state of the art facility located in downtown Montreal, If we require some changes or improvements you can be sure that we can get them implemented quickly.

Next up is Road Atlanta for Formula Drift Round 2. I'm super stoked about running this track with the new setup. This is my favorite Formula Drift track in that series. Don't forget you can tune in Live on Friday and Saturday by going to Formulad.com/live

Drift Camp 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:10:00 +0000

http://greaterreadingautoexpo.com/

Just a reminder that Drift Camp 2010 is tomorrow! Come out and enjoy some grassroots drifting fun!

A city built for Sin

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Waldin) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:52:00 +0000

This weekend ended up being a mess way before Friday actually hit. The initial plan was to meet up with Andrea at the airport and rendezvous to Las Vegas for the weekend. She has been out of town for the last week on business in Amsterdam. Well a volcano in Iceland had changed he flight pattern to canceled. Since I was joining her en-route I decided that I would still go to Las Vegas solo style. No volcano was going to completely ruin my weekend. ( Just put a damper on it )

Dave Briggs and I had been talking for quite some time about meeting up in the off-season and we figured out that we would end up in Vegas on the same weekend. When you hang with Briggs there is a new standard for "normal". Patron flows like water and images of fancy rap videos stream in your head. In a weekend of gambling, drifting and shows it seems that Dave is right at home here. The west coast lifestyle has caught up with him and he looks more surfer than ever. I don't think Toronto wants him back. :)

Dave Briggs - Hefner status.

Saturday we headed out to Vegas Drift and met up with a couple drift legends, in attendance was Tommy Suell, Forrest Wang, Mike Pollard as well as the crew from Keep Drifting fun: Will Rogge and Josh Herron. Briggs was nice enough to let me take it for a couple laps around the course. The people in Vegas are really nice and everyone running the event was a pleasure to meet.

To round out the weekend on Sunday morning I went to a little local breakfast joint. Hash House a go go is probably the best breakfast that I've had in America to date. This place never lets me down and the food is HUGE! Their slogan is "Twisted Farm Food" and with an up-beat atmosphere this place is a hit far and wide. They literally have house music bumping which is kind of odd for a breakfast joint but it totally fits here. Below is a pic of the giant salmon benedict I ordered. I swear there is a whole fish on the plate. I really love places with a unique business model.

round 4 of Castrol DMCC in Toronto, ON Canada Highlights

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:44:11 +0000

Follow along as Matt Waldin just about locks up the DMCC series and Damien Bagley puts the lock down on the wall rides at round 4. Filmed in Toronto ON this DMCC event was sure to be remembered as one of the deadliest events for drift cars in quite some time.

Cast: Import Intelligence

Tags: Matt, Waldin, Damien, Bagley, DMCC, Drift, Tuner, Icons, TunerIcons, Mishimoto, Toronto, Claude Poirier, Ryan Lanteigne, Pat Cyr, Dave Briggs, Frederic Girard and Carl Nadeau

D1GP Chicago, IL drifting by the Tuner Icons and Mishimoto Crew

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 02:19:39 +0000

Matt Waldin and Damien Bagley of Drift Brigade take on the best Japanese drivers in D1GP Chicago. This fast paced drift course separated the good drivers from the best drivers all weekend long. Here's our take on this event.

Cast: Import Intelligence

Tags: Matt Waldin, Damien Bagley, Drift Brigade, Tuner Icons, drifiting, Mishimoto, drift, drifters, chicago, d1gp, 350z, 240sx, tandem, pro, professional, driver and race

DMCC Drift Round 2, St. Eustache Montreal QC Canada

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:57:36 +0000

Matt Waldin and Damien Bagley attack Round 2 of Drift Mania Canadian Championship. Matt walks away with a running car this time and the 3rd place trophy. Watch closely as there are a couple contact points once again. Special Thanks to Jim Edwards, Ed Imbeault and DJ Aiden Scott.

Cast: Import Intelligence

Tags: Tuner Icons, Tuner, Icons, Import, Intelligence, Drift Brigade, DMCC, Drift, Crash, tandem, St. Eustache, Montreal, Pat Cyr, Matt, Waldin, Damien, Bagley, 350z, s14 and 240sx

Drift Brigade weekend in review: DMCC Round 1 Montmagny Quebec Canada

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:41:56 +0000

Drift Brigade weekend in review: DMCC Round 1 Montmagny Qubec Canada. Matt Waldin and Damien Bagley attack the northern most professional drift series. Just becuase they light fireplaces in June doesn't mean there isn't drifting! This video highlights some of the weekends activities. A special thanks to CanadianDrifting.com for coverage and support!

Cast: Import Intelligence

Tags: DMCC, Drift, Mania, Candian, Championship, TunerIcons, Tuner, Icons, Matt, Waldin, Damien, Bagley, 350z, crash, S14, Pat, Cyr, fire, mayhem and accident

Formula Drift Atlanta 2009 - A weekend in review by Matt Waldin

Wed, 13 May 2009 01:52:42 +0000

Matt Waldin and the Tuner Icons crew dive into the land of warm weather and waffle houses known as Atlanta GA. Here are the highlights from the Formula Drift event. A special thanks to Sammy Tiger from Tiger Racing and Competition Clutch

Cast: Import Intelligence

Tags: Matt, Waldin, Tuner, Icons, TunerIcons, Import, Intelligence, 350z, Drift, Formula, D, Johnathan Martin, Dennis Mertzanis, Brian Wilkerson, Justin Pawlak, Darren McNamara, John Wagner and Stephan Verdier

Indoor Drifting? Yes! You asked, we deliver. Matt Waldin tests his indoor light pole dodging.

Tue, 05 May 2009 01:46:52 +0000

Indoor Drifting? Yes! You asked, we deliver. Matt Waldin tests his indoor light pole dodging. We ran into a friend that just happens to own a convention center, needless to say we just had to do something dangerous with it.

Cast: Import Intelligence

Tags: Indoor, convention, center, drifting, silvia, Import, Intelligence, Tuner, Icons, Matt and Waldin

Tuner Icons / Import Intelligence goes to Long Beach

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:03:12 +0000

Team Tuner Icons / Import Intelligence goto Long Beach Ca for Formula D. Formula D rookie driver Matt Waldin gets an inital taste of Formula D.

Cast: Import Intelligence

Tags: Tuner, Icons, TUNERICONS, Matt, Waldin, Damien, Bagley, Import, Intelligence, Drift, 350z, Formula D, DMCC, Long Beach and Silvia

Tuner Icons / Import Intelligence Drift 350z Dyno Session

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:10:25 +0000

Tuner Icons / Import Intelligence Drift 350z Dyno Session at Injected Performance. APS Twin Turbo kit - extreme and a couple other tricks.

Cast: Import Intelligence

Tags: vq35deHR, Twin, Turbo, Import, Intelligence, 350z, Nismo, Tuner and Icons

Tuner Icons / Import Intelligence debut of the new DRiFT 350z.

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:08:31 +0000

Tuner Icons / Import Intelligence debut of the new DRiFT 350z. Check out this video as we tear up the track at Summit Point Motorsports park during a Drift Nirvana event.

Cast: Import Intelligence

Tags: Tuner, Icons, Import, Intelligence, 2009, Drift, Summit, Point, Nirvana, Matt and Waldin

Drift Brigade Promotional Video

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 05:52:18 +0000

Drift Brigade Promotional Video for 08/09

Cast: Import Intelligence

Tags: Drift, Brigade, DMCC, FormulaD, D1, Matt, Waldin, Damien and Bagley

Import Intelligence 2008 Drift Season part II

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:11:23 +0000

A highlight of Import Intelligence driver Matt Waldin from 2008 Drifting Season part 2. This video features footage from VIR Formula-D Pro Am, Team Drift, DMCC Rounds 3 and 4 and a bunch of other random stunts from the past 6 months.

Cast: Import Intelligence

Tags: drift, VIR, DMCC, Clubloose, GT, LIVE, Matt, Waldin, Formula, D, PRO-AM, John, Wagner, Stewart, Leask, Brian, Wilkerson, Dennis and Mertzanis