LinkedIn recently congratulated me on my seven-year anniversary with DODOlogic. The mild sense of accomplishment was quickly eclipsed by the fear and unsettling fact that I’m still doing the same thing I was doing seven years ago. So, in the spirit of celebrating my complete lack of personal growth, I’m going to do what I’ve done from day one and feature a friend’s car.
Seven years is a pretty long time. I mean, it’s not a super long time, but it’s almost a fifth of my life. In this near fifth of my life, I’ve seen the same story play out countless times. This story is the story of those who drift. Over a long enough time span, these stories inevitably all end the same. After a couple of years of dragging a drift car thousands of kilometers (or miles) across a country, reason and logic kick in and those who drive take a step back and realize that kind of life isn’t sustainable.
This feature was meant to be a feature on my friend Carter Jackson’s daily, a JZX100. It seemed fitting because over the last seven years of this blog, Carter has supported us – and vice versa.
The problem is a few weeks ago I saw Carter was parting his S14. Then I saw a few of his Street Junkee teammates were trying to sell their cars. It seemed Carter was about to become just another character in the predictable story of those who drift for fun.
Hearing this news, I knew there was no way I could write an article on Carter’s daily, so I won’t. Instead, I’ll write an article on Carter’s new drift car, a JZX100. I had been sitting on these pictures for quite some time and when I found out Carter was going to be trailering his 100 to California for Super D, I figured there was no better time to share the photos.
This Toyota Chaser is quite a bit different from Carter’s refined S14 Silvia. What makes this car different is just how stock it is – well that, and how straight the frame is. Aside from a HKS silent power exhaust system, Driftworks tension arms, rack spacers, suspension and serial nine diff bushing kit, the car is pretty much stock. There’s no built engine like we would have found in his Silvia, just a stock 1JZ-GTE in what most would consider a street car.
Carter has always been the type to build as needed. Some people prefer to spend 90 per cent of their time building their car and 10 per cent driving it. This usually results in a car that looks good on paper, but less good in the hands of its driver. Carter, on the other hand, has always been the type to focus on seat time. When a shortcoming in the car’s performance is identified, an upgrade is made; this way, the car’s performance always matches the driver’s level. There’s no rushing about or corner-cutting with him. Think evolution and less revolution…
A part of me was sad to see that Street Junkee Blue S14 go, but a larger part of me is excited to watch this red JZX100 on the track. It’s surprising how underutilized the 100 and other Japan only imports are in Canada. Sometimes it feels like we are drowning in a sea of normality and if we just looked up for second, we’d realize Japan is trying to toss us their 15-year-old life preservers. We have always been more than willing to take their Skylines and prepackaged SR20-powered S-chassis’, but less excited about all the other exciting options.
I’m glad that Carter decided to heed the call and put his 100 to good use and let reason and logic go the way of the dodo bird for a little while longer. Besides, that same old predictable story will still be waiting for him when he’s done having fun – if that time ever comes.