My very own “drift week” (which is going on 2 months)

Hey Guys, my names Joseph. Im from washington state, Seattle area and have been drifting for upwards of 14 years now.. Its my favorite thing in the world and I have long accepted that I would make questionable life decisions because of it.

SO, for a little background to my story. I travel for work (aircraft repair) and one of the worst things about it is driving around in mundane rental cars for months at a time with absolutely no excitement besides video games. I decided I would make this trip different.

I woke up march 2nd 2024 with an itinerary to victorville california, supposedly 29 days in length, leaving march 4th 2024! (I had just got back from 30 days in oklahoma city 2 weeks prior) It was at this point I decided to open up fb marketplace and find the most set up sub 5k drift car I could find in the high desert. This is what I decided on..

2006 Infiniti G35 Sedan.

Now mind you, I have and always will be a “hardcore” and dedicated AE86 enthusiasts/driver so this was extremely out of my comfort zone. A picture of my main drift car of the last 10+ years

Anyways, the g35 had a plethora of gktech parts, motor mounts,subrame bushings,diff bushings,trans mount, etc… along with a fdf mild mantis angle kit and welded diff. I figured after a full days worth of searching for every chassis I could possibly think of, this was my best bet.

I messaged the owner and he was down to tow the car to me from bakersfield to my hotel in hesperia and assured me the car ran super solid and could very well drift grange and drive back up to washington whenever I was to go home.

When he showed up with the car, it had no windshield wiper arms, headlights didnt work, radio didnt work and the climate control didnt work. Along with a check engine light and slight misfire. His explanation was “I just used it as a drift car I didnt even notice any of these things”. Regardless, against my own better judgement we hashed out a deal after my test drive and I was now the owner of a car I have never worked on that needed a multitude of things before I started working the next day. (When on the road I work 7 days a week 12 hours a day for the duration of the repair, no exaggeration)

My first step was buying tools, I drove to the nearest harborfreight, bought a socket set and some basic hand tools and headed straight for the junkyard. Luckily for me there was a LKQ 10 minutes down the road that had 6 G35 sedans!!

Got my windshield wiper arms, slapped them on the car and drove to the nearest auto parts store to diagnose my check engine light, radio and climate control.

Turns out luck was on my side, and basically every fuse for the entertainment center/climate control has either popped, or was pulled for whatever reason. Replaced all the fuses and everything worked no problems! Next up was the codes,, turns out both passenger side cam sensors (rev up motor) were faulty and I was throwing down stream 02 sensor codes. Read some forums, and learned these cars are super sensitive to aftermarket sensors so since the car was still driving I decided to overnight some oem hitachi and ngk sensors to replace.

Okay so, fast forward, day 2 with the car,check engine light is off, holding steady, everything works no problems. IM OUTTA THE WOODS WE GOT A RUNNER… Wrong. Turns out through all my internet deep dives and searches on G35s a common issue that wasnt brought to my attention until it actually happened was that apparently, the fuel guages on these tend to lose calibration and your car will actually go empty at what shows a half tank, you can probably guess the rest..

Yup the car died on me in the middle of the desert. Luckily, a couple coworkers werent too far and had my back. Brought me a gas can and got me back on the road.

So now we know the basic ins and out of this very unfamiliar car, I have tools, car is running tip top, what is the next step? DRIFT SPARES. I hopped back on marketplace and looked for the cheapest 5x114 wheels in the area. Found some oem g35 wheels with toasted tires for 100 bucks 10 minutes from my hotel, and bought them next day before work.

I was set to drift grange when the repair was done. In my head, daily drive the car for the month, test it out, work out the kinks and were all set! But we all know, when youve got a shit box the work never truly stops..

After my first attempt at drifting the car I realized the e brake was in the most inconvenient location and felt like it barely worked. This was my solution..

A “mod” I did back in high school on my toyota cressida that acually worked like a charm, got some tennis racket grip from wal mart and she was set. Now onto testing!

Worked like a charm!

Fast forward a month, our crew found out we would be down for 5 days due to unforeseen circumstances . The g35s soul purpous has finally arrived. Apple Valley Speedway here we come!

This was my first run out, super sloppy, real ugly. But it felt amazing to get out in a new car on a new track that Ive always wanted to drive.I got a couple laps in and slowly started to get comfortable with the track layout

Then this happened.

So now im thinking wtf was that… I better check this thing cus after probably 20 entries I havent been that far off. I pull off track, walk around the car and found my passenger side rear wheel was basically stuffed in the wheel well. Jack up the car and staring me right in the eye, the upper control arm nut has come off (probably no cotter pin) and my car was basically dead in the water. (Sorry no pics, ya boy was STRESSING) Luckily, the drift community is filled with some of the nicest, most helpful human beings. Another driver just so happened to have the right size and thread pattern nut and cotter pin! I decided since I was able to push my luck all day, i would call it quits after fixing the car and load up and head out

So what was next on my adventure? Welp, turns out my company wasnt going to pay for my hotel while they sent people home for a week and my cheapest option was to drive 3 hours to vegas and use my mgm account to get a room for 50 bucks a night! I dropped off my spare wheels at my temp storage unit, loaded up my suitcase and started my 3 hour trek over to the city that never sleeps.

I arrived at the the vdara and valeted the jalopy (sorry guys) and finally got some relaxation. I even won 1000 bucks off my 50 dollars free play! (This would come in handy a couple days later)

I woke up the next day, got the oil changed and front tires rebalanced then planned out the rest of my stay. No car stuff for a couple days was the plan, just relaxation…

A few moments after this picture was taken I made an almost trip ruining mistake… Driving down hermosa blvd at 2am I hit a curb at 30mph. No alcohol in my system. Just pure unadulterated negligence on my part. It was a reflectorless median that I just straight up didnt see. I thought for sure my car was toast.

I somberly limped the car back to self parking, got out and looked around. Luckily, nothing looked bent, but my driver side tires were both gashed pretty deep and the wheels definitely took a HUGE hit.

Shoutout whoever made oem 350z wheels cus these things ate that curb like it was nobodies business. Now mind you, i still have to drive this thing back to victorville, and i left all my spares back at my storage unit.. So back to marketplace it was to find back up wheels in case these tires/wheels decided to leave me hanging.

Next morning I woke up, lined up a deal for these with wheels and tires for 1000 bucks (thank you gambling) and my anxiety was relieved, knowing if i did get a flat in the desert I wouldnt be stranded

Fast forward a day or two, the car made it back to victorville, no flats, no issues. Took the car to les schwabb and had it checked out, turns out the only thing that changed from the hit was driver side caster was 1 degree off! So what does that mean for me? BACK TO THE TRACK.

Since my last day was cut short I knew I needed my redemption.

I ended up meeting a guy with a beautiful r34 (rod_knee on instagram) and was down to tandem! Ended up going through 3 sets of tires and even completely toasted my steers by the end of the day. I would call it a complete success. Made some new friends, drove the car extra hard and was able to drive it back to my hotel without any sort of hiccups…

When I got back to town, I ordered up some fresh falken rt615s for the front of the car, checked into my new hotel (payed for by my compant to continue the job) and relaxed after in my opinion the perfect day in victorville/apple valley.

I woke up yesterday with a pleasant surprise, my tax return was in my bank account!! Time to slap some lipstick on this pig. I got tires on the new to me wheels, slapped them on and drove to work.

This is currently where my drift month/months story sits. Car is “fresh” and still working. I continue the airplane repair until the beginning of may, then I get to hopefully get one more track day in and start my trek back to the nw. If you made it this far, thank you. If you want to follow along on my journey, I post every so often on my instagram ( @Tsunamislyfe )

Ile end with this, drifting has unlocked so many experiences for me. Taking it all in, the thing that makes it most worth it, is the people I meet along the way. The people that are willing to help a complete stranger. The people that become close friends over a “sport” that most consider wasteful and pointless. You are the ones that keep me coming back, the ones that make this shit my everything.

THANK YOU DRIFTING!

Slight update to the g35 journey. The repair I was on got finished early so I was all set to drive home april 20th.. Only issue was, I had already got into the “speed metal” event hosted by terra crew in adelanto on may 4th! Soooo.

Ile be back to continue my drift journey in the g35! Called an audible, parked the car at the airport, flew back to washington, for two weeks and welle party on may 4th! But you know i still had my fun when i got home!

Got the brakes 100% redone on my beater hatch. Just gotta throw a hood on and my rebuilt 16v and I can do a build post on this rust bucket!