Entering the season as the driver for Team M7 Japan, Bakchis debuted a new motor for his Nissan 240SX S14 chassis, upgraded suspension, and a new look. With a field of 60 drivers qualification scores were tight; Bakchis ranked 30th after Friday’s qualifying round and was paired with Vaughn Gittin Jr. for the Top 32 tandem competition.

Gittin straightened during the first run of the Top 32 tandem round and Bakchis then led a strong, aggressive run that moved Bakchis on to the Top 16 main event. Bakchis was paired with Ken Gushi for the Top 16 tandem competition. Gushi led the first run and then failed to follow Bakchis on the second run in what was determined to be a false start by Bakchis. After an exciting lead run by Bakchis, Gushi moved on to the next round and Bakchis finished the event tied for 15th place with Toshiki Yoshioka.

Round 1 was both exciting and successful for Bakchis, providing a strong start to the 2012 season. The season promises to be exciting for Bakchis and his team as they prepare to head to the east coast for the next three rounds of Formula Drift. Bakchis will be completing the season with the help of sponsors including M7 Japan, Nexen Tires, Feal Suspension, 702 Graphics, Clutch Masters, Torco, Drive M7 Energy Drink, Dstroyr, Battle Version, Swift Springs, EBC Brakes, Top Line, XXR Wheels, Sikky Manufacturing, and CBM Motorsports.

Written by Amy Bakchis

Photo by Sideways Photography

D-Spare video blog | Episode 2 from Jordan Porritt on Vimeo.

With the drift season finally under way, what better way to start it off then with a video.

Vegas Drift is home for me. As excited as I was to see “The Fish”, I was more stoked to smell the burnt rubber in the air and hearing the blow-off valves screaming in my ear as it pinned off the rev limiters. This being the first round of the season, you would think that the drivers would hold back just a tad? NOT AT ALL. A few drivers took their front bumpers into the K-Rails while others took a rear bumper into their passenger door. I’m glad to say that this was the most drivers that had registered for Round 1 and what a way to kick off the season. I can’t wait to see how the rest of the season pans out.

Its a long season a head of us so stay tuned for a lot more. What more can I say Drifting is a LIFESTYLE not a fad…

-Justin Yadao

CB – Hey Vegas Drift! My name is Chris but I go by POW, I’m also known as DJ POW since I am a DJ as well. An interesting fact about me is that I’m probably the smallest person in drifting haha! I’ve been involved with cars since I was 16, I started AutoX in a hand me down 1997 4 Cylinder Automatic Camry and was hooked! The crazier thing was that I was actually competitive in the class I was racing in and I was only 16 beating out Porsche’s and other crazy super cars that I wasn’t suppose to be beating! I don’t even know how I saw over the steering wheel. As I got older I got a job and bought my first car, a 2008 Honda Civic Si. Right when I got it I knew I wanted to start racing it. My parents weren’t too happy with me racing the car since it was brand new but that’s what I wanted to do. I started racing in Redline Time Attack and in my first year racing I won a championship in my class and also Rookie of the Year. It was an amazing experience with a lot of learning and that’s when I decided to try something new so I got into drifting! It took me about a year to complete the car build so for this year I will be going for my license in a full season of Vegas Drift Pro-AM. Getting a car to slide is actually my main style of driving, even in a front wheel drive car since in theory your suppose to drive a fwd car “sideways”.

Vd – What mods have you done to your S13 hatch?

CB – I wish I could say the car is unique and special but it’s actually not. I guess you could say the only thing “unique” is that I am still running the KA24DE. I decided to build the KA for boost because I did not see why it was worth it to go SR especially being that the SR is smaller in displacement. Torque is very important in drifting and I didn’t want to sacrifice it just to swap in a motor that came turbo stock. As far as the chassis and suspension goes I am running everything from Godspeed Project and solid bushings around the whole car. I have been using everything since I started and have held up greatly. It’s safe to say that I probably have the most BASIC car running in Vegas Drift competition. I am hoping that with driver skill and a properly set up car I can succeed and hopefully podium one day.

Vd – Give us a recap of round 1.

CB – Round 1 was such a stressful but definitely a fun event, any event in Vegas is ALWAYS fun. First off, I work full time at Godspeed Project so it is very hard for me to work on the car but luckily I have a great team behind me that is willing to work hard on the car even when I’m not there. I was able to leave work a few hours early the Friday before Round 1 but due to traffic I got to Vegas around 10PM. What made things even more stressful was that I had a car on my trailer that has never been started since November and a brand new clutch so I still had to break it in. Thankfully I didn’t change much to the car as far as the motor goes so it was just a matter of putting everything back together since I took it apart to clean up the engine bay and also replace the clutch. We finally got the car started around 2am and started to break in the clutch in the parking lots of LVMS. My team and I got back to the hotel and I was only able to sleep for about an hour because tech inspection was early in the morning. The car ran great all day but unfortunately I didn’t do so well during qualifying so I did not make it into the show. I promise I will come back strong for Round 2 as it lands on my birthday.

Vd – Besides VegasProAm, what other ProAm series do you intend to compete in for 2012?

CB – I plan to have a busy schedule this year as long as budget and time permits. As far as the series I want to compete in, I look at Vegas Drift as my main focus but I do want to compete in Top Drift and also Xtreme Drift Circuit. I also might be hired to pilot a few time attack cars this year so be on the lookout for that.

Vd – Whats your take on V8 swaps?

CB – Honestly I want to go V8 so bad. The way I look at it, the only way to be competitive is with a V8. I think you can get by with some sort of 6 cylinder but nothing seems to be more reliable than an V8. The LS series would be my choice of V8 but a VK56 sounds awesome as well. There is a lot of hate on V8s but I look at the sport as an evolving sport. I believe that it shouldn’t matter what motor is in your car, what matters more is how the driver can take advantage of what they have.

Vd – What advice would you give to someone that wants to start drifting?

CB – If I were to advice to someone that wants to start drifting, first I would buy a car that is RWD and probably a popular platform so that parts are readily available such as a 240sx. Next I would make sure that the motor is in healthy condition and that it is safe and sound to be put up to the abuse of drifting. Once you make sure everything is fine, weld the diff and go have fun. Many people think that you have to mod your car first to learn but honestly I learned with just a welded diff and a completely stock 240sx with stock suspension and stock motor. Just have fun but most importantly be safe!

Vd – Are there any sponsors or friends you would like to thank or mention?

CB – First off I would like to thank all my sponsors that have helped me for this season. I would like to thank Godspeed Project, Turbo by Garrett, G2 Graphics, Clutch Masters, Torco Oil USA, Sparco USA, NissanRaceShop, and Feal Suspension. I also wanted to give a shout out to the people at Nos Energy Drink for supplying me with drinks and NOS swag for all my events. Next I wanted to shout out the members of my team, teamPOW. I would like to shout out Matt Mullen for being my lead technician for the car and Fernando Lopez for also being a technician for the car. I also wanted to shout out Kyle Briones, Bobby Aune, Jofel Tolosa, and Eric Monnig for doing a lot for me as well. These group of guys are much more than a team, I consider them FAMILY to me. I also have to apologize to these guys as well, if it wasn’t for my stupid aggressive driving style we wouldn’t have to work on the car but what fun is that! I want to also personally thank all the fans I have out there. Thank you for all the support and trust you guys give me, if it wasn’t for all my great fans I would NOT have the motivation to do well! Lastly I would like to thank an important person to me by the name of Roxy. She is always by my side when it comes to all the important events, even if it’s 115 degrees out she’ll still be there. Even though I don’t show it thanks for giving me all the support and motivation you have given me! Thank you Vegas Drift for interviewing me and I totally can’t wait for the rest of the season!

Check me out at these social networking sites!
www.facebook.com/teamPOW is my racing page!
www.facebook.com/djPow909 is my DJing page!
www.twitter.com/DJPOW is my twitter!

HIT ME UP!

Photo Credit:
Jofel Tolosa Photography
Yukio Taira from Garrett
Erwin Weaver