The Art of Drifting: A Conversation with Kevin

As I watched Kevin drive his car around the track, I couldn't help but notice the care and attention he brought to every turn and corner. His driving style was smooth and confident, and it was clear that he had spent a lot of time practicing and perfecting his technique. As we chatted with him after the session, I asked him about his approach to drifting, and he shared some valuable insights.

"I've been doing this for a long time," Kevin said, "and I've learned that it's all about finding the right balance between speed and control. You have to feel the car and anticipate what's going to happen next." He explained that he likes to take things easy at first, getting used to the handbrake and the feeling of the car on the track. "It's like a dance," he said. "You have to be in sync with the car, anticipating its movements and reacting accordingly."

As we talked, Kevin mentioned that he had recently tried driving a newer car, which had made a big difference in his drifting style. "I used to drive my cars harder than I needed to," he admitted. "But now I'm more gentle, more subtle. It's like the car is an extension of me, and we work together as a team." He also talked about how important it was to get a feel for the track and the car before attempting any big tricks or maneuvers.

"I've been doing solo laps in this track for hours," Kevin said, "and I still can't believe how much fun it is. The track is so sick, with its elevation changes and tight turns. It's like nothing I've ever driven before." He also mentioned that he loves the feeling of steering on electric power steering cars, which he said feels great.

As we continued to chat, Kevin talked about his favorite car brands and models, and how much he admired their designs and performance. "I'm a big fan of Lexus and Toyota," he said. "They make some amazing cars that are perfect for drifting." He also mentioned that he had lost the key to the rental car at one point, which added an extra layer of humor to our conversation.

Just as we were getting started on the topic of drifting, Kevin's friend Mike showed up with a Lexus and asked if he could try to get out of the parking lot. "He doesn't know how to do it," Mike said with a laugh, "but I'm happy to help." With that, Kevin handed over the keys and watched as Mike successfully parked the car.

As the day went on, we noticed that other show cars were starting to arrive at the track, including some of Kevin's favorites. "I love seeing all these cool cars," he said, "and I hope one day I'll be able to own them all." For now, though, he was happy to just enjoy watching and learning from others.

As we wrapped up our conversation with Kevin, he mentioned that he would be heading back to the hotel for dinner and getting some rest before the big day on Friday. "It's been a long practice session," he said, "but I'm feeling good about my driving and excited for what tomorrow will bring." With that, he headed off towards his car, still grinning from ear to ear.

In the end, it was clear that Kevin is passionate about drifting and has a deep love for the cars and the community. His enthusiasm and dedication are contagious, and it's easy to see why he's had so much fun driving around the track today.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enall right today is not the big day it is the lead up to the big weekend we're pulling up to mandela park and uh today's the day when we're gonna get fitted to the cars do a little bit of testing get acclimated to the track look at me i went on the left side of the hud the hook like i'm supposed to hello hello how are you good how are you do you need to like sign anything no i know where you are okay cool thank you did you get that one yeah that was funny where did i go she just looked at me with the funniest look in her face dude look at the banner look at that dude james can we get one of those for the compound yeah cause we need a little frame thingies it's set up day here at the lz festival in mondello park let's take a look at what's been going on and who's here all the action kicks off live here tomorrow in mondelo park for the drift kings of ireland event and on sunday well of course it's the lz drift festival and i am very excited to announce that i will be commentating on both days for you guys on the live stream but on saturday i won't be alone i'll be joined by eddie power the power in the tower is back and me and him will be walking you through that competition on sunday well the duo is back myself and dave eagle will be in the tower taking you all the way through the lz drift festival you're not going to want to miss a thing click the link below to watch it all as it happens live i'm here with kevin kevin thank you again so much look at this thing literally like i feel like i was giving the keys to mona lisa yeah well but there's no keys it is my motivation that's the occasion yeah here it's yours though we can't do what you want all right so can you give me a super super quick like run through just kind of the basic specs on this car now you built it all in house and yeah what is it 2jz gte geforce dog box winter's rear end just all the usual wise fab rolling fuel cell linky sue it's pretty much the go till things you know what i mean that works pretty well like i love that car so then um compared to the new one i still always love the old one so the main differences between your car and this car i know you're telling me this one's dvti that you're yeah vvt-i non-vvt-i sequential dog that's pretty much it have you been liking the sequential um probably the only reason to put the scrunchie on this because it's neither in the tunnel yeah no because that's a side shift so that's probably the only reason i noticed uh you guys do this down bar in here which i thought was pretty cool so you can put the main hoop farther back that was something i definitely run into issues with with like my seat kind of basically touching the rear harness bar yeah yeah this one's actually further back here you can see it's really cool like one of my favorite things about being out here is just kind of seeing how everyone like builds cars differently and like all these neat little things like look at the the roof scoop on this i've never seen that before i feel like no one runs this in the states it's got little vents up there can you does it actually push air whenever yeah yeah so in terms of like suspension setup why is that front what's uh what do you do in the rear anything fancy yeah white's fab front white fabria now gonna suspend him i don't really know joe that builds the guards he does all that i'd still drive on the record and they drive good yeah yeah yeah you'll enjoy it definitely now but they like the rev numbers where you gotta be yeah gotta be on the limit i noticed too you guys were on the brushless fans back here which we made switched to recently and they're like unbelievable gangsters but yeah they're good good and alternators and stuff yeah you know it was always a problem there's not a lot of people in the states that have started like moving over the brush just yet i think it's like kind of still new yeah sort of scared of it oh yeah yeah yeah yeah but no that's a great job oh i know there's something else that would you know actually do you have a muffler on this no muffler no oh i noticed all the cars here they've been looking at mufflers because like sound rigs and stuff i don't really like them that's what the turbo's for yeah he'll control it sick well i'm really excited to drive this thing so today we do a little bit of practice but you're not driving today no no i'll do it so tomorrow practice tomorrow i think yeah i think so we all we'll drive some tomorrow so hopefully we could just change the tires and feel yeah yeah well i appreciate it i'm very excited and hopefully we can get some good tandems out there yeah i hope i'll definitely be trying to rub here yo i i don't want to seem like too like wild but like this is not normal this is like literally an fd car that i was just throwing the keys to this is probably one of the nicest drift cars i've ever sat in and i'm like encouraged to just like mash it up and bang limiter and do all the fun things with it so i'm like i'm like really amped up but i'm trying i'm trying to play cool around everybody so i don't look like you i'm too excited but this thing's sick it was gonna be a good day do the talking here all right you do exactly what i was gonna say i'll tell you what i was gonna say um what are we doing right now so we're doing a track walk we get to get all the secrets of how to drift this thing and outdrift james dean with these little hints right and by that he means dave is basically telling us hey don't drift here you're going to get kicked out or run over pedestrian close enough i don't know what this is your mama would teach you to not take care of it looks a little phallic doesn't it slow down and then you can start to wash or you cut in too tight the easiest thing here is the handbrake and when you come off the hammer i've ran into this problem where i started boxing all my race suits to look pretty hanging on the wall and only when i didn't have box was my like og oh my suit didn't come in time 2019 formula drift pro 2 suit still got the remove sponsor logos glue showing through kalamazoo look at you let's go wow um kevin you're telling me to drive it like a newer right made a big difference since i started driving like it's the yeah way to drive it like i know that was a lot of fun it took me a little while to get used to kind of like where the uh the handbrake was once i kind of got a feel for it and really started to drive this thing on the pipe um it felt really good so i'm about to go back out there i got a little more confidence in the car get used to the layout and everything but that entry feels wild you're kind of coming over the hill it almost reminds me of long beach a little bit with a little more elevation because when you really get on the bass just picks up the front tire and it feels crazy hmm oh so um okay i don't know if i've ever had so much fun doing solo laps in my life this track is so sick i've been cropping myself every time thank you man don't mind the ultra clean 34 just kind of chilling in the background i've got the biggest smile on my face i feel like i've had enough fun for the whole weekend and today was just practice kind of getting acclimated to the car different than uh a lot of like kind of power plants i've driven where i really got to keep the thing lit but um you know every time i drive a different car every time i'm with a different team i learn new stuff that i comply to other cars that i drive other tracks that i drive and i've just been trying to soak it in and uh this track's been a lot of fun steering on these cars feels great i think this is one of the first electric power steering s15s or like s chassis i've driving and it feels great i'm super stoked super thankful and i got a massive smile on my face the day's pretty much over it was just short practice and then we're going back to the hotel probably gonna grab some food and reset for tomorrow but a lot of show cars started showing up and they are pretty much all my favorite car that i don't own yet hopefully soon look at all these this is my luck i lost the key to the rental it took me about an hour to find the key it was in the seat of the queen m sport uh s15 and now it appears as if i can't get the key out of the door so we're gonna let mike give this a shot because i don't want to be the guy that breaks it so you're a big big lexus guy big toyota guy big vip guy you're good you think this person will be able to get out yeah no they don't get in on that side jimmy why were you going so slow on the way back because i was so scared i would randomly hit one of those giant speed bumps yeah see that's why you honked you see the outside they were petrified by the hunk i was like jimmy i know i was like welcome to ireland where they put speed bumps the size of gs 300's in the middle of the road with no warning and look at me i can't be doing that i think you should go around the other side of the parking lot it's harder to park because the wheels poke out honestly yeah kinda just literally go go over there go punk do you like my little burnout this light stalled me yo this isn't boat parking bud pull the e-brake you're done right there nope oh it's good i'm still wearing a belt now hey clay i'll see you at dinner yeah you got this right here it went put this car in down it's kind of already there i got that that was funny no neon clothes for you tonight parking with gs in europe yeah just more for mike to chop up yeah literally let's get that last book too it's gonna be like it will but you added these videos so damn fast oh my god oh my god what happens when you're a little twerp you get stuck in the gs300 yep yep when you say\n"