Jamaica Mon!

It was time again to send our cars overseas. This time madman Harri Tervola hooked up with some Jamaicans who wanted to bring the sport of drifting to their country!


With Ter-Tech having a name for itself, NuGen Motorsports got together with Total, JRDC, and Seaboard Marine to bring us in. The title of the race weekend was dubbed "Drift Invasion" and it was held at Dover Raceway.

First day of practice, I was dead tired from doing an morning news interview. 2.5 hours each way drive to talk for 1 minute. REALLY wished I had slept instead.



Anyways, the 2nd corner my mind wasn't all the way into driving and the car kicked back right at a guardrail. I was faced with stuffing it head on, or trying to save it by giving the back end up. Well, it sort of worked.... I hit rear first and spun the front back into the rail and came off still smoking tires. The handling seemed perfect still, only real issue was a small leak in the radiator and some broken fans. Rest of the damage was all cosmetic, but DAMN.... my poor s15 headlights and 180sx tails :(

As the day rolled on the car was doing fine. We learned the layout and as we left our practice day, we were feeling good. Just ready to explore the country too. We had some local food. Festival (above left) is a delicious bread, I forget what Bammy is, but it was also good. Most places cook chicked directly over wood (even road side food stops) and keep it smoke with some tin roofing covering it all. VERY good. We had a few Red Stripes on this trip as well; luckily the local hosts NuGen Motorsports like to have a good time and had no problems kickin back with us.

WALL TAPPPPP!

What surprised me the most was the amount of elevation and mountains here. Most of the country is a 2 lane, 2 way, winding road. It takes a LONG time to get most places. From the to the airport was over 2.5 hours to the home away from home.

From the villas we stayed in, another 30 minutes or so to the track. A short walk from those villas put us right on an AMAZING beach. So pure and clean, puts our Florida beaches to SHAME.

Local money is roughly 1/100 of ours. So $1US = $100J. Lugnut had no issue throwing up his $30,000 stunna pose. Which brings me to the custom made rasta hat we had hand made for this trip. That's right, no store bought here- ordered and made from Kristin Whitehead. She did a fantastic job, fitment was on point!!

The event itself was pretty awesome. The crowd was huge, and very supportive. Friendly faces everywhere. When we went out I think the spectators had no idea what they were in for. They are some CRAZY people. Hanging out on the cliffs and rocks that overlook the track, inches from 50-100ft falls. All over the stands and garage buildings, just everywhere! The media there and the live radio broadcast were all happy to have us there as well. We did some great driving for Jamaica and despite having the damage, our car was simply rippin.

Toward the end of our driving, we were able to give some sponsors ride-a-longs. I had a magazine photog Koolie Ras in my car for one, and Peter Rae (a well known Jamaican race driver, RX7 FB) jump in my car. In his own words, "I was like spaghetti in there!" He was very shocked to see the wall coming at him, he even joked he never noticed the banner there until today! He was extremely respectful and even told of the experience during a major awards ceremony 2 days later in Kingston with all the media and drivers and sponsors present.











Back to the exploring. We took a day and found a river rapid to do as a group. 3 boats full of our crazy asses went down a realtively calm river, but we had some demo derby action too. There was even a rope swing mid-river we were able to enjoy. At the end of the journey, we got to sit beach side at a tiki hut with some more Red Stripe. Moments like this.... you have to capture how perfectly beautiful this opportunity was. Breathtaking.

Next day we visited the track again, able to play on the entire course before packing up the cars. A customs agent jumped in Bill's car, and Dolly from NuGen was in mine. We were able to link the back section coming in blind over a hill, it was intense but insanely fun. Big elevation change in a short technical section made for some pure joyful fun. My car was showing some wear. Anything right handed the fuel cut out, and there seems to be about 100hp+ missing from the car. It was very hard to link anything, but we got it done with about 1% left in the tires... allowing the car to transition without fuel HAHAHA.

The last day before we left we visited a big attraction where you climb up a series of waterfalls. They recommend water shoes, but we are too smart for that.... TERRIFYINGLY SLIPPERY were the rocks. I have no idea how I did not face plant, though I had about 10 reallllllly close calls. Afterward my feet were on fire and my knuckles hurt from the fear grips I had on the rocks.

Following the waterfalls, we headed for Kingston. Our last night was dedicated to be an awards ceremony for the race weekend. We had some drinks, some food, and watched as about 100 trophies were handed out. They had a special moment for the Ter-Tech team and we were honored to be a part of this special night. We headed to a nearby hotel, where we would stay so we were near the airport in the morning.

On our last trip in the crazy Jamaican traffic, all I could think about was how this is another grand adventure and how lucky I was to be a part of it. I have a second family with Josh, Bill, Ryan, Bert, the Ter-Tech team, and all my new friends in Jamaica. I cannot thank Harri Tervola enough for everything he does, I can't wait to see where we go next...