On April 5, Performance Nissan of Duarte partnered with HKS USA to bring their highly anticipated Performance Nissan Meet to Orange Show Speedway located in the heart of San Bernardino, Calif. Andy Kim of Performance Nissan and coordinator of the event was in charge of pulling off the amazing feat of moving the venue from the El Toro Marine base located in Orange County, Calif., due to some liability issues with the original site. Within months, the event was relocated to take place in San Bernardino and promised to be the next best thing to owning a Nissan.
Vendors set up their booths bright and early as the event opened its gates at 10 a.m. A crew of vigilante security guards checked each car that rolled into the fairground by popping their trunks, hoods, and even gloveboxes. Once you made your way through the checkpoint, it was off to the races. Spectators and Nissan enthusiasts were encouraged to park and display their vehicles according to their Internet forum communities. With plenty of parking and event-sponsored vendors spread throughout the fairgrounds, the event offered plenty for Nissan owners and performance communities to check out. The autocross event runs by Drift Association were an all-day affair. Drivers, ranging from novice class to the more experienced, were rewarded with unlimited passes through the course for a bargain of $50 that included rental helmets compliments of Simpson's and entrance into the meet. Less than 100 feet away, the sound of tire's screeching and exhaust backfires were associated with the Formula D drift demo runs handed down to a group of Nissan-only drift cars, including Daijiro Yoshihara piloting the HKS turbocharged 350Z. Drift demos were performed on the speedway's oval track throughout the day. Performance Nissan provided plenty of free swag, including limited edition Nissan R35 GT-R posters. The highlight of the day, however, came at the conclusion of the event where a raffle enticed crowds with over $10,000 in prizes handed off by import model extraordinaire Miss Lisa Kim Fleming. Dishing out a measly $2 entered each person for a chance to win some serious upgrade components for their Nissan. A laundry list of giveaway parts included a Cosworth 350Z fuel rail system, Cobb Tuning access port, Stillen front and rear sway bar kit, and a set of newly introduced Five Axis Design wheels, to name a few, were all up for grabs. The grand prize consisted of HKS 350Z non rev-up VQ-35 camshafts, retailing at $1,595, which one lucky winner walked away with without getting jumped. If you missed out on this year's event be sure to check out www.mynismo.com for upcoming venues.
Spending $2 for the raffle prize could've got you:
* Cosworth head gaskets (two)
* Cosworth fuel rail system
* Cobb Tuning sport springs
* Cobb Tuning sway bars
* Cobb Tuning access port
* Stillen sway bars
* HKS CAMP2
* HKS VQ cams
* Sun Auto shift knobs (three)
* Sun Auto aftermarket pedals (three)
* Seibon backpack (four)
* Seibon umbrellas (four)
* Toyo Tires (one full set of any proxies up to 18 inches)
* Hankook Tires (one full set of any tires)
* Falken Tires (one full set of tires)
* Five Axis Design wheels (one full set of wheels)
* Motul goodie bag (five)
* Muscle Machine Z toys from Sport Compact Car
* TiTek test pipes
* TiTek air dam
* Vertex USA banners
* Tanabe (More Japan) SSR banner
* Falken G35 drift car models