Turbo: How did you get into the drift scene? Why? What was so appealing about it?
Yen: I started road racing and slowly caught on to drifting. I just was attracted to the looks of controlling something that looks uncontrollable.
What was your first drift car?
My first drift car was my 1985 Corolla GTS. It was always changing. And unlike my RSX, it was heavily modded.
What were its strengths and weaknesses?
Every car has to have strengths and weaknesses. My personal take on it is that, as a drift car, the Corollas are very aggressive and lightweight cars. It's only weakness for me is that it was very expensive to keep it as a competitive drift car.
I mean you're talking about taking a very low-horsepower engine up against 400-hp vehicles and trying to show them that drifting isn't about power; it's about the driver and his or her car, but you still have to make your car capable of going against that high-powered car.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of your current car?
Well, like I said, the Corolla's strength is its weight, so with that in mind I can say that the Nissan 240's weakness is its weight. It is a lot heavier. Aside from that you make up for its weight with power and the fact that this car is very low maintenance doesn't hurt.
Once you get this car running right, you basically just have to keep up with regular maintenance and just hope that nothing goes wrong.
What car plans do you have for the future?
Personally, I will get another weekend toy car, and yes, it's going to be a Corolla.
As far as our plans at JIC, we do have a few cars lined up for the 2005 season. We are finishing up a few new things on the Nissan 350Z, which I will be driving for most events, and using the 240 as a back-up car. And we are also finishing up the Mazda RX-8. We would love to get that car out on the track. We have a lot of opportunities and want to be able to take advantage of all the track time we can get with these cars.
What is your current driving deal with the team?
JIC has really given me the opportunity to do what I love to do, and that's to just drive. After everything is said and done we all just share a love for racing and driving, so that's the deal. Just get on the racetrack and drive.
What series did you run in 2004? What were the high points of the 2004 season?
I actually started the 2004 season over at Autolink Motorworks (Temple City, Calif.) and drove their Nissan 240 (S13) at all the Formula D events, a couple of D1 events, and most demos. My season highlight with Autolink was the time that I lost a rim while drifting in Atlanta.
After the season closer for Formula D, I started to drive the JIC 240. We made it to the Falken Drift Showoff, which was the first tandem team event, which my teammate Ernie Fixmer and I tied for third place with club4ag's Taka Aono and Hiro Sumida. He (Fixmer) drove the JIC S15 for that event. I know he must have had fun with that.
I also made it to the D1 U.S. vs. Japan event during GT Live. I had qualified as one of the top 8 drivers for the U.S. side, and went up against Imamura in my next round. I thought that was a great race to finish off my 2004 season.