Another rain day. Yoshiko and I do work around the house, but I find spare moments to watch AE86 club while she checks her email etc. I’m convinced at this point that my attraction to these cars is purely nostalgic. I actually consider moving on… but that’s a really sad thought.
AE86 is taking big hits. So many others are moving on. In the D1 scene… first Gen, and more recently Ueo. Long time club 4ag member and FD driver traded his 86 for a JZX90 two years ago. Local drift judges seem convinced that all AE86’s are worth $500 and thus can’t be competitive in drift competition. If only they really were worth so much…
In the SCCA… AE86 gets bumped up from FSP to DSP after Taka Aona destroyed the competition once… not realizing that Taka is just a monster behind the wheel, and thus… is still one of the only guys brave enough to use the ’86 for pro-drifting. DSP means running against BMW’s and Integra’s instead of Volkswagens and Civic’s.
In many ways I’ve given up on AE86 too. I used to think… AE86 could be made to run against anything. I used to think AE86 could be a fast car. But now… when even the most low-end cars on the market come with more power and often less weight, what chance does it have? The only way to make an AE86 really fast these days, is to swap in crazy motors, SR20 or F20… hardly something I want to tackle… or can.
And so… my new idea of AE86 embraces that nostalgic feeling. Slow and fun. Historic. DFL at auto-x (maybe when my son shows up in 20 years). Early morning plaything.
This is actually going to take a chunk of money… and a lot of luck.