This past weekend was spent working on the JZX90 over at SIMS Customs in Cornwall, Ontario.

The engine has been removed for inspection and maintenance. We took off the transmission and inspected our Bully clutch. After 3 full seasons of abusive drifting, our clutch is still in good shape but after talking with the guys at Bully, we agreed to bring it in for them to inspect it and make sure it holds up for the upcoming season.

Simon is the guy responsible for the great tube work that is being done on the front and rear of the Mark II.

This is what he has accomplished so far on the front of the car.

Its almost a shame to have body work covering up his work.

To be continued…

We just dropped the car off at Sims Customs this week and he hasn’t wasted any time getting to work. As you guys know, we are getting ready for our Formula Drift rookie season. We will try to keep you guys posted with the updates as they are available.

Once we dropped the car off, Simon dove right into stripping the front.

With the front cut, the panels were put back on to verify how much room we have to play with.

Here is where the mounts will be for the removable front end.

That’s all we have so far. We will be sure to update you guys as we have them.

For those interested in seeing Sims Customs work, check out his Facebook page.  CLICK HERE!!

We are super excited for the 2012 Formula Drift season to begin. Stay tuned for updates.

On behalf of everyone at Gold in the Net : Drift Team, we would like to wish everyone a prosperous 2012!

Here is an onboard view of the 2nd place qualifying run from Mats Baribeau from Hold The Line Round 3. The Canada Synthetics / Gold in the Net JZX90 was running good that day!

Dec. 12 2011 – Brockville Ontario

In a bid for a successful 2012 Formula Drift season, Mats Baribeau has finalized the roster and named Bannon Woods as Crew Chief and head of marketing for the Gold in the Net Drift team.

After 2 successful seasons working with the team and a move to Formula Drift, Woods will move from title sponsor to team member and will head organization of pit, car, crew as well as marketing.

The GITN JZX90 Toyota Mark II will continue to be maintained and prepped at the Woods Racing / Canada Synthetics speed shop in St.Lazare Quebec under the direction of Woods and his crew. Woods brings with him Randy Tontsch also from St. Lazare who will help in mechanics and car/pit operations.

“I’m happy and excited to stay on with Mats and the team as we move into the 2012 FD season. We’ve worked so well together in the past 2 years and I find that it’s natural thing for us to welcome this new experience together. Starting at DMCC Pro-am, to Pro, to Hold the Line and now onto Formula Drift the coming season will bring a new chapter in our racing novels and I thank him and Formula D for giving us this chance to represent Canada in the upcoming season.”
- Bannon Woods

Kerri Lee Griffin will step into the Business Manager role and will handle on-site PR as well as scheduling, budgets and sponsor services. Kerri brings race management experience over from The Canadian Rally Championship series where she also did double-duty as a co-driver/navigator for the PCR Rally Team. With her previous involvement in the race scene she is sure to bring a needed hand and mind to the GITN Drift internal operations.

“Racing has always been a passion of mine. I am looking forward to the challenges that the 2012 GITN Formula Drift season will bring to me in this new and exciting role. I thank Mats and the crew for giving me a chance to do so.”
– Kerri Lee Griffin

The remainder of the 2011 GITN team will stay unchanged and The Gold in the Net 2012 Formula Drift team roster is as follows:

Mats Baribeau      – Driver

Bannon Woods     – Crew Chief

Kerri Lee Griffin    – Business Manager

Randy Tontsch      – Pit Mechanic

Norm Baribeau      – Operations and Spotter

Chantal Baribeau  – Operations

For more information, questions or comments please contact:

Kerri Lee Griffin                   – kerri@goldinthenet.com

Bannon Woods                    – bannon@woodsracing.ca

Mats Baribeau                      – mats@goldinthenet.com

With the competitive season over for 2011, leaves turning colours on the trees, and that chill in the air arriving, it’s time to put the Canada Synthetics / Gold in the Net JZX90 away for the winter. We were able to make it out to one last track day put on by the DriftOps/Coolkids group. We had a busy season, attending numerous events, track days, and testing days which left us with a garage bay full of partially worn tires. We couldn’t let even a little tread wear go to waste.

The day prior was spent sorting through tire determining which ones still had some life left in them. Having our own tire machine in the garage is definitely an asset. Tires were mounted on rims for Mats Baribeau and Matt Berthiaume of the Gold in the Net Drift team as well as a few other fellow drifters. Our last event was Club Loose’s Finishing Moves in Englishtown, NJ. We had a blast with the new car set up and were able to do some tight tandem runs with Eric O’Sullivan and Tanner Munson. Needless to say we had some fibreglass repair work to do on the rear bumper…*cough*Tanner*.

At the track it was your typical Canadian fall day, sunny but chilly. We were definitely glad we had our DSTROYR hoodies and beanies to help keep the warmth in. It didn’t take more than a lap or two before our first tire blew, taking half of the fender flare with it.

Of course we wouldn’t let that stop us! So we ripped off the other half of the flare and continued on. We were able to take some fans, friends and family out for some laps which we don’t always get a chance to do on competition weekends.  Overall it was a fun, low pressure day at the track.

We are sad to put the Canada Synthetics / Gold in the Net JZX90 away for the winter, but we have many changes to make to prepare for the 2012 Formula Drift season. Stay tuned for what’s to come in our plans for 2012!

The schedule for 2012 has just been released. We are starting our planning for the 2012 season and looking forward to our first Formula Drift round at Road Atlanta!

April 6-7: Streets of Long Beach

May 11-12: Road Atlanta

June 1-2: Palm Beach International Raceway

June 22-23: Wall Speedway

July 20-21: Evergreen Speedway

August 24-25: Las Vegas Motor Speedway

October 12-13: Irwindale Speedway

Schedule taken from :  http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/blog/2011/11/02/2012-formula-drift-schedule

a sample of what went on yesterday at Shannonville. More to come…

Here is a brief recap written by our sponsor at Canada Synthetics/Woods Racing in regards to our partnership and how its grown in the past couple years.

taken from their blog : http://woodsracing.ca/mats-baribeau-formula-drift/

Woods Racing and our brother company www.canadasynthetics.ca has been working with Mats Baribeau and the Gold in the Net Drift team going onto its third year.
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For the 2010 season, Mats approached us asking for aid and we agreed to supply oil and other lubricants for the duration of that season.
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I headed out to a couple of the events, watched them race and was more and more impressed on how they ran the team both on and off the track. The market also followed as I began to realize the potential drifting had for a modification based company like ours and the exposure we could get from a team like this.
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The drift car, a 1993 Toyota Mark II, right hand drive imported from Japan is quite the head turner on the track. It’s 4 door size and 500+hp rocket sounding 1JZ engine quickly captures the attention of the crowd and judges.

The “Drift-limo”,”Drift-zilla”, or plainly “D-zills” as it’s affectionately known around here earned a spot in our 2011 in house roster after an agreement we came to with the team. For the 2011 season, we would take over the mechanical and service end of the car in trade for advertising during the season.
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We performed modifications, regular service and race prep before and after every session ensuring the car was in perfect shape for Mats when he went on track.
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It was quite the learning experience for us here being primarily and originally a V8 American bred group, but the more time we spent on the car, the more we loved it.

Now that the season is over, we look back and reflect on a series of events that brought us from the Canadian Drift Mania Circuit, to the Hold the Line Finals in the US, and ending in Irwindale California with a license to compete at a national level in the Formula Drift Pro Championship Series.
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This coming 2012 season will be an exciting one for sure. Please stay tuned as as the coming season progresses, I will be updating this blog constantly to keep everyone informed on whats happening at the Woods Racing camp.
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We can’t wait to get started and thank everyone for their support. We’re gonna put on a great show for you next year!