We had the opportunity to shoot
Nate's S13 last year and were excited to hear what he had in store for 2012. If you spent anytime on the web this past week you've likely seen the teaser photo Nate and his team released. As we expected, it caught fire and is being praised by many of the industry's leaders as one of the best looking non-pro drift cars out today. Luckily, I happen to reside a 40 minute drive away from Mr. Hamilton and jumped at the opportunity to feature it on WMD once more!
This year, Nate has teamed up with
5&A Dime to bring you one of the craziest and most creative wrap concept I've seen. From my understanding, the voice of
Formula Drift,
Jarod DeAnda had a hand in this scheme as well. If you pulled a random car lover or drift fan off the street and told them you were thinking of doing a wrap consisting of purple woodgrain, black polkadots, green stripes and reversed logos... they would likely tell you, or at least think, it would never work. But these guys have somehow pulled it off. The more you look at it, the more you like it. Professionally wrapped by the guys at
Blue Media. Side note... check the
Hoonigan sticker.
Aside from 5&A Dime, Nate has kept most of the same sponsors for this year's drift season.
NOS Energy Drink,
ACT Clutch,
Enkei Wheels,
Cobb Tuning, among others. When sponsors stick around, it's good sign he's doing something right.
Aside from these fancy white
Enkei RPF1's, Nate will also run the
Enkei PF01 Racing Wheel, another popular wheel for drift guys. Side note... love the placement of the
WhatMonstersDo.com vinyl sticker... like it was meant to be.
A snap of the front end (as requested by one of our Instagram friends, Ingmar).
The drivers seat! If you don't know what you're doing in here, the rest doesn't matter. Nate will participate in several Pro AM events among other drift events this year which will have him traveling around the US all season as he gears up for the pros. Nate seems to have the patience to make sure he's putting his ducks in row and learning what's necessary to be competitive in the pros.
Hamilton is running the same setup as last year engine and transmission wise. Equipped with a Corvette V8 LS2 engine with LS6 heads and cams, it's pushing about 450 horse power and sounds amazing. The transmission is a lightweight durable T56 6 Speed.
Shelby and Amber selling the new Nate Hamilton / 5 & A Dime t-shirt out of the trunk. Reminds me of rappers selling mixtapes or bootleg DVD's. Everyday I'm hustlin! ; )
Overall, it seems Nate is on the right track and gaining a good grassroots following. True fans, surrounding himself with the right people, and staying grounded in the process. We're excited to see how all this hard work plays out for Nate! A big thank you to Nate and his crew. Follow him on
Facebook,
Twitter, and Instagram (@NateHamilton44)!
- Alex
See the car in action in this video put together by
Cagle Johnson.
