Hi Guys and welcome to my first driver blog from Rd1 Streets of Long Beach, Formula Drift 2011 season. As you all may know by now i have taken the huge step this year changing Team (Samuel Hubinette Racing), car (SHR Dodge Viper), engine and chassis platform (8.3 Litre V10 Supercharged!), tires (Federal 595 RSR) and finally seating position from RHD -> LHD. Not that im complaining as we have a super strong program for 2011 and a great team of people and supportive sponsors such as V-LEDS and Federal Tires around us to make the most of this years package. However going to LBC as the #2 driver was nice as i could gradually get into the swing of all these new surroundings while Sam in the Dodge Motorsports Challenger could fly the flag from day 1 – BUT as things have a way of presenting themselves in motorsport i was welcomed to the limelight in SHR prematurely!

Starting to get to grips of the car after encounter with the wall:

How did i wind up in SHR many have asked me, well lets take a step back a few months for a moment and il try fill in the gaps of how a busy off season presented itself quite rapidly. Right from the last round of 2010 at Irwindale where my manager for the past few years Ian Bergin and friend for much longer asked me was I happy with how 2010 went i was a bit bemused, i really wanted that Rookie of year title and knew i had it in me to go for it – but like most things in a team setup i was not in control of 99% of the off track activity and preperation so the potential on track was always hindered, something i took pretty much in the face all year but was optomistic for a better 2011 with the same team.

Jake York (V-LEDS), Brad Manka, Me, Matt Hodge, Ian Bergin:

Ian Bergin set about looking for better teams where Motorsport was bread and butter and where much greater potential and opportunities will present themselves, to be honest this was a task that really should have been undertaken mid season but before i even knew it i got the call on the Bat Phone to head for Dublin…STAT!! After a 2hr conversation with Ian and followed up with a further 2hr conference call to Sam from SHR regards the program we provisionally shook hands over the interweb and Ian had me ready for 2011 in the V-LEDS / Federal Tire / SHR Dodge Viper. I was absolutely stoked!!!

Entering Clip zone 1 – i really struggled to get to grips at this point early on:

Fast forward to Press Release day and my phone went off like crazy from friends and family with lots of kind words of encouragement from other drivers and FD staff and media congratulating me on the new drive and wishing me all the best for the year – I dont think at this stage anything had really sank in as i was still on a major high and was getting ready to head for LA pretty much immediately.

Event winner JTP in the Falken Mustang and I practicing – well done JTP:

Upon arrival in LA, Ross Fairfield from Deadpirateproductions collected me and set about doing a quick pre-LBC video of me meeting the team, testing the car as we were schdueled to drive at the Chrysler / Dodge Spring festival in El Toro – where i became Sam’s SON for the weekend according to certain videos posted on youtube! haha – I cant wait til daddy lets me drive his car! Hint hint….

Fellow Irishman D-MAC and I laying it down on a Sat morning practice:

Upon meeting my crew chief Brad Manka at SHR, he gave me the low down on the entire operation, showed me about the two cars comprehensively and we discussed the forthcoming year as a competitive 2 car team – i dont think he was keen having a 22yr old Irish punk nicknamed Karnage climb behind the wheel of his baby Viper so he showed me some very large power bars, wreches and crazy power tools to keep me in check….little does he know!!

Last corner of the circuit, the hairpin being shared with Charles Ng – good friend of mine:

The cars were basically in pieces upon my arrival with the Challenger having no motor or even resembling a car near ready for the upcoming Festival in 2 days time, i went home to Newport Beach where i was staying, freshened up and came back later that day and the Challenger was fully put back together and FULLY WRAPPED with the Viper being wrapped, it was the first eye opener to me that these guys let their actions do the talking, unlike a lot of others who are vice versa.

The look of concentration – worry – concern – anticipation – im not sure when it was shot!

Once the cars were fully wrapped, new aero attached and dyno’d we headed out to the Dodge Festival weekend at El Toro which was great for Sam but kind of cut short for me as we encountered a power steering issue which put the Viper out of action – easily fixed and then we had a private Eibach day which was cancelled as all other Eibach competitors were not ready to test that day so made the most of it and headed for Adams Motorsports track to shakedown the Viper – Being LHD wasnt such a shock to the system at all, especially when trying to feed nearly 800bhp around a karting track you be very surprised what initial concerns become blank to you – i guess i was realising how brutally powerful and how fast the Viper was when you hit the loud pedal, i had not experienced anything so aggressive, or brutal, that word alone describes how the Viper is on full power – BRUTALLY FAST!!

Some time to joke around with my crew chief’s son Austin Manka – already my #1 fan!

The guys from Eibach suspension were on hand at Adams to help out Brad with some suspension changes as the car was bottoming out on compression and the rebound was overkill making the car bunny hop effectively, few tweaks and changes and to me it felt a hell of a lot better but we still had the media day on track in LBC to make further tweaks as Adams was a very slow track so the cars handling characteristics would really be shown at Formula Drift media day.

Awesome picture by Tram Tran – fish eyes lense really makes the Viper look like a snake!

Monday arrived, the day before media day and my manager Ian Bergin was flying in for the week along with his best friend and my brother – both of which are Formula Drift newbies so there was no extra added pressure to do well! However, i got a call from Brad Manka my crew chief who said he was doing some routine maintenace on the Viper and it turned out it had blown the motor – 2 cylinders had melted and compression was gone entirely, NOT GOOD! Sam was good to go for Tuesday but the Viper was rendered undriveable as the guys set about ripping apart the motor and ordering the parts needed so we could have a chance at competing the coming weekend – not exactly the best news but like i said above, these guys dont mess around and before i knew it we were going to media day with the Viper fully stripped and awaiting parts to arrive after track time Tuesday, clockwork springs to mind!

Young Austin looks as the SHR crew work like machines to get the car ready in time:

So for me Tuesday came a day to soak up the atmosphere and watch the other drivers put down some runs and liaise with Sam and Brad to see what changes they were making to improve the Challenger run after run. Everything was going great until the Challenger decided to become “lazy” on full power which were Sams words, not exactly encouraging when your own V-LEDS Dodge Viper is mid surgery and then to be taking back the Dodge Motorsports Challenger in ill health also?? And things didnt get any better, from the data logger it turns out there was an oil supply issue and the Challenger effectively ran its final run with zero oil pressure, the motor also needed to be ripped apart and parts sourced all while the Vipers motor was being assembled – Stressful times for Brad and his crew at SHR!

Sam Hubinette and I signing some autographs for the teams fans – I signed more!

Sorry if this is taking a long time, im sure you are finding all this drama straight from a soap opera set but even writing all this stuff is bringing back terrible memories of panic and anxiety, not what you wish for on the week of your biggest event ever.

One word – BADASS!

Anyway, the Viper was pieced back together firing on all TEN again and loaded up and sent to LBC on Thursday evening while the rest of the guys had an all night shift assembling the Challenger to get it ready and to track for Friday morning. Upon arriving on Friday morning we were greeted by some very tired looking SHR tech’s and we had a full crew of supporters from Ireland and Jake and Nicole from V-LEDS. Stina Hubinette and her family were on site too to offer us all hospitality while myself and Sam tried to get in the zone at the drivers meeting as he crossed his fingers that the Challenger could still run as they were all working frantically on it.

Myself and JTP practicing for our Top 32 battles ahead:

I headed out on track to practice and it was immediately apparant that the V-LEDS Dodge Viper was a pure handful, for those of you who drift will know when a car has far too much grip and upon lifting the throttle it dangerously wanted to straighten out, transitions required the reflexes of a cat and I was growing genuinely concerned! Luckily Brad and Adam Matthews from Eibach were not too far away and between them they knew what was wrong and more importantly what buttons to push on the -V-LEDS Dodge Viper to get it to handle more like a drift car and less like a touring car / death trap!

Beautiful day for some drifting in the LBC – Sorry bout the damage guys!

Spring rates, tires pressures and some alignment changes and i was back on track, car was much better but i found it hard to really NAIL the throttle through clip 1 -> 2 as it had fierce speed and i really wasnt sure how it would react by throwing on a S body flick off the first clip as required by the judges, the Viper doesnt have as much steering angle so you find yourself driving the car slightly differently with steering / throttle inputs as opposed to big lock and foot to the floor S body style im more common too. Out of nowhere i lined up behind Conrad Grunewald who was ripping it up all morning, as we went past clip 1 i noticed some rain had fallen and suddenly noticed his car hitting what only looked like a patch of ice….before i knew it i was on it too only i was trying to adjust early with the handbrake which proved a bad ideas as the Viper swapped ends and nestled nicely up against the wall breaking the rear spoiler and tail light lens cover – Lucky escape! But was a harsh reminder to me that changes still needed to be made.

This picture alone describes how the whole weekend unfolded:

Practice concluded and from my feedback to Brad and Adam on how the cars handling characteristics were, how they improved and how i would like them to be they set about changing more rear settings while i had a word with Sam who told me nicely that he wont be running at all as the motor is screwed so basically I am now #1 driver for the Dodge / SHR team – NO PRESSURE!! Thanks dad, just what i needed at Rd 1 in the new car, team etc….as if i didnt have enough on my plate as it was??

First time in Top 32 battle in the Viper – welcome to the party vs Rhys Millen:

Qualifying arrived and so did the nerves, the guys made some more changes and explained to me what way the car should react in comparison to the mornings practice, its times like this when you wished you had that extra day at media day to iron out these issues, but hey, thats racing! I put down what i considered a conservative run, which in fact was my best run to date on the car as i actually felt comfortable driving the car and it felt predictable both on and off the power which was encouraging for my second run. While still trying to familiarize myself with the cars dimensions i put down a much more solid second run and while Ian Bergin watched the rest of the session he wasn’t 100% sure of my qualifying standing overall – I MADE IT! At drivers announcement i had qualified 28th, pretty poor from what i had gone to LBC aiming for but after the week the team had gone through anything to make the show was a relief!

Trying to close in on Millen proved difficult with low visibility…and power!

This now meant i had a further practice session that afternoon and also another one on game day – Saturday. I was paired up against past Formula Drift Champion and good friend Rhys Millen in the Hyundai Genesis Coupe, a driver who looked to be awesome on track with smoke, but much slower than me from the sheets. a true testament of how fast the Viper actually is, i was the 2nd fastest driver through the speed checks so if my line was on point i was destined for a much higher qualifying place, encouraging!

It doesnt look bad from here – but visibility behind that car was zero! Thx Rhys:

Practice was great, the car ran great and each run i gained more and more confidence as the car and I became one. It was this kind of seat time i was craving since i landed as i knew the potential of the car was just looking to be found. We wrapped up Friday much happier that we started.

Exiting turn 1 approaching clip point 1 with Rhys on my leaf springs!

Saturday morning arrived quicker than i could have imagined, slept like a baby and was really keen to get out on track for practice for my Top 32 against Rhys, we laughed and joked after we realized we were against one another but once the lid goes on, everyones an enemy! Brad was doing some last minute checks on the car as the rest of the team nestled into their roles for the day and the pit area filled up with vendors and fans….suddenly more bad news arose, the Viper had melted the same two pistons again and was destined to be on a 1 way ticket to death! Brad said to drive it on but wasnt holding his breath….we got out for some practice where genuinely i didnt even notice any shortage of power from the industrial sized V10 supercharged lump! coming from a 2litre 4 cylinder turbo background i told Brad until its down to two cylinders im sure its more powerful than anything ive ever drove….famous last words!

Rhys doing a great job following super close through Clip 1:

We lined up against Rhys and i followed as best i could, his car put out a smoke screen and coming off clip 1 i literally just guessed when to transition as i could see nothing, wasnt so bad as it gave me a shallow yet close line and then Rhys made a mistake at the final hairpin which was encouraging….until the motor chugged and became very lazy at low RPM and required work to even make it back to the start line. On my lead run the car was way down on power, i actually had to clutch kick going past clip 1 to make it past 2 and on to the hairpin where i inevitably spun out and handed the Top 16 place to Rhys – The car was dead and rolled back to the pits on a lot less cylinders than it arrived with.

Lead run in my Top 32 vs Rhys – shortly after this shot i spin entering the hairpin:

My Top 32 battle against Rhys “Mad Skillz” Millen:

Not a great start to my season, but taking the good from the bad i really couldnt have wished a better team to share all this misery with! The work eithic was awe inspiring and the level of professionalism and dedication is truly amazing, no sooner was the event over we had a quick de-briefing with Sam, V-LEDS, Brad and Ian on how to improve going to ATL Rd2 in a few weeks and i am truly delighted to have such a bunch of dedicated guys around me – SHR and V-LEDS will bounce back at Rd2, if things happen in 3′s, then we have had our quota already.

Full Gallery of pictures here:

http://v-leds.smugmug.com/V-LEDS-Vehicles/V-LEDS-Viper/16604402_Rmo6r#1251203167_oEiBW

See you all at Formula Drift Rd2 in Atlanta on the 6/7 May.

DK #43