Welcome back guys to the second instalment of my 2011 Formula Drift blog, If I was asked to summarize how this weekend went in one word it would certainly be – Progress! Straight off the back of Rd1 in LBC the two SHR prepared cars were stripped alive and both motors were freshened up and tested in preparation for the long haul out East where they will remain until Round 4 in New Jersey concludes which is mid June – The last thing you need is any kind of terminal failures when 2,500 miles away from your HQ so Crew chief Brad Manka worked furiously and around the clock to get the cars looking and working 100% before embarking on his 48hour drive to Road Atlanta in the “Sunny South-East” – Sounds like back home in Waterford!
I arrived into Atlanta the Tuesday before the event and hooked up with Brad, we had a day with a local Dodge dealership who were kind enough to supply us with a sweet Dodge Charger SRT for the entire week – big thanks to all the guys at Hayes Automotive Group. Straight into free practice on Thursday where I was really looking forward to driving the car, we ironed out the motor issues, made some nice suspension and geometry changes to suit my driving style, the Federal RS-R tires were proving really good with great all round traction and also worth noting at Road Atlanta i had the added comfort of not needing to worrying about hitting a wall should i try be over adventurous – however that thought changed rapidly when i saw JTP destroying his car on the only wall on the track!!
Right away the SHR / V-LEDS Dodge Viper felt great! We were still using the steering rack from Rd1 which we all knew for whatever reason had more lock to one side than the other – so with the new rack arriving for Friday morning I was excited with how I and the car were performing, I was also blown away and amazed at how my team mate Samuel Hubinette was driving the Dodge Motorsports Challenger – he was CLEARLY a man on a mission after his Rd1 upset!!
As i suspected the new steering rack arrived Friday morning and Brad and his crew got to work on both cars – nothing major went down on Thursday practice other than a cracked header on the Dodge Challenger which was fixed when practice concluded. I started to focus on my qualifying line and my plan was to put down a conservative first run followed up by a more flamboyant second run – My first run was scored in the mid 60′s – my second run which was that bit faster, that bit more aggressive and that bit more stylish went great until the very last corner where i spun out – GUTTED! However, i still made Top 32 and qualified in 27th place pairing me up against Falken driver Tyler McQuarrie who qualified 5th. The biggest news however was that about my team mate Sam, he suffered a misfire the minute of his two qualifying runs and for a second round in succession failed to make the show – all eyes on me again to fly the Dodge flag.
Straight after the Top 32 pairings were announced we get to hit the track again for a 2 hour practice session in preperation for “Game-day” on Saturday. As the sun set in Atlanta i made some changes to the cars setup and it felt better than ever. I got to put in some really good runs and i felt like i could stick with anybody and get as close as i wanted….a bit too close in some cases as i found out while following fellow Irishman Eric O’Sullivan who was debuting in the Gardella Racing Pontiac Solstice which Ryan Tuerck drove for the past few seasons in FD.
As i mentioned, while following Eric in this picture above i was really tight to him, he went to shift for 4th gear but missed it and i collided with him mangling my front wheel and also damaging my brand new steering rack! I was able to continue for the remainder of the session with a new wheel but track officials told us that the rack was leaking fluid on to the track so it needed to be repaired or replaced – in goes the old rack again! Misery.
Evidence of the damaged wheel above after the Top 32 practice which went pretty well but the old rack had to be refitted so it meant my final practice session on Saturday morning was going to be to all about re-adjusting to the way it handled – not exactly how i wanted to prepare for the big battle against #5 seed Tyler McQuarrie.
Ok, before i go on about how Saturday unfolded in Top 32 I have to mention the FANS! I think everyone can agree when i say there is a certain atmosphere that ATL brings to the Formula Drift season, its unlike anything else – its not like your typical “drift” or “motorsport” event, its more like a festival atmosphere where all year long these hardcore fans just wait for FD to roll into town so they can all go CRAZY! From 10:00am fans were arriving to find their viewing spot for the day, cracking open some beers and getting into festival / party / drift mode for the entire day – RESPECT TO YOU ALL!!
Back to business and with the car ready for practice we hit the track – i had 2hrs to get my groove and was confident after how the Top32 practice went Friday night. I had a lot of guys in the paddock compliment how well i was steering so i was quietly confident hitting the track – Long story cut very short my 2hr practice was a disaster! I spun out on every pass of the course and i was really worried as i couldnt understand what was going on – the guys checked the car over and no visible signs of damage where apparent so we had no choice but to re-align the rack that it was giving me more angle for the horseshoe as it felt like i had no angle before it would spin out – the second we got all finished practice was more or less concluded and suddenly Brad spotted something out of place! The steering knuckles are modified from stock with a hole drilled for MODIFIED lock – one tie rod end was on STANDARD lock and the other was on the MODIFIED setting – If i didnt have bad luck i would have no luck/lock at all! Haha I cant blame anyone but myself for following EOS so closely in practice which is when i broke my last rack – Harsh lesson learned.
So i went straight into my Top 32 battle against Tyler – no time to re-align the rack back to normal but we did have time to get the tie road issue addressed. I knew the guys at Falken probably told Tyler of how my practice session went and that he may hold back a little – I tried to push on against him and put on as much pressure as possible. I felt i did a good job even though i was holding my breath entering the horseshoe hoping it wouldn’t hit the lock stops and spin out on me!! First clean run of the day and a massive sigh of relief let alone doing a good job chasing down TMcQ.
Lead run against Tyler and i just went for it, i had a word from Brad who was spotting for me saying its 50/50 after run 1 – that was encouraging since Tyler was killing it but as i suspected he most likely felt i was having ongoing issues so held back somewhat – I went as hard as i could keeping it on the track without doing something silly like spinning, I was hoping for a OMT at least – it wasnt to be this time as Tyler closed up on me at the end of the run which i still think was a very tight call but hey, il get him back in Florida all going good!
Watch live video from driftstream on Justin.tv
So another Top 32 result – great improvements made to the car and more seat time heading to a brand new track and event to the FD calendar in Palm Beach, Florida. Thanks to V-LEDS, SHR, Federal Tire, Hayes Auto dealer, FD for another memorable ATL gig and a big shout out to the fans again – See you all again in ATL 2012 and i hope you all make the trip down to Palm Beach to make that a kick ass event too.
Full Gallery of pictures here:
http://v-leds.smugmug.com/V-LEDS-Vehicles/Viper/FD-Atlanta-Part-2/17021644_wRC2Vd
See you in at Formula Drift Rd3 in Florida in 3 weeks time.
DK #43
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