What a crazy weekend. Had a great time overall, learned a lot more and am ready for the next round. Here are my thoughts. I am going to be pretty hard on myself, as I expect a lot more of me. The saving grace of this weekend was having the love of my life finally get to come out to an event with me :) Just having her there made a world of difference.
So...
First things first I hit a wall pretty hard after about 5 practice laps (car was feeling amazing by the way), everything was going great, then I went way off line way to fast and smashed the wall rear end first, then hit the front right tire at almost full lock. I crushed the rear bumper / fender / trunk / taillight, broke the PBM toe rod in half and bent the front strut where the knuckle meets the coil-over.
Keep in mind that this is my first major wreck in 4 years of driving the car at events, so I was pretty bummed my weekend was over. I limped the car back to the pits to see Brian waiting there with a giant hammer and block of wood.
Post wreck pic
The dude worked a miracle, popped the fender out, bent the strut back into shape, "realigned" the car and off i went... Until the rear wheel rubbed with the slightest input... Back again to see the rear toe rod was broken in half. I had no spares, and went looking through the pits for one. Luckily a very kind Vegas local had just swapped his out for new ones and let me have it.
We slapped it on and off I went with my wall made alignment. The car didn't want to transition, among other things ( to be expected) and right when I was getting the hang of it and laying down runs, it died and wouldn't turn over... Once again I thought the weekend was over. I get a text from Brian telling me to get a ride back with Ben and jump in Jims car and get practice in. I cannot thank Jim enough for letting me use his car, it meant more than most people could understand. He also gave up driving in qualifying to let me have a shot.
So I did.
I got 2 practice runs in before qualifying started... Holy smokes 700hp is a lot. I laid down a conservative run to get one in the books. I never went past 3/4 throttle as it had so much power all around.
2nd run I nailed it. Super aggressive entry, hit the clips, then decided to let it eat and floored it right at the end.
I spun out. Those 700 ponies came on like a freight train. Luckily the previous run was enough to make the show, and I qualified 14th in the top 16.
This was also my first time making top 16 at a large drift event. It felt great!!! Since I qualified towards the back of the pack, I was up against the number 2 qualifier, Josh Guild (rad driver by the way).
Needless to say, I lack the tandem experience needed (come on NM lets do this) to advance, and got knocked out first round. I got out driven in every way, especially since I had the HP advantage. Well done Josh :)
As stated I learned a ton once again and will be back it it this weekend for top drift round 2.
So...
First things first I hit a wall pretty hard after about 5 practice laps (car was feeling amazing by the way), everything was going great, then I went way off line way to fast and smashed the wall rear end first, then hit the front right tire at almost full lock. I crushed the rear bumper / fender / trunk / taillight, broke the PBM toe rod in half and bent the front strut where the knuckle meets the coil-over.
Keep in mind that this is my first major wreck in 4 years of driving the car at events, so I was pretty bummed my weekend was over. I limped the car back to the pits to see Brian waiting there with a giant hammer and block of wood.
Post wreck pic
The dude worked a miracle, popped the fender out, bent the strut back into shape, "realigned" the car and off i went... Until the rear wheel rubbed with the slightest input... Back again to see the rear toe rod was broken in half. I had no spares, and went looking through the pits for one. Luckily a very kind Vegas local had just swapped his out for new ones and let me have it.
We slapped it on and off I went with my wall made alignment. The car didn't want to transition, among other things ( to be expected) and right when I was getting the hang of it and laying down runs, it died and wouldn't turn over... Once again I thought the weekend was over. I get a text from Brian telling me to get a ride back with Ben and jump in Jims car and get practice in. I cannot thank Jim enough for letting me use his car, it meant more than most people could understand. He also gave up driving in qualifying to let me have a shot.
So I did.
I got 2 practice runs in before qualifying started... Holy smokes 700hp is a lot. I laid down a conservative run to get one in the books. I never went past 3/4 throttle as it had so much power all around.
2nd run I nailed it. Super aggressive entry, hit the clips, then decided to let it eat and floored it right at the end.
I spun out. Those 700 ponies came on like a freight train. Luckily the previous run was enough to make the show, and I qualified 14th in the top 16.
This was also my first time making top 16 at a large drift event. It felt great!!! Since I qualified towards the back of the pack, I was up against the number 2 qualifier, Josh Guild (rad driver by the way).
Needless to say, I lack the tandem experience needed (come on NM lets do this) to advance, and got knocked out first round. I got out driven in every way, especially since I had the HP advantage. Well done Josh :)
As stated I learned a ton once again and will be back it it this weekend for top drift round 2.
Heard about your wreck at the drift day, sorry to heart buddy... but congrats on 14th! that's awesome!
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