Everything Drift: What is the most unique part of the car right now?
Calvin Wan: I really like the VQ engine itself. None of the top drivers have used the VQ engine for drifting. A lot of people have swapped the VQ for an SR or RB. I like it because it has a lot of torque down low, it spools up good throughout the power range, and still has a lot of top end. It’s a very good engine. We still have it tuned somewhat mildly. We have a built bottom end, but we’re only boosting 12-15 pounds. We dyno’d it around 450, and there’s still a good amount of power we can use. We plan to build the motor up more and push that number even higher, but that’s still coming.
eDRFT: Who do you either love or hate to drive against?
CW: I don’t have anybody that I like or hate to run with. There are people that I’m more comfortable with, the people on the Falken team I’m definitely more familiar with their style and can drive against them better. But any driver can really be on or off on any given day. It depends on their car, their track, etc. Any given time, against any given driver, in any tandem driver, you have to give it your all whether it’s the 16th ranked driver or the number 1 driver. You still have to go all out.
eDRFT: What has been the best moment you’ve experienced while drifting?
CW: Winning the Sonoma event was probably it. It was somewhat rushed, because I had to leave that night to fly to Toronto for the Champ Car demo there on Sunday. I didn’t really get to enjoy it, but that was a really nice win. Taking the first win for a Japanese car was really nice. This sport started out in Japan, but all of the American cars have taken it so far.
eDRFT: Talk about driving in Formula D against driving in Champ Car demos. Which do you like more?
CW: I’ve only driven in Toronto and here in San Jose, but I did a Champ Car demo last year in Monterrey. The Champ Car people are being really good to us, they’re still learning about the whole drifting sport as well, they’re leaving it up to us to do what we feel is best. We’re still learning all of their formalities and rules, they’re very proper. We don’t want to infringe on what they do. But the audience has been really great, in Toronto everyone was standing on their feet, same thing happened in San Jose. That makes us look good.
eDRFT: You’ve driven a lot of different motors. Compare the SR20 to the VQ to the Rotary, especially since a lot of people are swapping out the VQ or the Rotary for the SR20.
CW: For the ease of getting both the motor and parts for it, the SR20 takes it. It’s a very good motor, it has good top end, and has a huge market for it. The VQ is a really strong motor, but you have to build the bottom end. You can’t just use the stock bottom end, but once you build it up, it’s strong. It has the most amount of torque of all of the engines. It’s a very good drift car, especially around smaller tighter turns. You can go in slow and still drift it the whole way because of the torque. The rotary is a good engine, but it’s high strung, you have to keep it in the power band. It’s very responsive, once you get it in the power range, it will spool up quick and react quick. It’s really good in the RX7 body. A lot of people have been swapping out the RX7 rotary for the SR20, but I think it’s better not to. Really the car is built around the motor, and you disturb the weight distribution by swapping it out. I believe that you should stick to the original motor from what the car originally had, that’s the way the engineers designed the car.
Written by: Jacob Leveton | |
Original Post Date: Dec 31, 2005 |