So we wanted to make sure you all are aware of the going’s on at the track. Below you will find some information on some of the issues that the drivers have had or had to face yesterday for or after qualifying. Enjoy the info after the jump…
Some notes from the pits:
– James Deane and his Nexen Tires crew drilled some large holes in the bumper and routed the intake chargepipe through the hood to attempt to resolve some of the overheating problems. Temps were down substantially after the mods.
– Mad Mike has blown through 2 water pumps this weekend. A 3rd water pump has been sourced, and should be replaced in time for tandem. Rotary engines are notorious for running hot, and the 4-rotor just makes things worse.
– Ben “BonBon” Broke-Smith has had a rough weekend. As of when he went to sleep Friday Night, he had still not seen his car. With some last minute favors, he woke up Saturday morning to find his car at the track, but the team had to weld up a crack in his subframe. With some testing, he soon found that the 1JZ was having some overheating problems, which was mostly-resolved with some hood ‘modifications’. BonBon only got a handful of runs before qualifying, but was still able to score a 72. He feels much more confident after his 2nd qualifying run, and will be facing Darren McNamara who is a familiar face as they have competed in several European events together. This matchup should be a heated rivalry!
– Leighton Fine spun when leading in front of Eric O’Sullivan, and Eric tried to pass Fine on the outside, but Fine stalled the car and Eric chose to tap the wall instead of the car in front of him. He damaged one of his rims (which are one-off hand-made rims), and had to borrow 2 15″ rims (as well as a coilover) from Taka Aono who happened to be cruising the pit. He came out and qualified 15, and is working to find a new rim for tomorrow.
– Ken Gushi blew the motor in his Scion tC, and his RS*R team has been working day and night to get the motor swapped and work out any bugs.
– Justin Pawlak hit the wall hard in his first qualifying run, but had the car mostly sorted out before the end of the day. He had an earlier issue with his wastegate, which has resolved. His windshield says “all night long” which is a testament to the work ethic he has with the rest of his Maxxis / Drift Allianace team to get the car finished at any and every hour. We expect him to put a hard charge against Rhys Millen, a driver he has yet to face in Tandem competition.
– Ryuji Miki broke transmission parts twice through the day. Despite scoring a ‘0’ on paper, Miki is a former D1 champion and should always be considered a threat.
– Marco Santos crashed again during qualifying, but the Drift Mania team is optimistic about getting the car together overnight. Santos is known in Canada as holding nothing back and driving all out, especially on initiation.
That’s all for now! we’ll have more updates shortly!