FORMULA DRIFT ROUND 2 – WEEKEND DIARY
May 11, 2009 News, Uncategorized
Round 2 at Road Atlanta was the event I had been most looking forward to this year.A legendary race circuit with plenty of space to push the Subaru to the limit in comparison with the narrow and unforgiving streets of long beach.
A four hour practice session on Thursday afternoon was the perfect opportunity to try out the new turbo and intercooler set up that gave the Sti an extra 50 hp along with the necessary sound track for Formula D.Now with an external waste gate and screamer pipe we were in the game and the car smoked technical circuit all afternoon.
Friday practice highlighted a problem however, the hand brake began to struggle to lock the rear wheels on the 85mph entry to the first corner.A simple adjustment appeared to fix the issue as we tested on a different part of the track but on the entry in the first run of qualifying the fault remained, sending me off line and eventually forcing me to spin out on the grass.
One run left and after more adjustment the hand brake again appeared to be fine.The final chance to qualify for saturday’s main event arrived but once again only the inside wheel locked and I had to drive the first corner before drifting the rest of the course.The low score from the judges said it all, I was out and my weekend was over.
Being a spectator on the Saturday was hardly ideal but I can at least say that I was there to witness possibly the best drift event in Fd history.The Atlanta crowd were crazy, the Road Atlanta course under lights was spectacular and the drifting will be talked about for years.Dai versus Pat Mordaunt, go look it up and kick yourself for not being there !
Big congrats to D Mac for flying the flag and placing second, I’ll be back with a further improved Rockstar Energy Drink / Hankook Tire Sti for round 3 at Wall Speedway New Jersey next month.
