The plan was always to completely overhaul the Corolla, however that can wait for the winter as there are some events that I want to get out in during the remainder of the 2010 season. With that in mind, we’re really just patching up the car for this year, running the existing hardware and freshening it up with some new aero and paint. Side note, I havent had any battles in FD 2010 so I’m long overdue an opportunity to go out and push for some door to door action. Prodrift will definitely provide that opportunity, the Irish Top 16 battles are some of the fiercest in the world.

We collected the car in its new fresh black paint from Dave Griffen Motors in Dublin. Big thanks to James for all the work he’s done on the exterior. It looks mint! The boys in the Dave Griffen Motors body shop are always on point with their paintwork too.

We’re going back to a 15″ wheel for this year so some ‘adjustments’ had to be made to spacers and wheel studs in order to get the right fitment. The wheels will of course be wrapped in Hankook Rubber. I’m going to test the best solution between the Hankook Ventus RS2, K110 & K105.

Here’s one of the may parts that were bent from the impact with the wall at Port of Long Beach (inner steering rod). The steering needed a decent overhaul.

These are the new steering knuckles & steering tie rod kit from Techno Toy Tuning. Really strong with good adjustment options and designed specifically for drifting.

Had to make some minor adjustment on the bench to allow for clearance of the knuckles .

Fitting them was pretty simple, just had to make sure it was reasonably tracked before we do full alignment.

Here they are in place. Lots of steering lock should make for some interesting Angle !!

My mate Fionan Reid called by for a chat on his way back from a Rally Sprint. Car looks pretty clean having come off the stages! You can check out a video of Fionan & I doing a rally sprint here.

Back to work, time to re-install the brand new Mishimoto radiator setup. We’re going with a new S2000 radiator as opposed to the Corolla version we used previously which is going to require some custom mounting. I’ve never had temperature problems with the F20 motor, largely due to the excellent cooling that this Mishimoto rad delivers.

Diff Doctor and fellow Drift Irelander Aaron Nixon was there to lend a hand and get the new differential installed, twice !

Old aero still shows signs of the perimeter paint of Drifting World Championships.

Heres the new front and rear bumpers courtesy of my long time bodywork partner Brian Campbell at Driftkits.eu.

And this is how we left it after a very productive first session.We’ve some more parts on order which will pretty much complete the job nicely in time for pre-event practice for Prodrift Citywest. We’ll keep you posted on the progress.

The signs of a productive night at the workshop.

I’m really looking forward to getting back out in the Corolla again. It will be a great change to get back to some N/A lightweight action. I’ve almost forgotten what its like to drive this car. For those that don’t remember how we drove in the hay day of this vehicle you can check out my playlist on youtube or take a look at the video below.

To say that we are deeply disappointed is a major understatement. The frustration of travelling thousands of miles to fail to qualify is probably the worst feeling that I’ve experienced in my drifting career. This has now happened at three consecutive events. Our team now face major challenges in order to lift our game and our spirits in time for Round 4 at Seattle.  Things can only get better I suppose. Hopefully the following video helps illustrate the madness that was Formula Drift New Jersey.

Heres some more footage of the recent trip to Road Atlanta for the 2nd stop of the Formula Drift Season. Unfortunately things did not work out how we’d have liked it but it felt good to be back in the car again. ENjoy the video and I’ll be back next with the photos and report from the event.

Formula D Video Blog – Atlanta

The week before FD RD1 is always full of activities. Tuesday night we went to Rob Dyrdeks Fantasy Factory for the launch of the Monster Energy Mustang of Vaughn Gitten JR. It is so much better in real life than tv, and that world record sized skateboard that he built in Series 1 is absolutely huge.

On Thursday night, Formula Drift replaced the traditional car parade through down town with a Photography exhibition called ‘The Art of Formula Drift’. A gallery displayed images of the 2009 season and featured work or Lindberg, Will Roegge, Jose Martinez and some exclusive shots from Estevan Oriol. Free beer and drift car art installations is always going to be a  winner, I hope that this becomes an annual event.

On Friday morning we traveled the 6 blocks to the Paddock still hoping for a last minute miracle on the Subaru. Unfortunately the worst was confirmed at about 9am and for the rest of the event we were in spectator mode. Luckily there was a decent traveling Irish contingent, and we were supporting Deane Kearney, James Deane and Darren McNamara from the stands.

All the guys made it into the Saturday Top32 event. The paddock was really busy from 10am onwards so even without competing, it was time to dress up like a driver, polish the Subaru and meet with Hankook guests and drift fans.

At lunch time, the whole crew enjoyed meeting some Hankook VIP at the corporate suite. Actor Paul Walker was there; a really nice guy who seems to be interested in getting out in Drift competitions soon. Watch this space.

After lunch it was time to take in the Twin Battle action. All of the Irish guys were on fire. Kearney was unlucky to draw Freddy Asbo, who was without doubt the underdog hero of the event. James Deane knocked out Darren with an amazing pass of the course but later fell to Tanner Foust in the great 8 and Freddy Asbo, who I previously battled in Prodrift Sweden, progressed to finish fourth in his Toyota Supra.

Following the event, we all agreed to rendez vous at our favourite Long Beach establishment. The Auld Dubliner has seen many a Prodrift invasion but Saturday night seemed to attract teams and drivers from all corners of the FD Paddock. Chris the barman made sure that we were all well watered before kicking us out at 2am.

It wont be too long before I’m back on a plane to the USA. Atlanta Rd2 is not too far away and after the disastrous week at Long Beach, I’m even more determined now to get behind the wheel and put this years car through its paces. Last year Atlanta was unkind to us with a DNQ. This year it must be our return to form and I’ve no doubt that the Hankook Dynamic team will be out in force, hungrier than ever for Formula Drift success.

At the Dynamic workshop the team are working flat out on both the Hankook GTR and my new look Seibon/Hankook Sti in order to get us set for Friday and Saturday. The atmosphere trackside today was great. Some of the teams are already looking strong and its great to catch up with friends and fellow competitors following what seemed like an eternity of an off season.

Stay tuned for updates over the coming days. Things are going to get a little crazy, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. In other news, my bike arrived safely so its time to get out into the Californian Sunshine and hit some skate parks!

In 2009 we pretty much got all of the setup development dialed, the track session at Irwindale with KW engineers was the final piece of the puzzle. With that in mind, all I really was concerned about heading into 2010 was getting the chunky Scooby  to shed some pounds and increasing the power output. Needless to say Eddie, Adam, Jason and the guys in Dynamic have reacted with some excellent work during the off season.

OK, so where to start. Here Jason decideds to cut away all excess weight and add the Seibon carbon rear doors to really lighten up the chassis. Not only that, we are going to be throwing in a 2.7 BC stroked Gruppe S prepared race engine; see further down the post.

Adam Depner and Jason Fajardo take some weight of the rear of the car and reinforce it.

The Gruppe-S Subaru WRX STi then receives a new power plant assembled by the Gruppe-S Engineers, taking the EJ257 and utilizing a BC Stroker Kit pushing displacement to 2.7 Liters. Full Specs on the Internals listed below.
Specs:
Brian Crower Crank
Brian Crower Rods
Brian Crower Valves
Brian Crower Valve Springs
JE Pistons
Portflow Ported Head
Cosworth Head Gasket
GT30R Turbo
Projected Horsepower 450+ on a Mustang AWD Dyno

Finally, the Subaru returns this year sporting an all black exterior, although we have an awesome decal scheme planned out for the car, but more on that later!

With less than a week now before I get to Long Beach for seat time, I cannot wait to get behind the wheel and become re-acquainted with the Subaru. The changes that have been made should result in a much more nimble and powerful platform, something that I believe can regularly challenge for big performances during the 2010 FD series.
Roll on Round 1.