In other news… we are still Top 3 in points! We are doing our best to maintain that position for 2009, Kevin has been working on new things for the car for our Las Vegas event next weekend. The SR car rebuild will be on hold until we return from Vegas as well. We are looking to finish that car and bringing it to Hot Import Nights in Pleasanton, CA, July 25th. More updates coming this week!

So for the northeast stop of our 2009 season Formula Drift went back to Wall Stadium. Wall was closing down last year so Formula Drift was forced to find a new venue last minute, which is why we went to Englishtown, NJ for the first time. Wall re-opened its doors and asked Formula Drift to come back and put on “the best show of the year!”. Our team dug through our notes and pulled up our 2007 setup for the rocky road ride that is Wall Stadium.

We arrived on Thursday with plans to get some good practice in for the weekend. Kevin and Sergio got the car all ready to go, I watched a few cars take to the track, then headed back and jumped in the car. The first few runs were pretty good. Decently high on the bank, finding the line through the lower section, just feeling really good. Then the rain came. It started coming down pretty hard, so we headed back to the trailer. We checked the weather and see that it is scheduled to rain the rest of the day, and all day Friday. We agreed to go back out on track and prepare the car for a rain setup since it appeared that we were going to have to qualify in the rain. This was the most I had ever driven my car in the rain/wet at this point. We were doing fine on the course, the car was adapting to the wet conditions very well due to the Maxxis Z1 tires.

Friday morning we roll into the track to torrential downpours! All the drivers were talking together as we watched two cars go out on course. There was standing water everywhere, and a thunderstorm that was headed right for us. The cars could barely make it around the track, the standing water literally broke front bumpers in half. After a few rescheduled drivers meetings, Formula Drift makes the decision to postpone all driving until Saturday, as the weather appeared to be sunny all day on Saturday. So now we had to do all qualifying AND Top 32 tandem in one day! Talk about long day!

Saturday morning, sunshine! No rain in site! We had a long day ahead of us so we started nice and early. During the rescheduling we had lost 2 practice sessions, we only had one scheduled before qualifying, then straight into tandem. Since the Top 16 ranked drivers went out first, we were in for a treat. The track had just started trying to dry the infield. There was still some standing water and a very wet course. They were able to move the water a good amount before we ran, but our practice session was a wash, literally! Second practice group goes out, it started to dry a bit… then qualifying starts, and as we are going through the ranks the rubber is getting down and drivers are starting to make some smoke. When it came time for our qualifying run, I had to go back to my line on Thursday morning, and try to stick it first try! Pull down onto the steep bank, I get the signal. First, second, third, flick! Grab the handbrake over the big dip, then back on the gas, high on the bank! Throttling through the bank, coming down for the big transition, full throttle now. Throw it back and forth across the start/finish line, down into the first corner, suuuper wide in the bottom corner, get on the throttle and pull me back in towards the inner clipping point, transfer across the infield, the car is jumping up and down now. Get through the whoops and into the last corner. I gained too much speed in the dry conditions! My rear tire hopped up on the steep bank and I tried to pull it off but it spun the car. I got a zero. At this point I was so nervous because I needed to get a score, any score, to get back in the game. I tried my best not to let it get to my head during the hour long wait before my next run. Second run comes around… I needed to focus. Nice and easy, don’t push too hard. I run through the course, about a foot or two off the outside clipping points, nice and tight on the inners. That run landed me in 10th place. My team and I was very happy with that!

Now it was time for a whole new battle. Head to head on the Wall Speedway course. My first matchup was with Doug Van Den Brink. His car is always fast through the course, so I made sure to remember that for my chase tandem run. I got some notes from my spotter and head in for the first round. I was the lead car which is always an advantage for the first run. I ran through the course, super high on the bank, I actually scraped the bumper on the outside wall! No holding back now! Flipped through the infield, hit all the clips, everything felt great. I lined back up to chase him now, off the start I gave him one or two car lengths. By the time we were coming off the bank we were side by side! Transferred through the infield, we were stuck to his car in every corner! As we pulled around for the announcement. We got the call, we won! Headed into Top 16! Our next matchup was against my Drift Alliance buddy, Justin Pawlak. He was driving his brand new RX8, and doing a phenomenal job at that! I had to follow on the first run this time. I was told from my spotter that his car was fast so just go for it! I had driven with Justin many times before as well so it was going to be a great match for sure! I jumped off the line with him, tore down the straight and threw it into the first corner, our initiations were identical. We ran through the course together, side by side as if we were putting on a demo. Then for my lead lap I just ran through the course as I would for qualifying, I could hear that 3 rotor monster behind me, but when the judges made the call, our team was moving into the Great 8! For the next round, it was an Atlanta rematch against Tyler McQuarrie. His car was great on this course, so it was going to be a tough run. I had to chase again on the first lap. I ran down the straight with him as close as I could trying to not let him get away. As we rounded the bank, the smoke from his car was so thick I could not see anything! As I transferred off the bank for the first inner clipping point, as soon as I got through the smoke I realized I was headed straight for the cone! I tried to correct and get around it, but it caused my car to under steer and I could not regain control fast enough and Tyler pulled almost five car lengths. Unless something serious happened on his chase run our weekend was over, and nothing did. Tyler did a smooth run and moved into the Final 4.

Overall it was a great weekend for us. We are still in the Top 3 in the championship, and looking forward to Las Vegas. See you then!

This is a close up of the baffle I made for the oil catch can. The inlet is at the top of this cylinder, so i used a piece of 90degree aluminum to force the flow of “blowby” down, and not right out the filter which will be on top.

Justin Pawlak came down to help me fit, hold, and weld the new setup together. Justin is great at tig welding aluminum! We took the radiator and fitted it in the car to make sure there was room for everything.

Then we started to build the lower mounting bracket.

Once the radiator was fitted, we placed the intercooler in to check spacing, and to sort out the mounting tabs…

Then we had to jack the motor, take the driver side motor mount out, and pull the compressor housing so we could adjust the elbow to be perfectly lined up to the new intercooler setup.

The Mishimoto intercooler with the new elbows tacked in place.

And the finished product! We lined up the elbows so that the charge pipes were perfectly straight, no bends, no welds, no way to blow off! We also whipped up some mounts for the top side to keep the radiator and intercooler solid. Thanks Justin!

made new trunk pins for the hatch…

I bent this tube to follow the hatch seal and tacked it in place to give it good support. I also trimmed off all the excess metal for a clean edge.

I then remade the exhaust since the old one was about 5 years old and had been banged along the ground several times…

more updates soon!

Dear Diary,

Where do I begin!? Atlanta is such an up and down track for us! At the inaugural Formula Drift in 2004 we earned 2nd place, in ’05 we had insane drivetrain issues where we broke everything behind the tranny… twice! That left us with a Top 16 finish. 2006 was the debut of the Titan 350Z, and it did not go well, we made it through the course without spinning maybe three times, resulting in a Top 16 finish as well. 2007 was back to the top with a 1st place finish, followed by a Top 16 knockout in 2008. Which leaves us in 2009 with a 1st place finish!

The weekend started out great, we got into town early and headed up to Charlotte for Kyle Busch’s birthday party with NOS. It was a fun time and gave the team a chance to hang out and relax. From there we headed back to the track to get ready for Thursday practice. A lot of new faces started showing up like DA Aces Wilkerson and Wagner, and a few other guys that could not make it out to Long Beach for the first round. Thursday practice went well, we had some leading and some chasing runs to make sure the car was setup for the weekend.

Friday was a pretty smooth day for the most part, some quick practice to make sure everything was good for qualifying but as we were running practice, the judges wanted to keep pushing the starting line back to see how fast we could go into the first turn. They had moved the start line back four times with only a few minutes left in practice, and all of a sudden my gearing was too short for the straightaway! Without having a quick change rear end, I had to think fast since I had maybe one pass left before qualifying, so I jumped back in line and had to change up my entry style to allow me to enter earlier. Everything worked out and we went through qualifying coming out tied in 11th. Not a bad position…

Saturday starts nice and late so we got to cruise in the track at around 11am. Walked through the pits and checked out the car, everything was ready to go! My spotter Blair and I worked out how to really watch the other drivers and take notes on how they were running. For some reason I feel that we did a much better job at this event than normal. Our communication was great throughout the entire ladder. First match up was against Chris Kregorian, he was getting through the course but his lines were not very consistent. So I had to be cautious while chasing him. Good thing I was because when I chased him into the first corner, he overshot the clip and went off-track. I grab the handbrake and tried to maintain drift as he jumped back on course in front of me! We finish the run clean and we were awarded the win!

Moving into Top 16 I see that we were faced with Samuel. I was not very excited to have to run Sam so early in the competition. But this new Top 32 format really seems to put drivers to the test earlier on! I had to chase on the first pass, so I knew I had to get on the gas quick to keep up with him down the hill. He still pulled three car lengths on me but I was able to catch up in the horseshoe. On my lead lap Sam was very close to me throughout the run so the judges gave us a one more time. We pair off again and this time I jump on the throttle a lil sooner since Sam was hardly giving me the pace cone, he still pulls at least two car lengths before the first corner and once again I fight through the course and get door to door with him in the horseshoe. On the lead lap Sam once again is all over me so the judges call for another one more time! This time on my chase run I launch down the hill like its qualifying time. He still has no trouble driving 800hp of Viper past me down the hill. We enter the course and this time in the horseshoe I was sooo close to him that I got a little choked up at the top clipping point. I was then told that Sam slowed down from an average of 38mph to 30mph exiting the horseshoe. The judges counted it against Sam, and then on my lead lap, I drove down the hill as hard as I could and threw the car in, right as I get into the throttle… BOOM! Sam hits the side of my car, my head hits the roll cage and my car spins to a stop. Everything seemed ok since he missed the wheel/suspension… we headed back up the hill, and we were awarded the win.

Top 8 was another interesting match up, Tyler McQuarrie in the Falken V8 convertible 350Z. I lead first and threw down a nice clean run in front. On my chase lap, the lights drop and I hit the gas, I immediately notice Tyler was not moving so I jumped on the brakes about two car lengths ahead. I look over my shoulder and see the car shake and start the lunge forward. I get back in the throttle and we tear through the course, we had a clean run and we were nice and tight in the chase… we had won again! After the round, Tyler and his crew chief came over and thanked me for my sportsmanship. I gladly said no problem. This has happened to me in the past and I would never do that to anyone. I do not want to win by default.

We were now in the Final 4! Two chances for the podium! I look around and see Ryan Tuerck and Joon Maeng in the Final 4 with me! What an amazing outcome! I was first faced against Tuerck, who just came off his Long Beach win. We both knew it was going to be a fair and awesome match up so we just drove as hard as we could. In the end we were awarded the win and were heading for the finals! Darren McNamara was the last driver in the Final 4 who just defeated Joon in the semis, this had just become a 2007 rematch! In my first chase lap we were super close and running smooth. On my lead lap I made a huge mistake and miss shifted the car in the horseshoe! But Darren followed that with a spin in the last corner! He was so close to taking the win! Next lap I chased again, and just went for it, there was no holding back at this point, we were in the finals! Door to door all the way around the horseshoe and down the hill, I just had to lay down a clean lead lap, and that I did. I punched that car into 3rd so hard I thought the tranny was gonna fall out. But it didn’t miss this time. The official told us to go to the horseshoe and they would announce the winner. When they called my name it was one of the best feelings I’ve had in a long long time. 1st Place Road Atlanta!!!

Next stop is back to Wall, NJ. Hometown for me and many of my friends. Looking forward to it!

On Saturday in Road Atlanta for Formula Drift Round 2, we came out on top of the podium! It was such an insane weekend with very difficult tandem matchups. I will post up more details soon, but here are the pictures from Mike Groh for you to enjoy!

http://www.chrisforsberg.com/gallery/v/2009-events/formula-drift-round-2/