Hey guys! Has been long since my last post on Irwindale speedway. There are some pics posted either by Jason or Marcus. One of them is about the launch of F&F and the other would be from Long Beach!! My official photographer for Long Beach, Benjamin is still at work converting the files and videos so hang in there as there would be more to come! The picture you see was taken during media day (by me so no drift shots). In the background is the champ car driven by Ryan.
As we are a sponsored team, it is our responsibility to do our best and be the best we can. Some of you may remember my putting the car into the wall at Irwindale speedway. That made the car drive weird even thou the alignment was done and everything was checked and re-checked by Georgheinz and myself. The rear of the car would snap out to the left on power and when you lift off the gas, it would snap out to the right. Also trying to do a burnout is close to impossible as the rear of the car would step out so much that people on the outside may think that i’m trying to do half a doughnut! It was pretty hilarious as those who knew could see me countering into it and trying to prevent the rear from going out further. I guess Ueo saw that and he stopped by my side and gave me a really big smile. To make matters worse, we just fitted a set of knuckles from G.P Sport. That made the steering slightly slower in reaction. But! Once you get the hang of it. It is dope! (American lingo for best ever and a must have) It gives you lots of steering angle and you could get on the power even when the car is too sideways and about to spin. This is the new trend for drift cars as we are going faster, getting more angle, trying to get out of the first turn with more speed for the second turn and generating lots of tyre smoke! Also it brings your LCA 20mm lower to correct roll center. What more can you ask for!! =)
It’s not cheap but worth every cent! RCA for the front would cost half the amount minus the angle!
Well not only did we change the colour, we had a new motor and tranny. (engine and transmission in British english) Everything in the car was refreshed and rebuilt as we wanted to do well and we are hungry for good results! The guys behind the built are none other than Georgheinz of Gearheinz Power and Service and Katsu from HKS USA. Katsu did an amazing job in tuning our drift car. He also supported us by being part of our crew during the race and that made a difference in us getting the car on time for qualifying. Most people always think of racing as fun but alot of work goes on before race day.
Here is our buddy checking all the hoses and connectors.
And then you see me with my hands all dirty just checking everything that could go wrong or may go wrong. We do this everyday before practice and after practice to ensure that nothing fails during race day! It gets worse when something needs fixing and we would have to work till late to get it done. Well nothing went wrong and the car was just all so perfect (apart from my crash at Irwindale which messed up the geometry of the chassis)! We may have stayed up late but that was because we were just trying to make it better and improve whatever we had to make it a winner! To be honest, after a few practice session and a change of final drive to a 4.1 i was feeling confident that we’ll do well.
Our alignment too kinda long (5 hours) as the whole frame was just way off and we had to make do with what we have and to the closest possible value. That is how damaging a wall can be if you go into it at about 160km/h.
If you look at this pic, what would you notice?? No tyres up front? Yep not having a sponsor is like not having you front two tyres. You would go nowhere and the car would just be on a hoist.
You gotta love how low the car sits!
This was taken before our bright neon yellow rims see how much difference it makes the car look! Ok and now for the main story. This is me Ivan. The driver that is hungry for good results. Still is. Worked hard with Georgheinz and got everything going good. Stayed up late just before race day to put in brand new axles and to give the car a once through just to be sure nothing would go wrong. On race day, just before practice session, the brand new axles snapped. We rushed to get the car back into the pit and missed practice but made it on time for qualifying. Just as i was about to do my first qualifying run, the diff blew and we had to be towed out again. Katsu and Georgheinz changed a new diff and axle within 15 mins and i managed to make it for my last qualifying round. The spare final drive which we used is a 3.6 and that is too low. The car wouldn’t make power in 3rd and in 2nd the rev would bounce off the rev limiter. So it was up to Katsu. He plugged in his laptop and increased the rev by 500rpm. That made a difference as i could give it more revs in 2nd gear to compensate for not being able to use 3rd gear. We ran only one qualifying round and made it at 34th position out of 47. Just two places short of the top 32. I was utterly disappointed as i knew that if i had a 4.1 final drive i would have been able to use 3rd gear and that would have given me alot more speed and with more speed i would be able to go even closer to the clipping points and zones and i would have been able to qualify easily! Well in racing, things like that happen. But on the whole, the experience is far greater. Normally Diffs and axles don’t blow that easy. In fact i never blew them on my previous race car even when we did a whole season of racing, practice and testing. I guess we would be looking at getting more diffs in 4.1 final drive and perhaps Skyline axles as they are beefier!
Pictures of broken axles. Never did see the axle housing crack this way thou.
Total damage after one round! The 4.6 written on the diff housing is from the previous ring and pinion. Ours is a 4.1. It works best in all circuits and is my personal favourite. Well better luck the next time and a bit thank you to all my sponsors as this wouldn’t be possible without them.
