2010 Formula Drift Round 2

May 6th to May 8th, I was at Formula Drift Round 2 at Road Atlanta working with Doug Van Den Brink on his red 04 Mustang.

We started testing on Thursday, so Doug could get use to the car again and also learn more about the new Falken Azenis RT615K. The Azenis RT615K have more grip which in our case we had to loosen the car up more than before. So after the first session we changed the sway bar to help free the car up in our second session of testing.

On to Friday, we started practice at 4pm and then we went straight to qualifying at 5pm. We went out four since this was Doug's first event of 2010 in FD. He put down a good run with a 65.7 on the first run and a 68.4 on the second which put us at 24th.

Saturday we started practice at 2:30pm before the top 32 rounds at 4pm. We had to get Doug step up to get use to following and get as close as he could so he would have a chance of advancing to the top 16.

In the top 32 first run we had to go up against 9th place Sam Hubinette in his new Dodge Challenger. Since Sam was leading first Doug need to stay close. As they left the starting line, Doug was with Sam until he hit 2nd gear and then Sam pulled a two car lenght gap that Doug never regained throught the run. Sam was leading on round 1 but now it was Doug's turn to lead. Doug had a good start but Sam was very agressive with his entry and even bump Doug. Doug had a good run all the way but it just wasn't enough to over take Sam.

We had a good weekend and the car is still in one piece, so now it's time for round 3 at Wall Speedway in New Jersey on June 4th & 5th. I just hope this year it doesn't rain like last years event where it flooded the infield so much they canceled Friday's event. I'll see everyone there!

Formula Drift Round 3 at Wall Speedway in New Jersey

On June 4th I got on a plane and went to New Jersey for Round 3 of Formula Drift to help out Doug Van Den Brink (DV). I had to stay open half a day on June 4th so I missed practice day.
As for the event on Friday June 5th there was a 100% chance of rain and wow were they correct it was the first time that Formula Drift had to cancel due to rain. It rained all day and stopped sometime during the night. So we had to start our day off early on Saturday June 6th around 6am because of the Friday rainout the event started at 8am. This made for a very long day since it didn't end until 7pm.
DV qualified for the event in 23rd and had to take on Chris Forsberg in the NOS Energy Drink 350Z. This was the hardest competitor DV had to face to make the top 16. Forsberg lead first DV followed; into the first turn Forsberg jumped out to a three car lead and DV never got a chance to get it back. Now DV leads Forsberg followed; into the first turn where DV got a small lead but Forsberg closed the gap quickly. Forsberg was glued to DV all the way around the track, Forsberg moves on and we go home. DV said "when I crossed the finish line and could see orange next to my driver door, I knew he had won." DV has now had two good events and I think he will break into the top 16 at his next event.
Formula Drift had another first happen this weekend and that was Falken Tire had a 1,2,3 finish. No other tire company has done this yet and Falken Tire has been waiting for this day for 5 years.
I'm not sure if I will be able to make anymore events this year but if I do get the chance I will be there to help DV make it into the top 16 and try to get him on that podium.

Thank you to everyone that helped this weekend and to DV's sponsors for getting us there.