Word by Shawn Hartum – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Slidewaysracing/150397881779675?fref=ts
Photos by Mike McConnell – https://www.Mdmvisuals.ca
After round one we were sitting in 14th place overall and super stoked for round two. But we were also battling some fuel mapping problems and minor wiring issues. We tried to drive around it and sort it out before round two.
In the month-long break between round one and round two, my trusty rx7 was hanging in Vegas at GetNutsLab. I really owe those guys for looking after her while I was gone.
We arrived Friday the 29th and headed straight from the airport to Forrest’s shop to get some programming and wiring done before comp the next day. Forrest’s shop is awesome; there are lots of cars in many stages of transformation and it was nice to see the assembly of his trademark green FD car that he was finishing that night as well. We worked late Friday and felt fairly good going into Saturday.
Colin and the crew showed up early Friday. Before they left, they saved me by grabbing some little parts I forgot to load in the truck. Colin’s LS monster Soarer was sounding really solid. They chased down a few much-needed parts on Friday. On Saturday, after checking in early at the track, they got some wiring issues, diff, and power steering sorted. The crew pounded it out in the 30 degree Celsius weather, with sunburns to prove it.
The LVMS complex is huge. We ran a new layout on the round course, which I struggled with most of the morning. The gap between initiation and turn two was hard to link; the commitment and speed you needed to carry on the straight found me in the gravel more than once. Luckily, cracked fiberglass and ego were the only things damaged.
Towards the end of the first practice I had some solid runs. I locked down the back half of the course, linking all the corners while holding on third gear.
In the drivers’ meeting before qualifying, they told us they pulled the last part of the course and were only judging turn one, two and three — and that was it. Lucky for me, that was the part I struggled with.
Qualify run#1:
To carry enough speed, we entered at just over 80 mph followed by a long e-brake in. Then I stood on the gas through the flat, quick e-brake to trim some speed, and then I got back on the gas. I ran in really fast, but I didn’t hold the slide long enough and it positioned me a little shallow for the second turn. I tried to correct with huge gas, but I was too out-of-shape; I was heading for the edge of the track sideways at 75 mph. I quickly straightened up to go off straight instead of barrel-rolling into the gravel. An obvious “0” for my first run, but the style points would have been huge if they judged air time.
Qualify run #2:
I was a little shaken on this run from my rally-style jump, but I calmed down and got some good advice from a few other drivers. The end result was a solid score of 68.3 — a full 10 points better than round one, but not enough to put us into the top 16. 70.3 took the 16th spot.
All in all, it was a great trip and round two is in the books. With huge seat time and a great experience, I need to step it up for round three and push hard. I hope to get some better power and body work done during the break before we start the Driftwest Pro series in Canada.
Thanks to all who make it possible to drift:
Bill at GrandeTire.net and Coopertires
Colin Reeves for dragging my car and gear between Calgary and Vegas, and my wife and the rest of my family for sacrificing time and cash for my silly dreams. Thanks also to Conroy for the loan of gear and advice to keep my rx7 running.
