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By KAAZ USA
Formula D Rd.1 / Team Drift Recap!
Time has flown by so quickly and the season has now begun. For this first event weekend we elected to use our 4AG powered Corolla in order to allow Yasu full confidence without having to risk anything with our new car. Currently the SR20DET powered "B" car will be used in the next events to come.
We ran into some minor problems that turned out to be major problems with the old motor. After changing oil on the old 2008 motor we noticed that the oil was a actually slightly "milky" and a turn for the worst struck when we then discovered that there was actually a slight crack on the outer sleeve of cylinder #2. A quick fix was implemented to get the car ready for the next morning...which was the actual qualifying session of Rd.1. After staying at the shop for an all nighter, the engine was put back together and the car was taken to the track.
Arriving at the track the next morning we unloaded the gear and car to the Toyo Tires pit area, Yasu jumped in the car and took her for a few passes shortly after. The car at this point seemed to be doing decent so we figured no settings adjustments we're needed. Later on in the day Yasu piloted the car into top32! In order to compete the next day, we decided to bring the car home and swap out another 4AG (stock blue top) block. Why? Soon after we qualified we had bogging issues when rolling the car back to the rig. At this point everyone was going on their 25th hour with no sleep already! Back at the shop we swapped the engine just to be able to run the main day...The car ran surprisingly better than we had anticipated with the 150,xxx mile stock blue top 4AG! Although horsepower was probably around the 170whp mark, at least she ran well enough to go into the TOP 16! Overall Rd.1 despite our situation with engine problems and lack of sleep turned out very well for our first round in 2009. But the work was not over, it was back to the shop to prepare for the fallowing weekend's team drift competition...
For the team drift competition we already knew that hardships were to come. Unfortunately our team mate: Tommy Suell had been in a bad wreck at Rd.1 with Ueo-san and prohibited Tommy to compete in team drift due to a demolished car. As we scavenged around for a back up driver it was only: John Russakoff and our driver Yasu Kondo standing...but we needed a 3rd car in order to compete. Everyone we called had either mechanical or financial issues with their cars which would not allow for any more driving that week. The split decision was made to elect Chris Kregorian as our 3rd driver in order to be eligible to compete. Things then turned again as John Russakoff was asked to fill in for Drift Alliance and parted from our 3 car team. At last the competition came and even more trouble was put on our plate as Yasu limped around the Long Beach Grand Prix course with no power. Another quick decision was made to take the car back to the shop and find another motor to use for the next day's event. Back at the shop we discovered that cylinder #2 had no compression at all the options were to replace the rings or just use the fresh 4AG that we got from Reggie at ARK Design. Since the 4AG would no longer be commissioned for use after that weekend's event, we replaced the pistons on the blue top block and prayed for the best. Right around 6pm in the evening on Saturday we flipped the switch on and the car was running healthy enough to load her on the trailer and then make our way back to LBGP. Most were shocked to see us work so hard to run only a 20 minutes run time! Day 4 Sunday, the crowds were in the thousands if not more for the main day at Long Beach Grand Prix. We had a great time running the car, Yasu Kondo did an awesome job at putting on a good show for the spectators and the crew had there fingers crossed hoping the engine would hold up. We ended up running out of nitrous before the whole session was over actually!
So after 4 engine swaps, about 50-60 hours of no sleep we concluded that things could have been much better for us this first round, but at least we had a great time and performed decently despite everything we had gone through. Now our focus is on building the new corolla with an SR20DET powerplant and also preparing a S2000 power plant for our 2008 pro car which will convert to a new backup car for Yasu Kondo!
Take a look at what a 170RWHP car can do at Long Beach Grand Prix in our video posted on top of this blog!
By KAAZ USA
Formula D Rd.1 / Team Drift Recap!
Time has flown by so quickly and the season has now begun. For this first event weekend we elected to use our 4AG powered Corolla in order to allow Yasu full confidence without having to risk anything with our new car. Currently the SR20DET powered "B" car will be used in the next events to come.
We ran into some minor problems that turned out to be major problems with the old motor. After changing oil on the old 2008 motor we noticed that the oil was a actually slightly "milky" and a turn for the worst struck when we then discovered that there was actually a slight crack on the outer sleeve of cylinder #2. A quick fix was implemented to get the car ready for the next morning...which was the actual qualifying session of Rd.1. After staying at the shop for an all nighter, the engine was put back together and the car was taken to the track.
Arriving at the track the next morning we unloaded the gear and car to the Toyo Tires pit area, Yasu jumped in the car and took her for a few passes shortly after. The car at this point seemed to be doing decent so we figured no settings adjustments we're needed. Later on in the day Yasu piloted the car into top32! In order to compete the next day, we decided to bring the car home and swap out another 4AG (stock blue top) block. Why? Soon after we qualified we had bogging issues when rolling the car back to the rig. At this point everyone was going on their 25th hour with no sleep already! Back at the shop we swapped the engine just to be able to run the main day...The car ran surprisingly better than we had anticipated with the 150,xxx mile stock blue top 4AG! Although horsepower was probably around the 170whp mark, at least she ran well enough to go into the TOP 16! Overall Rd.1 despite our situation with engine problems and lack of sleep turned out very well for our first round in 2009. But the work was not over, it was back to the shop to prepare for the fallowing weekend's team drift competition...
For the team drift competition we already knew that hardships were to come. Unfortunately our team mate: Tommy Suell had been in a bad wreck at Rd.1 with Ueo-san and prohibited Tommy to compete in team drift due to a demolished car. As we scavenged around for a back up driver it was only: John Russakoff and our driver Yasu Kondo standing...but we needed a 3rd car in order to compete. Everyone we called had either mechanical or financial issues with their cars which would not allow for any more driving that week. The split decision was made to elect Chris Kregorian as our 3rd driver in order to be eligible to compete. Things then turned again as John Russakoff was asked to fill in for Drift Alliance and parted from our 3 car team. At last the competition came and even more trouble was put on our plate as Yasu limped around the Long Beach Grand Prix course with no power. Another quick decision was made to take the car back to the shop and find another motor to use for the next day's event. Back at the shop we discovered that cylinder #2 had no compression at all the options were to replace the rings or just use the fresh 4AG that we got from Reggie at ARK Design. Since the 4AG would no longer be commissioned for use after that weekend's event, we replaced the pistons on the blue top block and prayed for the best. Right around 6pm in the evening on Saturday we flipped the switch on and the car was running healthy enough to load her on the trailer and then make our way back to LBGP. Most were shocked to see us work so hard to run only a 20 minutes run time! Day 4 Sunday, the crowds were in the thousands if not more for the main day at Long Beach Grand Prix. We had a great time running the car, Yasu Kondo did an awesome job at putting on a good show for the spectators and the crew had there fingers crossed hoping the engine would hold up. We ended up running out of nitrous before the whole session was over actually!
So after 4 engine swaps, about 50-60 hours of no sleep we concluded that things could have been much better for us this first round, but at least we had a great time and performed decently despite everything we had gone through. Now our focus is on building the new corolla with an SR20DET powerplant and also preparing a S2000 power plant for our 2008 pro car which will convert to a new backup car for Yasu Kondo!
Take a look at what a 170RWHP car can do at Long Beach Grand Prix in our video posted on top of this blog!