Drift Speed Competition
Saturday 10/20/07
October 20th, 2007 at Zero1 Motor Sports in the City of Orange, was the setting for Team Arai's 2nd competition in conjunction with Drift Speed. The event was to be judged D1 style but with a unique twist. All entries were not put in a specific class at registration, but rather their placement within beginner, novice, or advanced was determined by how they qualified. Line, speed, angle, and clipping points were all a determining factor, but overall smoothness was the emphasis for qualifying and was key from the judging standpoint. Drivers were given 3 runs, like in D1, and were judged on their highest scored lap.
All drivers were split up into groups of around 6 per group, with a total of 7 groups. Qualifying went really smoothly and quickly for the most part, as most drivers were ready on standby, only with exception to those that needed a quick 5 min. to fix their cars, but very smooth none the less. I was put in the last group and had okay qualifying runs. Nothing outstanding for me, but just overall consistency of mediocre driving was what I was coming out with. Overall, I ended up qualifying 6th in advanced, and it was on to the tandem rounds. For qualifying, I used my TK/GDD Team Toyo S15. But for some reason, I didn't feel comfortable/ and confident in using the body. I'm sure it doesn't play a huge factor in driving ability or aero-dynamics, but I didn't feel like I could drive well with that body. Call me crazy for swapping, but I ended up switching and using my TK/GDD Blitz ER34 for tandem rounds. Again, call me crazy, but I did in fact do much better, felt more comfortable, and stayed way more consistent by switching to the Speedway Pal ER34.
Since the grid was split up into 3 classes, there were less drivers total for top 16 in the class, top qualifying drivers were given a by run, so I went straight to the top 8 round. First up I was pitted against Groovy Drift leader/ member Ben in his Falken Tire scheme Estima. Ben was driving extremely well that day and I was worried that I would be eliminated right off the bat in the top 8. He was the higher seeded qualifying driver, so he was to lead first. We took our warm-up lap and things looked really exciting, just in warm-ups alone! We proceeded with the first lap and things couldn't have been anymore exciting. The judges put heavy emphasis on trying NOT to pass. Which is, I feel, the best way to judge a chasing cars skills. Matching the line and speed of your opponent and getting the nose of your car to the inside of their car is what makes for exciting tandems. So with that, that's exactly what I set out to do. And it worked! The judges were impressed by the chase lap and gave me the advantage. I was to lead next. We started out from the line and I was able to get a pretty good gap in length away from Ben, so I was able to advance to the next Round.
In the top 4 round, I was to go up against another Groovy Drift team member Aidz in his copper colored ER34. This was to be a battle between the two power horses in drifting so to speak, (car-type wise that is, in 1:1 scale) with both of us using high powered Skylines. Anyway, we took our warm-up lap and looked to be another promisingly good battle. It turned out to also be another nail biter going almost very similar to my past round. I was able to close in on Aidz from the get-go while chasing to get the advantage and the following lap was dead even. It was on to the Final round for me, and I was very excited!
The final driver that I was to go up against was none other than Jhon Mundo. Known for his amazing chasing skills and crazy fast speed, he was proven to be a though driver to try to beat. After our warm up lap, we proceeded with our judged laps. Things were tremendously exciting while I was leading in the first round as Jhon was chasing and was able to get the nose of his car well on the inside and got a 6-4 advantage. Next, I was chasing and this time, I was able to return the favor, sending us to a Sudden Death round. During sudden death, Jhon kept consistent and kept it very close in distance, to earn him a 6-4 advantage. This time however, we both kept the lap clean, but I wasn't able to get in close proximity to his car and the lap was scored 5-5. So with that, I ended the competition with 2nd place, Jhon in 1st and Aidz in 3rd. I was very happy with the outcome and congratulated Jhon on his victory and Aidz as well.
Now it was on to the team drift competition. After several minutes of practice, my team, Team Max Out, which included myself, Jhon M. and Kristopher Kristomo (Touge Knights team driver and winner of 2nd place in Novice). We were one of only two teams (out of seven teams) that were able to score on their lap. The other five teams were judged a zero, due to some sort of spin out within their team. After about 30min. of back and fourth qualifying between the other five teams just to score, the final four were decided. My team qualified first, following Team Arai Old School (Mike, Gil, & Rob), Team Arai New School (Jon, Sang, & Ulysses), and last but not least, team N.O.B. (No One Better, named after ex. D1 driver, Nob Tanaguchi) which included Lloyd Javier (TK driver and winner of 1st place in Novice), Alain Chau (another TK Driver), and Edgar F. (a heavily involved member of RC Driftclub).
The first battle was between Team Max out and Team N.O.B. We were able to eliminate team N.O.B. by running clean laps and staying consistent. Next was team Arai New School vs. Old School. Team Arai Old school proved to be victorious as they were able to squeeze by, due to a slight driving mistake of one of the drivers on team new school. The final round was a good one, with both teams staying consistent, and getting scored exactly the same score. We went into a single lap sudden death, and although both teams stayed clean, Team Arai Old School pulled off the win, due to a closer proximity within their 3 drivers.
All in all, it was a very fun and successful event, and I would like to thank Team Arai and Drift Speed for putting on such a great event, Zero1 Motor-sports for hosting, and most of all my sponsor Genki Dori Dori for his support!! Can't wait till the next Team Arai competition in April!
More pictures can be viewed here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tougeknights/sets/72157602587020254/
October 20th, 2007 at Zero1 Motor Sports in the City of Orange, was the setting for Team Arai's 2nd competition in conjunction with Drift Speed. The event was to be judged D1 style but with a unique twist. All entries were not put in a specific class at registration, but rather their placement within beginner, novice, or advanced was determined by how they qualified. Line, speed, angle, and clipping points were all a determining factor, but overall smoothness was the emphasis for qualifying and was key from the judging standpoint. Drivers were given 3 runs, like in D1, and were judged on their highest scored lap.
All drivers were split up into groups of around 6 per group, with a total of 7 groups. Qualifying went really smoothly and quickly for the most part, as most drivers were ready on standby, only with exception to those that needed a quick 5 min. to fix their cars, but very smooth none the less. I was put in the last group and had okay qualifying runs. Nothing outstanding for me, but just overall consistency of mediocre driving was what I was coming out with. Overall, I ended up qualifying 6th in advanced, and it was on to the tandem rounds. For qualifying, I used my TK/GDD Team Toyo S15. But for some reason, I didn't feel comfortable/ and confident in using the body. I'm sure it doesn't play a huge factor in driving ability or aero-dynamics, but I didn't feel like I could drive well with that body. Call me crazy for swapping, but I ended up switching and using my TK/GDD Blitz ER34 for tandem rounds. Again, call me crazy, but I did in fact do much better, felt more comfortable, and stayed way more consistent by switching to the Speedway Pal ER34.
Since the grid was split up into 3 classes, there were less drivers total for top 16 in the class, top qualifying drivers were given a by run, so I went straight to the top 8 round. First up I was pitted against Groovy Drift leader/ member Ben in his Falken Tire scheme Estima. Ben was driving extremely well that day and I was worried that I would be eliminated right off the bat in the top 8. He was the higher seeded qualifying driver, so he was to lead first. We took our warm-up lap and things looked really exciting, just in warm-ups alone! We proceeded with the first lap and things couldn't have been anymore exciting. The judges put heavy emphasis on trying NOT to pass. Which is, I feel, the best way to judge a chasing cars skills. Matching the line and speed of your opponent and getting the nose of your car to the inside of their car is what makes for exciting tandems. So with that, that's exactly what I set out to do. And it worked! The judges were impressed by the chase lap and gave me the advantage. I was to lead next. We started out from the line and I was able to get a pretty good gap in length away from Ben, so I was able to advance to the next Round.
In the top 4 round, I was to go up against another Groovy Drift team member Aidz in his copper colored ER34. This was to be a battle between the two power horses in drifting so to speak, (car-type wise that is, in 1:1 scale) with both of us using high powered Skylines. Anyway, we took our warm-up lap and looked to be another promisingly good battle. It turned out to also be another nail biter going almost very similar to my past round. I was able to close in on Aidz from the get-go while chasing to get the advantage and the following lap was dead even. It was on to the Final round for me, and I was very excited!
The final driver that I was to go up against was none other than Jhon Mundo. Known for his amazing chasing skills and crazy fast speed, he was proven to be a though driver to try to beat. After our warm up lap, we proceeded with our judged laps. Things were tremendously exciting while I was leading in the first round as Jhon was chasing and was able to get the nose of his car well on the inside and got a 6-4 advantage. Next, I was chasing and this time, I was able to return the favor, sending us to a Sudden Death round. During sudden death, Jhon kept consistent and kept it very close in distance, to earn him a 6-4 advantage. This time however, we both kept the lap clean, but I wasn't able to get in close proximity to his car and the lap was scored 5-5. So with that, I ended the competition with 2nd place, Jhon in 1st and Aidz in 3rd. I was very happy with the outcome and congratulated Jhon on his victory and Aidz as well.
Now it was on to the team drift competition. After several minutes of practice, my team, Team Max Out, which included myself, Jhon M. and Kristopher Kristomo (Touge Knights team driver and winner of 2nd place in Novice). We were one of only two teams (out of seven teams) that were able to score on their lap. The other five teams were judged a zero, due to some sort of spin out within their team. After about 30min. of back and fourth qualifying between the other five teams just to score, the final four were decided. My team qualified first, following Team Arai Old School (Mike, Gil, & Rob), Team Arai New School (Jon, Sang, & Ulysses), and last but not least, team N.O.B. (No One Better, named after ex. D1 driver, Nob Tanaguchi) which included Lloyd Javier (TK driver and winner of 1st place in Novice), Alain Chau (another TK Driver), and Edgar F. (a heavily involved member of RC Driftclub).
The first battle was between Team Max out and Team N.O.B. We were able to eliminate team N.O.B. by running clean laps and staying consistent. Next was team Arai New School vs. Old School. Team Arai Old school proved to be victorious as they were able to squeeze by, due to a slight driving mistake of one of the drivers on team new school. The final round was a good one, with both teams staying consistent, and getting scored exactly the same score. We went into a single lap sudden death, and although both teams stayed clean, Team Arai Old School pulled off the win, due to a closer proximity within their 3 drivers.
All in all, it was a very fun and successful event, and I would like to thank Team Arai and Drift Speed for putting on such a great event, Zero1 Motor-sports for hosting, and most of all my sponsor Genki Dori Dori for his support!! Can't wait till the next Team Arai competition in April!
More pictures can be viewed here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tougeknights/sets/72157602587020254/
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