Midwest Cup Standings from round 1

Midwest Cup Round 1 at Gateway International Raceway

Qualification

CODE

Mike Pollard     16 Tyler Cox        15 Brian Peter      14 Juan Marquez     13 Simba Nyemba     12 Charles Litterst 11 Charlie Quatmann 10 Mike Ellington   9 Brian Vrchoticky 8 Alex Roto        7 Dan Sommer       6 Mike Omera       5 Leigh Roto       4 Jonathan Johnson 3 Chris Hackenson  2 Daniel Dondzik   1

Tandem Rounds

CODE

Brian Peter       100 Mike Pollard      90 Juan Marquez      81 Mike Ellington    73 Tyler Cox         66 Simba Nyemba      59 Charles Litterst  54 Brian Vrchoticky  48 Charlie Quatmann  43 Alex Roto         39 Dan Sommer        35 Mike Omera        31 Leigh Roto        28 Jonathan Johnson  25 Chris Hackenson   23 Daniel Dondzik    21

Total Points

CODE

Brian Peter       114 Mike Pollard      106 Juan Marquez      94 Mike Ellington    82 Tyler Cox         81 Simba Nyemba      71 Charles Litterst  65 Brian Vrchoticky  56 Charlie Quatmann  53 Alex Roto         46 Dan Sommer        41 Mike Omera        36 Leigh Roto        32 Jonathan Johnson  28 Chris Hackenson   25 Daniel Dondzik    22

So as it stands I'm in 8th place.  Qualified 9th and ended up placing 8th at the event.  Not too shabby considering that this was my 1st event with the Z and only my 2nd event period... and no, I still don't want to talk about it.

US Air is May 17th.  I'm hoping to register in the next week or 2 but I just have to make sure my finances are squared away first.

Heatwave!

So on Saturday at Gateway while running my qualifying laps they had me hot lapping giving the car very little time to cool off before my next run.  I believe that the car got too hot and the thermostat took a shit.

So yesterday Cory gets the hookup for an oem thermostat from the dealer.  I get back to his house and I start tearing the car apart.  Get the old thermostat out and throw it in some boiling water and it does nothing.

Change out the thermostat, refill coolant, and 3 hours of bleeding the air out of the system its finally good to go.

I was trying to use the webcam on my computer to record a typical late night work session at Cory's, but my computer shut off halfway through and to be honest, I just finished watching it and there is a lot of dead time that I don't feel like cutting out right now and the file is too large to post on here.  Whatever.  I do have a photo of my handy paintwork on the engine cover.

It's weird because the paint I used was fluorescent pink then I put clear on, but I must have done that too soon cause it turned the paint reddish and added all the white.  I dig it though.

Pics

Keith took some awesome pics from last weekends event.  Here are a few he took of me:

Me congratulating Mike for getting 2nd place after wiping the floor with my sorry ass.

2nd practice run on Saturday.

Not sure, but probably one of my other practice runs.

MWC DD25

I went out to Gateway International Raceway for ClubFR's DD25.  The track was soo fucking fast!  I had never initiated at 65mph before but yet that was slow in comparison to others initiating at 72 MPH and FASTER!

I started off my first run on Friday with a big spin.  The following runs leading up to lunch time were very similar.

After lunch I was sitting with Ryan Clemens and he was saying that there were so many people being pussy's coming into the first corner.  I decided that I didn't want to be a pussy so I manned up and came hauling in at 60+ mph and nailed the entire course.  From there, things just got better.

So Saturday was the competition.  I did my 4 practice runs trying to get more speed into the first corner and trying to link the LONG ass straight.  Since the Judges were judging the drivers and not the cars, it wasn't a huge deduction of points to link it, but it defiantly helped.  I never managed to make it.

So qualifying started.  My first run I had what I like to call a "dead spin" coming out of turn to trying to link the straight.  My second run I came really close to linking it, but my handbrake doesn't work so I didn't think I'd be able to make the following corner so I straighted to gain speed to finish the track.  My last run I was hauling ass through the sweeper at nearly full lock and since it is decreasing radius, while I was slowing for the final corner I got myself into another dead spin.

Everyone else did their qualifying runs and by the last driver it started to rain heavily.

After a long wait with ZERO anticipation they call the drivers meeting.  Everyone sits down and Ryan yell's "Brian!  Do you have door bars?"  Instantly my heart started pounding with a reply "Yeah!".  I saw a lot of heads turn around.

So it turned out that they were picking top 8 instead of top 16 due to the lack of cars with cages and I qualified 8th!

Now I have done a lot of driving over the past 4-5 years, but this was only my 2nd track event, and my first event with the Z.  The first event at DD14 I was a total mess and I would rather not talk about it.

So needless to say I have zero track experience let alone tandem experience and they put me up against the top qualifier Mike Pollard.  Now the thing about Mike is he has got a RB powered S13 making loads of power and he can drive the shit out of this thing!  He really had just been doing amazing all weekend.

Before the tandem I nervously asked Mike for some pointers and understandably he didn't have much to say since there was $1,000 on the line and I'm competing against him.

First run Mike leads and he took off fairly slow because of all the rain.  We get into the first corner and I'm riding him pretty good, through the second I switched back just a hair too hard and had a spin.  Fortunately he spun shortly after.

Second run I'm leading.  I come into the first corner with lots of speed and Mike gapped me just a little.  Through the second corner I already hear him coming fast.  Down the long straight I straightened out, look in my mirror and Mike is filling it up and all I hear is the roar of his RB right on my ass!  Go into the sweeper and he's following my line perfectly.  Come into the last corner where your slowing down and I'm nearly full lock.  Slowing slowly, I lift too much weight off the rear and go into a dead spin.  I don't do anything except turn to Mike and start waving my hands like crazy for him not to hit me.  Luckily Mike is an Awesome tandem driver and noticed with plenty of time to narrowly avoid me.  Mike advanced and ended up placing 2nd to Brian Peter.

Looking back, if I would have had any idea that I could be out there for the top 8 I would have put on my 235/40/18's in hopes for some more grip.  But woulda, coulda, shoulda... it was fucking AWESOME either way.

I just have to say thank you to Ryan, Clinton, Edgar, Mike, Terry, Andy, Brian, Simba, Eric, Swan, and all the other guys from Drift Indy, ClubFR, Drift STL, and everyone else that gave me pointers, support, and help during this entire event!  And also I have to thank my G/F Stef for helping out and giving me pointers before my runs, and cheering me on.  Happy Birthday Stef!

You can see pics from my picturepush account on the right.

TIRES!!!

My friend Danny and I went out last night to get some tires.

Luckly we found 4 tires for the Z.

2- 235/50/17 Michelin's

2- 215/50/17 Eagle's

Both pairs have real good tread on them and no patches or major imperfections.  Slight inner camber wear on the Eagle's.  I was upset because we found a single 215/45/17 Falken but couldn't find it's significant other.  It was too bad.

I also bought a set of 18x9 and 18x10 Saleen replica wheels.  I got some Federal 595's 235/40/18 to mount on them from ebay for $350 shipped.  I'm pretty happy about it.

So Wedensday I'm going to Kevin's (blog here) school and he's going to be mounting my 4 18" tires on the Saleen's, my 4 newly found tires on some stock 17" Z wheels, and he's got a pair of 225/45/17's for another pair of stock 17" Z wheels that he's going to let me rip up at MWC DD25 at Gateway International Raceway on April 17th and 18th.  Then I also have a pair of 17" Z wheels that already have good tires on them so in total I will have 8 17" wheels to drift on and 4 18" wheels to drive around on.

I did order 6 225/45/17's from Jon at Fanboy motorsports but they haven't showed up so I have no idea whats going on with them.

But for everything thats been going on it's looking like it's going to be raining on the 17th and 18th so all these tires may be unnecessary, but at least I'll have them ready for DD26.

And a small update about the 240.

I'm trading Kevin my Tein HE coilovers for a Yamaha electronic drum kit.  The car looks so horrible sitting up high like it is, but whatever.  Hopefully I can get it road ready again and get rid of it.

Bye bye money!

I'm in the middle of a small spending spree.

First I spent $200 on a CNC staging brake with SS line, adapters, and fittings.

In about 45min. I'm going to be leaving to spend $450 on a set of used Saleen replica wheels (18x9 +24/18x10 +22).

In the next couple days I'm going to be spending another $450 on 6 Federal 595 tires (215/45/17)

The 17th and 18th are the dates for the ClubFR drift event.  MWC round 1 in Madison, IL.  I got a hotel room for $130 for 2 nights.

By the middle of the month I'm going to be buying 4 more Federal's (235/40/18)

Then finally by the end of April I should be spending the final bit for a little while with a set of Stance GR+ coilovers.  I'm not sure of the price, but it looks like just around $1000.

So yea, just about $2200 this month on car shit.  Not to mention random bits I know I'll be buying as well (suspension links, lug nuts, fluids, etc.)

I need to get my 240 back together again too.  Basically just needs a new battery, the aero re-installed, and probably lower it a bit more.  Then it'll be time to clean it up nice and take pictures so I can put it up for sale.  Then put more money twords the Z.

And don't worry.  I have been looking for another daily driver.  Probably a 89-91 civic 4 door.  Idk why, but I've always liked the look of them.  Probably would end up getting cheap coilovers and some gangster fitting sportmaxes and leave it at that.

First post of April!