California Dreamin'

With august coming to a close, my summer was only beginning to slow.  Seeing that my summer didn't really start until July with Formula D and the following events, I still had until October to call it an end.

In the past, I have visited California on a yearly basis, with the exception of last year.  At times, I have visited California twice in a year.  Unfortunately for me, this year it was not entirely for relaxation.  I did however visit twice with a time span of one month.  Both times I drove my '87 Nissan S12 down and to say the least, absolutely exhilarating - especially through the mountain passes.  Both suspension and engine held through without issue.  Flying through the passes in the middle of the night was the best time; the fact that there was virtually no traffic and the cool/cold atmosphere, the twin-turboed RB loved it.

Come September 9th, I left for Southern California.  As usual when I travel to SoCal, I always stay at my best friends' place in Rocklin, CA.  I have as much enjoyment from staying with them as I do any other destination.  Not digressing too far from the original intent of my trip to SoCal, I was there to attend the nationally known Japanese Classic Car Show (JCCS) that is held annually.  In addition to attending JCCS on Sunday the 12th, I went to a the local Silvia car show/meet that was held in Anaheim on the 11th.  At the Silvia car show I received the trophy for Best S12 and at JCCS I received 1st place in the '80s Nissan/Datsun category.

 



For a full synopsis of the trip, the following links detail it all.  JCCS part 1 and JCCS part 2.

Not a month later I was heading down to SoCal yet again (October 4th) to the Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, Ca.  This time much more work oriented.  I was participating as part of Nikolay Konstantinov's race crew.  Nikolay is at the professional level of Formula D here in the States and is quite a capable driver.  For a rookie, one of three 'true' rookies, and one that only practices 6 or 8 months out of the year depending on weather, he is exceptional.

All was going well until Friday (the 8th) night just after Nikolay had qualified in the top 32 competitors beating out over half the contendors (64 in total) placing 26th place (if I remember correctly).  During a practice run, he followed Drift Emporium's supercharged Z33.  Due to adjustments in the Zed's suspension, the car seemed shaky, so Niko gave more space between the two.  Unfortunately with Randy's adjustment to Niko's rear suspension, Niko being drawn to the lower line of the bank on the track, and the Zed's lack of speed, a situation was bound to happen.  Niko had excellent angle and speeds that when speed trapped were similar to Vaughn Gittin Jr, but when exiting the first corner, he came up too fast to the Zed.  Being so low, the physics of a car drifting would force an arc outward instead of taking a higher line and angling low on the exit.  Well coming up, Niko had two choices: hit the Zed or the wall.  He decided for the latter, which caused a nearly totaled car.  The entire front end, especially that of the right-hand side, met the engine itself.  The car was unable to be driven and was towed to our spot in the pits.  That was at 9:30pm.  We had until 4pm the following day to fix the car to run a couple practice rounds then immediately compete.  With out luck, we faced Gitten Jr, the leader in points and was bound to win for the season.  We had a lot of help from many people both on the track and off the track.  It was amazing to see so much activity and a car rebuilt in so little time.

Very much thanks to the Drift Emporium guys, Nikolay, and Randy, the car was able to run and passed tech. inspection.  When Nikolay drove onto the track for his practice round there was a huge cry of exuberance and cheers from both the crowd and just about everyone in the hot pits.  The night before, Nikolay's crash was well known online and was the most sought after video/discussion on Formula D's website.  Come time for competition, Nikolay went against Gittin Jr.  The first run, Gittin Jr pulled away as any 800hp NASCAR-rated motor in a Mustang would.  However, Nikolay was able to keep enough speed, angle and style that he was able to prove enough of a challenge.  Gittin Jr ended up tapping the wall under the judges booth on the second to last turn causing him to momentarily lose control only seen when watching his front wheels change direction, once counter to the drift and then back to save the drift.  With that, Niko was favoured in the first run, which is something really hard not barring it was Gittin Jr but as a chaser, the odds are against.  All it took was for the second run to be clean on Niko's part and we would have knocked Gittin Jr out of the running.  Things were not good as Niko's RB25 overheated causing the ViPec standalone ecu to throw the whole system into safety mode, thus cutting all power.  With that, Nikolay bowed out unable to continue to compete, thus Gittin Jr won both that round against Nikolay and the 2010 Formula D season.  Despite the loss, the whole weekend not only tested Nikolay and our ability to recover, but it made not only our team stronger and closer, but it was the same with the entire professional Formula D entrants and fellow competitors and their corresponding technicians.