I could write a book after today… and maybe I will, so look out.
After a little deliberation, I hit the Dsport season closer today. I deliberated a little because… drifting just hasn’t been fun for me this year, and for much of last year. Secondly… I’ve really only practiced once since last August (AF#2), and I’ve seen hints of how much everyone else has improved. I was intimdated. I worried about being DFL. I worried about not being able to slide the course. I worried about my pride as the founder of AF…
All these things aside though… I woke up this morning (After a very long and wonderful night with my girlfriend), and realized that even if I did come DFL, or put the car into a wall I would still have fun, would probably learn a lot about my driving, and gain a greater understanding of where I need to be, and what I need to do to move forward in this sport should I so choose.
I have no regrets.
After only 30minutes I realized today would be a great day, and I really do love drifting. What I hate, is organizing and planning, worrying about money, making people happy…
The course set up by Mark and Andrew of Dsport was great, and actually pretty Corolla friendly being all second gear (maybe you could have entered in 3rd, but I didn’t have balls), with an only slightly increasing radius turn 1, then two decreasing radius corners after that which I could get right. Well… maybe I could have gotten them right if I could have gotten through the first turn at all. Most of the time I could not. Of my four qualifying runs, I spun twice in turn 1. I finally resolved to come in with a little less speed and entered later just to get a score. In the end… that score was not good enough to move me into the top 8.
Watching the other guys… I thought I might be close (and it was). There were a few drivers who were clearly superior to everyone else. Guys who could drift the banking before and after the official course. Guys who were grabbing the sidebrake 15m before I was in the first turn. The rest of us though… looked pretty similar. Or so I thought…
At the time, I was actually slightly relieved not to make the top 8. I had been up until 4:30 the night before. Gotten like 3 hours of sleep, panicked in the morning to find more rubber (I don’t wanna say) and then showed up with a two sausage and eggers and a large OJ in my stomach. Didn’t feel good. I wanted to go back home to bed. In the end I would get home around 4pm and sleep until 9.
But… being eliminated, and being a guy who’s organized drifting events in the past, I was asked to help judge the remaining 8 drivers. I wasn’t particularly stoked about this, but I can’t refuse such a thing. In the end, I probably learned more sitting up in the judges booth, than I did driving the course.
I’ve always hated the fact the drifting is judged… I like things to be black and white. I was suprised… that really drifting can be. With 8 guys left, everyone can make it through the course on the right line. The differences become, speed, entry point, and line. These things are flat out obvious. With the judges booth basically right on top of the initiation point, you can see exactly how much earlier driver A grabbed the brake, or kicked the clutch and started sliding. If he can’t stay tight to the clipping point, dock him. If he bogs on exit, dock him. If he swerves, dock him. Mind you, you have to give some consideration to the cars. A 110 hp Corolla just isn’t going to come out of the corners with the same enthusiasm as the big cars, and you’ve got to expect the guys with big power to make smoke in places. It actually wasn’t that hard to judge single runs.
At this point, it became very clear why I wasn’t still driving in the competition. My entry was about as good as the worst of the top 8, but they were doing it consistently, where I failed on 2/4 attempts. Next time I’ll take a different approach.
Tandem was a little more difficult though. With two cars out, drivers make a lot more mistakes, and while the could nail it 9/10 with the single run, it becomes very hit and miss. So maybe… you end up with two guys understeering through a turn, or a couple turns; one guy almost getting passed, another guy getting way off line. It was a bit messy. It’s even more difficult because we as the judge have twice as much to watch. In the end, one judge sees something totally different than another just because he was looking at one particular thing. That’s why numerous judges are needed to reach a consensus.
A couple of the tandem runs were really ugly, with major understeer, both cars getting way offline. It’s something that’s difficult to judge, and from the standpoint of putting on a good show, you really don’t want to send cars one more time, when they can’t even drive the course (not saying I can do better). In the end… the last run for first place was spectacular, and easy to judge. Both cars did great, until one guy made a mistake and went off course. Easy.
With that event… I think my season is pretty much over. Various people had discussed me driving at the V8Less demo in October. I can’t put on a great show… so there is no point. I’d like to be a driving hero, but I’m not at this stage. I might hit a competition in Lethbridge two weekends from now… but that will depend on how other things are going in my life.
I changed various things on my car, which I think helped me out today. I switched out to some 195/50/15 Kumho 711’s in the rear on a zero offset rim. I had been running 185/55/14 712’s on -9. The car felt a little more predictable. I switch my rear pads out to Hawk HP Plus. This was a great choice because my e-brake works great now. Before today I’ve never enjoyed using my hand brake. The bad thing was… I didn’t bother to install the front pads I bought. So… no bleeding speed sideways anymore with the foot brake. Instead… the rear’s lock up first and send you backwards… 6″ from a pole. Scarey.
The front sway bar got stiffened. The rear shocks got softened. I think it helped.
The car is still for sale, but I don’t think anyone’s going to buy it. I’m considering parting it out… but for now, I’m going to concentrate my energy on other things.
Peace.