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theloudpedal · 5 years ago

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These People Might be Crazy: TLP goes drifting

There’s one kind of automotive event we��ve put off attending for a while now. Not gonna lie, drifting kind of seemed like more of a novelty in the overall pantheon of motorsport. On the drive over to Sonoma Raceway to pull back the curtain on this new to us motorsport we discussed our preconceived notions. Sure, we would have acknowledged that it’s some sort of competition that could be scored…but also something judged on artistic flair or other metric. That it was something other than “real racing” was pretty much how we would have described it. We’ve been around the block a time or two…young guys in slammed late-models, lots of camber, lots of tire smoke, stickers, rev limiters, loud exhaust and lots of pshhhhh…yadda yadda yadda. Been there, done that, wrote the article. (And in our defense, we saw a little of that)

But it was more than that. It was a whole lot more.

Enter Heather Taylor. Long story short, we met Heather at Sonoma Speed Festival this year. Among the many things she does (and there are apparently many) she makes sure that bonehead photographers and gawkers don’t walk on to hot race tracks, and generally helps make sure racing events are safe for spectators as well as competitors. Out of the blue, she sends us an email in her role as PR Manager of Team Faruk telling us about a new Netflix show and a guy named Faruk. We don’t know her real well and we have no idea who this Faruk guy is, but whatever.

Needing another Netflix show to binge like we need another hole in our heads, we binged the Netflix series, “HYPERDRIVE.” It was…well…a lot to behold. Pretty much everything was over the top (crazy) and the color commentary was a bit much, but what emerged as the competition progressed was some pretty impressive driving talent from a bunch of people (some of them well known to others) we’d never heard of. Truth told, we’re still not sure how we feel about HYPERDRIVE. But we digress….

As sure as Heather said, one of the competitors on the show was this Faruk Kugay. Faruk did not win the the HYPERDRIVE challenge, but he did do well, and he drove the holy snot out of his Toyota Supra 2JZ powered BMW M3 putting out over 600HP (We’re no experts, but we were pretty sure that HYPERDRIVE was’t exactly a true “drifting” competition…in fact, it was so over the top, we’re not sure what it represented other than sheer motorsport porn.) The guy’s also a bay area local #represent, and as the google search turned up races in something called Formula Drift (apparently it’s a bit of a “thing,” but again, we’re new to this, #noobs).

So Heather also invites us to come to Sonoma Raceway to meet Faruk, kick some tires and learn about an event he manages called Sonoma Drift and maybe strap into a drift car for some demo laps. What could possibly go wrong, right? Go meet some relative strangers, watch some young guns with flat-brimmed hats hoon around in some home-brewed “race cars” in a parking lot…at night, no less. Then maybe get in one of these things with a stranger and let them do their thing while we sit there and well…hold on and pretend everything is alright (ummm, but it’s crazy). Easy peasy.

Our initial apprehensions were soon relieved when meeting up with Heather and Faruk.

Faruk may be fast in his race car, but he may be just as fast as an event organizer as manager of Sonoma Drift ,which since 2012, has grown to become one of the largest grassroots drifting events in the country. The Wednesday night drifting occurs simultaneously with Wednesday night drag racing, with participants rolling in to race what they brought throughout the evening. Faruk is responsible for ensuring that this, from our outsider perspective, chaos is a safe and as entertaining as possible, with an army of volunteers assisting with the endeavor. He was in a constant state of movement and communication, directing folks and setting up the track configurations, yet made time to give us a tour of the course and explained just exactly what was going to happen once things kicked off. His only currency keeping everyone in line and on program was a fist bump and word of encouragement. Between the drifters and the drags, there were literally hundreds of cars (and a few trucks) ready for action. If this is how many cars come out on a Wednesday evening (as has been the case for the drag cars for decades), the future for drifting is indeed bright.

(We can’t repeat this part enough, Faruk is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and the perfect ambassador for drifting)

The Ride-a-Long:

As part of our visit, we were scheduled to do a ride-along with one of the drift participants. Excitement for the opportunity was somewhat tempered by an incident that Faruk experienced only days prior at SEMA Ignited at the SEMA show in Las Vegas. Putting the “ignite” in Ignited, Faruk had an unscheduled Car-BQ in the drift box outside the Las Vegas Convention Center. A video of the incident was/is all over social media putting the danger of this sport (as exists in any motorsport) on full display, helping us second guess a taste of the full drifting experience. After quickly signing away liability, one of us (Mark) would do some research for the Loud Pedal team and get the full drift experience. Faruk connected us with a participant willing to let a noob sit shotgun and either scream in excitement (or excrement) or cry in fear. A big thank you to Julian Dumay who offered to take our Farouk around the paddock drift course in his Nissan S12 200SX powered by a 350z engine. Below is a compilation of three clips captured during the experience. In the first part, the yelling that can be heard in the background are primal screams of pure joy.

While never getting a completely clean run as each was interrupted by incidents (in which we may, or may not have been involved in) nonetheless it was a grin-inducing introduction to something that we had long misunderstood. Simply thinking about it brings a smile at this moment and the hope to do it again.

Grass Roots:

Drifting as a driving technique has been around since the first person experienced the glee of sliding the rear of their car around a corner successfully. The modern sport of drifting traces it’s origins to Japan and Kunimitsu Takahashi. Takahashi started his racing career with motorcycles and later went on to race cars in the 24 Hours of LeMans, Japanese touring cars and even one Formula 1 race in 1977 at the Japanese Grand Prix. In the 1970s while competing in the All Japan Touring Car Championship Takahashi would overcome the inadequacies of the racing tires used at the time by drifting through the corners to keep up his speed. It was a technique that would put him on the top step of the podium race after race.

What does this history have to with drifting today? Drifting may have gotten its start on the race track but with a little American spin (no pun intended) it has a strong grassroots foundation. Sonoma Drift is a great demonstration of RWYB..Run What you Brung. The paddock was filled with all manner of drifting cars from big American V8s, to vintage and bone-stock rotary-powered Mazda’s. Some came on trailers, but most others were driven in through the main gates. Some owners had a little extra cash for upgrades but generally, the stable of cars reflected the pure passion of the weekend wrench turner sweating and busting their knuckles in their backyards and garages. And We’re Out… After it was all done, and we wussed out of spending any additional time because we were cold and tired (#schoolnight…#oldmen) so on the way home we reflected on what we had just learned. First, we learned that hanging out with drifters as not as bad as our parents had warned us about. Drifting is one of the few automotive sports, where even when a failure occurs it’s still as entertaining and mind-blowing as when the proverbial “it” all goes right. Sonoma Drift also reinforces the utter foolishness of folks that do their hooning on public roads and engage in s(l)ideshow behavior that can end up killing people for no reason. With an investment in some safety equipment (and tires…lots of tires) and for less than $50 every Wednesday night, one can burn up their rubber until the late hours of the evening. Sonoma Drift gives participants an organized and controlled (relative speaking, as it is drifting after all) environment to unleash whatever psychotic sideways fantasies one may have.

(Before we close, we would like to extend our most sincere thanks to Faruk and Heather for their time, their hospitality, and their willingness to hold our hands through our first experience with drifting)

We got a taste for drifting as a sport and as a community, though we still have much to learn (other than that these folks might be crazy) about this side of the motorsport road. We’re already hooked and are planning to return to Winter Jam on December 21-22 to get another dose of this crazy. Amateurs ticking off practice laps is quite a different thing from running in direct competition for cash prizes and/or glory. Registration for each event will go on sale one month prior to event date. Register online at: www.sonomaraceway.com/sonomadrift

Spectator tickets available at Gate 1 Main Entrance - $10 (Kids 12 and under are FREE)Gates open at 3pm - Drifting 4:00pm – 10:00pm (Starting time is subject to change without notice).

#Drifting #Sonoma drift

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holding93 · 7 years ago

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We’ve had the good and the bad, now it’s time for the biggest questions that will be answered in 2018.

Will Tesla Get the Model 3 Sorted?

Production hell. Elon Musk saw this coming. In July last year he said himself that Tesla would go through – his words – “production hell” before the Model 3 would really ramp up volume. I’m not entirely sure even he saw just how bad the hell would be.

Earlier this month Tesla delayed their targets for Model 3 volume production again. They’re now only targeting 2,500 units per week by the end of March. Just half of what Elon Musk was targeting in November and had earlier promised would be achieved by the end of 2017. Quality is also a major issue. Just watching the Doug DeMuro video you can see in the wide shots panels that don’t line up. In a supposed premium product. Sure Tesla is a startup learning to make cars but they can only survive this kind of build quality when the early adopters are prepared to overlook or be patient with such things to have the latest and greatest buzz product. It will not wash with average Johnny Buying Public.

By Steve Jurvetson [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons/Tesla

In November, Reuters reported – from unnamed sources, as the ex-employees quoted were all required to sign NDAs on their departure – that Tesla’s routine quality checks on Model S and Model X products reveal defects on over 90 percent of vehicles produced. Industry quality analyst J.D. Power has also called Tesla’s quality “not competitive” and lacking “precision and attention to detail.” Of course Tesla’s marketing spin doctors were very quick to refute such claims.

I love how Tesla are inspiring people to love electric cars and some of the tech is very cool. At the end of the day a Tesla is still a car though and as a car they still leave a lot to be desired. Can they fix that this year?

Can the Ford Ranger Raptor be Any Good?

The Ford F150 Raptor was a revelation. Replacing the unhinged Lightning with a high performance truck that didn’t really add any power over the standard F150 was a bold move for SVT. It turned out to be a masterstroke. The Baja inspired Raptor, with its Fox Racing Shocks and massive wheel travel was a totally different take on what a performance truck should be and it sold by the, ahem, truckload.

It’s a bit big for us though.

Enter the Ranger Raptor. From an Australian perspective this is the ute that has been sorely lacking from our local landscape ever since the short lived HiLux TRD took the F150 Lightning route and mostly flopped.

Ford Motor Company today announced that the hugely popular Ford Ranger pickup truck will be available in an off-road performance variant for the first time. Arriving in Asia Pacific in 2018, the purpose-built, desert-racing inspired pickup truck joins the Ford Performance family, carrying the name ‘Ford Ranger Raptor’.

The Ranger Raptor should be different. The marketing spin cycle has kicked off with very little additional information. Ford could drop the EcoBoost V6 under the hood and make a performance ute for the ages. Unfortunately the scuttlebutt, backed up by the spec on the just announced US market Ranger, put the 2.3L EcoBoost four from the Mustang and Focus RS in the pointy end. Circa 250kW is a great power number but I still fail to be convinced when moving a mass as large as the Ranger that any less than 3.0 liters is enough, downsized forced induction or not. Especially with a petrol motor.

Ford has been on a total roll lately with their high performance products. The recipe for this one looks like it could totally go either way.

Can Fernando Alonso Make Something of his Side Projects?

By this weekend the Daytona 24 hour will be in full swing and Fernando Alonso will be well and truly into the first of his side projects for 2018. He’s made no secret that he believes the world championship record is well out of his grasp after some lean years with an under-performing McLaren outfit. If anyone can pull off a modern-day triple crown though, he’d have to be your top pick.

By United Autosports [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Flickr/United Autosports [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Flickr

Daytona is merely a warm up. Practice for someone who hasn’t done much endurance racing. He hasn’t confirmed an attempt at LeMans yet. Based on the landscape of this season, you’d have to think that deal is already done. If there was ever a shot, ever a chance of stacking the deck to give yourself the best odds, this year is it. Sure, the privateers will get engine performance equalised to the level of the manufacturer hybrids this year but the Toyotas will still be able to do an extra lap per stint on their fuel. A massive advantage. So if they stay reliable – and based on form that’s far from a given – then Alonso would be racing only one other car for the win.

The realignment of the WEC and the ‘super season’ for ’18-’19 includes two runnings of the 24 hours of LeMans. So you’d have to think that there won’t be another LMP1 manufacturer competitor until 2020. That leaves ‘Nando two years to get a win if he ingratiates himself with Toyota well enough this year. Then he’s got plenty of time to work on the Indy 500.

Can the Honda Come Good in the Toro Rosso?

In 2017 Honda went very quiet. The divorce with McLaren is clearly a bitter pill for the proud Japanese company. But they quietly worked away. Towards the end of the season, there were signs – not big ones – but some signs that they just might be starting to come good. Reliability improved. They weren’t the absolute slowest car down the massive straights at Abu Dhabi.

By Honda/ Morio (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Now they have a partnership with Red Bull B-team Toro Rosso. According to Helmut Marko, “we’re working hard with Honda to make this a competitive package.” There’s no way a Red Bull team wouldn’t do everything they can to make sure the Honda comes good.

The stakes are too high.

The rumors are that after all the acrimony from a couple of seasons ago, Renault have no interest in renewing their deal with Red Bull come 2019. Then where do they go? Christian Horner remains adamant that they have options. But then nothing is set in stone for very long in Formula 1.

McLaren were very insistent on many things during their relationship with Honda including packaging which is widely reported to have hampered development on many fronts. I can see Toro Rosso being more accommodating than the famously fastidious outfit from Woking.

Where Will Daniel Ricciardo End Up in 2019?

This will be the most interesting part of the driver market in 2018. 2017s driver negotiations were pretty straightforward, so the ever news hungry Formula 1 press has already moved on to the 2019 season. Talk about getting ahead of themselves.

By Morio (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

It is a bit interesting though. Ricciardo is very highly regarded and both Ferrari and Mercedes have seats available. Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Räikkönen are on single year contracts for ’18. It seems the teams have set themselves up for a run at the Australian given it will be his first chance to negotiate his own contract after coming up through the Red Bull junior program.

Ricciardo has said himself that he won’t rush the decision. Rightly so. After all, winding up at the right team in 2019 might be the only shot he has at a world title. There is going to be some serious intrigue around this one.

Nissan on their Last Legs?

I love Nissan. As a fan, their return to Australian touring car racing has been hard to watch. Nissan has poured millions of dollars into the Kelly Racing outfit and has very little to show for it. Two race wins in 5 seasons.

You’d have to think the brass’ patience is running out. Nissan is only committed to Supercars until the end of 2018, so decisions have to be made and soon.

Richard Emery, CEO of the local arm of Nissan since 2014 left during 2017 to be replaced by Canadian Stephen Lester. Emery was a motorsport fan. Lester seems to be very level headed about the program going forward, stating that “everything is on the table” and “we will do our due diligence and go through that process in a pragmatic way and not rush into that.”

By Nissan/ Kytabu (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Nissan Australia is also a glaring omission from the 2018 Bathurst 12 Hour event, despite owning their own GT-R GT3 machine that has been used almost exclusively at the event. Possibly a bad omen for the Supercars program? After all, the GT-R has generally gone very well at Bathurst.

2019 would require significant additional investment. The Altima is no longer sold here, so another body style would be required. Not easy for a company that is now focusing on SUV products. One would have to think Nissan and Nismo in Japan are one of the best placed manufacturers to adapt a turbo V6 to the new rules with the GT-R GT3 engine available. However Supercars has its own unique rules and the engine would require significant development work to ensure it was competitive.

Nissan need to significantly improve their on track performance in the early part of this year or the decisions might just be very, very easy.

We've done the good and the bad of 2018. Now for the big questions. #h93 We've had the good and the bad, now it's time for the biggest questions that will be answered in 2018.

#automotive #cars #Editorial #f1 #formula 1 #marketing #nissan #racing #supercars #Toyota

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graciedroweuk · 7 years ago

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2016 Monterey Car Week: Historical Race Cars

The entire Pebble Beach Concours thing began as an adjunct occasion held concurrent with races that were conducted at the Del Monte Forest. These times the racing happens a couple of miles east at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, but it’s still essential to the events of Monterey Car Week, along with training, parade twists, and even racing scheduled throughout the week. The paddock constantly serves as a competition concours as epic as, if less elaborate compared to Quail, A Motorsports Gathering. We’ve got highlights.

1936 BMW 328 Mille Miglia Roadster “Buegelfalte”

The 328 Mille Miglia roadster made the nickname Buegelfalte, or “trouser crease,” to the crisp line that tops each fender. This example, displayed from the BMW Centennial tent, was among three constructed to compete at the last pre-war Mille Miglia race. The aluminum coachwork was more streamlined to enhance aerodynamics and hence top speed performance within this fast race. Its 130-hp motor (at a 1,598-pound human anatomy) pushed into a class win.

1963 Shelby Cobra CSX2136 Factory Race Car

Shelby American records reveal 45 cars were “factory built” race cars, of which 29 were campaigned by Shelby. But lots of these were upgraded to racing shot at Shelby American. CSX2136 was the very first of six cars that have been purpose built as LeMans-spec racers at the AC mill in England and further modified by Shelby American. At its very first outing, the 1963 SCCA’s U.S. Road Racing Championship at Elkhart Lake, Wis., it was listed as being co-owned by Shelby American and actor Steve McQueen and pushed by Bob Bondurant and Dave McDonald. It eventually fulfilled Carroll Shelby’s goal of winning the SCCA A/P National Championship in 1964.

1953 “Pooper”

This 1953 MK7 Cooper F3 has some mid-mounted 1,720cc Porsche motor, which made it the nickname Pooper. That self-deprecating moniker belies the reality that this 1,100-pound aluminum-bodied featherweight often whooped up on Porsche 550 Spyders from the 1950s. It allegedly inspired Roger Penske’s Zerex Specials, too.

1961 BMW 700 Sport

Plenty of cool BMWs were on hand this year, for example this 700 coupe. Among the very first to get there from the U.S. in 1961, it was exclusively employed as a race car in new. Its own motorcycle-derived two-cylinder opposed air-cooled motor was race-tuned by Willie Martini to crank out 60 hp from its 697cc. Not too shabby. No wonder they called such “the poor man’s Porsche 356.”

1996 McLaren F1 GTR

On the occasion of its 100th birthday, BMW want to remind everybody that it built the 48-valve V-12 that motivated the three-seat, carbon-fiber McLaren F1, the very first modern hypercar. It generated 636 hp from road-going 231-mph form, maybe a bit more in racing cut, where various examples won their very first LeMans outing (1995), the most 1000-km race at Suzuka, and the 4-hours of Silverstone. BMW owns this one and campaigned it just three times, maintaining it ever since in its as-raced form.

1975 BMW 3.0 CSL Art Car

BMW has commissioned an entire collection of art cars, starting with this one, which was assigned to Alexander Calder. Famous for his phones, he did quite a job on this auto-mobile, which ended up being among the last works he finished before his departure. He introduced the exact same bright colours and curving expanses he used in sculptures and telephones to the design of this paint job. It was raced once at LeMans by Sam Posey, Jean Guichet, and Herve Poulin and was a display piece ever since.

2010 BMW M3 GT2 Art Car

The 17th car in BMW’s artwork car range was implemented by Jeff Koons, and its own number, 79, pays homage to the 1979 artwork car penned by Andy Warhol. As has been the case for several art cars, this one was introduced and signed with the artist at Paris at the Centre Georges Pompidou and then raced at LeMans by Dirk Werner, Dirk Muller, and Andy Priaulx.

1960 Sunbeam Alpine

This stylish small merlot-colored Sunbeam Alpine might seem vaguely familiar to intense fans of the Disney classic, Herbie The Love Bug. It is featured in several race arenas dicing with our hero Herbie and the antagonist’s “Thorndyke Particular” (the Apollo GT). A bona fide racer, it was campaigned in real life on such storied paths as Riverside, Willow Springs, Santa Barbara, and Phoenix.

1989 Mazda 767B Group C

Building on lessons learned from its own 757 and 767 series racers, the 767B appeared in 1989 and was exceptionally competitive right from the box as a result of a heavily updated 13J four-rotor engine that was then generating around 630 hp. It gained its GTP class on its very first outing, the Fuji 1000-km. It finished ninth overall with 365 laps at LeMans that year. Its successor was the even more effective 787. The car is now campaigned in classic events such as the Monterey Historics by Mazda’s Heritage Collection.

1991 Mazda RX-7 IMSA GTO

Do not mistake the “O” in that title to get “Omologato” or even homologated. Here GTO stands for Grand Touring Over, as in “over 2.5 liters.” This racing class required cars to run the manufacturing roof panel and windshield glass, with bodywork below widened to accommodate race-spec tires and suspension. Mazda dominated by its 13J four-rotor engine generating over 640 hp (well up from the road-going RX-7’s 130!) . Back in 1991, Pete Halsmer claimed the Drivers’ Championship and assisted Mazda earn the Manufacturers’ name, too.

1992 Mazda RX-792P IMSA GTP

After principles varies put the kibosh on Mazda’s LeMans-winning four-rotor 26B engine, Mazda was forced to effort it from the wild ‘n crazy IMSA GTP class where virtually anything was adopted. Founded in this series reached about 750 hp at speeds approaching 9,500 rpm from the RX-792 app. Nevertheless, it was never competitively funded, and required major revisions for practically each outing to alter aerodynamics, cooling, driver comfort, etc.. In this development year it put up a brave fight against Jags, Porsches, Nissans, respectively, but the collapse of the GTP string and a downturn in Japan murdered the program from 1993.

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