Formula D Diaries - Podium - Import Tuner Magazine

Englishtown Diaries Rockstar Nissan 350Z

The Formula D win was frankly a bit of a surprise. I like learning new tracks, but this one was confusing-the long, fast entry and first turn certainly benefited the ultra-horsepower cars, but they seemed to have had a hard time maintaining toward the end. Fortunately, the AEM-prepped 350Z had no problems bridging speed and power with technicality! Samuel and Forsberg went against each other early on, where Sam eventually drew blood and looked good to win the whole thing, but he went out in the Top 8. I was paired against Stephan Verdier, then Ryuju Miki, Rhys Millen, and Tyler McQuarrie in the finals-some of the fastest drivers in the competition! Despite my skepticisms, I was able to take out Stephan's Subaru early on, stick to Ryuji 's 160dB FD, and take advantage of a small and rare error from Rhys Millen's effort.

In the finals, it was Tyler that gave us a healthy scare. In my lead run, we topped 80 mph on the entry, but he was only able to reel me in on the last turn, giving me the advantage. Following the Porsche, I focused on getting the best acceleration possible off the line so he couldn't get out of reach. It worked out, and I stayed in his draft through the entire track, but still I wasn't sure which way the judging would go. When the win was announced, I felt proud to give Rockstar our second motorsports podium in two weeks-for the second time this year-and our first win in Formula D this season!