Formula D Diaries: Las Vegas
There's hot, and then there's Vegas hot. Blistering oppressive, and sweltering temperatures at the Las Vegas Speedway during the month of July skyrocket up to 120 degrees F. Imagine touching your oili filler cap after 30 minutes of hard driving. Now imagine that kind of heat, but all over your body. It's like that; only with UVA and UVB rays.
Fortunately for eight of our Formula D Diaries drivers and the entire tow of our 2NR staff, this particular weekend was moderate, with temps in the upper 90s. But that doesn't mean our drifters didn't crank up the heat in the seasons halfway point at Round 4...well some of them did. A few crashed, some broke, and a couple were surprisingly knocked out early on, but two of our drivers landed in the top three. Who, may you ask? Read on.
Alex Pteitter
The Formula D drifter-turned-judge traded in his gavel for a steering wheel, jumping into the seat of his personal S13 240SX. The first time in years Alex has competed in Formula D, we asked him to share what it's like to be back in the saddle again.
Wow, what a weekend that was. It was some of the most incredible driving I have seen in a long time.
Things started late for me; switching from being a Judge to a driver wasn't settled until shortly before this event, so I was under the gun to get myself and my car ready for Formula D. I was so excited to get behind the wheel again that I really didn't consider how bad of a car I have. It began acting up in the first session. The boost controller wasn't working right and it ended up spiking to 1.8 bar from the 1.2 bar it had been tuned to run-a minor detail, but one that destroyed all my spark plugs, and caused the car to lose it's power. We replaced the plugs and I was back in line with a lot less practice than needed.
During the last practice session, we realized the tires were too grippy, as I was unable to initiate into the first turn. A friend of mine hooked me up with a new set, so I could at least get the car sideways, but I still felt rusty behind the wheel and was having trouble connecting the whole course. Since there were only a few more laps before qualifying, I decided to give it hell and push the car as much as I could. ...Which may have been a bit hasty, as I ended up short on the last inner clipping point, and nailed a large plastic barrier that destroyed my intercooler and pushed me backwards into a wall. With about 30 minutes before I needed to be on the line to qualify, we all tried our best to get the car running, but just didn't have the parts.
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