Chris Forsberg
Chris and his 350Z lost to Dai Yoshihara in the Top 8 at New Jersey, landing him Third overall and in a very tight points chase. Already having a second place win for the '07 season, Chris wants his drop top on the podium top.
Where do I even start for this one? Las Vegas Formula D events have much of the same feeling as the city itself: hot, fast, new faces, and new winners. The weekend started off good for our team; we were posting good entry speeds and clearing the course smoothly on Thursday. We decided not to run Friday morning practice due to track conditions-which turned out to be a good idea, since two of the 12 seeded drivers crashed during practice. Evening practice was snubbed by a freak storm, but by the end of the day, all of Drift Alliance had moved on to Saturday's competition.
Saturday came and we were all eager to get on the track to make a few passes. We wanted to see if we would still make our high entry speeds, despite skyrocketing track temps. After a few laps, our speeds were among the top 10 fastest. Reassured, we pulled off the track for a final prep before qualifying. Once it was my turn to run, I hit the straightaway with all the power I had, threw the 350Z into the first turn, stood on the gas all the way through in Fourth gear, and flipped 'er back for the second clipping point on the outside wall-for a moment there I thought I was gonna hit! Back in Third and on the throttle, I pulled away into the rest of the course; we had just earned our Top 16 spot.
After qualifying, I noticed that we were paired to follow Daijiro going into the tandem rounds. I've beaten Dai in the past, but not since he got in the GTO. Since its Rhys' car, I knew he wouldn't try any sneaky moves and I made sure to keep as close as possible to him during our first run. I hit the first turn with a clutch kick, but the car started to understeer. I quickly modulated the throttle to get the car to rotate, but crashed through the outside wall. Trying to regain control, I threw it into the second turn, but it was too late; the advantage came back 7 to 5, in Dai's favor. I knew that the understeer at the entry was the reason, and for my lead run, I had no choice but to go for broke to stay in the competition. We flew down the straightaway and I threw it in extra hard to make sure the car would rotate. It did and I stood on the throttle all the way into the second turn...probably a half a second too long. The wall was closing in fast, so I downshifted and started to add angle so the impact wouldn't hit the wheels or suspension. The back corner hit hard, and pulled the car almost back in line. I got back on the gas to maintain drift. I exited the course wondering if the car straightened out too much for the judges. It did. We lost the round.
It was a bit frustrating, but I am glad to have made Top 16 again. It definitely seems that our lack of horsepower is really catching up to us. Everyone is getting more and more and we are struggling to keep up. We'll see what we can pull off before the next round.
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