Tyler MC Quarrie
If there was a "Good Sport" or "The King of Mechanical Problems" award, it would go to Tyler. Whether it's transmission or engine problems, or a shifter coming out in his hand, Tyler's had more issues than an episode of the Jerry Springer show. But despite all that, he's always managed to crack a joke about his crappy situation. Talk about class. So here's to you Mr. McQuarrie: May next year bring with it a better ride and better luck. You deserve it! That, and a big hug.
Formula D's Round 7 at the "House of Drift" is always one of my favorite events. The Irwindale course has become drifting's Daytona 500, and the last time I was here in the Porsche was for D1 last year, where we qualified Second and finished Fourth. I was hoping to do equally well this time around. But then came Friday's practice session. The Porsche's motor had a bad vibration and was misfiring hard. The JIC team spent the entire practice session tuning the car and it was still having problems. I was forced to qualify for the Top 32 with the car down on power and missing. My first complete lap of the weekend was my first Qualifying run, which put us in Second at the time, so we decided to pack up the car and head back to the JIC shop for repairs.
We got back to the track on Saturday, and noticed the misfiring was gone... but the vibration was still there and the power was very low and inconsistent. We spent the entire practice session working on the car; still no fix to the problem. Heading into our second round of Qualifying, I was doing a burnout when all of a sudden, "KABLAM!" Remember the vibration? Well, that was from a bent valve that ended up breaking, destroying the whole engine, leading to another event in which I didn't even have the opportunity to qualify. Honestly though, I think I was more relieved that the season was over than disappointed that we didn't qualify.
Mechanical failures plagued us from the start of the year, making this a crap season for all of us. But we still made history with the Porsche, by finishing Second at Englishtown, and silencing the skeptics. I loved driving the Porsche when it did run. It was so damn fast and did everything so well, but its reliability and the scarcity of replacement parts just killed us. I'll be moving on to a new car for '09, and you'll never guess what it's gonna be - I wish I could tell you but you'll just have to wait and see!
Tyler McQuarrie
www.tylermcquarrie.com
Hankook Tire
www.hankooktireusa.com
Ken Gushi
Like Tyler, Ken's had a rough year. His new-for-the-season drift tC's been having one issue after another-all the woes common to campaigning a brand new ride, exacerbated by converting a FWD Scion to a rear-wheel one. Running on hope and a never quit attitude, we hope the best for Ken.
Irwindale was probably the worst event for us this year. Not only did we have all year to get our tC dialed in and ready to kick ass, but since this is a local event for me, all my friends and family would be watching from the grandstands. To make things worse, I was told that Toyota execs would also be attending, watching me drive. So, before the event even started, I was feeling tremendous pressure.
But I was ready. I felt confident with myself. My only concern was that the tC wouldn't come together as planned. During a practice session Wednesday night, the axles broke and the team had to wait around for overnight parts to be delivered, so my plans to practice on Thursday were ruined. Still, I didn't let that get me down; Friday was ahead, and I expected to get in a full day of practice with no worries. But on the first practice session, I tried to drift the entire bank on the highest line possible without sacrificing speed, when I noticed the motor felt heavy and would hiccup here and there. After my second practice run, my team had come to the conclusion that one of our cylinders was toast.