It feels like the first event just ended, but here I sit, writing my last entry... Irwindale was awesome, as always. Our "weekend' began on Wednesday, when K&N rented the track out for Vaughn, myself, and Drift Alliance drivers Tony, Justin, and Joon. It left us feeling very comfortable for the weekend, and Kevin and I got the chance to test out a new diffuser we'd added to the car, that we designed and APR built. We sat out Thursday's practice session, but worked hard on Friday, concentrating on entry speeds and tandem runs.
After a good night's sleep, I headed back into the track on Saturday, making sure I got there early enough to check on our car, the pit, and also my other friends competing that day. My only focus for Qualifying was getting a solid run. Anything to get me in Top 16 would maintain our Fifth Place position in the series. We qualified into the Top 10, and were onto competition against teammate Ryan Tuerck.
We were up for chase on the first run, which I was not too excited about. It is difficult to chase on the first pass. I wasn't afraid of any tricks from Ryan, so I knew to just stick as close as I could to him. The flag dropped and we tore down towards the bank. Around Turn One, I begin to close-in on Ryan's lead, to within about two feet, exiting the corner. Tuerck fliped back to the left, into the lower bank with insane speed, so I jumped on the gas to keep up. I was closing back in on him when I saw the side of his car coming fast; Ryan over-rotated and my front wheel hit his door and completely locked up. I was dead in the water - my car would not move. I radioed back to Kevin, telling him what had happened, so he and the crew could arrange tools and parts for a quick repair. But the front control arm bent so badly that the wheel was stuck in the wheel well. We called for five minutes to repair it, but there was nothing we could do; the wheel was so folded-over that we had to take the control arm off just to get the wheel off... and we hadn't fixed anything, yet. Time ran out.
We sat and watched our teammate take his victory lap and move into the Top 8. It was a very disappointing way to end the night, but we kept our Fifth Place position in the end, so we were very thankful for that. Thanks to all my sponsors, team and crew for battling through the season at my side, especially the entire Drift Alliance and the rest of my friends and family back home!
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Ryuji Miki
Translated By:Masaki NakayamaAnother Diaries drifter plagued with problems throughout the season is the former D1GP champ, Ryuji. Despite the combined efforts of A'PEXi and the Bergenholtz brothers, Ryuji's RX-7 has been a victim of mechanical issues.
I was tied in Tenth Place, going into competition at Irwindale, which is a position that I wanted to end the season with. I arrived in the U.S. on Thursday of competition week and yes... I was tired and very sleepy, but went straight to the track for my practice session, and since I did not want to break the vehicle, drove in "practice mode" the entire time. I was very familiar with the Irwindale course, so during practice sessions on Friday and Saturday, I concentrated mostly on practicing tsuiso runs. Then came time for Qualifying, to get into the Top 16. During my approach into the main bank on my first run, I initiated too late to take the highest line, and then hit the wall, which caused me to straighten out a bit. I scored low.
I knew I couldn't make any more mistakes. I tried to relax myself, but again, my second run was not my best; my line was a little low from the wall, since I didn't want to hit again, and although I hit all major clipping zones - though not as tight as I would have liked to - the end result was a score of only 86.42.