Round 2: Wall, NJ
Last year, after Wall Speedway closed their gates, Formula D changed their New Jersey venue to Raceway Park. But with Wall Speedway re-opening their grounds, Round 3 is back again at "The Gauntlet", and our six drifters-plus guest-find themselves on an oval course with 30-degree banks, bumpy track conditions and ominous weather. And in diary fashion, we have the drivers tell you, in their words, what went down over the race weekend.
Tanner Foust
The X Games gold medalist started off the season with a bang in his new tC, with a podium finish in Round 1 and a Top 16 performance in Round 2. With back-to-back titles, Tanner's looking to do the unprecedented, by taking his Scion for a straight third season win.
New Jersey was a shot of reality for teams with new cars that are still in development. We knew that there were a few issues with steering that needed to be dealt with, but we planned on working on them back in L.A., between the Jersey and Vegas rounds.
After damp NJ track conditions on Thursday, it wasn't until the first few runs of Saturday's qualifying, where we started to see a dry track. In my first qualifying run, I was laying down a fairly aggressive pass, but over the bumpy transition, I went into a Samuel Hubinette-esque 360 (only he does it on purpose). The spin caught me by surprise but I thought it was due to a correction I made at the wrong time (when the car was airborne) that caused it. On run two, I was a bit tentative. On the bank, I was very close to the wall and on the transition to the infield, I was feeling good about my line. This was going to be a decent run! But then I hit the bump, which I took with minimal angle, and on landing, the car snapped into a spin. Crap!
I couldn't believe it. I was pissed at myself for: 1) not identifying the issue by that point in the series, and 2) not being able drive around it for two short runs.
Essentially, when I landed from the bank, the suspension travel on the front tire caused it to hit the fender and frame so hard that the tire was locking up . . . at the worst possible time. After four years of qualifying no lower than Fourth, we failed to make the show in NJ. I'm bummed, but Steph and the Rockstar drift crew are cranking over the next few weeks to make the car better than ever. I still believe that the Scion has the potential to be better than the Z ever was, and NJ was just part of the learning process to get it there.
On a positive note, I had a huge amount of time to hang with the fans at Jersey-they rocked. I had long conversations with several of them and was amazed at the distance many traveled for the event. It was great to shake the hands and meet the enthusiasts who write our checks! See you guys next year!
Hankook Tire
www.hankooktireusa.com
Scion Racing
www.scionracing.com
Rockstar
www.rockstar69.com
By Carter Jung
Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!