Guest Diary 1st
Darren McNamara
This chapter's guest hails all the way from Ireland. A former Jedi knight in the AE86 Corolla, Darren's now in Falken Tire's Saturn Sky. GM bankruptcy aside, Darren's been cranking his Saturn's tach deep into the red, lighting the tires in his high-hp, low-weight drift machine.
First off, I'd like to say congrats to my teammates for the most amazing dominant performance by any team in the history of drifting. I'm so proud to be part of Falken Tire!
Looking at the season so far, we're on the up and up. Round 1 in Long Beach was a major disappointment, after qualifying Second overall and spinning out in the Top 16. I wasn't 100-percent happy with the car that weekend and couldn't quite put my finger on why. The guys from ASD got it back to the workshop and soon figured out the problem and made the changes for Atlanta, and it showed. We were very competitive in Atlanta and came away with Second Place, but it could have easily been First. I started thinking of what I had to do to get a win. We learned heaps in Atlanta and the guys from ASD again went about changing the car for the better. And when we practiced at Wall Speedway, it showed-the car felt better than it ever had before.
I love the rain, so I was extremely confident about a wet event. But when we got to practice, I wasn't very happy with the car. We thought that it wasn't going to rain, so we stayed on our dry setup, even though the track was wet. This messed with my head for a while, but as soon as Qualifying came around, the track completely dried up and my confidence was back. We ended up qualifying the Falken Tire/Sears Auto Center Saturn Sky in Fourth Place, which gained us valuable Championship points over Forsberg and Tuerck.
When we received the Top 32 layout, I remember Nick Fousekis from Falken saying that the bracket looked great for the team . . . little did we know what lay ahead. In the "make it or break it" Great 8 round against Sam Hubinette, I was feeling really confident. I led against Sam in the first run and he was about a car length behind for the entire course. We knew "The Bullet", as it's been named by the guys at ASD, had more speed at Wall-my crew chief, Ian Stewart, ordered a last-minute rear tire pressure change and rear shock adjustment. We were all over Sam for run two and stuck to his door for the whole course, even nudging him going into Turn 3. It was a clear victory. From that moment on, I knew this event was mine.
We proceeded to the Final Four, where we met number-one-qualifier Ken Gushi . . . but his Scion couldn't keep up with our Sky. For the first time, I felt completely comfortable in the Saturn. I could go all-out while leading, and put the car wherever I wanted while following. I haven't had that feeling since 2007 in my AE86, and it's great to have it back!
In the final match, I lined up against my teammate JR. I felt great and unbelievably confident. My other teammate, Tyler McQuarrie, had just clinched Third, so it was a Falken Tire First-through-Third sweep no matter what. I remember lining up and punching the air-we had all dreamed about this and only three events into the 2009 season, Team Falken Tire and ASD's engineering had swept the podium!
I still had JR left to defeat, but in my mind, there was already no doubt. I led in the first run and seemed to pull away. If I could stay with him in the second, it was mine. I didn't hold back one bit all weekend and I put every opponent away without a single One More Time-it was time to complete an emphatic victory. I chased JR into Turn 1 and gave him a little bit of room. I knew he would e-brake going in, so I clutch kicked and sure enough, I closed right up on him. I stuck my Azenis RT615s to his door at every opportunity and matched his every move . . . there was no doubt I had finally got this monkey off my back.
I now lead the Formula D Championship and have no intention of giving it up. The Falken Tire/Sears Saturn Sky is about to undergo some more changes at ASD to make it even more competitive for Vegas. Round 4, here I come!
Falken Tire
www.falkentire.com
Sears Auto Center
www.sears.com
Tein
www.tein.com
Rd 3. Results
WALL, NJ Podium
1. Darren McNamara
2. Vaughn Gittin jr.
3. Tyler McQuarrie
Overall Standings
1. McNamara
2. Tuerck
3. Forsberg
4. Hubinette
5. Gittin
6. Nishida
7. McQuarrie
8. Pawlak
9. Aono
10. Maeng
By Carter Jung
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