Formula Drift Diaries - Dai Yoshihara

Dai Yoshihara
What's going on with Dai? Or, more to the point, what's going on with his new IS350? This accomplished drifter and Second-Place Red Bull World Championship finisher hasn't reached the Top 16 all season. But if Tanner Foust couldn't qualify for New Jersey, that shows it's an upside-down season right now. Did the new car woes get worked out in time for Vegas?

After Round 3, Team Falken Tire kept trying hard to make improvements to the Discount Tire IS350. We had a few test sessions and changed some suspension arms, which made big improvements, so I had a good feeling and confidence going into the Vegas round.

In the first practice session on Friday, I felt pretty comfortable with the new track and the car. I was eager to practice with other cars, since I haven't had much tandem experience with the IS. Up to this point, everything felt good and I thought I could do well this time. Qualifying for the Top 32, I took Fifth. After qualifying so high, I continued to feel good about the car and myself, even through the second practice session.

On Saturday, during practice before the Top 32 competition, I hit the tire barrier. I don't know why, but I guess I went too fast. Fortunately, there wasn't much damage. My mechanics, Scott and Steve, fixed it in 10 minutes (thanks, guys).

In the Top 32 round, I went against Kazu Hayashida. I took the first lead and hit the tire barrier again. Man, that was horrible! I couldn't believe what had happened, even though I did it myself. My first thought was that I felt so sorry for my mechanics who worked hard in super-hot weather, and all of Team Falken who had put a lot of effort into improving the IS.

Luckily, again, the damage wasn't too bad so I was able to drive. On my chase run, I followed him pretty well, but he didn't make any mistakes, so I lost the battle.

I've hit the car here and there in practice, but not in any competition over the last five years. It's a really miserable feeling. I still don't know exactly how it happened. I thought I was pretty calm, but I guess not. I think I was too desperate to move on since I haven't made Top 16 this year yet. I pushed too hard. I beat myself.

This 2009 season is definitely tough for me, but I will try to refresh myself and come back strong in the remaining three rounds.

Ken Gushi
It's been a tale of steady progress for Ken and his tC: a solid Fourth in the previous round and a step up in the rankings. So he hasn't set fire to the series, but the desert temperatures, both inside and outside the car, could ignite something for Ken that he might not have been expecting.

This was the first time we used E85 ethanol for the RS-R Scion Toyo tC. I questioned the move at first, but the change was significant. Mid-range torque had improved and the engine temperature dropped. A cooler engine means more power.

When practice began on Thursday, I was a bit confused about the track layout. I didn't know whether to feint into the main outer clipping zone or come in straight and initiate along the wall. Our team didn't start practice until later, so I was also pressured to learn the track with only an hour left. About three or four runs in, I attempted to mock up a qualifying-style, on-the-wall run. Concentrating too much on the outer clipping zone, I tapped the tC's rear quarter panel and nearly went into the tire barrier. Luckily, it was only a light touch. I couldn't afford to wreck the tC during practice, where no one is even spectating. For that session, I was fighting myself to learn the course. I decided to feint into the outer clipping zone because it looked more exciting and the speed wasn't that much greater when I drove straight into the zone. I finally got it down in the remaining five or so minutes of practice. It was good enough to feel confident going into Friday's qualifying.

Track temperatures were soaring way above 100 degrees on Friday. In this baking heat, the RS-R team worked hard to set the right tire pressures. As always, we were on Toyo Proxes R1-Rs and we set pressures to 35 psi front and about 38 psi at the rear. The only problem was a lack of tire smoke-I needed to stay on the throttle longer wherever possible. Speed during practice was around 81 to 83 mph. My angle wasn't bad, either, but I saw Daijiro Yoshihara and Ueo Katsuhiro diving into Turn One almost perpendicular to the wall. Practice was about to end and the unthinkable happened-from a moderate 75 degrees Celsius, my engine temperature suddenly skyrocketed. Nate from Motec said it could be air in the cooling system. Koji bled the system and the temperature dropped to the mid 70s. I went out once and came back to find that the tC had a bad head gasket. It was losing water.

At this point, our options were few. We couldn't swap motors because Qualifying was about to start. We just had to keep temperatures down and limit the time the engine stayed on. Koji bled the system once more. We kept the engine off until the green light and as soon as I was given the go, I cranked the motor and blasted off the starting line. I got a score of 60. Why? Because I wanted to stay conservative and make it into the Top 32, but I think I was too conservative. Since the engine was still good, Koji gave me the OK to do a second run. I pushed a little harder and scored 74.1. That placed me 16th against Tyler McQuarrie (who was at 17th). Tyler, yes. Revenge time.

As soon as qualifying ended, Team RS-R began tearing the motor out. The reserve 3S we had was not set up for E85 ethanol, so I had to be aware of drastic changes in engine temperature.

Main competition day, under a blazing sun. Since I hadn't practiced tandem all weekend, I knew I had to focus on it for the last practice session before the Top 32 began. I did three runs behind a couple of different drivers and got the hang of it. The back-up motor was running strong, so I was happy. Top 32 started and I lead first, so I knew I had to create a gap and get the advantage. Tyler didn't back off. He stayed on me throughout the course. On my following lap, I tried to stick as close as I could to Tyler's door, which I managed to do until the second clipping point, where I couldn't see a thing because of his tire smoke. I overshot the clip and gave Tyler an advantage. The result? OMT.

On my next lead lap, Tyler was on my door again. The run was flawless and simple, so I felt confident to get even closer to his door on his lead lap. As Tyler left the green light, I tried hard to keep up on the straight. Then his car stalled a bit so I lifted and he got back on the throttle, creating a half-car gap between us. At this point, I'm freaking out because I had to close the gap. I managed to get on his door once again through the outer clipping zones and to the first inside clipping point. This is where I was having trouble on my previous following lap. I knew I had to stay close to the clipping point without overshooting, so I transitioned early and dived into Tyler's tire smoke. I was hoping to find a clear track in front landing right upon Tyler's passenger door, but he was right there, stalled. Unable to slow down fast enough, I slammed into Tyler's rear quarter panel and spun.

My day ended early as I sat back to watch the Top 16 driver intros. My Scion teammate, Tanner Foust, drove like the champ he is all the way to the top. Man, how does he do that? Good job to Team Scion Racing and Rockstar for the win. Next time, I'll be up there.