Formula D Diaries - Rockstar Scion TC

Tanner Foust
Foust has a bee in his sponsor-supplied baseball cap. Could it be because he got stung by the judges? Or perhaps he has a serious point the Formula D organizers would do well to heed.

Seattle is the land of kick-ass drift fans-rain, shine or anything in between. Over 12,000 Seattle fans shook the stands at Evergreen Speedway. We lucked out on the weather this year, but we weren't so fortunate in the event itself.

Setting up the Rockstar Scion tC on practice day was pretty straightforward. We tried a few gear options to harness the somewhat narrow (but stout) powerband of the TRD V-8 and found a gear that seemed to get the job done. Some suspension tweaks and pressure changes, and I was happy. Off to the bar we went.

On Friday, we confirmed our settings as the grip increased, and found the gearing to be a bit low. Stephan brought the rev limit up to 8,800-still well within the engine's safe zone-and we were ready for qualifying. I laid down a run that would have scored mid- to high-90s in previous years, but this year received only a 73. Low scores were the trend, though, and the number-one qualifier (Ryan Tuerck) only barely broke into the 80s. As the eighth seed, we closed shop and off to the bar we went.

Saturday was rough. I was paired against Tommy Suell, who had been killing it in practice. His little nitrous-injected, turbocharged Corolla was fast everywhere on the track. During the run, however, he hit the wall on the bank and arched back toward the inside concrete at a car-totaling pace. Luckily for him, I was there to soften his impact. My car was only slightly damaged (first time I've thanked Steph for building such a heavy car) but Suell's ride was mangled.

After that, we went against J.R. and he was going for it. I stuck to him as well as possible after he was unable to keep up with me on the bank, but I took one of the corners too wide on my lead run. Andy voted for me overall, because I chased closer, but the remaining two judges went the other way. And off to the bar we went, again.

Judging is an aspect we have to deal with in drifting and these guys are trying their hardest to do the right thing. In the last five years, I have both benefited and paid for judging discrepancies. But generally, I think the three guys up there do a great job. However, Formula D could fade away if the sport's judging procedure and technical regulations don't continue to evolve.

Other judged sports have been successful. How do they do it without hitting the same cap we have? Part of the reason why virtually every X Game sport thrives is because of a clear judging procedure that minimizes controversy. They generally have five judges from the industry who are separated from each other during the whole process. We don't know their names, we don't hear them talk on the mic and they are certainly not part of the show. The score appears after the computer has taken the averages. I'd love to see FD take notice of these sports' successes and begin to adopt their model of judging. I'm not looking to change things up in a crazy way, I just want to keep the sport moving forward.

Hankook Tire
www.hankooktireusa.com

Scion Racing
www.scionracing.com

Rockstar
www.rockstar69.com

Ken Gushi
Bad vibes. Ken Gushi has been feeling them. Fresh from an overheating engine in the Nevada desert, Gushi goes to a wobble in Washington State. Ironic, given that he loves the place.

It seems I never have luck at Seattle. Last year, our slave cylinder gave out. This year, we had tons of drivetrain problems. Where should I begin?

Let's start with Thursday's practice. Everything was going extremely smooth. I was focused on getting tire pressures right and counting how many laps we could do with a brand-new set of Toyo R1-Rs. It came down to four laps at about 45psi cold. After a few practice laps, I began to notice a vibration coming from behind me, specifically the passenger-side rear.

I did a few more laps and then the transmission started acting weird. I initiated the bank in Fourth gear, but midway through I noticed I was in Third. Maybe I forgot to shift? I don't know. So I decided to go again. This time, I made sure I was in Fourth gear. I held on to the shifter and kicked the clutch. This time, it was fine. The gearbox stayed in Fourth and I was able to clear the course.

I went again, thinking everything was OK. As soon as I kicked the clutch, I saw the shifter in my peripheral vision slam itself back into Third gear. "A-ha, I gotcha," I said to myself. So, along with the vibrations (which were coming from the passenger-side axle shaft) and the faulty dog-ring, I called it a day and parked. Gearbox and axle swaps were on their way.

Friday morning, the air was nice outside-Seattle has good, clean air. With a fresh gearbox and a new axle, I had a great feeling that this was going to be a good qualifying session. My first run, I scored a 66. WTF? A 66? Yes, the judges were being strict because my speed was low. I believe my exit speed off the bank was 69 mph. For my second run, I scored a 67.9. That put me in 14th place. Not bad, I guess. That matched me up with Rhys, who was 19th. I wasn't too happy with the result, but it was bearable.

After qualifying, I wanted to practice with Rhys, so we both agreed to run with each other and alternate leads. According to Ben, my spotter, it would be a battle of many One More Times.

This is where the drama began. During practice, the vibrations seemed to be getting worse. This time, it wasn't the left or the right. It was from the back, somewhere. I ran a few laps and went in thinking it was the axle again. We determined that it was the driver-side axle this time. After swapping that part, we called it a day and went back to the hotel. I was still a little worried that it might have been the driveshaft instead of the axle.

Saturday. Once again, another beautiful, fresh morning. I'm starting to love the clean air Seattle has to offer. On the way to the track, I kept thinking: "What if it isn't the axle? What if it's something else? What if the transmission wasn't bolted in all the way?" I couldn't help but question everything.

With a practice session before the Top 32, I knew I could test the car again to see if the vibrations were gone. On the start line, waiting for practice to begin, I had a bad feeling. As soon as the light turned green, I accelerated up to the bank, ready to kick the clutch, when the vibrations became 10 times worse, coming all the way to the shifter now. I knew it wasn't the axle, but something far worse. It turned out that the driveshaft had a crack in one of its welds. To make matters worse, we didn't have a spare. The only option was to weld it back together and hope it would hold through the event. Stephan Papadakis from the Rockstar team kindly helped us.

Top 32 tandem. First run was my advantage, as Rhys made a small correction on the bank. Second run, I followed Rhys with about a car-length gap between us. I could have been closer, but just to play safe for the Top 32 round, I kept a small gap. I took advantage once again and moved on to the Top 16 against Sam. At this point, I had no idea how the driveshaft looked and didn't want to think about it. Unfortunately, as I was following Sam, the shaft snapped as soon as I kicked the clutch on initiation. My race day ended.

Not a good turnout for RS-R/Scion/Toyo team, but I learned a lot from this event. For one thing, spare parts are always a must. Even if you doubt it will break, you should always carry a spare. Thanks to every single Seattle fan out there, I wasn't as upset as I could have been. Sonoma, here we come!

RS-R
www.rs-r.com

Scion Racing
www.scionracing.com

Toyo Tire
www.toyo.com