Tyler McQuarrie
Tyler McQuarrie's been having one crap of a season. Mind you, this isn't due to lack of ability-rather, one mechanical issue after another. Think Michael Phelps trying to swim strapped with an astronaut helmet for goggles and Capri shorts for Speedos...with a zipper that keeps breaking during Qualifications.
A short introduction to my entry this month: I've been an instructor at the Jim Russell Racing School at Infineon for the past 11 years. I grew up, and still live, close to the track. So when I say I hate drifting this track - it's for good reason. The entry requires near-100 mph speed, and leads directly into a 400 foot long e-brake initiation. Sounds good, unless you're driving a Porsche with a motor hanging off the rear.
I'm at the track almost every day, but never with the Hankook JIC Porsche. Come race day, we had only gotten in eight practice runs; four of which were pretty solid, but the car stalled during the other four. For some reason, whenever I turned the steering wheel full-lock to the left, the power steering would jam and kill the engine! With virtually no time to fix the problem, we crossed our fingers and went for it. The entry speed for my first qualifying run was close to 100 mph. I grabbed the e-brake and nailed the line that the judges were looking for. The first corner tightens as you work your way down to the main inside clipping point, which means you need to hit it in full lock, with a downshift into 2nd gear. So guess what happened on my first run? The engine stalled! I tried popping the clutch, but by that point, the car straightened out. I still had one more run, and planned to hit the clipping point with less angle, to keep from stalling out again.
I began my second run with similar entry speed and a little less angle... things were looking good. But as I went for the downshift to 2nd, the shifter came off in my hand! Are you freaking kidding me?! There I was, looking at the shifter - which was entirely in my hand - in total disbelief, when I should've been qualifying for competition and on my way to winning this thing. What else could possibly go wrong?
I've been racing for 15 years and have had three podiums in Formula D, with too many Fourth place finished to count - not to mention road race championships, time attack records... I have never had such a disappointing and frustrating season in my entire career. I can't wait for this season to end. Irwindale is the last race of the season and I'm going to go out with a bang. In fact, I think I might wear my HANS device for that event.
Tyler McQuarrie
www.tylermcquarrie.com
Hankook Tire
www.hankooktireusa.com
JIC
www.jic-magic.com
Ken Gushi
With a dead clutch, Ken managed to squeak into the Top 16 in Seattle, landing him in the seeded group at Sonoma. With a completely custom RWD tC, a season full of mechanical woes and an upbeat attitude, a quitter Ken is not.
After the last four Formula D events, we've given ourselves the nickname "DK". Not for "Drift King" but for "Drama King"; little, unseen problems always seem to come up that keep us off the podium, so we headed to Sonoma ready for anything.
Friday's practice went well. The RS-R Scion tC was running the best it ever had. I spent all my practice time figuring out how to approach Turn 1 without sacrificing speed or angle. And then the unthinkable happened: my transmission would not shift into 2nd or 4th gear, mid-drift. Fortunately, Koji-san prepared a spare for us, and he and the crew stayed at the track Friday night and swapped it in. Our first qualifying run on Saturday was smooth until I came to the exit of the hairpin and tried to shift into 3rd gear: it didn't go in! I straightened out and scored a big fat zero! Not good. On the second run, instead of shifting into 3rd at the exit of the hairpin, I stayed in 2nd gear through the left-hand sweeper, and qualified Ninth with a score of 93.67, with 91 mph entry speeds. Very good!