Torque Insanity: Street drifting... legally!

Friday, March 25th was a big day for J1N Racing. Not only do we finally get to sit behind the wheel of the car again, but its got more power than ever, and we are on the biggest stage of the year with the Indy Racing Leauge.

The IRL St. Petersburg Grand Prix has consistently pulled upwards of 150,000 spectators during the 3-day weekend. It is a great honor to be asked back here for my 3rd time representing Florida, my sponsors, and drifting itself in such a professional environment. With us this weekend were other Florida drivers:

Jason Jiovani Yellow LS1 240sx S13

Rob Fleming Teal LS1 240sx S13

Ryan Kaufman Maroon LS1 RX7 FC

Jeremy Lowe Black Turbo RX7 FC

Dan Chilton White Turbo RX7 FC

Miles Flick Maroon SR20DeT 240sx S14

Will Barnette Silver Mustang Cobra

Fello Ambivero Blue Turbo BMW

Marco Tellez Green SR20DeT 240sx S13

Vas Vogiatzis Gray KA-T 240sx S14

Midday our demo is scheduled and as we are preparing the car I get asked, "How's she drive now?" by a fellow driver. All I could say is "We will find out soon!" Nothing like 5mph going on and off a trailer to really know your car right? :)

I get chosen to go in the first group, all LS1 cars, and they choose me to LEAD the group. Fantastic, I don't even know how the car feels after 5mph and I'm leading. We get all set and up to the track entry, pretty nervous... its been almost 5 full months since I've driven, and its a 100hp+ new setup. Not to mention the same size Nexen N3000s are still on the car, 265 in the back.

So we take her in, feel her out on the straight before the first turn. I hit the throttle and enter at a modest 80mph and let her loose......
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PERFECTLY SMOOTH feeling, oh and transition and heeerrrreee we gooooo. At this point I've already fallen into my comfort zone and its like I never missed a day of driving. We are pulling off 3rd gear drifts on this track where I used to floor 2nd to keep tires spinning. GOD I LOVE THIS TORQUE (<3 TrickFlow). The Nexens are actually matched REALLY well I think. I had consistent feel all course and all day, with confidence growing each drift.

Then it happens... I realize that my little brakes that used to be fine for the SR power/speeds were not able to keep up with the speed I gain now with the LS1. I am getting brake fade so soon, my handbrake starts to get iffy, adding footbrake only makes it more iffy. I also notice that before the run, my steering wheel was dead center when driving straight, but it is now about 90 degrees left! Something is weird, but we ride out the issues and finish the demo.

Looking under the car I check all the alignment points. Everything is tight, even the steering knuckle. No idea how the steering got out of whack so we put the car down and.... the steering wheel is perfect again?!?! We aren't sure what the deal is but maybe I unbound something. Can't do much about the brakes without better pads (already in the works now!), so we call it a day and just hang out talking to fans as they come up.

Saturday's demo went really well until the end. I entered REALLY fast behind the other 2 LS1 cars, ended up being faster than the guy in front of me. I judged my entry off of his and without knowing it (learned after video review), he had lifted, and braked off some speed (ebrake) before entering. So I held throttle the whole way in and quickly caught him in the slide, gave him a little nudge, and we were on our way. I ended up putting my tire itself into his rear 1/4 panel. I suffered like unnoticable scratch on the wheel, and his 1/4 looked decently 'redecorated'. He was one of the organizers and got out after the session and told me I was out of control and no longer in his group. I just let him get out his frustration and agreed that I'd drive with a different group.

The same issues arose again with the steering and the brakes. I finally figured out the steering though! The actual steering rack bushings were so deteriorated that the rack was actually SHIFTING around side to side. Changing wheel alignment and giving me a now noticable 'slack' in the steering. I tighten it down but its no use, the bushings are shot. We will just have to deal with it.

Sunday came, I drove with the other group, no problems except more of the same brake and steering, but we get it done well. Each day after the demo I heard tons of compliments from spectators coming by. I had people saying they knew when I was coming down the main straight next because of the amount of smoke off the final turn 2500ft away! Several LS1 enthusiasts were in love with the motor setup being used, and the fact that it was in a strange chassis to them. There are Youtube videos where people make comments like "He had that one perfect!", "Here comes that Yellow one again!", "Awesome" or just the crowd giving big Wooooo!'s. The biggest ego booster was the one that came up, asked who drove it and made it a point to shake my hand and say that "You're the only one who knows how to turn right (correct), you put on a hell of a show!" Luckily, I still fit my head in the truck on the way home.