Prodrift RD1
The off season has been a busy time for me!! Last year wasn’t the best for the new 1jsx, with terrible cooling issues and a car that endlessly wanted to swap ends!!
The long off season gave me a chance to fix all the little problems that were playing on my mind for the 2009 season. No.1 being the reliability issues the 1jz was throwing up. During an off season testing session engine number 3 decided to give up the ghost and was the Final straw! New engine and a rebuilt bottom end was dropped in and a totally new cooling set up was installed into the front of the 1Jsx!
The car also got a set of the new Driftworks Geomaster hubs front and rear and the difference this made to how the car felt was like night and day… It finally felt like a nible 180 again with loads of grip and HUGE steering angle!! Which is always good in drifting!!
The week before Prodrift round1 in the cork marts I returned from an awesome break in California where I took in the first round of Formula Drift in Long Beach!! Just the job to get me in Drift mood!!
Saturday 17/03/10, Practice & pre-event qualifying
With things not working out with previous sponsors, this was my first event running independently and I was totally chilled. No pressure, no worries!!
The track temperature was quiet high on Saturday afternoon for the practice session, the surface was very slick and not a lot of grip was to be found, it seemed to be a problem for everyone though so I was concentrating on putting down some good wall rubbing lines and carrying as much speed as I could!
Pre-Qualifying went well, coming in 4th behind D-Mac, James Deane and Team Hankooks Alan Sinnott!! More importantly the car was feeling better with every run and left the track Saturday with loads of confidence for Sundays main event.
Sunday 18/03/10, Super Lap & Main Event
Sunday morning has turned into quiet a relaxed affair…. with only 16 drivers and a start time of 10am things were very chilled out before practice!!! Prodrift seems to like one big family with everyone having a laugh and a bit of craic!!
The track was quiet different for sunday practice. Cooler track temps meant more grip and speed!! It was difficult to get to the outside clips at times but it just meant i had to push harder.
Sunday practice also gave a me a good chance to check out what the new car was like against other competitors. Straight off it was very quick and I was pulling gaps on most guys I battled against!
Fermoy started to fill up pretty quickly during the morning, just in time for the SuperLap qualifying! Valuable championship points are available for the super lap, so taking it easy is not an option!!! I laid down quiet a good run and put me on top spot with only AlanSinnott and James Deane left to go. Alan couldnt quiet match my score but James came along and laid down an awesome run, leaving me in 2nd place and claiming 7 points!!
First off in the top 16 was one of the Lenihan brothers, Gavin! I knew this battle was going to be tough and my point was proved after it went to one more time! Luckily I had watched his line through the first battle and adjusted mine to run a lot shallower on the 2nd run!! It was another close battle but id done just enough to gain my pass to the top8!!
Top8 and I was against another Lenihan, Alan in the Team Hankook s13. I led first and just concentrated on driving as fast as I could through the track. The Hankook car just couldnt match the pace and took a fairly healthy lead. Chasing was a lot tougher, with Alan nearly stopping in the horse shoe. It ended up going to another OMT and I took a place in the semi finals
The semi final had me up against another hankook driver and 2009 team mate Alan Sinnott. Having ran practice with Alan i knew i had the pace on him and it ended up being a relativly easy passage into the round 1 Final!
The final was against the man on fire, Nexen’s James Deane. Having been over in Long Beach, CA with him the week previous I knew it was gonna be a tough battle. During the first run I made a silly mistake by transitioning too early into the horse shoe and it left me with nowhere to go! On my lead run I ran a good line hopeing James would make an unlikely mistake. He didn’t and I ended up with second place!
It was a great weekend for me and the new car. My aim for the weekend was to stick with James and I couldn’t have stuck any closer. With both second in the Super lap and 2nd overall the championship is definatly still up for grabs. Round 2 in Punchestown is going to be interesting!!
Thanks again to all my supporters, well wishers and sponsors who have stuck with me into the 2010 season!! See you at the next round!! Nigel!
