The series is turning out to be an awesome way for drivers to consistently get together for great tandem fun! The fact that we have big prize money and 4 Formula Drift Licenses to hand out really helps too! So the drivers list is starting to build up already for Round 3. In no particular order, although this is mostly points order, and this certainly isn't everyone, I will add more as they come forward, but we have....
Brock White in his 300 hp S13, Nissan 240SX. These chassis are the staple of drifting, but Brock keeps telling me he is building something different for next year. He is a driver out of the Fort Worth area, and has been drifting for 5+ years. His tire of choice are Falkens, his door says ASD really large, and he is both # 2 on his door and # 2 in the series right now! He will be attending his first tech day with us, so we will soon have real HP, weight, and other numbers on his car to see how it stacks up against the competition when sitting still.
Next up is Robert Lee, the 113 WHP man. The man who dynoed the lowest of all the other cars at our last tech day. He has a turbo drive train going in the car soon though, so he won't be the underdog for long. Justin Hosek can take up that mantle with his NA 4AG! I'm not sure if Taka sheds a tear each time a 4AG gets its turbo, or smiles.
Mad Brad Burnett's AE86 might have 99 problems, but a boost leak ain't one. Sporting a Toyota V8 his car isn't what the conservative Japanese engineers had in mind 20+ years ago when they designed the car with slide rulers and drafting tables, but it seems to work way better! And if Taka sheds a tear for turbo AE86s, do V8 ones make him nerd rage?!? I'm not sure how many times Brad has had to listen to purist tell him he has disturbed the balanced chassis of the car, but I bet it got old fast!
Nacho Nismo. His simple clean S13 took a beating at Round 2 of the LSD series this year. Amazingly we never really have major contact that hurts cars in Texas unless it involves my own S13 for some reason, but at this event I was luckily spared and someone else got a chance. Will it come back as wide body and all body kitted up, or will it come back with a fresh chassis? Or maybe it won't have any work done at all and will come back exactly as it left the last round?
Will Parsons might be one of the nicest drifters I know, who never gossips or trash talks, but that doesn't mean he doesn't bring a beast and a bastard of a car with him to events. His AE86 is rocking a 30R turbo and an S2000 motor! Not only does that leave us with more AE86s in the top of the lineup so far, but everyone of them is drastically different and a bastard in some way! The car makes somewhere between 350-400 WHP and sounds godly as it thunders around the track. The rev limiter on this car is at least twice as loud as any other car in the series somehow!
Yeeeeeeehaaw goes Aaren Smith's Mustang as it either snaps to full lock on entry or flies off the track trying. There is no other option for this driver, it is full lock entry or nothing, and this car has a lot of full lock! It is one of the heaviest, if not THE heaviest cars in the series, and although the car has a V8 in it, the HP falls short of many of the other by up to a 100 WHP or more, even to Will's AE86! The car works really well though with a simple solid rear axle, reliable V8 TQ, big steering angle, and simple setup. He is one of our newer drivers to and he is learning fast! He only started tendering this year!
Justin Garner and Team Silhouette are coming on strong in points this year. They have what seems like half the field at some events, and have to be the largest drift team in Texas. It is really nice seeing team camaraderie at events, and drivers helping each other and having a good time hanging out. Plus, his car is a really pleasant color! The build of the car itself is fairly simple, no huge turbo, no huge revs, no elaborate engine swap no one has ever tried. The car has a T28 and mild boost, which makes for a really nice and responsive car which is inexpensive to maintain and run. I hope he doesn't get too excited and change the car too much, because the next step that involves a 2871 gets really expensive really fast, and his car is in a great place build wise right now! Probably my favorite way to setup a 240sx mechanically at the moment. ( He is the teal car in the picture )
Another one of our newer drivers, who isn't new to drifting is Chris Conley. He popped up out of nowhere around a year ago or so, and has a really nicely setup simplistic car ( which is good! ). He has an S14 with a mild turbo upgrade and all the usuals. He is really aggressive in tandem and won't back down. When tendering with Robert Lee at Round 2 this summer, he was extremely entertaining because he refused to do anything but full on aggression runs with the little AE86. Watching 2 cars which move at very different speeds fighting to stay together was awesome.
Robert Turnbow is very much like Will Parsons, his traveling companion. They both are nice, quite individuals whom you never hear complaining, bitching, or arguing. However, there cars both SCREAM. The 1JZ tucked away in the little old Cressida is a brutal aggressive motor that demands to be driven with anger. The car might make 400+WHP, but it only starts making usable power to drift with well over 4700 RPM, and below that it is a plain dog. This means Robert has about 2-5 times more clutch kicks per run than most of the other drivers, much like Tyler Cox's old setup. This makes the runs themselves very exciting, the noise blistering, and leaves the clutch boiling! Plus, this car is getting haggard from doing so many events this year, so I expect his driving will only get more aggressive as he cares less and less about his body panels!
Josh Steele came to us first in his 350z, then an S13 with an SR20, and now is rocking a full V8 S13 setup. He has a very conservative style, and always keeps the car super presentable. He wins the contest for most stickers on one car every event, although we haven't created a prize or category for this yet. Also, I get to keep using this picture of him in Hooters garb. Regardless of how much total HP his car makes on the dyno when we strap it down, it will be just like all of our other V8 cars, which make MORE than enough. All of them do, they just make stump pulling power everywhere, thats the point of the V8. This car works fantastically well though, and he does a great job keeping it in one piece somehow.
Fielding Shredder isn't quite sure if he can make it yet, but I will bug him until he does. The car is setup with a 2871 and probably makes somewhere between 300-350 WHP, and has been rocking this same setup for years reliably. He is one of our big angle drivers, and big WHEEL drivers. He was drifting on 20 inch wheels on an S-Chassis before it was even cool. Wait a second, that was never cool. Anyways, he makes up for the 20 inch wheels with really aggressive close tandem! He was also one of our early front splitter users.
But the question remains. Will our series leader return for round 3 after moving to Florida? He probably will have to if he wants to retain his lead and win the FD license he wants so badly. We will have to wait and see if he makes it out here!
As the list continues to grow I will add more drivers, plus I think I have a text limit to each post : )