2015 Lone Star Drift Round 4

Well, due to the low location of the radiator, a cone in Round 3 decided to crush it in.  That was fantastic...  The radiator. however, was a SIGNIFICANT change and cooled the engine beautifully.  As always, we left a bit late, but for good reasons.  Axle added an additional lower bash bar to prevent any further possible damage to the radiator.  The motor began to surge as if the head was blown.  That was scary.  Turns out a plug came off the motor and caused coolant to pour out of the motor.  After some time and getting it re-plugged, the car ran smoothly again.  And we were off.

Texas Motor Speedway had always been a challenge for us with the SR20DET.  Not as much smoke or speed.  So, we were hoping the change of adding the LSA motor would do wonders.  It didn't disappoint.

But TMS didn't go without its hiccups.  Axle ran great all day and qualified 2nd overall.  So far, we had qualified around 6th or 7th in the series, so that was awesome.  During practice the next day, Axle decided to run a tandem with the 3rd qualifier - a beautiful Honda S2000.  During the follow run, the S2000 spun out, and Axle went off into the dirt to avoid the collision.  The drop caused the fender flare to pop off and the quarter panel sliced into the tire.  The drop also flattened and opened a hole in the headers.

But the saga doesn't stop there.  While on another follow run, we used another wheel we use as a spare - and OEM 370z wheel.  Typically, the smaller tuner lug nuts we have aren't a problem.  However, then OEM wheels typically use a lug nut with a collar, and that's exactly what they needed at TMS.  At the speeds and how extremely grippy the track was, the slide caused three of the wheel studs to sheer, and it pulled two of the lug nuts through the wheel.  The wheel flipped under the car, causing the car to hop and land in the dirt, sliding.  Luckily it didn't flip the car.

That then caused a train reaction.  During our competition rounds, we made it through to top 8.  However, during a few runs, the power would cut out completely.  Not having much time between competition runs, he just went with it.  During a lead run, the car lost all power during a slide and completely died.  After being towed to the pits, we discovered the battery was laying in the middle of the trunk.  Apparently, when the wheel flipped under the car earlier, it dented the quarter panel and broke on of the battery tie downs.  Up until the last run, the ground basically held the battery together like almost in a tug of war match.  We through some tie downs on the battery, ensured it's security, and Axle when to finish the run.  Unfortunately, because of the battery cutting out, we got a 0 on that lead run and to win the round, the other competitor had to run off course or spin out....which he didn't.  And that ended our competition for the day.

Regardless, we felt great and had the satisfaction of performing well at TMS.  I wouldn't say we conquered it.  But we definitely didn't get taken by the course.