Star Drift Challenge Round 2

Star Drift Challenge is getting more challenging each and every time. Drifters are not only going faster, but are also initiating their drifts earlier and at a greater angle.

After working on the Dunlop 32 for 4 days and shaved off almost 40kgs, I'm eager to try how it will perform this round. Reached A'Famosa on Friday to assist Ngan on setting up on the venue. Woke up early on Saturday morning only to realised that the cars were already there but the trailer operator was away.



Nevertheless, I went out for practice and warm-up straight after unloading. Unfortunately, my turbocharger decided to end its lifespan just after 3 laps of warm-up run. I guess stock RB20 ceramic turbine does have its disadvantages despite being one of the cheapest turbo you can get off a scrapyard.



Having not much choices, I'll have to drive back to KL to pick up a replacement from DriftHouse (Joe Han's shop). After about 4 hours of downtime, the car came back to life again. Thanks to Joe Han for assisting me with the mechanical work. Can't imagine if I have to do everything by myself.

Went out for some practice after that just to make sure everything is running fine and also to get my lines correct for the competition of the following day. Also sat in Sean's car to give him some tips and fine tuning his lines.

Initial feel after lightening is that the car feels much responsive under throttle. Cornering speed also improved and I can throw the tail at a greater angle now. Straight line speed is still slow though... but then again, the engine is stock standard apart from the cooling upgrades.



Competition started at 1pm on Sunday.

Judging in qualifying is emphasized on lines, angle and throttle application.

The best run I did was 91 points with an entry speed of 94km/h. That puts me in 3rd qualifying position, behind Tengku Djan of Bridgestone with 99 points and Kim Wan of Toyo with 92 points. Sean qualified in 6th position with 89 points and 99km/h entry speed. This also means that I might face Sean in the best 8 battle if both of us made it pass best 16.



Tsuiso time.

First I was up against Vincent Goh from Team Soon Yeen. His usual ride has broke down so he was drifting with a spare car, a fairly stock JZX90 Mark 2. I kept my composure and went through best 16 smoothly. Sean, on the other hand, went up against Hanizam Hamzah of Feinto D. On their first run, Hanizam dived into the inside line and understeered, giving Sean a slight advantage on the next run. He too progressed without much difficulties.

Bingo! I'm going against my team mate in best 8.



First run, I was the leading car, so I just maintained my lines and drifted through the course. I was given 7 over 3. I guess Sean must have understeered at the back. Second run, despite having advantage, I decided to go full. Sean went off course on the 2nd clipping point, and I progressed to semi finals.

Next up was Koh Kok Hoor with his NOS-ed AE86. As I was the higher qualifier I'll have to start in front. Damn the car's fast. He was up my tail from start to finish and although both of us drifted through without mistake, that gives me a 4 over 6 disadvantage. Second run, that's it. If I don't push 120%, I'll fall back to 4th placing as Tengku Djan got eliminated in semi finals which will put him in 3rd placing for sure. I guess I've pushed it too far this time and my gear is stuck in 1st on the straight. Before I could get out of 1st into 2nd, Koh is already 10 cars length ahead of me.

I soon learned that Koh's car is running a silvertop 4AGE with 100-shot NOS, which probably has more power than my bone stock RB20, putting aside the weight differences.



After Round 2, I'm now 4th place in the championship standings, with Koh on 3rd, Djan on 2nd and Tan Tat Wei on 1st.

Next round of Star Drift Challenge will be held in KSN Bukit Jalil. In the mean time, I guess it's more weight saving and fine tuning of the handling for the Dunlop 32.