Sometimes Champions Struggle

Sometimes Champions Struggle

Posted on by Konig Gfx

Kevin Lawrence is a real champion. Not because of his win at Formula Drift Orlando in Pro II. Certainly not because of the struggles he encountered at FD Atlanta. Kevin Lawrence is a champion because no matter what happens, he pushes past it with class, dignity and the attitude that real champions have. Lawrence struggled at Road Atlanta and missed qualifying. The car had some significant setup changes that happened after Orlando, he had limited practice seat time and flat out had a few technical difficulties. Thats racing folks! Sometimes you win, other times you get kicked in the teeth and are forced to drink massive amounts of alcohol. But that doesn’t stop his love for the sport or the fact that when pro 2 returns to the west coast, Lawrence will be there showing them what champions look like and exactly what they do!

Kevin Lawrence now takes over our blog to recap his experience at FD Atlanta….

**** GUEST BLOG – BY KEVIN LAWRENCE****

FORMULA DRIFT ATLANTA – PRO 2 Round 3

Photos by: Corey Denomy / Video by: Corey Denomy / Enjuku Racing

FD Atlanta was a tough one for sure, We showed up with a few changes to the car since our win in Orlando which were great changes for the better but with out proper testing of the new setup I had trouble figuring the car out. Biggest change was we were on the New Hankook RS4 tire for Atlanta after being on their Ventus V12 tire in Orlando. The V12 is a great street tire but was quite slick in Orlando for competition so jumping to the new RS4 tire in Atlanta was a huge change.


First practice I had enough time for 3 laps on track, immediately on the first lap I could tell the car was going to drive completely different. On the entry when I went to pull the hand brake for Turn 1 I was surpised to find out how grippy the new tires were as I was not even able to lock the rear wheels with the hand brake. We made some adjustments to tire pressure, shocks, and final drive gear change and got the hand brake to cooperate but the amount of grip the car had I was still struggling with getting the tires to spin in 4th gear for the exit of the course.


Second practice we went in with another gear change in the rear end and this seemed to be our ideal gear selection / wheel speed combo. However I was still struggling with getting the first turn figured out and getting the car to float enough off throttle and have the car settled just right to power through the first clip. After our mere 3 runs in the second practice it was time to be thrown to the wolves and make an attempt to qualify.


Qualifying order had me going dead last as after my first place win in Orlando put me in the points lead going into Atlanta. This is a blessing and a curse as its really awesome to be able to watch how the field does before my runs but at the same time the gap from my last practice run to my first qualifying attempt is quite some time when there is around 30 drivers taking their turn to qualify. First run out I didn’t expect the track to cool down as much as it did so I attempted to enter how I had been doing in my second practice session. With the drastic temp change to the track the grip levels had spiked up again and me not being ready for it after the hand brake initiation trying to get the car setup for the first turn was met with a huge amount of grip that swung the front end of the car back forward and caused me to understeer off the edge of the track. Frustrated with my self and the outcome I shut down my lap attempt and returned to the top of the hill to clear my head and get ready for the second attempt. After the field had all taken their second qualifying runs I was last up to bat at my qualifying attempt. Now knowing the grip levels of the track I chucked the car into the first turn way more aggressive than I had been doing all day. Finally the car got settled properly and was heading in the proper direction for the first clip. However just as I got to the front clip and go to drop the hammer and get back on throttle I’m met with the sound of my car hitting the limiter but the wheels were not spinning. Yet again my car has decided to knock itself out of gear but this time at the worst time imaginable. I hammered the shifter now as hard as i could to get it now into 3rd and complete the pass for a score but the time the car wasn’t making any movement from being in neutral was long enough to net me with my second 0 score and ending my weekend in Atlanta.

I want to give a huge shout out to the team at this round they jumped under the car multiple times to make the changes needed to help me get the car and myself figured out. Unfortunately our transmission issue is still haunting us but we have now removed the transmission to have it throughly tested on a transmission dyno to see if we can figure out if the issue is possibly a bent internal main shaft or possibly something else internally out that we just cant see with the naked eye. We will get a bunch of practice in the break between the next round and will have the car dialed and ready for Seattle!

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Travis Reeder wins 1st place at FD Atlanta!

Posted on by Konig Gfx

**** GUEST BLOG – BY TRAVIS REEDER****

This is a special recap for us. Not just because, as you will read, Travis Reeder took home a victory at Formula Drift Atlanta in the Pro 2 series. It’s special because that win comes at the start of a great relationship between Konig and Travis Reeder.

Travis is brand new to the Konig team! Reeder, hails from Vancouver, WA where he was the 2016 Evergreen Drift Pro-am Champion. That victory was what earned Travis his Formula Drift Pro 2 license. We came across Travis through a good friend of ours; Caleb Quanbeck. Caleb is also a friend of Travis and at Formula Drift Orlando Travis was having an issue with his other brand wheels breaking. Caleb stepped in and let Travis barrow his Konig Hypergrams to finish out the event. That finish resulted in a second place, podium finish. Having a podium finish at any point in the season or your career is amazing. Doing it in your first event EVER as a professional is unimaginable!

That night we received an email from Caleb and a message from Travis on Instagram. He was in need of some wheels and after only a few minutes we knew Travis was that hardcore, drift-loving enthusiast that was putting everything he had into his program. That’s the exact type of person we love to support, and we did. We reached out to Travis and with little time before the next Formula Drift event, we shipped some Konig Ultraforms in Gold right to Road Atlanta awaiting his arrival!

Keep in mind that Formula Drift Atlanta would be Travis’s second event as a professional Formula Drift Driver (the first event he placed 2nd in). Just like something written for a movie, Travis took first place in Atlanta and is currently the Formula Drift Pro 2 series points leader!

Check out what travis had to say about his experience…

***************************** TRAVIS REEDER RECAP *********************************

Our weekend started off like any other event weekend. The team unloaded the car, tools and spare parts into the pit and got everything organized. I went through my normal routine of checking over fluids and nuts and bolts on the car. After orlando i knew the car was going to need an alignment due to the aggressive nature of the track, so we threw the strings on the car and got all our alignment setting dialed in. We were feeling good as well as optimistic going into Thursday’s practice and later qualifying sessions.

Coming into practice the car was feeling super solid so all i had to do was learn the track and find my line for qualifying. With this being my first time driving Road Atlanta i quickly realized that the track was extremely fast and super difficult to put the car into the zones needed for a solid scoring run. After a few sets of tires and a whole lot of fun jamming with the other guys in the field, i felt like i had a pretty good handle on the car and track layout.

The qualifying session snuck up pretty quick after practice but i was anxious to really stretch the car’s legs and throw down some solid runs. On my first qualifying run i had a solid entry and kept the car pretty far into the first outer zone on the rumble strips. Once in started making my way through the key hole i noticed i came off the first outer zone too quickly and struggled to get super deep into the second outer zone, which is a large chunk of points for the run. I was then able to dive into the inner clip with angle and power through the rest of the course. On my second qualifying run i came up the hill into the key hole with too much speed and ended up making a large mistake and almost spinning the car so i decided to shut the run down after that. Luckily my first run landed me in the 11th spot with a 71 so we were in the big show.

Fridays practice started late in the evening. I made a few conservative runs while noticing a vibration and what seemed to be a loss of power in the car. With only a short 45 minute session my team had to act fast to diagnose our issue. After a quick look over we noticed we had a burnt plug wire and had been running on 7 cylinders the past couple days. It didn’t take long however to source a new wire and get the car back to 100%, thanks Gale Hohnadell! We moved into top 16 intros and were feeling awesome and ready for some good battles.

My first battle in the top 16 was against Andy Hately. He qualified higher in the 6th position so he would lead first. I chased him down the hill after jumping the tree, knowing his car was pretty quick. I initiated right with him but ended up going a little wide around the first clip. Once transitioned i was able to make up ground up the hill and close the door entering the key hole, then proceeded to keep decent proximity throughout the rest of the course with minimal mistakes. On my lead run i was able to pull a gap of a couple car lengths while keeping the car on a good qualifying line with good angle. We were given the win and advanced into the top 8.

Entering the top 8, i was paired up against Hooman Rahimi. I qualified higher so i was set to lead first. I put down a pretty solid lead run with minimal mistakes and was able to pull a few car lengths in the process. On my chase run i initiated as close as i could to Hooman and was able to keep and maintain pretty tight proximity through the key hole and most of the course. It was enough to get the job done and i was awarded the win and advanced into the final 4.

The final 4 battle was set to put me up against Randall Waters. Randall’s car was extremely fast all night so i knew i really had to be aggressive and apply as much pressure as i could as i was going to be in the chase position for run 1. Unfortunately in my chase run i made a large amount of mistakes and in one judges eyes scored an incomplete due to mis-shifting and straightening the car out while exiting the key hole. During my lead run, Waters got a little too aggressive and made contact with my door on entry, which forced him to straighten and drive off track. This made a very difficult decision for the judges and by a stroke of luck i ended up advancing into the final battle.

Unfortunately the final battle against Matt Vankirk was un eventful after Matt broke off the start line. I was really looking forward to competing against Matt considering we had quite a bit of seat time together last year during pro am up at Evergreen Drift. Under the circumstances all i had to do was complete my by run and was crowned winner at rd 2 Road Atlanta!


I’d like to thank Konig Wheels for their massive support of my program this year as well as all my crew, family and other sponsors. See everyone in Seattle!

**********************

We WELCOME TRAVIS REEDER TO THE TEAM! If you don’t follow him, now is the time to go check him out! This is one talented guy and we have a feeling there is a lot more in Travis’s future!

Travis Reeder is a Konig Sponsored driver that runs 17×9 front/18×9 rear et23mm Konig Ultraform wheels in Gold. The Ultraform are flow formed and perfect for the harsh environment that drifting provides. Make sure to follow Travis Reeder and Instagram and Facebook:

TRAVIS REEDER – FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/travisreederracing/
TRAVIS REEDER – INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/travisreeder/

Speedway Academy’s “5-Day Track Build Challenge” Episodes 1-4

Posted on by Konig Gfx

So if you have been under a rock lately you might have missed that Speed Academy is underway on a 5 Day Track Car Challenge Build. Just incase the build title wasn’t clear enough, they are basically building a track car in 5 days a documenting it for the world to see. The guys of Speed Academy are super informative and bring a hell of a resume. Again, incase you were under that rock we keep speaking of, Peter Tarach was the former editor of Modified Magazine and David Pratte has been writing for books such as Modified, Performance Auto Sound Magazine (PASMAG) and many other slick projects. Their content is amazing and fun to watch.

Here is the added bonus! They linked up with the master of everything that is Honda, Brian Gillespie, to pull off the build! Brian is the owner of Hasport Performance, Vtec Academy (Cough…cough…check them out here…VTEC ACADEMY. They will be running Konig Hypergram’s in Race Bronze. Ok so now you know its a Honda! Ok now you know its a Honda and what wheels they are going to run BUT…it’s a 5 day swap! We are super excited to have been able to help bring you this series.

Want want to help you get up to speed so below we are helping you binge watch! Check it out here, you’re welcome 🙂

FWD K-Swap Project Car Revealed! – 5 Day Track Build Challenge – EP01

The K-Swap Civic Is So Beat Up! – 5 Day Track Build Challenge – EP02

K20 Swap Made Easy With The Right Parts – 5 Day Track Build Challenge – EP03

More Parts Installed on the K20 Swap Civic – 5 Day Track Build Challenge – EP04

Nate Hamilton’s road to Atlanta…

Posted on by Konig Gfx

Once again our boy Nate makes top 16. The thing about Nate Hamilton is you can honestly watch his driving and see how much he loves this. He driving is getting better and better in Formula Drift Pro, but thats not what is so special. The special part is you can watch Nate Drift and just feel how much passion he has for the sport. As his seat time increases so does his comfort level. Has his comfort level is increasing his driving keeps notching up. Watching Nate in his match against Castro you could just see Nate driving the hell out of the car…control, comfort and confidence, its great to watch. Make sure to check out his recap below and then check them out for Round 4 in Wall NJ coming up First weekend in June!

**** GUEST BLOG – BY NATE HAMILTON****

FORMULA DRIFT ATLANTA – PRO 1 Round 3 | MAY 12 & 13

Photos by: @CoreyDenomy

Round 3 of Formula Drift continues with one of the fastest tracks of my season, ROAD ATLANTA.



This track is gnarly, I knew coming into this event I would need to be focused. Once we arrived and loaded in, the first thing on the schedule was Thursday’s practice. My goal was to be consistent and build momentum run after run.



After having a good session on Thursday, Fridays Qualifying was the only thing on my mind.

My first run scored a 79, the second run came in at 81. This resulted in a 17th position overall for the Pro1 qualifications. I was set to battle Jhonnathan Castro in the TOP32!

With a healthy motor and a clear mind, I was able to Win the battle against J. Castro! This would be my second TOP16 performance in a row.

After everything was said and done, we ended our event in the Top16. I have steadily been moving forwards in the overall points standings. We are headed to Round 4 in 17th position overall.
I can’t thank my entire team and sponsors for all the love this season.

Nate Hamilton is a Konig Sponsored Professional Drift driver that competes in Formula Drift Pro Series. Nate runs as part of the Enjuku Racing team and drifts on Konig Hypergrams in 17×9 et 25mm front and 18×9.5 et 25 rear. The Konig Hypergram is Flow Formed.

Make sure to follow Nate on INSTAGRAM!

Adam Knapik races against clock in Atlanta

Posted on by Konig Gfx

**** GUEST BLOG – BY ADAM KNAPIK****

After a rough start of the season Adam Knapik and his team prepared to make noise in Atlanta as Round 2 of Formula Drift Pro 2 season was upon them. Adam again has some issues but jump inside his head for a few minutes and see what he had to say!

***************************** ADAM KNAPIK’s WORDS *********************************
Coming into Round 2 with our back up LS2 stock motor we knew that we would be at a massive power disadvantage over the rest of the field, but we were ready to swing for the fences. We where hoping for a straight forward swap from our ITB/Stroked/Built LS6, but unfortunately we where met with issues and timing delays the whole way. The team pushed through though with multiple 48 hour shifts, and finishing up just in time to load “The Mistress” S14 and make the trek from Southern California to Road Atlanta.

Because of the unforeseen delays we where not able to give the car a shake down after completion so Atlanta would be the first time she would turn her wheels in anger. After unloading and making it late to the venue because of an over pass that had collapsed in the city, we where met with a car that, when loaded was running perfectly, and now would not idle for the life of us. With the car still needing to pass tech, the pressure was on. During tech we where told that our relocated oil filter was not in the proper place, and that the filter, and lines all would need to be rerouted. Although this was our only real tech issue, it would not be an easy one to fix, along with still finding why the car would seize to run properly.

We rushed back to the pits to get our tech in order and scramble about the car to see what gremlin had made its way in during the long haul. Turned out that during the transportation, the car had bounced around, and magically a wire in the back of our bussmann had somehow loosened up. Again proving, that in racing, ANYTHING can happen. High fives all around after finding the issue, fixing the oil cooler lines, and passing tech. But this had cost us sometime, and we missed the first practice session. Now strapping in and getting ready for the second practice of the day we where all excited to see what the car had in it, but during the second pass, the clutch pedal would fall to the floor entering the second clipping zone and putting the car into the dirt.

After getting towed back in and hoping that it was possibly a large air bubble in the system, our hearts sake when we tried to bleed it and saw fluid come out of the bell housing. This signified that our hydraulic slave cylinder (located inside the transmissions for LS based motors) had gone bad on us. We quickly got to work on pulling the transmission as qualifying was immediately followed by the practice session, and we where one of the first to go up.

The transmission was out in no time, but finding a replacement O-ring for the cylinder would be a whole new challenge. Driving up and down the pits frantically asking anyone if they had an extra, we found our hero, Mr. Michael Essa. He had an O-ring that would fit and with no hesitation let us have it to try and make the show. We raced back to our pit and thrashed on the car. We had missed our first qualifying run, and now where hoping that the field would take a little to get through the order. Unfortunately they where quite fast about it. We called our 5 minute competition time out, but in the end it was not enough time. If we had about 10 more minutes we would have had it all together, but the clock had beaten us this time. We where all bummed obviously, but in the end we made the best of it. We were able to see all our friends that we rarely get to because we are all too busy working on our cars, and it was great to see that lots of people liked the all around look of the car.

Round 3 has about a 10 week hiatus, so this give us some time to get the car out to test and enjoy!
We will be back to do battle August 4th in Monroe, Washington!

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Adam Knapik is a Konig Sponsored driver that runs 18×9 et23mm Konig Rennform wheels. The Rennforms are flow formed and perfect for the harsh environment that drifting provides. Make sure to follow Adam and his team on Instagram and Facebook:

KNAPIK RACING – FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/KnapikRacing/
KNAPIK RACING – INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/knapikracing/

Donovan Brockway Formula Drift Orlando Recap

Posted on by Konig Gfx

**** GUEST BLOG – BY Donovan Brockway****

As racers we spend so much time in the off season prepping, strategizing and planning for the upcoming season. I have never felt more prepared than coming into this season. There was definitely a learning curve with the car over the last two seasons, but this time when I showed up in Orlando, I was more excited than ever and ready to prove what our team can do.
During practice on Thursday, I did a few follow laps to get a feel for the course. Even though we have been to Orlando Speed World before and have data from the venue, we have a new beast this year. The new control arms felt great and after a minor change to the fuel map, the new engine was ripping better than ever. The 2nd practice session we got my suspension and tire PSI dialed in and we were all set for qualifying! My first lap started off strong, putting the back end of the car close to outer zone 1, I came off the bank planning an on throttle transition. The tire debeaded when the car hit the flat causing an epic spin out and a zero for that run. The Orlando track has a nasty lip transition from the outer bank to the inner course which is notorious for debeading tires. Now the pressure is on. The 2nd run was a little more cautious than I intended but qualified us 15th and we were in the competition for Friday!
Friday practice was on and I decided to get a little more tandem work in before the competition. Doing mostly follow runs, l worked on my initiation proximity, got a feel for everyone’s speeds and saw when they pulled off outer zone 1. The transition from bank to flat is brutal and caused many issues for everyone that weekend. During a follow run with Travis Reeder, my car decided to sheer all of the lug studs off mid run and it sucked my driver side wheel under the rear of the car throwing the back end into the air. It was by far one of the weirdest experiences I’ve ever had driving! Not fully realizing what had just happened, my car skidded to a stop and all I could hear was metal on concrete. I thought the tire had just come off, I didn’t know I was on sliding on my brake rotor. After a flatbed tow back to the pit, we scrambled to find another rotor. With no such luck, the team managed to pull it off and straighten it as best we could before the top 16 competition. The car was heavily compromised and the e-brake basically didn’t work till the 2rd or 3rd pull but we went out and gave it our all anyway! We were faced up against Randal Waters for top 16. We had data numbers on him and we knew his car was fast. Following him, I initiated a little too far back, not really knowing when my car was going to slow down and I basically held that position the rest of the lap. On my lead run I laid down the best line I could but he was right there in proximity which put an end to our day.
We learned a lot in Orlando about the car and team. Once again, the car threw a curve ball at us but that’s how the program evolves. I can’t thank everyone enough: the team, my family, all my friends and all the amazing companies we are fortunate enough to be working with. See you guys in Atlanta!”
– Donovan Brockway

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Donovan Brockway is the owner of Red Baron Racing and professional Formula Drift Pro 2 Driver. Brockway is a Konig sponsored driver and runs the flow formed Konig Rennform on his BMW E30.

Robbins & Koruworks run Konig in 17!

Posted on by Konig Gfx

Konig is excited to announce their partnership with Koruworks and their driver this year, Alec Robbins. Their widebody 350z is incredible and Koruworks is a first class operation, make sure to check them out (info below)!

Alec got his start in motorsports at a young age.  Growing up, he spent much of his time with his father at car shows and other various motorsports events.  Having been riding snowmobiles, dirt bikes and four wheelers ever since he could reach the handlebars, Alec has always been at home with anything on wheels.  Having an itch for adrenaline, he has been into extreme sports as well and started racing motocross at the age of 14 where his hunger for competition and all out racing on the edge began.  Alec’s love for cars began to develop shortly after getting his drivers license. His parents gave him his first vehicle; a 1986 Nissan d21 truck.  The truck was a hand-me-down and was purchased by his dad in 1987. Throughout highschool Alec made it his own by lowering and adding a few small custom touches to the truck.

After high school, Alec continued his education and passion for cars and got a degree in automotive service at a local technical college.  It was in College that he discovered drifting and had to give it a try.  A Chevy v8 was sourced from a car behind a neighbors shed was dropped in the D21 truck, along with a welded diff and some minor suspension modifications. Alec attended some of his first drift events in 2013 and shortly after he started pushing harder and winning most of the local drift events he was attending.  All the while the truck was getting upgraded just as fast as Alec’s skills progressed.  Eventually a 400hp LS2 and t56 transmission found its way into his dads old truck.

In 2016 it was time to take the next step and Alec went out to drive in the Midwest Drift Union Pro-am series.  Having only driven a few tracks locally, the higher level of driving and new tracks were the main reasons for making the jump to pro-am.  Alec quickly made heads turn at round 1 by being the first and only truck in the pro-am series, and kept all eyes on him by qualifying 3rd and taking home a 4th place finish at out of a 40+ driver field!  Alec continued the high qualifying and was able to finish on the podium at the remaining 3 rounds making him the MDU season champion AND rookie of the year.

In 2017, Alec will take the next step up the ladder and make his debut as a Pro-2 rookie.  Alec was able to  join forces with Koruworks LLC and will be debuting their all new 350z. Sporting Konig Hypergrams, a Chevy crate LS3, Gforce transmission, Quick change rear end, Wisefab arms and knuckles with Fortune auto suspension, and a little extra help from Nitrous Express;  It is the recipe Alec needed to progress his driving to its highest level.

Back home Alec currently works for Metro Transit, as a mechanic on locomotives and passenger rail cars.  He is newly married to his wife Chelsea Robbins and has two children, Elliana and Ryder Robbins.  Alec spends most of his off time with his family or working on his cars in the shop.  They also enjoy going to local drift events, car cruises, and bracket drag races with their gear head in laws. To say the least, family and racing are what drives Alec to be the man he is today.

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Alec Robbins and the Koruworks team run Konig Hypergrams in 18×9.5 et 25 all the way around in Race Bronze. Here the team’s contact info, make sure to follow them!

Koruworks: koruworks.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/koruworks/
Alex Robbins Racing Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alecrobbinsracing/

Knapik heads to Formula Drift pro 2 round 2

Posted on by Konig Gfx

Knapik Heads to Formula Drift Pro 2 Round 2 in Atlanta!

Adam Knapik is one of those enthusiasts that loves cars and drifting so much that he will take an endless amount of a abuse just to have the opportunity to spend his day on track. Unfortunately that is exactly what has been happening to Adam and his team, abuse!

Preparing for Round 1 of Formula Drift Pro 2 in Orlando, with only days left before loading the car on the trailer for the cross country journey, Adam’s engine developed a rod knock. To blame was a faulty oil check valve…as disappointed as they were, the clock had run out and the game was over. While making the trip to Orlando wasn’t in the cards the team knew they needed to keep on pushing. Round 2 in Atlanta was only 2 weeks late and they still had to get a new engine in the car, tune it and make the cross country trip to Georgia. After a few days of work Knapik and the team had their backup LS2 engine swapped in, tuned and ready to flex in Atlanta this coming weekend at Road Atlanta.

We’ve been proud to be associated with Adam and his program for a few years now. ** Check out this video of Adam from a couple of years ago:**

He made his way through some road racing and time attack events but drifting seems to be where his heart is. Competing previously in Top Drift, a win there paved the way for his Formula D pro 2 license.

knapik win top drift

We look forward to see what Knapik and his team will do in Atlanta and are proud to have the opportunity to support an incredible driver and real enthusiast! Good Luck Adam…

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Adam Knapik is a Konig Sponsored Formula Drift Pro 2 Driver that runs the Flow Formed Konig Rennform in 18×9 et23 all the way around on his Nissan 240sx S14.

If you want to keep tabs on Adam here is where you can follow him along:
Website: http://knapikracing.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/knapikracing/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KnapikRacing

Nate Hamilton’s Recap of Formula Drift Orlando!

Posted on by Konig Gfx

Enjuku team making us proud this weekend! Our boy Nate Hamilton making it to top 16 in Formula Drifts Orlando speedway round 2! In this guest blog by Nate, he breaks down the 2 day event from top to bottom! Enjoy…

**** GUEST BLOG – BY NATE HAMILTON ****

FORMULA DRIFT ORLANDO – PRO 1 Round 2 | April 28th & 29th

Photos by: @jessieabi_k



– Team Update



Our full team assembled (#TeamEnjuku) consists of 7 dedicated hands. During a normal track day, we have two cars our guy’s service, between Kevin and myself…who knows what can happen. lol Also along for the ride, our media guys Corey and Max.

Arriving at 8:30 am isn’t that bad when you get to go drifting!! Our mornings start with unloading the rig, setting up our tents and tools. After that, we check bolts/alignments making sure everything is ready for the track.



Lastly, we make sure to add some fresh tires. In my case, Blade just mounted two Hankook RS-4’s. Shoutout, BLADE!  

– Practice 

This track feels like my backyard. I’ve had my share of laps here, this makes Thursday’s practice pure fun!

Chasing everyone was my goal.

– Qualifying 

Qual run 1 – 77
Qual run 2 – 84 

After qualifying…Formula Drift provides our scores and the Top 32 bracket.
My results = 17th position, I would battle Rad Dan in the TOP 32.

I took the WIN and advanced into Top16, next I would battle Dai Yoshihara!!!
This was my first appearance in Formula Drift Pro1 Top16! 

The easiest way to describe my battle with Dai.. FULL THROTTLE! I actually was so focused on putting the pressure on I ended up hurting my own line.
Almost making contact coming out of the bank was my only error. 

Respectively, Dai took the win and my weekend was coming to an end.

At this point…my tires are burnt, I have a smile on my face. The cars in great shape, our team felt solid about my showing. We are moving forwards, gaining two valuable positions in the overall standings. I will leave Orlando in 20th position overall in the championship.


Huge thanks to my Team: Ant & BUB, I couldn’t do it without you guys. No matter what the situation they have a solution and pull off the impossible to keep me behind the wheel and ready for battle.

All the family, fans, and sponsors that make this possible. I feel so humbled at everyone’s efforts, I will drive like a maniac in Atlanta for you guys! You have my word! 

Thanks, everyone! KONIG WHEELS, HANKOOK TIRES, BC RACING, ENJUKU RACING, COMPETITION CLUTCH, VIBRANT PERFORMANCE, GARRETT TURBOS, GRAPHICS DIRECT, WISECO, ALPINESTARS, MOLLY WATER and HJC HELMETS.

See you guys next week in Atlanta, Thanks again KONIG!

Kevin Lawrence Takes Win at Formula Drift Orlando!

Posted on by Konig Gfx

This past weekend Kevin Lawrence took home the win at Formula Drift Orlando in the Pro 2 series. It was even more exciting knowing that Kevin was able to secure the win at his home track and in front of so many friends. Kevin runs through his experience in the latest edition of the KONIG GUEST BLOG!

**** GUEST BLOG – BY KEVIN LAWRENCE ****

FORMULA DRIFT ORLANDO – PRO 2 Round 1

Photos by: Corey Denomy / Video by: Corey Denomy / Enjuku Racing

Thursday.

After a brief season opener drivers meeting it was time for the first Pro2 practice of the season.  I took a few chase runs in this practice to see how the car would hold up against the field and after a few runs knew that the crazy hot track temps were hindering my grip levels, so we made a few changes to the car before going out to second practice.
Second practice I used to get more lead runs and dial in my line for qualifying. The changes made to the car helped gain some grip into the car and I felt good going into qualifying.



First run I took a mild approach to the wall as to not over do it and make sure I put down a score. Judges ruled that first pass to be an 80 so I was going to push a bit harder on the second pass. Second pass started off better on the bank but after the transition in the infield my transmission started showing its evil side of falling out of 4th gear, which was an issue last season for me that we thought we had figured out.  Either way the gear popping out tossed me off line and I ended up plowing through the second front clip thus not bettering my first score of an 80. But after all the cars had made their passes my 80 point first run was high enough to earn me the 4th place qualifier in the season opener on the first day at the track. 



Friday.

  Top 16 practice I went out with the intention to get as many follow runs as I could to again judge the cars grip level compared to the rest of the field.

First run out the car falls out of 4th gear upon initiation but luckily not sending me off into the wall. Thinking this had to just be a fluke and there is no way the car could do this again I went out to take a second pass. This time nervous of the car having the issue again I attempted to run a lower line on the bank just in case, Sure enough again just after initiation the car was banging off the limiter in neutral. Frustrated at this the team and I decided to try and swap the rear end gear in the car to make an attempt to find an ideal wheel speed for the car to run in 3rd gear the entire lap.



There was only enough time left in the practice session to get 2 more passes before our opening ceremony and after those 2 runs I could tell the gear change wasn’t 100% ideal for what we needed and seemed to slow my car down even more unfortunately. But being nervous to make another change and then jumping into my first battle I decided to leave it as is and run it for competition.

Top 16 

  My first battle was up against former Pro1 driver Danny George. After Danny had a pretty hard hit in practice, him and his team were able to scramble together and get his car out to the line just moments before it was time for our battle. Me being the higher qualifying driver was up to lead first, I left the gate with my best attempt to get the car up to as much speed as possible before initiating on the bank and making an effort to run a solid 100+ point lead run. During my lead run Danny had some issues mid bank and had some big corrections from what I assume to be issues with the car from his recent wreck in practice. 

  Switching positions it was my turn to chase. I tried to get a early advance through the start lights and as I started rolling, I hesitated to continue right as Danny started through the chicane and blew past me on the run up. I did my best to catch back up to him on the run up before initiating but he had built up way more speed than me from my hesitation. Danny ran a pretty low line on the bank thus creating a big gap on me through out the run. But after the Judges review they deemed his mistakes behind my lead run were more of a deduction than my low proximity to Danny which gave me the win and advancement into the great 8 up against Dirk Stratton.

 Great 8.
  Again with the higher qualifying score I was up to lead Dirk Stratton first. His car is insanely fast in drift and he had been running an amazing line all weekend on track. As the start lights dropped I left the start to try and get to the bank with as much speed as possible. As I left the gate I had a flash back to last year of my wreck in the great 8 on my lead run taking myself out of competition and as I got to the initiation point of the track I hesitated a second to initiate and almost had a late initiation onto the bank. I ran the same high line I did in front of Danny on the bank with big angle and tight proximity through the front clips and completed the run. Dirk had taken a bit of a shallower line that I to keep proximity with me but ultimately he came off the banks wall earlier than I had and choked him self up some behind me trying to take a early dive at the first front clip. This looked to have caused him to have to check back for a second to clear hitting the first front clip giving me a bit of a gap on him through the transition that he later made ground on before the end of the final turn.

 Me now in the follow position again knowing the speed Dirks car has I gave it my all to get a early start out of the gate to initiate as close to him as I could with the hopes of keeping a tight proximity through out our run. 3/4 through the bank I could see Dirk pulling distance on me so I did what I could to try and take angle out of the car and had a slower transition through the center of the track to try and keep some speed in my car to keep up with the corvette. In the end Dirk had put a big gap on me before the finish line leaving the judges to have to judge our runs solely off our leads. After a few moments of the judges going over the replays they awarded me the win, after personally reviewing the runs I assume it was my slightly higher line on the bank and keeping my car in the apron on the final turn with out lifting rear tires on the bank behind it giving me the win in this set of battles advancing me into the final 4.

Final 4 and 2x OMT

 I was up against Brandon Schmidt and again was up to lead first. My lead run started nearly as a mirror reflection from my previous lead runs in the 16 and 8 with a high line up on the wall. As I started to make my way down to the front clip I see Brandon make a big leap forward on me which triggered my natural reactions to steer away a bit from him to avoid a collision which altered my line coming off the bank and me taking a very wide pass through the first front clip. I quickly did my best to get myself back on proper line after the transition to then finish out the run on the wide line through the finish line while Brandon was making some noticeable corrections to his car through out the run.

  On my follow with Brandon, I make the mistake and not take the early start out of the gate and have to play catch up on the run up to try and initiate with him. I threw too much angle on my initiation, causing him to start pulling out a gap on me and he was taking a much lower faster line than me on the bank which was just aiding to his proximity gap. I again did my best to pull angle out of the car through the first front clip and through the transition to pickup some ground which started to work but I ended up over doing it and taking a wide line entering the second rear zone where Brandon was able to pull some ground on me again. The judges being not too happy with either of our follow or lead runs called for us to battle again in a one more time.

 Final Battle.


 
At this point I’m literally shaking since I’m so stoked to have made it in the finals. A quick tire change and I’m back out at the line, my final battle is against Travis Reeder. The start light drops and off I go, initiate high on the bank with a tight line on the first inner front clip. I had a bit of a correction after the transition but it put me right on the ideal outer line to finish the track with Travis right behind me lunging at my door at any chance he could get.

Switching positions, I know I’m on my last set of tires and have to get the a decision from the judges on this battle as I wouldn’t have a spare set to run a OMT call. I take an extremely early start on the run up and as I’m looking for Travis to blow my me by the second initiation cone I have to make a quick lift off the throttle for him to catch up and pass me so I can enter before the last marker and right with him. This time the timing is nearly perfect and I enter right with him and am actually able to carry enough speed to keep up with him through out the whole bank. I did my absolute best to keep up with him and sacrificed a lot of angle to do so. Upon entering the final rear zone Travis seemed to have lifted tires on the bank a bit early and again towards the end of the run. I believe that was all the judges needed to make their call.

They call us to the main grand stands to announce the winner.  A few seconds later Jarod comes over the mic and announces in front of the crowd that I had taken the win the opening round of Formula Drift Pro2!!  

 This is the first time for me to take the win at a Formula D Pro2 round and I truly cant thank my Team, Sponsors, Family, and Friends enough for all of their help and motivation along the way. For my first win to be at home was an amazing thing to accomplish and I’m so honored to share that moment at my home track with all of my close family, friends and supporters. Atlanta is in 2 weeks and you can bet that I will be out there ripping the S14.3 just as hard as I was here at home!

 Thanks again everyone I’ll see you in Atlanta!
-Kevin