NZDRIFT round 3 Ruapuna raceway

After the 3month break that all the NZ drift competitors have had between round 2 and 3 this was sure going to be an awesome event full of new cars and engine packages. Including FANGA’s new RB26 powered VY commy that I had designed, applied and sponsored with his new Dunlop graphics.  Gaz Whiter in his new S14, Jonny Udy in his Monaro, Daynom in his FD RX7, Tony Breman’s 2jz powered FD RX7. Not to mention all the new bodykits - Steven Sole with his Wide Body R32 sedan with R34 facelift, Sam Groombridge’s wide body R32, Family Guy’s R32-34 conversion and  also all the new graphics on the track, Ruiterman, Sellers The Kid, Marsden to name a few. Of course this was also the first time we got to drift MADBUL on the track.

Myself and Damion had the job of hauling the new transporter unit while Toni and the rest of the pit crew flew down, this was Optimus Primes first time on a road trip so it would be a good test as we had to make it all the way to Christchurch from Auckland.
We left at 2am Thursday morning and destination 1 would be a visit to Waza @ P.P.R.E in Wanganui. A few hours on the dyno we squeezed 477.3hp @ the wheels and 100% more torque than the 3rotor and that’s still a reliable tune.  Then it was back in the truck and on the ferry in Wellington at 9pm. This ferry crossing was open to freight only and our truck was the talk on the ferry with every trucky very impressed. We roll off the ferry at 12am and are back trucking straight to Ruapuna Raceway Christchurch for the test day.

My first time on the track I was so impressed with the entire teams work in what we had created. I can’t explain how hard MADBUL is on the track. It didn’t take long to get use to the HKS sequentional gearbox but there is definitely an art to easing off  the gas pedal to find some traction as the power is so responsive. Chromie decided to start lifting the TEIN suspension up 20mm to gain more roll and travel to give us more side bite as it just felt like I was going no where. It was Time to pack up and get ready for competition tomorrow.

With perfect weather conditions and a strong 3000 in the crowd NZDRIFT R3 was set to be a wicked day. With a near trouble free practice and qualifying we noticed we were low on power since Friday, after coming into the pits and lifting the hood we noticed we were missing 1/4 of a filter! It had been sucked through the Motec throttle bodies and spat out the exhaust! I guess we were lucky to find it before the rest suffered the same fate!
Thanks to Steve of R.E Sinclair for making some track side filters to get us through battle competition we then fired it up to find it was now running on three rotors Yikes!
Time is now ticking away and the top 16 had lined up for the parade lap.

We now noticed the 2nd throttle body was not opening because a tiny grub screw vibrated loose, it was a fairly easy fix but we only had 10seconds left to make it to the grid before we were disqualified so we didn’t get it to match the other 3. My 1st battle I was up against current D1NZ champ Gaz Whiter he showed a strong chase. We also had strong chase however I did feel Gaz was slowly pulling away from me as my power definitely was not perfect. Unfortunately for Gaz he spun giving me the advantage thru to top8. I was then paired against FANGA and with both our runs scored the same we were in for a sudden death re-run. FANGA had a slightly closer chase awarding him the win by 5 points. We were next up against Carl Ruiterman (yes we had to get all the top guys which didn’t make it easy for me). Carl also won by 5 points. I just couldn’t stay super close to them with my power loss. Next was Aaron Bennett, I had a real good close chase behind Aaron until he spun and left me with no where to go but through his path resulting in his s13 backing into our side. No major damage for MADBUL and a 7th placing overall.  I was still very happy knowing once we sort our few minor issues we will be set for Round 4 @ Taupo on the 12th October and will be gunning for a top position there. The following week MADBUL will be loaded up and shipped to the states for the Red Bull World Drift Champs on the 14th-15th Nov Longbeach California.

MADMIKE