**LONG POST**
So... Driftcup Round 1 is done! Onboard Footage at the bottom
Go back a few days previous, and I had a few little bits to do to be Driftcup ready...
First up was fitting clear vinyl to my front windows - part of Driftcup regs so that if the glass smashes it doesn't go everywhere, but no matter what we did it just bubbles ALL over.
Then took the car for alignment at ATEC-Align in Huddersfield - used their Hunter system to get the car pointing how I wanted it to.
Also did a bit of fibreglassing on my old front bumper, might aswell make it decent just incase I absolutely obliterate my current front bumper, this can be used as a spare...
Also took the car down to Driftnuts to get some final stickers added ahead of Round 1 - Check out Adam's s14 with "Intergalactic Blue" wrap
Finally ready to rock - got the car all loaded and headed over to Three Sisters on the Friday Morning, got their about Lunch time, and just as I drove through the gates into the paddock, a warning came up in the Tiguan to say "CHECK COOLANT" - anyway, unloaded the S13 off the trailer and went and put the trailer away, came back and parked up and noticed this - where the Tiguan had been whilst unloading the S13
Then looked underneath the Tiguan and could see it pouring out - great....
Called AA and they came out and diagnosed it as a cracked radiator - arranged for a recovery truck to come at 5pm to collect me and the tiguan and take me to Jimbob's Motors in Todmorden to get it sorted.
Anyway! Went out for Friday practice and had loads of fun, the car felt really great, and with the added front camber, the car would happily hold more angle which meant I could be flat out for most of the layout for Round 1, only letting off for the transition...
Come in at the end of the last session and drive to the pits and park up, get out and notice a trail of coolant on the floor, laughed to my mate saying it'd be hilarious if it was the S13.
Next minute...
Where the radiator mounts to the chassis, it had been rubbing in 1 corner and slowly rubbed through and caused a pin hole which meant coolant was pissing out everywhere - GREAT!!!!
Put out a call and one of the commentators for Driftcup said he could bring me his radiator from his SR E30 - so he brought that over for 8am the next morning and within the hour I had it fitted and running - NO LEAKS - WOOHOO - I also added a small bit of silicone pipe cut in half to the edge that rubbed through the last radiator to stop it happening again.
Ok, no more drama now I promise - as this is getting a bit long!
Saturday Morning practice went well - I was more focused on getting my qualifying line right more than anything so did many runs where I was leading - felt confident
Qualifying came round and I sat in the queue cacking myself lol, was quite tense! Anyway, on my first run I managed a 70.3, and my second run was a 66 - My first run got me an overall qualifying position of 4th out of 44 drivers which I am MEGA happy with!!
Then battles came around, and my first battle was against a Turbo'd White E36 Saloon, I put down a decent lead run, and then on my chase unfortunately he spun so I got the win moving to the Top 16, not how I wanted it to happen but a win's a win!
Top 16 came around and I was against Jamie Stanton in his 1JZ E36 Touring, this thing was fast! Lead run went well - hitting all the clips and holding decent angle.
Chase run and he left me, I underestimated his speed off the line but I managed to gain some proximity back over the course of the run, and the judges decided they wanted us to go OMT!
This time I knew I had to drive perfect, so I put down a decent lead line again hitting all the clips whilst holding good speed and angle!
Chase run, and I stuck to his door alot better than my first chase run and I was mega happy with it!!
Unfortunately not enough to give me the win, but we sat on the line for a good 3 minutes waiting for a decision so it must have been close!
Whilst I was packing the car away at the end of the day and loading it onto the trailer, my phone started ringing and it was Amy, she said I needed to get to the award ceremony ASAP as I had won something.... Shocked, I legged it to the Podium and was awarded the Hard Charger Trophy for my hard driving and consistency over the 2 days!! I was over the moon!!!
This S13 that me and Amy had mostly built on the drive behind our house had performed flawlessly over the full weekend and enabled me to drive to the best of my ability and come away with a trophy at my first ever competition event! I was gob-smacked!!
I apologise for this massive read and many photos, I just wanted to get it all down on paper lol!
Massive thanks goes to everybody who has helped/been involved with getting to this stage and I look forward to the rest of the year!
Onboard footage from the day!