I went and did some drifty stuff in the middle of the Porsche GT3 Cup madness. Friday night the Salt City Drift folks got together at RMR, and slid the bowl with varying levels of success. There was a competition, but I bailed long before that went down. Anyway, here’s a gallery
Ahoy hoy ladies and gentlemen! And welcome to this, the latest episode of The Driving Experience. You’ve heard Dave trash on them, but how is are the E36 BMW 3 Series? Gavin finds out how good of a platform the E36 generation 325is can be as a race car and canyon carver in this episode, which you can check out below!
A big thank you to Scott Michael Chamberlain for Gavin review his car. Do you have a car you’d like to see on a future episode? Email us! [email protected] is how you get a hold of us with such requests. Thank you for watching, we’ll see you for the next episode!
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It was a nice day out at Utah Motorsports Campus! Mostly sunny with some intermittent clouds, sport bikes from the Apex Track Days event wailing on the West Track, and tires howling in the West Paddock from the drivers of the final Salt City Drift event of the season. At the end of the day, there would be two winners crowned: the winner of the event, and the overall season champion! Let’s see how that all played out:
In third place in the day’s competition was OP Anderson! Despite organizing and being one of the guys running the event, and despite having a box stock Saturn Sky Redline as his chariot, he managed to go out and slay enough to get on the podium.
In second place was the man, the myth, the Southern Dandy: Blaize Potts! We finally got to see his LS powered FC RX-7 ripping, and rip it did. Put a pin in this, cause we’re gonna get back to him in a minute.
Taking home the win was Trevor Malan! Trevor’s S13 has everything that the internet seems to love: sparkly paint, big Weds wheels, a DMAX kit, JDM nose, it’s dumped, and it’s a ripper. And it has something I love: a dude behind the wheel who’s down to drive. Doesn’t matter how cool your car looks, or what parts you’ve thrown on it: if you can’t/won’t drive it like it’s supposed to, then you’re blowing it.
This is John. I like John, cause he’s down to get weird. Here he is in his Wisefab equipped E36, munching a cone. It also has some crazy stiff springs out of the Lyfe Motorsport GTR. It was quite a sight to behold.
This is Devin. His Corolla has Arizona tags, lives in a garage in Michigan, and has a BEAMS 3S-GE under the hood. He drove, in that Corolla, all the way from Michigan just to drive in this event. And it isn’t some well sorted, fully developed Corolla. Very recently it was just a lump of 80’s Toyota, sitting in his garage. He got the car on the ground, got it running, then got it running well enough to drive across the goddamn country to slay some tires. Think about that for a second. Devin is the man.
In addition to the actual competition, there were two games being played: limbo and table. Not quite sure how limbo worked, but the guy who won got some cash. Good job there, fella! It looked like Blaize was going to take the table win, until Nick Stucky showed up. He was having car troubles, but finally managed to get his car running. He did some tandem with Scott Bradshaw, and then he went for the table. Name of the game was to drift through the last two turns of the course, then slide your car to a stop next to a table. You needed to be parallel, or close enough, to the table to be in the running. Blaize set the bar pretty high, or low, but Nick cleared it in whichever direction was necessary. He slide to a stop mere inches from the table, on his only table run of the day!
Speaking of tables (AWKWARD TRANSITION), here’s the podium for the season championship: in third place, with an E30 325, is Hayden Campbell! He might have taken second if he drove the event, but third isn’t bad!
In second place is the guy who used two cars this season: Blaize Potts! He sold the KA24DE powered S13 coupe, and was handsomely rewarded for doing so. Look at that 2nd place trophy and moderately priced champagne!
And the winner of the 2016 Salt City Drift driver’s championship is: Nick Nengas! Proving many things this year (any seat time is good seat time, the 350Z is a solid platform for damn near anything, looking like a child has its benefits) netted him the top spot. It wasn’t an easy task, there were some guys who could shred, but Nick shredded harder. Now, what do three guys with champagne do with it after they’ve received awards?
There was much rejoicing. And so ends the Salt City Drift season. It was an enjoyable one, a solid one, and hopefully one that has a bigger succeeding season. Congratulations to the winners, the people who tried, everyone who came out to support the events, and especially the folks at Salt City Drift. They’re trying to bolster this community we have by hosting these events, and it’d be killer to see some more folks driving, or even volunteering at these events.
Anywell, until next time, dear readers…
The 2016 NASA Utah season came to an end this past weekend. I know, I’m sad too. But instead of the usual, conventional, “one track configuration for the entire weekend” business that we’ve seen at every other weekend this year; Dave, Matt, and Momma NASA (Cheri Miller) had something special for the end of the year. Instead of running the Outer Loop, or the East track, or even the Full track, they arranged it so the drivers could race on ALL THREE IN THE SAME DAY!!! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the TresDuro.
IT’S BACK, BABY! Just like last year, and the year before; BUT, unlike last year, they were blowing the dust off the gigantic Full track. To the best of my knowledge, the last time the Full track was run was two years ago. I should probably explain how one wins the TresDuro, since it has been a year. It’s pretty simple for the race groups: you qualify once, and start the first race from that position. Where you finished in that race is where you start the next race from. Where you finish also gives you points. Driver/team with the most points at the end of the third race wins. For TT: they take your fastest times on each track, add them together, and person with the lowest overall time is the winner. Got it?
It’s been a hot minute, but the drivers managed to drive the track without getting lost or forgetting which configuration they were driving! However, the weekend wasn’t without incident. That incident, while unfortunate, provides a convenient segue into the actual race coverage.
Taking home the win in GTSU by a mere 5 points was Makes & Models, in their Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo 620-2. Their main competition throughout the day was David Donner, in his Porsche 911GT3R. You know, the other Effort Racing car that showed up at Air Power Racing at the beginning of this year. David had the pace to run away with it, but a broken axle in race 2 served up the win to Makes & Models. The TresDuro would hinge on the third and final race. The Lamborghini was on the pole, and Les Long’s 997 Cup car was starting from second. And then this happened.
This is video of the start of the third race, shot from Michael Eifling’s ST1 Corvette. It was uploaded by Brendon Stewart, driver of the Makes & Models Huracan. FULL DISCLOSURE: I’ve known Brendon for many years, long before he was working and driving for Makes & Models. Makes & Models has been friendly with us, we have stickers on the Huracan and a few other Makes & Models cars. That said, it’s pretty clear Les makes a move to the left to keep the Lamborghini behind him. Then as the Lambo starts moving to his right and passing him, he moves to the right and pushes him West pit out. The result of all of these moves was the Huracan spinning out in turn one, and having to rejoin at the back of the field. Despite that, Brendon fought through the field and finished second.
5 points behind Makes & Models was David Donner. It’s been a few rounds since we’ve seen him at UMC, but he’s been spending that time wisely. He’s very in tune with the 911 GT3R, and showed INSANE pace in the first race. Good God was he flying! David, I’m begging you!: come out for more races! I’d love to see you, David Lockwood, Derek, and the DXDT guys have an all out death match (not really a battle to the death, but you know what I mean) one NASA weekend. Do it for me, do it for the children, do it for America! Or England if your James Burke.
In third place, with 255 points, was Les Long. He narrowly edged out David Lockwood for the final podium spot. Les is a really good driver, but I’m not used to seeing him drive as aggressively as he did on Saturday. From what I’ve seen over the years, he is most definitely not a dirty driver. Just an aggressive driver, something we typically enjoy. While he may be at fault for the incident at the beginning of the third race, I think he just got caught up in the heat of the moment.
Being alone in a class has advantages sometimes, and Michael Eifling took full advantage of being the sole ST1 driver. He took the fight to Robert Gardner, in the orange Jagermeister Porsche, and they had amazing battles all day long. Good on ya Michael! Thanks for not just turning laps, and taking the easy win. Also, thank for bringing Buddha!
ST2 started the day with two competitors: JR Smith in his Porsche Boxster, and Toby Crawford in his Subaru BRZ. By the end of the first race, there was only one. The head gaskets in Toby’s BRZ let go, allowing the man, the myth, the legend that is JR Smith to take the win.
ST3 had a field of 5 cars: four of the Ford Performance Racing School BOSS 302 FRSes and the Minion mobile, the UAO Clothing M3. I know I saw Alex in the car on Saturday, so I’m going to say it was he who won the shiny, not chocolate filled gold medal for ST3. I’m sure I’ll hear about it if I’m wrong, but until then: congratulations Alex! UPDATE: Todd Ainsworth also drove on Saturday. Matt Guiver probably wasn’t in the car on Saturday, so we can rule him out. So congratulations Todd and Alex on the win!
In second place was Frank Gannett. Frank the Tank has been pounding away in that Mustang, and doing a damn good job too. Hopefully we see Frank in a different chassis next season, preferably one that doesn’t belong to the fine folks at the Ford Performance Racing School.
Rounding out the podium was Josh Williams, in the #85 FPRS BOSS 302 FRS. It’s in my favorite color, which makes it the best looking Mustang they have at the school. Ask for it by name!
Super Unlimited also had a five car field, but unlike the ST3 field there wasn’t a dominant model in the field. There was; however, a dominant team: CA Sport. They represented four of the five cars, the fifth being George Smith’s Corvette. It was also a rather diverse field: the aforementioned Corvette, a PWC TC Class 370Z, a widebody E92 M3, and a pair of Cayman GT4 Clubsports. It was one of those Caymans, the #41 driven by Andrew Smith, that took home the win.
Chasing Andrew was Davis Warnock, in the #70 CA Sport Cayman GT4 Clubsport. It was really fun watching these two cars duke it out for first place, and mix it up with some of the other classes. And the new liveries look great.
Locking out the podium for CA Sport was Lara Tallman in the 370Z. Hey! I just noticed that it has one blue mirror! I like that. And also congratulations to CA Sport for locking out the podium! That quite the feat, especially considering who all could’ve run in the class and taken a spot on the podium.
And there you have it for Thunder! Looking for Lightning or Time Trial? I’ve got those in their own posts, so you don’t have a 3000+ word article to rifle through
Not sure if you guys know this, but it got chilly just in time for this past weekend’s Salt City Drift event. And I’m not sure if you know about Tooele County, but it tends to be a bit windier out there. Despite the wind, and the cold there were some brave individuals doing some skids! Brandon Wicknick came out with the D-Spare hauler, unloaded some cars (including his IS300), then took a nap. Listen, it’s hard work being America’s Favorite Drifting Ginger. He deserves a nap every now and again!
Derrick Lopez was out in his simple S13 hatchback, ripping up the course in his own, quiet way.
Nick Nengas let his inner street ripper out, and laid down some solid runs in front of the Metro Security SUV.
That’s a ripper Trevor, that is indeed a ripper.
There was a contest, but I have no idea what happened. So in lieu of results, here’s a big ass gallery!
It was hot. Very hot. So hot, in fact, that some competitors ended up being less than competitive because of it. Andy Moench’s and Mike Bratsch’s TT3 cars were feeling the heat, as were some of the Spec Z cars. Greg Warnock’s E92 M3 racecar succumbed to overheating issues, but he just hopped into his Cayman GT4 Clubsport and got some more laps in. I mean, who doesn’t have a back up race car in this day and age? Speaking of Greg’s race…
That’s where we start our coverage. Surprisingly, it was pretty drama free. At least from where I was. We had one GTS3 competitor, and that was Mayor McCheese himself: Blake Troester!
Byron Smith was back! Unfortunately for him, Darrell Troester was still there. He finished a lap up on Byron, and claimed another GTS4 win.
Despite going spin cycle early in the race, Gerry Shear (who gets it) got everything straightened out and took home a GTS5 win.
NASA Utah’s own BFG, Bob Evans, took the Snickers Ford Fusion NASCAR Sprint Cup High Downforce Prototype to the top of the podium in ST1.
J.R. Smith, proving that good things can be made better with the addition of an LSx, claimed another ST2 win.
Benevolent Overlord Matt Guiver hopped in the Minion (or banana mobile) and out drove five of the Ford Performance Racing School Mustangs. Five! That’s a lot of Mustangs to beat out.
In the Super Unlimited class, Pirate Supreme Les Long threw down some blistering laps and took home the class win. Could he take home the overall win?
Well, no. Makes & Modesl had their Huracan Super Trofeo back on track, and Derek was a man on a mission. Despite rising temperatures setting off alarms, he managed to claim the GTSU win AND the overall race group win. Speaking of that white, German/Italian super-weapon…
Brendon Stewart hopped in the driver’s seat for the TT sessions and threw down a best time of 1:35.580 to take the TTU win.
TT1 saw a few Vipers. Definitely not a bad thing, especially given the news that FCA will be killing the big snake after 2017. Topping the podium was one of those snakes, the one driven by David Gilliland. He slithered around the East course of UMC in 1:41.8.44
Shawn Murphy wasn’t there that long on Saturday. He had a wedding to go to. I suggested someone Facetime him in, but that one didn’t fly. My brilliant idea didn’t fly, but Shawn did. And in the crowded combined session to boot. His best time in his “street car” was 1:40.988.
As mentioned earlier, Andy and Mike’s cars were feeling the effects of the heat. The heat didn’t seem to be a problem for James Pasquier, and his reliable as the sunrise 993 911. He set his best time in the last session of the day! Clearly we should all get 911’s, and be immune from heat.
Darin Beaudoin barely escaped the day with a win in TTB. He had Stephen Martin hot on his heels. Stephen posted a best time of 1:47.795, which was so close to Darin’s time. Darin, in his Honda Miata, posted a 1:47.760.
For those keeping score at home, Porsches have claimed five wins on the day so far. After this, they will have claimed six. Max Dufford, in his Boxster, ran a 1:48.977 in TTC.
Todd Green, listed in the #60 which I don’t have a picture of nor even see, took home the win in TTE. He posted a best time of 1:47.335 in the second TT Storm session. I don’t have a photo of that car, but I do have a photo of the mythical beast that is L’oreal! I MEAN PAUL MITCHELL!!! Speaking of things that you could hear about later…
Things got a little spooky, then kinda violent. Some Spec Miata drivers got too close coming out of Release, and one spun. Later in the race: a couple of Spec Z drivers got together, sending one into the dirt. Aside from those events, and another Spec Z losing an engine over the course of the race which left the car stranded at pit in, the race was fairly straightforward. Let’s start with Spec Miata, where Chris Bond returned! He took home with win, and managed to stay clear of any sort of shenanigans.
Otto Silva wasn’t the only 944 Spec driver this weekend! He was still the winner, but he wasn’t alone!
We haven’t had any open wheel races this season, which has meant that the usual drivers have been doing other things to occupy their time. Apparently one of those “other things” for Troy Duffin is getting a hold of a Datsun 510 racer. He brought it out this weekend, and took home the win in PTE.
Here we see the GTS2, PTB, and Thunder Roadster winners, all at once! Tom Rogers got himself a win in GTS2, Nathan Rohner in his RX7 (which was originally built as an autocross car) got another PTB win, and JD Stull took the win in Thunder Roadster. This was JD’s first race, and it was great seeing him out in competition.
We had one, lone GTS1 competitor: Steve Burns. He and Chris Bond had a solid battle all race, which was great to watch.
And in Spec Z, we had the #42 DXDT car, driven by David Askew, atop the podium.
PHEW! What a day! On to some miscellaneous stuff:
And that is that! We’ll be back for Round 6, and the 6 Hour Enduro on August 6.
Yes! It actually happened! There was an organized, legal drift event that went off without fear of rain! And it was a solid six-ish hours (drivers meetings, loading and unloading of cars, and so forth) of driving! Of course local hero Brandon Wicknick was there! And so was Nick Stucky! Although his banana mobile decided it wanted to plantain. And Derrick Lopez came out, in an SR20 powered S13 hatchback, that was a lot like Brandon’s. Just more pedestrian in the looks department.
Scott Bradshaw and Dane Seering were out in LS powered S13 coupes. Scott went with a bass boat theme, while Dane went with a general death and destruction vibe.
We had some friends come up from Southern Utah, and they taught us some valuable lessons: You can link the whole track if you have a twin cam KA in your 240 and have enough lights, and a stock E46 M3 is ready to party as soon as you pull the right fuses. It wasn’t just a drift event, it was a learning experience.
Speaking of learning, there were a lot of new faces out there! It was good to see some guys who weren’t afraid to go out, suck out loud, and seek out answers as to why they suck, from people who don’t. That’s how you learn kiddies: go, do, suck,, figure out why you sucked, go again, do again, suck a little less. I hope we see these guys out again, because by the end of the night they made some progress in the right direction!
We also had our first contest! Blaize Potts, in his KA24DE powered S13 coupe, finished in first. Nick Nengas in a virtually stock 350Z finished in second. Third place was occupied by Hayden Campbell in his E30 BMW. This wasn’t just a contest for the sake of having a contest. There are season long stakes on the line! Whoever has the most points at the end of the season wins a roll cage, or possibly a set of wheels. Not bad for coming out and sliding with your buddies!
The next event is June 18th, out at Utah Motorsports Campus. This is a daytime event, running from 9am until 5pm. There’s a mandatory lunch break, so you won’t miss out on any driving because you want a burger. We hope to see all of these (mostly) smiling faces, along with yours out there!
It’s just not a NASA Utah season without at least one rainy day. Conveniently, Mother Nature decided to bring the rain for round two, and so the annual NASA Utah Regatta was under way. If you’ve been a loyal reader this week, or if you’re not blind, you’ll have come to the conclusion that this is the Thunder Group write up. These guys, in their high horsepower and high downforce cars, got lucky and qualified in the dry! But the photo above is from lap one of the race on Saturday, which is clearly not dry. A some of the field packed it in when the rain began falling at lunch time, which led to a total of ten entrants in the race. Let’s talk about those brave sailors, and how they finished.
Byron Smith was the lone GTS4 entrant, and completed 11 laps in the rain. He had a best lap of 2:00.717, and took home a gold medal for his troubles.
Russ Timmons made an appearance in his orange and chrome 997. Always enjoy seeing that car on track. Russ was alone in GTS5, so he could have completed less than the 7 he did and still would have taken home a medal.
We had a couple of rookies in ST3! Both Frank Gannett and James Harrell were both out in Boss 302RS’s from the Ford Performance Racing School. Frank, in the black #93 Mustang, didn’t do anything meme worthy on Saturday and took home the win.
ST2 was another solitary car field, and that man was J.R. Smith. He, and the nobles steed that is the E36 M3, ran 11 laps en-route to a class win.
So, I only heard that Air Power Racing had both of the former Effort Racing 911 GT3Rs, but I needed confirmation before saying something like “holy f&#king ass crackers! Air Power has both of the Effort cars!”. On Saturday I got that confirmation, because both cars were out for qualifying. David Donner went out in the #41 car as the lone Super Unlimited entrant, finished on the lead lap, and ran a 1:43.699! In the rain! In one of the widest 911s I’ve ever seen!
As mentioned earlier, wonder kid Madison Snow was out in the UIS Huracan. And since he has significantly more experience in said platform he dominated the GTSU field. He took the win by 18.603 seconds, and his fastest lap was near-as-makes-no-difference a full second faster than Derek Wolthoff’s in the second place Makes & Models Huracan.
The GTSU and SU competitors were ridiculously fast for being in the rain. The Thunder group races are going to be bleeding speed from every pore this season, and we can’t wait to see what happens when these guys are let loose on the Outer Loop of Full Track!
Last weekend was the Salt City Drift Two Day event in the West paddock at Miller Motorsports Park. Two days of tire shredding, camping, hanging out with friends, shenanigans and so forth. I was there for an hour on the first day. It wasn’t a wasted hour though, there were some quality runs in those sixty minutes. Including a few from Nate Wallace in his Camaro.
We remember when he was the enthusiastic guy in the Camaro who spun out at every opportunity. We watched him spin out less and start putting together some solid runs. Then this weekend he made the S.S. Ontario his Camaro boogie like nobody’s business. We dig his enthusiasm, and watching him progress from where he was to where he is now has been great to watch.
Remember Derrick Lopez? Had the RWD STi, did some Vegas Pro/Am, then kinda disappeared? Well he’s been doing some fabrication work for some other locals, helping out who he can when he can, and making another driftaru. Except this one is black. His entries into the big right hander were nuts, and he was hanging it out like Petter Solberg.
O.P. Anderson was battling overheating issues when I arrived, but managed to get his fans in order in time to make a few runs… and hit another barrier. I missed that unfortunately, but I managed to get plenty of shots of him not running into things.
Nick Stucky doesn’t have a Miata. He does have a mint-ish green V8 powered S13, which he wasn’t driving while I was there. He was busy directing traffic, working the start line, and doing donuts in a M3. I believe he was showing the owner how the donut box works, giving him some pointers on the basics, and rocking out in his sparkly helmet.
Jordan Collier’s terrible idea S13 was alive! And running well! Sort of. Something about not being able to put a lot of fuel in it or something, but it didn’t break while I was there so that’s a step in the right direction. It’s also bright green now, which is… very safe? Here’s to hoping Jordan can keep the car running through the rest of the year.
And as quickly as I arrived, I left. Sorry there aren’t more photos, but at least there are some and that’s better than none. The next event is scheduled for September 13, in downtown Salt Lake. Be there, and be awesome no matter how long you stay.
Words and photos by Michael Chandler
