So XDC Arizona was this past weekend. Essentially it was 2 events in 1 as the cancellation of Irwindale forced them to have to make up for round 1. So Friday was an entire round of competition and Saturday was its own separate entity. It started off with me getting the car back up and repaired.
First stop was Powerfab Automotive to slap some new ported 243s on the motor and open up its breathing capability. The cars back into the 400s now with 413 rwhp which is a bit dissapointing but more than enough. It also woke up a GIANT mid-range powerband so thats very nice and driveable.
Its been mentioned to me by a few people now that the no fender/smashed door thing wasn't working all that well haha. So I headed over to Elevens in Arizona and Dylan/Dalton knocked out repairs and paint on the bumpers and took care of all of my vinyl work as well. Seriously can't emphasize how awesome these dudes are, if you're in the area and need work done you'd be crazy not to consider them. Very stand up guys, thanks for the help!
it doesn't have a "theme" persay, I've always enjoyed the minimalist approach of simple sponsor representation. I played around with my alignment a little bit as well based off what I remembered the track being like the last time I was at XDC AZ. Now the cars aligned, ready to go and all sponsors are properly represented. Time to drive!
On Friday it was real simple, just feel out the course, remembering what I'd learned there a couple years prior. I got to a point where I was happy with my single runs and started working on dialing out angle to get the speeds I wanted throughout the course. Tandem came around and we had some great runs so I felt real good going into competition. Unfortunately there are no pics or anything up yet really which is why I haven't sent emails out to any sponsors or for the jackstand yet. But the results were great! We ended up laying down a 4th place qualifying run and finishing 3rd.
On Saturday we had a much better time. I found a transition I could delay a little bit and that vastly improved my line and speeds throughout the course. So we essentially did tandem practice all day saturday. Qualifying came up and I laid down a 3rd place qualifying run. In competition I had to start up against Eric Hill (had already faced him Friday as well). It was really nice driving with another ASD car and he is a rocketship so it was a very fun matchup! I ended up climbing the ladder all the way up to the 1-2 round with Forrest Wang. I had had a really good follow run with Forrest the night before so I felt I was ready. On my lead lap Aubre told me I got the advantage as I'd put some distance on Forrest. Come follow run, I'm drag racing him on the straight and got the phazer haha. Forrest did a flick before entry and I backed off, really threw me off my game and sort of disrupted my driving. Which, in all fairness, is what it was supposed to do. That coupled with the fact that he's a killer driver, tough to beat! Next time I'll be ready for it
So overall I got 4th place qualifier and 3rd place finish on Friday (round 1), and 3rd place qualifier and 2nd place finish on Saturday (round 2). I had a blast and its a really good feeling to have the car so dialed in right now. Thanks to the guys at ASD, Powerfab Automotive, OS Giken, Swift Springs and BCL! 2012 is going to kick so much ass! Hope to see a few of you dudes out in Florida
woohoo 2 fenders again haha
