FORMULA DRIFT TEXAS – PRO 2 FINAL ROUND | August 8th and 9th
Travis is running Konig Ultraforms in 17×9 et 25mm front and 18×9 et 25 rear.
The Konig Ultraform is Flow Formed.
Matt is running Konig Hypergrams in 17×9 et 25mm front and 18×9.5 et 25 rear.
The Konig Hypergram is Flow Formed.
After a long couple months off, the team and I were anxiously awaiting Seattle and stoked to get back on track. Here is a breakdown and recap of our weekend at rd 3, the throw down.
The car was prepped, up to temp and it was time to go out for the first practice session of the weekend. We were in for a rude awakening as the track conditions turned to be drastically different than previous pro-am 5/8 rounds. The car was over gripped and under powered. Unbeknownst to the team there was a NASCAR race a couple weekends back, and with pro 1 practice being before us, there was no shortage of traction to be had on the longest and largest bank in Formula d.
Once suspension changes and adjustments were made we stepped into qualifying. I kept the first run conservative, and pushed a little harder on the second. We ended up seated in the 6th position after qualifying, which the team and I were pretty happy with.
It was now time to step into top 16 eliminations. We were paired against Brody Goble, who’s a good friend of ours and absolutely rips behind the wheel. I led first and put a decent lead run on the board with some minor corrections. Brody ended up getting into the wall behind me and disrupting his line slightly and I got the small advantage. On the second run I chased Brody on the bank with decent proximity as well and through the rest of the course, I was awarded the win and advanced to the great 8.
Now on to my favorite battles of the weekend, not due to stellar driving but due to the fact I got to drive against one of my best homies, Dylan Hughes. Dylan led first due too a higher qualifying score. I made a few mistakes on the bank in the chase position but kept proximity in the power alley and latter part of the course. On my lead run dylan fell back in proximity at times during the run which led the judges declare a one more time battle.
During dylan and I one more time battle I made a pretty sizable mistake on the bank in the chase position, giving dylan an advantage going into run two. On my lead run I did my best to put down a solid run but unfortunately I was unable to overcome my mistake in the chase position and dylan advanced.
Seattle overall was an amazing event in more ways than one. We learned a lot about car setup as well as team work. I had an absolute blast driving my home track and can’t wait to get back in the drivers seat. Massive thanks to Konig wheels, my family, friends and sponsors that have a hand in making my program run. See you all in Texas!
FORMULA DRIFT SEATTLE – PRO II Round 3 | August 4th and 5th
After a long break, and a long drive from our home in Florida, my team and I arrived at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington for round three of the Formula Drift Pro 2 series. I was coming into this track with very little practice since my first and only other experience there was when my SR engine lost compression during my rookie season… on the first lap.
Needless to say, I was hungry for practice time to try to make up for my lack of experience, as well as to take a shot at the extremely long bank. After taking the couple laps, I realized I had way too much grip dialed into the car. Along the bank, the car was wanting to straighten into the wall if I lifted at all and I was fighting the car the whole way around. After making adjustments during the remainder of the first session , the car was finally starting to feel more settled in drift.
Heading into the second practice session before qualifying, I was less concerned about the handling of the car, and I could now perfect where I was putting the car throughout the course. My spotter was watching my runs as well as listening to judge feedback. One of the main tips was to enter later; Since I was entering at the second set of entry cones, it was suggested that I enter at the last entry cone.
With this in mind, I decided to concentrate on my entry. I accelerated towards the bank and threw the car sideways – too late. My rear end hit the wall and started to rotate. I tried to turn my wheel fast enough to save the front but I had too much momentum. The front of the car hit and I bounced off the wall and down the bank to a halt.
As soon as the safety crews arrived and checked me out I jumped out of the car to assess the damage. When I returned to the pits we got to work replacing: Broken rear wheel, bent rear upper control arm, bent front lower control arm, bent tie rod, bent cross-member, and broken power steering rack. Unfortunately, due to time restraints and qualifying just around the corner, we decided to leave the bent suspension in the rear and just try to align it close. For the front, we hammered on the cross-member to bang it back into shape and then replaced the lower control arm and tie rod end. The power steering rack had to stay due to time constraints.
We were just about to put the car on the ground when we were informed it was out turn for qualifying. We weren’t ready, so we pushed forward to make it for the second qualifying run. When I took the car to the burnout box to test the car and see how bad the steering was, I realized that while I did have power steering, the rack would get stuck when I turned to the left and I would have to force it back the other way instead of it returning to center like normal.
I decided to run the car as-is and attempt to qualify. If I just managed to get a score high enough to get me in the top 16 I could have swapped the rack for the competition the next day.
I threw the car into the bank. My line was alright, but I had to make corrections to stay up high on the bank as I entered the infield. I managed the transition with the broken rack and continue the course. I wasn’t as close to the second outer zone as I would’ve liked, but I was able to wrap around the final two clipping points and make it past the finish line. I was pumped. It was definitely a score-able run, but it was only a 49.
I knew there was little hope to making it into the top 16 and my suspicions were correct. Although I didn’t make it into the top 16, I was really proud of myself and my team for pushing through and getting the car back on track. Now we can come home and prepare for the finals in Texas!
FORMULA DRIFT SEATTLE – PRO II Round 3 | August 4th and 5th
FORMULA DRIFT SEATTLE – PRO Round 6 | August 4th and 5th
Photo: provided by @CoreyDenomy + @Max_fuerst + @Valtersboze
This recap will cover Formula Drift, round 6.
Seattle, Evergreen Speedway. My first impression…. this track is FAST. I know what you’re thinking…Atlanta is also fast. But it’s different… this track we enter fast and then go faster. Such a Rush! Teams clocked speeds of upper 80’s coming off the exit of the bank.
Thursday schedule, two practice sessions. The first session was basically a shake down. Remember I missed the 2016 season being in Pro2, this makes for some quick progression keeping up with the Pro1 class. Luckily, with my spotter Matt Perkins, I was able to make sense of the line and get comfortable.
Thursday’s practice, for the most part, is especially fun, running with some of the best drifters in the world.
Friday morning, Qualifying is my main focus. Personal goal, try and qualify 11th or better. Reason being, my highest qualifying result is 13th to this day.
Qualifying results: Run1 = 79 Run2= 84
Overall Qualifying I landed in 15th position battling the 18th position which is Justin Pawlak. Not the result we were looking to accomplish but I feel great about my battle with Pawlak.
Saturday Main Event, two goals, beat Pawlak and then beat Ryan Tuerck. This is the part of the story that hurts to type…
You know that feeling when you don’t make many mistakes, but the mistake you do make is a big one… Welp, that sums up my battle with Pawlak.
This photo above is not a good look. Argh! I made a mistake and was late on the throttle… With the grip added to the car, this can result in a huge correction. In the wrong place, this is a front end collision to the wall. OUCH!
I do have a great team on my side and my right-hand man Bub Robarge, Is hard at work at Enjuku Racing getting this issue straightened out, literally. ha!
Huge thanks to everyone checking out this Konig Recap. I have a great group of Family/Friends/Sponsors surrounding me and thru the good times and bad times I am thankful for the opportunity to pilot this Nissan and I can’t wait for another opportunity compete and make my dreams a reality. Until Next time, Much love.
FORMULA DRIFT SEATTLE – PRO 2 Round 3 | August 4th and 5th
Whats up guys! Im back with my FD Seattle Recap for your reading pleasure.
Seattle!
After a long 4day drive from Florida I finally arrived to Seattle with my crew guy Justin. A quick stop by the track on Wednesday to drop the trailer off and take a track walk reminded me just how awesome this track was. I have not been to this track in 2 years since the last pro2 stop there in 2015. My last time out there I had some car troubles that prevented me from qualifying so redemption is what I was here for!
Thursday the whole crew arrived at the track early for pit setup and a quick once over on both my and Nate’s cars. After bolt checks and drivers meetings it was time to get behind the wheel. Seattle is a very fast track from the beginning but slows down quite a bit once the cars come off the main wall. First set of tires out was a feeler to get me into the groove of driving again since our last competition was about 3 months prior in Atlanta, We did have some days of car setup and testing but nothing really gets a driver in the proper mindset like the actual comp/qualifying days. Second set of tires now on the car and it was time to get the high line on the bank figured out. This is a rather intimidating thing as our entry speeds into the first turn are in the high 70s to lower 80s mph. I didnt quite get the line figured out on the 2nd set so 3rd set I decided to bump into my old friend the wall out there with the rear bumper just so I it knew I was back and town. Once I got the car up there and bumped the wall it was like a the flip of a switch and now I was in the groove on the high line and everything was coming together on the rest of the course in the second practice.
Qualifying.
Befrore the first pass out the team and I noticed the track temps had cooled down a bit and that eant the car was going to have a bit more bite in it which may make it harder to keep the rear up on the wall. We made some adjustments to slightly loosen up the car some and im glad we did! First pass out netted me a score of a 82! Going into the second pass we again made a bit of adjustment to the car to loosen it up a bit as the track was still cooling down as the sun was setting. My second pass out I was looking to better my score and it wasnt as clean as a pass as I wanted it to be I did better my score with an 83! After the rest of the field had made their second pass we were called to a drivers breifing to go over the official results. I landed a 5th place qualifying position putting me up against Danny George again in the top 16. Danny and I had ran against each other in Orlando where I took the win so I was ready for battle again!
Battles!
My first battle in Seattle was Danny George I was the higher qualifier so I was up to lead first. The track after practice had gripped up a bunch and unlike when it was time for qualifying the amount of grip we took out of the just wasnt enough. I wasnt able to get the tires spinning as much as I wanted on the run up to do the flick entry I had been doing before. So my entry was quite slow to angle and I was fighting the cars grip to keep it high on the bank but I did end up coming down early. From the start im not sure what happened with Danny if he didnt see the lights go out or what but I he had slept quite a bit on the line which gave me a very large lead gap on this run that he wasnt able to make up fully before the finish line. Going into my follow Danny got a gap on me on the entry that I was forced to take a shallower line on the bank to make up the distance. Closing the gap by the touch and go and really reeling him in just before the first inside clip, He made the mistake of going a bit wide on that first inside clip which ended up choking him off for the second inside clip. With no real room for him to get the car to transition around the second clip he had a moment of driving straight just as he passed the clip right before I made some slight contact with his rear bumper pushing him a bit just before the finish line. After a few mins of the judges reviewing the footage i was deemed the winner of the battle and advanced into the Top 8 where I would be up against Matt Vankirk.
This time Matt was the higher qualifier so I was due to follow first. We entered in high on the bank and I made the mistake of getting on the foot brake just a bit to much to keep the car higher on the bank for this pass which ended up giving Matt a chance to make some ground on me. I kept he car high on the bank behind him and did my best to make up the ground as well as I could. Going into the first front clip I attacked to make some ground and went a bit agressive and too shallow of a line and took out the first enter clip before making the final transition and finishing off the run. Now back at the start line it was me to lead and I knew I had to make this one count with my mistakes in the follow position. I entered high on the bank and stayed there Matt this time ended up with a bit of a lower line but good proximity to me. I filled the touch and go as well as the second outter zone and had a fast and tight line at the first front clip. Matt at this time did nearly a similar mistake to mine and went in a bit too agressive and bumped the inner clip just as I had one. I kept as much speed through the first clip as I could to finish the run out strong but ended up over throwing the transition causing me to nearly spin the car completely forcing me to pretty much “crab walk” the car through the finish line in hopes that it would be a full pull on the run. After a just a moment of consideration the Judges deemed my mistake on the lead run at the finish line was enough for me to hand Matt the win. Matt would later go on to the top of the podium with a first place finish here in Seattle at his home track.
All in all Seattle was a absoulte blast of the team and I, We were able to come back and over come our previous years bad luck of not qualifying and take home a 5th place finish!
I again want to thank everyone apart of the team for all of their hard work and efforts put into our program. By the current points standings things are looking good for me moving up to the Pro1 ranks next season and I honestly wouldnt be here with out everyones support. Texas is just a few weeks away so with a quick once over of the car we will be ready for battle in Texas with high hopes of a strong finish and moving up a few ranks in the series!
Thanks!
-Kevin
Kevin is running 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 Kevin Lawrence on INSTAGRAM!
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. But sometimes when you’re looking for that perfect wheel for your vehicle those thousand words are just not enough. We’ve all been there, the endless search for the perfect wheel. Right? Sometimes you’re just left with that “If I could just see the wheel from a different angle” dilemma. We’re going to try and help solve that dilemma. We have now started developing wheel videos that show off some of the most popular Konig wheels from multiple angles.
These videos are available on each respective wheel page by clicking on the media tab at the top of each wheel page. You can also view them all below in this video playlist we have put together.
KONIG WHEELS VIDEO PLAYLIST
Konig is proud to announce their partnership for the second year in a row with Formula Drift Pro 2 Driver and Enjuku Racing team member, Kevin Lawrence. Lawrenece is not only a chill dude he’s also a hell of a drifter. He was the 2014 Three Palms Drift Champion and has been competitively driving for about 5 years. Starting out with an AE86 platform Lawrence has spent a significant amount of time in his Nissan 240sx S14.5 Right hand drive pro car that is powered by an RB.
As Kevin and the Enjuku team prep for the Pro 2 season opener, Kevin gives his thoughts on what its like coming from drifting as a hobby to competing as a professional driver in the video below. Lawrence also talks about what is to come for this season.
NEW 2017 LIVERY:
Check out the video:
Konig Wheels is proud to announce our newest sponsored driver, Donovan Brockway. Brockway, the founder and main driver of Red Baron racing, has teamed up with Konig for the 2017 Formula Drift Pro 2 season. Driving a BMW E30 nicknamed “theBeast”MW Donovan will be thrashing tires this season on Konig Rennform wheels!
Here are some words from the man himself:
“Hey what’s up guys! It’s Donovan here, I’d like to tell you a little about myself and the
team but first I’d like to formally thank Konig for the opportunity to partner up and
become the official wheel sponsor of Red Baron Racing. We’re extremely excited to be
working with them and feel their wheels align perfectly with our car and team’s brand
image.
I started drifting about 6 years ago after a few of my friends got me out to Sonoma
Raceway, our local track, for the Wednesday night drifts. This was back when drifting
was just starting out on a regular basis at Sonoma. Most of the cars had less than
200hp and were all driven to the track. They threw me in the passenger seat, did a few
laps and I was hooked. The next week I spent looking for a starter chassis. I always
loved the older 3 series body style (E30) and thought it would make a really cool drift
car. The first motor I swapped in was an M52 with about 180hp on a good day. It made
a great starting point, but gradually we went up in power swapping out that motor for a
stock S54 and then adding nitrous, a supercharger and finally arriving at the turbo setup
you see today that pushes over 1000hp. I earned my FD pro 2 license after finishing in
3rd place at TopDrift in my NX powered S54 E30. After acquiring my pro2 license, I
knew the competition would increase significantly so I started to build a new car and
assemble a crew. Luckily, I was able to find a solid crew chief and master fabricator,
along with a great group of guys to help run the program. Our first year in Pro2 had a
huge learning curve that even extended into our second year. This year, we are dialed
in and ready to battle. The car is running better than ever, looking better than ever, and I
am excited to get back in the seat and prove to the drifting world that we are a
contending team heading for the top.”
*** Here are some drool worthy images sporting the Konig Rennform’s and the 2017 livery! Check it and make sure to follow Donovan and Red Baron Racing! Their social links are below!”
The Social Media Stuff:
RED BARON RACING – INSTAGRAM
RED BARON RACING – FACEBOOK
Wheels Running:
Konig Rennform 18×8.5 Front / 18×9.5 Rear
The Konig Rennform is a Flow Formed wheel that has fitment in most popular passenger vehicles especially euro applications. The Rennform has an exceptional amount of caliper clearance and is perfect for those big brake cars or cars with BBK upgrades.
We are super exciting to be a part of Donovan’s / Red Baron Racing’s program this year. Stay tuned for more!
