Team Speed Industries @ IDS & EDC Finals Part 2Team Speed Industries @ IDS & EDC Finals Part 2

Again, many thanks to our great photographers: donthomaso.ch , silverpics.ch and lokkydesigns.com. You can find the full size pics on their respective sites.

Pic2.jpg

I hit the gravel HARD as I spun completely out of control right after initiating the drift on the slippery tarmac. Let me tell you, heavy gravel impact isn’t good mental preparation for the qualifying runs. My confidence and concentration went down the drain.

Pic32.jpg
I was having slight complications during qualifying

They pulled me out of the gravel, and I asked for more practice runs – but there was no time. Toby still needed to do his qualifiers as well. I then remembered I still had my tires mounted the wrong way around to save rubber the day before. Shit.

Pic3.jpg

That’s probably why the car felt more unstable than Amy Winehouse during drug therapy. I launched off for the first of three qualifiers and felt almost as scared as last time at IDS Round 2 when I had to run a drift battle while semi-drunk. But there was no time to think about that now..

Pic4.jpg
Where did the track go?

Here’s the rundown of my most horrible qualification experience ever:

– Run 1: Initiate with only ~60% speed and high optimism. It was still too fast, as I hit the gravel pit hard (again)! Zero points, lamer.
– Run 2: Initiate slower than a granny in an electric wheelchair, then proceed to geeeently slide over the wet track with less speed than a canal boat. Very little points, lamer.
– Run 3: Initiate more bravely again, somehow keep it on the track with acceptable speed till the final corner but then spin out just before the finish! Aaaaahhh!!! Zero points, lamer.

Pic6.jpg

Oh my. Normally I manage to pull off at least one of the three runs up to my expectations. This time, I didn’t pull off jack shit. Just after these laps, I was pretty much certain I would not qualify into the IDS Top16. However, this qualifying also counted for the Falken EDC Top32 battles so there was still hope!

Pic5.jpg
Toby ran solid qualifications

Toby’s qualification didn’t go as disastrous as mine – He managed to pull trough two solid laps and only spun out once. Swen also ran in the qualifications – he had already done his qualifiers long before when the track was still dry, so we were wondering about those results.

Pic7.jpg

It was time to call it a day, but there was something special about today. Yes, it was Swen’s birthday! What a lucky day for him. We proceeded to destroy him by partying hard at the “Eifeldorf”, the Nürburgrings own danceclub. It was a legendary night.

Pic8.jpg
Swen before his birthday bash, still able to walk straight and smile

Competition Day

My hangover the next morning was just as legendary as the party that caused it. I’m always amazed what the human body is capable of – after a long roadtrip, 2 full days of drifting, fixing cars, partying and not really sleeping or eating at all, we were still going strong for day 3! Woooo.

Pic9.jpg
Lazy fucking photographers. We need that space for backup tires!!

I ripped open a big can of Red Bull and got cracking. In the morning, it was the IDS Top16 battles and then the EDC Top32 battles in the afternoon. So many battles, so little time!

XDSC_24.jpg
Mmmh… Red Bull for breakfast…

However the first bummer of the day came early. The qualification results list was released and just as expected I fucked up the qualifications the day before.

Pic10.jpg
Toby’s bumper needed some help from the legendary ziptie doctor

I was sitting on 18th place, ruling me out of the IDS Top16 battles. It was enough for the EDC Top32 battles, but I would’ve loved to run in some more IDS battles this season. Can’t have it all I guess.
Toby was in 14th place, so he made it into the IDS Top16. Nice going!
Swen was in 19h place, so he also barely missed the IDS Top16, noooo!
Icon and Philippe’s ranking in the Street class were not yet known

Pic11.jpg
Preparing for the IDS & EDC battles…

So only Toby would be running in any IDS battles this time. All three of us would then run in the EDC Top32 battles later on. Go Speed Industries!

Pic12.jpg
Heey there Icon… having a little hangover?

Toby got ready for the IDS Top16 and lined up his car with the other 15 drivers. He would go up against Lars Verbraeken in his E30 M3 racecar. Lars is a sponsored FALKEN tires driver, and FALKEN dudes tend to know how to drive.

Pic13.jpg
Toby got a free win in his Top16 battle!

But Toby got lucky because Lars Verbraeken’s car had broken just earlier in the day so Toby automatically won the round and was in the Top8 already! Sweeet!

The Top8 battle set Toby against Kees Kok. Toby kinda messed up the first run, giving his opponent the advantage. In the second run however, Toby stepped up his game and took the advantage back! Oh yeah, the judges asked for a ONE MORE TIME.

Pic15.jpg
He then managed to go „one more time“ against Kees Kok

Unfortunately, in the first one more time run, Toby had some faults in his line giving the advantage to his opponent again. In the second run, Toby finally fell, when his opponent pulled off a more solid run. Too bad, he was now out of the IDS Top8.

Pic16.jpg
Byebye blue PS13. See you at the EDC Top32!

All our hopes now went to the EDC Top32 battles in the afternoon.

Pic17.jpg
Speed Industries signature BBQ recharges the batteries after hard battles!

Falken EDC Top32 Battles

Lunch came and went as we fiddled with the cars to be ready for the EDC Top32. All Speed Industries PRO class drivers had qualified and we were ready to rumble!

Pic18.jpg
Lunchtime shenanigans…

They presented the list of opponents. This turned out to be really funny for two reasons:

– My first opponent was Lars Verbraeken with the verbroken BMW. I would automatically win the first round since his car was unusable. Top16 here we goooo!!
– Swen who drives a 160hp Corolla had to go up against Juha Rinthanen, who actually is Darth Vader and drives the death star S14a with over 700 horsepowers

Pic19.jpg
Lars Verbraekens car was broken, so he had to forfeit the battle against me..

Toby and myself found this extremely amusing and cracked at least 80 jokes about Swens upcoming “mission impossible” battle. It was a David vs. Goliath situation, only that David from the story had a much higher chance to win.

Pic22.jpg
„Aaaahhh I don’t wanna battle against that guy!!“

Our shenanigans made Swen very angry which made everything even funnier. Swen lined up his little corolla next to Juha’s star destroyer. Juha was leading for the first battle. He launched off with a rocket start, similar to a spaceship going into light speed. At the Dunlop corner, Swen was already 7 car lengths behind.

Pic20.jpg
Swen exiting the Dunlop corner, pulling absoluely everything out of his Corolla to keep up…

The following uphill section widened the gap even more. The judges said the person with more power must wait for the slower car. But Juha was in race driver mode, shutting his brain off and just stepped on it with no mercy.

Pic21.jpg
…while Juha was already in a different time zone at the uphill transition

The gap was now like 25 car lengths. By the time they finished their stint, the gap was about… oh I don’t know 7 miles? We kinda stopped watching at that point because we were laughing so hard.

Pic23.jpg
Wing must be higher than your roof!

Next battle, Swen was leading. Juha was hanging on his ass the entire run. It looked very funny since Juha could only use like 5% of his power or he’d ram Swen right off the track, while the little Corolla was going fuuuull throttle!

Pic24.jpg
AE86 lift-off! Awesomeeee

Obviously, Swen lost this battle and was out. He showed a great performance, but the difference in power was far too much on this high-speed uphill track.

Pic25.jpg
An awesome performance by Swen… unfortunately his opponent had 2 or 3 more horsepowers

We felt terribly sorry for poor Swen after the battle. OK actually we didn’t, but good job anyway man! Next up was Toby, going up against Benno Frieden from DriftTeam Switzerland. Both Benno and Toby are experienced drifters, so this could be a tough call.

Pic26.jpg
One part on Toby’s front end was missing… but how did that happen?

Benno was leading first, and pulled a 7:3 advantage on the first run. On Toby’s leading run, he managed to build a nice gap to Benno going into the Schumacher corners with superior speed. Unfortunately, he spun out at the uphill transition, handing the win to Benno.

Pic14.jpg
… ah right that’s how! noooo bumper crashuuuu

It wasn’t looking good, Toby was now out of the EDC competition as well. I was the last man standing, going into the Top16 battle against Alexander Rösch in his big E39 BMW M5.

Pic28.jpg
Next up was me against Alexander Rösch in the white E39 M5. No pic, sorry!

He was leading for the first run. I managed to keep up with him to the end of the run, and it turned out I had the advantage now!

For the second run, I tried the usual business of betting on a fast line carrying much speed to outrun my opponent. It seemed to work, as Alex had trouble following my entry into the Schumacher corners.

Pic29.jpg

I was awarded the win and advanced to the Top8 battles. Wohoo! Confidence was on the max after the win, so I wasn’t too scared at first when I saw my opponent which was in my eyes “another BMW dude from somewhere”.

Just after we launched off for the warmup run I had to rethink because that guys speed and technique was insane!! He initiated very early and with a very aggressive flick. When I saw him flicking it in so angrily, I thought “Hey I can do that too!!”

Pic30.jpg
I fucked up the warmup run against Nagy

Unforunately, it wasn’t my day. I lost control by overdoing it with the angle afer the flick and hit the gravel pit hard and backwards. Great mental preparation for the battle. Gotta learn to hold back my temper.

So my opponent wasn’t some random foreign guy, but in fact Adam Nagy using some magical monster BMW. We launched off for the real battle.

Pic32.jpg

1st gear, shift up, 2nd gear, shift up, 3rd gear, full throttle and get ready for the Dunlop corner. Initiate the drift as early as possible carrying lots of speed… I didn’t follow his angry flick and just tried my own line. I managed to keep up on the first corner with a later entry.

Pic34.jpg

We were now on the uphill section, building speed. Full throttle in 2nd gear, go into 3rd , full throttle. Initiate just as you hit the limiter in 3rd gear at around 155 km/h. Don’t get nervous, it’s tempting to pussy out and release the throttle or initiate too early to get rid of the anticipation. Be calm and wait for that moment.

There’s lots 0of grip here, so don’t just handbrake but use a Scandinavian flick or weight shift to really get it sideways or you will straighten out!

Pic33.jpg
3rd gear entry at full throttle at the Schumacher S

Throw it in HARD, control the throttle and steering to keep it on the racing line, almost hitting the inner curb with your front wheels. Don’t go full throttle for too long or you will smear toward the outer curb, hit the gravel pit sideways. But don’t fully release the throttle or you will straighten out, hit the gravel pit frontally and that would kinda suck too.

Pic36.jpg
Switch to the other side, staying in 3rd gear…

Now, briefly release the throttle to switch to the other side. But just for an instant, or you will straighten out again. Now, full throttle to reach the next transition!

Pic37.jpg
Be ready to brake for the low-speed transition since you’re coming in full speed at that point

Prepare for the low-speed uphill transition. You must be ready to brake HARD or your will smear off and fail. But don’t brake to hard or you will lose the drift and fail! Always watch your opponent in front of you, don’t run into him or you will crash and fail! But don’t let him get away either or you will be shaken off and fail as well. Yes, a drift battle offers huge potential to fail so better be prepared!

Pic27.jpg
Lots of angle and smoke trough the uphill transition but be ready for the trickiest corner

After the uphill transition prepare to really step on it to build enough speed to reach that final corner. It always feels uncomfortable, like it’s too far away to reach. But with reduced angle and a good line it becomes possible to connect it directly!

Pic35.jpg
Still on the uphill, smoking it up

But be careful since this part is downhill and you can spin out easily trying to get enough speed to reach that crucial last clipping point. If you manage to keep it together until here, you’re golden. Just stabilize the car, pull to the apex of the last corner to hit the clipping point then go fuuuull throttle with lots of smoke to reach the goal.

Pic31.jpg
Aim for that crucial last clipping point indicated by the cone

One lap Nürburgring Mühlebachschleife – done.

Pic39.jpg
The battles started heating up more and more. Oliver Harsch against the Drift Monkey going close!

In this particular case, I failed since Adam Nagy was just faster than me. He built a gap of around 6 car lengths till the end so I couldn’t entirely keep up with him.

Pic40.jpg
Michael Sahli was going head on against the Drift Monkey from Norway as well..

For my leading battle, I just tried to go absolutely mental and shake him off but I couldn’t. He kept a safe 3 car length distance to me from beginning to end and took home a solid win. He showed impressive driving, especially his entry into the Dunlop corner was ridiculous!

Pic38.jpg
Rohan in the white & orange BMW as usual chasing his opponents very very closely

I knew I had lost the battle even before the judges gave their votes. But I went out with a huge grin on my face, being able to once again battle a strong opponent.

Pic42.jpg

The battles went on for over an hour, with the following final rankings coming about:

Pic41.jpg

In the IDS Final round Top16, 1st place went to Remmo Niezen, 2nd place to Yves Faber and an incredible 3rd place to Markus Milizer. Congratulations to all of you, especially to Markus Milizer who I believe has not been on the IDS podium so far! he showed incredibly consistent driving troughout the weekend!

Pic44.jpg
Markus Militzer in the red M3 was showing an awesome performance all weekend

In the Falken EDC Top32, 1st place went to Remmo Niezen (again!), 2nd place to Adam Nagy and 3rd place to Benno Frieden! Congratulations to all of you.

Pic43.jpg

As for Team Speed Industries, Toby grabbed some nice IDS championship points in the IDS Top16 by getting into the Top8. Swen and myself did not qualify so that sucked.

In the EDC Top32, I got 5th place, Toby 24th place and Swen an unfortunate 32nd place against the 700hp star destroyer.

In the street class, Don Icon grabbed a solid 15th place. However a big surprise was Philippe Guillod who got a 2nd place podium finish place in the street class!! That impressed me a lot since he just started drifting this 2010 season!

Pic56_15thplace.jpg
Don Icon grabbed a solid 15th place in street class. Keep smoking it up buddy!

Pic57_15thplace.jpg

Pic55_2ndplace.jpg
A surprising 2nd place in the street class went to Philippe Guillod. Nice going!

Pic46.jpg

So that was it really in the 2010 season. However the 2011 season has already started with the Team having attended at a Italian drift training in Monza just this past weekend.

Pic49.jpg

We sure as hell don’t intend to stop anytime soon so stay tuned for more action, pics, movies and reports!!! Until then, take care.

PS: too many pics to go around this time, so here some more!

Pic48.jpg
Patrick „Patze“ Ritzmann in the M3 GTR had mechanical issues and sadly did not qualify for the EDC

Pic50.jpg
Super smoke by Supra

Pic51.jpg
The MPS-Racing R33 skyline was starting to look quite battered after the 3-day event

Pic52.jpg
Philippe Guillod tapped the wall a little bit as well!

Pic60.jpg
Little spit of flame from an s13 from Norway i think..

Pic61.jpg
and last but not least, a high-angle entry into Schumacher S by a S13. See you all soon!

Pic1.jpg

With just a slight delay, here is the second part of the 2010 IDS & EDC Finals report from the Nürburgring. We left the action just when I decided it could be a good idea to lose control of the S14 in the slippery conditions and ram head on into the gravel! Nice.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Again, many thanks to our great photographers: donthomaso.ch , silverpics.ch and lokkydesigns.com. You can find the full size pics on their respective sites.

Pic2.jpg

I hit the gravel HARD as I spun completely out of control right after initiating the drift on the slippery tarmac. Let me tell you, heavy gravel impact isn’t good mental preparation for the qualifying runs. My confidence and concentration went down the drain.

Pic32.jpg
I was having slight complications during qualifying

They pulled me out of the gravel, and I asked for more practice runs – but there was no time. Toby still needed to do his qualifiers as well. I then remembered I still had my tires mounted the wrong way around to save rubber the day before. Shit.

Pic3.jpg

That’s probably why the car felt more unstable than Amy Winehouse during drug therapy. I launched off for the first of three qualifiers and felt almost as scared as last time at IDS Round 2 when I had to run a drift battle while semi-drunk. But there was no time to think about that now..

Pic4.jpg
Where did the track go?

Here’s the rundown of my most horrible qualification experience ever:

– Run 1: Initiate with only ~60% speed and high optimism. It was still too fast, as I hit the gravel pit hard (again)! Zero points, lamer.
– Run 2: Initiate slower than a granny in an electric wheelchair, then proceed to geeeently slide over the wet track with less speed than a canal boat. Very little points, lamer.
– Run 3: Initiate more bravely again, somehow keep it on the track with acceptable speed till the final corner but then spin out just before the finish! Aaaaahhh!!! Zero points, lamer.

Pic6.jpg

Oh my. Normally I manage to pull off at least one of the three runs up to my expectations. This time, I didn’t pull off jack shit. Just after these laps, I was pretty much certain I would not qualify into the IDS Top16. However, this qualifying also counted for the Falken EDC Top32 battles so there was still hope!

Pic5.jpg
Toby ran solid qualifications

Toby’s qualification didn’t go as disastrous as mine – He managed to pull trough two solid laps and only spun out once. Swen also ran in the qualifications – he had already done his qualifiers long before when the track was still dry, so we were wondering about those results.

Pic7.jpg

It was time to call it a day, but there was something special about today. Yes, it was Swen’s birthday! What a lucky day for him. We proceeded to destroy him by partying hard at the “Eifeldorf”, the Nürburgrings own danceclub. It was a legendary night.

Pic8.jpg
Swen before his birthday bash, still able to walk straight and smile

Competition Day

My hangover the next morning was just as legendary as the party that caused it. I’m always amazed what the human body is capable of – after a long roadtrip, 2 full days of drifting, fixing cars, partying and not really sleeping or eating at all, we were still going strong for day 3! Woooo.

Pic9.jpg
Lazy fucking photographers. We need that space for backup tires!!

I ripped open a big can of Red Bull and got cracking. In the morning, it was the IDS Top16 battles and then the EDC Top32 battles in the afternoon. So many battles, so little time!

XDSC_24.jpg
Mmmh… Red Bull for breakfast…

However the first bummer of the day came early. The qualification results list was released and just as expected I fucked up the qualifications the day before.

Pic10.jpg
Toby’s bumper needed some help from the legendary ziptie doctor

I was sitting on 18th place, ruling me out of the IDS Top16 battles. It was enough for the EDC Top32 battles, but I would’ve loved to run in some more IDS battles this season. Can’t have it all I guess.
Toby was in 14th place, so he made it into the IDS Top16. Nice going!
Swen was in 19h place, so he also barely missed the IDS Top16, noooo!
Icon and Philippe’s ranking in the Street class were not yet known

Pic11.jpg
Preparing for the IDS & EDC battles…

So only Toby would be running in any IDS battles this time. All three of us would then run in the EDC Top32 battles later on. Go Speed Industries!

Pic12.jpg
Heey there Icon… having a little hangover?

Toby got ready for the IDS Top16 and lined up his car with the other 15 drivers. He would go up against Lars Verbraeken in his E30 M3 racecar. Lars is a sponsored FALKEN tires driver, and FALKEN dudes tend to know how to drive.

Pic13.jpg
Toby got a free win in his Top16 battle!

But Toby got lucky because Lars Verbraeken’s car had broken just earlier in the day so Toby automatically won the round and was in the Top8 already! Sweeet!

The Top8 battle set Toby against Kees Kok. Toby kinda messed up the first run, giving his opponent the advantage. In the second run however, Toby stepped up his game and took the advantage back! Oh yeah, the judges asked for a ONE MORE TIME.

Pic15.jpg
He then managed to go „one more time“ against Kees Kok

Unfortunately, in the first one more time run, Toby had some faults in his line giving the advantage to his opponent again. In the second run, Toby finally fell, when his opponent pulled off a more solid run. Too bad, he was now out of the IDS Top8.

Pic16.jpg
Byebye blue PS13. See you at the EDC Top32!

All our hopes now went to the EDC Top32 battles in the afternoon.

Pic17.jpg
Speed Industries signature BBQ recharges the batteries after hard battles!

Falken EDC Top32 Battles

Lunch came and went as we fiddled with the cars to be ready for the EDC Top32. All Speed Industries PRO class drivers had qualified and we were ready to rumble!

Pic18.jpg
Lunchtime shenanigans…

They presented the list of opponents. This turned out to be really funny for two reasons:

– My first opponent was Lars Verbraeken with the verbroken BMW. I would automatically win the first round since his car was unusable. Top16 here we goooo!!
– Swen who drives a 160hp Corolla had to go up against Juha Rinthanen, who actually is Darth Vader and drives the death star S14a with over 700 horsepowers

Pic19.jpg
Lars Verbraekens car was broken, so he had to forfeit the battle against me..

Toby and myself found this extremely amusing and cracked at least 80 jokes about Swens upcoming “mission impossible” battle. It was a David vs. Goliath situation, only that David from the story had a much higher chance to win.

Pic22.jpg
„Aaaahhh I don’t wanna battle against that guy!!“

Our shenanigans made Swen very angry which made everything even funnier. Swen lined up his little corolla next to Juha’s star destroyer. Juha was leading for the first battle. He launched off with a rocket start, similar to a spaceship going into light speed. At the Dunlop corner, Swen was already 7 car lengths behind.

Pic20.jpg
Swen exiting the Dunlop corner, pulling absoluely everything out of his Corolla to keep up…

The following uphill section widened the gap even more. The judges said the person with more power must wait for the slower car. But Juha was in race driver mode, shutting his brain off and just stepped on it with no mercy.

Pic21.jpg
…while Juha was already in a different time zone at the uphill transition

The gap was now like 25 car lengths. By the time they finished their stint, the gap was about… oh I don’t know 7 miles? We kinda stopped watching at that point because we were laughing so hard.

Pic23.jpg
Wing must be higher than your roof!

Next battle, Swen was leading. Juha was hanging on his ass the entire run. It looked very funny since Juha could only use like 5% of his power or he’d ram Swen right off the track, while the little Corolla was going fuuuull throttle!

Pic24.jpg
AE86 lift-off! Awesomeeee

Obviously, Swen lost this battle and was out. He showed a great performance, but the difference in power was far too much on this high-speed uphill track.

Pic25.jpg
An awesome performance by Swen… unfortunately his opponent had 2 or 3 more horsepowers

We felt terribly sorry for poor Swen after the battle. OK actually we didn’t, but good job anyway man! Next up was Toby, going up against Benno Frieden from DriftTeam Switzerland. Both Benno and Toby are experienced drifters, so this could be a tough call.

Pic26.jpg
Looking good… still looking good..

Benno was leading first, and pulled a 7:3 advantage on the first run. On Toby’s leading run, he managed to build a nice gap to Benno going into the Schumacher corners with superior speed. Unfortunately, he spun out at the uphill transition, handing the win to Benno.

Pic14.jpg
… Nooooooooooooo !!! Bumper crashuuu

It wasn’t looking good, Toby was now out of the EDC competition as well. I was the last man standing, going into the Top16 battle against Alexander Rösch in his big E39 BMW M5.

Pic28.jpg
Next up was me against Alexander Rösch in the white E39 M5. No pic, sorry!

He was leading for the first run. I managed to keep up with him to the end of the run, and it turned out I had the advantage now!

For the second run, I tried the usual business of betting on a fast line carrying much speed to outrun my opponent. It seemed to work, as Alex had trouble following my entry into the Schumacher corners.

Pic29.jpg

I was awarded the win and advanced to the Top8 battles. Wohoo! Confidence was on the max after the win, so I wasn’t too scared at first when I saw my opponent which was in my eyes “another BMW dude from somewhere”.

Just after we launched off for the warmup run I had to rethink because that guys speed and technique was insane!! He initiated very early and with a very aggressive flick. When I saw him flicking it in so angrily, I thought “Hey I can do that too!!”

Pic30.jpg
I fucked up the warmup run against Nagy

Unforunately, it wasn’t my day. I lost control by overdoing it with the angle afer the flick and hit the gravel pit hard and backwards. Great mental preparation for the battle. Gotta learn to hold back my temper.

So my opponent wasn’t some random foreign guy, but in fact Adam Nagy using some magical monster BMW. We launched off for the real battle.

Pic32.jpg

1st gear, shift up, 2nd gear, shift up, 3rd gear, full throttle and get ready for the Dunlop corner. Initiate the drift as early as possible carrying lots of speed… I didn’t follow his angry flick and just tried my own line. I managed to keep up on the first corner with a later entry.

Pic34.jpg

We were now on the uphill section, building speed. Full throttle in 2nd gear, go into 3rd , full throttle. Initiate just as you hit the limiter in 3rd gear at around 155 km/h. Don’t get nervous, it’s tempting to pussy out and release the throttle or initiate too early to get rid of the anticipation. Be calm and wait for that moment.

There’s lots 0of grip here, so don’t just handbrake but use a Scandinavian flick or weight shift to really get it sideways or you will straighten out!

Pic33.jpg
3rd gear entry at full throttle at the Schumacher S

Throw it in HARD, control the throttle and steering to keep it on the racing line, almost hitting the inner curb with your front wheels. Don’t go full throttle for too long or you will smear toward the outer curb, hit the gravel pit sideways. But don’t fully release the throttle or you will straighten out, hit the gravel pit frontally and that would kinda suck too.

Pic36.jpg
Switch to the other side, staying in 3rd gear…

Now, briefly release the throttle to switch to the other side. But just for an instant, or you will straighten out again. Now, full throttle to reach the next transition!

Pic37.jpg
Be ready to brake for the low-speed transition since you’re coming in full speed at that point

Prepare for the low-speed uphill transition. You must be ready to brake HARD or your will smear off and fail. But don’t brake to hard or you will lose the drift and fail! Always watch your opponent in front of you, don’t run into him or you will crash and fail! But don’t let him get away either or you will be shaken off and fail as well. Yes, a drift battle offers huge potential to fail so better be prepared!

Pic27.jpg
Lots of angle and smoke trough the uphill transition but be ready for the trickiest corner

After the uphill transition prepare to really step on it to build enough speed to reach that final corner. It always feels uncomfortable, like it’s too far away to reach. But with reduced angle and a good line it becomes possible to connect it directly!

Pic35.jpg
Still on the uphill, smoking it up

But be careful since this part is downhill and you can spin out easily trying to get enough speed to reach that crucial last clipping point. If you manage to keep it together until here, you’re golden. Just stabilize the car, pull to the apex of the last corner to hit the clipping point then go fuuuull throttle with lots of smoke to reach the goal.

Pic31.jpg
Aim for that crucial last clipping point indicated by the cone

One lap Nürburgring Mühlebachschleife – done.

Pic39.jpg
The battles started heating up more and more. Oliver Harsch against the Drift Monkey going close!

In this particular case, I failed since Adam Nagy was just faster than me. He built a gap of around 6 car lengths till the end so I couldn’t entirely keep up with him.

Pic40.jpg
Michael Sahli was going head on against the Drift Monkey from Norway as well..

For my leading battle, I just tried to go absolutely mental and shake him off but I couldn’t. He kept a safe 3 car length distance to me from beginning to end and took home a solid win. He showed impressive driving, especially his entry into the Dunlop corner was ridiculous!

Pic38.jpg
Rohan in the white & orange BMW as usual chasing his opponents very very closely

I knew I had lost the battle even before the judges gave their votes. But I went out with a huge grin on my face, being able to once again battle a strong opponent.

Pic42.jpg

The battles went on for over an hour, with the following final rankings coming about:

Pic41.jpg

In the IDS Final round Top16, 1st place went to Remmo Niezen, 2nd place to Yves Faber and an incredible 3rd place to Markus Milizer. Congratulations to all of you, especially to Markus Milizer who I believe has not been on the IDS podium so far! he showed incredibly consistent driving troughout the weekend!

Pic44.jpg
Markus Militzer in the red M3 was showing an awesome performance all weekend

In the Falken EDC Top32, 1st place went to Remmo Niezen (again!), 2nd place to Adam Nagy and 3rd place to Benno Frieden! Congratulations to all of you.

Pic43.jpg

As for Team Speed Industries, Toby grabbed some nice IDS championship points in the IDS Top16 by getting into the Top8. Swen and myself did not qualify so that sucked.

In the EDC Top32, I got 5th place, Toby 24th place and Swen an unfortunate 32nd place against the 700hp star destroyer.

In the street class, Don Icon grabbed a solid 15th place. However a big surprise was Philippe Guillod who got a 2nd place podium finish place in the street class!! That impressed me a lot since he just started drifting this 2010 season!

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Don Icon grabbed a solid 15th place in street class. Keep smoking it up buddy!

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A surprising 2nd place in the street class went to Philippe Guillod. Nice going!

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So that was it really in the 2010 season. However the 2011 season has already started with the Team having attended at a Italian drift training in Monza just this past weekend.

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We sure as hell don’t intend to stop anytime soon so stay tuned for more action, pics, movies and reports!!! Until then, take care.

PS: too many pics to go around this time, so here some more!

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Patrick „Patze“ Ritzmann in the M3 GTR had mechanical issues and sadly did not qualify for the EDC

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Super smoke by Supra

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The MPS-Racing R33 skyline was starting to look quite battered after the 3-day event

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Philippe Guillod tapped the wall a little bit as well!

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Little spit of flame from an s13 from Norway i think..

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and last but not least, a high-angle entry into Schumacher S by a S13. See you all soon!

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