For the PRO Drift division of Team Speed Industries, this was the first test of our new setups.
The Speed Industries pit area was looking quite alright
We would send in 4 drivers, including our latest addition to the team – Andrew Hirschy.
Our new sponsor, the awesome Touge Speed Shop
The team already started building up the Speed Industries area on Friday night, including the all new Touge Speed Shop by our new sponsor. Thanks to them, we would be able to sell their cool products right at the track and help finance our very high running costs.
I received my new helmet. Feel like the Stig now
Myself, I started off Saturday morning at 4:00 AM to Hockenheim. After finishing preparations on the car just a few hours before that, I had 2 hours of sleep but was so hyped up I wasn’t even feeling tired.
Andrew Hirschy, our newest drift soldier was Touge'd up right on arrival
When we arrived, the whole team greeted us with a nicely set up stand in the pits.
Icon was going mad with stickerbombing!
And sooner than I imagined it was time for briefing. As usual I was 5-10 minutes late and had to endure a long long briefing with only half a can of red bull left! The judges for this event would be the very experienced drifters Axel Mack and Andy Jaenen. Brilliant that the IDS could win them to help out with the judging this season!
Looks like Toby was also loving his new helmet.
It was also great to meet the entire IDS drift family again this year. The vibe coming off all the teams and drivers was just soo cool, everybody was having a great time.
Marco from dirtdrop.ch has already created an epic video of the happenings. That was quick!
Don't forget Martin from silverpics.ch either
After briefing, I had to bring in the ZÜRIDRIFT S14 for technical inspection. I was quite scared of this, because this S14 is equipped with a Bosozoku exhaust so huge it’s almost obscene.
Also, I use a samurai sword instead of a handbrake lever, so I was sure this would lead to lame safety discussions.
AC Lightaddicted joined in as well! (sorry, don't know the real name)
Luckily for me, Axel Mack was also the technical inspector and he only enforced the regulations of the IDS. These regulations didn’t say anything about bosozoku exhausts and samurai sword handbrakes so I was SAFE to ride my car as it is! Woooo! Long live the IDS with less regulations than Wall Street!
Grip was shit on my first practice run
We then started prepping the rides for the first practice runs. I decided to use old tires for the first practice.
Andrew already going mad right from the start
This turned out to be a bad idea as these tires were probably taken off Alexander the Great’s first horse carriage in some museum.
Toby showing off some golden sparkly goodness
They were just shit. The car had no grip at all and felt quite unstable so I wasn’t feeling too confident just yet.
Micha Scherr's Z32 up close
Also, some engine management troubles started taking shape as my car was overheating after only like 1 lap of the short track. Fuck!
Interesting shot. Look what's lurking behind in the smoke!
I decided to ignore the issues and make use of the practice time, constantly heating up the turbo like a hot potato until the engine cut out and I had to cool everything down. Moderation is surely not my strongest virtue.
Dimi Patzazis was a smoke machine that day
The track itself was brilliant. They involved one of the PRO drivers, Patrick Ritzmann for the track layout.
And Philippe Guillod was just… mental. Closest to the wall all day.
That madman went ahead and installed a huge concrete wall as one of the clipping points. That was the most brilliant invention since drifting itself! It allowed to separate the men from the boys by forcing the drivers to throw their cars as closely as possible to that wall.
"The Wall" was a crowd favorite. Here Oliver Harsch is trying it out up close
Of course, if you take lots of brainless drifters and tell them to drive next to that wall some very interesting situations will ensue.
Robert Höing mounted a deflated alien to his crystal GT-wing. (noone ever said that before)
First driver who had more balls than brains was Philip Stegemann from MPS-Racing. He decided it would be great to modify the looks of his nice R32 skyline by ramming it backwards into the wall. Ouch!
Stegemann from Team MPS was going strong too in the sweet 4-door Skyline
Patrick Ritzmann of course also wanted into the club of balls-out drivers so he rammed the wall with his 2JZ M3 GTR shortly after that incident.
The 2JZ M3 is back for 2011! And with even more power…
But all the PRO drifters didn’t give a damn and just kept driving like complete lunatics, improving their lines and speed trough the most difficult section of the track with every practice lap.
Another new car in the roster – S13 pickup with Galant frontend and V8. What the fuck!
Team Speed Industries was going quite mad at this point as well – We started doing „trains“ with 4 cars chasing each other closely trough the entire track leaving it covered in smoke.
Choo Choo the train is coming trough!
Even Jörg Söhner, chief of the IDS was loving it and encouraged us to chase even closer. Then the german drifters thought „hey if those guys can do it, we can too!“ and started huuuge trains with over 6 cars going mental at times. It was just spectacular! Battling all the other drivers in practice is just so much fun.
We went on a sticker bombing spree!
During lunch break, Don Icon and I started walking trough the pit lanes to promote our new sponsor Touge Speed Shop by giving out cool touge stickers to many drivers in the starting grid. Everyone was loving the designs and was of course happy to get a free sticker on the house!
BOOST MAX FUEL!
For lunch, our newest team member Andrew Hirschy was already proving his worth to the team by preapring 20 delicious hamburgers for the team!
Touge stickers make you cool
We really hope his car will explode soon so that he can stop driving and get employed as the Team’s cook as these burgers were just out of this world!
Even Patze found a spot for Turbozilla. Hope his other sponsors wont mind!
Lots of fun was had with the all the drivers, supporters and many fans and friends who came all the way from France and Switzerland to support us in our first IDS Round!
Harry Müller was loving the Devil-Zilla on his monstrous black widebody S15
Especially Team MSO from France who had by far the farthest distance to cover came in full force, so that was super awesome!
The sugar-skull for Corinna Gräff from Team Life-Strip!
There was quite a bit of media attention at the event as well. Of course our photography and video specialists from the media team were with us (dirtdrop.ch, silverpics.ch, donthomaso.ch). So many thanks guys!
Felix Aretz's M3 got the I love Drifting treatment
On top of that, we would have a very cool guy from Automobil Revue TV in Switzerland create a small report for swiss televion about the team.
Rock'n'Roll !
We are so happy the sport of drifting is finally getting more attention by the media this year and are hoping for a bright future getting this sport known nationwide! Stay tuned to see the report on some local swiss channels soon.
Icon and I really have to work on our jump shots…
But after the bright and cheerful times, great weather and already quite successful practice sessions things started to go downhill..
… cause that looks quite shit.
Stay tuned for the second part of this report titled:
IDS Round 1, Part 2 – The drama starts (again)
PS: here’s a video of aforementioned „Trains“ going mad during practice!For the PRO Drift division of Team Speed Industries, this was the first test of our new setups.
The Speed Industries pit area was looking quite alright
We would send in 4 drivers, including our latest addition to the team – Andrew Hirschy.
Our new sponsor, the awesome Touge Speed Shop
The team already started building up the Speed Industries area on Friday night, including the all new Touge Speed Shop by our new sponsor. Thanks to them, we would be able to sell their cool products right at the track and help finance our very high running costs.
I received my new helmet. Feel like the Stig now
Myself, I started off Saturday morning at 4:00 AM to Hockenheim. After finishing preparations on the car just a few hours before that, I had 2 hours of sleep but was so hyped up I wasn’t even feeling tired.
Andrew Hirschy, our newest drift soldier was Touge'd up right on arrival
When we arrived, the whole team greeted us with a nicely set up stand in the pits.
Icon was going mad with stickerbombing!
And sooner than I imagined it was time for briefing. As usual I was 5-10 minutes late and had to endure a long long briefing with only half a can of red bull left! The judges for this event would be the very experienced drifters Axel Mack and Andy Jaenen. Brilliant that the IDS could win them to help out with the judging this season!
Looks like Toby was also loving his new helmet.
It was also great to meet the entire IDS drift family again this year. The vibe coming off all the teams and drivers was just soo cool, everybody was having a great time.
Marco from dirtdrop.ch has already created an epic video of the happenings. That was quick!
Don't forget Martin from silverpics.ch either
After briefing, I had to bring in the ZÜRIDRIFT S14 for technical inspection. I was quite scared of this, because this S14 is equipped with a Bosozoku exhaust so huge it’s almost obscene.
Also, I use a samurai sword instead of a handbrake lever, so I was sure this would lead to lame safety discussions.
AC Lightaddicted joined in as well! (sorry, don't know the real name)
Luckily for me, Axel Mack was also the technical inspector and he only enforced the regulations of the IDS. These regulations didn’t say anything about bosozoku exhausts and samurai sword handbrakes so I was SAFE to ride my car as it is! Woooo! Long live the IDS with less regulations than Wall Street!
Grip was shit on my first practice run
We then started prepping the rides for the first practice runs. I decided to use old tires for the first practice.
Andrew already going mad right from the start
This turned out to be a bad idea as these tires were probably taken off Alexander the Great’s first horse carriage in some museum.
Toby showing off some golden sparkly goodness
They were just shit. The car had no grip at all and felt quite unstable so I wasn’t feeling too confident just yet.
Micha Scherr's Z32 up close
Also, some engine management troubles started taking shape as my car was overheating after only like 1 lap of the short track. Fuck!
Interesting shot. Look what's lurking behind in the smoke!
I decided to ignore the issues and make use of the practice time, constantly heating up the turbo like a hot potato until the engine cut out and I had to cool everything down. Moderation is surely not my strongest virtue.
Dimi Patzazis was a smoke machine that day
The track itself was brilliant. They involved one of the PRO drivers, Patrick Ritzmann for the track layout.
And Philippe Guillod was just… mental. Closest to the wall all day.
That madman went ahead and installed a huge concrete wall as one of the clipping points. That was the most brilliant invention since drifting itself! It allowed to separate the men from the boys by forcing the drivers to throw their cars as closely as possible to that wall.
"The Wall" was a crowd favorite. Here Oliver Harsch is trying it out up close
Of course, if you take lots of brainless drifters and tell them to drive next to that wall some very interesting situations will ensue.
Robert Höing mounted a deflated alien to his crystal GT-wing. (noone ever said that before)
First driver who had more balls than brains was Philip Stegemann from MPS-Racing. He decided it would be great to modify the looks of his nice R32 skyline by ramming it backwards into the wall. Ouch!
Stegemann from Team MPS was going strong too in the sweet 4-door Skyline
Patrick Ritzmann of course also wanted into the club of balls-out drivers so he rammed the wall with his 2JZ M3 GTR shortly after that incident.
The 2JZ M3 is back for 2011! And with even more power…
But all the PRO drifters didn’t give a damn and just kept driving like complete lunatics, improving their lines and speed trough the most difficult section of the track with every practice lap.
Another new car in the roster – S13 pickup with Galant frontend and V8. What the fuck!
Team Speed Industries was going quite mad at this point as well – We started doing „trains“ with 4 cars chasing each other closely trough the entire track leaving it covered in smoke.
Choo Choo the train is coming trough!
Even Jörg Söhner, chief of the IDS was loving it and encouraged us to chase even closer. Then the german drifters thought „hey if those guys can do it, we can too!“ and started huuuge trains with over 6 cars going mental at times. It was just spectacular! Battling all the other drivers in practice is just so much fun.
We went on a sticker bombing spree!
During lunch break, Don Icon and I started walking trough the pit lanes to promote our new sponsor Touge Speed Shop by giving out cool touge stickers to many drivers in the starting grid. Everyone was loving the designs and was of course happy to get a free sticker on the house!
BOOST MAX FUEL!
For lunch, our newest team member Andrew Hirschy was already proving his worth to the team by preapring 20 delicious hamburgers for the team!
Touge stickers make you cool
We really hope his car will explode soon so that he can stop driving and get employed as the Team’s cook as these burgers were just out of this world!
Even Patze found a spot for Turbozilla. Hope his other sponsors wont mind!
Lots of fun was had with the all the drivers, supporters and many fans and friends who came all the way from France and Switzerland to support us in our first IDS Round!
Harry Müller was loving the Devil-Zilla on his monstrous black widebody S15
Especially Team MSO from France who had by far the farthest distance to cover came in full force, so that was super awesome!
The sugar-skull for Corinna Gräff from Team Life-Strip!
There was quite a bit of media attention at the event as well. Of course our photography and video specialists from the media team were with us (dirtdrop.ch, silverpics.ch, donthomaso.ch). So many thanks guys!
Felix Aretz's M3 got the I love Drifting treatment
On top of that, we would have a very cool guy from Automobil Revue TV in Switzerland create a small report for swiss televion about the team.
Rock'n'Roll !
We are so happy the sport of drifting is finally getting more attention by the media this year and are hoping for a bright future getting this sport known nationwide! Stay tuned to see the report on some local swiss channels soon.
Icon and I really have to work on our jump shots…
But after the bright and cheerful times, great weather and already quite successful practice sessions things started to go downhill..
… cause that looks quite shit.
Stay tuned for the second part of this report titled:
IDS Round 1, Part 2 – The drama starts (again)
PS: here’s a video of aforementioned „Trains“ going mad during practice!