As usual I was trying to fix my piece of … car
We pick up the action just when the qualifications had finished. The team was fighting with various issues; Some cars weren’t working properly, one driver managed to destroy his left leg so bad he had to go to the hospital.
Don Icon bombed his left foot the day before. Nooooo
And then the weather started acting up, making us run qualifications in conditions mixed between wet and dry.
In the end, 3 out of 4 our drivers qualified for the Top16 battles: Toby got 8th place, I got 12th and hirschy snagged 15th place. Don Icon, the one-legged drifter unfortunately did not qualify.. hope he can get his foot fixed at the next event!
The judges did not approve of the weather
It was GO TIME!
The head judge – Axel Mack! Normally drives his JZ-powered BMW.
After we changed tires and were more or less ready for battle, it was time for the Top16 driver presentations. Jörg Söhner, head of the IDS did a nice introduction of all the drivers including a short interview with the teamleader of Speed Industries, Tobias.
Hirschy was the burger master this weekend! Here you see him scared of his own mustard. Wtf
Thomas from DonThomaso.ch was eating delicious burgers…
It was a cool feeling to be standing in front of the crowds for the Top16 again this year. Everyone was eager to get it on, so all drivers were sent back into „The Zone“.
… while Toby was busy eating paper
The zone is the back part of the track, where according to the qualification list, every driver is paired up against his first opponent.
Secret lines and techniques were being discussed with Dimi…
It is a quite simple system: The 1st place qualifier drives his first battle against the 16th place qualifier, and so on.
Icon would unfortunately not participate in the Top16 battles
Since my qualifying was quite crappy and I was sitting on 12th place I had to go up against the 5th place qualifier Oliver Harsch.
While I was getting ready to go against Oliver Harsch
Oli who’s running a BMW 3-series with a V8 engine is a drift veteran. He has seen many seasons and many battles and is known as a very consistent and precise driver. Since I was still having some issues with my ignition timing, I wasn’t feeling too confident about this one.
Oliver Harsch with the new "züridrift style" livery on his BMW
But the cool thing about „The zone“ is that even though all drivers are just about to go head-to-head in fierce drift battles, there’s always this cool relaxed vibe going on. We were joking around with Toby, Andrew, Philippe and even our upcoming opponents and nobody was stressed out or overly competitive at this point.
Joe from Driftbrothers.com going strong during practice
I guess that happens only in drifting. And that’s why we love it!
The already very famous wall of DOOM
They called us out for battle. Oliver Harsch vs. Me.
I knew my engine would overheat quickly, so Oli and I agreed to skip the warmup lap and get straight to the action. I then noticed Oli had already removed the bonnet from his BMW, so it looked like he was also having some overheating issues.
Teamdrift fun before we headed back to "the Zone"
For the first run, I decided to keep some distance to Oli because I didn’t know his style or speed since we had skipped the warmup. Oli was driving very fluently, but I caught up slightly closing in at the wall. I should have followed his line more closely since he went quite wide. Since I took the more agressive inside line I was forced to brake and correct the car slightly.
The engine felt quite laggy, was forced to clutch kick to get the boost up again, adding further corrections to an already average chase run. Oli took the advantage with a 4 / 6 score.
For the second battle, I was driving up front while Oli was giving chase. Now I was feeling good.. I love lead runs going mental outrunning the car behind me. I threw it in like a mad baboon with a slight flick on the entry and a bit of e-brake for added angle. Then lots of throttle to get the laggy engine revving nicely.
Hit the first clipping point nice and close and went for the switch which puts you right against the wall. I didn’t reach the wall as close as I would’ve liked to, but the line I took was agressive and quick. Managed to create a small gap up to the next clipping point.
Oli magically caught up coming up to the next inner clipping point, but luckily I could increase the gap again entering the next corner and up to the final switch where we had to hit 3 clipping points in a row. I was satisfied with my angle and speed troughout these long corners with fast switches in between. Created a good gap between us.
It turned out I had the taken the win with this one… wohooo! (7 / 3) So by a 1 point difference I got into the Top8. Nice driving by Oliver Harsch though, it was a close one!
Toby in the SI PS13 vs. Gräff in his Polizei BMW was the next battle
Toby had to go up against Alex Gräff in his Polizei V8 BMW. All I saw was that the intercooler hose on Toby’s S13 ripped just as they were finishing the first run. The judges gave Alex a 10 / 0 win, but even worse Toby’s car was not running any more, and he rushed around to get a replacement hose.
Alex Gräff's POLIZEI BMW, here during practice with Micha Scherr
Since you have a limited amount of time to get your car running again when you have a problem, Toby was extremely stressed to get this part changed. If you take too long – you’re disqualified.
He managed to get his car running again, but was now up against a 0 / 10 disadvantage so pressure was on the maximum. He went aaaall out, trying to chase Alex as closely as possible to somehow force him into a mistake. But it wasn’t meant to be, and Toby spun again during an agressive flick at the end of the course. 10 / 0 for gräff again and Toby was out.
Our new man Andrew Hirschy getting ready for battle…
Andrew meanwhile had to battle Christian Kogler. Now this guy drives a black S13 with huge steering lock. His angles on some of the turns were unbelievable so this would surely be a tough one for Andrew.
… against Christian Kogler using an S13 with epic steering lock.
The first battle went to Christian with a small 6 / 4 lead. Just as they were exiting the final corner out of the judged zone – Andrew rammed Christian’s S13 on the inside like the titanic rammed its last iceberg. It looked like quite a bit of damage on both sides, with Andrew’s left door and fenders now resembling the face of a very fat, 200-year-old man with a skin disease.
Hirschy closing in to Kogler in the first stint
Christian then had to chase for the second battle, but spun out during this run. Probably the accident got to him psychologically, and I wasn’t sure if his suspension was damaged after the crash. I felt bad for Christian to go out like this, but good for Andrew since this allowed him into the Top8! In the end, accidents happen in motorsport and I know Andrew did not run into him on purpose.
Kogler spun out after the crash… probably his suspension was messed up. So Hirschy could take the win
Now I was up against Florian Zimmermann with his supercharged Audi. His car is looking even meaner this year with a new livery and I was sure he also modified engine and suspension over winter.
I managed to create a big gap during my lead run against Flo
My car was starting to act up because of heat issues again so we decided to remove the Bonnet for this run to cool things down a bit. I asked to skip the warmup round again to avoid more heat in the engine and the battle started.
… then I charged in too close when chasing..
I had to lead for the first run and went mental trying to outrun him. It seemed to work, as I got a 7 / 3 advantage after the first run.
… closer…
On my chase run, I went too close from the start and had to brake a lot to avoid collision. That led to me falling out of the powerband and straightening out. Lame! Florian took home a 8 / 2 win in this battle, making him the victor. Congratz to Flo for that! Solid driving!!
… even closer… and then I straightened out, losing the battle. Noooo
I was still happy since winning against Oli Harsch gave me 5th place, an acceptable result considering the circumstances.
Andrew and Militzer had a big battle, but Andrew came out victorious again!
Andrew next smoked Markus Milizer during his Top8 battle. Markus is a very strong and consistent driver. Haven’t seen the battle but it must’ve been a close one.
… Militzer charging in after the entry and up against the wall..
Andrew was on a rampage, also smoking Patrick Ritzmann in his backup car
After that he he went up against Patrick Ritzmann – who is normally extremely hard to beat. However Patrick was unlucky and had to use a replacement car because his M3 GTR with 2JZ engine had burned the clutch the day before. He battled really well, and considering he was using a backup car with stock steering lock and everything Patrick fought a brilliant fight.
But Andrew was on fire and emerged as the victor. He was all surprised when he suddently realized he was in the finals on his first try at an IDS Pro championship! Incredible!
In the finals, it was Guillod vs. Hirschy.
Then he was already up to his final opponent of the day – Philippe Guillod. Now Philippe is one sneaky bastard; started drifting just last year, but about the first time I saw him drive I was quite sure he will come far. He has a huge commitment to drifting, a very agressive driving style and seemingly no brain at all since he’ll throw the car in every single corner on every single run at the absolute maximum.
… with Hirschy fucking up his chase run and spinning out. Noo
So we knew this would be a tough one for Andrew. Since Philippe is member of DriftTeam Switzerland, we liked to mess around with him a little and kept shouting „boooooo!!!“ when he was passing by, then giving thumbs up to Andrew at the same time. All good fun! 🙂
They lined up their battered Silvias next to each other and waited for the signal. Philippe was leading, Andrew chasing. Silence. Then the glorious deep rumble of two SR20-powered cars accellerating towards the entry point.
The entry was about equal, with good speed and angle coming from both cars. However after the switch Philippe took the car closer to the wall while Andrew took the more agressive inside line to put on some pressure. But Philippe was having none of it and kept a nice 1-car distance between them troughout the run.
… no matter what Hirschy did now – He'd lose if Guillod doesn't spin out
Towards the end, the unthinkable happened: Andrew spun out coming toward the last corner transition. Nooooooo! Philippe spun out just one instant after Andrew – but fault always lies with the driver who makes the mistake first! 10 – 0 for Philippe!
We boo’d and screamed at Philippe who was driving by, then patted on Andrews car somehow hoping we can motivate him to ram Philippe off the track making it a draw or something!
At this point I knew it was over. Philippe just had to bring it home by chasing Andrew without spinning out. I thought it was nice Philippe was still showing a fast, agressive second run even though he could have just driven trough. That is the spirit – because taking it easy just because you’re ahead is quite lame in my book.
The second run ended with a 5 – 5 tie, but the spin in the first run was the decider.
The three winners! Congratulations guys
IDS Round 1 winner: Philippeeeee Guilloooooood. Congratulations, I believe he earned it with the most agressive wall-rubbing line troughout the weekend.
Of course the battle wasn't over, the weapons just changed from cars to bottles
Andrew’s performance however was also very strong especially considering he’s also new in the IDS circus! Of course we were delighted to have one Speed Industries driver on the podium again.
What a happy camper
Winning celebrations were awesome as always, with the drivers spraying their faces with champagne and everybody getting all emotional. Andrew also didn’t fail to mention our sponsors when he was being interviewed, so all was well.
Andrew seemed to like his first trophy ever as well
Congratulations also to the 3rd place finisher – Markus Millizer! Solid driving as usual.
and he even spread the word of our sponsors after that. Nice!
So the final scores for Team Speed Industries were:
Hirschy – 2nd
Thomet – 5th
Welti – 9th
Icon – 24th
Even though more would’ve been possible especially from my side I believe this was an acceptable result for the team overall. But it would be nice to once have an event without all the drama of technical issues or people breaking their feet before qualifying. 🙂
The silverpics.ch impreza is a legend
Maybe next time… ok if we’re honest we have already returned from „next time“ (round 2) and the drama was even stronger there. Wait for the reports of IDS Round 2 and Hockenheim Driftchallenge 2011 very soon to see what I mean.
Speed Industries represent!
Till then, goodbye and thanks for reading.
Icon acting like he's really hardcore
Love my new helmet
Swiss TV studio was doing a little report on our adventures this time!
Philipp Stegmann from MPS took 6th place! Well done man!
Pierre Tucholka was running in the street class with his uber-cool S14
Dimitros Patzazis unfortunately lost his Top16 battle against Florian Zimmermann
Chris aka AC Lightaddicted was taking great snaps as well
We close with Guillods mentally close wall-running. Well done, you deserved the win today!
As usual I was trying to fix my piece of … car
We pick up the action just when the qualifications had finished. The team was fighting with various issues; Some cars weren’t working properly, one driver managed to destroy his left leg so bad he had to go to the hospital.
Don Icon bombed his left foot the day before. Nooooo
And then the weather started acting up, making us run qualifications in conditions mixed between wet and dry.
In the end, 3 out of 4 our drivers qualified for the Top16 battles: Toby got 8th place, I got 12th and hirschy snagged 15th place. Don Icon, the one-legged drifter unfortunately did not qualify.. hope he can get his foot fixed at the next event!
The judges did not approve of the weather
It was GO TIME!
The head judge – Axel Mack! Normally drives his JZ-powered BMW.
After we changed tires and were more or less ready for battle, it was time for the Top16 driver presentations. Jörg Söhner, head of the IDS did a nice introduction of all the drivers including a short interview with the teamleader of Speed Industries, Tobias.
Hirschy was the burger master this weekend! Here you see him scared of his own mustard. Wtf
Thomas from DonThomaso.ch was eating delicious burgers…
It was a cool feeling to be standing in front of the crowds for the Top16 again this year. Everyone was eager to get it on, so all drivers were sent back into „The Zone“.
… while Toby was busy eating paper
The zone is the back part of the track, where according to the qualification list, every driver is paired up against his first opponent.
Secret lines and techniques were being discussed with Dimi…
It is a quite simple system: The 1st place qualifier drives his first battle against the 16th place qualifier, and so on.
Icon would unfortunately not participate in the Top16 battles
Since my qualifying was quite crappy and I was sitting on 12th place I had to go up against the 5th place qualifier Oliver Harsch.
While I was getting ready to go against Oliver Harsch
Oli who’s running a BMW 3-series with a V8 engine is a drift veteran. He has seen many seasons and many battles and is known as a very consistent and precise driver. Since I was still having some issues with my ignition timing, I wasn’t feeling too confident about this one.
Oliver Harsch with the new "züridrift style" livery on his BMW
But the cool thing about „The zone“ is that even though all drivers are just about to go head-to-head in fierce drift battles, there’s always this cool relaxed vibe going on. We were joking around with Toby, Andrew, Philippe and even our upcoming opponents and nobody was stressed out or overly competitive at this point.
Joe from Driftbrothers.com going strong during practice
I guess that happens only in drifting. And that’s why we love it!
The already very famous wall of DOOM
They called us out for battle. Oliver Harsch vs. Me.
I knew my engine would overheat quickly, so Oli and I agreed to skip the warmup lap and get straight to the action. I then noticed Oli had already removed the bonnet from his BMW, so it looked like he was also having some overheating issues.
Teamdrift fun before we headed back to "the Zone"
For the first run, I decided to keep some distance to Oli because I didn’t know his style or speed since we had skipped the warmup. Oli was driving very fluently, but I caught up slightly closing in at the wall. I should have followed his line more closely since he went quite wide. Since I took the more agressive inside line I was forced to brake and correct the car slightly.
The engine felt quite laggy, was forced to clutch kick to get the boost up again, adding further corrections to an already average chase run. Oli took the advantage with a 4 / 6 score.
For the second battle, I was driving up front while Oli was giving chase. Now I was feeling good.. I love lead runs going mental outrunning the car behind me. I threw it in like a mad baboon with a slight flick on the entry and a bit of e-brake for added angle. Then lots of throttle to get the laggy engine revving nicely.
Hit the first clipping point nice and close and went for the switch which puts you right against the wall. I didn’t reach the wall as close as I would’ve liked to, but the line I took was agressive and quick. Managed to create a small gap up to the next clipping point.
Oli magically caught up coming up to the next inner clipping point, but luckily I could increase the gap again entering the next corner and up to the final switch where we had to hit 3 clipping points in a row. I was satisfied with my angle and speed troughout these long corners with fast switches in between. Created a good gap between us.
It turned out I had the taken the win with this one… wohooo! (7 / 3) So by a 1 point difference I got into the Top8. Nice driving by Oliver Harsch though, it was a close one!
Toby in the SI PS13 vs. Gräff in his Polizei BMW was the next battle
Toby had to go up against Alex Gräff in his Polizei V8 BMW. All I saw was that the intercooler hose on Toby’s S13 ripped just as they were finishing the first run. The judges gave Alex a 10 / 0 win, but even worse Toby’s car was not running any more, and he rushed around to get a replacement hose.
Alex Gräff's POLIZEI BMW, here during practice with Micha Scherr
Since you have a limited amount of time to get your car running again when you have a problem, Toby was extremely stressed to get this part changed. If you take too long – you’re disqualified.
He managed to get his car running again, but was now up against a 0 / 10 disadvantage so pressure was on the maximum. He went aaaall out, trying to chase Alex as closely as possible to somehow force him into a mistake. But it wasn’t meant to be, and Toby spun again during an agressive flick at the end of the course. 10 / 0 for gräff again and Toby was out.
Our new man Andrew Hirschy getting ready for battle…
Andrew meanwhile had to battle Christian Kogler. Now this guy drives a black S13 with huge steering lock. His angles on some of the turns were unbelievable so this would surely be a tough one for Andrew.
… against Christian Kogler using an S13 with epic steering lock.
The first battle went to Christian with a small 6 / 4 lead. Just as they were exiting the final corner out of the judged zone – Andrew rammed Christian’s S13 on the inside like the titanic rammed its last iceberg. It looked like quite a bit of damage on both sides, with Andrew’s left door and fenders now resembling the face of a very fat, 200-year-old man with a skin disease.
Hirschy closing in to Kogler in the first stint
Christian then had to chase for the second battle, but spun out during this run. Probably the accident got to him psychologically, and I wasn’t sure if his suspension was damaged after the crash. I felt bad for Christian to go out like this, but good for Andrew since this allowed him into the Top8! In the end, accidents happen in motorsport and I know Andrew did not run into him on purpose.
Kogler spun out after the crash… probably his suspension was messed up. So Hirschy could take the win
Now I was up against Florian Zimmermann with his supercharged Audi. His car is looking even meaner this year with a new livery and I was sure he also modified engine and suspension over winter.
I managed to create a big gap during my lead run against Flo
My car was starting to act up because of heat issues again so we decided to remove the Bonnet for this run to cool things down a bit. I asked to skip the warmup round again to avoid more heat in the engine and the battle started.
… then I charged in too close when chasing..
I had to lead for the first run and went mental trying to outrun him. It seemed to work, as I got a 7 / 3 advantage after the first run.
… closer…
On my chase run, I went too close from the start and had to brake a lot to avoid collision. That led to me falling out of the powerband and straightening out. Lame! Florian took home a 8 / 2 win in this battle, making him the victor. Congratz to Flo for that! Solid driving!!
… even closer… and then I straightened out, losing the battle. Noooo
I was still happy since winning against Oli Harsch gave me 5th place, an acceptable result considering the circumstances.
Andrew and Militzer had a big battle, but Andrew came out victorious again!
Andrew next smoked Markus Milizer during his Top8 battle. Markus is a very strong and consistent driver. Haven’t seen the battle but it must’ve been a close one.
… Militzer charging in after the entry and up against the wall..
Andrew was on a rampage, also smoking Patrick Ritzmann in his backup car
After that he he went up against Patrick Ritzmann – who is normally extremely hard to beat. However Patrick was unlucky and had to use a replacement car because his M3 GTR with 2JZ engine had burned the clutch the day before. He battled really well, and considering he was using a backup car with stock steering lock and everything Patrick fought a brilliant fight.
But Andrew was on fire and emerged as the victor. He was all surprised when he suddently realized he was in the finals on his first try at an IDS Pro championship! Incredible!
In the finals, it was Guillod vs. Hirschy.
Then he was already up to his final opponent of the day – Philippe Guillod. Now Philippe is one sneaky bastard; started drifting just last year, but about the first time I saw him drive I was quite sure he will come far. He has a huge commitment to drifting, a very agressive driving style and seemingly no brain at all since he’ll throw the car in every single corner on every single run at the absolute maximum.
… with Hirschy fucking up his chase run and spinning out. Noo
So we knew this would be a tough one for Andrew. Since Philippe is member of DriftTeam Switzerland, we liked to mess around with him a little and kept shouting „boooooo!!!“ when he was passing by, then giving thumbs up to Andrew at the same time. All good fun! 🙂
They lined up their battered Silvias next to each other and waited for the signal. Philippe was leading, Andrew chasing. Silence. Then the glorious deep rumble of two SR20-powered cars accellerating towards the entry point.
The entry was about equal, with good speed and angle coming from both cars. However after the switch Philippe took the car closer to the wall while Andrew took the more agressive inside line to put on some pressure. But Philippe was having none of it and kept a nice 1-car distance between them troughout the run.
… no matter what Hirschy did now – He'd lose if Guillod doesn't spin out
Towards the end, the unthinkable happened: Andrew spun out coming toward the last corner transition. Nooooooo! Philippe spun out just one instant after Andrew – but fault always lies with the driver who makes the mistake first! 10 – 0 for Philippe!
We boo’d and screamed at Philippe who was driving by, then patted on Andrews car somehow hoping we can motivate him to ram Philippe off the track making it a draw or something!
At this point I knew it was over. Philippe just had to bring it home by chasing Andrew without spinning out. I thought it was nice Philippe was still showing a fast, agressive second run even though he could have just driven trough. That is the spirit – because taking it easy just because you’re ahead is quite lame in my book.
The second run ended with a 5 – 5 tie, but the spin in the first run was the decider.
The three winners! Congratulations guys
IDS Round 1 winner: Philippeeeee Guilloooooood. Congratulations, I believe he earned it with the most agressive wall-rubbing line troughout the weekend.
Of course the battle wasn't over, the weapons just changed from cars to bottles
Andrew’s performance however was also very strong especially considering he’s also new in the IDS circus! Of course we were delighted to have one Speed Industries driver on the podium again.
What a happy camper
Winning celebrations were awesome as always, with the drivers spraying their faces with champagne and everybody getting all emotional. Andrew also didn’t fail to mention our sponsors when he was being interviewed, so all was well.
Andrew seemed to like his first trophy ever as well
Congratulations also to the 3rd place finisher – Markus Millizer! Solid driving as usual.
and he even spread the word of our sponsors after that. Nice!
So the final scores for Team Speed Industries were:
Hirschy – 2nd
Thomet – 5th
Welti – 9th
Icon – 24th
Even though more would’ve been possible especially from my side I believe this was an acceptable result for the team overall. But it would be nice to once have an event without all the drama of technical issues or people breaking their feet before qualifying. 🙂
The silverpics.ch impreza is a legend
Maybe next time… ok if we’re honest we have already returned from „next time“ (round 2) and the drama was even stronger there. Wait for the reports of IDS Round 2 and Hockenheim Driftchallenge 2011 very soon to see what I mean.
Speed Industries represent!
Till then, goodbye and thanks for reading.
Icon acting like he's really hardcore
Love my new helmet
Swiss TV studio was doing a little report on our adventures this time!
Philipp Stegmann from MPS took 6th place! Well done man!
Pierre Tucholka was running in the street class with his uber-cool S14
Dimitros Patzazis unfortunately lost his Top16 battle against Florian Zimmermann
Chris aka AC Lightaddicted was taking great snaps as well
We close with Guillods mentally close wall-running. Well done, you deserved the win today!