We are proudly partnering with @driftsquid & his RB M3 machine for Formula Drift Japan! 💥
Our company DEFY AUTO, will be there in person supporting Jake at every FDJ round this year 💪🏻 Here’s some of what we got up to in Round 1 at Fuji Speedway!
#FormulaDriftJapan #DefyAuto
Sportsland Yamanashi was alot more suited after the 4.777 final drive change.
Also now has run free 4-2-1 exhaust manifold and +30mm front LCA.
Slowly but surely giving the 86 some love
Struggling to wrap my head around this one but officially a D1GP license holder.
Competition drifting wasn't always on the cards but I have really enjoyed the journey and especially in such a tough environment like D1 that really pushes a specific driving style.
I was curious how far i could I go as a privateer and this is well and truly my limit. Even doing Lights with the bare minimum was really tough so we are taking a year off to see if GP is possible in the future.
As much as I have loved coming this far with one of my dream cars the FD3S it's definitely made it a more difficult path and not because of the engine like everyone would think, that's been the easiest most trouble free part of the whole thing.
All the development has left me with a car I will keep and have fun with but it's looking like it will be the end of its competition days as we put together something new and much more purpose built to try and take on the top level in D1GP.
Here's to putting yourself out there and having a go 🍻
So much for getting up to date on posts to start the year 😅 Final round of D1 Lights was at Mobara last November. Layout was surprisingly fun but in qualifying I didn't heat up the tyres enough on the warm up and then coming into the first zone the grip compared to my first run caught me off guard and came up short but the rest of the run and the first run were still good enough for us to pass qualifying.
Unfortunately that was the end of our day as I was sitting in the car to go out for our first battle a heater hose (on the cold side of the engine too) decided to split in half and was not fixable in time.
My goal for the year honestly was to pass qualifying and we did it at every track except Meihan were I stuffed the car into the wall which might be my fav clip of the year from it all.
All things considered being the smallest team, no spotter, no mechanic and doing it in a car that nobody will recommend you to I am over the moon with placing 15th overall in the series out of the 49 people that did manage to get points (top 16 onwards only) and with a best result of 4th.
Seeing our name in the mix of that result sheet surrounded by drivers I look up to is a very surreal feeling.
I could not be more proud of @driftgold for just doing the absolute most throughout the year. Doing the whole season was really difficult time wise for us running our own business and then being away for 4 days every month or so but we made it work somehow and the results made it well worth it.
Highest placing RX7☑️
Highest placing Rotary ☑️
Double the points needed for a D1GP License☑️
📷: @yama_spl
Spent some time at @defyauto with @andrewdate & @driftgold . Caught up on the road that got them here and the road ahead.
A lot of people see the car, not everyone sees the years behind it. D1 Lights comp car details + the journey behind the build. More soon.
Next up we were invited by D1 to go to the D1GP Autopolis rounds where 5 other Lights drivers and I would take passengers out for rides during the middle of the day.
Obviously we can't say no to that but we only had a little over 1 week after the Meihan round where I crashed the car.
Luckily @justengineering_official are legends and somehow got me a full front right side of their steering setup shipped to Japan in time before we left.
It was a 32 hour round trip for us but it was one of the best weekends of the year. Such a beautiful part of Japan and the circuit itself was one of the best facilities I have seen.
Super cool to see some of the behind the scenes at a D1GP event and just be somewhat a part of it all for a weekend.
Special thanks to @tani.hi.tension for recommending us for it!
Amazing photos as always by @yama_spl
Rounds 7&8 at Meihan I was really looking forward to as I had still never driven there before, so this was the first time of the year we went down early for the unofficial practice the day before.
Practice went great, course was super fun as expected although I only did 2 sessions from memory as I knew the car needed a few things from the last round. We had just moved to our new house between Ebisu and Meihan and the car was literally untouched between so we wanted to get on-top of a couple leaks and maintenance things.
Lining up for Practice the next day (Round 7) and the car just shuts off the same as it did at Ebisu which was the fuel pump fuse again. So we missed practice in the wet and removed the fuel pump assembly to find a broken OEM baffle inside the tank that had rubbed through a pump wire.
Finally with the fuel pump fuse situation sorted we made it for qualifying. My first run there was a miss shift before the main straight and the car bogged down as it was in 4th so I just aborted that one and then my second run I knew I had to play it super safe to just get a score and the complete opposite happened 😅. The car is super tricky and twitchy in the wet but I knew this from Bihoku but still for whatever reason I snapped it too hard on the straight and bounced the car off the tyre wall.
Damage was relatively minor all things considered and a big thanks to @stackedracing_inc for letting us weld the rear LCA back together. The front LCA was also a little bent but enough to try drive the Sunday round.
Sunday (Round 8) was wet again so just took it safe in practice just getting some confidence back but unfortunately after practice I was told I was not aloud to drive for the rest of the weekend due to an oil leak that was leaving some drops on the start line. This one ended up being the rear main seal which we couldn't do anything about.
Pretty bummed out after that but that's the consequences of not being able to put D1 as our top priority for the year. Still stoked to get down to Meihan finally and the crash clip from the D1 Lights live stream is probably my favourite clip of the year, I'll post that separately with the in-car together.
📷@yama_spl
Super busy year has put social media on the back burner but trying to get somewhat up to date for next year.
D1 Lights Round 5&6 at Ebisu back in August they ran a Top 24 battle system (instead of the normal Top 16) and we won a battle each day getting us into the Top 16 for both days.
Round 5 we were taken out by my window switch that decided to stop working at the start line (windows must be up), crazy timing for a ~30 year old part to decide enough is enough.
Round 6 I simply just got beat by one of the best cars and drivers in the field
We also had a fuel pump fuse keep blowing that made no sense but we would find out the issue at the next round at Meihan.
Overall very happy with the weekend getting series points on the board both days (only top 16 onwards) and up until this point making it to Top 16 at every track so far.
Photos by: @yama_spl
