Konig News

Nate Hamilton Formula Drift Orlando Pro2 Round 2 Recap

**** GUEST BLOG – BY NATE HAMILTON ****

Family, Friends, Team members, Employees, Acquaintances, Sponsors all coming into town to support and create the environment we race in. Round 2 of Formula Drift was hosted in my current home town, Orlando Florida. Its safe to say its one of the most important rounds of our Pro2 season.

here we go:

nat-fdorl-1

As a team our goal was simple, prepare and create positive results. We worked hard in-between Round1 and Round2, making sure I’m comfortable, fixing and adapting issues we ran into at Round1 Road Atlanta. Our crew Chief, Bub Robarge knows the importance of comfortability for Kevin and myself behind the wheel. Its our job to put on the best show possible for our fans and sponsors. We went into this round with confidence.

nat-fdorl-2

Day One: Thursday, Practice and Qualifying

Practice was progressive, smooth lines and consistent laps. The car was on point and I was ready. After two practice sessions we ran into qualifying, I landed myself in 4th place with score of 83. Thanks to my dude, Ant Rupchand for guiding me on line and angle.

nat-fdorl-3

Day Two:  Friday, Main Event

Friday, the day we get to show everyone our focus and hard work. This is the busiest day of the weekend for us. All the eyes are on Pro2 competition. With the help of Fortune Auto and Matt Purvis we had everything in place for my first battle in the Top16.

nat-fdorl-4

My first battle was underway, I would be competing against Dan Burkett. I felt calm and ready for this battle, I felt I had the speed to follow him and stick it to his door. Being that I qualified higher than Dan I would lead first.

This is the part of the story I hate, ha!

I took my lead run and had “a clear advantage” said Ryan Sage representing the Formula Drift’s judging panel.

Although once I completed my run it was clear I had a de-beaded rear tire.  For those who don’t know what that means, its the basic idea that our tire’s mounted on our rim and on certain tracks or rare occasions we can bust the bead from the tire causing all the air to release from the tire. Meaning we have no air pressure and the tire is able to fall off the rim. Our team did what was natural, we used our 5 min competition time out. We brought the car back to the hot pit and thats when we got hit with a swift kick of reality. My Falken Tire de-beaded coming off the bank, I finished my run strong, but unfortunately once you de-bead a tire in competition your day is done. You are NOT allowed to air the tire back up, You are NOT allowed to change the tire, You are also NOT allowed to run a de-beaded tire for safety reasons, literally there is no option.

nat-fdorl-5

This single mechanical error caused my entire weekend to end way to soon. We had the momentum building and we had the consistency to really earn some points at this event. Unfortunately this was out of my hands and I was knocked out. Another event, another hard lesson learned. We are really pushing to report good news to you guys, but sometimes motorsports can be a tough game.

I personally want to thank everyone inside our camp for all the hard work it takes to prepare these machines for drifting. Huge thanks to my Family/Friends for lifting me up as I keep working thru a seemingly hard season. We can’t forget the Enjuku Media team, Corey Denomy and Jessie Ann for all the great content being created. Thanks again everyone, Lets make it happen in Texas.

Photo credit: Jessie Ann