Kevin Lawrence takes time and gives us his experience at Formula Drift Orlando! With a such a busy schedule this year, we are always super excited to hear how it went down and what he has in-store for us this 2018 season…
“Hey Everyone! Kevin here again with my recap of Formula D Orlando.
After a bumpy start to the season with having to run our R32 demo car for the season opener in Long Beach. We rushed back to Florida and got to work on getting the S14 back together and ready for OSW. We were able to get the engine that seized before long beach back together and back in the car which meant another quick trip to see my tuner Martin from RS Enthalpy on Monday before the event. Thankfully we had a quick easy session on the dyno with the car putting down around 850whp we were ready for Orlando.
Thursday Practice
Thursday I got in about 6 laps at the track, this being my first time driving the car with the new tire brand, tire size, and much more power I was able to put down a few runs more so to just shake the car down. But over all, the car did great for its first passes since last September in Pro2 TX.
Friday
Friday morning started with a gear change in the car to take out some excessive wheel speed the car had and to dial in more car speed. I was able to put together some clean runs before it was time for qualifying. My first pass for qualifying I scored a 77 with a nice and easy pass just doing what I could with the minimal amount of time I had in the car. Going into my second run I wanted to push a bit harder for a higher score but also not being 100% settled it in the car yet I ended up dialing it back just before I entered causing some wavering on the bank which ended up resulting in me scoring a 76 on my second pass.
After the Friday drivers meeting it was confirmed that my first battle would be Odi Bakchis which I was stoked for.
Saturday
After getting only another 4-5 runs in during practice before the top 32 battles it was time for me to pull to the line. Odi being the higher qualifier was up to lead first. Odi is known for being extremely fast so I knew not to give him an inch on the run up, However this ending up messing me up in the end. On the run up I was overly aggressive behind him and didn’t give myself much room behind him to set the car properly on initiation. I choked up after initiation on the bank and wavered a bit which immediately pushed me to a lower line on the bank. I did everything I could to gain proximity to him as well as keeping my run as tidy as possible but going into the second battle I knew he had the edge over me. Now in the lead position I gave it my all and put the car high on the bank and ran the best pass I had done all weekend. I kept the car super high on the bank bumping the wall once or twice as we went around and checked off all my marks on the clipping points before passing the finish. This was the line/pass I should have been doing all weekend but with no prior testing to get acclimated to the car it just came to be a bit late unfortunately. After a few minutes from the judges they came back with awarding Odi the win where he would advance on to the top 16.
All in all the weekend went off great, first time in the car I learned so much. No major problems with the car all weekend and for once I could say I left Orlando with my rear bumper 100% intact haha. Huge thanks again to the crew for all their hard work and enduring the heat of Orlando and helping keep the myself and the car cool. Also, many thanks to my sponsors, friends and fans. You all are the reason I’m out here doing this and with out the love and support, who knows where I would be haha.
Thank you everyone!”
-Kevin
Kevin is running Konig Dekagram in 17×9 et 25mm front and 18×9.5 et 25 rear. The Konig Dekagram is Flow Formed.
