With a weekend full of stacked match ups, we are super excited to get Kevin Lawrence recap on how it went down in Formula Drift St. Louis!
“Thursday.
Freshly rested after arriving early in the week we head to the track to setup our pits and get ready for our practice day. This round since it was a new track FD allowed each driver to have up to 16 laps of practice before qualifying instead of our normal allotted 12. We planned it out to take up to 10 laps Thursday if everything was going well and we were getting the car dialed in. First session we got in 5 laps and were making progress on the car. We did a large change in final drive gear before the next session that really helped a bunch as well as went up quite a bit in tire pressures. This round we decided to do bigger changes in our setup rather than smaller ones to help dial the car in faster and I am glad we did. The second session was going well and car was much better than the first. We tweaked the BC Racing shocks a bit and played with tire pressures a bit more but knew before tomorrow we were going to need one more minor gear change to get the tires to last a complete 2 laps for battles. After practice session 2 was all done I was feeling really comfortable in the car and we got right to doing our bolt checks and did our last gear change of the weekend to have the car all ready for Friday morning practice and qualifying.
Friday.
Early to the track to setup for the day, we get one more practice session before going right into qualifying. I spent my goal of 10 laps on Thursday so I had 6 more allowed that I was eager to get in before qualifying to make sure our last setup changes were ideal. After 4 of the laps the car was performing just how I wanted it to, we did a quick tire change with in the last 45mins of the session and rushed to get our last two laps in. I pull up to the line for the final lap in practice, which I was to follow last seasons champ James Deane. I wanted to really see how my car would compare to his so I ran a bit aggressive lap with him to try and see if I was able to even keep up. His car is quite fast so I was forced to cut line some to keep up but was able to keep up which I was stoked about. I started to reel him in a bit on the final turn and was just focusing on his car and not the final clip, so when he adjusted his line to dive into the inner clip I was still on a sweeping arch and ending up dropping tires off track that I wasn’t able to recover from. This sent me off track backwards through the slippery grass and backing the car into the tire barrier.
Knowing qualifying was coming up soon we rushed back to the pits to check for any damage, I was able to drive the car off the track, which was a good thing and saved some time. I had to replace a rear taillight as well as the rear bumper. Also, after checking our alignment and seeing it was off in the rear we found a bent Heim Joint on the rear lower control arm. Once we replaced this and got the car on the ground Kevin Wells (the man with the 5 min clock) informed us we need to decide now if we were going to run the car or take our 5 to give the car a once over. The team and I decided it would be best to take our 5min call so we would be able to make both qualifying passes just incase there was something else up with the car we may not have seen. We used our 5min call to adjust our toe back into spec on the rear and off to the line I went. My first run out I was a bit off the first 2 clips and had a bit of a slow transition going into the final sweeper and also took out the final clip. This run I was scored with a 76 and I knew I could clean it up on the second pass. Second pass I pushed to be tighter on the front clips which I achieved, I lifted front tires up on the rumble strips by the first clip but was able to avoid taking the clip out, made it a bit tighter on the second clip and kept the car pinned through the power alley into the final sweeper. I had a better transition into the final sweeper and a much better wider line through it all while banging the rev limiter through the finish. This run I was given my highest score so far this year of a 83 and qualified me in 18th position, again my highest qualifier of the year! After the qualifying meeting I was excited to see that for Saturdays battle I would be up against Forrest Wang.
Saturday.
After a quick tandem practice session it was time for battles, Car was feeling good and I was ready to go! At the line I was to follow Forrest first, Off the line we go and initiate into the first corner. I had good proximity going into the first turn but quickly got lost in his smoke and transitioned into the second turn too early causing me to plough the inner clip, I quickly got myself back into composure and got back in line with Forrest and finished out the run with good proximity. Switching to the lead position I knew in order to get a win I would have to lay down a near 100 point run and that’s nearly what I did. I entered into the first turn and maybe left about a half foot on the second inner clip, I went deep into the touch and go slightly dropping 1 tire before running a tight line on inner clip 3 and getting on to the wide line through the final sweeper. This was probably my best lap of the weekend as my line was nearly perfect, fast, smokey and big angle. Pulling up to the track official the judges took a few mins to review and Ryan voted me for the win but both Brian and Andy voted a OMT so Forrest and I were to battle again.
OMT.
I knew to get the win I would have to turn up my driving a bit and that Forrest would probably do the same. We leave the line and to make it a good show I smoked the tires on the run up and entered a bit early behind Forrest. He ended up taking a different approach to his initiation and entered later than before with hand brake rather than a flick that he normally does. This led him to immediately pull a big gap on me as he kept more speed in the car. I did my best to try and cut some line through the first 2 turns but not hit any clips, which worked out well. Forrest took a bit tighter line through the whole course which made it harder for me to catch up so I cut the line even more after the touch and go and into inner clip 3, unfortunately I pinched myself off and made a big correction to avoid hitting the inner clip which let Forrest pull more of a gap on me. We transition into the final sweeper and I did my best to gain some ground but Forrest was on a bit tighter than ideal line and even though I cut the line a bunch he still had a big gap on me. We round the final clip and through the finish line, with me only gaining a few feet of proximity. Again I knew when we flip positions that I will have to do an amazing lead run and hope for an error by Forrest in order to get the win. I aggressively huck the car into the first turn dropping a rear tire in the dirt. I run a tight line on the first 2 inner clips before swinging out wide into the power alley before running a deep line into the touch and go with big angle. Big angle and tight to inner clip 3 before flicking the car on a wide line into the sweeper. Forrest is still tight on my tail this entire run. I run a wide line early in the sweeper before tightening up for the final clip and through the finish line. Again Forrest was hot on my tail the entire time and as I watched the replay on the big screen we got word from the Judges that Forrest would be awarded the win, ending my weekend in St. Louis. I cant express enough how awesome the weekend was and how well everything went at the new venue, how we quickly got the car dialed in and how the whole crew worked quickly to get the car fixed and back out after my run in with the tire wall. Big shout out to everyone apart of our program, I am super excited for the Texas round I think this will be the round I can get a top32 battle win and am hoping to even qualify higher than our 18th position in St. Louis.
See you all in Texas!”
Kevin is running Konig Dekagram in 17×9 et 25mm front and 18×9.5 et 25 rear. The Konig Dekagram is Flow Formed.
