Formula Drift Texas was full of some great battles in both Pro and Pro 2! With a podium finish in FDSTL, our boy Alec Robbins is back with a vengeance! Check out below as Robbins recaps his experience in Texas…
“Texas is one of my favorite tracks. Everything is, in fact, bigger in Texas. Big fast entries, a long sweeping power alley, and ending with a wallride and tight inner clip, its got a little bit of everything. Going into our first practice, we like to focus on our lead runs and prepare for qualifying. our suspension setup was left the same from St. Louis but Texas being we little bit tighter track we found ourselves stuck in between two gear ratios. 3rd gear is a bit too high and fourth not quite having the power we needed to keep the tires lit up. We decided to run a gear high in practice and qualifying, with some clutch work it was able to keep the tires spinning in a lower rpm and make for a smooth run. I felt confident behind the wheel and we were able to put down a good run to score us a 6th place qualification. However, we knew running a gear high was not going to work well in tandem competition the next day. So the team went to work making some rather large suspension adjustments. When practice went underway Friday the track was half wet and half dry, making it hard to determine if our changes were working or not. After a few runs the track dried out, and with one more rear toe adjustment, we were feeling good. running in third gear left us touching the rev limiter quite a bit down the power alley, but with more grip in the car, we were able to keep the speeds up and not have to sacrifice too much angle. Our top 16 battle had us up against the S14 of Sebastian Gunther. Leading first I put down a great run. hitting all the clips and zones and even pulling a bit of a gap on Sebastian. Judges made it clear in the drivers meeting, they wanted to see aggressive follows, so I knew I wanted to stay close even though I knew I had an advantage. He got a small jump on me off the line but I was able to close the gap and get on his door by the first inner clip. I stayed close through the power alley navigating through his thick smoke. Coming into the last outside zone Sebastian slowed more than I had anticipated and I had to get on the brakes hard, and ended up making contact in the last zone. I was able to finish the run but Sebastian straitened just before the finish line. Judges deemed me at fault and the battle was lost. It was very frustrating but always a learning experience. The team did amazing all weekend in the heat and ever-changing weather conditions and I am so thankful for all of their support. Looking forward to the final round at another new track for us, Irwindale CA. Already getting excited to get back in the driver’s seat!”
Make sure to follow Alec Robbins on Instagram at @alecrobbinsracing for more!
Alec is running Konig Hypergrams in 18×9.5 et 25 on the front and rear in RED OPAL. The Konig Hypergram is Flow Formed.
