**** GUEST BLOG – BY KEVIN LAWRENCE ****
Photos by: Jessie Ann K.
Whats up everybody!? I finally got a few minutes to sit down and get my Formula Drift Orlando Recap written up for your reading pleasure.
Thursday is Day 1 for us Pro2 Drivers, we have our initial practice and qualifying to get us into the main show on Friday.
Thursday started off great, Orlando is my home track that I have been driving for probably around 8 years. So to say that I’m comfortable there is probably an understatement. First practice started and I sat out the first 20mins to watch everyone take their first few passes to see how the track was reacting to the summer heat. It looked to be a bit loose so I knew to play it safe in practice. First few laps were great got used to the bit slick track and was able to lay down some great consistent runs with some love taps each run on the banks wall.
Second practice I suited up to go out and fine tune a bit of line after the mid section of the track to make sure I had my line down right for the final lower apron turn. again this practice went awesome made some love to the wall again on the bank and got my line dialed in coming into the final sweeper. So needless to say I was ready for Qualifying!
Qualifying! First run out went awesome, again rested the rear bumper of the car up on the wall big angle coming of the bank for front clip one. Fast speed through the center of the track and over the middle bump/ jump and go the car set for the final sweeper a bit later than practiced but was great line and a fluid run none the less. This netted me a score of an 85 putting me in First place qualifier so as you could imagine I was beyond stoked! I held my qualifying position all the way through to my second pass which I went out and pushed a bit hard on the run up for and made just a slight bit of a harder contact on the bank wall than I desired that caused me to have a bit of a bobble mid bank. I finished up the rest of this run with about the same line and angle as my first pass but knew the bobble would hinder my score a bit. Second run I was awarded an 82 score IIRC so I didn’t better my first run but being I was still in 1st I was ok with that. After qualifying was wrapped up I ended up getting knocked down to 2nd place by Marc Landerville who laid down a great run. However I wasn’t upset at all and was stoked on my 2nd place qualifying position!
The Main Event.
Friday started off great being in Orlando means after each day I’m able to go home and sleep in my own bed at my home and not a hotel, so waking up rested at home is awesome before a long day at the track in the terrible Florida Heat. We got a bit of practice to get into the grove before the main comp that went awesome, the car was running perfect and I was feeling good and ready for Battle.
My first battle was up with Luis Lizardi in his E46 BMW. My spotter Rich let me know that Luis was looking pretty comfortable for most the day but sometimes had some issues on the initiation of the bank. like as if his car was down on power or had some lag / power delay issues so I knew to be a bit cautious on the entry. I was up to lead on the first run and ran the best qualifying line I could. I took the high line up on the wall that I had been running all weekend bumping the wall a time or two along the way. I came off the bank with big angle setup for the first clip and got through the center of the track with a fast fluid line and finally out to the final turns long rear clipping zone. After the battle Rich let me know that Luis wasn’t up as high on the wall as I was and had a pretty big correction in the middle of the track so that I would be going into our second battle with the advantage.
Second run I was in the follow position but knew that I had the advantage going into this run. On the run up I gave him a bit too much space and knew this by time I was putting the car in 3rd so I gave it all it had to get up as much speed to catch up on the first turn as I could. I entered up high on the bank and then realized he stayed quite a bit lower line than what I had been running all weekend so I had to walk the car down the bank some to gain proximity and get back on to his line. I got caught up a good bit to him and finished out the last turn by ear only as I was completely blinded in the smoke screen from his tires and luckily enough my hearing was good enough to keep me on a proper line with him and not veer off course. After crossing the line and pulling up next to him the judges had casted their votes and I was awarded the win
Second Battle I was faced up with Jeff Jones. Again it was my turn to lead first so I ran the best qualifying line I could. High on the bank, big angle coming off the bank for the first front clip, a quick transition then out wide on the final turn/ rear zone. At this point Rich comes over the radio letting me know the run was great and I had pretty good gap on Jeff for most of the course and to give him all I had on the follow run. I stayed right up with him on the follow run got the tires spinning in 3rd then gave the car a big flick up at the wall behind him and followed him through the bank. Both of us were on a high line with good proximity. Towards the end of the bank I noticed that Jeff seemed to be going out a bit further than I would have before diving into the first front clip. I let my car float for a second and dove down towards the front clip and threw the big angle I had been all weekend. After passing the first front clip I got anxious he was going to gain traction on me from my big angle so I transitioned a bit earlier than I had been all weekend to make sure he wouldn’t pull away from me. This set me up great behind him in proximity but put me a bit shallow on my line for the second front clip that would I would have to have done a big correction to avoid so instead of taking the points dock for the correction I chose to knik the clip with the front bumper knocking it over as we passed by and setup the cars for the final turn. After passing the finish line and shutting down to line up for the winner to be announced I was pumped! Both runs were an absolute blast and I felt good with my follow run. It took the judges quite a bit of time to make a decision as I assumed our runs were very close in both positions lead/follow. After what felt like 15mins the FD official on track let us know the judges wanted to see us run again I’m guessing my taking out the front clip was just as much of a deduction as the space he gave me on my lead run so the OMT call was just.
OMT! After Jeff and my first battle we were awarded a One More Time call meaning we had to run both our leads and follows again to get the win. I knew how close our battle was previously so after a quick tire change we were back in line to run again. At this point I am beyond pumped! I love driving with Jeff because I know he is there for the same reason as I am, to win, and to have the best time battling for it! So needless to say I knew there wouldn’t be any games from either side and we both wanted clean runs to prove who would be the victor.
I was up to lead first and I was beyond ready! I knew I would have to try and put more of a gap on Jeff if I wanted the win so my plan was to again run the best clean cut qualifying run I could but also do what I could to try and get some more speed through the course while doing so. I launched out of the gate spinning tires through the start chicane and all the way to the initiation point. I hadn’t realized it yet but after reviewing data after the race I found out that on this specific run I picked up 7 to 8mph more than I had been entering all weekend. With this extra speed I should have had the car initiated and set for the turn much earlier than I had all weekend but with the adrenaline pumping I didn’t realize how much speed I picked up on the run up until it was too late. I made initial contact with the wall that unloaded the front of my car that caused the front to start pulling up to the wall. I stayed pinned on the throttle and gave the car every trick I knew to keep the front from coming upward into contacting the wall. I started to slightly regain the car but at this point I was about 65% through the bank and in rough shape, I felt a odd sudden impact in the rear that then just pulled the front of the car the rest of the way up into the wall with no way of recovering at this point. Contact was made with the wall on the front and rear of my car at this point and I did my best to keep my self out of Jeff’s way to keep him from getting tangled in my wreckage. I got the car off the track after Jeff had finished his pass and let my team know that we will have to utilize our 5 minute call to try and fix the car for the second battle. The team started on the rear of the car replacing the 3 rear suspension arms and wheel that I mangled in the wreckage before moving to the front. Upon getting the front we only expected a tie rod to be bent along with possibly a broken wheel from the impact but once we got the wheel off the team then realized the extent of the damage. I broke out the end of my rack and pinion that holds our tie rods into it and unfortunately a rack and pinion is just something that takes more than 5 minutes to swap with having to remove lines and then re-bleed the system so disappointingly at this point it was apparent that I would have to Bow Out of competition and Jeff would be awarded the OMT win and continue on to the Final 4.
I can’t thank everyone from this weekend enough for all their help and efforts from having the car ready for each battle, stitching my rear bumper back together many times from me ripping it off on the wall, helping keep me cool and hydrated in the car, My sponsors for all their support and helping to get me and my crew get out to all the events to have this amazing opportunity to compete, and all my local friends and family as well as friends who traveled from far just to see me compete at my home track. With out all of your support I wouldn’t be able to do this and for that I am truly grateful to have such amazing people working with me and supporting.
Texas is the next round of Pro 2 and as previous rounds will show I will be putting it all out on the track to bring home the carbon trophy for the team. Checkers or Wreckers!
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Kevin runs 17×9 et 25 Konig Hypergrams in the front and 18×9.5 et 25 Konig Hypergram wheels in the rear on his RB powered S-chassis. Kevin is a Konig Wheels sponsored driver and runs on the Enjuku Racing team competing in Formula Drift.
