Sorry its a little late but it will be worth the wait!! ;)
AS you know this was the last round of D1NZ. My car was still in Christchurch the week before the event as my good mate Paul Tomlin was trying to get it out of SPEC and ready to rumble. He worked so hard getting things done to it and also rebuilding a Standard box for it. He got it all done while also getting his own car done. Paul put them both in a container and got them shipped up to Auckland.
So we had the weekend before the comp to do what ever we wanted. Mike had a Drift demo at the Hamilton 400 and he said we could tag along so that we did. Lee and I went with the crew down to the Hamilton 400 and had a awesome few days seeing how different it actually is compaired to the Clipsal back home.
As we walked into the joint we seen the gig bus!!
AS you can see i was excited!! haha
We fair keen to see this class race!!!
All the D1NZ crew, Top 8 were invited to do the demo's and heck the crowd was loving it! CLIPSAL 500 PLEASE TAKE NOTE!!!!
mmmmm JD
MadMikes new 4 rota and induction setup 'flame chucker' sounded so porn! Check out this vid from the Hamilton Demos's
The weekend finished and the whole event was fair sick to be at so thanks to Mike and Carl fr the passes to get in. Lee and I appreciate it heaps!!
MONDAY 18th
It's now monday and we can start getting things ready for the final round of D1NZ which starts on Thursday. We jump in the car Mike and Toni lent us and went to hire a car trailer to go pick up the Sonvia.
Filled it up with fuel and only noticed the price when I finished hahaha
The last time I seen my Drift car was when teh earthquake went off and abandoned it. So i really couldnt wait to see it again, the car was in Pukekohe so off we went. We picked the car up from E and H motors who ran it up on the dyno for a quick check. SPEC didnt leave the tuning cable with the car so we couldnt tune it and therefore just had to remove some timing out of it to make sure it was sweet. With the timing pulled out it still managed to pull 550rwkw on the hub dyno!!! :O yeah I was shocked too haha.
We noticed this joint on our way back to Mikes hahahaha.. gold!!
TUESDAY 19th
Now the car was back at Mikes and we had one more thing to do..... Make it look pretty haha! That we did.
All the way through till the late of Tuesday night. While Mike was busy finising his up and also Stikcering the KTM up haha. Busy bloke!!
remember kids :)
WEDNESDAY 20th
Today we dedicated a whole day to hanging out with Ian Baker and Mark Boxer to go do some cool stuff. We travelled around Auckland to all the coolest shops and interviewed them.
Here is Madmikes Head Quarters which we were staying at. Check it out!!
We also went to check out Redline Performance where the famous HKS evo was just chillin waiting for me to drive it!!
Someone had to get in it :P Video coming soon of this so stay tuned to the ADVAN youtube site!!
TOUGH!!!
Mike nad the crew had everything ready when we got back so all we had to do was load everything up into the rig
All this was soon in the truck and ready to roll on down to Hampton Downs for the practice day! I was so pumped and ready for this.
265/35/18's YOKOHAMA S DRIVES Yoooooo!!
THURSDAY 21ST
Early mornings and so excited I hardly slept the nigth before. After 3 years of drifting I still get that excited the night before Drifting im like a little kid hahaha. Love it!!
In Mikes Fursty Rig and on our way to Hampton Downs for the final round of D1NZ. If your not awake before you get in this rig you suyre as hell are when you start moving, Straight through stacks and on the engine brake everywhere not needed hahaha awesome fun!!!
Never thought id see this site! The Sonvia being unloaded from Madmikes rig on a frosty morning in NZ. Dreams do really come true!!
Drivers Briefings are always exciting :S Mike, Fanga and myself went down to check the track out to see what was in store. They told me a few tips and i soon knew which line i was going to hit straigth up. The track is fairly simple but heaps of fun as it has an elevated rise which you can see the other side of until you get over it. It also has a huge striaght line which only a few people could link and I had to give it a crack myself haha.
I couldnt wait to head out for practice. Everyone lined up and out we went
But before i knew it i was back in the pits with a problem. The power steering belt came off and was long gone. We had to rush back to the shops in town to get some more. Lee took off to get some and on return found out it was the wrong one. its all they had in stock so while Lee took off again to head to a different shop i looked around the pits. Carl had one which I borrowed but by the time i got it Lee was back with the new ones. Put the new one on and went out again in the second session
Sure enough after a couple laps it poped off again. We decided to change a few things around on the pulleys. Before we knew it the day was in the final session and I had one more chance the check it. In the Laps i had done I noticed how grippy the car was and I didnt want to blow the gearbox so we took the wing off to aid helping it.
Yeeeah!!!
Here is a quick little video i made from the practice session
The car held its belt on and it felt good. Crazy slippery with 50psi in the tyres and no wing but it was going to make sure the box stayed alive. We were happy with the car and its stupid new power so now we packed the car up and headed back to Mikes for a good nights rest.
FRIDAY 22nd (COMP DAY)
We all rolled in early again but afer a hot chocolate and a Mcsick burger was ready to hit the track again. Lee and I were still worried about the power steering belt but we couldnt do anything more to what we have done. With is lasting a whole practice session yesterday arvo and chewing up a set of 265 YOKOHAMA S DRIVES I was confident it will be sweet.
WE lined up and had a good old yarn to Mike before we hit the track.
Hi Octane Direct for all your awesome parts!!
The Practice session was going well. Found my feet and was ready to Qualify well
Making sure I had it nailed i did as many laps as I could
But sure enough the Belt came off again, with qualifying just around the corner I had no choice but to put another one on and hope for the best. SO thats exactly what we did. and back out for qualifying we went.
A quick video by Oversteer of me also
I was worried about the belt but i just wanted to make sure I made it into the top 16. After all the struggle ive had this season I had to make it happen. I put down a decent run without being to aggressive on the throttle as that wasnt helping the belt stay on haha.
I came bakc in the pits after the first run to make sure the belt was still fine. Sure enough it was so I headed back out again for the second run of my qualifying.
I made sure it was a awesome run!
With plenty of YOKOHAMA Smoke filling the air!!
As i finished the run i knew it was going to be a good enough run to make the top 16. How ever i didnt see how the other drivers were going so it was all up in the air still. I looked down to my temp gauge and seen it rising as I was coming back to the pits. It got to 100 degrees and I shut the car down as i knew the water pump belt came off.
I was towed back into the pits and Lee and I knew it was the harmonic balancer that was the issue. I did a quick shout out on the radio for a balancer from someone in the pits and before I even got to talk to Lee Adam Wyndham came up and said “bro take mine off my car”. I missed my third qualifying run but wasn’t too worried about it as I was fairly sure my second run was good enough. We got quickly too it and took Adam’s balancer off and swap it with mine. Pun, Lee and Adam were going like cut snakes trying to get it done as the Top 16 gets introduced and then its straight into battles. I didn’t know if I made Top 16 yet but if I did I wanted to make sure my car was running for it.
As the guys were half way through taking my balancer off they called the Top 16 qualifiers and to my shock I pulled 3rd spot. Just behind the 2 top qualifiers by only a couple points I was fairly happy with that result. But I still had an issue and the count down to the battles was on. The D1NZ crew came up and said we had to get to the grid ASAP. The guys were still working on the car and having issues with getting the new balancer on my car. The Organisers came up and said a final call so I got suited up and in the car while the guys did the finishing touches on the balancer. The guys did an awesome job to get it done and on time. Thanks heaps to Adam, Pun and Lee for getting it all sorted and done.
Having found what we think the issue was I was pumped for the battles. We went out for our Top 16 introduction for the crowd and as we pulled up to the front on the crowd I thought I'd check the belts to make sure they were still fine. As I pulled up the bonnet I saw the power steering belt had jump a cog and I was freaking out. They introduced us and I rushed back into the pits before my battle to get the belt back on. I had just enough time and cam back out to the grid to line up against Bruce Tannock.
This was my second tandem battle for the whole year, I couldn’t believe the excitement I had for this battle and as I was the higher qualifier I was leading first. I had a decent run but was lacking huge amounts of drive out of the car. Lee was out on the form up grid to help with any issues with the belt as we just didn’t know what was going to happen so as I came back around to swap over to chase, Lee quickly checked the belts and all was good.
My turn to chase and I find nothing more exciting then chasing. I left a little bit of room between Bruce and myself on the entry and I caught up more then I thought coming into the second corner. Bruce ran wide and I managed to pass him on the inside down the hill. I won the battle and was into the Top 8!! Stoked!
I was faced off against Fanga Dan in the Top 8. To say I was excited for this was a small understatement haha. I’ve looked up to the likes of Fanga, Gaz and MadMike since I was a kid and this was like a dream come true for me so I just wanted to get this battle underway. As I came back around we dropped my tyres pressures down to 30psi to try getting some drive out of the car. Checked the belts and everything seemed to be in place and ready to roar. Fanga and I wished each other good luck and we were off. I was leading first being the higher qualifier and went into my run full steam.
I pushed a little too hard and ran slightly wide coming up the hill and finished the run fine. As I pulled up to the start grid again to swap positions Lee checked the belts and all was good. Sweeeeet!!
Now my turn to follow and as we came into the entry I lost a lot of drive coming out of the corner leading up to the first corner as the wheels were just spinning up and in turn Fanga pulled a fair gap on me. I tried to catch up and managed to stay the same distance from him but didn’t lose any ground on him. I knew it would have been a close call and Fanga went through with the win.
I ended up coming 7th overall and was happy the car stuck it out for the battles. I just wish this happened 6 rounds ago haha! I just want to say a huge thanks to Adam and Pun for the help of the balancer. Lee for going like a cut snake all day making sure the car was on song and missing out on most of the live action (sorry mate). Mike and Toni for taking me under their wing and making sure everything was just right and lil Linc for making sure my Easter involved a damn good egg haha!! Thanks so much guys.
Paul, Troy, Hugo, Cromey, Damo and everyone who helped me with the lead up to the final round. Ian and Boxer for coming over from Oz to do some filming, footage to come people!! The whole D1NZ crew for making the series happen. ADVAN Australia, HI OCTANE DIRECT, ICON helmets, PPG, ASR, Lewis engines, Helps Metalwork’s and MCA for supporting me throughout the whole season. All my friends, family and fans back home for the great support throughout the year. Considering the season I had I’m so pumped to have experienced it all and made some awesome new friends.
Now with everyone from NZ coming over for World Time Attack in August I cant wait, its going to be one massive event you wont want to miss. For more details on the event click here :
http://www.worldtimeattack.com/index.php/jake-jones-returns-to-compete-in-tectaloy-drift-challenge/
Thanks heaps
Regards
Jake ‘Driftsquid’ Jones
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