Formula D round 5 Seattle

There were a few changes we made to the car prior to coming here. The RSR team had found a faulty diff right before we left. We assumed that was why our grip in NJ wasn't quite there. It's possible it could have been the case for Florida too. So we put in a new OS Giken diff and from what Taka has told us, it works.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to drive on Thursday because my team had decided that it was unfair for other teams that had left if we practiced without them.


Wait what?....

Anyway, onto Friday.
On my first practice run, I noticed the characteristics of this new diff was quite a difference compared to the usual 2 way we were accustomed to.

On the second run, the clutch began to act up. Then on the third, the gearbox began making grinding noises.

Crap.

Qualify is about to start and we have a car down. Not good.
While trying to pull the gearbox out, we got word that the 1st practice group would get an extra 30min of run time because of some changes to the course.

Perfect. This gave us more time. However it wasn't easy pulling the gearbox out because one of the discs were jammed at the spline. Finally after about 40minutes of trying, it came off and we found out one of the discs were installed backwards.



Wow. Really.?

By the time the team got the car back together, I had already sacrificed one of my qualify runs.
So it all comes down to one run.

I had about 3laps total on this track prior and with an iffy diff, my confidence was shaky. But I need the points!!

I managed to pull through in the 26th spot.

Then during the practice after qualify, the car felt very sloppy and also as if there was reduced traction. I knew something was wrong but everytime I came in, we couldn't find the problem. There was a loud bang everytime I shifted so I thought it was the diff bushings.

We ended up staying til 5am the next morning pretty much replacing every single drivetrain component. New clutch, spare gearbox, new driveshaft, new axles, spare diff, and toe rods.
Toe rods??.. It turned out the bushings were shot.


Without having a chance to test the car, we called it a night and rested for about 4 hours.

We got to the track around 10 and found out we had missed a drivers meeting.

How much more can this get worse?..

But the good news was that the felt much better. During practice Saturday morning, I had more confidence in the car but it was still lacking the forward bite. I can hardly keep up with anyone on the straight away due to spinning tires.

But bigs thanks to my team for staying up so late to get the car back together. I swear these guys need a huge break. Well so do I but these guys really deserve one. ;)

Unfortunately we didn't make it through to the top 16.

I can't really say that it was a great event buy mad props to Formula D for hitting record sales at Evergreen Speedway!! It was a packed house!!! I wish I could have made it through to the end.

Thanks to everyone for coming by to the Scion Racing pit area!! Seattle was awesome!