DRIFTING THE GAUNTLET : Gardella Racing from Stephen Brooks on Vimeo.

One of our favorite video guys from Europe Stephan Brooks came out to New Jersey and made this great video featuring Gardella Racing at Wall Speedway. Ryan Tuerck had a great run all weekend until he had problems with the wall during the final four battle against Conrad Grunewald.

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The DSTROYR brand has made an official team t-shirt for Gardella Racing in 2011. The shirt features Gardella Racing along with some vintage racing art to go along with it. You can find this shirt at DSTROYR to pick up for the 2011 season.

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I showed up to practice on Thursday night just as the sun was going down. Thank God, because the desert heat is brutal this time of year and generally makes the Vegas experience pretty miserable. It feels like you are baking in an oven the entire time you are outside, but besides that I was pretty excited to start drifting the Mobil1 Pontiac Solstice since we made a huge power plant change to the car.

Here is a pic of the new LS7 powered solstice. After the wreck I had in Seattle FD everyone in Gardella Racing decided that we would go to an LS7 power plant and I was pumped to hear the news. As a driver in Formula D you always want the best equipment to be able to compete with the best. Now, I’m not saying the Ecotec engine couldn’t hang or be competitive, but the LS7 v8 Torque and broad powerband makes tandem driving easier in a lot of different ways. With the Ecotec engine I would always have to use the clutch, as if I was riding a Two Stroke 125, to keep the turbo lit and have the gearing perfect for it to be competitive. The LS7 has so much more useable power on tap that you don’t have to hustle the clutch so much, and make sure your RPM’s don’t fall off after using the footbrake or e-brake to clutch back into the power. Basically the V8′s simplify what the driver has to focus on inside the car. The LS7′s torque generates a hell of a lot more wheel speed which means a lot more Maxxis tire smoke.

Here’s Gary and Steve Angerman putting the finishing cosmetics on the Solstice before I hit the track

I don’t have any good entry shots so here is a shot showcasing that smoke-making LS7 Torque. In practice I felt pretty good, I had a few solid runs but my normal consistency wasn’t there and I would be searching for it all weekend. I was loving the new power plant and the car was setup great but, I couldn’t get consistent with my runs. It was weird for me because I usually get comfortable right off the bat then start cleaning up my lines for qualifying runs.

Next days practice I felt a lot more comfortable and started to get more consistent, then qualifying came around and they were the worst two laps I put down all day. I ended up 12th which is the worst I have qualified all year and after qualifying it’s time to focus on tandem, which is an entirely different ball game. Top 32 had me up against Ross Petty in his SR powered Boso S15.

Rossy and I had a good tandem battle. I had a really good follow lap where I was close to him on the entry. On my lead I tried to put down a strong qualifying run. I put a little distance between us and ended up getting the win. Next up was JR and I were going head to head like so many other times this season.

There is about 2 hours between top 32 and top 16 so the guys spend there time getting the car and pit cart ready to do battle while I try to relax a little bit keep hydrated and go over some strategy with the team.

Here’s Scott putting fresh Maxxis tires on the car for top 16.

Trying to relax a bit before my nerves start getting the better of me.

JR and I lined up for top 16. He lead the first lap since he qualified better than me. Leading your first lap is a little bit of an advantage because you’re not so pressured to drive up someones door right after a two hour brake. It gives you a second to get back into the groove of things. My follow lap I entered faster than I had all weekend to stay close to JR. I got off the brakes a second too early and when we both came off the first clip wall I was eating cones with the side of my car. If I stayed on the brakes a second longer it would have been a great follow lap. I caught the edge of the tire wall and kept on going finishing my run with a huge mistake. At this point there is nothing I can do but hope that JR makes as big of a mistake so we can go OMT. My lead lap was pretty solid but JR made a clean pass and advanced to the next round. I was bumming pretty hard because number 1, I absolutely hate to lose!!! And secondly, this was a very pivotal point in my season where I needed to advance to stay within striking distance for the championship.

I can’t wait to get to Sonoma. I’m glad its only a couple weeks away and that entry is going to be fun. With the Mobil 1 Pontiac Solstice being faster than it’s ever been before I’m hoping I can break that infamous triple digit mark on the entry. Hope to see you all there.

This past weekend was round 4 of the XDC Drift series. This was my second round that I was able to attend. After getting 4^th place in West Virginia, I was hungry for a podium finish.

During my time off in between XDC rounds I drove a few local clubloose events to get some more tandem practice in. I was starting to feel much more confident driving, and following in the solstice.  Tuerck drove my personal S13, while I got practice following him in the solstice. This helped me out a ton! At XDC West Virginia I was really struggling when it came time to follow.

So it was time to load up the rig and head to Englishtown.  Luckily for us, it’s only a half hour drive from the Race shop, which is definitely nice for a change.  Bruce and I got to the track early Friday morning to set up the rig for the weekend.

We had a quick drivers meeting before we hit the track for practice. They reviewed the track layout and clipping points as usual.

So we hit the track for practice. I was struggling to make consistent clean runs. Scott radioed me in to make a few minor alignment changes. Once we did that it was like a night and day difference. I started putting down much better runs.

Once it came time for qualifying, I was feeling confident. I watched a few other drivers and there were a lot of guys killing it so I knew I had to really put it together! I did my two runs and they felt good, but I knew I could have done better. So we went back to the drivers meeting, I ended up qualifying 8th.

Day 2, we got a good amount of practice in and I got some decent tandem practice. After practice we had a lot of down time so we did the usual maintance to the car, and got all the Falken tires mounted and ready to rock.

It came time for Top 16, the bleachers were packed, and everyone seemed to be really excited!

My first line up was against Evan Tuerck, he was looking really good in practice. I followed him first and he spun on the entry. When he followed me we both put down really solid runs, but due to Evan spinning out, I advanced.

Next up was Nate Hamilton. He was the number 1 qualifier, and was putting down some serious runs. He led first and both of us had big entries. When exiting the bank I got to close to him, and tapped into his rear fender which caused us both to spin.

It was unclear if Nate was on the brakes or not, so the judges called for a One More Time. We both made a few corrections both runs, but Hamilton ended up advancing on.

We finished in the Top 8, which is still good. I learned a lot more about the car over the course of the weekend, with a little more practice I think I’ll be ready for Texas.

Id like to thank Gary Gardella, and the whole Gardella Racing crew. Scott, Mike, Tueck, and Bruce, with out them none of this would be possible.

Steve Angerman at XDC New Jersey from Nathaniel Chen on Vimeo.

http://speedhunters.com/archive/2010/07/29/magazine-blog-modified-gardella-racing.aspx