Welcome to UK, and we are now running the final round before the last big break, where the drivers will have the chance to make final tweaks to their cars, and take it to the final race of the season just 4 rounds after. The track we’re given is Silverstone, and we’re all located at Car Park 3. After exiting the technical park the drifters will line up for their acceleration into Brooklands, a sweeping left hander, with clipping points exactly at he apex. The follow to that is a transition into the right hander with a finish at woodcote. Simple enough layout, and while usually Silverstone has no wall to run against, the organizers were kind enough to provide one made of concrete blocks right on the outside of the right hander into Woodcote. This is, indeed our TnG for this round, making things interesting, and keeping the drifters on tehir toes.
The first one to go was Airjordan, managing to transition straight into the wall after brooklands. Sadly the hit was so severe the whole chassis is twisted. Madrias also had a few problems, one of which included crashing into that same wall, but with the rear of his car. If he’d start grinding on it mid corner the damage would be repairable, but sadly he went a bit wide on teh transition and pretty much ran his left rear wheel into the concrete at about 80 kph, effectively ripping the car in half. The Storm is totalled aswell, and we’re off to a troubling start. The hero of the day, however is Gridghost, the guy who’s been feeling quite comfortable through out the season. The second run was a safe one, the judges saw the careful and measured action on his part, but that was only due to the fact that in his first run Gridghost was the only one who made contact with the wall and survived, leaving huge orange scrapes through out the whole wall with his rear bumper, eventually ripping it off as he left the wall for woodcote, leaving the crowd speechless for a second, and then errupting into a frenzied roar of applause.
GridGhost 75 / 46
HowlerAutomotive 69 / 68
Matti 66 / 65
Squidhead 64 / 65
4LGE 58 / 55
Szafirowy 57 / 57
STM316 53 / 52
Strop 49 / 52
DoriftoDorifto 51 / 50
RK38 46 / 48
JohnWaldock 41 / 43
Vri404 37 / 34
Madrias 59 / 0
Airjordan 0
With the qualifying trimming the field down to 12 and 4 people having to do their by runs we’re going to kick off Silverstone with just that.
By runs
Gridghost - Tried to do another wallrun, but sadly ended up in the wall. The car is damaged, but the crew is already fixing it to be ready for top 8
HowlerAutomotive - Ran to return to status quo between him and Gridghost, leaving huge bumper marks on the wall.
Matti - Safe approach run, simply clocking in to go through to top 8
Squidhead - Went for a guaranteed spot in the top 8, not taking any unnecessary risks
Run 1
Strop vs DoriftoDorito
This was a very close battle, both Strop and Dorifto did good solid runs, and made little mistakes. Without any daring stunts by both drivers the judges had to think on the decission for a bit, before giving the win to Strop, by a small margin
Run 2
4LGE vs Vri404
Vri had a serious challenge ahead of her, with 4LGE warming his tires in the most efficient way possible… did I say efficient? I meant he just smoked the whole track performing the mother of all burnouts. The first run had 4LGE lead, and through the left hander it all looked good for him, but that first bend heated his tires up to the point of excessive grip, and mid wallrun the rear gripped up on him, Rax straightening up on 4LGE, colliding with the wall lightly, allowing Vri to pass. The second run 4LGE tried to make up for such a mistake, but with Vri not making a mistake through out her run, it was not enough. Judges giving the win to Vri404
Run 3
Szafirowy vs John Waldock
Szafirowy tried to push the speed on John Waldock, something John’s paradox had a problem with. This tactic could have worked for Szafirowy, his Luna being the fastest car on the grid today, but this just meant he pushed hard enough to get his car out of control. While he did keep composure of the car most of the time, the amount of corrections did strike a note with the judges. While Keiichi went on a wild rampant explanation as to why Lunas’ speed is just the best thing ever, both Ken and James demanded a One More Time run, to see if Szafirowy can keep the car under control.
Run 4
STM316 vs RK38
RK pushed himself hard at Silverstone, trying to grab at any chances to prove himself, running the Maesima into the ground many times, and sadly this run was no different. The awesome initiation into the first corner was done at maximum commitment, but it was a bit too extreme, and as STM followed and ran into the corner he saw RK38 just slide off the track. This did not really damage the car, but it did damage his chances in the second run. The second run went a lot better for RK, but not enough to offset his DnF in the first run. STM316 moves on to top 8
Run 5
Szafirowy vs John Waldock OMT 1
Both drivers lined up, Szafirowy following. Szafirowy once again wanted to push on the advantage in speed, John feeling the pressure, transitioned into the wallrun, but he did not realize just how close Szafirowy was following him, and sadly for Szafirowy, he did not leave any room for John to transition. The rear of Johns Paradox hit the front of the Luna v8 sending both car out of control, John spinning out and crashing into the wall, ripping multiple parts of the front suspension off, while Szafirowy’s Luna had a lock up on it’s front wheel after the crash and the crash itself sent it directly head on into the wall, damaging the front end to the extent of cracked engine block. The judges ruled that Szafirowy’s over eagerness caused this crash and gave the win to John.
There are multiple mechanics volunteering from other teams at this moment helping John’s team JHW to fix the car. The front end is pretty much completely removed, and sound of hammering is coming from the pits. It seems the car will be ready for top 8
Run 1
Gridghost vs Strop
Gridghost entered the staging area in a car held together with duct tape and zip ties, marks of the very unsuccessful by run in the top 16. The first run did seem to start as a one way battle, Gridghost’s Scarab pouring on the smoke in the first corner, Strop barely visible close behind him, but just as the cars were about to transition we heard a clank, a build in revs and the Scarab spun out, creating a smoke screen with just the right wheel, Strop narrowly avoiding it. On further inspection it turns out that Gridghosts’ mechanics missed the fact that 3 of the 8 bolts on his half axle have broken off during the first impact, and under stress, the others snapped aswell, leaving the Scarab literally single wheel drive mid transition. The second run was pointless, as the car could only really either go slow or do donuts, so the win was given to Strop.
Run 2
Squidhead vs Vri404
This battle did not have any contact or mistakes, and was one that did not leave people talking. The difference in cars was just too much, Squidhead’s Maesima outperforming the Hadron on every occasion. Both runs team KHT performed, at a level higher than team Northstar, which resulted in all judges unanimously voting for Squidhead to move on
Run 3
HowlerAutomotive vs STM316
The first battle round for Howler was against the underdog that is STM316 in a pretty dated Puttzalong, while STM did have a lot of fans, Howler did have the perfect car, and perfect runs to boot, running the wall again so close, that it ripped the bits of his rear bumper off. Nothing STM could throw at him could dent Team Stellar drifts’ performance today, and the judges agreed that Howler should move on to the next stage
Run 4
Matti vs John Waldock
John has logged in a heroic run, outperforming his usual self by quite a margin, but he was running against one of the strongest drifters in the series - Matti, who had his performance matched on the follow run. On Mattis’ lead run, however, the Endurifto has set angles and speed at such a level that John just simply could not keep up, and had to sacrifice smoke and show for pure speed. This did not sit well with the judges, who all voted Matti to go to the next round
Run 1
Squidhead vs Strop
Team Ninja Horse has been getting better results as of late, which was a direct result of them re-tuning their car after round 4, and it culminated with them running strong, separating themselves from the foreground runners, and slowly but surely going into the mid-pack, with a clear intention of taking the spotlight from the top teams. In their way, however, as usual, team Kraft Haus Technik, a bunch of Germans, bent on taking fight to Gryphon Gear in any way possible, and Team Ninja Horse was it for today. Both teams running Asian cars powered by v8 engines, the GTC concept and the Maesima MRZ3 lined up for their first run. Both drivers went in with maximum commitment into the first corner, Squidhead pouring on the smoke show, Strop not being phased by it, keeping a very close proximity, which helped him not getting stuck in the middle of the blinding smoke screen. As they transitioned Strop went for a ballsy move transitioning first trying to guess where Squidhead’s Maesima would be in a second to be on his door the moment Squidhead would transition, but that meant that a bit of gap has appeared between the cars, and Strop was now completely engulfed in the smoke, not able to see what’s happening. As Strop stood on the accelerator pedal suddenly he was out of the smoke, which allowed him to see that he overshot the entry to the TnG, and that was it. The GTC concept slammed into the wall quite hard, ending the event for Team Ninja Horse, all of the suspension damaged beyond repair on the left hand side of the car. Squidhead finished his run, only to realize that he finished alone after he slowed down. Squidhead moves on to the finals
Run 2
Matti vs Howlerautomotive
Two of the championship’s strongest runners should meet in the Finals, but it seems that today, we’re going to see the two clear favourites run in the semis. Both SRD and Steallar drift running extremely old school technology, chosing Survival of teh Fittest challenge of the 80’s prototypes, upgraded from Category 5 to drift spec, both these cars created to be at their best handling abilities while at breakneck speeds through all sorts of offroad terrain, the smooth tarmac suiting them well. The blue Prodigy lined up against the green Shack Endurifto and we were off for the first run. Both drivers were on the ball today, performing perfect runs, Matti following Howler close and risking highly on his transitions, Howler puting on a great show on his own, but in tandem this was one of the best pair runs of the day, crowd cheering on their feet. The second run Matti pulled all the stops in the lead, Howler performing admirably to mimic every move Matti made, which resulted in pretty much a mirror run of the first. The judges were taking their time to declare a winner and eventually it happened, not the judgement call, but the spectators chanting “ONE MORE TIME! ONE MORE TIME!” This helped speed things along, and the judges agreed that a OMT run would be in order
Run 3
Matti vs HowlerAutomotive OMT1
Howler led the first run, once again, performing miracle lines and creating naval warfare amounts of smoke, Matti running close, arranging for an extremely close run, very similar to the ones before, crowd loving every bit of it. If this were to continue, there might have been another OMT run, but sadly, as the second run commenced Matti went a bit too hot into the first corner, sliding out with 2 wheels on to the dirt, keeping his drift. Howler jumped on that opportunity and layed on extra pressure, sticking as close to the Endurifto as he possibly could, even rubbing his wheel on Mattis’ door mid TnG zone. There wouldn’t be a OMT though, as judges ruled that wheels off the track is a mistake, and Matti made it. The win went to HowlerAutomotive
Run 1
Squidhead vs HowlerAutomotive
HowlerAutomotive being on a roll today felt quite good about his chances, while Squidhead was secretly rooting for Matti, since he though he’d have better chances against the Endurifto rather than the Prodigy. But the luck was not on his side, and the bright green Maesima lined up against the blue Category 5 prototype for the final battle of the day. Squidhead led the first run, with HowlerAutomotive following, and while team KHT did look good and strong today, team Stellar Drift looked better and stronger. On the TnG Howler went a bit wider than expected, covering himself in smoke, but scraping the wall. which was extra points for Howlerautomotive. The second run Squidhead followed, but in his attempt to out-perform his opponent he overcooked the transition, spun out and crashed rear first into the wall on a high speed sliding impact, ripping body panels off the car. The judges did not have to think twice, Howler won the event today
HowlerAutomotive 107
Squidhead 84
Matti 69
Strop 68
GridGhost 58
JohnWaldock 51
Vri404 51
STM316 48
4LGE 36
Szafirowy 36
DoriftoDorifto 35
RK38 35
Madrias 35
Airjordan 35