I got a call from Apexi because they needed me to tune their drift FD. I got there and I was like WTF? The FD was painted JUST like the very first Bergenholtz drag CRX from the late 90’s. I didn’t know that Bergenholtz and Apexi jointed forces to run the drift FD. Mazda and Nitto are the title sponsors for now. It should be pretty interesting since Bergenholtz has the experience to run a race car and Apexi has the technology, the parts, and the car to go drifting. I’ve worked with the Bergenholtz brothers before when XS used to supply their turbochargers back in the day and they are a competent team (2 time NHRA FWD PRO champions). They also have Ryuji Miki, the 2004 D1 Champion, driving this year.
Anyhow, I tuned the car previously and it was making 356whp. I thought it was a bit low so this time we swapped the spark plug wires. The engine was supplied from R-Magic (JDM rotary tuners) with stock spark plug wires. JDM is best right? Fuck no. All you people out there better realize that just because it’s JDM, it doesn’t mean it’s good. Anyhow, I ran the car after the spark plug wire swap and boom, 375whp. So I cleaned up the tuning on the Power FC and turned up the boost a little. The FD ended up at 423.1whp. Not bad, but I think the Dynapack reads a bit high personally.
They go testing on Sunday at Just Drift for Ryuji to get used to the car. It’s a bit of a step down for Ryuji coming from the Top Secret S15 that made 500hp, but Apex and Bergenholtz plan on porting the engine and stepping up the turbo from the RX-6 to the 75F92 IHI/Apex turbo. 480whp is just two months way if they have a decent engine built. Rotaries are still one of my favorite engines so I hope the car does well.
Ed Bergenholtz getting his hands dirty while changing the plug wires. I gotta give it to Ed; he wants to learn about the FD. Nice pic, Ed.