Formula Drift Round 4 – Wall Speedway, NJ

 

Coming into the bank for his lead run, McQuarrie pulled up tight against the wall. It would prove to be too tight as he rammed the rear end of his Camaro into the wall. This caused the front end to hit hard enough that he started to grind the bottom of his car against the top of the guard rail. Chelsea, who again was trying to drive angle into his drift, also tagged the wall. It was mostly in an effort to keep the damage to a minimum as he already knew he was heading into the wall himself.

 

 

What he didn’t count on was the GoPro/Mobil 1 Camaro coming to a near stop after grinding on the wall right where his front end would end up. The result was him hitting Tyler dead on. However, this isn’t where the controversy came in at; it was the call to determine a winner. The report from the Driftstream was that it was Chelsea’s collision with McQuarrie that gave McQuarrie the advantage and he was deemed the winner. It was never fully explained to the viewers nor the fans at Wall. Here is how they came to the decision, from what I understand after the fact and have gathered from others:

 

 

Chelsea had a disadvantage because he had the bobble in his lead run at the very start of it. McQuarrie had the perfect follow run, thus it was McQuarrie already on top. In the run following, both cars had run stopping collisions, thus resulting in both cars getting a “0” and with McQuarrie having the advantage to start with, gave him the win for that run. If Chelsea was able to continue on and theoretically complete the course, the win, again theoretically, would have gone to Chelsea. However, none of this was conveyed to the Fans.

 

 

After that and the long track cleanup, it was Robbie Nishida in the Achilles Tire “Soarer” facing the Monster of a Mustang, Vaughn Gittin, Jr, in the Monster Energy/Falken Tires Ford Mustang. That Monster was on point as Vaughn moved the Falken equipped Mustang on against Achilles Tires’ Nishida. However, Robbie should not be looking down but up instead as he continues to look better and more comfortable in the Right-Hand Drive converted SC430. You can see part of that build here on MotoIQ!

 

It was party time as Matt Powers in the Need for Speed/Nitto Tire Nissan 240SX looked to rock on the Lutz Performance 350Z of Kenny Moen! I have to say, Kenny’s performance in 2012 continues to impress me, as he keeps knocking on that Great 8 door. However, the veteran that Matt has become proves that age is better than tenacity and Powers moves on to the Great 8. Kenny is coming, everyone better watch out!

 

 

Fredric Aasbo continues that shine he brought with him from Road Atlanta. However, his Need for Speed/Hankook Tires Scion tC had to overpower the Falken Mustang of Justin Pawlak. Again, the speed that the tC prepared by Stephan Papadakis shows is remarkable. This is nearly the only 4-Cylinder, turbo car to keep lock step with the 410ci Mustang. That and the all-out driving that Aasbo is known for. However, it just wouldn’t be enough and JTP was able to move on to the Great 8.