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As the GTA action finished up for Friday we packed our gear and headed over to the Formula Drift “Midway” as I like to call it. Heading over involves cramming 5 people in to the “media golf cart” and me hanging off the back on my trusty Kartboy skateboard. Lots of attractions to see in the form of crazy powered drift cars, lots of automotive goodies, and questionable men and women from all areas of the South. Certain things must be lost on me because well, I just don't get it… It's a cross between dirty hipsters and the people of Wal-Mart. Not too sure what to make of it except that people watching is interesting to say the least. Hell, we could probably do an article on that alone; but that's another site all together. We used our bitchin' media credentials to “shoot pictures” from the infield during the FD action and it is always fun action to watch. Completely different from the nerd appeal of Time Attack, but if you dive into the cars the tech is unreal!
Here at MotoIQ we are Nerds and as such we completely frown upon gratutious shots of Umbrella Girls and also using our credentials to shoot said pictures. This particular shot is an example of what we do not approve of… no really… we do not approve… The event was shaping up nicely until the rain started and we ran for the hills. As we bombed the signature hill at turn 12 in our golf cart we must have approached at least 25 MPH with 6 media clowns stuffed in to this golf cart none of us could see a damn thing as we drifted and hydroplaned to certain death. I have no idea how but Kyle Brophoto Lewis used his mad golf cart skills to return us safely to the paddock and the dry confines of our rental machines. It was time to retire and wring ourselves out in preparation for Saturday.
We knew that we had to be on hand for the first sessions Saturday as the skies were overcast and the forecast uncertain; those in the hunt would be out for blood and we did not want to miss the action. The sessions started at 8AM to provide adequate time to settle these things and some of Friday's times were falling right away. The theme was consistent improvement's between the two days and while some drivers managed to knock off several seconds, most drivers only managed to slightly improve in each session. Tony Szirka was on a mission to catch the RaceCo GTR and after some controversy about not getting in a clean lap he readied himself for the later session with the GTR in his sights.
Ivo Mitkov in the Renner Motorsport GC8 was out competing in the Limited AWD class alongside Filthy Joe and Nate Cicio. Would the WRC DNA of this GC have anything for those guys?Things were also heating up in the Limited as Filthy Joe Ascoli in his Digital Camo Kaizen Tuning EVO found speed over Nathan Cicio in the TopSpeed twin turbo Audi R8 (yes, the same car from One Lap of America). If I may sidetrack for a second, looking at that car is a damn near sexual experience. I normally HATE red cars and yet I was drawn to the paint and how nicely the bronze HRE's set off the color. Pop the hatch to reveal the perfectly executed twin turbo stup and your drool will just barely miss the dual exhaust dumps out of the rear of the car.
Nathan Cicio in the TopSped Twin Turbo R8. Yes this car versus filthy Joe's Evo… Knife and gun fight much? 
I really don't need to put anything in this caption. Seriously if this car was any more pornographic we would need to have the fine print and the “custodian of records” disclaimer… Yes, you know the one I speak of.OK now that I have that out of the way let's turn our attention to MTI racing and their Corvette fleet looming in the distance. While their original plan to decimate all was foiled by an engine failure, plan B was rolling on to the track. It was evident by his pace that he was absolutely flying out there and the LS power sounded awesome bouncing off the walls of the front straight. Meanwhile, behind the facade of the innocent looking dollar store, Phil Grabow was using elements of the Rubbermaid kind to increase the airflow to his rear mounted radiator. While Phil was very fast on Friday, the car was running hot and he needed help with forcing more air to the back. With a nip here and a tuck there he was up and running and out on track looking to lay down a flyer.
