Jack was doing a good job of pushing his 350Z, but it seemed to be lacking some grip when powering out of turns. The Z33’s best time around our Super-G course was a 29.33. It missed a podium finish by less than a tenth of a second!
In our first podium spot we have Peter West, aka Pedro Oeste, in the only AWD car in our competition. Peter has been working with our very own Mike Kojima to develop his R35 and he came out to test some of their latest set-up changes.
Though our course incorporates one complete section of the big bank, the rest of the course is pretty tight and not exactly the best environment for a GT-R to stretch its legs and show what it can really do. It’s not exactly a car that can be tossed around easily. The 2016 GT-R managed a best lap of 29.25 around our Left course.
Perhaps the most “show” ready entry of our competition was Whiteline’s 2017 Mustang, but don’t let its good looks fool you. This Mustang is outfitted with Whiteline’s complete suspension solutions for the Ford Mustang and it can really scoot around a tight course.
The Whiteline Mustang was being piloted by Andrew Fritts, who is also Whiteline’s Sales and Marketing Manager. It’s always good to see true Motorsports enthusiasts filling key roles in performance companies. Andrew was able to sneak by Peter’s GT-R by a mere 3 hundredths of a second with a 29.22.
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Which leaves us with just one final competitor. Chris Billedo in his bone stock 2015 Chevrolet Corvette. Chris was also supposed to be competing in the first round of The Drift League, but unfortunately, his current drift build was not going to pass our stringent tech rules. The man can obviously drive and we can’t wait to see him get sideways with the rest of our drift competitors.
The C7 Corvette was the only car to get into the 28’s and it did so with authority! Chris was over a second faster than his nearest competitor. His time of 28.15 has set the mark for the next competition on July 20th.
Once off track all the drivers and staff gathered around the Hellafunctional Showdown paddock for our post-event drivers meeting. Being our first event we are still playing with the formula and before we announced the final results, we let our drivers decide whether they wanted us to rank them by their the average of their best Left and Right course lap times, or just their best overall lap time. The grand majority voted to be ranked by their best overall lap time, so that’s how we ranked them.
Here is the complete list of lap times for the entire field. The fact that the times are so close for the entire field is pretty impressive!
Thanks to our title sponsor, KW Suspensions, our podium winners will enjoy some DEEP discount vouchers for the KW products of their choosing! Our first ever Hellafunctional Showdown podium from left to right, Peter West, Chris Pilledo and Andrew Fritts.
MotoIQ Hellafunctional Showdown presented by KW Round 1 Podium and Prizes
1st Place – Chris Pilledo – 50% off KW Voucher
2nd Place – Andrew Fritts – 40% off KW Voucher
3rd Place – Peter West – 30% off KW Voucher
First and foremost we would like to thank all of our competitors for believing in our idea and supporting us by coming out to have some on-track fun with us. A big thanks also goes to KW for always supporting our projects here at MotoIQ.
We hope to see more of you at the second round of The Drift League on July 20 for another round of the MotoIQ Hellafunctional Showdown presented by KW. Be sure to sign up soon, as we will be capping our car count at 24 cars. You can find all the details and sign up links on The Drift League homepage or simply follow the link below to sign-up now.
See you on July 20th at Irwindale Speedway!
Hellafunctional Showdown Sign-Up Link
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Thanks for sharing