Alec Robbins NST 350Z Formula Drift Irwindale Recap

"Irwindale is always a wild round and this year was no exception.  We fought the car through practice trying to get the right line down on the bank while the car did not want to cooperate, feeling very unsettled through the track and our setup changes did not seem to be helping.  Right before qualifying we ended up breaking a wheel hub, which mangled a bunch of parts together on the left rear hub.  The team had to scramble to get the whole left rear suspension and axle replaced to get us out for qualifying.  We ended up having to forfeit our first qualifying run because the guys were thrashing to get things back together but ended up making it for our second run. I put down a safe run that got us in the show into competition the following day. 

We were paired against Dylan Hughs in our first matchup.  I knew Dylan was consistent. I just needed to focus on my own driving.  I held proximity well in the chase on the big bank but on the infield things got weird.  After settling into the inner bank the car over rotated and I had to make a huge correction to save it.  Sitting on an incomplete going into run two I just had to drive my lead run and hope for the best.  I entered the bank a little lower than I needed to and after working my way back up the rear bumper tagged the wall, pulling the front in and ending our weekend.  

It was a bummer to go out due to my own mistakes but the car is in one piece and I am just glad we were able to salvage the weekend with the car barely making it back out for qualifying. We learned a lot and know what changes we need going into the '24 season!"

​WORDS: Alec Robbins
​PHOTOS: FormulaD

NST - NonStopTuning
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