Ricky Hofmann NST S14 - 2024 Formula Drift St Louis Recap

Coming out of New Jersey, the team and I knew we needed to make some changes. We had the subframe basically welded directly to the chassis with some square tube just to get through the rest of the event in Jersey, so some major changes needed to be made. 

I bought a new subframe, had Commited Service Brand modify it up for the quick change the week after NJ. Gary and I got to work quick. We swapped out the whole rear subframe, and we also swapped out every single rear arm. We changed the angle of the FDF rear knuckle in order to pull some anti squat out of the car, which in turn made the wheel base almost 1in longer in total. 

After a couple hours on the alignment rack at County Line Auto Body (some of you may know this name, they have a massive drift history) the car was ready to go. We did a very similar alignment to the car as I did 2 years ago, the last time I competed in St. Louis, which I got 4th place at. 

Now I hate this track. I hate it a lot. I don't think it's a great competition track anymore, I feel the cars and FD has outgrown the current layout. It's literally a drag race to turn 1, full throttle, then massive slow down for turn 2, then full throttle than an even worse slow down going into the final turn. It doesn't make for the best looking tandems, and it's really not that fun to drive in my opinion. To top it off, they changed OZ4 this year, made it a decreasing radius turn, and it decreased fast. Essentially they turn OZ4 into a "V" shape due to the speed we enter it at. Felt horrible in the car, and looked worse. 

However with that being said, the St. Louis area has a massive drift community. So as much as I dislike the track, I love the fans that show up. They are always so amped!

There was a little bit of luck on my side this round, I ended up having a bye run in my seeding bracket battle, but only due to Richard Advani blowing up his motor. Not the way we wanted to win, but with the year we are having, I'll take a little bit. But even with that, in my Bye Run, my power steering rack shifted and made me look like a scrub. Unreal right?! Quick fix, but still annoying. 

Getting that win put us up against my good friend Cory Talaska. Dude is an absolute ripper. Last time I competed in St. Louis, we faced eachother and I came out on top. Always exciting to battle a good friend, because it just gives you that extra little boost. As much as you want your friends to do good, when you are on the line next to them, you want to be that 1% better. 

​The battle starts and I'm in the chase first. He gaps me a bit to turn 1 becuase I spun the tires leaving the line, I close the gap going into OZ2, set the car and I'm ready to put it on his door. I floor the car and before I even knew what happened, I spun out. Out of nowhere. It didn't make any sense. I've never spun that car out before. And as far as I knew, the car was settled and I was ready to jump on him. I finish the lap up, and I'm just not happy. Now for my turn to lead. I throw down a heater. One of my better laps of the whole weekend. Ofcourse, an amazing lead run but I spun out in the chase. Easily gave the win over to Cory. Which again, as much as you want your friends to do good, it also burns just that little bit more when you make a mistake and it's not just an all out battle. 

So that ended our weekend right there. We got some points that we needed. Not enough, but some! The pros are the car worked great. The suspension is perfect. Other than an oil change, we are ready to go to Gridlife Lime Rock before shooting over to Utah for the last round of the year. See y'all in Lime Rock! 

​WORDS: Ricky Hofmann
PHOTOS: Caitlin Ting

NST - NonStopTuning
www.NonStopTuning.com