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Alex Lichliter NST 86 - 2024 Formula Drift Utah Recap

9/5/2024

Wednesday – Load in

Starting our 46hr drive on Sunday evening, we arrive in Utah Tuesday night. A bunch of other drivers had also arrived on Tues evening, but none of us were able to get inside the venue. We decided to just camp outside until Weds morning. Once we got into the venue, we found our spot and set up our pit. Unfortunately, two of my teammates bailed this round. With only a couple of us, set up was a little slower than normal. The rest of the team were flying in later that same day and we would meet them back at the Airbnb later. We were also able to do a track walk at 2:00pm. The layout has changed a lot since the last year. I wish we would have known that prior to arriving, since there was a test day two weeks earlier that would have given us a huge advantage to the recent changes. The run up was cut in half, so no more 100 mph entry’s. FD was hoping to get closer tandems by making us drive slower (which did end up working). Also, Outer Zone 1 was extended past the rumble strips and off the track, which honestly made it easier to transition into OZ2, but just a unique way to do it. Finally, last year OZ2 use to have an Inner Clip. This year it was removed. This new track layout was now just 3 Outer Zones total.

Small back story, 6 days earlier, we had the car on the dyno back home. Putting a car on a dyno tune allows your tuner to make changes to the car to maximize power and reliability. We had to put the car on the dyno last week because we had a slipping clutch the last time we were on the dyno back in June. We were hoping to unlock more power out of it with a fresh clutch. But, unfortunately we ran into some mechanicals on the dyno. We were losing fuel pressure under boost, and this MUST be fixed to ensure the motor doesn’t blow up again. This is also frustrating because this happened the last time we were on the dyno as well. Despite our previous repairs, we revamped my entire fuel system to correct this issue. We didn’t finish until the night before we left for SLC (Sunday). This meant there was no time to get back on the dyno to get the power we needed to be competitive for FD. LINK ECU is the company who sponsors the drivers with ECUs for the series. Luckily, they were there and willing to help. We pulled out the laptop, and did some “street tune” pulls to adjust some fuel maps and get the car to a healthy spot to drive for the event safely. In case you didn’t know, SLC has a high altitude of 4400 ft. This significantly reduced the cars power since we are supercharged. The supercharger can’t make as much boost that high above sea level, like it can in other places in the US. Less boost = less power, but a lot of drivers are also boosted, so everyone is down on power. We ended the evening by rallying up the team, my sponsors, and even my step dad who flew out, to go to our favorite car themed restaurant in Utah – Garage Grill.

Thursday – Practice & Seeding

Our day starts super early! Drivers meeting started at 7:00am. There are two practice sessions today. They are both 90 mins long. The first practice session started at 8:15am. I started off with no grip, sliding me off the track. I came in, made a suspension change, and went back out. Second lap was perfect. I mean perfect. I was looking like one of the top drivers! We only got 3 practice laps in the first session. The second practice session was at 11:45am. The sun was out, increasing track temperatures. We made some small changes to the car to combat this. We also only got 3 practice laps in this session too, which lead us into our Seeding Bracket Battle.

In the Seeding Battle, we were faced against Luis Lanz. He is a rookie this year running a blue corvette. I was feeling very confident about battling him, since I was driving so well in practice and I have been to SLC 3 years now. I was the Lead driver first, so I go out and run my lap! Unfortunately, FD removed the cones that showed the drivers where the outside of OZ1 was. They did this towards the end of practice because too many drivers were knocking them over excessively. This made it extremely difficult to see were the zone was now, since there was no longer a reference point. When I entered, I went deep into the zone, causing me to go two tires off the white line. Transitioning into OZ2, car was solid, riding the zone perfectly. I came out of OZ2 feeling spicy! Full throttle and on the edge! I transition into OZ3 perfectly and throttled down! But to my surprise, I was not in the zone? Why did this happen? I was hitting it perfectly all day in practice. My head was right, I felt confident about my battle, but for some unexplainable reason, I started OZ3 on the zone at first, and just fall away from it and I attempted to drive in it. Overall, throughout the entire run, I was pulling away from him in every zone, so I was hoping this would give me an advantage.

With no time to think about what happened, it’s time to switch and go again. This time I’m Chasing Luis. I know, I have to apply all the pressure. I need to be on this guy’s door! Lights extinguish, and we are off. I’m neck and neck with him, initiate into OZ1, and we make contact! It was such a small tap, but the cars become unsettled, but we stay in it. I was warned that his transition into OZ2 was slower than mine, so I knew I had to back down through the transition so I didn’t hit him. But, this time Luis wasn’t slow and he pulled away from me significantly. I caught back up with him towards the end of OZ2, but this put me in his smoke trail. I can’t see anything. This happens sometimes in drifting, and as a driver, you just have to drive through it. It can be intimidating driving a race car at its maximum potential in an environment where you can’t see anything. But I can’t shut it down and straighten up, that would be an incomplete. So I drive through the smoke line. In doing this, I go two tires off and smack the pillion that marks the end of OZ2. My side mirror folds in from the impact, and glass fires off in a hundred pieces towards me. My helmet visor is down, and my suit is on, so I am ok and unaffected by this. All I can think about is staying on the throttle and transitioning into OZ3. I do this, significantly behind Luis now, but somehow managed to stay in drift and catch up to him by the end of the run. WOW! I sent it! I didn’t let up one bit, despite the imperfections. Unfortunately, this was not enough to get the win. Luis did a great job in OZ3, and since I did not, he got the win and moved onto the competition the next day.

If you have been following me all year this season, you know I have been struggling with mechanicals this entire season. This has not been a fun year for me in FD. I’m spending all my time and money fixing a car that I have not been able to drive. It was SO awesome to finally be able to drive my car this year. We exhibited zero mechanicals all weekend. I wish I could have had more than 6 laps of practice, but I know every driver had that same problem. We ended the event on Saturday with the Drivers Banquet, which include dinner and awards. This is always a fun way to end the season. I can’t believe it is already over! I have many events left to do outside of FD this year, but we have lots to do during the offseason! Now that the teething of the new motor is over, we can focus on continuing reliability, making the car lighter, and more balanced correctly to be more competitive next year!

See you in 2025 =]

WORDS: Alex Lichliter
PHOTOS: @ignition_source_tv

NST - NonStopTuning
www.NonStopTuning.com

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Alex Lichliter NonStopTuning 86 | 2024 Formula Drift Utah Video Recap

Alex Lichliter NST 86 - 2024 Formula Drift Utah Recap

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