86 Vs Silvia
I’m still in the States taking sometime off and using this opportunity to plan my 2008 activities. I’ve had many talks with the team, and Ueo who has helped a lot with my progress in D1 international events. One point he has brought up is the vehicle. Ueo has also moved to a Silvia platform without much success, and I’m now in the process of switching cars.
The Silvia is a good platform but has totally different dynamics to the 86. We’ve spent many years with the 86 and my driving style is very much suited to the style of this platform. It’ll take time before I will be able to adapt to the Silvia. One good point he has brought up is, by switching, I would be taking a step backwards. I would have to spend a lot of time trying to tune, develop and change my driving style to suit the car, while other drivers will continue to move ahead. This wouldn’t be a wise choice if I was looking at developing my career in drifting.
The 86 is still competitive in the Japan series according to Ueo. But of course, HP has become the issue. Without HP it’s hard to compete in this 20+ year old platform. Everyone has resorted to NOS setups. Yoshioka is a good example. 200HP + 100HP shot of NOS. Very competitive setup, but down on reliability . DrooP went through 2 engines during the weekend but still fell into reliability issues midway of the World Championship.
I’m still in the midst of planning on how we move forward for next year. But for now, I will keep the 86 for international events and we will work further to improve the performance of the vehicle. The Silvia for now will compete only in local/S.E.A events to give us more time for development and for me to adapt to the new platform.
One plus point though. I know how the 86 moves. So we will make sure the Silvia can move the same way too.
December 1st, 2007 at 8:29 pm
yup..every car has their own behavior..whats important is like u said – ‘adapt’…ur career is keep growing and must be developing..
it maybe risky but no pain is no gain..
December 2nd, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Take ur time bro!(even I’m not qualified to say that!) but like wise man said “Practice make perfect”
December 2nd, 2007 at 9:51 pm
One more thing to say.. Thanks for videos! really appreciated it bro! Thats what i’m waiting for!
December 28th, 2007 at 8:42 am
The D1 rules says the engine mods are free. I’m not sure what this mean, but is it right to assume that you can put any engine in the car(s)? Switching to more powerful engine is not going to change a lot to your driving rather than switching cars. But of course you know better so bite me if I’m wrong. BTW you might want to look at these sites.
Hartley H1 2.8 liter Hayabusa V8
http://www.h1v8.com/page/page/1562068.htm
Cyclone Y40R 2.0 liter V8
http://www.cyclonepowerltd.co.uk/products.htm
January 5th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Yeah, engine mods is free. But i don’t think I’ll be changing the engine from a 1600. I’ll be opening up a can of worms by transplanting a new engine into the 86. For ’08, we’ll be increasing the NOS shot to 60hp and reducing the weight further. I don’t want to mess about too much with what we have now as the performance is good.