I mentioned in the last post how Jazz “Lostboy” Williams crashed at Autodrom Česká Lípa, but to say that was the highlight crash of the weekend would be a terrible mistake.
The initiation corner that merged into the start straight had nothing but two rows of tyre wall and an armco barrier behind it to catch even the tiniest hesitation to step on the throttle after that brave clutch kick. During training, that rather well known and equally attractive Nikolett Szanto from Hungary also wrecked her BMW M5 powered Z4 and shortly after followed by our very own TurboGrinch.
I was riding shotgun with Turbo earlier that day, and was loving every bit of it. He’s got this neat dogbox shifter that is just chuffing magic. Watching him go clack clack between 2nd – 3rd back to back is just a sight to behold. I was all set to film a set of his onboard laps to give you an idea of his driving style, but the inevitable happened just three laps after I had stepped out.
By the time the first of you will read this, Martin will have already picked up a second S14 shell and hopefully he can transfer what is salvageable from the wreck to their new home. Right after the crash Martin told me that that was probably the end of his drifting for this year, maybe even the better part of next.
So after an interesting turn of events that saw me prematurely terminating my internship and being consistently on the move, I ended up in the Czech Republic for the Dotz Drift Battle. I had just recently purchased a Nikon D3s and I had brought it along. I was thinking of doing a kickass drift video, but unfortunately, Jazz hit the wall during his second lap.
Our Team of six, me included had driven through the night with barely any sleep, and after having a first look, I really thought it was game over. I mean the front bumper was in pieces, one rim was busted, twisted fender and a bit of the front chassis, suspension and steering units bent or broken… I thought the weekend was over before it even began.
If I remember correctly, that was about when Martin Kießling aka FUKUboss broke out the news. We’d use the tow truck to pull the front bit of the chassis back into shape, and come hell or high tide, he said the Team would get R33 Skyline dubbed “Diva” back on her feet.
As a photographer who isn’t working on a contract, you get a chance to actually film or photograph what you want rather that what you have to. Here is what I filmed.
Having recently rebuilt his Fox body Mustang, pro drifter from Luxembourg Yves Faber decided to do a shake down on his car. Only his idea of a shakedown involves going very sideways up a fast yet twisty hill climb track in Eschdorf.
The car is a 1988 fox body Mustang with a 6.1l Ford racing V8 slightly breathed on by a company called Redline. It puts out a modest 450hp with 700Nm of torque on tap.
After almost 30 hours of no sleep I headed to the VIP lounge on top of pit 25 where our team was stationed hoping to doze off for a few minutes. Just as I entered the room, team owner Markus tells me, “Car #81 that was running hot is out somewhere between Schwalbenschwanz and Pflanzgarten”. The car in question is piloted by Rudi Seher, Olivier Fourcade, Tobias Neuser and Thomas Kappeler and had Thomas at the helm at the time.
Next thing I know, I am running down the stairs to the crew truck where the service truck was ready to go. Toni swung the door open and half dazed from exhaustion and sleeplessness, I jumped in.
With Chief Mechanic Futschi at the wheel we dashed to the cut road where our car had been towed out to.
Last weekend I checked out the Eschdorf European Hillclimb in Luxembourg. Here’s a short clip I made for Yves Faber thrashing his freshly rebranded 6.1 litre Ford V8 Foxbody Mustang up the hill in the wet. Needless to say, he managed to cheer a crowd who were drenched in the rain. More from this event coming soon!
Thanks to Christian Bannert who drove me there and put up with me for the whole weekend despite the utter shite weather.
As some of you might have caught the wind, I recently started internship with a successful race team that competes in the VLN as well as the 24h race at the revered Nürburgring. Full time job means there is very little time to distract myself into personal projects, but a couple of nights ago I was told about a weekly tuning meet in the city of Heilbronn, and a couple of my friends told me they’d pick me up and go have a look.
It’s been a while since I slept properly, so pardon me if this all seems rushed or below par quality.
On Thursday, Speed Industries held a track day at Anneau du Rhin, offering drift as well as grip stints. One of the team members, Dino “Rocket” Rockstroh was mapping his car after he installed a new bigger turbo as well as new KW suspension. Halfway through the mapping and testing, he let me mount a camera onto him and film this.
If you like what you see, I really recommend you to check out http://speed-industries.ch/ for their next trackday at Nürburgring Nordschleife, the mother of all racetracks on the 31st of this month. Unlike normal track days or tourist days, Mr. Speed is offering open pit lane and open Döttinger Höhe. And you may use slicks if you are feeling lucky or happy. Or if you are plain mad.
