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Formula D Report: Tyler McQuarrie Sounds off From Sonoma
Written by: Kevin Krefting   
08/29/2007
Sonoma, CA
 
Pushing the limits of his new JIC Hankook Porsche, McQuarrie showed a ton of potential in the car's debut. (Photo: Marshall Pruett) » More Photos

Well… I never thought this day would come The debut of the Hankook JIC Porsche GT2 was set for round 5 of the Formula Drift season at Sonoma! The fact that I never have to answer that question "When is the Porsche going to be ready" will make me a happy man no matter what the outcome is on our first event with the Porsche. We've been told that we are trying to prove Isaacs Newton wrong by competing in this car. Some think it's going to be the fastest drift car ever. Love it or hate it, people want to see it compete and that day had finally come.

A couple of weeks prior to the event, I was able to test the Porsche for the first time at the Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino CA. For me and everyone that witnessed this car drift for the first time, we were blown away! It has tons of grip, great angle, gobs of smoke off the Hankook tires, and is very predictable. By no means is the development on this car done, but our starting point is much further along than we would have wished for. I was so excited for Sonoma for a couple of reasons. I've been an Instructor for the Jim Russell Racing School at Infineon Raceway for ten years, so this is my home track and all my friends and family will be there. To top it off, the Porsche tested so well and not only did we think it was ready to compete, we thought it was going to be damn competitive and at the sharp end of the field.

Sonoma is one of the toughest tracks we go to in Formula Drift. It starts in turn 4 of the NASCAR track and we get up to 100+MPH before we initiate the drift with the e-brake The problem is, we are still almost 400 feet from the "bottle neck" or turn7 and we need to have good angle while still going straight hoping that we scrub off enough speed to make the corner and be close to the out side wall. The rest of the track is around 40-50mph and pretty easy. The window of opportunity to get the entry spot on is very small.
With the unique German marque at his disposal and a flair for sideways driving, Tyler has become a popular interview subject. (Photo: ID Agency) » More Photos

Our first practice is about an hour and a half long, which means I'll only have enough time to get about 6 runs because there are so many cars competing. As I roll out for practice, I know all eyes would be on the Porsche. As I took off from the start line and approached turn 1, my first thought was "Damn this thing is fast". By now I'm ready for the e-brake to initiate the drift but during the drift the back of the Porsche kept gripping up during the initial drift, which is the last thing the judges want to see. Part of this is due to the fact that we are running 315 Hankook tire in the rear, which is giving us too much grip. The car was great through the rest of the course since the corners are the type where you are on the gas to maintain the drift. That's when the Porsche is at its best. To help the initial drift we went up on the rear air pressure, which is the same as increasing the rear spring rates. This will help us reduce the rear grip of the car. These changes made the car a little better but we were still far off from where we need to be on competition day in Formula
Drift. I'm starting to realize that we made one mistake when testing the car prior to this event. We didn't set the car up for this type of initiation, where I'm off the gas for so long during the initiation. At the end of practice the team and went back to the pits and scrambled to find a set up for the Porsche.

Our second practice is very short and we will only have enough time for a few runs. At this point I'm keeping my fingers crossed that our changes will work. I was able to do 2 runs in before anther car went off hard into the wall, which ended the practice early. Although the car got better, my runs need to be cleaner to make it into the top 16. After talking with my spotter who is watching everyone's runs, we felt that I need to drive in deeper to get closer to the outside wall by the judge stand. We also made another tire pressure change. I guess you could say my palms are starting to sweat at this point. I have 30 guest of my own, Hankook Tires has all of their guest to see the debut of the Porsche, and everyone is watching to see if the Porsche will make it into the top 16 in our first event with the car.

As I stage for my first qualifying run, I'm going through the changes I need to make to my speed and line and staying focused at the task at hand. As I launch the Porsche from the start line all 650hp is being put on the ground through the Hankook Ventus V12 EVO and I'm picking up speed very fast. I initiate the drift five feet later than I did in practice. The first 250 feet of the drift is great. I have good angle and it is staying there. Around the 300 foot mark I realize my speed is not come off as fast as I would like so I start to drag the foot brake a little more. At the 400 foot mark, which is the turn in point, I know I'm in trouble because the back is starting to come out more and I'm already on the lock stop of the steering, so in other words, I'm spinning!. My only option at this point is to get the car stopped, so I lock up the brakes. I can see the wall getting closer. If you have never hit a wall before, you have a moment of hope where you think you might get stopped before the wall. Well… I'm at that point. My hope is shot down by a thump followed by a *%#$! Although it was a light hit, it was enough to end our day.

It kills me to not make the top 16! Very few people have been able to bring out a new car and put it in the top 16 in their first event simply because there is a lot of development that goes into these cars over a period of time. The Hankook JIC drift team learned a lot this weekend and in the end it was still a positive weekend for us just getting the Porsche out on the track. On the other hand it was disappointing when you considering how well our testing went the weeks prior to the event. The good news is that round 6 is at New Jersey's Wall Speedway, which is very similar to our test track where we ran so well. The bottom line is that the Hankook JIC Porsche GT2 will be a very competitive drift car in the very near future.