Round 1 – Irwindale Speedway (Los Angeles, California) – March 3rd ****
Round 2 – Firebird Raceway (Phoenix, Arizona) – April 14th ****
Round 3 – Central Florida Racing Complex (Orlando, Florida ) – May 19th/20th
Round 4 – Summit Point (West Virginia) – June 16th
Round 5 – Dunn Racewa (Buffalo, New York) – July 21st
Round 6 – DMCC in USA Vs. Canada (Montreal, Canada) – September 2nd/3rd
Round 7 – Texas Motor Speedway (Dallas, Texas) – September 22nd

**** These events are tentative for us based on distance from NC

“I can’t tell you why I like this place so much.” Van Den Brink said as the morning practice session kicked off. “Maybe it’s because I’ve got so many laps around the place or maybe it’s just that I find this track so fun and challenging with its big elevation changes and flowing corners. It’s hard to say but it really did feel like home when I drove through the gate this morning.”

The event not only would decide who would win the season-long SE Pro-Am points title but more importantly up for grabs were 4-entries into the 2012 Formula Drift Pro Tour. For those of you not familiar, Formula Drift is an “invitation only” series and just because you’ve been in the series before doesn’t mean you can just enter again later at your own discretion. The rule is unlike any other form of motorsport in the world but there it is.

Our man Doug came into this event in 4th place in the points. Remember (thanks to a lack of sponsorship) that our team started their season one event behind everyone else so a strong 4th place was pretty good but the driver in 5th still had a mathematical shot to move up should anyone in the top-4 falter.

As customary with a single-day event, all the teams were given two practice sessions to get their cars straight. DVM started with their chassis set-up from the last event at Charlotte and began tuning from there until they got the car to DV’s liking. Before the qualifying session, Doug was feeling pretty good. “The car’s working really well, our Falken tires are giving me good grip and our STS turbo is singing it’s happy tune so I think we’ll be in good shape.” DV said just before he climbed into his car for qualifying.

The team chose to wait until late in the session to lay-down their laps. On his first pass, Doug played it a little conservatively in an effort to guarantee the team a spot in the main-event. With a score that put them in 5th place, Jason Heyden, the team’s spotter, came over the radio and said to Doug, “ok boy, now were in the show for sure. Let’s ring that Cowbell a little bit and see if we can’t put this thing up on the front row.”……. A silence was all the team heard as they listened for DV’s response as he sat there at the starting line waiting to take his second and final run…… Then in a simple and clear voice Doug responded, “10-4, we can do that.”

In what one series official descibed as, “a clinic on how the drive VIR”, Van Den Brink came down the hill with a full 10mph more than he had on his first run and with even more angle, flicked his Mustang down through the esses and squarly into the number 1 qualifying position. “It feels great to have won the Pole here at VIR. Now if we can turn this starting position into a good finish, it’ll be a good day.” Doug said as he climbed from his car.

Unfortunately for many drivers, the track proved to be too tough to tame as many of them had difficulty navigating the rolling Virginia countryside. Still others had mechanical issues like blown or mis-tuned engines. After qualifying, the 23-car field was cut to only 8-drivers which meant a very short but super aggressive competition was about to ensue.

For DV’s first tandem battle, he would go up against Canadian newcomer Max Piorier. Doug led the first lap driving a fairly good line with Max trying his best to keep up with the Mustang in his Nissan s13. The power of the Ford was more than the Canadian’s car could muster and Max was left a bit behind by the end of the track. On lap-2, Piorier would lead with DV following close behind. Max took-off from the start fast hoping he could get away and leave the Mustang behind, but Doug stood on the gas and stayed right with him coming into the first clipping point. As the two drivers got down to the bottom of the second hill, Max spun his car around nearly collecting DV in the process. All this went completely unnoticed thanks to all the tire smoke following the two cars down into the valley. That spin in addition to Max not being able to maintain the pace on the first lap, gave the win to Doug moving him on to the Top-4.

Next up for Doug would be the series points leader coming into the event Jeremy Lowe in his Mazda RX-7. Jeremy has a reputation for carrying a lot of speed through the course so DV knew he’d have to stay right with him at the start. On the first lap Van Den Brink ran a bit too wide of line going down the second hill and dropped his left rear tire in the dirt giving him a small deduction. On the second lap Lowe did the exact same thing which forced the two drivers to go “1-more time” meaning their first two passes would be wiped away and they’d have to start all over again. On the 3rd pass, Doug pulled out a gap, drove a clean line and was able to carry a small advantage over Lowe going into the 4th and final run. With Jeremy leading, the drivers made probably their worse run of the day as they both dropped wheels off the track and just generally made a bit of a mess of it. So the judges referred back to the 3rd run and awarded Van Den Brink the win moving him on to the Finals.

In the Finals, Doug went up against Pat Goodin driving his Chevy V8 powered Nissan s13. Feeling like victory was right there in his grasp; on lap one Doug brought as much speed down the hill as the Mustang could stand, just barely holding on to the edge of the road as he swung his car down into the valley. Behind him, DV left Goodin with a windshield full of Falken tire smoke and losing his orientation, Pat spun his car in the middle of the tracks big sweeping corner. On the second pass, Pat would lead with DV in hot pursuit. As the two drivers went down the hill and into the valley of tight S-turns, Pat over rotated his car and had to slow significantly in order to maintain control. This sudden change in speed caught Doug completely by surprise and with the decision to either ram into the back of Pat’s car or check-up, DV locked-up the brakes missing Pat but spun the car out in the process. Had the judges been able to see this sudden change in Pat’s speed, they would have seen that Doug did the only thing he could do. Unfortunately, perhaps not being able to see clearly through the large amount of tire smoke caused the judges to fault DV for his spin so once again…. 1-more time!

For the pair’s 3rd pass, Doug again laid down a clean lap with enough speed to pullout a large gap on the lightweight Nissan giving DV the clear advantage. On the 4th lap, learning his lesson from lap-2, Doug let Pat pull out a good size gap coming down the hill. Once into the Sweeper, Doug poured on the coals and starting reeling in the Nissan driver. Just as DV began to close in, Goodin lost the handle on the back of his car and spun directly into the path of the closing Mustang. Unable to slow the car down quick enough, Doug slammed into the side on Pat’s car spinning it around like a Top. Luckily for Doug, even though his car was crashed, he was awarded the overall Victory since Goodin spun his car.

“Wow, this isn’t how I pictured this day ending”, Doug said afterwards. “It feels great to get another win this year and another win here at VIR. Naturally, I’m sad about the car being hurt but it is the first time we’ve really hurt this car in action so I can’t be too upset after all this time. It’s just going to make the next week really busy and probably pretty expensive.”

Up next for Doug and his crew will be the season-ending XDC event at Texas Motor Speedway in Ft. Worth, TX on Sept. 24th. He is the defending champion going into this event and after the VIR win, the team’s confidence is high. Please check back for the full post-event report.

Photos by:

Kristin Deaver www.Facebook.com/KDeaversPhotography

Wicked Shadow Photography: http://www.facebook.com/wickedshadowsphotography

For more information, please visit:

• www.DougVanDenBrink.com
• http://www.streetwisedrift.com
• www.xtremedriftcircuit.com

On July 2 the Xtreme Drift Circuit rolled into the Charlotte Motor Speedway for the first time. The track at CMS is a bit on the tricky side with a long gap between turns 1 & 2 and then some tight 90 & 180 degree turns that follow. “It’s great to have so many events at home this season. It’s given us an opportunity to have a lot of friends at the track that normally don’t get to see us live.” Doug Van Den Brink said.

After throwing his 1st qualifying lap away with a slight error, Doug managed to salvage a 9th place Q-spot. The team made even more chassis adjustments before the competition started but they were only able to slightly improve the car. “I’m not sure if it’s me today or that the car’s just not free-enough for this track.” DV said after his qualifying session…

Unfortunately, for our guys, Doug was knocked out in the Top-16 round after going up against Texan Nate Hamilton after a close battle that included a “one more time”. DV said after the event, “Naturally we’re disappointed not to have gone further in the comp. As a group, we just didn’t have it together today, not only did our rear suspension have too much bite but our turbo combination was way too lazy so we’ll go back home, evaluate the weekend and come back even stronger for the next round.”

7-days later our DVM crew was back in action just across the street from CMS at the “parking lot” track of zMax Dragway. During the week, they made a few changes to the turbo combination that they hoped would help the car pick-up speed a bit quicker. The course at zMax is known for being fast and a bit slippery. As with most cities in the South, temps during the event soared to well over 100-degrees putting DV’s Mustang in-car temps in the 140* range. “Yeah, it’s a bit warm out there.” Doug said. “But the car’s running well, our Falken tires are gripping as good, if not better than any tire out there and I’m feeling good.” Doug and his Mustang would eventually go on to qualify 3rd putting the team in good shape when time for the competition.

The available pavement and location of the only elevated observation area make this track a real challenge for the Judges, as Doug knows, himself having judged this very event last year. “While this track is cool in many ways, the rectangular shape of it combined with the Judges stand being all the way on one end make it really hard for them to see everything. From a competitor’s point of view, it can be very challenging to say the least. That’s the biggest “sticky part” of this sport. As a competitor, your fate is in the hands of others in many ways…”

Doug moved through the Top-16 round pretty easily and then struggled to get past Jason Jiovani thanks to some “very interesting” calls by the Judges. He then went up against Chris Ward in the Top-4 and somehow lost the round even though the Nissan driver used an inside-line to catch-up to Doug in the large “sweeper” down at the far end of the track away from the Judges eyes. Doug would then go up against Jodin Lejeune in the Consolation round. The Infinity driver was struggling to keep his car on line so DV easily moved past him to take 3rd-place overall honors for the event.

For their next event Doug and his boys were back over at CMS for the 4th round of the Formula D Pro-Am presented by Streetwise Drift. As customary in the South in the Summer time, the day was hot, crazy-humid and threatening rain most of the day. Recounting lessons learned earlier in the month, the DVM crew made more changes to their rear suspension making the car more predictable for DV to drive. “The car is definitely better than it was last time. It’s still a challenging track but I think I have a better handle on it this time around.” DV said after the 2nd practice session.

With a full tank of fuel and their tire pressures set, our boys set out for their 2-laps of qualifying. Doug’s first lap was really good, right up to the very last corner where he just ever-so-slightly overcooked the entry and brought the rear of his Mustang around a little too hard causing him to miss the last apex and effectively throwing away the lap… On his second pass, he entered the course a bit more conservatively making sure the car stayed inline and laid down a smooth lap that would insure they would make it into the show…

After all the other competitors made their runs, Doug would end up 2nd, securing him a very good chance in the competition. “I’m really happy with our qualifying result.” Van Den Brink said. “I really wanted that first lap but I just charged it a little too hard and it bit me. On the second lap I had to make dead-sure I got us in the show so I naturally dialed-it-back a notch and while it was good, it clearly wasn’t my best lap. That said, 2nd is great. I’m happy for the guys and I think we’re in really good shape as long as the rain holds off,” he continued.

As the start of the competition grew near, the afternoon skies grew darker and darker. The Top-16 competition had only just gotten started when the big, gray clouds opened up and the rain came down, in buckets, that is. With thunderbolts lighting-up the sky, all the teams huddled in the garages while series officials worked through “cancelation scenarios” that would be fair for everyone…

After an hour and a half of deluge the rains gave up and a drivers meeting was called to discuss the situation. It didn’t take long for the drivers to unanimously agree to get back out there and finish what they had started. After all, “who hasn’t drifted in the rain before?” as one driver put it.

As most any race-driver will tell you, a dry track is good… A wet track is good… But a track that is wet in some spots and then dry in others is anything but good. This opinion is especially true if they’re sitting in a turbocharged car. “I’ve always liked driving in the rain,” DV said “but this car likes constant load on the turbo and when the tires free-wheel in the water the boost spikes, then the power goes away. Which is fine until you hit a dry patch and you instantly need all the power to keep the tires spinning. It’s a throw, catch, stab the gas, almost spin, catch then stab again kind of deal that really keeps you on your toes.”

Doug got through the Top-16 ok though the track was giving him fits. In the Great-8 he went up against George Grob. The two drivers went toe-to-toe for 6-laps before DV was declared the winner. Next up was Chris Ward in his Chevy V8 powered Nissan s13. Again, the drivers were closely matched but in the end Chris’s normally-aspirated Chevy was more manageable than DV’s turbo Ford and Chris moved on to the Finals…

Doug and his Mustang were then placed in the Consolation round against Ryan Kaufman who is always tough in his Chevy V8 powered Mazda rx7. On their first lap Doug ran a nice wide line through T1. Ryan took a more inside line and found some dry pavement which gave him a huge drive up DV’s inside going into T2. Unfortunately, this put him in a really tight spot for as Doug closed in on the T2 apex, Ryan had nowhere to go and simply backed-out to wisely avoid contact with the red Mustang. This small mistake would prove to be Ryan’s undoing for on the 2nd lap while he led, he ran a nice clean line, followed closely by Doug, and the judges had no choice but to award DV the winner of that round and consequently 3rd place overall for the event…

Doug said after the event, “Without question, I’m very happy with 3rd place and very grateful to have won it. Add to that, it’s way-better than finishing 4th! But I can’t help but feel that this is “one that got away” from us. All the guys did an awesome job on the car. I’m really excited that Bobby and Ben from CIN came to give us a hand as it’s always great to have them around. I think we’ve got the car headed in the right direction as far as dry set up, so I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season,” he concluded.

Next up for our guys will be the famed Virginia International Raceway where the team has had a good amount of success over the years. That event, held on Sept. 10 will be the Formula D Pro-Am finals. DV is currently sitting in 4th place in the points (remember that the team missed the first round of this championship) and is only 62-pts out of the lead (100 pts possible). So wish them luck and stay tuned to hear all the details of this exciting season finale…

Photos by:
Garage Spec Magazine
Slammed Graphics
Brian Young
K. Deavers

For more information, please visit:
Xtreme Drift Circuit
Streetwise Drift

Doug Van Den Brink Formula Drift Round 3 Wall New Jersey from Ross Fairfield on Vimeo.

Doug Van Den Brink Races into Road Atlanta from Ross Fairfield on Vimeo.

Many of you may remember that HyperFest is kind-of an anniversary for Doug Van Den Brink and his Mustang for it was at this event exactly 6-years ago that the two first came together to learn what the sport of Drifting was all about. “Every time I come back to this track I like it more and more” Doug told reporters Friday morning. “It was here I “drifted” a car (this car) for the first time and this place has just always suited me and how I naturally like to drive this car.”

After a couple practice sessions Friday evening, it was time for the 29-car field to qualify. One-by-one the drivers laid-down their best two laps for the Judges to ponder over. After a brief intermission the 3-judge panel came back with their verdicts and Doug was awarded “Pole Position” with Brian Peters earning 2nd and Dave Briggs capturing the 3rd spot on the grid. “I’m really proud of our team today.” said DV after the announcements were made. “We came up here with a bit of a skeleton-crew, but we all worked really hard and it paid off with a great #1 qualifying result”.

Saturday morning saw another practice session for the Top-16 drivers and their teams. This morning would prove to be a bit more “drama-filled” than our DVM boys would have hoped for. The event organizers had changed the path in which the cars would leave the Paddock area enroute to the track so as to make room for Car Show parking. No one (including our guys) gave this simple change much thought and sure enough if there wasn’t a huge granite boulder sticking up out of the ground just below the height of the tall grass. Doug and his crew being keyed-up and ready to go this morning, were the first team to line-up for the session. Unfortunately, that meant that their Mustang would also be the first to drive down this new “path” through the Paddock. With a huge-thud and the screech of grinding steel on granite, the Mustang’s Crossmember and then Oil Pan found the boulder that was dead-center in the drive-lane and came to an abrupt halt atop this rock that had been their since the dawn of time. Luckily for our guys, after a hasty “look-over” and check of the gauges, it was determined that the damage was only cosmetic and the car was able to continue out for practice… But REALLY!!!

The practice session eventually went on as planned and Doug and his crew were set to battle it out for the evening competition. For DV’s first tandem battle, he would go up against new comer, Nick DAlessio driving a Nissan 240sx. This matchup would be tough for both drivers, as their respective Turn-1 entry speeds were some 25mph different. Doug (being the #1 Qualifier) would lead the first lap. Trying to be a “sportsman”, took a conservative speed entering Turn-1 giving Nick an opportunity to stay close at least for the first corner. Unfortunately, Nick misjudged his entry speed slightly and at the corner apex, slammed into the rear quarter-panel of DV’s Mustang. Luckily Doug gathered his car up and with only a slight-bobble continued on throughout the course leaving Nick buried in a cloud of Falken smoke.

On the pair’s second lap, despite the huge difference in entry-speeds, Doug followed the Nissan through the entire course in a mirroring-manner easily demonstrating his dominance over the other car and was able to advance to the “Great-8″.

For the next round, Doug would face Tanner Munson in his V8 powered Nissan 240sx. On lap-1, Tanner overshot Turn-1 and tried to play catch-up the rest of the way handing Doug the advantage straight away. On the second lap DV paced the Nissan driver perfectly and was awarded the win, advancing him to the 1/4 Finals.

For his 3rd battle of the day DV was pitted against Miro Ovcharik in his always-fast Chevrolet V8 powered Nissan s13. This battle would be a replay of last years Final that was unfortunely cut short when Miro’s Chevy engine overheated handing the win over to Doug uncontested. This year however, was a different story as Miro had put his heating issues behind him and was ready for the Mustang driver from North Carolina.

On lap-1, Doug laid-down a thin Falken cloud for the Nissan to navigate through. Miro ran his normal clean line but was a bit too far off the tail of the Mustang which gave DV a slight advantage. On lap-2, Doug followed the Nissan stride-for-stride through the course and even drew-up along side as the two drivers exited the track. This left the judges no choice but to award Doug the win sending him to the Finals.

For his last battle of the day, Doug went up against Canadian and fellow ASD/Falken supported driver Dave Briggs driving his Nissan s14. With DV leading Lap-1 he put down a smooth lap but with one small bobble in the second left-hander. Briggs on the other hand struggled holding onto the bumper of the Mustang and had a fairly-large correction exiting the Carousel section of the course. On lap-2 Briggs made a clean run through turn-1 with DV’s Mustang less than a foot off his rear bumper. As the two drivers entered the right hand turn-2, the Canadian driver brought in too much entry speed having to check-up to retain control of his car. This sudden change in speed also caused Van Den Brink to make a major speed correction causing him to change his line considerably. Once the two drivers sorted that out they tore through the rest of the course leaving only the noise of screaming engines and deep-blue smoke from their Falken tires behind them.

After some short deliberation the judges had their winner and the entire field was called down to the front straight to hear the announcement. “To be honest, I think this deal could go either way.” Doug said as he climbed from his car. “Dave ran well and we both made small mistakes so I really don’t know”. DV might not have known but the judges did and without much delay they announced that the Defending Champion Doug Van Den Brink was the HyperFest Champion for the second year in a row!

“It is really great to win this event again this year”, Doug said in Victory Lane. “I knew we had a good shot to repeat, but that Final (from where I sat) was a tough one and I thought Briggs ran a great event. He’s a good competitor and I’m sure we’re going to battle again soon. I must say that I’m really proud of how well everyone at DVM worked this weekend. Everyone did what they had to do and believe me when I say, we all share in this victory…”

With their second win in as many events, the DVM crew will be home in NC for a while as they go for win #3 on July 2-3 at Charlotte Motor Speedway for round #3 of the XDC East Series. Then with only a week’s break they’ll be back at CMS for another Formula D Pro-Am event so make sure you check back with us to see how our boys do when they compete in the heart of NASCAR country…

For more information, please visit:
www.DougVanDenBrink.com
www.xtremedriftcircuit.com
www.streetwisedrift.com
www.formulad.com

In a story that (in all fairness) is true for many “privateer” racers, getting their Mustang to the first event of the 2011 season was a huge challenge for this North Carolina group. Not being satisfied with the “status-quo”, DVM took on the challenge of making some significant upgrades to their car over the off-season. Adding new parts from companies such as Stack, Vibrant, STS, Goodridge & Aeromotive just to name a few, the team put in a ton of hours looking into the car’s overall performance.

With another trailer-tire melting to the ground on the way down (too much equipment in too small of a trailer), the team made their way into Palm Beach Raceway on Thursday afternoon for Rnd.-2 of the Formula Drift Pro-Am Series Presented by Streetwise Drift, unloaded the car and got straight to work finishing-up a few loose-ends.

Friday morning Practice was Doug’s first time back in the car on a proper track since last Oct. “The track isn’t too hard, but with the speed you’re entering Turn-1, timing is super important. With me being just a bit “rusty” (shall we say) I can tell you my timing through the course isn’t as good as it needs to be just yet” Doug said after the session had finished. As usual, the DVM Mustang was one of the fastest cars through the track but Doug’s angle and line would need to improve if he was going to be towards the front of the field.

Doug’s 2nd session on the track AND in the car was the single elimination Qualifying. Sticking to their plan, DV put in a conservative first pass that was good enough to safely get him into the show. With that “in the bank” he pushed even harder on his second lap moving him up the grid into the 5th position. After the session DV added, “Naturally I always would like to qualify “on Pole” but I have to be realistic and it has been nearly 8-months since I’ve driven this car. With only one practice session we have to be pleased with 5th knowing we’ll only get better as the weekend progresses.”

After qualifying, the 29-car field was cut to 16-drivers which meant the 1-hr. practice session on Saturday would allow for plenty of passes. With the track layout such that it was, each driver got over a mile of track to cool his car and tires down in between runs. DV used this to his advantage as his crew made quick changes to the car. He made lap after lap after lap knocking the rest of “the rust” off himself to the point of making some of his best career “follows” towards the end of the session. “I feel really good and warmed-up now. It’s time to battle!!” Van Den Brink was heard to say after he climbed from his car.

For DV’s first tandem battle, he would go up against the Formula Drift Pro seasoned driver, Bill Sherman driving an older Toyota Supra. Doug lead the first lap driving a fairly good lap with Bill trying his best to keep up with the higher-powered Ford. On lap-2, Sherman showed his experience by laying down a solid lead-run. Our man DV following Bill would have his one-glitch show it’s head as his throttle cable slipped during the pass giving his Mustang only 2/3rd’s it’s normal power. This one tiny slip nearly cost our guys their shot at victory for without it’s normal power, the car very nearly lost ALL of its drift-angle which would have immediately given the win to Sherman. Luckily Doug was able to “clutch-kick” the car hard enough at the last possible mil-a-second to somewhat save his pass but in the meantime handing the advantage to Sherman on a silver platter. As customary in drifting (regardless of the reason), when one drivers does better on one lap and the other driver does better on the second laps, the judges call for “On More Time”. The first two runs are erased and the drivers line up again for a fresh 2-lap battle. Knowing he needed time to assess the situation, DV called for a “5-minute” pause to fix the problem if he could. The DVM crew jumped to action, Doug was able to adjust the cable under the dash and back into the action they went.

This time, Van Den Brink was on-point leaving the Toyota driver in a cloud of Falken smoke on Lap-1 and nearly chewing on his rear bumper during lap-2 easily advancing to the next round, the “Great 8”.

Next up for Doug was Bill Stenger in his Nissan s14. Running with him in practice, DV knew what he had to do. On lap-1, he followed pretty well, but Bill lead him with more angle giving the Nissan driver a slight advantage. Well that was all Doug needed to hear, for when it came time for him to lead he busted out his cleanest, fastest lap of the weekend with more angle than ever before. While Stenger tried to hold on, his Nissan was no match for the Mustang handing the advantage and the round-win over to Van Den Brink.

Doug’s third battle of the day would be Charles Thompson in his Nissan s13 Hatch who was the #16 qualifier. By running smooth, consistent lines Charles had made it past two cars with considerably more power than his. On lap-1 DV gave the Nissan driver nearly a full car length at the “pace-cone” before he leaned on his STS Turbo. With a clean line, DV hit all of his marks and pulled a clear advantage over Thompson. With Charles’ previous competitors, his slightly slower pace through the course had proved their undoing as it threw off their own timing. DV had seen this situation before so after a quick discussion with his spotter, Dan Willie, they agreed to give Thompson just a little extra room in Turn-1 so the Mustang could maintain it’s own momentum. Once they got into the second “clip” area, Doug pulled in on the Nissans door and poured on the coals as he mirrored Thompson’s line through the rest of the course giving DV the win and moving him into the finals.

In the Finals, Doug went up against Ryan Kaufman driving his Chevy V8 powered Mazda RX-7. With DV leading Lap-1 he knew Kaufman’s car was fast enough to run with him down the entry-ramp. Once they entered the course however, the Mustang’s superior handling took over, the Mazda ran wide in Turn-1 and Van Den Brink was able to pull away while staying right on-line and with good angle giving the Mustang driver an advantage. Lap two was almost a disaster for the Ford driver, “The Staring-Girl gave us a hurried sign to take-off, then Hold… And then she said Go again. While I should have just stayed put and made them start us properly, I took off too aggressively and spun my rear tires. As Ryan began to pull away from me I shifted into 2nd and again spun my tires and then again in 3rd I spun them trying to catch-up. I was so frustrated as I knew I wanted to be right on him going into Turn-1 but instead I was playing “catch-up” through the whole course which totally threw-off my timing.” Doug said later. Luckily for Doug, his follow wasn’t as off as Ryan’s follow so the advantage stayed with the Mustang driver and he was awarded the overall Victory!

“This was a real struggle to get down here and let alone to win the event is just unbelievable. After all the hard work that was put in by everyone affiliated with DVM, it really feels great”, Doug said afterwards. “Over the past few weeks a good many friends have pitched-in when they could to help get this car finished and without those late-night wrenching sessions, we wouldn’t be here. So to all the boys back home I owe a huge “Thank You”. Andy and Gab did a great job managing the car this weekend and all of the new parts we put on the car worked perfectly. I also have to thank the guys at ASD Motorsports, FNO PowderCoating and of course CIN for their invaluable help in achieving this victory.”

Now that their season has officially started, the DVM crew will be back in action on June 17-18 at the XDC HyperFest event at Summit Point, WV where DV will be looking to notch another victory at one of his favorite tracks…

Photos by:
Kayla Montgomery
Nemesis Digital

For more information, please visit:
www.DougVanDenBrink.com
www.formulad.com
www.streetwisedrift.com
www.xtremedriftcircuit.com

Last weekend Doug and his D’Vanz Motorsports crew made the long trek out to Ft. Worth, Texas to compete in Round-5 of the Extreme Drift Circuit at Texas Motor Speedway. After a tough-time up in New Jersey at Round-4, the boys from North Carolina where determined to rebound in style.

A little known fact is that years ago, Van Den Brink was nearly a resident of Dallas, TX had it not been for a last minute snag in a contract negotiation with a Texas based Stock-car team. “Yes, it’s true, I was only a signature away from moving here,” Doug said. “I’ve always liked Texas and I seem to always have fun here. The people are so great; I just dig the whole vibe down here.” DV went on to say.

While the field of drivers was small by XDC standards, the quality was high as drivers from all over North America were in attendance. With the help of local drifters like Aaron Losey, the track layout chosen was open, fast and very safe. Guardrails were far enough away from the track, that the drivers didn’t have to play it conservatively at all and really let their cars fly. The Friday practice was dry in the morning session but then wet in the afternoon as a large rain storm settled in. “We got some good baseline runs in this morning, then in the afternoon the rainy, wet conditions really helped us in the tire-wear department as we were able to run nearly two hours straight on one set,” Doug said. “The good news for us is that our Falken RT615k tires have really good grip in the wet so our speeds were still very high compared to most of our competitors.”

Saturday morning brought even heavier down pours as the morning practice was again deluged with rain. The DVM crew made some minor changes to the car and settled in on a set-up that DV could qualify on. As luck would have it, right at the end of the morning practice, the rains suddenly stopped and the track began to dry out throwing all the teams into a quandary, do they go out early or late in the 2-lap qualifying session, do the run their wet or their dry set-up? These were the questions on everyone’s minds…

Doug and his crew decided to go late in the session, run their dry suspension settings but their wet tires set-up. This decision made by Doug and Jon Wilburn was made literally minutes before DV made his runs and would prove to be the right ones as not only did the DVM Mustang qualify 1st but they were also awarded the Retaks Backpacks www.retaks.com “Insane Entry” award for the highest-speed/most impactful “entry” into turn-1. “Qualifying in the #1 position is always great but earning the “Insane entry” award from the fine folks at Retaks is an unexpected bonus. Their longtime support of drifting is really appreciated by all of the competitors and their bags are really cool as well.” Doug said after the session. 

For DV’s first tandem battle, he would go up against Aaron Losey in his NST Nissan s13. Thanks to his #1 qualifying position, Doug would lead the first lap on all of his tandem battles including this one against Losey. On lap-1, DV “poured on the coal” right from the start and running a clean line, was able to pull out a sizable gap on the Texan as Aaron nearly spun in turn-1. On the second lap, Losey ran a very nice lap with good angle. DV staying right with him not only was able to match his angle but also close-in on him at times throughout the course giving Doug a clear advantage over the Nissan driver and advancing to the next round. 

Next up for Doug was Miro Ovcharik in his V8 powered Nissan s13. This name might sound familiar to you as Doug went up against Miro at Summit Point earlier this year and he is always a tough competitor. On lap-1, DV ran a smooth lap; getting close to all the clips (except the final one, sorry Ben) and used his Falkens to lay down a nice smokescreen for Miro to deal with. On lap-2, DV’s Spotter Ben Lewallen made sure he was aware of Ovcharik’s speed and line tendencies. With Ben’s encouragement, Doug stayed glued to Miro’s car all the way through the course, again giving him a clear advantage over the hard-fighting Nissan driver moving him on to the Finals. 

Doug’s third battle of the day would be with Texas new-comer Nate Hamilton in his nicely appointed Nissan s13 Hatch. Nate was the #1 qualifier at round-4 and had been running some different lines all weekend giving many of his fellow competitors fits. On lap-1 DV left little doubt, he was here to win pulling out some 6-car lengths over Hamilton giving Doug the clear advantage. On lap two however, DV closed in a little too much and “flinched” as Nate poured-on the angle through the second half of the course. This mistake forced DV to check-up and straighten-up for just a split second giving the advantage back to the Texas driver. As customary in drifting, when one driver runs a better lap on the first pass and the other driver runs a better lap on the second pass, the judges have no choice but to issue a “one more time”, meaning the “slate” is wiped clean and the drivers are lined back up for another round. 

On lap-3, Doug again let the Mustang’s power do the talking as he carried even more speed than ever before into Turn-1. The Nissan driver tried his best to follow but couldn’t quite hold the line and ended up spinning-out. On lap-4, Hamilton again drove his unconventional line but this time DV did a better job and retained his angle through the course, all the while being within an arms-reach of the blue s14. This show of superiority was enough to give Van Den Brink the win and Hamilton a well deserved 2nd place finish.

“We were strong all weekend and I’m glad we were able to come through with a finish the car was capable of”, Doug said afterwards. “Ben and Jon did a great job managing both the car and me all weekend and our competitors really pushed us to raise our game another level. I can’t thank all the guys at XDC enough for their efforts putting on the event and all the fans that braved the rain to come watch us was really great. Ya’ just gotta love Texas”, DV concluded. 

In all it was a banner weekend for DVM. Not only did they win the event, they qualified 1st, earned the best “entry” award from Retaks, earned a nice contingency check from NonStop Tuning, Enkei Wheels stepped up and awarded them a new set of racing wheels for winning the event and now Doug sits in 2nd place only 51-points behind the XDC series Points Leader Chelsea DeNofa. All and all, a pretty fair “haul” for their weekends work… 

From here the team will make their annual “pilgrimage” out to “The House of Drift”, in Irwindale California for the Formula Drift season finale. Doug had a real good showing out there last year and on the heels of this Texas win, DVM is shooting even higher than before.

Photos by:
Jersey Streets
Matt Bengston
William Lochner

For more information, please visit:
www.xtremedriftcircuit.com
www.formulad.com

The first one is from our friends at Dead Pirate Productions. This video is from the Formula Drift event at Wall Stadium on June 5th. As you may or may not know, Wall is a really tough, yet at the same time, a simple track. It’s tough because the banking on the oval is really steep and the corners are very tight. After the banking, the cars have to “transition/crash” down to the flat portions of the track which is ridiculously hard on the cars chassis and suspension. As a car owner I wish they could do something about this because we replace a lot of parts after this event due to fatigue.

Anyway, after you get your car down to “the flats”, you have to do a figure-8 and traverse across “the woop section”… Yep, you’re reading this right, for those of you familiar with Motocross, you’ll know the term as the part of the track where the dirt-bike riders skip their bikes over some large bumps. Sometimes they make it through and sometimes these “woops” throw them off their line and even off their bikes! Well, unfortunately for us, the middle section of Wall’s figure-8 is extremely bumpy. So much so that like our SuperCross friends, our car literally skips across the tops of these bumps while at the same time we are full throttle and trying to transition from right to left corners. As you can imagine, this area of the track is a shock-tuning nightmare and one that has caught more than a few drivers off guard over the years.

Having said that, it’s a pretty simply lay-out; you do half a lap on the oval, come down onto “the flats” and do a simple figure-8 and you’re done. The fans have a great view of the track from any seat in the house, there are plenty of hotels and restaurants for the teams nearby and the track staff is always very accommodating… It’s kind-of one of those “love-hate” things. So with no further adieu, CLICK HERE to watch me do my best to make sure Stephan Verdier earns his money and put my BellTech Suspension through the Wall Stadium torture chamber…

Our second video we’d like to show you is from Tritin Multimedia. This was shot at the XDC-HyperFest event at Summit Point on June 19th. What’s cool about this video is that it goes in chronological order, from practice through the competition showing how our runs improved all the way through the weekend culminating with us rolling into Victory Lane. During my interview at the end with my friend Jarod DeAnda, you’ll have to pardon the sound quality as they were having some mic trouble down on the track. CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO

So there you have it, “moving pictures” from some really fun events. I hope you enjoy them and please keep checking back with us as we bring you more sights and sounds from the remainder of our 2010 season…

Take care, DV

Now before you watch it, let me preface it by reminding everyone that in 05’, drifting was very new to me and at the time of this video I had been doing it for a very short time… Ok, so can you tell already how bad this is going to be..? LOL

Anyway, sit back and have a good laugh (as I do every time I watch this) and see what we called drifting back in 2005. By todays standards, I don’t think any of us would even have qualified for this years HyperFest/XDC event. But it is fun to look at how far our car has come and how far I have developed as a driver over these past few years in the sport that we all enjoy so much.

Enjoy the show and please don’t be too mean with your comments…
click here to watch video

For those who may not be familiar, the XDC series is a new 6-round national drifting championship set up to be a kind of “feeder series” to the Formula Drift Championship that DVM has competed in most recently. The teams and drivers compete at tracks similar to FD circuits with similar rules and judged scoring system. Many of the elements are the same; 3-judges scoring a drivers Line, Angle & Speed, both high and low speed corners (at Summit Point the entry speeds exceeded 80mph into the 90-degree turn-1), even the charismatic and entertaining announcer Jarod DeAnda was in attendance making the calls just as he does at all the Formula D events.

HyperFest 2004                                                                       This event also known as HyperFest was a bit of a homecoming for Doug and his Mustang for it was at this event some 6 years ago that these two got together for the first time to try out the then new sport or drifting. “I always like coming to this event,” Doug said. “Chris Cobetto of NASA and all the “LookOut” guys put on such a fun and smoothly run event, I have a great time every time I get up here. Not to mention, the Summit Point track is really fun to drive on and the crowd is always very responsive. This is the track I first attempted to “drift” at and it will always hold sentimental value with me.” DV went on to say.

On Friday, practice and qualifying were all in one day. Doug had laid down some really nice laps in final practice but wasn’t feeling too confident after he made his two laps for the record-books. “I really was happy with the car after practice, but I underestimated how much the track would tighten-up in the evening qualifying session,” Doug said later. Even though in his mind his laps weren’t as good as they could have been, the judges obviously disagreed with him as they awarded him an 86 out of 100 score which put the North Carolina driver at the top of the scoring sheet. Sometimes it’s good to not agree with the judges…

Saturday’s one and only practice session was the final chance for DV to work out the different lines and speeds he would need to use against the other drivers in the tandem-elimination rounds. During this day the D’Vanz crew also got a big help from their friends and fellow competitors at Gardella Racing who were kind enough to supply them with enough tires to finish the event. A big thanks goes out to them and congratulations for their 4th place finish.

In the XDC series, they only run eliminations for the Top-16 meaning since Doug qualified 1st, he would go up against the 16th driver, Ben Sarli in his BMW M3. Though Ben gave it everything his BMW had, DV was able to move past him into the Top-8. Next on line was Brian Peter in his LS-V8 powered RX7. Brian, like Doug, has competed in a few Formula D events over the years and has shown good skill with his new car. Doug made a good first pass while leading and was right with Brian on his “lead” lap so DV again advanced.

DV’s next challenger would be Chelsea DeNofa in his green Turbo’d BMW M3. Chelsea had proven to be a tough competitor with aggressive driving style and very good angle. With a quick conversation from his Spotter, Jason Heyden, DV knew he had to really run hard to put Chelsea away. On his first lead lap, Doug threw down a super clean line, hitting all of the “clipping points” with enough speed to pull away from the BMW just a bit. On the second lap Doug accomplished (as he put it) his best “follow” to date. The pair went into Turn-1 only a couple of feet apart and came out with less than a couple of inches in between. Throughout the run, there where times the two cars were so close that the crew gave the Mustang a good “looking-over” after the event searching for Chelsea’s green paint because everyone swore the two cars had touched at a couple of points. No marks were found but DV’s use of Chelsea as a “moving clipping point” was done with precision enough to advance him into the Finals.

By the time the Finals came around, DV was really in his rhythm and his Mustang was hit’n on all cylinders. Meeting DV in the final was New Jersey based driver Miro Ovcharik driving a multi-colored Nissan 240 with abundant power coming from another Chevy LS V8 motor. Miro was obviously also having a good day having made his way to the finals as well. DV and his crew agreed that the best plan was to attack at full speed on Doug’s lead lap and then evaluate and adjust for his follow based on Ovcharik’s speed.

On lap one, DV made his smoothest run of the day floating his Mustang right across every “clip” with pin-point accuracy and if that wasn’t enough coming into the last corner he threw his car into the corner so hard that the Mustang tail lights nearly passed the headlights. This “lead” was going to be a hard act for Ovcharik to follow but he was not going to give-up without a fight. As the two combatants pulled up to the starting line for the second pass Miro’s car suddenly shut-off. It re-fired briefly but then stalled once more. After a few more attempts it was over, Ovcharik’s car had suffered a mechanical failure that was too big to overcome and he was out… just like that… With DV then obliged to make one more pass to make it official he again laid-down a high-speed, Falken tire melting lap that turned out to be his own version of a “victory lap”…

“These are the days you dream about and that only come around once in a while”, Doug said afterwards. “The car ran flawlessly all weekend. Our Falken Tires delivered the exact performance that we were looking for and the crew made the right calls every time. By all accounts, it was a near perfect weekend. I really couldn’t have asked for anything more”, DV concluded.

In the “no rest for the weary” department this very next weekend Doug and his boys will be back in action, this time down in Jefferson Georgia at the newly remodeled Peach State Speedway now renamed Gresham Motorsports Park. The event will be a South East Drift Pro-Am (click here for event info) that will reunite Doug with many of his old friends from the Atlanta area. The track lay-out is very similar to that of Irwindale Speedway out in California so it should be a lot of fun for teams and spectators alike. Check back with us next week for another post event report… Stay tuned…

For more information, please visit:
http://www.xtremedriftcircuit.com

Video clips & photo’s from the event:

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO’S

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO
This is the first time we have worked with Ross so we’re really excited about it and eager to hear what Ya’ll think about it so please let us know…

This second video is a compilation of footage shot featuring all the competitors at round-3 up in Wall, NJ two weeks ago. This video was put together by Jordan Hamelin and has two separate clips of our Mustang

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO The first clip (and the most entertaining) appears 1-minute into the video and shows our man, DV up on the banking at the high-banked oval. What’s so funny is not necessarily Doug and his car, but how he chases off a couple of cameramen looking for “the shot”… The second short clip comes at 2:47 into the video and shows Doug in his battle with Stephan Verdier. Again, not a long clip but it’s nice to be included in this really cool video featuring many of the top stars of the sport.

As we reported in our last email update, D’Vanz Motorsports will be heading north again this week to compete at Summit Point International Raceway for the annual HyperFest / XDC event. We will be sure to keep everyone as updated as possible but don’t forget to check-in with http://www.xtremedriftcircuit.com for up-to-the-minute updates and video as the weekend progresses.

Lastly, make sure you check out driftfotos. Larry Chen is responsible for many of the pic we use and this latest one taken from the vantage point of Stephan’s car is really cool…

Have a great week everyone….

With only 3 weeks in between Atlanta and Wall, everyone associated with the Formula Drift championship including DVM was in “full press” mode getting ready for the NJ event. After his good showing in round 2, Doug was eager to “get back after it” at round 3. Last year Doug had made some big improvements in NJ, and this year would hopefully provide even better results.

The event week started off well with a good test day on Thursday. After some emergency repairs to the track surface in the morning, Formula D officials ask Doug to do a few “re-con” laps to verify the tracks overall condition. Those few laps showed the track surface was ready but the repair had left some pretty big bumps that the cars would have to traverse. These bumps meant Doug and his crew would have to raise their Mustang up a bit so as not to bottom-out their suspension as the car literally skipped across the tops of the bumps like a motocross bike does over the “woops”.

With their suspension adjusted, they set about getting the car to Doug’s liking. In Atlanta the team struggled getting the car “free” enough to allow Doug to place the car where he needed it. They had made some suspension modifications before NJ and worked hard to exploit those changes throughout the day.

Once Friday practice started, it quickly became apparent that the car was still too tight and very “twitchy” to drive. A by-product of a tight car is a very fast car. So fast in fact, that Doug was really struggling with getting the car slowed down enough coming off the banking to make it safely into the slower/flat infield sections. Doug knew that he had to figure a way to carry the speed off the banking, transition the car from left to right, then back left again all the while “scrubbing” enough speed off as to not skip-up the banking on the other side of the track. With some helpful words from a friend his transitions improved tremendously but getting rid of all his momentum was proving difficult.

With only a few minutes left in the session the crew went to bolt-on the tires they had chosen for Doug to qualify on. The plan was to put one run on the tires and then save them for the all important qualifying session. Then the words no team ever likes to hear came over the radio, “Um guys, we’ve got a problem”. As DVM crewman Cory Mendenhall was torquing the wheels lugs on the left rear axle, one of the studs that locate the wheel had snapped right off in his hands. This was not a good thing especially knowing that Doug would be one of the first cars in the qualifying order and that session was less than 40-minutes from getting under way. The team decided to send Doug out with only 4-lugs in place for one slow lap just so he could break-in his new “qualifying tires”, then it was  back to the paddock area to see what repairs would be possible in the short time they had available before the start of the next session.

Upon closer inspection of the studs, it turned out that Doug’s couple of run-ins with the flat-to-banking transition had literally bend/cracked all the locator studs on the left rear axle. Had the team not snapped the one stud when changing the tire, it was very likely that the rest of the studs would have let go out on the track shearing off the tire and probably throwing Doug into a massive wreck…. Bullet dodged! Once again the Falken Tire team came to the rescue as they supplied the DVM crew with not only the needed studs, but also the tool to make the repairs quick and easy, getting Doug back out in line for his qualifying runs. Many thanks to them AGAIN!

For this event at Wall Stadium, Formula D had again gathered 42 cars to make up the Top-32 field for Saturday’s main show. DV’s first lap scored a 67.5 which put him 20th after round 1. On his second lap, he did a touch better scoring a 69.2 which firmly got him into the field in 25th position. “Well, it is an improvement from where we were but my transitions are still too tentative thanks to the car being too tight so we still have plenty of room for improvement. That said, a big Thank You has to go out to Andy, David and Corey who have really busted their backside keeping our Mustang on track this weekend,” Van Den Brink said after the session.

On Saturday, Doug’s main objective in the morning practice session was to improve his line up on the banking and to get a “snappier” transition into the flat sections of the track. Feeling more determined than ever Doug took run after run throwing the car harder into the banking. With one final word from an observer, Doug was able to get the “entry” where he needed to be. Late in the session, feeling pretty confident, Doug made another run to record this higher entry into his memory banks. This time he got high enough alright. A bit too high as it turned out for he smacked the wall with the left rear corner of the car leaving a few too many Mustang parts on the track as he exited the unforgiving Wall Stadium banking. “Yeah, I was just trying a bit too hard and kept the tail out just a fraction of a second too long. Luckily, the damage is only cosmetic so it shouldn’t affect us too much”. Doug said later.

For the Saturday afternoon “tandem-battle” elimination round Doug’s 25th starting spot meant he would be paired-up with the 8th place qualifier, Stephan Verdier. While Stephan qualified much better than Doug, on paper the two drivers appeared to be very evenly matched with pretty even speeds.

On lap one, DV gave chase being the lower qualifier. Stephan’s car didn’t take off as fast as Doug anticipated so the Mustang struggled getting up into the banking. Doug’s momentum loss meant he had to play catch-up the rest of the lap which was fairly obvious to the judges giving Stephan a clear advantage. On lap two, Doug lead and this time it was Stephan who struggled to keep up and had to really “shallow-up” his lines to keep up, giving DV the advantage. This even battle meant that the first two runs would be erased and the two drivers would have to go “One More Time”…

For this second go-around Doug gave Stephan a little more gap at the start meaning he could run his on speed entering the banking. This strategy worked fine but he then got impatient and tried to catch-up to the Subaru driver all in the next corner. This mistake cost DV dearly as he carried not enough angle into the flat’s, resulting in too much speed to make the second corner. This extra speed caused DV’s left rear to ride up the banking which was a big deduction in the eyes of the judges. On the second pass, Doug let his emotions get the best of him and simply over-drove his car making small mistakes along the way. Verdier too was struggling on this pass, but his advantage on lap one was significant enough to give him the win over the Mustang driver.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t extremely disappointed with how I performed today”, Doug said after he climbed out of his car. “I know we had a shot at a win today and I feel like I let it slip through my fingers. True the car is still as tight as a bow string and a bit unnerving to drive but I really thought we could make it past the Subaru. The guys on the team did a great job and all of the equipment our suppliers provided for us worked great. The guys at Falken were invaluable in their assistance so a big thanks has to go out to all of them. We’ll head home, put our “thinking-caps” on and see if we can make this Mustang a little less “wild” so I can hang on to her next time”, DV concluded.

With the Formula Drift Series heading back out to Seattle for the next event, the DVM crew will be forced to say so long for now as funding for the trip has not yet been secured. That’s not to say our boys are going to be idle though. After a week break, Doug and his band will be back up north at Summit Point, WV for the annual HyperFest event. This will be Doug’s first trip back to one of his favorite events after a couple of year’s absence. The event will be round-3 of the XDC national drifting series http://www.xtremedriftcircuit.com that features up and coming drivers from around the country looking to make their stamp on the national drifting scene. This event is always a good time and with the addition of the XDC group, it should be a huge event. Don’t miss it!!