blog.CarlRydquist.com

Success in the Formula Drift Pro Am Qualifier!

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:47:00 +0000

After keeping City Tire-John company while he was hauling 4 front tires, 8 rear tires and my stock Nissan 350Z for 7,5 hours through the Arizona desert to go drifting in Tucson, AZ, the pressure was on to nail the fast and technical course to score an invitation to the Formula Drift Pro Am Nationals.

At the drivers meeting judges Hiro Sumida and Taka Aono showed a map of the track layout and told us what they would be looking for. We were informed that everyone would get five practice runs and three judged runs out of which the best score would be the final qualifying score.

The intel we had before the event was that the surface was very rugged, this mostly means sticky and hard on the tires. Therefore we decided to start out on a very durable tire compound and a bit wider dimension. This turned out to be a bad idea since we hadn't adjusted camber for those... The first two runs were basically thrown away as I had no lateral grip and had to drive the car like on ice = really slow transitions and no real aggressive angle.

After changing tires it got better. Turn 1 was the challenge, a fast lefthander in high range 3rd gear with some really hard bumps that made the harder sprung car almost lift completely. The rest of the track was pretty easy 2nd gear stuff. Some pressure adjustments and trying different approaches got me close to nailing it.

By the time of qualifying it got dark outside and the drifts looked really cool in the arena lights. The AZ backdrop with major thunderstorms in a distance added dramatic visual effects to the sounds of the heavily tuned drift cars.

Up to this point drivers had been struggling hard, basically nobody made turn 1, there were a lot of spin outs and understeer after the big bump. On qualifying though, everyone got more composed and there were several really raw looking runs, really cool. In my first qualifying run, I had my Xenon headlights on high beam which made everything outside the beam look black and I initiated too early. Not much to do.

For the second run I decided to run without headlights at all and just make use of the background lighting. Got a clear view of the whole track and made a long smooth arch slowing from approximately 85mph down to 30mph, then did my best to do really nice lines and lay down lots of smoke. This was the run I was looking for!

In my 3rd run I was so stoked about run 2 and I just went all in to try to max my score, but out on the wider line the track was significantly more dusty so at the very end of turn 1 I ended up running out of steering angle. Almost went to a halt sideways but could finish the run to put on a good show for the specators.

As announcements came, they called up nine drivers that got invitations to the Formula Drift Pro Am Nationals. I got 6th place. Considering I was using my 350Z that's all I could hope for and I'm very pleased with that. Now I really look forward to the Nationals, by that time the City Tire 350Z should be ready, and dialed in. See ya later! Carl

All pics not marked Alex V or EDrift.com by J. Weidinger

Jaguar XF - cool cat for real drivers

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:52:00 +0000

If you are looking for a reeaaallly nice car but a BMW feels to clinical, a Merc to stuffy, the Lexus to mainstream and a Quattroporte is just out of reach, Jaguar XF IS the car for you. I have never driven a car in the luxury sedan segment that wakes my passion for driving, a big engine in a stuffy old car doesn't do it for me. But this Jag does - whether the road is straight or twisty. It's got s o u l.

The Jaguar XF has really precise steering, perfect throttle response from take-off, really solid feel to the brakes and a very entertaining suspension setup. The automatic gearbox gives a really direct feel and the downshifts in sport mode are just great with the automatic throttle blips to match the next lower gear. This is not too different from how most people would describe most modern, sporty luxury sedans, but the Jaguar XF is different, it has something more, something only found in temperamentful sportscars, like classic Alfa Romeos and the likes.

With the dynamic stability control turned completely off, all that's needed is a throttle release and a slight "Scandinavian flick" and the car steps out perfectly controlled into a nice angle. Meeting up with the throttle makes the XF's V8 respond with a confident, really organic roar, it's almost like it is alive. From that point, you can have the car stay at any angle and have it go anywhere you want, the engine just never stops pulling and the car communicates with the driver in a way you wouldn't believe from such a plush luxurious touring car.

Not only is the XF a hit for the inspired driver - it is also a pleasure for the eye with its low coupe style roof-line and a perfect mix of modern edgy and classic rounded lines. The front fender gills/vents add an aggressive racy look.

Interior-wise, seating position for tall people (I am 6'3") leaves nothing to ask for and the design is a combination of sporty and classy, not dull and "oldish", instead just right - like a Grand Touring coupe with some add-ons like modern touch-screen LCD including a ton of car setting options, navigation etc.

Oh well... I could go on and on with superlatives for the Jaguar XF, and the biggest one is probably this: I wish I was a few years older and had a kid or two, then the Jaguar XF would be perfect for me. Maybe having an XF on the driveway is the wrong (and currently only) reason to wish for those things, but I can't wait. This car is one of few that gets top scores from me.

Redline Time Attack at California Speedway

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:23:00 +0000

After returning to LA after a successful job for Jaguar (more about that car later), Jennifer and I packed our stuff and moved down to Redondo Beach, definitely a place we like! The day after I went out to the Redline Time Attack event at Cali Speedway for some networking and sponsor talks. Met some nice people and I also got to know more about this type of event. It was definitely a nice enviroment for drivers and fans to see some cool cars close-up and it is also competitive enough to make it interesting for top drivers and sponsors, as well as "reachable" for the enthusiasts who want to drive their sportscars in the street car class.

Everyone doing their job - the Hankook misses representing, me chilling in the tent and miss City Tire Online greeting customers.

I am currently preparing for the Turnstyle/Drift Day Pro-Am qualifier event in Tucson Arizona, Aug 2. Will be pretty interesting to see if I have already learned enough to earn a spot in the Formula D licensing event later this year, or if I will be needing some more drift practice. Stay tuned!

Read the interview with Finest (Swedish only)

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:10:00 +0000

Click here to read the interview!

All-Star Bash 4 video by Will Roegge

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:12:00 +0000

This is an awesome video from All-Star Bash 4, enjoy!!!

Ziptied All Star Bash 4 HD from Will Roegge on Vimeo.

Interview with Finest and testing for Jaguar

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:05:00 +0000

Yesterday I was interviewed in Hollywood by the Swedish lifestyle magazine Finest. I will post a link as soon as the interview is up on their webiste. Here are some clips they filmed during the interview.

Right now I am just waiting at LAX to go to Europe to do some testing for Jaguar next week. Drive safe!

All-Star Bash 4 video

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 05:57:00 +0000

All Star Bash info

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:59:00 +0000

Location: Willow Springs, Horse Thief Mile
When: 28-29 June, 2008
Admission: $10, paid cash at the Willow Springs gate
There will be team tandem competitions, awesome to watch, a collection of really nice drift cars being driven totally flat out.

Prepare for a big party on Sat night = bring camp gear/tent/motorhome/whatever!

Catching up

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 05:18:00 +0000

Hello there, just catching up after some really good times! Little over a month ago I went to the east coast for 10 days to do some testing for Volvo, this was before the 24 hours of Nurburgring. Good to see New York, Boston and D.C. all on the same trip. Interesting weather variations, from well over 20 deg and sunny to below 9 degrees Celcius and pouring rain, felt really strange after having had a great spring in SoCal. Work went great and it was really fun to meet up with one of my former collegues.

Shortly after, Jennifer and I went to our friends wedding in Redlands, which was significantly hotter - and really nice, such a great thing to see how love unites people, and how it rubs off on everybody around them.

Then after the 24 Hours of Nurburgring, I went to Sweden to meet my family and I also took the opportunity to meet up with some Swedish friends. Had some good meetings reg future racing events, went out sailing with Mats Johansson and his crew on the Navteq Maxi Racer and also played golf for the first time in several years, with my dad.

The following week (last week), I went to Copenhagen to drive three different cars for a film production, had the luck of hitting the best weather Scandinavia has seen in years, it was simply an amazingly beautiful trip/work week with a great crew.

Now back in LA, preparing upcoming events. Next up is the SoCal drifting All Star Bash which is going to be a totally epic two day camp weekend event, with the hottest cars and coolest drivers pulling out all stops to look our best in team tandem competitions. If you're anywhere near, don't miss it.

Some 24H pics

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Fri, 30 May 2008 20:28:00 +0000

Photos by 24h-rennen.de and M. Gunnarsson

The world's hardest race

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Sun, 25 May 2008 21:52:00 +0000

So after a really hard race to get back to the top, our last misfortune came during the last hour. Some damage, stone shot or other, to the front right cooler caused a leak and Peter had to shut down and park the car in Adenau to save the engine. We were then back up on 25th, which was a good bit from what we were aiming for anyway. The race is tough. I had 4 great fast stints which did not really get rewarded seen to results, but they were a personal display at least. The team has made an amazing job throughout the race and they really deserved a good result. A fuller report and pics will come in the next day or two! Carl

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Early morning update

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Sun, 25 May 2008 03:16:00 +0000

Rain started coming in during the night and the team timed driver change and tire change perfectly. I got out and it was pretty damp to start, and totally pouring down on the long straight. I could not even see the sides of the track when catching up on other cars. And there was a whole lot of catching up going on, even one of the front running 997 RSR's was left in my spray. Our car was so perfect, the tires and pressures too, and since I felt really good with the track, the darkness and the wet conditions, I could just pass every car in sight. After 6-7 laps the ideal line started to dry up and I went in so Martin could continue on slicks. During that stint we jumped up appr 20-25 spots to 51. Getting closer... Stay tuned.

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Night report

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Sat, 24 May 2008 22:52:00 +0000

Physical challenge! Doing the first night stint for us was good, kept times at 9.30 to 9.55 in a drizzle that came and went over parts of the track. Also some long oil trails here and there making it trickier in the dark. Most teams above top 20 run at high tens or elevens so I got back 16 mins on most of the teams, from what the team spent fixing the car after the incident. Pulled away from the blue and yellow Z4 GTR and Frentzen's Apollo. The car feels great and super solid. Now I have to rest my neck that is taking the hardest beating on this fast and bumpy track. Later!

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First report

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Sat, 24 May 2008 14:23:00 +0000

Due to the engine change the dash display had to be changed too and although that is a 2000 Euro piece the support from Stack did not come until just before the line-up, so we had to start on 70th place at the end of our run group. I got out on the formation lap and it was amazing to see the crowds out there! Got some temp in the brakes and tires and suddenly lost the ABS system. No time to fix, the start lights were on and the car ran really good anyway, very easy to drive and very good grip. Took 35 spots in the first two laps and had 9.20 in loads of traffic. Came in on 31st spot after a short first stint of 6 laps to hand over to Martin. Now I hear he has just spun the car and the team is replacing the rear bumper.... Hopefully a very quick job. Both Manthey and Land Motorsport has been in as well for flat tire and something else so it shows how hard and unpredictable this race can be. Not the end of the world but we can't have this happen if we are to be in the top 10 by tomorrow morning, now we have no margins for unwanted extra stops. Later, Carl

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Friday summary

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Sat, 24 May 2008 09:41:00 +0000

After the morning practice yesterday the team got busy with changing the engine. Some amazing work and a couple of hours later, the car was race ready again. Peter drove out during night practice to check that all was good and after a couple of outings everything still looked perfect. We got no chance though to improve on our very first lap from the morning session so we will start from 21st pos (next to HH Frentzen), or better if any of the teams in front got a penalty or have withdrawn due to tech problems.
The team is now really charged and eager to start the race, we have a very good package. Race starts at 15.00. I am doing the very first stint today which will be very fun. I will keep in mind that it is a 24 hour race to be gentle on the car. Make sure to follow the action on the 24 Hour website! Cheers, Carl

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Friday summary

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Sat, 24 May 2008 00:25:00 +0000

This has been a busy day for the team. The engine didn't make it through the day, so the team had to get another one. Amazing work got done by the mechanics and we had some nice support from Manthey Racing's Porsche engineer to get a great ECU (Engine Control Unit) program in the car for this new engine. Peter drove out during the night practice to shake down the drivetrain, and all is now good fortomorrow.

Unfortunately we couldn't go out to defend our top 20 position, but with the 9.13 from the morning session we still got 21 which is perfectly ok to start the race from.

Now we've been having a few hours of hanging out in the team bus with the team, the whole team is really charged and ready to do a great race. Tomorrow we will get to sleep in before the activities start and we'll be rolling out the car for the grid show.

I'll post some pics tomorrow, cheers! /Carl

First practice!

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Fri, 23 May 2008 12:29:00 +0000

Hello racerfans, after the driver's meeting this morning I started out with just warming up the tires on the GP-loop before going for a timed lap on the whole Nordschleife. All fast teams did this, since there was a 3 minute delay until the slower categories were let out.

I posted a 9.13 on the first lap, felt good!(video to show later) Two cars held me up a bit for some time, but the car is crazy fast so the time was quite good after all. The car didn't need any setup changes, the team did great setup work before the start.

On the second lap there were just too many slow cars in the way to do anything useful, same on the third although a little bit better.

After those laps, I went into the pits to hand over to Anders who had a lot of traffic.
The 9.13 had put us just behind top 10 at the beginning of the session, but as the session went on we were eventually pushed down to 17th. There were a few cars that squeezed in on 9min 12s, but that we can easily beat on a free lap - or even just by getting to know the combination of tires and engine - after all this was the first lap of the whole weekend.

Within the top 20 is just what we want and we hope we can stay there until the race starts tomorrow.

Today's second practice starts at 19.30! Keep your fingers crossed!
Carl

Summary of preparations

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Thu, 22 May 2008 21:53:00 +0000

Decal work! That sort of sums it up... It is a cool livery that had to be mounted in place at the track. Luckily I have great team-mates who have helped a lot and once on the car, it looks great. A LOT of people who come by our pitbox take notice and ask questions. Will be fun to see the car out on the track tomorrow! (but even better driving it)

It wasn't all work... Borrowed a GT3 and spent half the day touristing, Jennifer and I went through the German villages and countryside to Cochem in the Mosel valley.

I don't have to mention that the car ran well on Autobahn as well, do I?

Update from Pistenklause

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Thu, 22 May 2008 20:18:00 +0000

Car is ready, team is ready! Trying to find internet or some solution to update here during the weekend. Practice starts 9.25 tomorrow morning after the driver meeting. Report to come! Cheers, Carl

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Will there be rain??

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:07:00 +0000

Photo: J. Christensen

Just before the start last year, rain started POURING down. A speedboat would have done the lap faster than a car. Anyway, no matter what conditions there will be, we are prepared.

Nurburgring at night

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Mon, 19 May 2008 03:35:00 +0000

The ADAC 24 Hours of Nurburgring is something really special at night. The whole area is alive with people watching the and/or partying and with more than 200 teams racing there's always someone coming in for a pitstop. If you've never experienced racing at night before this is where you go (since you'll get full access all the way into the pits, which can be trickier at Le Mans if you're not with a team).
The pitbox complex seen across the main straight. In the suites above the actual action, teams and sponsors have their parties and the VIP party in the Mercedes tribune is known to be 2nd best place to be if not actually taking part in the race. Photo: J. Christensen

Six days left.

Nurburgring Ambience

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Sat, 17 May 2008 21:38:00 +0000

Photo: J. Christensen

This is from the passage over at the little town Adenau, the opposite part of the Nordschleife seen from the pits. Just where this safety car is passing by in the picture, we drivers get to relax for a second after a challenging downhill section. As you can see, they didn't care too much about run-off areas.

Just to the right out of the pic, there is a right-hander steep uphill (Exmuhle) and cars go into 2nd or 3rd to start accelerate hard all the way up to 5th before the Bergwerk-turn (another 3rd gear right-hander). One week until the race starts.

Sponsor updates

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:13:00 +0000

I'd like to post a note to welcome Kemostal Process Technology as my new feature sponsor! After no less than five(!) very successful years together with Champion, Kemostal has moved in to take their place. I can't relly explain in a brief manner how thankful I am to have had the support of Champion and how happy I am to have delivered some really good races and nice headlines while representing Champion. It has simply been a huge thing for me and my career.Champion was a Nurburgring sponsor 2006-2007. Photo: N. Huss

Now looking forward, I am really stoked over my business relation with Kemostal Process Technology, which has grown mature over the last couple of years. Kemostal is an industrial process design engineering company serving a global market, which suits very well with my international racing ventures.

Next weekend you will get to see first hand how this new busines partnership will show on the promotional side (car design etc).

I am also happy to introduce Endless USA as a new business supporter to my racing venues. Endless carries really serious brake hardware, brake pads and suspension kits. Check them out at Endless USA. More about Endless and their products during the summer.

BTW, how do you like my new blog header?

/Carl

Countdown

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:54:00 +0000

With one week to go until the 2008 24 Hours of Nurburgring starts: This picture is from the 24 Hours of Nurburgring last year. This is an evening shot, the car in perfect pre-race condition. At this point of the race weekend, it is an incredible atmosphere around the whole paddock, all teams are charged and ready to go.
Photo: N. Huss

Other than a nice enginge swap for this year's race, the car has a new rear wing to cohere with some new regulations, it has wider tires and the car has been painted to carry a completely new livery, to be revealed just before the race.

Stop by tomorrow for the next "inside" pic (there will be a new one posted every day up until the race).

Cheers,
Carl

Just Drift Federal Cup, round 2

noreply@blogger.com (Carl Rydquist) — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:05:00 +0000

Just got back from 10 days at the east coast, doing testing for Volvo Cars R&D. Got to see NY, Boston, Philly, DC. Nice to take a jog in the park around the White House, many mighty buildings and interesting to see all the departments and associations coordinating from there to run the USA. But I like CA better. Now preparing for the 24 hours of Nurburgring next week, a lot of work and excercise.

Anyway, due to these busy times I haven't posted anything after the 2nd round of Just Drift Federal Cup, taking place at the Horse Thief Mile, so here goes: Practice with the new car (the City Tire 350Z) started out pretty well, I liked having the power and the diff and a lot of caster. I began with learning the HTM lines and felt I was starting to get the linking together. It's a pretty far distance and very steep down-hill from the top right-hander to the bottom left-hander so it has to be done perfectly, otherwise it looks bad.

Felt the car had too little grip and adjusted the swaybar and rear tire pressures, all I could do at that time. It got better but then I started to feel misfire and some drifts I just had to straighten out when power disappeared. We filled up the tank, thinking the low fuel level and the big elevation changes made it stop sucking up fuel.Riding the edge while learning the line. Photo: P. Lopez

Qualifying for top 16 went well, the car ran ok, but knowing what I know know, it actually was pretty weak on boost and high revs. I just did some safe runs and I got into the top 16 - which I am actually really happy with considering a new car.

Heading into top 8 I felt I had the feeling for the lines and that I could just adjust for a perfect linking, plus I was also aiming to be extremely smooth and not do one single big adjustment on the throttle. I would just hit the line and slide through on one big throttle feed with good speed.

At that point, the so far everlasting Nexen N3000 rears that I had used the whole day - and actually ran on the day before too(!!) - had gradually decreased the their grip so I got very little forward traction and a lot of sideways sliding... so I was surprised to just slide sideways like in slow motion, and dip the left rear in the gravel and then I was basically thrown off the track a bit on the other side. I just brought it in from that 4x4 driving and rolled back to stage for my second run.
Late clipping/apexing but no great angle. Photo: P. Lopez

This time I initiated really deep and made a really late apex to help the rear tires go forward instead of only sideways, kept it composed and connected, but I couldn't make it look good enough against the competition. Anyway, it wasn't tooo bad, my points were around the mid 240's and that was about 10-15 points short from catching 8th place.

Had a fun time though, learned a lot and the week after we spent some time changing the rear shocks, alignment, ride height, offset and tire choice, so I could get it to behave like I want to.

Tested the changes during one morning session at a Speed Ventures event, and although the engine continued to develop severe boost issues and eventually lost all power above 5000 rpm, there was just enough time and speed to verify that the setup changes had done just what I wanted, a huge amount of extra grip yet with great control. With that, things look really promising for the future. Also, the engine is scheduled for rebuild.

Thanks to City Tire Online for having me test their car at HTM and a special thanks to Miguel at RMJ Motorsports for supporting preps on my own car (which I would´ve used if I hadn't been able to run the City Tire 350Z). Also creds to RMJ's driver Jason for awesome qualifying, plus JD for a nicely hosted event.

Next up is the 24 hours of Nurburgring, after that a visit to Sweden to see family and friends plus do some sailing with a Swedish Champion, followed by driving on a film job in Denmark. Looks like a good way to start the summer. /Carl