Dotz Drift Battle 2010 @ Sosnova Czech Republic

i was really looking forward to this event, because lots of friends from Hungary, slovakia, the czech republic and even from norway came.

The track was nice, and the organisation was amazing. 5 Cameras on the track with life footage to a huge video screen and a beatbox champion commenting on the microphone.

we arrived on friday in the afternoon for some practice runs, and i really liked the track.

VIDEO: 2 practice laps
VIDEO: 1 more practice lap

And on Saturday it happened :(



i was initiatind my drift in a practice run in 3rd gear on the limiter. I went sideways to the outside clipping zone and lifted the throttle for too long. The car straightened at a speed of over 100 km/h and 7 - 9 m before the wall. I tryed to brake but i hit the wall pretty hard.

Afterwards i had really hard headache, and a sore neck. So i went to the doctor who diagnosed a brain concussion and whiplash.

Because i just can´t stay at home i went to see my car today, and undo some of the damaged parts. And even here i didnt have luck and cut myself through a leather glove deeply in my hand.

This week some chassis specialists will have a look at my car and see if its repairable. Unfortunately it will take a lot of time until i can afford the repair and all the parts :/

Martin

Nissan Sportscar Trackday

Nissan Sportscar had a nice trackday at a small airport near Munich. Cars for the day were 370Z´s with M/T and A/T and a GT-R.

It was a very hot day with 32°C and the tires of the cars had a hard life;) Unfortunately we were not allowed to swich off the ESP. And thats the only thing on the car i really dont like. The ESP starts correcting very early and very long.

Now im preparing my drift car for a road trip with Axel Mack to the Dotz Drift Battle in CZ.

Meet the Driftking @ Impuls Arena Augsburg

On Sunday, 13th of June, we had a drift demo / show and fun competition on a bis soccer stadium in Augsburg City.

The event was meant to be a pilot project to see if we can run a drift event right in the middle of a city regarding the noise restriction.

It was good fun even though we had to wet the area in the afternoon. We also did a new world record in (let´s call it) mass donuting. 39 cars drifting a small circle at once.

after the event i fabricated a catch tankt for the gear box breather pipe, because there is always a bit of oil dripping out. Next step will be a new and bigger brake system.

i know it was just a show, but the track was so slippery that i had to run very low tire pressure, i dont like drifting without grip :)


3, 2, 1 .... startooo

POV Video

i filmed with my helmet camera and cut something together, check it out on Vimeo in HD:

VIDEO: TurboGrinch @ Hockenheim POV

1st event in 2010

The Sport Auto Drift Challenge is the most famous and the biggest drift event in germany.

This year it was the first drift event for me in my drift car, and i was not able to test it before. I knew it will take some time to get used to the new gear ratios, but i didnt expect to have more problems.

The day before qualifying i had no handbrake and a stuck rear brake calipper. Luckily i managed to repair it in time, just to find out that my boost sensor is doing some strange things and it felt like i was missing about 100bhp. Not enough even the clutch started slipping in 4th gear after a hard clutch kick. The electrical problems could be solved with my mates Laptop.

All these little bugs became 1 big, and was out of training. qualyfied 19th out of 72. NOT statisfying to me.

here is a short video of some entrys i practiced:
VIDEO: practice run

pushing harder and harder and then too hard :) went a bit off the track and had a small impact.


the next day we had some Demo runs and some hours of practice. I was so happy to get proper track time, and the only reason why i left the car in slightly over 2 hours, was because i had to change the tires. Lots of practice laps later and i felt comfortable again.

a demo run on red smoke tires:

HKS gearbox

some asked me to take a video of how the gearbox sounds and works. To be honest, the sound quality is poor, but it should be okay to see how it works.

im still running in the engine, so i was running a medium boost setting.

VIDEO: HKS gearbox

german press release of the DTM weekend

Deutschsprachige Drifter im Dauereinsatz bei der DTM!

Am Wochenende startete die DTM mit Ihrem Auftaktrennen am Hockenheimring in die nächste Saison. Mit den neuen Mercedes-Piloten Michael Schumacher und David Coulthart weht auch ein neuer Wind durch die Marteking-Abteilung.

Denn in diesem Jahr griff Mercedes-Benz zum ersten Mal während ihrer "Experience-World" auf deutschsprachige Drifter zu.

Carola Mecan, Markus Millitzer, Martin Reinsch, Gabor Csabi, und Dino Rockstroh, allesamt durch die "International Drift Series" gestählte Drifter, sowie Weltrekord-Drifter Harald Müller fuhren unermüdlich Gäste von Mercedes-Benz auf einem hochdynamischen Parcours. Vorgestellt dabei wurde den "Taxi-Gästen" die neue Mercedes-Benz E-Klasse u. a. mit dem neuesten Top-Modell 500 e als T-Modell (Kombi).

Neben viel Rauch, Gummi und Emotionen gabs auch Wissenswertes, so stellten die Fahrer während der heißen Runden auch die Sicherheits- bzw. Komfortfeatures der neuen E-Klasse vor. "Es macht uns ganz außerordentlich stolz, für eine solche Veranstaltung berücksichtigt worden zu sein, denn das zeigt, das die Drifter langsam aber sicher als ernstzunehmender Partner im Motorsport Ihre Akzeptanz finden." so Harry Müller.

Dieses neue Konzept von Adrenalinschub und Informationen war genau nach dem Geschmack der Drifter, die nun auch Ihr Können evtl. während der Formel 1 bei einer erneuten "Experience-World" unter Beweis stellen dürfen.

a weekend at Hockenheim

last weekend, i´ve been hired by mercedes to do some taxi and demo rides for the DTM spectators. I was so happy to have a comfortable car with aircondition at this superhot weekend.

right now im preparing for our first testing session and the first event this year. The Sport Auto Tuner GP & Drift Challenge. Its the biggest drift event in germany with more than 20000 spectators.

Magazine

The Auto Bild Sportscar made a report about the IDS Series in 2010.

HKS gearbox installed

yesterday i took the car to Seifert Performance to put the new HKS gearbox in.

It was a straight plug & play appart from the gearbox mount. We made a custom mount and i will check if the rb25 or Z32 mounts will fit.

On the way home i did the first 110 miles with the new box. Not that noisy like expected, only the gear changes are a bit noisy, but thats fine.