Danny's 2011 FormulaDrift Build Let's Do This!

[DannyGeorge]

Well time to start the build finally. I hope to keep this going throughout the whole build of course. Things will be a little more vague then on my site but the majority will be here as well. I know most don't know who I am or what I do but I hope everyone will be the end of 2011.

Name is Danny George, built my original car just to be a lightweight good power badass street beast which it did very well. Car sat for a pretty good length of time till a buddy mentioned the pro-am series which could get you a FD license. Aight let's give it a go. Hit a practice event and learned a few things I needed to compete and got em ordered and installed. Long story short did some events got enough points to get the invite to Pro-am Nationals at Irwindale's House of Drift. Went there got lucky and recieved 1 of 10 licenses.

So here we are time to change some stuff and start fresh as I have hit a few things and want to be sure the car is as competitive as possible. I am giving it a full season all 7 events to give it one shot of making something of the childhood dream to be a driver. If I don't got the skills then I'll give up the dream and go back to selling dead crabs.

If anyone here has any help, knows someone, advice, thoughts, sponsor possibilties whatever I am always very open for conversation. Hopefully everyone here will enjoy the trek to see what happens in the coming year dealing with the "real deal" of drift.

Before I start Thank you to everyone who has helped me get to this stage, It feels surreal with barely any experience , with the strong group of people around me I think I will be able to go out and preform as well as possible and hopefully do everyone proud.

Crabbroker.com - our family business and the real only reason I can even do this venture
imageenvy.com - plug for my best friend eric who constantly hates on me and pushes myself further, he does alot of the behind the scenes stuff and is my go to guy when things need to be done!
bnsfab.com - doing all the fab work and hopefully making a bunch of new parts and services available to the rest of the miata crew
Family/GF for being there in full support
Random people who helped me - Vegasdrift.com, driftfotos.com, justdrift.com, roadsterdrift.com

Let's do it! Day 1. My good friend Keith at bnsfab out of Seattle area(guy is the fucking man, if your up there and need work do not hesitate, bnsfab.com) he decided to make a trip down to help me out and get me one step closer. We are going into this as trying to further progression for the rest of the miata world with new idea's and parts that we can feed to the rest of you guys. We have big plans for suspension arms that don't cost an arm and a leg, possible tube front end pieces and whatever else like a service to do the knuckles for more angle, possible tie rods, rear knuckle brackets to mount a separate caliper for hydro ebrakes. Let's see where we get with the time we have and what it entails.


Day 1 - Chopping shit out and prepping for cage

[<ACE>]

might as well make it a MONSTER!





?

[DannyGeorge]

Wish i could of done it ace. Rulebook just kinked the plan as there woulda been some gray area stuff and I dont have enough time to really get crafty. I think staying 4cyl is a lil advantage being a privateer in the judges eyes as EVERYONE will be ls next year.

Being more rare and in the smallest lightest car out there should get me some extra coverage.

One if not the lightest car
Smallest car
Roadster
4cyl turbo
Short wheelbase
Only miata
Hit all events

I think with those factors it might hinder the capabilities for real positions but I forsure will stand out. I know a miata isnt goingbto take me to the promise land of top16 as easy as a v8 240 but realistically I just want to qualify 4-5 times of top32. Pray for a problem/get lucky and sneak a top16. We all know my skills aint going to get me a win if im lined up with (insert any proven driver)


Fingers crossed lol

[driftfcbuckey]

who knows man... you can always qualify high and get paired up with the lower ranked dudes...
all it takes is for you to be in the right mindset, and have fun. i know you are being all modest right now, but anything is possible son!

theres going to be 10 new privateers next year... if you qualify top 16 or higher, you'll get paired up with the lower crowd, and hopefully take them out, then boom top 16. your car is fast, and holds traction really well (as seen by 100mph bank speeds lol) you will really be able to sink to the doors. make your follow run epic.

[nine]

Some poor little girls miata getting cut up!
I'm in for this one.

Why is it an automatic??

[DannyGeorge]

Thanks buckey. Still bummed how it worked out. Was really hoping we were gonna be out there together. Hit ya up soon too.

Car was an auto cuz it was available right now and less chances of any funny bizness from previous owners. Im thinking about the all in one wilwood pedal units to make things less complicated. All about how much time. Most of the cage should be done tonight!!!

[driftfcbuckey]

Thanks buckey. Still bummed how it worked out. Was really hoping we were gonna be out there together. Hit ya up soon too.

Car was an auto cuz it was available right now and less chances of any funny bizness from previous owners. Im thinking about the all in one wilwood pedal units to make things less complicated. All about how much time. Most of the cage should be done tonight!!!

everything happens for a reason. i'll be chearin' for you! when you go out, i want to tag along and help pit for you.

what ecu setup are you running? look into running a racepak, or stack cluster so everything is all inclusive. i would highly recommend making everything simple/quick fix setup. throw the fusebox/relays in the glovebox, arc800 switchpanel. maybe look into the pedal setup, although some of them feel weird, and you can run into issues if a master cylinder fails mid event... atleast with stock you have a good shot at locating parts anywhere in the us, same day.
looks rad, and can't wait to see it finished. happy holidays btw.

[Go Go!!]

go go go!!! 

[DannyGeorge]

So quik update. Cage itself is basically all done. Going to add some 1" bar in a couple of places to help connect to the chassis more. I am debating now to make some templates for a local guy to dimple for the a pillars and maybe doorbar section. Wont add much weight but I have always kind of liked the downplayed cage vs. the huge dimples everywhere as alot of people tend to go overboard. hmmm

Front and rear crash bars also are not fully done. The rear will get a few key pieces to triangulate it all and add a little weight over the rear to maybe help with traction. The front will keep mainly the same with the addition of a few pieces to mount swaybar and the radiator and IC mounting. Most likely will be downgrading the intercooler for fitment sake and upgrading to a huge rad since that is the most needed piece..




Lil tease

[-Elite-]

ohhh shiii thats sick danny

[s13slideways]

v mount the rad and intercooler then u can get away with bigger cores better performance too. looks good man lots of quick progress.

[driftfcbuckey]

Vmount Radiator is always less efficient as opposed to vertical mount.
my car has seriously sucked ever since the Vmount...

the cage looks good danny! if you don't have anyone spraying it for you, i will take care of it to helpout for your help at irwindale. i'll hit you up soon.

[backalleyracer]

V mount works with proper ducting and a hood

but thats kinda besides the point as danny I'm sure already knows this, this looks extremely promising, especially considering you have a license already, keep it up !

[My LS hates me]

v mounts work well when a competent person uses them and makes ducting but I don't think Danny needs one. His car ran pretty well all year. V mounting is a good way to get some big ass cores in a little spot.

[bigt92604]

He actually had overheating issues all year long, but most of the time the problems where danny didint tighten hoses down enough and what not, the rad core he has now tho might have to be v-mounted to fit