Exposure to the masses from Daniel J Oxer on Vimeo.
Text written by Toli, One of the brothers who created this machine.
The wake up call from Tom early Sunday morning was devastating until I realized it was Winton Sunday morning.
I bounced out of bed and was kind of dragging my feet. I was destroyed from the night before getting the car all ready and loaded for Winton.
I got in the car laid the seat back and off we went to Winton.
By the time I woke up we were bout 30mins out of Winton. We got to the gate at 8am, the track was pretty empty seeing as thou it wasn’t open for racing till 10am.
Oxer and Sem were setting up the 2 marquees for the StanceWorks crew.
We got the car off the trailer and huddled under the tents as it was raining quite heavily which was extremely disappointing.
We had to change strategy. We put a fresh set of tires on. Lowered the tire pressures to 34 psi rear and 30 psi front and softened off the rear dampers on the Tien Super drifts.
As we got ready I drove the car over to the scrutineers bay to get the car checked out.
there were a few officials and some people huddling under the bay, as I popped the bonnet to revile the Honda K20 turbo engine in my S13,
eyes lit up. Yoshi (Vic drift organizer) was waiting for me to arrive to realize I was there already, seeing as I had called him many times that week to let him know I was arriving on Sunday only.
I still cant remember how he knew I had a K20 in my s13. Everyone there was astonished with the power the little stock 4cylinder was producing (250kw @ 8psi).
I then slowly made my way back to the the StanceWorks stand were everything was ready and setup.
The rain was really putting me off though. First time out in a new car after 2years, and the power I had never felt before.
By about 9am the pits started to fill up with keep sliders.
We meet up with Chris and Allan and had a chat bout how Saturday was and how their cars were pulling up.
They seamed to b pleased with how the day went.
As I was hitting the car with the chamois tom and Jason started to apply the StanceWorks stickers to the car, it gave it such a racing feel. It looked awesome.
As the first group went out I went to watch and see what the track was reacting like. It wasn’t good at all. Seamed extremely slippery and I was now getting very worried.
It came around time for my group (B) to get on the track.
With tom as passenger with the laptop in his hands I felt good; the track had slightly dried up but was still patchy in some sections, which made for some doubtful, cautious driving.
I headed out first car, rolling out on to the straight planted my foot in first, grabbed 2nd and was full crossed up 90degrees.
The car was on full lock, would just not cum around, it kept going, and around I went, making a fool of myself spinning on the main straight in front of all the crowd.
I waited for the cars to pass and I pulled out once again…
taking it easy and trying to get used to the wet track and new car.
After coming off a few corners later, we popped the power steering hose. I thought I could keep going, but after about 5/6laps, the car was becoming a handful.
So my session was cut short.
Tom and Jason got straight onto the fix, double clamping the hose and, thanks to peter for going to get some power steering fluid from Benalla for me, we were ready for the next session.
The track was now dry. I didn’t change the car at all, and we went out again.
Getting used to the car didn’t take me very long at all, and before I knew it I was entering corners, picking up speeds and starting to link corners together.
That session was not too bad…
In the 3rd session, I kept close to Chris and Allan and we had a ball, the car was feeling better and better each time but the ecu kept throwing a code, so I was back in pits with the laptop out clearing codes every few laps. Then once again pop goes the power steering line; Session over for me.
By this time, we were all tired and probably could have packed up and headed home, but once again Tom and Jason had the motivation to fix the line, meanwhile I opted to throw on a fresh set of tires.
Out I went. Rolling out of the pits in 2nd gear nailing it, then cracking 3rd and fishing with an amazing angle down the home straight and banging it into the first corner.
The car felt perfect. (I think rear tire pressures were lower than usual)
I was getting good amounts of smoke through all corners and keeping on the track 90% of the time.
I felt as apart of the car as I never have, I had bonded with the car and it was doing my every command.
Power was astonishing and I started to use the power using 4th gear through the s bends onto the home straight and just nailing it skating the home straight.
The feeling was amazing to say the least.
As the double yellow lights started flashing to tell us the session was over, I had one last lap.
I was sure to push all I had.
I done the back section in an orderly but hard manner then coming out onto the back straight I kept the foot planted and was skating the back straight in 3rd.
side to side, angle to angle, then the best feeling ever. The tires starting to delaminate in the last session I went throu a set of brand new tires. I was ecstatic! I couldn’t believe I had done that…
After relaxing for a bit after that session, we packed up and put the car on the trailer and headed home…
sleeping most of the way home I was destroyed.
The car was fantastic, I wouldn’t change very much. The power was great, the response and power range/band is awesome (3000rpm-8500rpm).
All I’d like to try is straighten out the rear camber a lot more and see how I go with some more tire on the ground.
I’d like to thank my sponsor Oxer from StanceWorks for making the day happen and all his support. My brothers Tom and Alex for helping me through the build and giving me the motivation to finish the car.
My auto electrician Mitch, who was also supporting me on the day.
My mum, my godmother and my girlfriend who made the trip out to watch and support me.
And the rest of the guys/girls that were there, ur support was greatly appreciated.
Cant wait till the 20th march. see you there(Winton).
