We Make Horsepower. Period.

Practice Drift Day at the Nashville Import Alliance

Friday, July 23rd, 2010


This past weekend we decided to head up to Tennessee to get some track testing at the Nashville Super Speedway.  Import Alliance was doing a show there and they decided that drifting should be a part of it.  They teamed up with Tennessee Drift to throw a great practice event for a handful of drivers.  Our main goal of the weekend was to get the cars set up correctly, get the track figured out, and to get data.  This proved to be very valuable as we went through many changes on the car to get it to work the way we wanted it to.

At the beginning of the day the starting line was moved pretty far back and we were getting some good entry speed into the first turn.  I marked this on the map with a green line.   With the starting line back that far we were able to initiate at the red line on the map at 93 mph.  Even with that entry speed we struggled to get the car to hold a nice wide line.  We just needed more entry speed to be able to hold a nice wide drift on that huge first turn.  After getting sucked in on the shallow line over and over we decided to put in a higher rear end gear.  This let us go up a gear into 4th and we were able to hold a slightly higher line in the first turn.  With this, higher tire pressure and increased dampening on the rear shocks the car began to hold a wider line but not as wide as we would have liked to seen.  I drew out the line that we were being forced to run due to the slower entry on the map with a blue line.  We really needed the starting line moved back about 50 feet so that we could enter around 110-120 mph.

Halfway through the day the event organizers moved the starting line up 50 feet which cut down our entry speeds even more and pretty much made it impossible for us to hold the wider line.  All in all it was a good day of practice and now we don’t have to scramble to set up our cars and figure out the track on competition day.  I am sure when we go back the starting line back where we need it to be.  :mrgreen:

23.07.2010 Batlground Drift, Batlground Events, Nissan No Comments

SEDC Gresham: BANKIN’ ON ANOTHER PODIUM FINISH

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
Thanks to James from Roots Photography for the pic.

Thanks to James from Roots Photography for the pic.


Dan Willie of Batlground Racing  took the 2nd place podium position this weekend at Southeast Drift’s Pro-Am competition at Gresham Motorsports Park only to be topped by one of Formula Drift’s already licensed pro drivers. Batlground Racing driver, Daniel Willie, was fairly consistent all day starting off in a 3rd place qualifying position behind two of Formula Drift’s 2010 licensed pro drivers.


Dan gives some insight on his driving by stating, “This was my first time drifting the bank at Gresham. It’s a pretty hardcore track with a huge bank and lots of walls. You have to be on your game if you want to stay in it and not crashed on the sidelines. I decided that the best plan of action would be to start off slowly, working my way up to a higher entry speed and higher line on the bank with each pass.”


Located in Jefferson, GA, Gresham Motorsports Park’s facility is touted as one of the most modern and fan-friendly racing and entertainment facilities in the United States. With a bank that rivals what is known as the “House of Drift”, Toyota Speedway located in Irwindale, CA, it was important to make certain that Willie’s SR powered 240SX was up to the task of competing against the V8 power that tends to dominate these sort of banked tracks. After winning the Drift Atlanta Pro-Am last month, the transmission had seen better days and was in dire need of a refresh, so in order to prepare, Dan spent the week preceding the 2nd round of the Southeast Pro-Am fully rebuilding his Z32 transmission, including a fresh set of syncros. Additionally, a different geared rear end rounded off the preparations for the big-banked weekend.


According to Willie, “I knew the competition would be stiff after seeing some pros on the drivers list, so I wanted to make sure I did everything I could do to make sure the car was up to the task of competing against the drivers who could possibly knock me out of the points race. After our rear end change and tranny rebuild, the car felt like butter out there. I was thoroughly impressed with her performance!”


Dan was able to maintain the top position in the point’s race to earning the single coveted professional license for Formula Drift awarded to the 1st place driver of Southeast Drift’s Competition series. The series will travel the Southeast to four more tracks with the next competition being hosted at Nashville Super Speedway on July 31st where Dan hopes to take back the top podium position.

###

 

Ok now that all of that rigmarole is out of the way, let’s get down to some chattin! There are some pretty cool pics out there floating around, but my all time favorite has to be this one by James from Roots Photography where you can find a whole slew of photos from the days events.

Also from James is this pretty rad video on Vimeo:

Southeast Drift ProAM Competition @ Gresham Motorsport Park from James Hunsucker on Vimeo.

29.06.2010 Batlground Drift No Comments

Fast Cars with Bad Broads in ‘Em. SED: Triple Threat III

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

Ok ok. That was a really mean trick! The headline is a line from the song in the video I am going to post below and the mean trick part is that I will be the only “bad” broad in this video. But hey, they say a good headline brings in readers and alas, I am way into marketing.

Anywaaaays, as I am sure most of you are well aware, the 2nd installment of South East Drift’s summer practice series was this past weekend at Turner Field. I have to admit participating in a season of local driving, after having been on a hiatus and then previously on a national driving stint, has been really frikkin’ awesome! It has been so cool to reconnect with my hometown peeps. For a while there, my drifting world really frikkin’ sucked. I was actually really unhappy with what drifting had made me into. In my quest to help the East Coast movement and to try to survive in the big time drifting scene, I turned into a stressed out and hasty little woman for a while there. I know my heart was in the right place, but all of that pressure is a lot for one person and my attitude certainly showed it! Hey! At least I can admit it.

It has been almost 3 years since Dan and I (and a variety of other cast members like Andy Sapp and Erin Sanford) were on a national tour driving in various series and demos. For dang near all of that down time, I didn’t drive. I was focusing on school and getting settled into that life for a minute. I was sort of afraid that I might have forgotten how to do it. It seemed like it had been so long since the last time I had driven. Dan was almost in the same boat. He had gone to a few events while I was on Bullrun, but that was few and far between. Thank goodness for good, old friends like the Drift Mechaniks, Tiger Racing/RIP Garage and Southeast Drift because they helped us remember how to keep drifting fun. No pun intended! But it worked out awesome anyways.

Ok. Enough of the blah blah blah and onto the the video sent to us by Roots Photography. That’s me in the video. Dan didn’t drive this weekend. We have decided he will compete and I will have fun!!!! Yay! Best idea we have had in a long time. I may do some silly little comps someday, but for now I am chillin and Dan is being a man and trying to go big still. Good luck babes!

Southeast Drift’s Triple Threat 3 Round 2 from James Hunsucker on Vimeo.


If you have any pics or vids that you want us to post up here, the more the merrier. Send them to us. We’ll share your blog link.

15.06.2010 Batlground Drift No Comments

You wreck some, you win some! Batlground Takes 1st and 2nd at Drift Atlanta Pro-Am.

Monday, May 10th, 2010

Well, this weekend turned out to be quite the hairy one….as in crazy, not Henderson. Let us begin by going back a few weeks to when we picked up a new team member, Chris Ward. We have been out of the local scene for a while since we have been dealing with getting the 350 together, thus putting us a little bit out of the loop when it comes to who is who and doing what now a days as far as local grassroots drivers. Back last year or so we got a chance to see Chris drive for the first time when he signed up to do a demo with us at Lanier Speedway. Back then we didn’t really pay much attention to him. We had never heard of him and he kind of fit in with the rest of the pack, not standing out as terrible or terrific, per say. Then a few months ago we were invited to a private day at Gresham by Sammy Tiger where Chris was also invited. We didn’t really spend much time with him that day, but on the drive home we hd a discussion about his car and his driving. It went a little like this, “With a little bit of help with his car, this kid has a real shot at being a pretty epic driver.”

We met up a few times and pretty quickly the relationship was born. No homo. We knew that we were on the right track when we went to a SEDC event a few weeks later and Dan took 2nd place behind none other than Chris Ward.

During the few weeks leading up to Drift Atlanta pro-am, Dan helped Chris almost every day after work to get Chris’s car the best we could within the time given…all the while dragging Chris by his ear the whole way to making the changes needed to be competition ready! For those of you who know Chris, you might have noticed that that car has been through quite a thrashin’. It was simply impossible to go through the entire car, which would later prove to be fatal.

The good news is that the car was able to pass tech alongside ours which ended up leading to some pretty intense battles on the road to the podium. Qualifying was pretty laid back for the most part. Dan was in the chill zone ready to have some fun and Chris was in bATL mode ready to thrash! Quite the opposite in personality, I must admit. When push came to shove, Dan ended up first qualifier and Chris came in third. We were a bit disappointed for Chris at first, then we realized the ladder was stacked pretty well in that order, so no biggie. The Batlground brigade had made it in and on top!

When it came time to compete, I was a little worried for both of the guys only because the track conditions and temps had changed so much from the time they had qualified. It was now 8 pm and cool and qualifying had gone on in 96 degree weather many hours earlier. It didn’t really seem to affect either of them ultimately. The first battle Dan had ended up in contact being made with his rear end when the car decided to pretty much stall in the middle of the track unexpectedly. There was no real way the gentleman following him could have avoided the hit. Luckily the action wasn’t enough to take Dan out in the first top 16 battle. We had made it through our first scare of the day.

Dan was able to chew through the next few drivers, but not without drama. First of all someone (not it! :P ) didn’t put Dan’s hood pins in and at the very end of one of his runs, his hood came up plowing into the roof! Luckily we have Percy’s Speed Glass installed or we may have been taken out thanks to a broken windshield. Then all of a sudden Dan’s car is having trouble getting into 3rd gear mid-drift and that was the next obstacle we had to make it through. A few of the other teams had gotten the word that Dan was having this problem and rumor has it they told their drivers to just take it easy — possibly the reason for their demise.

Chris had also moved on up the ladder and finally came the time for him to meet his elder on the track. They were both really excited that, either way, Batlground had positively taken the top two podium positions. They had made Road Atlanta into their own personal Batlground against each other and it was going to be amazing to be a part of the experience. They line up revving and ready. They take it down the hill — first, second, third…initiate. They both go big, but then Chris pulls off into the grass. From the top of the hill, none of us could tell what had happened. Whatever it was, it had happened without a sound.

Chris never made it back up the hill. He had to taken off track by the tow truck. :(   Dan however went out for one last lone run — his best run of the day, in fact. The win for Dan was bitter sweet. Every true racer wants to win while his competitor is at his best. It’s a pride thing. You haven’t really won if your competitor wasn’t wasn’t at the top of his game and that is how Dan feels. When we got to the pits we were so tired that we didn’t even care to look at what had caused the defeat, but the next day at SED found that there was a burnt up wire and switch controlling the fuel pump.

Not to worry though! Dan and Chris will have plenty of time to settle the batl. They are both going for the Formula Drift hard card awarded to the one and only first place winner of the South East Drift Championship series. So, come out and be a part of the mayhem that is drifting and root on your favorite Batlground driver. My vote is for Dan. Jess is rooting for Chris. Who are you rooting for? Who will come out on top?? Only time will tell. Oh the suspense!


10.05.2010 Batlground Drift, Batlground Events, Batlground Racing No Comments

Batlground Scores a Second Place Finish at SEDC3 Drift Event.

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

April 10th was a great day for drifting in Atlanta. The sun was shining but it wasn’t oppressively hot or humid. Southeast Drift was throwing an event at the Turner Field Blue Lot. A long list of established and up-and-coming drivers were participating. Tons of people were in attendance to watch the great action that took place. It was a special day for Batlground Racing in particular.

Dan was able to finally debut the LS/Z. It wasn’t without trial though. We had spent the entire night before getting the car ready for the event and at 2:30 in the morning we were pulling it off of the lift to load. And then it happened, the car wouldn’t start. After some testing and inspection it was determined that the ECU had taken a dump. We had a back-up luckily, but the car would have to be strapped back on the dyno to check and adjust the tune. That would have to wait until 6 a.m. when the noise ordinance lifted. At 6:00.01 a.m. Dan cranked it up and made the necessary adjustments.

Upon getting to the track, just in time for the drivers meeting, everything seemed to be going great. The car was running good, all of our custom made, in-house suspension pieces seemed to be doing their job, and Dan was having fun. Unfortunately the ECU was not the end of our troubles. After making it through 3 runs the 350 dropped on its belly. Our custom made TC rods gave up. In our attempt to keep all of our custom pieces light weight we had not considered that they may not be strong enough to withstand the amount of stress they would be subjected to. So after a quick run to the shop to get stronger replacement pieces and a little bit of parking lot engineering, the car was back up. Dan was able to finish out his day of practice in the Z and accumulate valuable information about how the car was going to perform and what changes we needed to make.

While Dan was shaking down the Z, Tracy had been tearing it up on track in the Screamscicle 240. Tracy is certainly no stranger to the 240 and has had plenty of seat time in “Dans” car, ever since her 240 was sold. Today however was her day to step it up and master the third gear/high speed drift. After practicing all day on her technique, and getting comfortable with the car at a much higher speed she was ready to compete.

Competition qualifying had Dan and Tracy driving in the same car. Dan had enough time in the 350 and felt he would park it for the day. Both drivers performed incredibly well in qualifying considering Dan had not driven the car all day and Tracy was learning a new technique. However neither was an issue with both Dan and Tracy qualifying high in the top 16. The issue was-that they actually TIED! Both were able to drive the car to a 3rd place qualifying position and now they had to decide who was going to continue on in tandem competition. This was not nearly as dramatic as many people would think. Tracy was there for fun and for learning and she felt that Dan deserved to be the one to compete. Big Congrats should go out to Tracy for her newly acquired advanced driving abilities and her great accomplishment of qualifying 3rd. WHA WHA WHA….NO DRAMA FO YO MOMMA!

The competition ladder had Dan facing David Jones in the first round. Not an easy task as David is definitely a high level driver in the local scene and is no stranger to driving with Dan and being familiar with his style. He was no match for Dan on this day though and after hitting a couple cones, David’s day was done. It did not get any easier from there as Dan moved on to face Harrison Ritchie. After a tight battle it came down to the judges. They decided, and I agreed,  Dan would be going on to the finals. Dan would face his toughest test yet, he would be facing Chris “Black Trash” Ward in his LS1 powered S13 coupe. It was not be for Dan in the finals. In a battle that was so close it had me believing it would go to “one more time”-Dan made one small fatal mistake when he hit a cone during his follow lap, and that was all it took to decide who would be number 1. Losing in the finals and losing to Chris, who we have seen progress steadily over the past couple years into a top Atlanta driver, is no reason to be down. We will take it in a heart beat and it will propel us into a win the next time out. Better bring your “A” game.

Thank You to Abby from NOS Energy Drinks for the pics and free stuff. Check out more pics of the event: SEDC3 2010

29.04.2010 Batlground Drift, Batlground Events 1 Comment

LS6 350Z: Sleep is a luxury and highly overrated.

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Batlground Z

After an eventful Friday into Saturday work night, trying to get the LS/Z together and running, anyone who was watching via live broadcast is probably wondering what happened? Well I can tell you at about 4 a.m. saturday morning the car started and ran.

We spent about an hour longer on the car  before the starter took a dump and we were dead in the water. We accomplished our goal of getting the car running but we fell short of our goal of getting the car to the event. Dan drove his 240 instead and tore it up just the same.

Yesterday saw us work on it a bit more and get a few of the bugs figured out. Today we are going to live broadcast again when we get the car on the dyno. We are aiming for a 4-5 p.m. broadcast time. Stay tuned this week as we continue to get the LS/Z together.

09.03.2010 Batlground Drift, Batlground Drift 350z, Batlground Fabrication, Batlground Racing, Batlground Shop Cars, Batlground Tuned, Nissan No Comments

Batlground is live!

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Ever wonder what it looks like when we are scrambling to get a car together? Even seen Brandon in action when he gets mad and throws a temper tantrum? Watch us work on the LS/Z right now! Follow the link here, or search Batltracy on justin.tv

05.03.2010 Batlground Drift, Batlground Drift 350z, Batlground Fabrication, Batlground Racing, Batlground Shop Cars, Batlground Tuned No Comments

LS6 350Z: Do or Die Time.

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Please visit Batlground Motorsports gallery for more pictures of this build.

Day 5 is here and the only thing we have left is everything. Dan spent over 12 hours yesterday getting all the plumbing done. We had hoped for more like 4-5 hours. Considering what had to be done though maybe we were a little too optimistic. With the power steering, brake, fuel, and accusump lines all being made from scratch-its not hard to understand why it took a lot longer. With that being said todays list still includes the exhaust, mounting the seat/harness, installing the wiring harness, mounting the battery, getting the alignment done, mounting the Moton reservoirs, start it up, and tune it. There are plenty of other small things that will pop up too. Hopefully this evening will bring a positive update and a sweet sound bite or video.

05.03.2010 Batlground Drift, Batlground Drift 350z, Batlground Fabrication, Batlground Racing, Batlground Shop Cars, Batlground Tuned, Nissan No Comments

LS6 350Z: Run them H-O-S-E! Lay that (exhaust) pipe!

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

As always you can visit our gallery to check out more pictures of this build and all of our other projects.

Day 4 is under way and the LS/Z just left the shop. Dan is bringing the car to Andy at Performance Hose Distributing to get all of the power steering lines and fittings installed. Since this is a completely custom job-a custom kit must be made. Yesterday saw some tasks take a little longer than expected, so a little extra time was spent last night to try and catch up. Dan modified the fuel cell for the return and breather hoses, he also got the headers installed so we can get the flex sections and “X” pipe installed. Once those are installed we can make the turn downs and the exhaust will be complete. Justin finished the harness and it looks great. Its really amazing how few wires there are once you cut out all the non-essentials. The accusump is going to be a little more of a pain in the rear than we hoped. According to most amateur organization rules and all professional rules-the accusump and all of the hoses associated with it, that are exposed inside the cockpit of the vehicle, must be contained in a secondary firewall. It makes sense because you are going to have hot oil running inside of the car. If you were to hit a wall, another car, or even flip upside down you could possibly have a nice bath in 200 degree oil. Anyone up for some deep fried Dan? So we are going to move it into the engine compartment for an easier installation.

Once Dan gets back with the car, we can get it on the lift and make some significant progress. We will bust out the alignment machine and get it real close to perfect. Later we will take it to Gran Turismo East to have Kieran and the guys there make sure it is perfect.  The major goal for tonight is to get the car started. Once it is cranked we can check for any leaks in all of the plumbing, and hear how she sounds for the first time. Maybe I can even get a sound bite or video! At any rate, time is getting short and we have to buckle down to finish the job.

04.03.2010 Batlground Drift, Batlground Drift 350z, Batlground Fabrication, Batlground Racing, Batlground Shop Cars, Batlground Tuned, Nissan No Comments

LS6 350Z: Its the detail work that makes the difference. That or it will kill you.

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Visit Our Gallery for All the Build Pictures here: Batlground 350z Gallery

Yesterday saw some crucial work get completed. Justin is working feverishly to complete the wiring harness and is but a mere half dozen wires away from wrapping it up. Dan completed the custom tension rods for the front suspension, got the radiator mounted, installed the throttle cable, and buttoned up a lot of small things. The exhaust parts showed up as well, we had ordered a couple flex sections and an “X” pipe. Todays list of tasks includes: Modify the thermostat housing, mounting the Moton reservoirs, mount the fuel filter, modify the fuel cell for return line and breather, mount accusump, install Earls firewall fittings.

03.03.2010 Batlground Drift, Batlground Drift 350z, Batlground Fabrication, Batlground Racing, Batlground Shop Cars, Batlground Tuned, Nissan No Comments

Previous Entries