Jalopnik
Jalopnik at the D1 Grand Prix, Day Two: Finals
[Las Vegas stringer Curtis Walker, who hasn't yet sublimated in the desert heat despite short odds to the contrary, brings us day two of the 2007 D1 Grand Prix.]. Narratively, we're always drawn to both underdogs and classic, rear-drive Japanese cars. So we caught up with John Russakoff to get the lowdown on his 1984 Toyota Corolla, the oldest drift car competing in this year's D1 circuit. The AE86 entry started out as a $200 "piece of shit." Twenty-five thousand bucks and a year- and-a-half later, the car was track worthy. Gone is the original Toyota powerplant, in favor of a 2006 Honda S2000 engine and matching six-speed tranny. Russakoff says he's done all of the work on this 1900-lb., 220 hp slider himself. As for his opinion of the searing heat, he says it more of a problem for the intercooled turbos, as they seem to be losing about 10 percent or more of their power. But it makes for a stickier track, and he's happy to have the extra traction.More »
2:41 PM on Sun Jul 15 2007
By Mike Spinelli
955 views,
2 comments
Latest by TorkLugnutz: @Mr_Mischif: It seemed like the crowd didn't dig the Z car and it wasn't as fun to watch as the nimble Trueno. Both drivers are exceptional, but the dramatic passing move by Yoshioka was probably the most dramatic maneuver of more »
