There’s nothing quite like attending a big drift event.  Pro cars, big horsepower and lots of tire smoke, the road courses and fans who come out in big numbers, all make these events huge attractions.  One of the most fun cities for drift events is Las Vegas, with its new road course facility at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  The complex consists of a 1.5 mile speedway, 2.5 mile road course, .5 mile dirt oval, drag strip, go-kart track and a racing school.   We packed our bags, loaded up the three car trailer, and headed out to the City of Sin.

The previous entries in this series contain photos and excerpts from our trip, this final entry recaps our  weekend at the event.  Continue reading, and enjoy…

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Round two of the XDC brought together roughly forty cars/teams from all over the country, May 22, 2010.  The NST Drift Team brought out the cars of Will Parsons, Josh Steele, and Chelsea DeNofa for combat.

Steele, Parsons, DeNofa ... In attendance for NST

First up for Saturday’s top 16 qualifying would be Josh Steele, in his turbocharged Nissan S13.  Having had no practice with his newly installed turbo and most recent dyno tune, Josh hit the track early for a few practice laps.  After a few laps Josh came in to diagnose what turned out to be a set of bad spark plugs.  After a trip to a few local parts stores, a new set of NGK plugs were installed and the car ran well.  Josh did well with his new setup but just missed the field of Top 16.  Josh plans to get his car and his new tune dialed in and will be back strong for the next round of competition.

Josh Steele through one of the XDC clipping zones

Will Parsons' turbo 4AG hachi-roku

Will Parsons’ weekend would prove to be a tough one.  Will pulled in after only a few practice laps on Friday to diagnose an electrical problem.  After some inspection, it was determined that the alternator in his AE86 had gone bad.  What should have been a quick trip to a local Las Vegas auto parts store turned into visits to more than three stores.  It turned out no one in a 30 mile radius had the proper alternator.  Unfortunately tracking down the proper unit ate up most of the day for the NST team, meaning Will would have very little practice time.

Will Parsons would jump in and go out for his qualifying session Saturday and make two runs.  Unfortunately these two runs did not put Will into the field of Top 16 for Saturday afternoon.  “With a few more laps and maybe 50 more horsepower, I think I would have been able to navigate the course pretty well” said Parsons.  He’ll get ’em next time!

Speed / Smoke / Angle for the Lone Star 86 in XDC

Kaitie discussing the M3's performance with Chelsea

Next up, Chelsea DeNofa and the monster M3.  Chelsea would battle overheating issues all weekend.  The M3 would run very hot on this weekend, so hot in fact that, Chelsea’s girlfriend Kaitie became the designated water sprayer for Saturday’s qualifying and tandem battles.  Chelsea would make a run on the drift section of the course, drive to the back section of the course for a cool down run, and would come back to the grid for a serious water spraying session after each lap.  Chelsea and Kaitie worked in tandem, firing on all cylinders.

Monster angle from the monster M3!

Chelsea would go out to lay down awesome back to back qualifying runs for a number 8 qualifying position  going into Saturday’s Top 16 round.  Chelsea would enter with some of the highest entry speeds for the weekend, nearing 90mph into the first corner.

First up, Chelsea DeNofa would battle the number 9 qualifier, Joshua Guild…

Chelsea DeNofa and Joshua Guild waiting at the starting line

After a pair of close runs, Chelsea would prevail to the round of Top 8.  In the field of Top 8 Chelsea would have to go up against number 1 qualifier, Quoc Ly…

Chelsea DeNofa vs. Quoc Ly. This one should be a great battle!

Chelsea and Quoc lined up and prepared for what everyone expected to be a great tandem battle.  Both drivers had made great runs the entire weekend and both cars were crowd favorites in Vegas.  Quoc Ly would lead first, and Chelsea would give chase in the turbo M3.  Things got interesting quickly.

Going into turn one at speeds exceeding 80mph, Chelsea and Quoc had a bad collision that put both cars out of commission for a few minutes.  Chelsea’s BMW suffered front end damage with the hood, radiator, and fan being crumpled in the crash.  The BMW front tow hook would put a hole in the Nissan’s fuel tank, leading to a massive fuel leak that would have made BP officials run for cover!

Chelsea and Quoc pictured here, immediately following the crash

Both cars came to the pits and the respective crews got to work quick.  Josh Steele and Will Parsons would hurry over to give their team-mate a hand in getting the BMW back to working condition…

Josh plugging the leaky radiator

Pulling quickly

Almost there Will!

Unfortunately, just as the guys finished repairing the BMW, the call came down from the judges booth notifying the teams that there would be no second run.  Quoc would move on to the round of Top 4 and Chelsea would have to watch from the sidelines.

All things considered, the team worked very well this weekend and proved to display the ability to overcome adversity and work well as a team to get each other motivated and keep their cars in working condition, when they needed it most.  We had a blast in round two and look forward to more competition events this season.  We hope to see you at future events as well!

NST – NonStopTuning
http://www.NonStopTuning.com

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From left to right... Will, Josh, Chelsea, and Kaitie looking on as other drivers qualify

Joshua Steele's SR20DET Nissan S13

Will Parsons' Turbo 4AG Toyota AE86

Chelsea DeNofa's Mean Green M3 Machine!

WOW!