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Ryan Tuerck to Drift Japspeed Lexus

Ryan Tuerck is one of the most famous drifters in the world, thanks in part to his fantastic performances in the Formula Drift championship over in America and his entertaining “Tuerck’d” video series on YouTube. With the popularity of the Maxxis British Drift Championship continuing to rise we have seen more and more international drivers making the trip over to the UK to compete, with Ryan’s fellow Formula-D competitor Darren Macnamara having made a number of guest appearances during the current season. We are pleased to announce that Ryan will soon be joining him in competition on UK shores courtesy of Maxxis tyres.

Ryan will be competing in Round 4 of the 2013 BDC, set to be held at Lydden Hill over the weekend of the 10th and 11th August. As it would be impractical to ship over his Formula D Scion FR-S solely for the event and, due to Ryan also being a Maxxis sponsored driver, he will be piloting our 2JZ powered Lexus throughout the competition.

Ryan started drifting in the early 2000s, back when the UK and USA were first being introduced to this exciting new sport coming out of Japan. However, it wasn’t until some internet research after sliding around in his Mustang (not bad for a first car!) that he realised that drifting was actually a recognised sport and it wasn’t long until he had moved onto a Nissan 240SX (a 200SX to us here in the UK) and started getting serious, competing in his first competition in 2003 and his first Formula D round back in 2005.

Since 2005 Ryan has competed in every season of Formula D in a variety of cars including a Pontiac Solstice, a Chevrolet Camaro, an S13 and his current FR-S and he finished 2nd in the 2009 season, 3rd in 2010 and 5th in 2012. As I’m sure you can tell, he is clearly able to adapt to any car he is sat behind the wheel of so we can’t wait to see what he can do in our Lexus.

We caught up with Ryan to ask him a handful of questions in light of his upcoming visit to the UK:

Are you excited to drift in the UK?
RT: Yes, I’m extremely excited to come to a new country, a new track and some new competition to drift with.

How do you think the Japspeed Lexus will compare to other drift cars that you have driven recently?
I’m not quite sure yet. I know that Japspeed have built some very nice cars but I will have to drive it first to get an impression.

What has been your favourite track to drift at during your career?
My favourite track that I have drifted at is Rudskogen in Norway. I recently drove there as part of the Gatebil event and it blew me away; it had some of the coolest turns and elevation changes ever.

Speaking of Gatebil, would you like to see more events of this nature being run instead of competitions?
Yes! Gatebil was the coolest, most fun and most amazing event that I have ever experienced. I can’t stress enough how awesome it was; it was truly a one of a kind event.

Thanks for your time Ryan and we’ll see you here in the UK in a few days time!

While we are still getting to grips with the Lexus, it has tackled a number of challenges over the last few months that have proven it to be a very balanced and reliable car. It has been drifted on the indoor arena at Autosport International and at Lydden Hill and Pembrey circuits while in our hands and everyone that has driven it has praised its remarkable traction, poise and power delivery.

However, to give both Ryan and the car the best shot at victory at Lydden Hill we have recently kitted out the Lexus with FIGS Engineering‘s comprehensive front suspension package, comprising of adjustable lower arms, upper camber arms, adjustable tension rods, extended tie rods, offset rack spacers, extended braided brake lines and much more.

As soon as we removed the adjustable lower arms from the box they were shipped in we knew we were in for a treat – they are nothing short of a work of art. It may surprise you to know that, up until now, we have been running a relatively basic suspension setup on the Lexus. This is partly due to both a lack of availability of parts but also due to the fact that everyone who has driven the car has absolutely loved its balance – don’t fix it if it ain’t broke as the saying goes!

However, Ryan’s driving style is nothing short of spectacular (as this video ably demonstrates!) so it’s in our best interests to make sure the car can handle everything he can throw at it. The lower arms are not only much longer than the OEM items but they are offset, moving the wheels forward for increased caster and improving clearance needed within the arch for the vastly increased steering lock. The new upper camber arms from FIGs are not only much stronger than OEM and aftermarket items but they also incorporate both camber and caster adjustment.

The tension rods are also much stronger adjustable items, allowing us to increase and decrease the caster as we see fit, with an increase in caster allowing for more steering lock as well as stability at the sacrifice at some initial “snappiness”.

Once we’ve got the kit fitted to the car the next job will be a quick alignment setup and then some testing before the weekend – let’s hope everything goes to plan and that Ryan gels with the car! In the meantime though, here’s a sneak peek of the steering lock you can expect to see the car running…

For more information on the Maxxis British Drift Championship, please visit their website here. We’ll see you at Lydden Hill this weekend!