August 24, 2025 • 36 mins
Guest
Jack Davis
https://www.instagram.com/jack_davis_/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Why did you choose to originallygo E36 chassis?
Everyone says it's like the proven chassis now.
I think it is, yeah. I think E36 is the best car.
You have probably made it out the most unscathed.
Seems to be running really well.It was until top 32 yesterday.
Yeah, last event my shift knob fell off.
I laid down it's. That bad though?
(00:20):
Come on. I laid a killer lead down in New
Jersey and then on my chase run I snapped the shift knob off of
the shift handle. Oh yeah, Jack Davis comes in
shallow on that first initiation.
Jack Davis, Jack Davis, Jack Davis.
Jack Davis initiates in that which works BMW, the E36 goes
Jack. Oh no, we are hearing that Jack
(00:46):
Davis, he is going to be adns tonot start.
The car is dead on the line. He will have to retire until
Alaska will get handed the victory.
I've been drifting almost 11 years now and in my 11 years
I've understeered like one time.I think a lot of the guys that
struggle with not having enough front grip are the guys that
drive with the front end too much.
(01:06):
Practicing on the SIM, not wrecking and then avoiding
wrecks. It pays off.
Surprisingly. The gear ratio I ran on the
simulator was like 3 miles an hour different than what we ran
on my car this weekend. What is your perspective on some
of the things they've done, not just at this track, but just the
entirety of the year? I'm not a big fan of the seating
bracket because I've always beenpretty good in the lead, so I
could put down some good leads and qualify pretty good.
(01:28):
Do you think that hinders you atall flying under the radar more?
I think it does, yeah. This is just what I believe.
But like the last few years, it seems like anytime I would go
out for a run they would talk about the other guy.
Like I just. Never did anything cool enough.
I don't know. I think if you go back and look
at my driving, I can always lay down a pretty good lead, but
I've always struggled with the chase and I'll be the first
(01:48):
person to admit that. Do you think you'll regret it if
you continue to do this? Yeah, I think I will, and I'm
really trying to change that. You're just going to have to
take the risks. It's part of the drifting,
because if you don't, you're never going to put on a crazy
chase run, You're never going toimpress the judges.
You're never going to throw it on someone's door.
And that's just something that Iam trying to break because I
have years of bad muscle memory telling myself not to do that
(02:10):
and just risk it. I mean, we have to risk it if we
want to do good. Welcome back to the Circle of
Drift podcast. Thank you again for stopping in
every single week for a brand new episode.
(02:30):
And of course, this show is presented by SIM HQ where you
can always save 5% off on your next upgrade using code Circle
of Drift. And if you have no idea what I'm
talking about, my name is Dawson.
And here in the Circle of Drift,we interview some of the most
interesting personalities withinthe industry to provide you with
some of the best info and opinions possible to help you
get into drifting. So if you do find any value out
(02:52):
of this or learn anything, all Iask is that you consider
subscribing and hitting the bellnotification so you're always up
with every single episode. But again, we are back at FD in
Saint Louis to hear from Jack Davis, a prospec driver in
Formula Drift that has been driving for quite a while, but
more recently into prospec in the FD world.
(03:12):
So without further ado, let's goahead and get in the episode.
Well, here we are again with another episode at FD here in
Saint Louis. We've got Jack Davis new face to
the channel, so give it a littlerundown on yourself to anyone
that doesn't know you or is probably just in your car or
anything like that. OK, this is my fourth year and
Formula drift pro spec I drive ALS swapped, supercharged LS
(03:35):
swapped BMW E36 I I'm from Oklahoma.
I used to drift in Oklahoma, full log drift, Lone Star drift
a lot in the last four years we've been in pro spec, it's
been a it's been a really fun time.
I've learned a lot, car has advanced, I've advanced and
we're just here to have fun, puton a show for the crowd and put
down some killer laps. Oh yeah dude, you mentioned a
(03:56):
supercharger. Yep, I got to ask, why put an
oven on your motor? Especially making that much fun?
It's not a PD. Blower.
It's an American forced induction.
Cool. Supercharger, so that paired
with my Treadstone Performance intercooler, my Iet's don't get
too hot. Now with my newer blower, it's a
94mm. After two or three runs I'm
probably seeing like 140 IAT. So it's not that hot compared to
(04:20):
like a Magnuson or something like that.
I have a pretty big intercooler.I don't have that many issues.
I know a lot of the PD guy, PD blower guys do, but with my
blower it's so efficient, I don't really have to deal with
all that. That's cool.
Yeah. So why did you essentially
choose to go blower over turbo just in general?
Well, the E36 engine Bay is pretty small.
(04:42):
I like turbos. I think turbos are sick.
But when you put the V8 in the E36, there's really not much
room for a turbo. I mean, you can do it, but I
don't want hot pipes running around and burnt plug wires and
stuff all the time. So we chose to go with the
supercharger. So what?
OK. Then what are your, what faults
are you dealing with since you'dprefer the turbo and that's I
assume because of the driveability wise?
(05:04):
I prefer it because I think it'scooler.
OK. But for reliability and ease of
service, the supercharger is theway to go.
An E36. Now if I had a different chassis
with a bigger engine Bay, it might be a little different.
But for my car, my setup, the supercharger is the best fit for
us. What type of servicing are you
having to do on it? Like is there a regular
servicing for that specific supercharger?
(05:25):
Just oil. My blower holds like 3 ounces of
supercharger oil. You want to change it every few
events. And then I mean, it's pretty
hard on the belts, so we got to check.
Make sure the belts are good. You don't want to have a belt
fly off. Make sure your tensioners are
still strong. You don't have any bent pulleys,
bent tensioners, but that's really about it.
So we just change our blower oil, make sure the belt looks
healthy, make sure the tensionerlooks solid and straight in the
(05:45):
spring, still strong, and that'sit.
Well, I will say that you have probably made it out the most
unscathed throughout this year with your car.
It seems to be running really well and.
It was until top 32 yesterday. Yeah, really.
Yeah, what happened? Well, man, this event was it
started out really good on seating car ran great.
I had some great laps. I got fourth place in the
(06:07):
seating bracket and then like mylast lap my E brake calipers
brackets broke. So when I would pull the E brake
the dual caliper brackets were snapped and they were allowing
my calipers to twist and then jam themselves in the rotor.
So after I would let go of the handbrake the wheels would still
be locked. So I did my last two battles and
seating with the E brake messed up.
(06:28):
If you go back and look at my last two chase runs you'll see
me in the chase. The car just snaps the crazy
angle and that's because the E brake was still engaged when I
let go. So we came back yesterday
morning, tried to fix as much stuff as we could.
Nobody had dual caliper bracketsaround here, so we did hope we
could. We didn't get it fixed in time
before top 32, so we had to callour five minute.
(06:51):
We managed to like patch it backtogether.
OK. I mean, it wasn't great.
Yeah, it wasn't great, but it should have worked.
Just like Weld it back together or something.
Like that, kind of. We moved some lines around and
tried to make it work with the stock calipers on an inline
setup, but we didn't have the right fittings, we didn't have
the right lines and it was just rushed.
So we pull up for our top 32 battle against Cory Tolaska in
(07:12):
my burnout box. I look down and I see low, low
voltage. My alternator wasn't charging
and it was like 11711 five 11/4.And I pull up to the starting
line. They point at us like are you
guys ready to go? And I look down again and it's
at like 10-7. Then the car just turns off.
There's like a safety voltage cut in the ACU and it just died.
(07:34):
So it sucks. Yeah, I mean did good in seating
4th place when in top 32, feeling great driving against
our buddy Corey Tolaska and the car just died and I already used
my 5 minutes trying to fix the Ebrakes.
So that was it. Dude, it sucks.
Oh my God. Well, at least it's that's just
been this round though, right? Like all the other rounds you've
been, you've done pretty fairly well, right?
(07:55):
No, at least from the outside viewer it seems to.
Yeah, last event, top 32, my shift knob fell off.
I laid down. That's not that bad though.
Come on. I laid a killer lead down in New
Jersey in front of my buddy Chris Leonard and then on my
chase run I snapped the shift knob off of the shift handle.
So I went to shift to 3rd and the knob snapped off.
(08:17):
I threw it in the passenger floorboard and the car was just
stuck in second gear and by the time I realized it I was already
being gapped. I just grabbed the shift rod and
smacked it in third gear. I have a video of it on my
Instagram. Man it was so upsetting throwing
my shift knob looking down like well that just happened.
Yeah, in the middle of the run. Yeah, the run was over at that
point. I'll just damn.
(08:38):
How about on limiter whole time?It sucked.
So this is 2 events in a row. I've had some crappy mechanical
failures after feeling super confident and laying down some
killer runs. That sucks that it's all just
minuscule bullshit. Yeah, like a $50 shifter or you
know, $200 alternator that I could have replaced if I'd known
about it, if I didn't use my 5 minutes trying to fix the E
(08:59):
Brig. It's frustrating, but you know,
that's part of it. Things happen.
Does that affect obviously like you're running a program and
stuff, So like does that affect your program at all with little
mistakes that happen and cut youshort in competition?
Like I mean. You ever have to think about
that? It does overall and like if
we're chasing points, but as faras like my program and sponsors
(09:22):
and stuff, I mean it's part of racing, you know, parts fail,
things happen. I'm a pretty small team.
It's just me and my buddies. I'm I'm a full time mechanic
myself. I built the car.
I did everything but wiring and the roll cage.
So I know the car like the back of my hand.
I always work on it, make sure it's up to up to snuff, ready to
go. But you can't predict your
caliper bracket snapping. No.
(09:43):
And you can't predict using your5 minute timeout and then bam,
your alternator goes out. I have a spare alternator.
I kind of replaced it, but it's just one of those things bad
timing and that's. Racing so much you can do at
that moment. Yeah.
Well, how did you cut? Obviously you said New Jersey,
you had some issues. Did you get caught up in like
the the storm and stuff? So funny story about that.
(10:06):
We'd left to go to downtown New York City and go look at all the
cool stuff. Right as the storm happened, I
was getting calls and texts like, hey, you need to take your
tents down, stuff's going bad. But thankfully our tents were
perfectly fine. They were.
We were wedged between like 2 really tall trailers and had all
my tents and stuff set up. So I think the trailers blocked
the wind. So we were like one of the few
(10:28):
teams that nothing happened to our tents.
So that night, Saturday night, we stayed in the trailer, we
slept in the trailer and we weregoing to head back to Oklahoma
in the morning. Well, around Sunday at like 8:00
AM, we're waking up, getting ready to start pack and another
storm came in Sunday morning andall the trailers were gone
because a lot of the guys left Saturday night and all three of
(10:49):
our tents got thrown across the parking lot after we survived
this storm. Sunday morning we're waking up
in the trailer and just here, bam, bam, bam.
And then like, I opened the door, we're running out of the
trailer and my tents are just flying across the parking lot.
Did they get ruined at all? Yeah, yeah, it broke.
All the frames. So we had to get new frames and
(11:09):
fix some of the canopies and do all that stuff.
It sucked. Damn dude.
Everything else is fine. Yeah, just three fancy expensive
tents destroyed. Yeah, I assume like this is all
very budget program. Yeah, yeah, we do everything as.
Cheap as we can, you know we're not there.
Is some canopies puts a hole in your pocket?
(11:30):
Yeah, I mean, the frames like 800 bucks each.
So you have three $800 frames get destroyed.
You don't want to show up to an event with no tents.
So it's not great. That'll make you look bad, Yeah.
So why did you choose to originally go E36 chassis?
And do you think it everyone says it's like the proven
(11:52):
chassis now. Do you agree?
I think it is, yeah. I think E36 is the best car.
Why? What's?
What's your reasoning? For my it's super easy to work
on. You got McPherson press
suspension, the control arms, 2 bolts, 1 coilover and the back.
I have a camber arm and upper arm and that's it with the
trailing arm so I can change parts super fast.
I don't have 5 different controlarms in the back moving around
(12:14):
trying to align that. It's just super easy to work on.
The car drives itself with our FDF.
Like I just sit in there, hold the gas and the car goes where
it wants to go. It's light, easy to work on like
I said, and I think they look really good.
I I would agree with that. But to answer your question
better, when I got an E36 I didn't even know what E36 was.
(12:38):
I started drifting when I was like 14 1/2.
I had a stock Miata and then I had a 350Z for a while and then
I was like man I'm kind of tiredof this.
I want to get something different.
And a buddy of mine had a 325 IE36 sedan for sale in Tulsa for
like $2000. I didn't even know what E36 was
but I just knew that he drifted it sometimes.
So I saw it on marketplace or Craigslist or something and I
(13:00):
bought that car and I drifted itfor like 2 times and then the
stock M50 blew up and at that point I was 1617 and I built ALQ
4 LS and swapped it when I was like 16 years old and I still
didn't even know what E36 was. But now like I just fell into
the E36 and I've been there eversince.
(13:21):
No way. Yeah, like I didn't know.
And E. 36 even tried majority ofother drift cars.
No, I've driven to Miata AT350C and E36.
Holy shit. OK, yeah.
So have you messed with AE46 at all?
Like yeah, I have. A yeah, I have an E46330I sedan,
just stock power that we take out to like the local fun
(13:42):
events. I would like to build an EE46
coupe in the future, especially with the new Big Duck Club.
Like F-82 body kit conversion. I don't know if you've seen
that. Nothing's sweet.
I'd love to do that, but I'm just sticking in this car right
now. I haven't been in any bad
wrecks. The chassis is still really
good. Four years in prospect, the
chassis still straight, still solid, hasn't been on a frame
machine. How the hell?
(14:03):
Are you staying out of wrecks? Dude?
It seems like everyone in their mom's wrecking this year.
I know it's ridiculous. I've just gotten lucky I guess.
I've managed to avoid wrecks or not wreck myself.
So do you drive in the SIM? Yeah.
OK, so you're you're probably practicing dodging and stuff.
Yeah, just by habit. Actually, I think it was our top
(14:25):
8 battle in the seating bracket.Adam Heisman spun in front of me
and you got to watch the FD livestream footage on this.
Adam Heisman spun in front of meand I spun with him so perfect.
I backed the car up. We were like an inch away from
each other. If you watch the live stream,
you'll see us coming into O Z4. I see him spinning.
I like grab a handbrake, back the car up a little bit and I
(14:48):
just spin out perfect with him. I was like, Oh my God, thank
God. Yeah, I got.
I got super lucky. Jesus, dude.
So practicing on the SIM, not wrecking and then avoiding
wrecks, it pays off. It worked the other day.
Do you find any other benefit out of the SIM?
I assume you do just because you're on it all the time.
Yeah, transition timing, lookingfor my zones, knowing when I'm
(15:11):
on and off throttle. Also, like surprisingly, the
gear ratio I ran on the simulator was like 3 miles an
hour different than what we ran on my car this weekend.
On the SIM I was running like 125 and I was running like 122
on my car for this event. Yeah.
So you had it pretty dialed? Yeah, yeah, Super close.
So other than just obviously getting familiar with a track
(15:33):
like, how are you using the SIM to train for each event?
Me and my buddies who are all driving the SIM, we like to
practice different scenarios. So say for example my E brakes
broke, we'll do a couple laps where I use no E brake at all.
We'll do a couple laps where I'm, I try to purposely Dr. the
track full throttle all the time.
Or I'll have my buddy Alex on the SIM do like 10 E brake
(15:57):
entries and I'll just practice what happens on AE brake Chase.
Or I'll have him do 10 clutch kick entries.
That way when I get to the trackand my spotter tells me, hey,
this guy's doing a handbrake pull initiation or this guy's
doing a big clutch kick flick, I've already practiced it.
So I have a little bit more confidence going into the battle
or going into the practice lap. I know what to do.
(16:19):
I know I need to stay on the gasfor two more seconds or left
foot brake and then flick the car a little differently.
So I just use the SIM to get my marks down and practice
different scenarios and a lot ofit translates.
I've noticed myself obviously not at the level you are, but
what's What Car specifically areyou using that seem to be
(16:40):
identical to your car or do you have one built?
So my buddy Alex, again, who I practice with on the SIM, he's
actually built my car in the simulator and it's really close.
But another car I like to use are the VDC cars.
I'll use the VDC Corvette. It actually drives a lot like my
E46 or my E36. Yeah, and the VDCF 22 drive a
(17:01):
lot like my car. I would have never guessed that.
Yeah the BDC E36 is turbo and has a ton of boost lag so I
don't drive it on the SIM, but the other, the Corvette and the
F22 are really close to my actual car.
OK, now what are you, what are you doing?
Like what cars are you using? If you're just trying to have
fun, I use the BDC cars on the side.
(17:22):
The what? BDC.
BDC. Yeah, I'll use the BDC cars or
people are probably going to getin crap for it, but we used to
drive the gravy garage cars all the.
Time. No, that's what I started in
originally. You can just run laps all the
time, but they're a little, they're a little lazy.
I've really been liking the in style cars more I.
Haven't tried those yet. Oh.
Dude, yeah, you got to if you well, do you like lack of?
(17:47):
I've didn't used to but now after driving the SIM trying the
in style cars, lack of front grip is like it feels so much
better. I don't know, I've never
understood it until now, but youhear Donofa say it all the time.
Like he did that one video with Donuts on the front and just
(18:07):
like absolutely proved you don'tneed front grip.
Just crazy. I don't think you do well.
I mean, obviously you want a little bit of grip, but for me,
I've been drifting almost 11 years now and in my 11 years
I've understeered like one time.Really.
Yeah, all my buddies, they'll belike, oh, my car doesn't have
enough front grip. I'm like, what are you doing?
I think a lot of the guys that struggle with not having enough
(18:28):
front grip are the guys that drive with the front end too
much. You need to be steering and
driving with your pedals. And I think if you do that,
you'll have way less issues withundersteer steering with the
pedals, with throttle and brake control, Yeah.
So I was going to say like explain that a little bit more
in depth because people say thatall the time, but I know there's
people out there viewing that like they don't understand the
(18:51):
lingo quite yet, so they don't really know what you mean.
So and drifting right, we use a lot of the the gas and the brake
to steer the car more than physical steering inputs on the
steering wheel. So if you're running a shallow
line, you can either turn in to gain more angle or you could
give it more gas, clutch kick orsomething.
Overspin the back tires and gainangle in the car during a
(19:14):
transition, instead of just yanking the wheel, you could
lift for a second, let the back end grab for a little bit, then
you start to give the steering wheel input, get back on the gas
and help your transition. A lot of my line, a lot of my in
car footage, if you watch it, I don't do too much on the
steering wheel. Sometimes you have to in the
chase, you'll saw at the wheel alittle bit.
You try to avoid it. But if you can find a way to
(19:37):
steer your car with the pedals just being full committed on the
throttle and on your braking zones to like roll the front of
the car over and load the suspension up, it'll change the
way the car moves and transitions.
So it's hard to describe it. You kind of just have to feel
it. I know on some of like the seto
tracks I can plan my transitionsjust with wheel speed and just
(19:59):
barely move the wheel. Let the car do it at once and
like clutch kick and the car will just snap over.
So you drive more floaty than anything is what you're saying?
Yeah, I tried to. I think a lot of the guys that
struggle fighting the wheel, turning and sawing at the wheel
as you would call it. I tend to drive, especially now
being on the SIM more, more aggressively, so I'm I'm
(20:21):
flicking the wheel harder and like doing more of that because
my personal Z is very twitchy upfront.
So like you said, you can just let go of the wheel and it
steers itself. And I got so used to that.
But I do genuinely enjoy the theaspect of driving when you're
really being aggressive with thefront end, but still not having
(20:42):
that grip upfront because again,you don't really even need it in
that that moment I would think too.
So I mean, I do that. I do that too, like if I want to
transition faster you'll load the front wheel up, or even like
when I'm coming out of a turn I'll angle up with more angle
and then flick the wheel get on the gas real fast to rotate the
(21:02):
car even faster. So I mean you do steer with a
steering wheel, but your pedal inputs play a lot to do with it,
or they have a lot to do with itin my opinion.
Well, cool. Well, other than that, we can
jump off that train as far as FTgoes.
And this year they've they've been making some changes.
I've been talking with people onthe podcast about it.
What is your perspective on someof the things they've done, not
(21:24):
just at this track, but just theentirety of the year?
I think that some of the changeshave been good.
I'm not a big fan of the seatingbracket, but I liked qualifying
personally because I've always been pretty good in the lead, so
I could put down some good leadsand qualify pretty good.
And it was less stressful because if we qualified on one
day, we knew we were in the showtomorrow.
(21:45):
We had a whole day to relax versus now in seeding, like you
can get knocked out first battleand you're done.
If you fall in that criteria, you're just done and that's it
adds a lot of stress to me and the team.
That's something we don't want to deal with.
I liked qualifying, but it is what it is and we try to do our
best. Thankfully, we did pretty well
in seeding the other night. I do like the changes they made
(22:06):
to this track. We were here in 2022 and that's
when it was tighter. I liked that they made it wider.
It allows for more speed and a little smoother line going into
O Z3. Yeah, it looked.
Horrible with the shallow like the narrow.
Track it was you had to like letthe brake and kind of bobble a
little bit O Z4 last year with the the tire wall at the very
(22:27):
end and the way the arch was. It was kind of scary because you
would whenever you would fill the zone up, the back of your
car would come really close to the tire wall And now that they
chopped it this way, it's a lot safer and you can have a little
bit more confidence going into it.
I think I like that they did that plus the bank less likely
to D bead and just run up the bank and do some crazy stuff.
(22:51):
So I do like that they change that.
Well, how do you like the judging though?
Because that's obviously changed.
Like that's one of been one of the biggest that I've noticed
having Reese on the panel, I feel like has added the genuine
style of drifting to the judgement.
Do you agree or do you have a perspective on that?
I. Definitely agree.
I mean, I don't know if you watched the competition last
(23:14):
night, but Reese said some funnystuff that.
They're Oh yeah. That we we thought was funny.
No, but Reese is. I mean, he's a real dude.
You know, he's he knows what goes on in the drift community
and he knows what real driving, good driving should look like.
So I think he was a good addition for sure.
But some of the some of the judging is weird.
But I'm not a judge, so I'm not going to really what.
(23:36):
Aspects of it have you found? Weird.
I mean, I think there's been some calls that are
questionable, but I haven't seeneverything.
So I. Don't have to name like a
specific call, but like what is it the way they do?
Like focusing on lead too much or chase or like what it?
What do you mean? I mean, it seems like some years
they'll focus on proximity and more than line, Maybe one year
(23:58):
they'll focus on line more than proximity.
So it's just kind of hard to understand exactly what's going
on. But I just go out there and try
to lay down the best run that I possibly can.
And the judges are going to do what the judges are going to do.
I would not want to be a judge. I think that's probably one of
the hardest jobs out here. Do you think that hinders you at
all flying under the radar more just trying to keep it as simple
(24:23):
as Paul? I know we like to say keep it
simple, but here you kind of can't.
I think it does, yeah, because this is just what I believe.
But like the last few years, it seems like anytime I would go
out for a run, they would talk about the other guy.
Like I just never did anything cool enough.
I don't know. But this event was actually a
pretty good change of events because the judges liked the way
(24:43):
I was driving. I even had Reese even came up to
me and was like hey man, good job driving.
Sorry your car broke and that was really cool.
So this event, they posted like 2 of my runs on the FD page,
which that's I think that's really cool.
So I got a little bit of recognition this event and I
really do appreciate it. So that made me happy.
No, maybe you got to start driving more aggressive then.
Yeah, we got to give up the floaty lifestyle.
(25:04):
Yeah, Yeah. Well.
Actually, Josh Love was here andhe was helping me as kind of
like my driving coach for this event and he helped me a lot in
the Chase being more be more aggressive and he fixed a lot of
the bad habits that I've been developing over the last few
years. And I think it really shined
this event. I was more aggressive in the
Chase and it showed. I think if you go back and look
(25:25):
at my driving record, I can always lay down a pretty good
lead. But I've always struggled with
the Chase and I'll be the first person to admit that I'm I'm not
the world's best Chase driver. It's something I'm practicing
all the time. I want to get better and I know
it's one of my weakest points, so I'm trying to do really good
on that. Josh came and helped and I think
it showed in the seating bracket.
What do you think is holding youback on the chases?
(25:46):
Man, I think it comes down to the fact that I built the car
and I work on it and I have to fix it all the time.
And I'm not rich. So it's like, man, if I wrecked
my car, it's like, am I going tobe able to put it back together?
Am I going to make the next event?
And I tell myself that doesn't matter.
But I think psychologically, like deep down in the back of my
mind, it matters, you know? I mean, obviously it matters.
(26:06):
It definitely matters. I'm trying to break out that
but. Do you think that obviously
holding yourself back like that,there's a lot of guys,
especially in the pro spec levelthat are in the same exact boat
as you. They're all crunching numbers
just to make it and like, and they can't afford to do that and
they're working on their car themselves, but they might still
risk it. You have to.
(26:27):
Like how? Like how do you balance that?
I can't tell you because I haven't been very good at
balancing that, but this event with the help with Josh, I feel
like I got a lot better at balancing that.
You're just going to have to take the risks.
It's part of the drifting because if you don't, you're
never going to put on a crazy chase run.
You're never going to impress the judges.
You're never going to throw it on someone's door.
And that's just something that Iam trying to break because I
(26:49):
have years of bad muscle memory telling myself not to do that.
And I'm truly trying to break that and just risk it.
I mean, we have to risk it if wewant to do good.
It's really as simple as that. Then what's the biggest thing
that holds you back? Is it that or is like what?
I think it's. I I just to preface, like seeing
from the outside, I've seen whatyou've done for a few years and
(27:12):
coming from obviously pro am up to now, you're a hell of a
driver and you're very consistent.
It just there lacks the aggression in your in your skill
level or not skill level, but you're driving.
That would not just Dinofa is a great example always because he
always prioritized the show rather than the championship.
(27:34):
And like you can hear in podcasts and stuff that he's
done that, you know, the last round he did what he was
supposed to, but he didn't like it.
Yeah, I remember that. So, like, I don't.
Do you think you'll regret it ifyou continue to do this?
I think I will, yeah. Yeah, I think I will.
And I'm really trying to change that.
I tried to this event going intoit, I thought about it a lot.
(27:55):
I'm like, OK, I'm going to have to come out swinging.
Like if I wrecked the car, I wrecked the car.
If I hit the guy in front of me,I hit him like I well at.
Least we didn't have K rails on turn one, yeah?
Thank God, thank Jesus. I never went off track,
thankfully, but if I did, that would have been a problem.
So I know it's an issue and that's something I need to work
on and I'm really trying to breakthrough that mental barrier
that I've developed. Oh good.
(28:18):
I hope it works out. I wish I had a better
opportunity to do that this event, but I got knocked out
with a bad alternator. So hopefully going into Utah
I'll be able to channel that aggressiveness and really put on
some really good Chase runs, some solid lead, lead lead laps
as well. Well.
You're going to need to for thattrack.
I'm. Going to have to, yeah.
That's is that like that From the camera perspective it looks
(28:41):
so. Fast.
It's super. Fast.
Is that one of the, like, sketchiest tracks?
It can't be because there's so much runoff.
I. Think it is?
Yeah, because you can't see muchgoing into the first zone.
You can't see it. It's not like Atlanta where you
come downhill, which is fast, but you can still see your
zones. And Utah, you're doing like 100
(29:01):
plus on the run up. You flick the car and it's not
perfectly flat. There's kind of like a a little
spot on the road where it comes up.
So you can't really see the zoneuntil you're 100 mile an hour
flicking it sideways. You can't see it until then.
And then the zones are only so wide and you're going so fast on
the edge of the track. It's like one small error in
(29:23):
your steering wheel input and you're going to be off the
track. And by then you're in the sand
and it's game over. So the margin of error for Utah
is pretty small. God fuck that.
Then you just get lost in the smoke as soon as you get to the
last zone. So there's so much smoke output
because we're all in the throttle all the time.
That's happened to me a few times where I get stuck too far
back in the pocket and you can'tsee anything.
(29:44):
Like you just got to get out of the pocket as soon as you can
and hope you're in the right spot.
So you really need to make sure you're in the pocket in the
correct position in Utah becauseyou will get smoked out and it's
like a 5 second turn where you're just yeah, so you just
got to hope you're in the right spot.
Oh, that's crazy. Or do you have like a a
different game plan or like obviously the stuff we just
(30:06):
talked about, but are you going into that event with a different
setup or like just different plan entirely?
Are you bringing anyone different to help or?
So the setup is probably going to be the same.
I don't want to change too much on the car.
If anything, we might put a little bit more grip in it and
drive it a little bit more aggressively.
But I think most of the change is going to be mental, mentally,
(30:28):
just taking the risks I need to take and trusting myself,
trusting the car. Then hopefully Josh can come and
help us again. The rest of my team come and
help. That way if something does
happen, we have our FDF spare parts, we have our spare BC
coilovers, we can put the car back together.
So I'm just going to go into that event trusting myself,
trusting the car, trusting my team, and whatever happens,
(30:51):
happens. But I I think with a lot of SIM
practice and changing my mindseta little bit, Utah should be
really good. Just make yourself door the car
every time in the same. Man it, if I can do that every
time, I would. Yeah.
Yeah, that'd be ideal. That's awesome, dude.
Well, is there anything, any other events that you're doing?
I know you do the the togue events up in Utah, right?
(31:13):
No, it's in Utah. No, it's in Arkansas.
Arkansas, Yeah, so. We do the Drift N.W.A events
with Jeff Groff up in Eureka Springs, AR Total blast.
I love those events. And then we also compete in
Oklahoma full lock drift. So my buddy Alex is actually
competing in my old sedan. My sedan is the car that I won
two pro licenses in. We just rebuilt that car with
(31:33):
the help of our sponsors and he's competing in the Oklahoma
series. I actually judged the last
Oklahoma competition with our good buddy Casey Cole and Robert
Thorne and all those guys. That was a lot of fun.
How's it being on the other sideof the stick?
Man, it's it's easy to see all the errors that we make as
drivers. Yeah, it's like that looks a
little weird, but if I was in the car, it might not be that
(31:54):
big of a deal. So we do the drift N.W.A events
as much as we can. We do Oklahoma full lock drift
and then we also do Holly LS Fest.
So I go to Holly LS Fest in Texas and Bowling Green, KY.
We actually just had LS Fest nottoo long ago and got second
place against our good buddy Jake Weiss.
So you've interviewed before? I believe Jake.
(32:15):
Jake always takes me out, man. He's beat me like 3 times in a
row. But every time me and Jake
battle, it's it's a great battle.
I trust him, he trusts me. And yeah, he's a great driver.
That's awesome. Well, cool.
What do you what's your perspective on the togue event
that you go to versus Drift Appalachia?
I don't know. I've never been to Drift
(32:35):
Appalachia. Well, just from the outsider
perspective. I think they both are really
cool. I think the Drift Appalachia Rd.
is probably a little bigger, butI think the road we drive on in
Arkansas is a lot tighter as well.
I would love to do so. Sketchy.
It is sketchy man. There's just one video I have of
me throwing my car into one of the zones and my front bumper is
hanging off the road and my backbumper is hanging off the road
(32:57):
like the road is as wide as my car.
Because it's like a service Rd. that this church built down this
mountain in Arkansas to like these different church exhibit
things. So it's, it's not like a full 2
lane Rd. Why?
It's pretty sketchy. But when you get it just right,
it's it's a blast. It's a lot of fun.
And then the Drift Appalachia events, they look like a blast.
(33:18):
I would love to go to one of those as well.
They're almost they're they're very structured.
I don't know how the yalls are, but I mean it's to the T safety
is the biggest priority. But in like it, I really applaud
them for the way that they run that event and I hope that
y'all's kind of gets to that level too, that road just.
(33:40):
I mean. It's.
I could not I. Just go.
I just I've been fortunate to drive there.
Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, but yeah, I hope it takes
off like that too, man, because it's like 3 hours from my house
so it's super close. Everyone down there is super
nice. They've they've taken me like a
good friend and the vibes are just really cool there like all
the guys there driving's amazingand you have to push yourself 10
(34:02):
out of 10 or you're flying off the road so.
You're ballsy for taking a comp car it.
Was the only one that was still running.
Oh no, I. Didn't have any other options,
it was my only car running so I've taken it like 3 times.
Oh. Jesus, I'll have to find the
video of me throwing it sidewaysand front bumpers off the edge,
back bumpers off the edge. But it was perfect when you get
it. Well, the last question I want
(34:24):
to ask you is, going into next season, if you had the sponsors
on board with all the budget to do the proper build you want,
what would it be? It would probably be an E46
coupe with the new big duck clubconversion kit.
I think it looks awesome and youstill have the benefits of the
trailing arm suspension. The simplicity of an E46.
(34:45):
Not the F22 E 8090 or whatever that stuff is.
I don't want all those control arms.
That's probably what I would do E46 coupe, big duck club kit and
that's that would be my car. What motor platform?
Supercharged LS or if I had the money, grow up super high, Super
high compression NALS. Hell yeah I would like to do
(35:05):
that. Just a super snappy high
horsepower NALS. That'd be cool.
Yeah, less, less, less issues, less belts, pulleys, just easier
to work on, less complex. That's what I would like to do.
Yeah, something that'll take youa day to fix when you get back.
Yeah, maybe a little bit more now, but whatever.
Well, cool, man. Well, do you want to shout out
(35:26):
any sponsors or shout yourself out Instagram?
Don't know. Yeah, so my Instagram is Jack
under Score, Davis under Score. Sponsors are going to be D
Twerks, Holly Performance, FDFBCRacing, Finish Line Factory,
American Forest Induction, Superchargers and many more that
all support me and I appreciate each and every one of them
because for a small team like me, I don't have sponsors to
(35:48):
help out. We can't do it all.
So I really appreciate all the companies and people that
support me. They've got me this far and I am
trying to do my best to make everyone happy and put on some
really good driving so. Sick man.
Well, I appreciate you making the time.
Thank you. I appreciate it.
I know we got almost blown away so we had to take a minute, but.
Yeah, that was bad, Yeah. Anyways, sorry about this
(36:09):
weekend, but go get them in Utah.
Yeah, we will. Absolutely.
Do thank you man, I appreciate it.
Absolutely. What another great episode this
week. Then obviously if you made it
this far, you're one of the Ogs of the podcast or maybe you're a
new one. So thank you for sticking around
this long. If you did enjoy or learn
anything new out of the episode,I just ask that you consider
(36:30):
subscribing and turning on the bell notifications.
But other than that, don't forget we do have merch on the
site. Circle of drift.co.
No bitch, can't catch, no feelings.
I've been taking long flights from the Ibiza.
Get home, run. I'm a ball like Jeter.
I just want 444 then I leave. I'm a young pop star called a
boy. Justin Bieber got a little
money. If you want a teacher whole life
a movie, you can watch it in theater.
Why did you choose to originallygo E36 chassis?
Everyone says it's like the proven chassis now.
I think it is, yeah. I think E36 is the best car.
You have probably made it out the most unscathed.
Seems to be running really well.It was until top 32 yesterday.
Yeah, last event my shift knob fell off.
I laid down it's. That bad though?
(00:20):
Come on. I laid a killer lead down in New
Jersey and then on my chase run I snapped the shift knob off of
the shift handle. Oh yeah, Jack Davis comes in
shallow on that first initiation.
Jack Davis, Jack Davis, Jack Davis.
Jack Davis initiates in that which works BMW, the E36 goes
Jack. Oh no, we are hearing that Jack
(00:46):
Davis, he is going to be adns tonot start.
The car is dead on the line. He will have to retire until
Alaska will get handed the victory.
I've been drifting almost 11 years now and in my 11 years
I've understeered like one time.I think a lot of the guys that
struggle with not having enough front grip are the guys that
drive with the front end too much.
(01:06):
Practicing on the SIM, not wrecking and then avoiding
wrecks. It pays off.
Surprisingly. The gear ratio I ran on the
simulator was like 3 miles an hour different than what we ran
on my car this weekend. What is your perspective on some
of the things they've done, not just at this track, but just the
entirety of the year? I'm not a big fan of the seating
bracket because I've always beenpretty good in the lead, so I
could put down some good leads and qualify pretty good.
(01:28):
Do you think that hinders you atall flying under the radar more?
I think it does, yeah. This is just what I believe.
But like the last few years, it seems like anytime I would go
out for a run they would talk about the other guy.
Like I just. Never did anything cool enough.
I don't know. I think if you go back and look
at my driving, I can always lay down a pretty good lead, but
I've always struggled with the chase and I'll be the first
(01:48):
person to admit that. Do you think you'll regret it if
you continue to do this? Yeah, I think I will, and I'm
really trying to change that. You're just going to have to
take the risks. It's part of the drifting,
because if you don't, you're never going to put on a crazy
chase run, You're never going toimpress the judges.
You're never going to throw it on someone's door.
And that's just something that Iam trying to break because I
have years of bad muscle memory telling myself not to do that
(02:10):
and just risk it. I mean, we have to risk it if we
want to do good. Welcome back to the Circle of
Drift podcast. Thank you again for stopping in
every single week for a brand new episode.
(02:30):
And of course, this show is presented by SIM HQ where you
can always save 5% off on your next upgrade using code Circle
of Drift. And if you have no idea what I'm
talking about, my name is Dawson.
And here in the Circle of Drift,we interview some of the most
interesting personalities withinthe industry to provide you with
some of the best info and opinions possible to help you
get into drifting. So if you do find any value out
(02:52):
of this or learn anything, all Iask is that you consider
subscribing and hitting the bellnotification so you're always up
with every single episode. But again, we are back at FD in
Saint Louis to hear from Jack Davis, a prospec driver in
Formula Drift that has been driving for quite a while, but
more recently into prospec in the FD world.
(03:12):
So without further ado, let's goahead and get in the episode.
Well, here we are again with another episode at FD here in
Saint Louis. We've got Jack Davis new face to
the channel, so give it a littlerundown on yourself to anyone
that doesn't know you or is probably just in your car or
anything like that. OK, this is my fourth year and
Formula drift pro spec I drive ALS swapped, supercharged LS
(03:35):
swapped BMW E36 I I'm from Oklahoma.
I used to drift in Oklahoma, full log drift, Lone Star drift
a lot in the last four years we've been in pro spec, it's
been a it's been a really fun time.
I've learned a lot, car has advanced, I've advanced and
we're just here to have fun, puton a show for the crowd and put
down some killer laps. Oh yeah dude, you mentioned a
(03:56):
supercharger. Yep, I got to ask, why put an
oven on your motor? Especially making that much fun?
It's not a PD. Blower.
It's an American forced induction.
Cool. Supercharger, so that paired
with my Treadstone Performance intercooler, my Iet's don't get
too hot. Now with my newer blower, it's a
94mm. After two or three runs I'm
probably seeing like 140 IAT. So it's not that hot compared to
(04:20):
like a Magnuson or something like that.
I have a pretty big intercooler.I don't have that many issues.
I know a lot of the PD guy, PD blower guys do, but with my
blower it's so efficient, I don't really have to deal with
all that. That's cool.
Yeah. So why did you essentially
choose to go blower over turbo just in general?
Well, the E36 engine Bay is pretty small.
(04:42):
I like turbos. I think turbos are sick.
But when you put the V8 in the E36, there's really not much
room for a turbo. I mean, you can do it, but I
don't want hot pipes running around and burnt plug wires and
stuff all the time. So we chose to go with the
supercharger. So what?
OK. Then what are your, what faults
are you dealing with since you'dprefer the turbo and that's I
assume because of the driveability wise?
(05:04):
I prefer it because I think it'scooler.
OK. But for reliability and ease of
service, the supercharger is theway to go.
An E36. Now if I had a different chassis
with a bigger engine Bay, it might be a little different.
But for my car, my setup, the supercharger is the best fit for
us. What type of servicing are you
having to do on it? Like is there a regular
servicing for that specific supercharger?
(05:25):
Just oil. My blower holds like 3 ounces of
supercharger oil. You want to change it every few
events. And then I mean, it's pretty
hard on the belts, so we got to check.
Make sure the belts are good. You don't want to have a belt
fly off. Make sure your tensioners are
still strong. You don't have any bent pulleys,
bent tensioners, but that's really about it.
So we just change our blower oil, make sure the belt looks
healthy, make sure the tensionerlooks solid and straight in the
(05:45):
spring, still strong, and that'sit.
Well, I will say that you have probably made it out the most
unscathed throughout this year with your car.
It seems to be running really well and.
It was until top 32 yesterday. Yeah, really.
Yeah, what happened? Well, man, this event was it
started out really good on seating car ran great.
I had some great laps. I got fourth place in the
(06:07):
seating bracket and then like mylast lap my E brake calipers
brackets broke. So when I would pull the E brake
the dual caliper brackets were snapped and they were allowing
my calipers to twist and then jam themselves in the rotor.
So after I would let go of the handbrake the wheels would still
be locked. So I did my last two battles and
seating with the E brake messed up.
(06:28):
If you go back and look at my last two chase runs you'll see
me in the chase. The car just snaps the crazy
angle and that's because the E brake was still engaged when I
let go. So we came back yesterday
morning, tried to fix as much stuff as we could.
Nobody had dual caliper bracketsaround here, so we did hope we
could. We didn't get it fixed in time
before top 32, so we had to callour five minute.
(06:51):
We managed to like patch it backtogether.
OK. I mean, it wasn't great.
Yeah, it wasn't great, but it should have worked.
Just like Weld it back together or something.
Like that, kind of. We moved some lines around and
tried to make it work with the stock calipers on an inline
setup, but we didn't have the right fittings, we didn't have
the right lines and it was just rushed.
So we pull up for our top 32 battle against Cory Tolaska in
(07:12):
my burnout box. I look down and I see low, low
voltage. My alternator wasn't charging
and it was like 11711 five 11/4.And I pull up to the starting
line. They point at us like are you
guys ready to go? And I look down again and it's
at like 10-7. Then the car just turns off.
There's like a safety voltage cut in the ACU and it just died.
(07:34):
So it sucks. Yeah, I mean did good in seating
4th place when in top 32, feeling great driving against
our buddy Corey Tolaska and the car just died and I already used
my 5 minutes trying to fix the Ebrakes.
So that was it. Dude, it sucks.
Oh my God. Well, at least it's that's just
been this round though, right? Like all the other rounds you've
been, you've done pretty fairly well, right?
(07:55):
No, at least from the outside viewer it seems to.
Yeah, last event, top 32, my shift knob fell off.
I laid down. That's not that bad though.
Come on. I laid a killer lead down in New
Jersey in front of my buddy Chris Leonard and then on my
chase run I snapped the shift knob off of the shift handle.
So I went to shift to 3rd and the knob snapped off.
(08:17):
I threw it in the passenger floorboard and the car was just
stuck in second gear and by the time I realized it I was already
being gapped. I just grabbed the shift rod and
smacked it in third gear. I have a video of it on my
Instagram. Man it was so upsetting throwing
my shift knob looking down like well that just happened.
Yeah, in the middle of the run. Yeah, the run was over at that
point. I'll just damn.
(08:38):
How about on limiter whole time?It sucked.
So this is 2 events in a row. I've had some crappy mechanical
failures after feeling super confident and laying down some
killer runs. That sucks that it's all just
minuscule bullshit. Yeah, like a $50 shifter or you
know, $200 alternator that I could have replaced if I'd known
about it, if I didn't use my 5 minutes trying to fix the E
(08:59):
Brig. It's frustrating, but you know,
that's part of it. Things happen.
Does that affect obviously like you're running a program and
stuff, So like does that affect your program at all with little
mistakes that happen and cut youshort in competition?
Like I mean. You ever have to think about
that? It does overall and like if
we're chasing points, but as faras like my program and sponsors
(09:22):
and stuff, I mean it's part of racing, you know, parts fail,
things happen. I'm a pretty small team.
It's just me and my buddies. I'm I'm a full time mechanic
myself. I built the car.
I did everything but wiring and the roll cage.
So I know the car like the back of my hand.
I always work on it, make sure it's up to up to snuff, ready to
go. But you can't predict your
caliper bracket snapping. No.
(09:43):
And you can't predict using your5 minute timeout and then bam,
your alternator goes out. I have a spare alternator.
I kind of replaced it, but it's just one of those things bad
timing and that's. Racing so much you can do at
that moment. Yeah.
Well, how did you cut? Obviously you said New Jersey,
you had some issues. Did you get caught up in like
the the storm and stuff? So funny story about that.
(10:06):
We'd left to go to downtown New York City and go look at all the
cool stuff. Right as the storm happened, I
was getting calls and texts like, hey, you need to take your
tents down, stuff's going bad. But thankfully our tents were
perfectly fine. They were.
We were wedged between like 2 really tall trailers and had all
my tents and stuff set up. So I think the trailers blocked
the wind. So we were like one of the few
(10:28):
teams that nothing happened to our tents.
So that night, Saturday night, we stayed in the trailer, we
slept in the trailer and we weregoing to head back to Oklahoma
in the morning. Well, around Sunday at like 8:00
AM, we're waking up, getting ready to start pack and another
storm came in Sunday morning andall the trailers were gone
because a lot of the guys left Saturday night and all three of
(10:49):
our tents got thrown across the parking lot after we survived
this storm. Sunday morning we're waking up
in the trailer and just here, bam, bam, bam.
And then like, I opened the door, we're running out of the
trailer and my tents are just flying across the parking lot.
Did they get ruined at all? Yeah, yeah, it broke.
All the frames. So we had to get new frames and
(11:09):
fix some of the canopies and do all that stuff.
It sucked. Damn dude.
Everything else is fine. Yeah, just three fancy expensive
tents destroyed. Yeah, I assume like this is all
very budget program. Yeah, yeah, we do everything as.
Cheap as we can, you know we're not there.
Is some canopies puts a hole in your pocket?
(11:30):
Yeah, I mean, the frames like 800 bucks each.
So you have three $800 frames get destroyed.
You don't want to show up to an event with no tents.
So it's not great. That'll make you look bad, Yeah.
So why did you choose to originally go E36 chassis?
And do you think it everyone says it's like the proven
(11:52):
chassis now. Do you agree?
I think it is, yeah. I think E36 is the best car.
Why? What's?
What's your reasoning? For my it's super easy to work
on. You got McPherson press
suspension, the control arms, 2 bolts, 1 coilover and the back.
I have a camber arm and upper arm and that's it with the
trailing arm so I can change parts super fast.
I don't have 5 different controlarms in the back moving around
(12:14):
trying to align that. It's just super easy to work on.
The car drives itself with our FDF.
Like I just sit in there, hold the gas and the car goes where
it wants to go. It's light, easy to work on like
I said, and I think they look really good.
I I would agree with that. But to answer your question
better, when I got an E36 I didn't even know what E36 was.
(12:38):
I started drifting when I was like 14 1/2.
I had a stock Miata and then I had a 350Z for a while and then
I was like man I'm kind of tiredof this.
I want to get something different.
And a buddy of mine had a 325 IE36 sedan for sale in Tulsa for
like $2000. I didn't even know what E36 was
but I just knew that he drifted it sometimes.
So I saw it on marketplace or Craigslist or something and I
(13:00):
bought that car and I drifted itfor like 2 times and then the
stock M50 blew up and at that point I was 1617 and I built ALQ
4 LS and swapped it when I was like 16 years old and I still
didn't even know what E36 was. But now like I just fell into
the E36 and I've been there eversince.
(13:21):
No way. Yeah, like I didn't know.
And E. 36 even tried majority ofother drift cars.
No, I've driven to Miata AT350C and E36.
Holy shit. OK, yeah.
So have you messed with AE46 at all?
Like yeah, I have. A yeah, I have an E46330I sedan,
just stock power that we take out to like the local fun
(13:42):
events. I would like to build an EE46
coupe in the future, especially with the new Big Duck Club.
Like F-82 body kit conversion. I don't know if you've seen
that. Nothing's sweet.
I'd love to do that, but I'm just sticking in this car right
now. I haven't been in any bad
wrecks. The chassis is still really
good. Four years in prospect, the
chassis still straight, still solid, hasn't been on a frame
machine. How the hell?
(14:03):
Are you staying out of wrecks? Dude?
It seems like everyone in their mom's wrecking this year.
I know it's ridiculous. I've just gotten lucky I guess.
I've managed to avoid wrecks or not wreck myself.
So do you drive in the SIM? Yeah.
OK, so you're you're probably practicing dodging and stuff.
Yeah, just by habit. Actually, I think it was our top
(14:25):
8 battle in the seating bracket.Adam Heisman spun in front of me
and you got to watch the FD livestream footage on this.
Adam Heisman spun in front of meand I spun with him so perfect.
I backed the car up. We were like an inch away from
each other. If you watch the live stream,
you'll see us coming into O Z4. I see him spinning.
I like grab a handbrake, back the car up a little bit and I
(14:48):
just spin out perfect with him. I was like, Oh my God, thank
God. Yeah, I got.
I got super lucky. Jesus, dude.
So practicing on the SIM, not wrecking and then avoiding
wrecks, it pays off. It worked the other day.
Do you find any other benefit out of the SIM?
I assume you do just because you're on it all the time.
Yeah, transition timing, lookingfor my zones, knowing when I'm
(15:11):
on and off throttle. Also, like surprisingly, the
gear ratio I ran on the simulator was like 3 miles an
hour different than what we ran on my car this weekend.
On the SIM I was running like 125 and I was running like 122
on my car for this event. Yeah.
So you had it pretty dialed? Yeah, yeah, Super close.
So other than just obviously getting familiar with a track
(15:33):
like, how are you using the SIM to train for each event?
Me and my buddies who are all driving the SIM, we like to
practice different scenarios. So say for example my E brakes
broke, we'll do a couple laps where I use no E brake at all.
We'll do a couple laps where I'm, I try to purposely Dr. the
track full throttle all the time.
Or I'll have my buddy Alex on the SIM do like 10 E brake
(15:57):
entries and I'll just practice what happens on AE brake Chase.
Or I'll have him do 10 clutch kick entries.
That way when I get to the trackand my spotter tells me, hey,
this guy's doing a handbrake pull initiation or this guy's
doing a big clutch kick flick, I've already practiced it.
So I have a little bit more confidence going into the battle
or going into the practice lap. I know what to do.
(16:19):
I know I need to stay on the gasfor two more seconds or left
foot brake and then flick the car a little differently.
So I just use the SIM to get my marks down and practice
different scenarios and a lot ofit translates.
I've noticed myself obviously not at the level you are, but
what's What Car specifically areyou using that seem to be
(16:40):
identical to your car or do you have one built?
So my buddy Alex, again, who I practice with on the SIM, he's
actually built my car in the simulator and it's really close.
But another car I like to use are the VDC cars.
I'll use the VDC Corvette. It actually drives a lot like my
E46 or my E36. Yeah, and the VDCF 22 drive a
(17:01):
lot like my car. I would have never guessed that.
Yeah the BDC E36 is turbo and has a ton of boost lag so I
don't drive it on the SIM, but the other, the Corvette and the
F22 are really close to my actual car.
OK, now what are you, what are you doing?
Like what cars are you using? If you're just trying to have
fun, I use the BDC cars on the side.
(17:22):
The what? BDC.
BDC. Yeah, I'll use the BDC cars or
people are probably going to getin crap for it, but we used to
drive the gravy garage cars all the.
Time. No, that's what I started in
originally. You can just run laps all the
time, but they're a little, they're a little lazy.
I've really been liking the in style cars more I.
Haven't tried those yet. Oh.
Dude, yeah, you got to if you well, do you like lack of?
(17:47):
I've didn't used to but now after driving the SIM trying the
in style cars, lack of front grip is like it feels so much
better. I don't know, I've never
understood it until now, but youhear Donofa say it all the time.
Like he did that one video with Donuts on the front and just
(18:07):
like absolutely proved you don'tneed front grip.
Just crazy. I don't think you do well.
I mean, obviously you want a little bit of grip, but for me,
I've been drifting almost 11 years now and in my 11 years
I've understeered like one time.Really.
Yeah, all my buddies, they'll belike, oh, my car doesn't have
enough front grip. I'm like, what are you doing?
I think a lot of the guys that struggle with not having enough
(18:28):
front grip are the guys that drive with the front end too
much. You need to be steering and
driving with your pedals. And I think if you do that,
you'll have way less issues withundersteer steering with the
pedals, with throttle and brake control, Yeah.
So I was going to say like explain that a little bit more
in depth because people say thatall the time, but I know there's
people out there viewing that like they don't understand the
(18:51):
lingo quite yet, so they don't really know what you mean.
So and drifting right, we use a lot of the the gas and the brake
to steer the car more than physical steering inputs on the
steering wheel. So if you're running a shallow
line, you can either turn in to gain more angle or you could
give it more gas, clutch kick orsomething.
Overspin the back tires and gainangle in the car during a
(19:14):
transition, instead of just yanking the wheel, you could
lift for a second, let the back end grab for a little bit, then
you start to give the steering wheel input, get back on the gas
and help your transition. A lot of my line, a lot of my in
car footage, if you watch it, I don't do too much on the
steering wheel. Sometimes you have to in the
chase, you'll saw at the wheel alittle bit.
You try to avoid it. But if you can find a way to
(19:37):
steer your car with the pedals just being full committed on the
throttle and on your braking zones to like roll the front of
the car over and load the suspension up, it'll change the
way the car moves and transitions.
So it's hard to describe it. You kind of just have to feel
it. I know on some of like the seto
tracks I can plan my transitionsjust with wheel speed and just
(19:59):
barely move the wheel. Let the car do it at once and
like clutch kick and the car will just snap over.
So you drive more floaty than anything is what you're saying?
Yeah, I tried to. I think a lot of the guys that
struggle fighting the wheel, turning and sawing at the wheel
as you would call it. I tend to drive, especially now
being on the SIM more, more aggressively, so I'm I'm
(20:21):
flicking the wheel harder and like doing more of that because
my personal Z is very twitchy upfront.
So like you said, you can just let go of the wheel and it
steers itself. And I got so used to that.
But I do genuinely enjoy the theaspect of driving when you're
really being aggressive with thefront end, but still not having
(20:42):
that grip upfront because again,you don't really even need it in
that that moment I would think too.
So I mean, I do that. I do that too, like if I want to
transition faster you'll load the front wheel up, or even like
when I'm coming out of a turn I'll angle up with more angle
and then flick the wheel get on the gas real fast to rotate the
(21:02):
car even faster. So I mean you do steer with a
steering wheel, but your pedal inputs play a lot to do with it,
or they have a lot to do with itin my opinion.
Well, cool. Well, other than that, we can
jump off that train as far as FTgoes.
And this year they've they've been making some changes.
I've been talking with people onthe podcast about it.
What is your perspective on someof the things they've done, not
(21:24):
just at this track, but just theentirety of the year?
I think that some of the changeshave been good.
I'm not a big fan of the seatingbracket, but I liked qualifying
personally because I've always been pretty good in the lead, so
I could put down some good leadsand qualify pretty good.
And it was less stressful because if we qualified on one
day, we knew we were in the showtomorrow.
(21:45):
We had a whole day to relax versus now in seeding, like you
can get knocked out first battleand you're done.
If you fall in that criteria, you're just done and that's it
adds a lot of stress to me and the team.
That's something we don't want to deal with.
I liked qualifying, but it is what it is and we try to do our
best. Thankfully, we did pretty well
in seeding the other night. I do like the changes they made
(22:06):
to this track. We were here in 2022 and that's
when it was tighter. I liked that they made it wider.
It allows for more speed and a little smoother line going into
O Z3. Yeah, it looked.
Horrible with the shallow like the narrow.
Track it was you had to like letthe brake and kind of bobble a
little bit O Z4 last year with the the tire wall at the very
(22:27):
end and the way the arch was. It was kind of scary because you
would whenever you would fill the zone up, the back of your
car would come really close to the tire wall And now that they
chopped it this way, it's a lot safer and you can have a little
bit more confidence going into it.
I think I like that they did that plus the bank less likely
to D bead and just run up the bank and do some crazy stuff.
(22:51):
So I do like that they change that.
Well, how do you like the judging though?
Because that's obviously changed.
Like that's one of been one of the biggest that I've noticed
having Reese on the panel, I feel like has added the genuine
style of drifting to the judgement.
Do you agree or do you have a perspective on that?
I. Definitely agree.
I mean, I don't know if you watched the competition last
(23:14):
night, but Reese said some funnystuff that.
They're Oh yeah. That we we thought was funny.
No, but Reese is. I mean, he's a real dude.
You know, he's he knows what goes on in the drift community
and he knows what real driving, good driving should look like.
So I think he was a good addition for sure.
But some of the some of the judging is weird.
But I'm not a judge, so I'm not going to really what.
(23:36):
Aspects of it have you found? Weird.
I mean, I think there's been some calls that are
questionable, but I haven't seeneverything.
So I. Don't have to name like a
specific call, but like what is it the way they do?
Like focusing on lead too much or chase or like what it?
What do you mean? I mean, it seems like some years
they'll focus on proximity and more than line, Maybe one year
(23:58):
they'll focus on line more than proximity.
So it's just kind of hard to understand exactly what's going
on. But I just go out there and try
to lay down the best run that I possibly can.
And the judges are going to do what the judges are going to do.
I would not want to be a judge. I think that's probably one of
the hardest jobs out here. Do you think that hinders you at
all flying under the radar more just trying to keep it as simple
(24:23):
as Paul? I know we like to say keep it
simple, but here you kind of can't.
I think it does, yeah, because this is just what I believe.
But like the last few years, it seems like anytime I would go
out for a run, they would talk about the other guy.
Like I just never did anything cool enough.
I don't know. But this event was actually a
pretty good change of events because the judges liked the way
(24:43):
I was driving. I even had Reese even came up to
me and was like hey man, good job driving.
Sorry your car broke and that was really cool.
So this event, they posted like 2 of my runs on the FD page,
which that's I think that's really cool.
So I got a little bit of recognition this event and I
really do appreciate it. So that made me happy.
No, maybe you got to start driving more aggressive then.
Yeah, we got to give up the floaty lifestyle.
(25:04):
Yeah, Yeah. Well.
Actually, Josh Love was here andhe was helping me as kind of
like my driving coach for this event and he helped me a lot in
the Chase being more be more aggressive and he fixed a lot of
the bad habits that I've been developing over the last few
years. And I think it really shined
this event. I was more aggressive in the
Chase and it showed. I think if you go back and look
(25:25):
at my driving record, I can always lay down a pretty good
lead. But I've always struggled with
the Chase and I'll be the first person to admit that I'm I'm not
the world's best Chase driver. It's something I'm practicing
all the time. I want to get better and I know
it's one of my weakest points, so I'm trying to do really good
on that. Josh came and helped and I think
it showed in the seating bracket.
What do you think is holding youback on the chases?
(25:46):
Man, I think it comes down to the fact that I built the car
and I work on it and I have to fix it all the time.
And I'm not rich. So it's like, man, if I wrecked
my car, it's like, am I going tobe able to put it back together?
Am I going to make the next event?
And I tell myself that doesn't matter.
But I think psychologically, like deep down in the back of my
mind, it matters, you know? I mean, obviously it matters.
(26:06):
It definitely matters. I'm trying to break out that
but. Do you think that obviously
holding yourself back like that,there's a lot of guys,
especially in the pro spec levelthat are in the same exact boat
as you. They're all crunching numbers
just to make it and like, and they can't afford to do that and
they're working on their car themselves, but they might still
risk it. You have to.
(26:27):
Like how? Like how do you balance that?
I can't tell you because I haven't been very good at
balancing that, but this event with the help with Josh, I feel
like I got a lot better at balancing that.
You're just going to have to take the risks.
It's part of the drifting because if you don't, you're
never going to put on a crazy chase run.
You're never going to impress the judges.
You're never going to throw it on someone's door.
And that's just something that Iam trying to break because I
(26:49):
have years of bad muscle memory telling myself not to do that.
And I'm truly trying to break that and just risk it.
I mean, we have to risk it if wewant to do good.
It's really as simple as that. Then what's the biggest thing
that holds you back? Is it that or is like what?
I think it's. I I just to preface, like seeing
from the outside, I've seen whatyou've done for a few years and
(27:12):
coming from obviously pro am up to now, you're a hell of a
driver and you're very consistent.
It just there lacks the aggression in your in your skill
level or not skill level, but you're driving.
That would not just Dinofa is a great example always because he
always prioritized the show rather than the championship.
(27:34):
And like you can hear in podcasts and stuff that he's
done that, you know, the last round he did what he was
supposed to, but he didn't like it.
Yeah, I remember that. So, like, I don't.
Do you think you'll regret it ifyou continue to do this?
I think I will, yeah. Yeah, I think I will.
And I'm really trying to change that.
I tried to this event going intoit, I thought about it a lot.
(27:55):
I'm like, OK, I'm going to have to come out swinging.
Like if I wrecked the car, I wrecked the car.
If I hit the guy in front of me,I hit him like I well at.
Least we didn't have K rails on turn one, yeah?
Thank God, thank Jesus. I never went off track,
thankfully, but if I did, that would have been a problem.
So I know it's an issue and that's something I need to work
on and I'm really trying to breakthrough that mental barrier
that I've developed. Oh good.
(28:18):
I hope it works out. I wish I had a better
opportunity to do that this event, but I got knocked out
with a bad alternator. So hopefully going into Utah
I'll be able to channel that aggressiveness and really put on
some really good Chase runs, some solid lead, lead lead laps
as well. Well.
You're going to need to for thattrack.
I'm. Going to have to, yeah.
That's is that like that From the camera perspective it looks
(28:41):
so. Fast.
It's super. Fast.
Is that one of the, like, sketchiest tracks?
It can't be because there's so much runoff.
I. Think it is?
Yeah, because you can't see muchgoing into the first zone.
You can't see it. It's not like Atlanta where you
come downhill, which is fast, but you can still see your
zones. And Utah, you're doing like 100
(29:01):
plus on the run up. You flick the car and it's not
perfectly flat. There's kind of like a a little
spot on the road where it comes up.
So you can't really see the zoneuntil you're 100 mile an hour
flicking it sideways. You can't see it until then.
And then the zones are only so wide and you're going so fast on
the edge of the track. It's like one small error in
(29:23):
your steering wheel input and you're going to be off the
track. And by then you're in the sand
and it's game over. So the margin of error for Utah
is pretty small. God fuck that.
Then you just get lost in the smoke as soon as you get to the
last zone. So there's so much smoke output
because we're all in the throttle all the time.
That's happened to me a few times where I get stuck too far
back in the pocket and you can'tsee anything.
(29:44):
Like you just got to get out of the pocket as soon as you can
and hope you're in the right spot.
So you really need to make sure you're in the pocket in the
correct position in Utah becauseyou will get smoked out and it's
like a 5 second turn where you're just yeah, so you just
got to hope you're in the right spot.
Oh, that's crazy. Or do you have like a a
different game plan or like obviously the stuff we just
(30:06):
talked about, but are you going into that event with a different
setup or like just different plan entirely?
Are you bringing anyone different to help or?
So the setup is probably going to be the same.
I don't want to change too much on the car.
If anything, we might put a little bit more grip in it and
drive it a little bit more aggressively.
But I think most of the change is going to be mental, mentally,
(30:28):
just taking the risks I need to take and trusting myself,
trusting the car. Then hopefully Josh can come and
help us again. The rest of my team come and
help. That way if something does
happen, we have our FDF spare parts, we have our spare BC
coilovers, we can put the car back together.
So I'm just going to go into that event trusting myself,
trusting the car, trusting my team, and whatever happens,
(30:51):
happens. But I I think with a lot of SIM
practice and changing my mindseta little bit, Utah should be
really good. Just make yourself door the car
every time in the same. Man it, if I can do that every
time, I would. Yeah.
Yeah, that'd be ideal. That's awesome, dude.
Well, is there anything, any other events that you're doing?
I know you do the the togue events up in Utah, right?
(31:13):
No, it's in Utah. No, it's in Arkansas.
Arkansas, Yeah, so. We do the Drift N.W.A events
with Jeff Groff up in Eureka Springs, AR Total blast.
I love those events. And then we also compete in
Oklahoma full lock drift. So my buddy Alex is actually
competing in my old sedan. My sedan is the car that I won
two pro licenses in. We just rebuilt that car with
(31:33):
the help of our sponsors and he's competing in the Oklahoma
series. I actually judged the last
Oklahoma competition with our good buddy Casey Cole and Robert
Thorne and all those guys. That was a lot of fun.
How's it being on the other sideof the stick?
Man, it's it's easy to see all the errors that we make as
drivers. Yeah, it's like that looks a
little weird, but if I was in the car, it might not be that
(31:54):
big of a deal. So we do the drift N.W.A events
as much as we can. We do Oklahoma full lock drift
and then we also do Holly LS Fest.
So I go to Holly LS Fest in Texas and Bowling Green, KY.
We actually just had LS Fest nottoo long ago and got second
place against our good buddy Jake Weiss.
So you've interviewed before? I believe Jake.
(32:15):
Jake always takes me out, man. He's beat me like 3 times in a
row. But every time me and Jake
battle, it's it's a great battle.
I trust him, he trusts me. And yeah, he's a great driver.
That's awesome. Well, cool.
What do you what's your perspective on the togue event
that you go to versus Drift Appalachia?
I don't know. I've never been to Drift
(32:35):
Appalachia. Well, just from the outsider
perspective. I think they both are really
cool. I think the Drift Appalachia Rd.
is probably a little bigger, butI think the road we drive on in
Arkansas is a lot tighter as well.
I would love to do so. Sketchy.
It is sketchy man. There's just one video I have of
me throwing my car into one of the zones and my front bumper is
hanging off the road and my backbumper is hanging off the road
(32:57):
like the road is as wide as my car.
Because it's like a service Rd. that this church built down this
mountain in Arkansas to like these different church exhibit
things. So it's, it's not like a full 2
lane Rd. Why?
It's pretty sketchy. But when you get it just right,
it's it's a blast. It's a lot of fun.
And then the Drift Appalachia events, they look like a blast.
(33:18):
I would love to go to one of those as well.
They're almost they're they're very structured.
I don't know how the yalls are, but I mean it's to the T safety
is the biggest priority. But in like it, I really applaud
them for the way that they run that event and I hope that
y'all's kind of gets to that level too, that road just.
(33:40):
I mean. It's.
I could not I. Just go.
I just I've been fortunate to drive there.
Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, but yeah, I hope it takes
off like that too, man, because it's like 3 hours from my house
so it's super close. Everyone down there is super
nice. They've they've taken me like a
good friend and the vibes are just really cool there like all
the guys there driving's amazingand you have to push yourself 10
(34:02):
out of 10 or you're flying off the road so.
You're ballsy for taking a comp car it.
Was the only one that was still running.
Oh no, I. Didn't have any other options,
it was my only car running so I've taken it like 3 times.
Oh. Jesus, I'll have to find the
video of me throwing it sidewaysand front bumpers off the edge,
back bumpers off the edge. But it was perfect when you get
it. Well, the last question I want
(34:24):
to ask you is, going into next season, if you had the sponsors
on board with all the budget to do the proper build you want,
what would it be? It would probably be an E46
coupe with the new big duck clubconversion kit.
I think it looks awesome and youstill have the benefits of the
trailing arm suspension. The simplicity of an E46.
(34:45):
Not the F22 E 8090 or whatever that stuff is.
I don't want all those control arms.
That's probably what I would do E46 coupe, big duck club kit and
that's that would be my car. What motor platform?
Supercharged LS or if I had the money, grow up super high, Super
high compression NALS. Hell yeah I would like to do
(35:05):
that. Just a super snappy high
horsepower NALS. That'd be cool.
Yeah, less, less, less issues, less belts, pulleys, just easier
to work on, less complex. That's what I would like to do.
Yeah, something that'll take youa day to fix when you get back.
Yeah, maybe a little bit more now, but whatever.
Well, cool, man. Well, do you want to shout out
(35:26):
any sponsors or shout yourself out Instagram?
Don't know. Yeah, so my Instagram is Jack
under Score, Davis under Score. Sponsors are going to be D
Twerks, Holly Performance, FDFBCRacing, Finish Line Factory,
American Forest Induction, Superchargers and many more that
all support me and I appreciate each and every one of them
because for a small team like me, I don't have sponsors to
(35:48):
help out. We can't do it all.
So I really appreciate all the companies and people that
support me. They've got me this far and I am
trying to do my best to make everyone happy and put on some
really good driving so. Sick man.
Well, I appreciate you making the time.
Thank you. I appreciate it.
I know we got almost blown away so we had to take a minute, but.
Yeah, that was bad, Yeah. Anyways, sorry about this
(36:09):
weekend, but go get them in Utah.
Yeah, we will. Absolutely.
Do thank you man, I appreciate it.
Absolutely. What another great episode this
week. Then obviously if you made it
this far, you're one of the Ogs of the podcast or maybe you're a
new one. So thank you for sticking around
this long. If you did enjoy or learn
anything new out of the episode,I just ask that you consider
(36:30):
subscribing and turning on the bell notifications.
But other than that, don't forget we do have merch on the
site. Circle of drift.co.
No bitch, can't catch, no feelings.
I've been taking long flights from the Ibiza.
Get home, run. I'm a ball like Jeter.
I just want 444 then I leave. I'm a young pop star called a
boy. Justin Bieber got a little
money. If you want a teacher whole life
a movie, you can watch it in theater.
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My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
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Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com