20th August

Its updates time for the team, so this year has been really difficult so far, with Kirsty losing her mother and the pressures that brought, the economic situation affecting everyone and its becoming harder to take time away from work.

But all is not lost - again the team will be travelling to Germany shortly for more IDS events and to hook up with new friends from the series. Bruno and Tom are all scheduled to compete in the JDM Allstars at Wembley soon and will be giving it everything.

Marshall is no in progress building the MnM Engineering / MeisterR S15 - which is sure to be a top level car to rival the builds seen previously from SVA Imports / Driftworks and Japspeed.

David's has now replaced the Sil80 with an S14a, with a 'Cosworth' inspired engine and a TD06 Top Mounted Turbo, this is due to be finished by MnM Engineering in the next few weeks, then up to Greg@Protuner.co.uk for mapping.

3rd July - Pure Carma - Arena Essex   *Marshall WINS**

Arena Essex is a local meet to most of TeamTwisted, with a reputation for being one of the most fun competitions in the UK we hardly ever miss one. Marshall & Starzia took the task of representing the team at what could be called their home track, and promptly qualified well, into the top16.

Progressing through the Top16 he made it all the way to the final, where he despatched the current champion and  2 time winner. taking his crown and winning the prize money :)

We are all very proud of Marshall - TeamTwisted's first Winner of 2010!

26th June 2010 - JDM Allstars - Donnington Alpine Drift

Friday

This was a venue we have been to before, but a track no-one had ever driven! Donnington Park is a world famous race-circuit located in Derbyshire, which for our overseas visitors is in the middle of England.

Friday was a good day for TeamTwisted, with Bruno and Tom scheduled to be driving - Marshall having a break and preparing his car for the next IDS event. The whole of TeamTwisted made the road trip 3 hours north. Some excellent planning saw David, Tom and Marshall all meet up on the M1 motorway (the main traffic artery going up the country), after Tom's transporter had snapped its clutch cable just as he hit major London traffic and promptly gave his gearbox death.

So David, Kate, Marshall, Starzia, Seymour, Tom and Kayla all made it to the PremierInn @ East Midlands Airport and promptly headed to the bar. After a few good beers with some of our Irish friends from Supra Specialist Ireland, Ross from Doristars and Paddy from Speedhunters we welcomed Bruno, Nick and Rob to the hotel! Time for a good steak or 2 and several beers. Eventually we all headed to bed,

For about 2 hours- then some noisy, loud car arrived - it was Kirsty in 'SYRIL'  YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

The whole team were really excited and proud to see that Kirsty and Doug had made it up to the hotel, taking SYRIL on his maiden voyage to a drift event. Having been freshly re-built by MnM Engineering, wearing a new set of Neuton NT5000's he was really looking sexy and sounding awesome.

PS SYRIL is the car, Kirsty is the owner!

Saturday

Glorious sunshine, nice warm weather - fantastic to be living in England which for a nice change was hotter than the Mediterranean. With the sun beating down we were glad that Marshall had brought up the trusty gazebo for Bruno & Tom to use, it was up in no time and the cars unloaded. This proved to be a wise move as with each passing hour the pits hotted up, in readiness for what was to be an amazing event.

Tom's purple S13.4 was back out in competition for the 1st time this year, and he was loving it, with a new Origin Carbon spoiler he looked ready for business.

Bruno's car was again fresh from mapping at Protuner (www.protuner.co.uk) and was looking really strong during the morning practise sessions. The course was one that will go down in UK drift legend, basically it was a section of long disused track that had been resurfaced and ran in a tree lined touge before opening out into a long right hander.

With barriers either side of the track, this provided no room for mistakes and with all the drivers pushing hard, it was no surprise that the mountain of damage started to pile up. No stranger to denting a panel or to in the name of drifting is out Tom, and true to form after pulling of an incredibly high speed run, he caught the last of the barriers as he headed for the final corner. This was captured and is now on Speedhunters here.

3rd June 2010  - International Drift Series - Oschersleben

Thursday

This time out to meet our friends in Germany, at the IDS Series, we didn't have too many issues getting their. David cruised over with Declan Hicks, the 2 were judging for the weekend and so could take a nice run over without the pressures of moving cars, tyres and spares across 5 countries! Declan's wife's Golf TDi was proving a comfortable and frugal machine, hopping of the Norfolk Line Ferry and making out way out through the back of Dunkerque.

Marshall and Starzia debuted the new drift tow and camping machine - Toyota Lucida.  They were on the P&O ferry heading from Dover to Calais a few hours earlier than Declan and myself.  It was great that for the run across from Calais to Oschersleben the weather was sunny and dry, enabling them to make great time.

We eventually caught up with them, just 30km from the circuit and stopped in some services to use the toilets - now here is a question why do you lot have to pay to have a wee? this was something we got caught out on during our first trips, we all had euro notes with us, but none had any coins to pay for the 'service'.

Friday

Waking up in the hotel a little later than planned, we grabbed some breakfast (which I have to say was excellent bread rolls, egs, meats and yoghurts etc) and then headed to the venue.

19th April - JDM Allstars - Manchester

EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC

Friday 4pm

Marshall, Starzia, Nick, Bruno and Myself travelled to Manchester, for the JDM Allstars Round 1. It was set to be a great event with rumours of big names competing in a brand new venue for drifting. We travelled 2.5 Hrs up to Greg's dyno in Redditch to meet Bruno where he was having his car mapped. It was in a long queues and seeing it was going to be some hours we decided to split the team. Marshall & David hit the road  and headed to find the Hotel.

Another 2hrs north saw us in Manchester to meet up with Mark Luney & Chris Arthur of the SATS Motorsport Team where we would be staying for the weekend.

Saturday

Wow it must be the first sunny day of 2010 here in England!!

Excellent news was that both Bruno & Marshall passed the scrutineering OK in the morning, much hard work was done by Bruno, Nick and Rob to achieve an impressive feat for a car that had been finished only at 5am that day, then driven 2 hours straight to the venue.

Marshall & Bruno went on to practise. Bruno had a really good spin into some barriers, and instantly felt more at home in his car. He just cant seem to find his feet when all his panels are straight! During the course of the day both drivers seemed to find their feet and put in some good solid passes, growing in confidence as they learnt the tough track.

Both Marshall & Bruno qualified for  the 2nd Day in 12th and 14th respectively

Out for a Chinese in the evening on Saturday, then early to bed ready for a good attack at the challenging circuit.

Sunday

Both drivers did well and pulled of some good runs, but enough to see them into the top 16 in which was an awesome driver line-up, including Dan Chapman, Mark Luney, Luke Fink, Phil Morrison and Alan McCord.

10th/11th April - IDS - Streets Training & Pro Search

Thursday
Its all gone pear shaped, the cage hasn't arrived, the seats don't fit, the exhaust blows and I have no brakes! I can honestly say I wasn't loving the idea of drifting at this point, anywhere let alone 400 miles away. The good points were that the car ran and I had a fresh stack of Neuton NT5000 Tyres to use at the IDS Pro Search.
 
Enter stage left the guys from Friendly Fabrications who have a workshop 2 doors down from ours. They sort the seats in a jiffy and got me started on the brakes, thankfully my teammate and workshop conspirator Tom arrives in time to help me flush the new brake fluid through and get the hydro handbrake working.
 
A few more tweaks and the exhaust is a lot better - enough for the weekends usage anyway.
 
Thursday Midnight
Bruno & Nick from TeamTwisted arrive after a 2 hour drive down to my place from their north London location, this would be the maiden voyage of Tracey (Bruno's new transit tow vehicle) and so we drove the car straight onto the trailer and left it at the workshop ready to collect in the morning for the short drive to the port.

 
Friday 5am
After the short 20minute drive with a minor detour to the Petrol station to fill up the sil80 with 99ron (£70) and Tracey with Diesel (£75) we rendezvous with more of the TeamTwisted travelling family Marshall, Starzia and Murph at Dover Port to get on the Norfolk Line ferry to Dunkerque. At just £126 for a Van+Trailer+3 adults this was excellent value.

 
I'll be clear on this, I am NOT a sailing man and boats and me don't get on. Luckily this was the smoothest crossing that could ever have been, and even the full on-board breakfast didn't try and make a re-appearance. A little under 2 hours later and we were back on terra-ferma
 

Friday 9am
LPG, who uses LPG? Marshall had borrowed a Volvo 850 Bi-Fuel tow vehicle from Kode Performance and we took the opportunity to fill up his tank at the first fuel station coming out of Dunkerque towards the E40. After causing a traffic jam waiting for a camper van to fill its dual tanks we finally got to the pump to discover we needed a missing adapter. The garage had one we could borrow and all seemed good.
 
Now we learnt a lesson, in France they sometimes ask you to go into the garage to pay for the fuel, then you come out and fill up your tank, going back into the garage to request any change if you didn't use all you thought you would. The problem is with LPG if you take even just the smallest amount of pressure of the fill button, it stops and you have to go into the garage, get your change and get them to reset it again. We spent 23 cents on LPG the first attempt and about 60eur the 2nd.
 
Friday 11am
We continued our drive across the E40 heading towards Brussels and stopped for a while at some services. Starzia cracked out the chocolate cake and sausage rolls and we all enjoyed the sunshine, Bruno got a little energetic and got his mountain bike out of the van for an impromptu street session. After an hour basking in the sun we thought we'd best get back on the road and continue our leisurely meander across Belgium towards Germany.

 
Friday 2.30pm
The call comes from Marshall, he has a bad vibration from the back of his car and we pull over at the next services. The Volvo for some reason is running Nissan S14 wheels, but the tyres have split on the inside of the tyre walls, lucky they didn't blow out. We unloaded the van and tried to fit every pair of wheels we had with us, but our drift spec offsets were too manly for the poorly Volvo and we were stuck. With little choice Marshall, Bruno and myself headed out in Tracey to source 2 new rear tyres. We accosted a nice chap in his yellow seat and with a little gesturing 'Je Voudrais une TYRE SHOP' we managed to find the name of the nearest town that sold tyres (picture me pointing at his car tyre then at the shop he was outside - Tyre/Shop - simples)
 
**This bit of the story is classified, suffice to say Auto5 thank you ;)**
 
Friday 5pm
We fitted the new tyres onto the Volvo and high-tailed it out of Belgium and across Germany, using Google maps to guide us as none of us had a European sat nav and the map we'd bought only went as far as Aachen. We stayed on the E40 to Eupen, then turned south towards the E258, which we kind of followed all the way to Nurburg. We missed a few turnings but always got back on track within a mile or 2. We saw some great scenery and even conversed with some German Chav's! Towards the end of the outbound trip Bruno & Tracey had formed a bond, and Bruno enjoyed taking the smooth line round the clear country roads. Certainly a romance was blossoming between our Tracey from Dagenham and Bruno from Portugal/Brazil.
 
Friday 8pm
We rolled down into the Nurburgring GP Circuit paddock, the IDS Pro Search circuit was a welcome site still basking in sunshine. We decided that the best thing to do was to unload the cars, then head straight to the Hotel (Burgstrube) for a Snitzel and a beer or 2. We met up with Martin and Heidi from the hotel and everyone got booked in and food/beer ordered. A nice end to a long day, spent eating and drinking joined by Moffat (as the Burgstrube is his local) and some of the Marshall's from the ring.
 
Friday Midnight
Me, Bruno, Nick and Murph head back to the house to crash out for the night. Some of us got into bed and almost went to sleep.

 
**To spare blushes another element of this story is classified**

 
Saturday 2.30am
After saying goodnight to Martin & Heidi again..........Myself, Nick and Murph finally get to bed after changing rooms and moving upstairs, a fresh shower just before bed and hey presto full on snoring, sleep talking and farting - the true sign of a bunch of lads sharing a room!
 

Saturday 7.45am
Me Nick and Murph sit down to breakfast in the Hotel bar, we feasted on toast, eggs, warm bread, juice, cereal and yoghurts. They have a really cool toaster that does one side of the bread in the shape of the Nurburgring Circuit :) Joined by Marshall and Starzia we headed down to the track, for what would be my first time drifting on a track bigger than a go-kart circuit and also my first time drifting at any kind of organised day.
 
I signed on and got my race number and the windscreen banner for the series etc and felt a little apprehensive about driving but figured I'd come along way to back out now.
 
Saturday 10am
Bruno and Nick started helping me to prep my car for my first ever drive of it, we found that the front wheels were catching on the front bumper and although the car had been properly aligned, one wheel seemed more forward in the arch than the other. With some careful trimming of the bumper and a switch to 17x9 wheels with a slightly lower offset we were good to go, I warmed the car up, got into my race suit and setup the harness straps. The car was idling lumpy, but we put that down to the poor fuel I had in it when it was mapped and also the poor compressed exhaust that I had replaced the night before.
 
I asked Bruno to jump into the passenger seat, and I was off down the pits towards the track entrance. It felt so good to finally be driving on the circuit, in my own car and for my own fun. I did a slow lap of the circuit to get my bearings and to check the new boost controller was working and also used it to take the protective coating of the new brakes. The handbrake turned out to be awesome, locking wheels at the slightest pull.
 
So going down the hill towards Dunlop curve I went 1st, 2nd 3rd, then dropped it to 2nd just before the corner, dipped the clutch, turned towards the corner and pulled the hydro, once the car was sliding i went to lift the clutch but I didn't give it enough manfoot and the car straightened almost instantly. Bruno had spotted that as soon as I lifted the clutch I had backed off on the throttle - told me to keep it planted next time I wanted to lift the clutch.
 
So round Dunlop driving up towards the Schumacher-s I decided I wouldn't even attempt it LOL. from 4th to 2nd, on the handbrake again I tried to initiate into the tight uphill section and again I didn't keep the throttle on enough. determined to get it I got to the top of the hill, planted foot to floor and basically threw the car up/round the left hander - MY GOD IT WORKED I was drifting, totally sideways, throttle mashed and under some control. I let the wheel go between my hands and gave it a nudge the opposite way and it worked again - I saw the edge of the track looming and so I lifted and the car instantly straightened up. I had done it my first proper drift on a big circuit.

 
I did a few more laps and got very out of shape, tanks slappers and a spin later and I was knackered, sweating buckets and had to come into the pits for a cool down. I never realised drifting could be such hard work.
 
Feedback from Bruno was that I was being weak on the throttle and needed to keep it pinned more, we agreed that in the next session we would split the driving so he could show me what I was doing wrong. That turned out to be a good move as immediately Bruno found the car underpowered and no amount of clutch kicking could maintain 3rd round Dunlop, also the car had developed a nasty misfire in the first session that was more apparent in the 2nd.
 
Saturday 7pm
We headed back to the Burgstrube from the track, to get changed and head back to the circuit for the IDS party. We took a minor detour into the Paddock of the Nordscheifle and saw some really expensive machinery, we just drove round no-one challenged us so we kept driving :)
 
We decided that as the ring was still open we'd take the Volvo 5 up on a lap :) So we headed down past RSRNurburg and Marshall grabbed a ticket. So 5 up in the LPG'd Volvo we attacked the ring with vigour. Well I say vigour but we were quite sedate for the first 5km, as the KM's grew so did our speed.

 
Saturday evening passed without incident as we were keen to bring Martin & Heidi back onside ready for our next trip over. We did spot Joerg from IDS singing with the band at the IDS Party!!!!!!

Sunday Morning 7.45am
Myself, Murph and Nick arrive in the hotel bar for breakfast and to meet Starzia and Marshall to go to the 8am briefing.
 
Sunday Morning 8.30am
Myself, Murph and Nick are still in the hotel bar waiting to meet Starzia and Marshall - we send Heidi up to summon them which seems to have results, Marshall hadn't put his watch forward 1hour so thought he was going to be on time.
 
Sunday 9am
Rush rush rush, we have to untie the gazebo from the cars where we had secured it for the night. Marshall jumped in my car to go off and do some practise laps with Bruno in the passenger seat.

 
Marshalls Car = mobile spare parts
With marshal's car out of action Nick, Bruno and Marshall raided his spare parts sack, in hunting for the cure to the misfire on mine they changed:
1.Plugs
2. Coil packs
3. coil pack wiring loom
4. Throttle Position Sensor
5. ignition module
6. Cas
 
As we changed each component, Marshall and Bruno took the car back out to see if it had improved, only after the CAS did it finally come back to life and have power again but for a short time only. The final culprit was confirmed as the ignition module when we found the new one had melted right through to its circuit board. The heat from the turbo is too much for them and mine needs to be moved for next time.
 
Marshall managed to do his runs for his pro license and even with me in the passenger seat gave it good amounts of death :) and he did well enough for his IDS Pro license!
 
With both cars suffering we decided the sensible choice was to finish our weekend early. This keeps the minimal amount of work to be done to the cars for the next round.
 
watch out TeamTwisted are on Tour :)

21st March 2010 - JDM Allstars Scrutineering Day Silverstone

We spent the past 2 weeks working flat out on re-shelling Tom's PS13 into a clean s13 shell, but at 3am on the 20th we finally gave up and ran out of time. Marshall & Starzia just managed to finish Marshall's S14 at about 3.30 am.  This day was a testing day for all the people taking part in JDM and some valuable seat time in new machinery.

Kirsty and Doug went up together in convoy with some 'southern style' friends, but mishaps on the way with 1 alternator failure and 1 'kerb attack' saw the convoy go from 4 to 3 to 2. We all arrived at a very wet and cold Silverstone, relieved and excited about the day ahead.

Marshall went out and did a couple of laps of the makeshift course, but wiring gremlins saw him have to sit out most of the day.

**Tom managed to finish his car during the day back in Kent and took it to Santa Pod for a shakedown the following day.

KIRSTY's BIRTYHDAY - We couldnt let this day pass without passing our congratulations onto our team mate - so we all sat in the Silverstone cafe and ate the birthday cake that Starzia had brought up for Kirsty.!!!!

March 2010

Time for an Update and its all good news.

The first batch of 17" tyres have arrived from Neuton, Bruno's car made it onto the Dyno@Protuner -but due to a wastegate problem preventing the control of boost couldn't be mapped. Its going back in the next couple of weeks. Dave's Sil80 did 310hp and will go back for a slight tweak after the inlet system has been changes and fuel pressure upped slightly. The boost controller on the Sil80 died at the dyno, so a replacement has been sourced from MnM Engineering.

Bruno's car is now wearing a 3071r Turbo setup bought from Clarkey and we are expecting this to produce approx 420hp with a safe map and a great spread of power. Initial dyno results show its producing 1.4bar at just 3500rpm - should be responsive.

JDM Allstars scrutineering day at Silverstone is fast approaching (20th March) and we all hope to have our cars their to be checked and photographed together. The first trip away to Germany is coming together and is booked for the weekend of the 10/11th April - to the famous Nurburgring! Thanks to Norfolk Line for helping the team!

We are really pleased to be getting such a good reception to our website with views from over 24 countries and an average time on site of over 2:30mins. We hope we are telling everyone what we are all about. If ever anyone wants to come on tour with Twisted just ask :)

January 2010

This is the first entry in the Blog for TeamTwisted, we will try and use this blog to keep you posted with team news, where we are going and where we have been.  There has been a mad rush for all the team to get there cars ready for the JDM Allstars logging day @ Silverstone Circuit on the 20th March. This will be a great shakedown day for the team before our first competitive outing.

Tom Yates has now started prepping his new PS13 shell for late 2010, ready to be fitted with a 500hp V8 sourced from an ASCAR - this is a bit of an experiment because Tom will be using a 4 speed gearbox! The engine/box combination was last seen running the Rockingham circuit at just below 200mph :) Should make for interesting 4th gear initiations :)

David's Sil80 is nearing completion and along with Bruno's new S14a for 2010 will soon be going to Greg Gush @ Protuner in Redditch for a comprehensive remap of the Apexi PowerFC's we both use. Kirsty is not far behind us having just sourced some new seats and is really not far from finishing. RS Bodyworks have done a great job on her car and also painted David's Sil80 in late 2009.

Neuton Tyres have come onboard to help the team for 2010. Demos @ Neo Brothers has been great and we are all really looking forward to working with them promote Neuton's through the year - vist their website www.neobrothers.co.uk for great prices on NT5000 Tyres