Coffman Racing Formula Drift Irwindale 2016 Recap

The Coffman racing team headed to Formula Drift Round 8 at Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale, California for the final round for the 2016 season.  After a trip home between Texas and Irwindale, the car was freshly prepped and ready for competition.  Thursday, Matt was able to get reacquainted with the track and acclimate to the California heat.  A number of impressive practice runs were made during the first night’s practice.  Much like many of the other teams, we were having a hard time making our tires last more than one run.  The Irwindale track is significantly longer than most of the other tracks that we have driven this year.  The team decided to bring the car in for service and change the gearing to help reduce the wheel speed, and hopefully conserve some tires.

On Friday morning the new set up was tested and optimum tire pressures for the new gearing and track temperatures were determined. Matt was making incredibly consistent runs during practice and the team headed into qualifying with confidence.  Matt ranked 9th, which put him up against Juha Rintanen for Top 32.

On Saturday, Matt headed into Top 32.  His lead run gave him the clear advantage over Juha Rintanen.  On Matt’s follow run, he hit the wall, damaging the steering, and was unable to complete the event.  Despite ending the weekend earlier than we hoped, the team was still incredibly proud and confident in the improvements that had been made this season.  The Coffman racing team finished the season 16th overall for the 2016 Formula Drift Pro Standings.