Vegas, NV, was the scene for round 5 of Formula Drift and it lived up to its reputation for being a hot spot for fun, trouble and sin..and don’t forget temperature cause it was friggin hot at 109 degrees. This year has been overshadowed by the quest for speed and grip. The only thing we haven’t changed so far were the shocks. So here we are in the sweltering heat of Nevada, wrenching and sweating to get the car set up early on Thursday.

The Vegas course was a ton of fun. A fast line into a kink then bumper to the wall, you slide out to the next wall. This course can be done 1 of 2 ways, flick at the kink or hold a tight line and e-brake against the wall. The flick was baller, so I went for it. I was starting to get it down on Thursday, but the changes to the car and the challenge of the flick were not proving to be a winning combination. Well, there’s always Friday I thought, so I’ll get the e-brake down. The car was gripping well. The speed and traction were there, I just had to learn how to ride this bull. I’m telling you, the Kenda KR-20s are really grippy. I got good smoke and traction.

Thursday was also the scene of a tragic pop-up tent incident that included an innocent Dodge Viper and Dodge Challenger. We were moving the pit space around and Mark was holding the huge Kenda pop-up tent (RIP) when a gust of wind blew it up and over the fence, where it landed on top of these beautiful cars, scratching them. The Dodge guys were not too happy. I apologized for what had happened but what can you do…it’s nature and I have no control over that. There goes my chances of getting a Dodge Viper for next year’s FD season. Puh, yeah, right! By facilitating the use of my 2 upper control arms, duct-tape and many zip-ties, we got the Kenda Tires pop-up tent standing on its own again.

Friday starts off with the autograph signing and I sat next to Robbie Nishida. He’s an interesting guy; he has an odd sense of humor and a care free attitude. I didn’t expect to get that from him; it was cool. I started practice with a flick entry just to get my feet wet. The next run, I e-brake in a bit too close to the wall and smacked the rear of the car against it. It messed up my line, so I decided to try again. Thursday practice was plagued with crashes and Friday was no exception. After the numerous cleanups, I knew I had only 2 runs, maybe, to get the e-brake down. I decided it might be best to stick with the flick, seeing as that’s all I knew so far.

Qualifying: I’m up for my first run. I do the flick, stick it pretty good. I thought I was in for sure, but the judges gave me a 55. I wasn’t mad, I just had to do better. I was watching the top guys qualify and I was blown away by the entry of Forsberg. He rolls at the end of the wall and flicks hard, then flicks back at the wall, exactly what I was doing, only further to the right and much, much better. I lined up for my second run and just pictured his run as my run. I take off, aim for the wall, flick and ride through the course. Not my best run, it was shaky and offline a bit, but I gave it a shot. They announce top 32 and I’m not in the show. I understood, but I wasn’t happy. People told me my run was better than some that qualified, but I know we (everyone else) cannot see what the judges see, besides, I don’t worry about that stuff anyway. So, again I’m watching my friends battle to get into the top 16.

Saturday was a fun day. Since I wasn’t in the show and my car setup needed some work, I asked if I could use the top area of the gi-normous parking lot to setup a little course and get some suspension tuning on. Brad (aka B-rad), Dave Epifano (aka, the fonz) and I spent about an hour running the same line making adjustments to the shocks, rebound and compression. Towards the end, I was really hammering down with grip and tons of smoke through the course. The car was a ton better.

Saturday was especially special for a few reasons. First, Susan had come out for the event. Since I didn’t qualify, I could spend more time with her. Next was that Kenda had 2 really hot models come out to support the team, handing out stuff, taking pictures and making us look good. The last thing was that Saturday was my birthday. I should have told the judges to give me some qualifying points so I could have been drifting on my birthday instead of watching.

Interesting quotes from the weekend:
“You some sort of GOD D$%N retard?” – Fremont prostitute
“Hot girls are making out, let’s go there”
“That dude has a tail, I’m serious”
“THAT GUY IS THE F%&KING DEVIL”
“Hey Sean, can you check tire pressures, and then go kill yourself”
Why do Asian guys throw shoes? Seriously!?
“People come from miles around to watch him drift; they believe his transitions can cure cancer”……..”he once drifted around a blind man and cured his sight”

I’d like to thank the guys of Tanaka Racing and Sam’s Autoland for helping with trailer storage for the last 2 rounds of FD.

A big thanks for the team: Brad, Sean, Mark, Eugene and Dave for their help at the event.

Monroe, WA – Formula D Round 4 Seattle – Evergreen Speedway

Round 4 of the Formula D championship was definitely one of the longest weekends yet for Team Kenda.  The trailer, now covered in Kenda USA vinyl, made the long trek out to this round thanks to team members, Brad Hettinger, Mark Lenardon, and Jelani Winston.  After arriving in Monroe, we checked into one of the seediest motels this season. Reeking of cigarettes and must, the accommodations were definitely 3^rd world.  After seeing a few other FD competitor tow vehicles in the parking lot, we thought “at least, we weren’t alone”.

Thursday’s practice session began with the team members discussing the changes that should be made to the car. The practice time allowed me to take in the track; all it’s aspects from the size of the oval to the transition into the infield (Power Alley) and the tight right hander to conclude the run, this was definitely one of the more difficult courses I’ve come across so far. As the day progressed, I began to feel more comfortable with the track and started to get the proper line.  By the end of the day, I felt confident that I had a good grasp on this course and was ready for Friday’s qualifying session.

As the sun rose Friday morning, the cooler temperatures of the Pacific Northwest were quite a departure from the oven-like temperatures of the previous two round of the Formula D championship. The morning practice session went pretty routinely, I did have a very slight wall tap on the left front on the last turn of the course resulting in a bent lower front control arm. After a quick run into the pits for an alignment adjustment; Dave Epifano and Eugene Chou prepped a replacement control arm.  After this practice session, we replaced the bent component and did an alignment on the car. It was time to qualify for Top 32.

My first run began really well with an initiation to ride high on the bank and coming into the Power Alley, I definitely felt that I was performing up to par. I transitioned with what I thought was perfect angle; just like in practice, however, the car kept rotating, slid to a stop, and the drift was over.  It was a shame that my first spin on this track was during a qualifying run.  I knew that my second attempt had to be solid to make it into the main event.

The wait for the second qualifying run took a little longer than expected with a competitor ahead dropping a large amount of oil for the majority of the track, including the bank and part of the infield. The track officials spent quite some time cleaning up the oil around the track. Soon, I was lined back up for my second attempt. The second run was supposed to be routine, however on entering the infield, my front tires crossed the oil dry powder on the track and the car straightened up. There would be a point deduction and the chances of making it onto Saturday had become slim.  We overheard that there were a few other drivers that had filed protests about the oil being on the course. I also heard that they were denied so I figured it was best not to stir the pot.

This was the first event of this year where our rookie team was unable to make it into the Top 32 competition on Saturday.  I feel that this is part of the learning process and this taste is something that I do not want to experience again. This is what will push me to drive harder and perform better at the next round.  Eugene Chou, Team Manager, decided that since we were not driving on Saturday it would be a good chance to turn this into something positive. This would be an excellent chance for us to promote our sponsors and of course the driver. I spent my time on Saturday meeting the fans and promoting our sponsors. This is definitely a good feeling when you realize that people are aware we are out there with the big guys, trying to compete on a shoestring budget.

We will definitely be back out at Formula D Round 5 in Las Vegas. I hope to see everyone there!

Video of FD Seattle by Mark Lenardon.  As always, he does a great job.

Dennis Mertzanis vs. Evergreen Speedway from Mark Lenardon on Vimeo.

Awesome video from Mark over at Makeshift Films……..this guys is really killing it in the video world.  Every next video is better than the last.

Dennis Mertzanis. Wall Speedway, NJ. Fist Pump from Mark Lenardon on Vimeo.

And of course the MOST amazing video of the event…even if I only have 1 cameo in it. Whatever, its awesome.

Version Two. Wall Speedway. Formula D from Mark Lenardon on Vimeo.

Great video from the guys over at Konig showcasing me and Deane Karney in the FD series at Wall, NJ.  Enjoy

To explain, FormulaD Vegas is in August……I am guessing that the temps outside will be sweltering seeing as the Thursday practice is from 9pm until 1am……….the writing is on the wall.  Forecast calls for HOT HOT HOT!!!!

Flex-a-lite fans that move 4700CFM, which is 2300CFM more than the last set of fans.  Should be alright now after all the modifications to get it installed.  Also, I did a heater box/misc hoses delete, so the engine bay is cleaned up a bit.

Oil-air cooler is installed because I had to remove the oil-water factory oil cooler, with guard btw.

Oil Cooler sandwich plate for the Nissan 350Z which requires a different filter by the way (PH3950) unless you get the sandwich plate without the thermostat, then you can run the factory filter.  I had the thermostat one, but I gutted the thermostat.

another view of the cooler.  I am very happy with the cooler.  It was a bit pricey piecing it together like I did, but well worth it I think.

The goal is to keep the water temps down in vegas, so we will see how all this works.  bye for now

June 5^th, 2010 – Wall Township, NJ

Formula Drift Round 3 was at the beautiful Wall Township Speedway in New Jersey. My drift weekend officially began on Thursday at the County Line Body Shop run by Gary Gardella’s brother, Richie.  The car had collected a broken windshield the weekend before at East Coast Bash and Gary offered to help me replace it before Round 3 FormulaD. I left Wednesday after work and drove all night to get out to New Jersey to pick up my car.  It was really a pleasure to meet Gary’s dad and believe me when I say that he is a trip.  After speaking with him, you could really understand how proud he was of his sons’ accomplishments.

After loading up the car, we headed out the venue. Our first agenda for the day was to raise the suspension on the car a bit due to the roughness of the track surface and the transition from the banking to the infield. I have heard horror stories and losing my car to a rough track was not an option. After playing with alignment settings, I set the tire pressures and went out to practice. The car felt amazing with strong grip and great tire wear.  We were putting out a lot of tire smoke and the Kenda tires really put down traction. This course was not an easy course to learn.  A lot of people have said that the course is not that great but I am thinking the opposite as I had a ton of fun driving there.

Here’s a quick run-down of the course:

You start out on the bank, having the throttle pinned in 3^rd gear and carrying it out all around the banking. The banking tightens up a bit at the end so you have to remember to stay off the wall as you shoot down off the bank and into the first transition. Coming off the banking and into the infield is very harsh if you don’t hit it just right. After you get off the bank, you slip past the first clipping point and transition hard to the opposite direction into the start of the figure-eight, a right hand turn.  Coming out of the right hander, you have to commit the throttle, stretching it out, to get to the left hander. This brings us to one of the harder parts of the track; it is so bumpy the car actually gets airborne during the transition. While you’re in the air, it can be tricky to figure out where you are going to end up. The course concludes itself with a left hander and that is the run.

I felt good about the Friday practice and qualifying.  My strategy was to do a somewhat conservative first run to get some points and then really go hard on the second run.  I took off for my first run and it was pretty good, decent height on the bank and I was hitting my clipping points.  I went into the last left hand turn a bit too fast and hit one of the outside clipping zone cones.  I was deducted points for this but I had to get focused on the second run.  I went out for my second run and worked to really make it count.  I rode high on the bank and the transition off the bank was awesome.  I really nailed the clipping point and setup a quick transition into the right hander.  I went flying into the corner a bit too fast and slid up the bank to earn a zero on my second qualifying run. Man, what a let down! I like to say that I take pride in my consistency, even if I am not the best guy out there. Once again with a qualifying position of 31, I picked the 2^nd qualifier of the day, Darren McNamara, in his Falken/ASD prepared Saturn Sky.

Darren had won this event the year before so I knew that my chances were slim. However, I was going to throw everything I had into it. Running him was a lot of fun and he continued into the Top 16.

All in all, I have got to say that this weekend was a blast! Once again we did well and had a great showing for Team Kenda / Mertzanis.

Thanks to Kenda Tire, Strack Inc, Konig Wheels, Extreme Dimensions, Competition Clutch and M&R Products for the support this year.

Thanks,

Dennis Mertzanis
404 642 2690
dennis@dennismertzanis.com

There are reasons why I still feel attached to E-town like I do.  Is it Petty’s craziness, or Tim’s? is it the beer? is it the wonderful new jersey skyline? the drifting maybe?  The tattoos?  Its all these things and more.  I may claim the ATL as my home and the place where I started to drift, but E-town I where I became a man.  I love going back.  I havnt been back since I left nearly 2 years ago and the drivers have really stepped it up.  I am seriously impressed with the quality of drivers and cars in the area.

Enough said, THIS is why I love Club Loose events

Love ya petty

Awesome weekend……..seriously.

May 19th, 2010
Team Kenda/Mertzanis has announced the operational breakdown for the organization.
We are still a small and growing team so all members will have crossover and hybrid roles in order for the team to function efficiently and effectively. We are also very lucky to have the support of our sponsors, fans, friends, and families.

For the 2010 season, the team members consist of:
• Driver - Dennis Mertzanis

• Manager - Eugene Chou

• Crew Chief – Jelani Winston

• Photographer - JC Robinson

• Videographer - Mark Lenardon

• Spotter – HaterDan Bailey

• Interim support : Brooks Church, Thomas Hammer, Jonathan Strack

Current 2010 sponsors include:
• Kenda Tires – http://www.kendausa.com

• Strack Inc – http://www.strackinc.com

• Konig Wheels – http://konigwheels.com

• Competition Clutch -http://competitionclutch.com

• Extreme Dimensions -http://www.extremedimensions.com

Thanks again to our sponsors and we hope to see all of our fans during the 2010 Formula D season!

May 17th, 2010
Team Kenda/Mertzanis has announced Eugene Chou as Team Manager for the 2010 season. As Team Manager, he will be directing the public relations and marketing aspects of the team as well as the operational activities and strategic long-term goals of Team Kenda/Mertzanis. Eugene, Team Manager said, “I am very excited to be working with Team Kenda/Mertzanis for the 2010 Formula D campaign; My goal is to ensure that the team has the resources and direction it needs to operate smoothly throughout the entire season as well as preparing for the upcoming season. “
Eugene has a background in import/drift/show scene beginning in the mid 1990s’ and is currently involved in drift event promotions/operation (.:driftmechaniks:./DMGGMASD) in addition to being a Southeast Drift Formula D Pro-Am judge in the South Eastern US region for the 2010.