RacerEfrain posted on February 07, 2012 00:00
Driver Blog: Tyler McQuarrie
By Tyler McQuarrie
Hey MotoIQ readers, I'm Tyler McQuarrie and I'm very excited to be writing my first blog for MotoIQ. Some of you may know me from Formula D, or time attack, or even Grand Am. I simply love cars and love manipulating them to do what I want them to do, whether it's drifting or racing. I have a packed schedule for 2012 with a full season of Grand Am in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge in the Insight Racing BMW, a full season in Formula Drift (announcement soon), and Global Time Attack with the FXMD NSX. I will post up a blog on MotoIQ after every event and give you guys an inside look at my event or race and how I switch from each discipline.
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| Winning at Irwindale was was the best way to finish the Formula Drift season. Obviously there was a lot going on behind the scenes, but I just put my head down and drove as hard as I could. |
An often over looked time of the year is the offseason, which for me is nothing even close to "off". My offseason is crazy, and full of business meetings, proposals, training, and more training.
Since I run multiple championships, my offseason starts at my last event which happened to be the 25 hours of Thunder Hill in the CJ Wilson Racing Mazda MX5. We won the E1 class and it was my fourth year in a row to win the E1 class. It capped off a great year and kept my winning streak going that started after "Vegas Gate" when I got pulled out of my Formula D ride for that event. I had five events after that, which included drift, time attack, and racing. I won every event that I entered! I made my point not by running my mouth but by my performance on the track and I can't think of a better way to start my offseason than that.
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| After getting pulled out of my car in Las Vegas, I won Formula Drift Irwindale, my class at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill driving with CJ Wilson Racing, SuperLap Battle and the Global Time Attack event at my home track at Infineon in the FXMD NSX. The end of 2011 couldn't have gone any better. |
One of the things I have total control of is my fitness. It is the foundation that I build everything else on. Without it, I feel like I instantly have a disadvantage to my competition. Yes, this is more crucial for racing but it is even important for drifting. A driver that is more fit will be able to focus better and there are many times during Formula D practice where you are in the car for a couple of hours and it's a 100 degrees outside. I have no problem staying the car and I can tell other drivers struggle with that.
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| This is how I stay in shape - my carbon fiber Cervelo road bicycle. It's super light and way fast. I take my training very seriously to try and have an edge on my competition in drifting and road racing. |