| Achievements | |
2011:
2010:
2009:
2008:
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| Bio | |
Name: Calin Gogonea I bought my 89 rx7 in November 2003 from a friend in PA who wanted to get rid of it since he already had a supercharged Mr2, and my 91 240sx has been bad luck: two blown KAs, blown clutch, wrecked into the guardrail, towed from my apartment, etc. I didn’t know much about cars back then, I just wanted a rear-wheel drive 5-speed so I can drive fast like an idiot. I didn’t know much about rotaries or drifting either, I just wanted to have fun. Slowly I started to fall in love with the sharp handling of the rx7 and the uniqueness of the rotary engine. I didn’t have much luck with my rx7 either while I lived in PA… it just kept running like crap and not one shop (including the dealer) could fix it. Eventually I decided to move to Ohio in 2005, and that’s when everything started turning for the better. The rx7 randomly fixed itself a week before I moved out… nobody knew WTF happened, but I was so happy and I didn’t bother asking. The next few years for me marked the beginning of constant research and learning how to work not only on the car, but also on rotary engines in general. By January 2007 me and my friend, Ricardo Lopez, successfully did the first s5 turbo swap in my car, which took two days… and we swapped the engine, ECU, transmission, driveshaft, differential, axels, and modified the wiring harness. This was my first turbo car, and the first day I drove it after the swap was one of the most exiting experiences to that date. 2007 was also the beginning of my drift experience. After I met one of my best friends, Chad Fisher, we started going to all Beaverun events (Beaverun Motorsport Complex, PA). 2007 was a great year of learning experiences and also the only year when I saw drifting just from a non-competitive, fun perspective. 2008 arrived with new hopes and challenges… little did I know, it was mainly challenges. In April I entered my first competition, not even thinking about winning at Mansfield Speedway. After a relaxing qualifying run, I found out that I placed top 5 with the second highest score and that I would be going again to fight for the podium. I’ve never been in that position before… and all I could do was shake and panic. I spun out on both of my next runs… getting two 0s and ending up in 5th place. And that was the beginning of my addiction to competition which has been with me ever since. |
2009 was an extremely fun year for me. With another used, non-rebuilt, s5 turbo engine swapped in I was ready to beat the crap out of my car once again. I went drifting in PA (Beaverun), G&J Cartway (OH), and managed to archive two podium finishes (1st and 2nd) at two Midvale events. The car magically held up great all year, despite me slightly backing into a wall at Midvale and totaling my exhaust. 2010 brought a whole new level of experience. Local drift team (DriftCleveland), which I was a part of back then, managed to acquire a home track at Lake County Speedway right by Cleveland. This partnership gave us new opportunities that we couldn’t even dream of before. Not only did we get more practice time on a very technical track, surrounded by walls, than ever, we also performed multiple drift demos in front of thousands of people who might have never heard of or seen drifting before in their lives. But nothing could have topped the opportunity to start and host the first drift competition in Cleveland, called The Drift Effect, with a $4000 purse making it the second biggest in Ohio after Street Life Tour. I got to help choose the track layout, organize the entire event, and even be one of the judges. That year I also travelled back to Beaverun in PA, and competed in two events where I placed 2nd and then 5th place. That was one of the best years of my life! 2011 was a difficult year that faced me with new challenges and opportunities to take drifting to the next level. After an entire winter of working in my friend's garage (not a shop!), my buddy Taylor Faith and I successfully swapped a 3-rotor 20B engine in my FC. After I tuned the engine on the streets using Microtech LT-16 with my previously made 13B timing map and stock twin-turbos in non-sequential mode, I went out in July and won first place at Circleville Raceway Park in Ohio. Unfortunately this was the only good part of 2011. In May, after only two practice events, my differential blew and I was having severe overheating issues. Then, in early August, after getting the car ready to drift again, one of the turbos decided to blow. As a result, I decided to park the FC for the rest of the drift season and start preparing it for the next one in 2012. I am currently looking for sponsorship for next year, so feel free to contact me @ rottary89@gmail.com. |