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Hi. I'm Jose Gonzalez with BILSTEIN Shock Absorbers.
I'm here with the 2013 Formula D Champion, Michael Essa.
Congratulations on the great year. You were doing so good throughout the whole season.
Now that you are Formula D Champion, what's next for you?
Well, I'm mean this is the first year that we've run this car, so, uh, we only had one
test day before the beginning of the season. We've got a lot of ideas for how to make it
better in the off season, so we'll go through, rebuild the car, make little improvements
here and there, and really just try come out swinging again for the 2014 season, and uh,
you know, get some more podiums and see if we can come home with another championship.
That would be great man. Awesome.
So, you know, obviously this was your first year with BILSTEIN Shock Absorbers.
BILSTEIN is just a great shock all around. Not necessarily for drifting or for any specific
purpose, but they have different models for whatever you want to do. On this car, we're
running the MDS shocks, so, basically it's a full-on road race shock and in competitive
drifting, you want to find as much grip as possible. So, with these shocks, we're able
to dial in the grip that we need, and actually, we need more power next season because we
are able to get so much grip out of the chassis. So we are actually dialing the car in to be
faster with the help of the shocks.
So say someone wants to start drifting tomorrow and be the Formula D champion like yourself,
one day. What do you recommend they do or what do you recommend they start off with?
Well I think, uh, I mean drifting is very specific, it's a specific set of skills, of
car control. But I think there are some guys that just drift and they don't really get
anywhere else in the automotive zone. You know, they don't go autocrossing and road
racing, and I think having, you know, a good background and at least going out and doing
some events to at least understand the balance of the car, whether you are sliding sideways,
whether you have understeer, to really understand everything that is going on, is really important.
I think any type of driving that you do, to better yourself as a driver, will help you
with drifting, because it is pretty intense.
And to get into Formula D, it takes years of experience, it takes some money, buy a
lot of tires, and you can go through a lot of bumpers and sometimes even cars learning
how to do it, so yeah, you just need to stay dedicated if it's something you really want
to do.
Well, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us.
Thank you.
We wish you the very best for next season.
Thank you.