Hi. I’m Rouen P. Abrahamse. I was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1982. Ever since I can remember, I have had a fascination with cars. Not just any cars, of course, but import performance cars. After downloading some music & random music video's, somehow I came across drift competition clips from Japan and I got hooked. It felt like my calling, like I had an epiphany. I showed a specific clip to my brother inlaw ,part founder of R.C DRIFTING in S.A & Founder of Odyssey Garage Tyres, Otis Gore, he was already into r.c racing at this stage weather it was pan cars or ol' skool TL01 Tamiya's, haha. He then let me try out his Tamiya TT01 that had some insulation tape around the grip tyres to break traction on the carpet & wooden floors we were attempting to drift on.It wasn’t the wisest choice to date but it got the ball rolling.



All in all, I've been r.c drifting for almost a decade, and been active with the D10 & D-EVO Series since 2007. Currently, I am a "privateer", which means that I have no major sponsorship, which also means that I fund my program from my pocket and do all the manual labor involved in getting the car ready: this entitles me making it to every comp, even afew in Johannesburg, setting up, etc etc. However, I am fortunate enough this year to have had product sponsorship with Monkey Grips Industries Tyres, the owner, Harvey or as everyone calls him, D1 Monkey, will be doing afew spray jobs for me, building roll cages, organising parts for the Yokomo SSG i use (its almost a 100 % "Missile" chassis now, haha) & ofcourse the all important drift tyres he makes.



My car had been initially built by me and Otis Gore in 2007 in preparation for one of the rounds in Gauteng.(The chassis first outing ended up with a win, whoohoo) The car has been corner-balanced and lightened, out came the 5 degree toe-in for this year & it was decided that the 3 degree toe-in should be effective enough for now until the new brushless system is ready, the plan is to get the TEKIN Brushless system runnning by June, along with another secret weapon. At the moment im running a Tamiya BZ motor, that does'nt even have bearings in it, ha ha, a Novak Mega Fet Racer limitless ESC, Spektrum receiver, Acoms servo, Suzuki knuckles, Team Bomber rear steel spool, standard Yokomo Ball Diff upfront, Yokomo adjustable suspension, Aluminium shaft, bearings any & everywhere in the chassis, and i run with a gearing setup of either 70/30 or 71/32 depending on the track layout. With this setup it really enables me to manifest my drifting style.



Truthfully, I put pressure on myself at this years Round 1, because it was the first event of the series and I wanted to do well. Before this comp., i had only practiced once, which was the week before the comp, and discovered that i had a busted front diff, shiiiiiit, i have'nt had much luck with differentials in 2009, so i decided just to rebuild the entire thing. Honestly, not much preparation was put into this first round, but, I was preparing myself for battle. I was mentally drifting and mimicking the drifting moves I’d be executing. The car felt great, I felt great, so all I had to do, ideally, was let that feeling manifest through my performance.



I scraped the front left corner of the bumper on the wall coming out of the infield clipping zone during practice. This is what happens when you use the wall for a reference point, the closer you are to the wall, the more exciting it is. Actually, it could’ve been worse, haha, i lost the one downforce canard, that's about it. I had a phenomenal time during the practice session though. It felt real good to drive a car that was in sync with me.



By watching fellow drifters, I have the opportunity to learn another dimension of their personality. It’s amazing to see how their personality and drifting styles match to a tee. Of course, there are times when I’m completely taken back because I know what to expect from a driver, yet he comes out of nowhere and performs an amazing run that exceeds conjecture; I’m like, “Wow! Wow! That was great!” To actually witness the growth of a driver on track, especially a "noob", is a humbling experience.



On a competitive note, I observe the runs of fellow drifters to see what I’m up against. I’m taking mental notes to prepare myself. But, in general, I watch to support them and show appreciation and respect. I keep track of other competitors by observing their runs and discussing them with other drivers. It’s really insightful to hear their opinion because the perspective from which they see it is completely different from mine. So, unintentionally, there’s a lot of learning going on. Well, at least for me. Also, my spotter & fellow Ni-Ten Ichi-Ryu with Team AfroSlide team member Brenton aka Master B aka MRBG informs me of which driver is dialed in. We compare our notes together and highlight which driver’s technique needs to be remembered.



Overall, everyone looked good and drove well, especially Robin. He was nailing every single run with that rebuilt Tamiya TT01, he is a fellow brushed motor user, a Tamiya RZ is his choice, but with bearings. Everytime he ran the track, it seemed like he scraped his car off of every clipping zone. He was on fire and I seriously thought that he was going to take first place. Also, the old man, Shafiek Abrahams (no relation to me, minus the "e" lol) did an awesome job. During qualifying, he came out of nowhere with his speed and angles. I was amazed. I qualified in the Top 5 on the day, which actually stunned me, lol, i usually never take qualifying seriously, but i guess i was just at ease & took to the track layout very quickly. The track layout was a replica of the Sugo Kart track that was used in the early days of D1GP, it was a fast track & you needed to really pay attention to the first corner & quick chicane bit before the back straight, the guys runnning brushless setups (which is over 90% of the competitors now) had no issues with the huge sweeper over the start/finish section, & surprisingly enough, neither did myself or Robin, running the underpowered Tamiya motors, we just used a different approach & entry line to the rest.



BEST 16

My first battle was against Jason Williams aka Hybridsan, he was running a brushless setup ofcourse in a "newly" purchased X-Ray chassis, i've driven the chassis before when it belonged to its original owner, Kobus, & man that chassis is amazing when used right. I never liked leading when drifting (although most people find it easier), but i've grown use to the fact that you have to do it regardless, haha, does'nt make sense, but yeah, if i had the choice to follow twice, i would do so. I had to lead first since i qualified higher than Jason, J was rocking his Wine Red AE86 on the day & i brought out the Team Orange Bomber LanEvo III to do its duties. The first two laps went really quick, but Jason made a slight error in the chicane area & the corner following that with some sever oversteer & nearly hit me as i exit the corner, the run came to an end & the judges made their decision, i had won that run with a 7-3 advantage. Next i had to follow for two laps, my plan was to keep the run as clean as possible, yet chase hard & make it look good for the judges & fellow competitors. The run went well & no mistakes were made by either driver, but because of the huge error that Jason made on the first two laps, i proceeded to the Best-o Eight.



BEST 8

My best eight battle was'nt going to be easy, it was against Shafiek aka Fiekie. He was one of the Top Four qualifiers on the day & from what i heard from his fellow team members & friends, he had been drifting superbly & was really one with his new setup. My main focus was just to stick door to door with him, he had the clear speed advantage over me, so when i lead, i would use the "trap" method to attempt to win this battle. Fiekie lead for the first two laps & i kept it really tight in the complex sections of the circut, he would open up a slight gap on the start/finish straight & sweeper, but i would reel him in when we got to the infield/complex section. The run went really well & we were tied at 5-5. The weirdest thing happend in the next run, We started with a rolling start, i initiated my drift real early, took the same line i've been taking all day, & just heard a thump as i went around the sweeper, when i reached the infield bit, i noticed that Fiekie had crashed into the very first barrier on corner one, in my mind i was already air punching like Ryu or Ken doing a "all-u-get" in street fighter, but then i rememberd that i still had one & a half laps to complete, i quickly became more focused on what i was doing & got the job done. I was now gaurenteed a place in the Top 4......WHOOOOOHOOOO!!!!!!

More to come with the pics.......