I met Martin „TurboGrinch“ Reinsch for the first time in June 2009. Soon I recognized, he was even a bigger JDM maniac than I was and a very cool and open minded guy. Even though he is an ambitious driver and was on the podium a few times in the past, he’s breakthrough has yet to come. As a matter of fact, he’s not really interested in big sponsors and promoting himself, he is just modest and does drifting for fun and for the evil grin on his face.
Going sideways and having fun, that’s what drifting is about.
Q: What have you done before you started drifting?
A: I bought my S14 more than 8 years ago and started doing driver trainings and tourist laps at the nurburgring. In 2004 i was invited to Silverstone by the multiple european drift champion Brett Castle. I actually did my first drift practice there in Silverstone, followed by some more racetrack and drift trainings back in Germany and soon I started travelling from drift day to drift day all over Europe.
2007: Drifting with Dino at the Wachauring.
Q: Did cars have a big importance in your childhood?
A: Yes, i always liked to modify every kind of cars I had – it started with the scale models back in the days, I just found a Toyota Crown scale model I´ve made 17 years ago. I put a working stereo and lights in it and „stanced“ it to the ground – today you would call it VIP style. And the same happened to my carrera and RC cars. When I was 15 a friend of mine bought himself an old VW Käfer / Bug and we started renovate that car from scrap. My first own car was a Honda Prelude BA4 with 4-wheel-steering. When I had this car I was still in school and had no money to spend on the car. As soon as i started working I saved some money and wanted to get a japanese sports coupe with RWD. And then I found the S14.
2008: Smoke was always Martin’s business.
Q: Can you tell us about your rookie years and becoming a Pro?
A: The main thing, why I focused on drifting was simple: FUN. Its a challenging sport, where you have to push yourself and can grow together with your friends. In 2006 I decited to sign up for the int. Drift Challenge at the Wachauring in Austria, this was the first proper drift competition for me and Dino Rockstroh. As there was a big lag of events, Dino and me started organizing drift events, and founded with our good friend Robert Kwiecien the biggest german speaking drift community – www.driftsport.de. In 2008 Dino and me wanted to see how can or can not compete with the best european drifters, so we went to the IDC (international drift championship) for the Driver search and ended up taking tha last 2 Pro spots. Soon I noticed I can learn a lot in this level and tryed to drive here as much as possible. I managed to finish 7th overall and 2nd in the german ranking, with doing 5 out of 7 rounds. Back in the days I was still running my S14 with only ~280bhp. For 2009 i went for more power to start with in the new IDS series. Unfortunately I had some technical problems (mostly broken transmissions) and there where even more political problems in the IDS thats why i wanted to go back to the grassroots 😉
2008: His first year as a Pro-Class driver in IDC.
Q: Who was your teacher, mentor helping you becoming a pro?
A: Guys like Paul Vlasblom, Remmo Niezen, Wolfgang Weber and so on helped me a lot. I would say there was no proper teacher, I always used to try different things and asked the better drivers for tips. Drifting is a sport where you need to push yourself further every time – you simply learn by drifting with better drivers.
2009: Racing IDS and changing gearboxes more often then engine fluids.
Q: Every time I meet you, your father is on track with you. Which role does he play for you during a race weekend?
A: I don´t have a licence to tow a trailer. Back in the days I used to drive my S14 to the events, so I did in the 2008 IDC season – appart from 1 round. I liked the fact to compete against europes top drifter in a 100% road legal and daily driven car 🙂 But with the bigger power it was a need to get the car to the tracks on a trailer. My Dad mostly drove me to the events and he supported me the whole weekend on the track aswell. And I am very thankful for that he´s into drifting and likes being on the race tracks.
Spring 2010: Looking forward to a great season!
Q: Unfortunately your car was crashed in Czech republic in summer 2010. What happened there, can you give us some insight?
A: Actually it was a simple drivers mistake I made. I liked the track a lot and had some practice laps the day before I crashed. The next day I went out to warm up the car, and then it happened. I initiated the drift in the first corner in 3rd gear with the tires still not warm, I didn’t want the engine to stay in the limiter all the time I liftet the throttle a bit – enough to make the car go straight again and right into the wall where the outside clipping zone was. It didn’t feel that hard in the car, but it was. Top of 3rd gear is over 100kp/h and the car straightened about 20 – 15 meters before the wall. Unfortunately the car was totalled, but sometimes shit just happens, and I immediately concentrated on finding a new car to build a new track toy.
07.2010: A dark day in Martin’s career – severe damage after hitting the wall.
Q: Despite the driving skills, you also built the drift cars yourself. Can you tell us something about the evolution and your policy buying parts?
A: The better the driver knows his car, the better he can adjust it. If you can´t afford a race team you need to repair the car by yourself, and the more details you know the better it is. I would say I grew with my car, there is always something you can improve, but you need to find out what by driving the car to its limits.
09.2010: Over 600 hours where spent on the new car and a few more to come.
Q: After all these years drifting, can you give a personal advice to all the future drifters, to make a start easier and more enjoyable?
A: Don´t spent all you money into your drift cars, keep them running and spend the money on events. The harder the car is to get it sideways the better your drifting skills get 😉
11.2010: The new car waiting to be completed.
Q: By the way, your new car, can you lift any secrets yet?
A: Well the new car will definitely be a Version 2.0 and not a 1.2 😉 It´s technically finished even though it took me already more than 600 hours. Just some final touches need to be done and then I will be back on the track.
12.2010: Inside the new car, the HKS Dogbox is still there.
Q: What are your plans for 2011?
A: Keeping drifting fun! I´m not shure if i will compete in a professional championship because I want to travel around again, meet friends and have fun on different race tracks all over europe.
2011: Hopefully to see more of this…
Thank you Martin for taking your time, and we all wish you good luck finishing the car, don’t forget to keep us up to date with the build.