Ken Gushi

I recently got the opportunity to send some questions to Ken Gushi regarding the Long Beach event.

For those that don't know Ken Gushi was able to beat Jeremy Lowe and Odi Bakchis to make it into the Great 8 during his first event with the Scion Racing/GReddy FR-S.

Here are some of Ken's thoughts heading into the event with the new car.

With the new FR-S chassis was there anxiety or anticipation coming into Long Beach? Coming from a chassis I have been driving and battling for 4 years, it was definitely a challenge to get the new FR-S chassis to work in my favor. The car itself is amazing. Greddy did an amazing job building the FR-S from ground up. Our partnership with Cosworth and their engine program also played a huge role in getting the car competitive.  It's just getting the new chassis to perform competitively against a field of roaring V8s was tough. I don't think anyone knows how little time I had in the FR-S to get it dialed in. But with the help of Chris from KW, the process was sped up. He helped me understand the car better and improved the way the car felt. But we didn't have much seat time. In fact, the car was not even dialed in going into Long Beach.
To be honest, I was very nervous on the very first run. This was the very first time driving this car with this new set-up and I didn't have the trust in my car to do what I wanted it to do. By the time the 3rd practice lap came up, I knew I had to change my driving. I didn't know if the car would listen to me, but I accelerated towards turn 1, pitched the car sideways, and floored the acceleration pedal to the floor as the car came to life. I became very familiar with my new car from that point and confidence was coming back. 

Photo credit to Wrecked Magazine.

Were you hoping to see yourself matched up against Tony Angelo in your old tC to see the new car against it? I never thought about it but it would have been interesting to see myself drive with Tony in his tC which i drove for the past 4 years. During the private Scion Racing test day, I saw that he was very comfortable in the car while I was struggling. If i were to drive with him then, he would have probably out-shined me. Ask me again today, and i can say that i have the confidence in my car to outdrive the tC.

Photo credit to RallyXD.com.

Do you feel there is more or less of a learning curve with the FR-S vs. that of the tC?
The tC and the FR-S both drive in very different ways. The tC has a longer wheel base which makes driving much easier. The FR-S is snappier, and accelerates better. I felt like I was learning how to drive again. If i can remember 4 years back, I feel like I had a tougher time trying to tame the tC.

Was there any concerns coming into Long Beach regarding the newly paved surface?
As soon as I heard that Long Beach was repaved, I felt very heavy. First of all, I have a new car with a new engine, new suspension, new team, new tire size, new everything, and now you're telling me that the track surface is new? Never have I felt that kind of pressure especially going in with on the most highly anticipated car of the year. But after the very first lap, that concern went right out the window.


A HUGE thank you to Ken Gushi for taking the time to answer back to me in such a short amount of time.  I look forward to watching how he progresses with the FR-S throughout the season and hope to see him at the top of the podium again.