All drifters of our vast country know this man. And thanks to the documentary film "Gocha / Japan", he significantly expanded his fan audience. Now at many club meetings car lovers often discuss a film about a guy drifting in Japan. And this is not surprising, because George Chivchyan (Gocha) was the first Russian to take part in D1GP. There, he was 100% surprised at the founders and professionals of the drift. This article will present a brief biography of the rider.
Drift
Gocha Chivchyan (photo posted in the article) was born in Krasnoyarsk in 1986. He himself does not remember the moment when he got carried away by drift. But his first race car Nissan Sylvia (S15) acquired in 2004 at the USS auction. The car came with HKS struts and a lock. Of course, Gocha immediately began to practice drifts on it. Over time, the rider decided to increase engine power. Then came the turn of the turbine, nozzles, and ... off and on. Chivchyan invested his entire salary in S15. In general, by the time the “Red Ring” (stationary race track) was built in his hometown, Gocha and his friends were already fond of sports cars and tuning. Also, the young man independently engaged in the modernization of machines, opening a small service for these purposes.
Race and own store
In 2008, Gocha Chivchyan took part in real ring competitions for the first time. They racer overheated and burned the brake pads. It was a good experience, as the young man found out the difference between the loads on the car while driving on the race track and city roads. Unfortunately, there were no new blocks on his “iron horse” in Krasnoyarsk. It was then that Gotcha came up with the idea to expand the assortment of her small auto parts store called Forward Auto. A month later, on its shelves lay brake pads with various characteristics that fit on any sports car he saw at the races.
Two weeks later, Chivchyan needed a radiator. Then, Gocha Chivchyan acquired silicone pipes. Reviews (a young and good-natured guy is looking at us with a photo) about his store began to spread quickly among motorists, because there you could find many necessary details. Then Gocha ordered large-size intercooler kits, fittings and hoses for the fuel system and levers on the emergency loop. Gradually, his “Sylvia” turned into a cramp. Well, the range of "Forward Auto" George expanded to 25,000 items. When ordering any components, Chivchyan focused solely on experience (his and friends).
Continuing to participate in circuit races, Chivchyan was looking forward to the moment when a drift appears in the competition program. Over time, the young man decided to take the initiative in his own hands. Teaming up with Arkady Tsaregradtsev, he began to conduct his drift race.
Bleeding a car
It is worth noting that the tuning program S15 did not have a final form. With each new season, Gocha Chivchyan changed the settings and nodes of various elements to make the car fully ready for the competition. After all, the requirements for technology are constantly growing, and in order to maintain a high level of competitiveness, it was necessary to resort to tuning. In a drift, good results can be shown only if you work a lot on your “iron horse”. For example, the suspension settings Chivchyan changes 3-4 times per season. Each car has its own character, and it either approaches a certain discipline of motorsport or not.
According to Gocha, his “Sylvia” was created for drift. Therefore, it is quite difficult to improve the suspension of the S15 without losing the overall balance. Although it is she who plays a key role in drift racing. By changing the characteristics of the suspension, you can make the car go as you need. For example, when there is a lack of power, it adjusts to glide the car. With insufficient speed and pace - it is necessary to achieve greater fixation in the rear. And with poor handling, there are many variations with its adjustment.
There is a number of know-how in the S15 suspension. Drifter Gocha Chivchyan, whose photo can be seen on the pages of various thematic publications, tested them in a race and launched into serial production. Now they are sold in his store. For example, on any car with an S-chassis, you can install a full set of adjustable suspension on the loop for the rear and front axles. It will function correctly and reliably even with a large eversion and understatement.
The importance of the motor
Gocha Chivchyan is constantly improving the engine design of his “Sylvia”. For example, it can replace the cylinder head gasket and adjust a large compression ratio. Using a fuel that is more resistant to detonation, the drifter will increase recoil and improve response. The unit now under the hood of the S15 is called SR20VE + T. After the rocker pushers (rocker) began to break on the DET, the rider thought about using a VET-head. At the Nissan Silvia’s native motor, they were always a sore spot. When exceeding the power of 350-370 liters. from. rocker load increases significantly. In a drift, the motor much more often than in other disciplines reaches the maximum speed zone and remains in it for quite a long time. Due to the design features, the classic DET valve mechanism cannot work reliably in such conditions. There are no pushers on the VET heads, therefore there are no problems with them.
Rev increase
The engineers of Nissan radically changed the design of the rocker: the camshafts through the adjusting washers transmit the force directly to the valve stems. Well, the timing design acquired a VVL system similar to the Honda VTEC. This has helped increase torque at low revs and increase power at high speeds. And, of course, the most pleasant for the pilot of the car with SR20VE + T is a wider range of revolutions (from 9000 to 9500 rpm).
Difficulties
When creating a new motor, difficulties arose. Since the “head” was taken from the engine with a transverse arrangement in the car, I had to take into account many points with attachments (in S15 the unit is located longitudinally). And no manipulations with the cylinder head replaced the need for careful work with the connecting rod-piston group, many factors depend on the compression ratio of which. Well, no one canceled the moment of scrupulous assembly, affecting the final reliability of the unit.
Cooling system
In an interview, Gocha Chivchyan (the reviews about his drifting skills in the thematic media are extremely laudatory) stated that the construction of this Sylvia mechanism was quite stressful. The modernization of the S15 cooling system continues to this day. Professional racers know that the linear speed of a car in a drift is significantly lower than that of ring cars. But even at such speeds the “iron horse” does not ride in a straight line, but at a certain angle to the motion vector, while imposing a limitation on the radiator blowing. And the larger the drift angle, the less their cooling. As a result, the vicious circle closes: a larger skid angle increases the load on the engine and reduces the radiator blowing, if it is located under the hood. The motors of the SR series with an aluminum block quite intensively give their coolant their heat. Therefore, in the radiator it is necessary to ensure its productive dispersion, which is a complex engineering and technical task.
D1GP
Improving S15, drifter Gocha Chivchyan did not forget to improve his driving skills. Years of practice were not in vain. In 2013, the young man won the Super Battle. This day was a turning point not only in the life of George, but also in the entire history of the Russian drift. The chief judge of the races Alexander Smolyar told Chivchyan about the agreement between D1GP and RDS, according to which, the pilots of the Russian Federation can go to the stage in Odaibu (Japan). At the beginning, Gocha took this proposal as something impossible. The young man did not even imagine that he could be implemented. The main difficulty was renting a competitive car in Japan. In addition, at almost all stages of D1GP, minimum time is allocated for training. Sometimes it was not enough to master the trajectory. And only high-class professionals are capable of doing this not on their machine. After thinking about all this, the hero of this article decided to postpone the idea of a trip to an Asian country for a long time.
Gocha Chivchyan in Japan
Somewhere a month before the start of D1GP, Dmitry Semenyuk called the Krasnoyarsk drifter on behalf of Primring and RDS-Vostok. He offered help in transporting the machine. Having finished the telephone conversation, Chivchyan was already packing sports equipment in his bag. The decision to travel to Japan was made. And only when he was driving his S15 on Odaiba, Georgy realized what a difficult job Dmitry Semenyuk, Vitaliy Verkienko and the Forward Auto team had done to achieve his goal. Although the performance at D1GP can be called their common dream. Together, they were able to bring it to life.
results
In general, the races were very good. Goce managed to get into the TOP-16, where Hibino Tetsuya became his first rival. In the second race, the Japanese made a mistake by hooking the concrete. This led to damage to the suspension and the inability of his car to enter the skid. The Russian also spoke not without errors and in the final turn even managed to turn around, but still earned more points than Tetsuya. Emmanuel Amandio, a young and talented pilot from Malaysia, was in the TOP-8. Gocha Chivchyan coolly started the first race, but before the finish he couldn’t fit into the arc and ran into the opponent’s car. As a result, the S15 steering knuckle bent strongly and prevented the wheel from moving. In five minutes, such a breakdown cannot be fixed, so Chivchyan left the race. George himself considers his presentation successful. After all, getting into the TOP 16 at races of this level is an excellent result.
Return
In 2014, Gocha Chivchyan (the athlete’s biography is presented above) again decided to try his luck at D1GP. Many Japanese people met him in a friendly manner and came up to talk. These competitions were not so successful for the Krasnoyarsk racer. It all ended with a technical gathering. The likely cause was a breakdown of some connection due to strong vibration, because the motor was running at maximum speed. Techshod was not very upset by Gocha, since he had gained new experience and set ambitious goals. At the moment, Chivchyan is the most promising Russian drifter, and his main victories are yet to come.