Formula D
Encyclopedia
Formula DRIFT or Formula D is the premier United States
drifting
series. Formula Drift, Inc. was co-founded by Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage in 2003 as a sister company to Slipstream Global Marketing, the same partnership that brought D1 Grand Prix to the United States. The new entity would solely own, operate and launch the first official drifting series in North America. 2010 will be Formula Drift's eighth year of competition.
With more than 60+ drivers competinghttp://www.formulad.com/drivers/ in 2010, Formula Drift is recognized as the premiere North American
professional drifting
championship series. The series consists of a seven round championship played out at race tracks across the United States. Judged on execution and style, rather than who finishes the course in the fastest time, Formula Drift brings together traditional racing and extreme sports.
Formula Drift works closely with a huge variety of endemic and non-endemic business partners. Most notably Formula Drift works with the largest amount of tire suppliers to a single series. BFGoodrich, Cooper, Falken, Hankook, Maxxis, Kenda, NEXEN, Nitto, and Toyo all work together to supply teams and field test their products.
Winners and high finishers of these feeders series either earn their license for the following year or earn the right to compete at a Formula Drift sanctioned National Pro-AM event. These National events have been held in Laughlin, NV and Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, CA.
. Other drivers who crossed over to Formula Drift from foreign series are the Irish drivers Darren McNamara
, James Deane, Eric O'Sullivan, and Dean Kearney. These drivers rose to acclaim in their European home series before making the move stateside.
The first Formula Drift Asia Champion was Tengku Djan.
Formula D Australia. The series was announced in June 2005. Formula D Australia visited three tracks in 2005.
The series was held in conjunction with the DRIFT Australia Championship. After the season, the series' website was no longer updated, and has since been taken down.
Although Formula Drift does not permit front-wheel drive
cars, it does allow all-wheel drive cars to be converted to rear wheel drive
, such as the Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi EVO. In the United States, the Scion tC
is sold only in the FWD layout, but because it shares the same chassis as the AWD Toyota Avensis
(sold only in the United Kingdom and Europe), it can be converted to a competition-ready RWD layout.
Unlike the D1 series, in which the cars are numbered according to the driver's ranking, drivers in Formula Drift are given fixed numbers for their cars.
In D1, drivers are given three runs during a tansou (solo run) round, in Formula D as Qualifying Single Runs and only the best of them will count which at the end of that round, drivers who score the perfect 100 points will be awarded one extra point to add to their championship score. In Formula D, competitors are given two non-consecutive judged runs during the Single Runs segment of the competition which both will be judged. Starting orders will consists of drivers from the lowest rank starting first with those of the highest rank starting last whereas in D1, it is the other way round as it is seen that lower ranked drivers can take advantage of the surface grip when they start last.
Formula D drivers are scored on a points-deduction system where every driver will start their judged run with a perfect score of 100 pts. For every mistake, points will be deducted. These points will vary between .25 point to the most severe mistakes (-1.75).
When there is a tie in scores during a competition, rather than in D1 which will call for a rerun until the winner can be decided, in Formula D, judges will use the driver’s entry speed of the best run from the Qualifying Round as a tie breaker.
In D1GP, during a tsuiso round, if a driver wins his round but is unable to take his place due to breakages, they must forfeit their place to the losing opponent. If neither is able to compete, the winning driver gets his place and as a result, that following round will not take place. In Formula D, should the driver be without an opponent, they will be allowed to run on his own.
The current judges are Tony Angelo
, Ryan Lanteigne, and Andy Yen. Randy Hembrey is the Race Director for the series.
-Las Vegas Motor Speedway
-Irwindale Speedway
)
One win each for:
To this date, only 3 drivers have won both Formula Drift and D1 Grand Prix
events, they are Mitsuru Haraguchi, Toshiki Yoshioka
, and Vaughn Gittin, Jr..
was the show's host in 2005. Johnson was joined by Attack of the Show co-host Olivia Munn
who covered the pits and drivers during the events and drifting expert Adam Matthews who provided commentary and insight on the tandem battles. G4 aired each round on a tape-delayed basis. Jarod DeAnda is the public address
announcer at each event, earning him the moniker, "The Voice of Formula D." In 2005, G4 used DeAnda's event commentary track, but for 2006, used Johnson and Matthews calling each battle like a typical play-by-play/color commentator
combination. Johnson and Matthews were on-site for each event, but it sounded as if they had taped their commentary after the event had already taken place. This practice is not uncommon in the motorsports business in post-production.
In the 2005 season, there were two people working the pits — driver interviewer Mayleen Ramey
, who was a roving reporter for the half-hour episodes, and a second anchor, who patrolled around the car show at each event. In 2005, G4 used three reporters for this job. From the round in Wall to the round in Houston, actor Emeka Nnadi held the job. At the Infineon round, Attack of the Show!
co-host Kevin Pereira
took the duties, while Street Fury host Big C finished things out in Chicago and Irwindale. Also, G4 showed half-hour episodes in-between rounds, most of which focused on the network having its own drift car built from scratch, with other segments focusing on the aspects of drifting. One of the first half-hour episodes in 2005 had one Formula D competitor, Chris Forsberg
go to Japan, and meet up with another competitor, Daijiro Yoshihara
, to explore the country and get more perspective on the birth of drifting. Episodes that featured event coverage lasted an hour-and-a-half, and featured the top 16 tandem rounds, including those that needed to be run again, because the judges deemed them too close to call. These episodes aired the night after the next round in the series had already taken place.
In 2006, however, coverage was dramatically different. The half-hour episodes were gone, and event coverage was reduced to an hour, and their scheduling was quite random. The Long Beach and Atlanta rounds premiered on June 18, with the Chicago round airing on July 2, and the Sonoma round airing a week after it took place. During the Sonoma round, G4 noted that the Seattle round would premiere on September 10, but that date was changed to October 8, with the last two rounds (Wall and Irwindale) airing every other week afterward. These episodes featured more interviews and driver profiles, many of which would've been placed in a half-hour show last year, and many of the tandem battles have been cut out, and any battle that needed to be run again did not have its second run shown. This led to some criticism from those in the drifting community, including fans and some Formula D drivers.
At the 2006 SEMA Show
in Las Vegas
, Formula D co-founders Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage announced that the series would have a new television partner in 2007. That partner was ESPN2
. Each round began airing in a one-hour block on November 15 with the Long Beach round. All subsequent airings were supposed to be every Thursday afterward, but beginning with the Evergreen Speedway round on December 5, the air dates for new rounds switched to Wednesday.
The ESPN deal lasted just one season. SPEED Channel will air all rounds of the 2008 Formula D season, as well as the World Championship, scheduled for after the Irwindale round. Airings will take place on Sundays, beginning with the Long Beach round on October 26. All airings will begin at 4 PM Eastern.
For 2010 Formula Drift announces a comprehensive race programming schedule with VERSUS in which Drifting, the fastest-growing motorsport, will slide into more than 75 million U.S. homes. The seven-stop Formula DRIFT Championship Series programs will air over fourteen Sundays during the 2 PM (EST) / 11 AM (PST) time slot beginning Sunday, August 30. Each episode will showcase all the on- and off-track action as the world’s top drift drivers battle for the coveted title of Formula DRIFT Champion. The first episode, airing on August 30, will feature a comprehensive overview of the sport and drivers. Each episode will re-air the week following the initial airing. Coverage is slated to remain the same for the 2011 season.
show, FD co-founder Jim Liaw announced the Formula Drift would begin the quarterly publication of a Formula Drift's magazine in 2011. The publication will be handled by Haymarket Media Group.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
drifting
Drifting (motorsport)
Drifting refers to a driving technique and to a motorsport where the driver intentionally over steers, causing loss of traction in the rear wheels through turns, while maintaining vehicle control and a high exit speed...
series. Formula Drift, Inc. was co-founded by Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage in 2003 as a sister company to Slipstream Global Marketing, the same partnership that brought D1 Grand Prix to the United States. The new entity would solely own, operate and launch the first official drifting series in North America. 2010 will be Formula Drift's eighth year of competition.
With more than 60+ drivers competinghttp://www.formulad.com/drivers/ in 2010, Formula Drift is recognized as the premiere North American
North American
North American generally refers to an entity, people, group, or attribute of North America, especially of the United States and Canada together.-Culture:*North American English, a collective term used to describe American English and Canadian English...
professional drifting
Drifting (motorsport)
Drifting refers to a driving technique and to a motorsport where the driver intentionally over steers, causing loss of traction in the rear wheels through turns, while maintaining vehicle control and a high exit speed...
championship series. The series consists of a seven round championship played out at race tracks across the United States. Judged on execution and style, rather than who finishes the course in the fastest time, Formula Drift brings together traditional racing and extreme sports.
Formula Drift works closely with a huge variety of endemic and non-endemic business partners. Most notably Formula Drift works with the largest amount of tire suppliers to a single series. BFGoodrich, Cooper, Falken, Hankook, Maxxis, Kenda, NEXEN, Nitto, and Toyo all work together to supply teams and field test their products.
Home
Formula Drift is home to 60+ professional drift drivers. The competition for Formula Drift licenses is intense. Drivers in the U.S. can compete in a number of regionally sanctioned Pro-Am series.- Evergreen Drift – Pacific Northwest
- Hold the Line - Northeast
- Just Drift – Southern California
- Lone Star Drift - Texas
- Midwest Drift Union – Midwest
- Streetwise Drift – Southeast
- Thunder Drift – Northern California
- Vegas Drift- Southwest
Winners and high finishers of these feeders series either earn their license for the following year or earn the right to compete at a Formula Drift sanctioned National Pro-AM event. These National events have been held in Laughlin, NV and Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, CA.
Abroad
Drivers from around the world have set their sights on Formula Drift as the series of choice world wide in which to compete. This also includes the legions of talented drivers from Japan, who have competed previously in the D1 Grand PrixD1 Grand Prix
The , abbreviated as D1GP and subtitled Professional Drift, is a production car drifting series from Japan. After several years of hosting amateur drifting contests, Option magazine & Tokyo Auto Salon founder Daijiro Inada, and drifting legend Keiichi Tsuchiya hosted a professional level drifting...
. Other drivers who crossed over to Formula Drift from foreign series are the Irish drivers Darren McNamara
Darren McNamara
Darren 'D-Mac' McNamara is a professional drift driver from Cork, Ireland.Darren first competed in the Irish Prodrift series and the British D1 Great Britain series , winning the Prodrift title in 2006. He drove a Toyota AE86 with a Nissan SR20 engine.In 2007 he was invited to compete in the...
, James Deane, Eric O'Sullivan, and Dean Kearney. These drivers rose to acclaim in their European home series before making the move stateside.
Current Tracks
- Rd.1 Long Beach GP Long Beach Grand PrixThe Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is an open-wheel race held on a street circuit in Long Beach, California. Christopher Pook is the founder and promoter which began as a vision while working at a travel agency in downtown Long Beach. It was the premier circuit in the Champ Car from 1996, and...
street course, Long Beach, CA. Season 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 - Rd.2 Road AtlantaRoad AtlantaRoad Atlanta is a 2.54-mile road course located just north of Braselton, Georgia, USA. The facility is utilized for a wide variety of events, including professional and amateur sports car and motorcycle races, racing and driving schools, corporate programs and testing for motorsports teams...
, Braselton, GA. Season 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 - Rd.3 Palm Beach International RacewayPalm Beach International RacewayPalm Beach International Raceway is a motorsports facility located west of Jupiter, Florida. It is currently awaiting an FIA Grade II Certification.-Early days:...
– Palm Beach, FL. Season 2011 - Exhibition Texas Motor SpeedwayTexas Motor SpeedwayTexas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas....
, Fort Worth, TX - Rd.4 Wall Speedway in Wall, NJ. Season 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011
- Rd.5 Evergreen SpeedwayEvergreen SpeedwayEvergreen Speedway is an automobile racetrack located within the confines of the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe, Washington. The stadium can accommodate up to 7500 spectators in the covered grandstand and an additional 7500 in the uncovered modular grandstands...
in Monroe, WA. Season 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 - Rd.6 Las Vegas Motor SpeedwayLas Vegas Motor SpeedwayLas Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada near Las Vegas, is a complex of multiple tracks for automobile racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.-History:...
in Las Vegas NV. Season 2009, 2010, 2011 - Rd.7 Toyota Speedway at Irwindale Irwindale, CA. Season 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Former Tracks
- Infineon RacewayInfineon RacewayInfineon Raceway, formerly Sears Point Raceway, is a road course and drag strip located on the landform known as Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains near Sonoma, California, USA. The course is a complex series of twists and turns that go up and down the hills...
in Sonoma, CA. Season 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - Summit Point Motorsport Park in Summit Point, WV. Season 2007
- Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, Englishtown, NJ. Season 2008
- Reliant CenterReliant CenterReliant Center is a convention center in Houston, Texas, USA, part of the Reliant Park complex that was constructed around the Astrodome and Reliant Stadium. Reliant Center hosts various events year-round, including portions of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, who maintains its offices on the...
in Houston, TX. Season 2004, 2005 - Soldier FieldSoldier FieldSoldier Field is located on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in the Near South Side. It is home to the NFL's Chicago Bears...
in Chicago, IL. Season 2005, 2006
International Presence
Formula Drift has increased its international presence every year since 2008 with the addition of demonstration and sister series in other countries. "Taking the Formula Drift brand internationally is a huge milestone. Our priority is to continue to build the Series here while growing the sport of drifting as a whole," said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula Drift. "We are very careful in choosing our event partners and take careful consideration of the boundaries of our international affiliates such as Drift Australia, MSC, and Pro Drift."Sister Series
Formula Drift Asia. In 2010 Formula Drift sanctioned a three round Asian Championship. FD Asia web site.- Rd.1 Marina Bay Street Circuit, Marina Bay, Singapore Season 2010
- Rd.2 Bangkok Wonderworld, Bangkok, Thailand Season 2010
- Rd.3 Dataran Merdeka Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Season 2010
The first Formula Drift Asia Champion was Tengku Djan.
Formula D Australia. The series was announced in June 2005. Formula D Australia visited three tracks in 2005.
- Mallala Motor Sport Park in South AustraliaSouth AustraliaSouth Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
. - Oran Park RacewayOran Park RacewayOran Park Raceway was a motor racing circuit at Narellan in southwestern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia which was operational from 1962 to 2010....
in New South WalesNew South WalesNew South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
. - Winton Motor RacewayWinton Motor RacewayWinton Motor Raceway is a Motor Racing track in Winton, near Benalla, Victoria, Australia.-History:The Benalla Auto Club began planning for a permanent racing track around 1958. In 1960 it was decided to build the track at Winton Recreation Reserve and was completed in twelve months...
in VictoriaVictoria (Australia)Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
.
The series was held in conjunction with the DRIFT Australia Championship. After the season, the series' website was no longer updated, and has since been taken down.
Exhibition Events
- TBA 2011 Brazil
- February 25,2011 Yas Marina Circuit, Abu DhabiAbu DhabiAbu Dhabi , literally Father of Gazelle, is the capital and the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates in terms of population and the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western...
, UAE - February 12, 2011 Figali Convention CenterFigali Convention CenterThe Figali Convention Center is an indoor sports arena, located in Fort Amador, Panama City, Panama. The capacity of the arena is 10,275.It was built in 2003, as the main venue for the Miss Universe 2003 Pageant, which took place in Panama that year...
, Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá - January 17, 2010 Figali Convention CenterFigali Convention CenterThe Figali Convention Center is an indoor sports arena, located in Fort Amador, Panama City, Panama. The capacity of the arena is 10,275.It was built in 2003, as the main venue for the Miss Universe 2003 Pageant, which took place in Panama that year...
, Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá - March 8, 2009 Figali Convention CenterFigali Convention CenterThe Figali Convention Center is an indoor sports arena, located in Fort Amador, Panama City, Panama. The capacity of the arena is 10,275.It was built in 2003, as the main venue for the Miss Universe 2003 Pageant, which took place in Panama that year...
, Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá - August 23, 2008 Monterrey Autodromo, Monterrey, Mexico
- April 27, 2008 Changi Air Show Grounds, Singapore
Regulation differences between D1 Grand Prix and Formula Drift
There are numerous differences between D1GP and Formula Drift in terms of car and competition regulationsCar eligibility
Cars and their builds are constantly under review by the Formula Drift staff. The rule book is revised every year to promote fair and exciting drifting. Some cars and practices are written out of the rule book in order to keep a realistic and level playing field. During the 2004 season, the Dodge Viper Competition Coupe was permitted to compete, whereas it was ineligible in D1 and later ineligible in Formula Drift.Although Formula Drift does not permit front-wheel drive
Front-wheel drive
Front-wheel drive is a form of engine/transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longitudinal engine arrangement generally found in rear-wheel drive and...
cars, it does allow all-wheel drive cars to be converted to rear wheel drive
Automobile layout
In automotive design, the automobile layout describes where on the vehicle the engine and drive wheels are found. Many different combinations of engine location and driven wheels are found in practice, and the location of each is dependent on the application the vehicle will be used for...
, such as the Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi EVO. In the United States, the Scion tC
Scion tC
The Scion tC is an automobile manufactured and sold by Scion, a division of Toyota. Introduced in the United States in June 2004 and Canada in 2010. The name tC does not fit in with its stablemates the xA, xB, and xD, because the name XC designation has already been used by Volvo for its lineup of...
is sold only in the FWD layout, but because it shares the same chassis as the AWD Toyota Avensis
Toyota Avensis
The Toyota Avensis is a large family car built in Derbyshire, United Kingdom by Japanese carmaker Toyota since 1997. It is the direct successor to the Carina E and is available as a four-door saloon, five-door liftback and estate...
(sold only in the United Kingdom and Europe), it can be converted to a competition-ready RWD layout.
Unlike the D1 series, in which the cars are numbered according to the driver's ranking, drivers in Formula Drift are given fixed numbers for their cars.
Scoring and judging
Formula D uses a different scoring system than D1GP. In D1, points are given to drivers who compete in the tsuiso (twin run) round, known as Tandem Battle in Formula D; 20 for the winner going down to 2 for the 10th place finisher as well as 1 point for the rest of the drivers who competed in the tsuiou round.In D1, drivers are given three runs during a tansou (solo run) round, in Formula D as Qualifying Single Runs and only the best of them will count which at the end of that round, drivers who score the perfect 100 points will be awarded one extra point to add to their championship score. In Formula D, competitors are given two non-consecutive judged runs during the Single Runs segment of the competition which both will be judged. Starting orders will consists of drivers from the lowest rank starting first with those of the highest rank starting last whereas in D1, it is the other way round as it is seen that lower ranked drivers can take advantage of the surface grip when they start last.
Formula D drivers are scored on a points-deduction system where every driver will start their judged run with a perfect score of 100 pts. For every mistake, points will be deducted. These points will vary between .25 point to the most severe mistakes (-1.75).
When there is a tie in scores during a competition, rather than in D1 which will call for a rerun until the winner can be decided, in Formula D, judges will use the driver’s entry speed of the best run from the Qualifying Round as a tie breaker.
In D1GP, during a tsuiso round, if a driver wins his round but is unable to take his place due to breakages, they must forfeit their place to the losing opponent. If neither is able to compete, the winning driver gets his place and as a result, that following round will not take place. In Formula D, should the driver be without an opponent, they will be allowed to run on his own.
The current judges are Tony Angelo
Tony Angelo
Tony Angelo is an American drifting pioneer. He started drifting with Chris Forsberg in Doylestown, PA, and eventually progressed to being a D1GP driver, as well as a Formula D seeded driver...
, Ryan Lanteigne, and Andy Yen. Randy Hembrey is the Race Director for the series.
Overtaking
Formula D rules are structured so as not to encourage drivers to overtake their opponents; doing so incurs a penalty. Overtaking is only permitted when the lead car makes a mistake such as coming to a complete stop or going completely off course, whereas in D1, being overtaken is seen as a disadvantage to the driver, incurring a loss.US
- 2004 Samuel HübinetteSamuel HubinetteSamuel Hübinette, aka The Crazy Swede , is a Swedish professional race car driver and Hollywood stunt driver. He started working as a test driver for Volvo Cars...
- Mopar Viper Competition Coupe - 2005 Rhys MillenRhys MillenRhys Millen , nephew of IMSA GTS driver Steve Millen, son of Rod and elder brother of Ryan, is one of the world's top competitors in drifting. Prior to that he was a top rally driver in the US, and became the first works backed driver from a car manufacturer with GM in 2004 after narrowly losing to...
- RMR Pontiac GTO - 2006 Samuel HübinetteSamuel HubinetteSamuel Hübinette, aka The Crazy Swede , is a Swedish professional race car driver and Hollywood stunt driver. He started working as a test driver for Volvo Cars...
- Mopar Viper SRT-10 - 2007 Tanner FoustTanner FoustTanner Foust is a professional racing driver, stunt driver, and television host. He competes in rally, drift, ice racing, time attack and rallycross with multiple podium placements and national championships. He is a co-host on the American version of the motoring television series, Top...
- AEM/Memphis Audio Nissan 350ZNissan 350ZThe Nissan 350Z is a two seat sports car that was manufactured by Nissan from 2002 to 2009 and marks the fifth generation of Nissan's Z-car line. The 350Z entered production in late 2002 and was sold and marketed as a 2003 model. The first year there was only a coupe, as the roadster did not debut... - 20082008 Formula D seasonThe 2008 Formula D season will be the fifth season for the Formula D series. The series will begin April 12, 2008 and conclude on October 11...
Tanner FoustTanner FoustTanner Foust is a professional racing driver, stunt driver, and television host. He competes in rally, drift, ice racing, time attack and rallycross with multiple podium placements and national championships. He is a co-host on the American version of the motoring television series, Top...
- AEM/Rockstar Nissan 350ZNissan 350ZThe Nissan 350Z is a two seat sports car that was manufactured by Nissan from 2002 to 2009 and marks the fifth generation of Nissan's Z-car line. The 350Z entered production in late 2002 and was sold and marketed as a 2003 model. The first year there was only a coupe, as the roadster did not debut... - 20092009 Formula D seasonThe 2009 Formula D season will be the sixth season for the Formula D series. The series began April 11 and will conclude on October 11. Chris Forsberg took his first series title in a Nissan 350Z; the third season in succession in which a Nissan car had won the championship.-Schedule:-Final...
Chris ForsbergChris ForsbergChris Forsberg , is an American self-taught drifting driver from Doylestown, Pennsylvania who currently competes in the Formula Drift series in his Nissan 370Z for NOS Energy Drink and Hankook Tires.- History :...
- NOS Energy Nissan 350ZNissan 350ZThe Nissan 350Z is a two seat sports car that was manufactured by Nissan from 2002 to 2009 and marks the fifth generation of Nissan's Z-car line. The 350Z entered production in late 2002 and was sold and marketed as a 2003 model. The first year there was only a coupe, as the roadster did not debut... - 20102010 Formula D seasonThe 2010 Formula D season was the seventh season for the Formula D series. The series began on April 10 on the streets of Long Beach and concluded on October 9 at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale after seven events.With two victories at Long Beach and Infineon Raceway, Vaughn Gittin took his first...
Vaughn Gittin Jr. - Team Falken Monster Energy Ford MustangFord MustangThe Ford Mustang is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. It was initially based on the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car. Introduced early on April 17, 1964, as a "1964½" model, the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A... - 20112011 Formula D seasonThe 2011 Formula D season was the eighth season of the Formula D series. The season began on April 9 in Long Beach and ended on October 8 at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.-Schedule:...
Daijiro YoshiharaDaijiro YoshiharaDaijiro Yoshihara is one of the world's best drifters in the motor sports of Drifting. With 10 years of competition under his belt, Dai has always been a thrill seeker and it was only natural for him to get into drifting...
- Falken Tire / Discount Tire Nissan 240sxNissan 240SXThe 240SX is a two-door compact car that was introduced to the North American market by Nissan in 1988 for the following model year. It replaced the outgoing 200SX model. Most of the 240SX were equipped with the 2.4-liter inline 4 engine . The KA24E being single over-head cam and KA24DE being dual...
ASEAN
- 2008 SingaporeSingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
Changi Airport - Ryuji MikiRyuji Mikiis a racing and drifting driver from Tottori Prefecture, Japan. Miki was the D1 Grand Prix champion driving the Top Secret Silvia S15. Miki also competed in the Net'z Cup, a one make series for the Toyota Altezza between 2005 and its final season in 2006 and is nicknamed Doki-Doki kun due to his...
- A'PEXi Mazda RX-7Mazda RX-7Series 1 is commonly referred to as the "SA22C" from the first alphanumerics of the vehicle identification number. This series of RX-7 had exposed steel bumpers and a high-mounted indentation-located license plate, called by Werner Buhrer of Road & Track magazine a "Baroque depression."In 1980... - 2009 SingaporeSingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
Changi Exhibition Center - Tengku Djan LeyTengku Djan LeyTengku Djan Ley bin Tengku Mahaleel is the head of Proton Motorsports and is also a Malaysian professional drifting driver who has taken part in the D1 Grand Prix racing series and others. He has won the 12 hour Merdeka Millennium Endurance race twice in 2005 and 2006...
Bridgestone Toyota AE86Toyota AE86The AE86 generation of the Toyota Corolla Levin and Toyota Sprinter Trueno is a small, lightweight coupe introduced by Toyota in 1983 as part of the fifth generation Toyota Corolla lineup. For the purpose of brevity, the insider-chassis code of "AE86" is used to describe the whole range... - 2009 ThailandThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
Wonderworld Park - Mad Mike - RedBull Mazda RX-7Mazda RX-7Series 1 is commonly referred to as the "SA22C" from the first alphanumerics of the vehicle identification number. This series of RX-7 had exposed steel bumpers and a high-mounted indentation-located license plate, called by Werner Buhrer of Road & Track magazine a "Baroque depression."In 1980... - 2009 Malaysia Malaysia Argo Exposition Park Serdang - Tengku Djan LeyTengku Djan LeyTengku Djan Ley bin Tengku Mahaleel is the head of Proton Motorsports and is also a Malaysian professional drifting driver who has taken part in the D1 Grand Prix racing series and others. He has won the 12 hour Merdeka Millennium Endurance race twice in 2005 and 2006...
Bridgestone Nissan Silvia S15 - 2010 SingaporeSingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
Marina Bay Circuit - Tengku Djan LeyTengku Djan LeyTengku Djan Ley bin Tengku Mahaleel is the head of Proton Motorsports and is also a Malaysian professional drifting driver who has taken part in the D1 Grand Prix racing series and others. He has won the 12 hour Merdeka Millennium Endurance race twice in 2005 and 2006...
Bridgestone Nissan Silvia S15 - 2010 ThailandThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
Wonderworld Park - Non Saranon - M-Storm Nissan Silvia S15 - 2010Malaysia Dataran Merdeka - Daigo SaitoDaigo Saitois a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for .From an early age he was into motorbikes as his father was, and got his motorcycle license at 16. One night when he was out riding with his friends they stumbled upon a drift meeting in the hills of...
- Team 22 Toyota Aristo
Triple Crown Champions
(consisting of Road AtlantaRoad Atlanta
Road Atlanta is a 2.54-mile road course located just north of Braselton, Georgia, USA. The facility is utilized for a wide variety of events, including professional and amateur sports car and motorcycle races, racing and driving schools, corporate programs and testing for motorsports teams...
-Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada near Las Vegas, is a complex of multiple tracks for automobile racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.-History:...
-Irwindale Speedway
Irwindale Speedway
Toyota Speedway at Irwindale is a motorsports facility located in Irwindale, California, United States. It features banked, paved 1/2- and 1/3-mile oval tracks and a 1/8-mile drag strip. It opened on March 27, 1999, as Irwindale Speedway and held that name until Toyota purchased the naming rights...
)
- 2006 Rhys MillenRhys MillenRhys Millen , nephew of IMSA GTS driver Steve Millen, son of Rod and elder brother of Ryan, is one of the world's top competitors in drifting. Prior to that he was a top rally driver in the US, and became the first works backed driver from a car manufacturer with GM in 2004 after narrowly losing to...
- RMR Pontiac GTOPontiac GTOThe Pontiac GTO is an automobile built by Pontiac Division of General Motors in the United States from 1964 to 1974, and by GM subsidiary Holden in Australia from 2004 to 2006. It is considered an innovative, and now classic muscle car of the 1960s and 1970s... - 2007 Chris ForsbergChris ForsbergChris Forsberg , is an American self-taught drifting driver from Doylestown, Pennsylvania who currently competes in the Formula Drift series in his Nissan 370Z for NOS Energy Drink and Hankook Tires.- History :...
- Nissan 350ZNissan 350ZThe Nissan 350Z is a two seat sports car that was manufactured by Nissan from 2002 to 2009 and marks the fifth generation of Nissan's Z-car line. The 350Z entered production in late 2002 and was sold and marketed as a 2003 model. The first year there was only a coupe, as the roadster did not debut... - 2008 Rhys MillenRhys MillenRhys Millen , nephew of IMSA GTS driver Steve Millen, son of Rod and elder brother of Ryan, is one of the world's top competitors in drifting. Prior to that he was a top rally driver in the US, and became the first works backed driver from a car manufacturer with GM in 2004 after narrowly losing to...
- Red Bull/RMR Pontiac Solstice GXP - 2009 Chris ForsbergChris ForsbergChris Forsberg , is an American self-taught drifting driver from Doylestown, Pennsylvania who currently competes in the Formula Drift series in his Nissan 370Z for NOS Energy Drink and Hankook Tires.- History :...
- NOS Energy Nissan 350ZNissan 350ZThe Nissan 350Z is a two seat sports car that was manufactured by Nissan from 2002 to 2009 and marks the fifth generation of Nissan's Z-car line. The 350Z entered production in late 2002 and was sold and marketed as a 2003 model. The first year there was only a coupe, as the roadster did not debut... - 2010 Tanner FoustTanner FoustTanner Foust is a professional racing driver, stunt driver, and television host. He competes in rally, drift, ice racing, time attack and rallycross with multiple podium placements and national championships. He is a co-host on the American version of the motoring television series, Top...
- Rockstar / Scion Scion TCScion tCThe Scion tC is an automobile manufactured and sold by Scion, a division of Toyota. Introduced in the United States in June 2004 and Canada in 2010. The name tC does not fit in with its stablemates the xA, xB, and xD, because the name XC designation has already been used by Volvo for its lineup of... - 2011 Daijiro YoshiharaDaijiro YoshiharaDaijiro Yoshihara is one of the world's best drifters in the motor sports of Drifting. With 10 years of competition under his belt, Dai has always been a thrill seeker and it was only natural for him to get into drifting...
- Falken Tire / Discount Tire Nissan 240sxNissan 240SXThe 240SX is a two-door compact car that was introduced to the North American market by Nissan in 1988 for the following model year. It replaced the outgoing 200SX model. Most of the 240SX were equipped with the 2.4-liter inline 4 engine . The KA24E being single over-head cam and KA24DE being dual...
Rookie of the Year
- 2006 Bill Sherman - Nissan 240SXNissan 240SXThe 240SX is a two-door compact car that was introduced to the North American market by Nissan in 1988 for the following model year. It replaced the outgoing 200SX model. Most of the 240SX were equipped with the 2.4-liter inline 4 engine . The KA24E being single over-head cam and KA24DE being dual...
- 2007 Darren McNamaraDarren McNamaraDarren 'D-Mac' McNamara is a professional drift driver from Cork, Ireland.Darren first competed in the Irish Prodrift series and the British D1 Great Britain series , winning the Prodrift title in 2006. He drove a Toyota AE86 with a Nissan SR20 engine.In 2007 he was invited to compete in the...
- Toyota Corolla Coupe GTToyota AE86The AE86 generation of the Toyota Corolla Levin and Toyota Sprinter Trueno is a small, lightweight coupe introduced by Toyota in 1983 as part of the fifth generation Toyota Corolla lineup. For the purpose of brevity, the insider-chassis code of "AE86" is used to describe the whole range...
/Nissan SR20 - 2008 Michihiro Takatori - Nissan SkylineNissan SkylineThe first Skyline was introduced in April 1957, by the Prince Motor Company, and was marketed as a luxury car. It featured a 1.5 L GA-30 engine producing 44 kW @ 4400 rpm. It used a de Dion tube rear suspension and was capable of 140 km/h . The car weighed around 1300 kg...
ER34 - 2009 Eric O'Sullivan - Subaru Impreza WRX STISubaru Impreza WRX STIThe Subaru Impreza WRX STI, has the highest trim in the Subaru Impreza compact car line, produced by Japanese automaker Subaru.In the late 1980s, Subaru created the Subaru Tecnica International division to coordinate development for the FIA World Rally Championship and other motorsports activities...
- 2010 Fredric Aasbo - Toyota SupraToyota SupraThe Toyota Supra is a sports car/grand tourer that was produced by Toyota Motor Company from 1979 to 2002. The styling of the Toyota Supra was derived from the Toyota Celica, but it was both longer and wider. Starting in mid-1986, the Supra became its own model and was no longer based on the Celica...
JZA80
Most improved driver
- 2007 Bill Sherman - Nissan 240SXNissan 240SXThe 240SX is a two-door compact car that was introduced to the North American market by Nissan in 1988 for the following model year. It replaced the outgoing 200SX model. Most of the 240SX were equipped with the 2.4-liter inline 4 engine . The KA24E being single over-head cam and KA24DE being dual...
- 2008 Stephan Verdier - Subaru Impreza WRX STISubaru Impreza WRX STIThe Subaru Impreza WRX STI, has the highest trim in the Subaru Impreza compact car line, produced by Japanese automaker Subaru.In the late 1980s, Subaru created the Subaru Tecnica International division to coordinate development for the FIA World Rally Championship and other motorsports activities...
All-time Formula Drift event winners list
- Samuel HübinetteSamuel HubinetteSamuel Hübinette, aka The Crazy Swede , is a Swedish professional race car driver and Hollywood stunt driver. He started working as a test driver for Volvo Cars...
- 9 wins (2004 at Road Atlanta, Houston, and Infineon; 2005 at Road Atlanta and Chicago; 2006 at Long Beach, Chicago and Wall; 2007 at Summit Point) - Tanner FoustTanner FoustTanner Foust is a professional racing driver, stunt driver, and television host. He competes in rally, drift, ice racing, time attack and rallycross with multiple podium placements and national championships. He is a co-host on the American version of the motoring television series, Top...
- 7 wins (2006 at Road Atlanta; 2007 at Irwindale; 2008 at Englishtown and Sonoma; 2009 at Las Vegas; 2010 at Seattle and Irwindale) - Chris ForsbergChris ForsbergChris Forsberg , is an American self-taught drifting driver from Doylestown, Pennsylvania who currently competes in the Formula Drift series in his Nissan 370Z for NOS Energy Drink and Hankook Tires.- History :...
- 6 wins (2005 at Irwindale; 2007 at Road Atlanta and Infineon; 2008 at Long Beach; 2009 at Road Atlanta and Seattle) - Rhys MillenRhys MillenRhys Millen , nephew of IMSA GTS driver Steve Millen, son of Rod and elder brother of Ryan, is one of the world's top competitors in drifting. Prior to that he was a top rally driver in the US, and became the first works backed driver from a car manufacturer with GM in 2004 after narrowly losing to...
- 6 wins (2004 at Irwindale; 2005 at Wall; 2006 at Infineon; 2008 at Road Atlanta and Seattle; 2011 at Las Vegas) - Daijiro YoshiharaDaijiro YoshiharaDaijiro Yoshihara is one of the world's best drifters in the motor sports of Drifting. With 10 years of competition under his belt, Dai has always been a thrill seeker and it was only natural for him to get into drifting...
- 6 wins (2006 at Irwindale; 2007 at Seattle and Wall, 2010 at Road Atlanta and Wall, 2011 at Road Atlanta and Monroe) - Vaughn Gittin, Jr.Vaughn GittinVaughn Donald Gittin, Jr. , commonly known as JR, is an American self-taught professional drifter from Annapolis, Maryland who currently competes in the Formula D series in his 2011 Falken Tire Ford Racing Mustang. When he's not competing, Vaughn performs drifting demonstrations for Ford in his...
- 3 wins (2008 at Irwindale; 2010 at Long Beach and Sonoma) - Ryan Tuerck - 2 wins (2009 at Long Beach and Irwindale)
- Justin Pawlak - 2 wins (2011 at Long Beach and Palm Beach)
- Tyler McQuarrie - 2 wins (2010 at Las Vegas; 2011 at Irwindale)
One win each for:
- Ken GushiKen Gushiis one of Japan's top competitors in the sport of drifting. Born in Okinawa, Japan, but raised in Los Angeles, he was taught by his father Tsukasa Gushi at the age of 13 with a Toyota AE86. Ken has become the youngest competitor in both the D1 Grand Prix of Japan and the Formula Drift Championships...
(2005 at Houston) - Calvin Wan (2005 at Infineon)
- Yukinobu Okubo (2006 at Seattle)
- Mitsuru Haraguchi (2007 at Long Beach)
- Toshiki YoshiokaToshiki Yoshiokais a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for and Even before he started drifting professionally he always used the Toyota AE86. He first competed in the D1 Grand Prix in the first round of 2002 and has always scored points in every season. He got...
(2008 at Las Vegas) - Darren McNamaraDarren McNamaraDarren 'D-Mac' McNamara is a professional drift driver from Cork, Ireland.Darren first competed in the Irish Prodrift series and the British D1 Great Britain series , winning the Prodrift title in 2006. He drove a Toyota AE86 with a Nissan SR20 engine.In 2007 he was invited to compete in the...
(2009 at Wall) - Stephan Verdier (2009 at Infineon)
- Conrad Grunewald (2011 at Wall)
To this date, only 3 drivers have won both Formula Drift and D1 Grand Prix
D1 Grand Prix
The , abbreviated as D1GP and subtitled Professional Drift, is a production car drifting series from Japan. After several years of hosting amateur drifting contests, Option magazine & Tokyo Auto Salon founder Daijiro Inada, and drifting legend Keiichi Tsuchiya hosted a professional level drifting...
events, they are Mitsuru Haraguchi, Toshiki Yoshioka
Toshiki Yoshioka
is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for and Even before he started drifting professionally he always used the Toyota AE86. He first competed in the D1 Grand Prix in the first round of 2002 and has always scored points in every season. He got...
, and Vaughn Gittin, Jr..
Formula Drift television coverage
Former Fox Soccer USA host Brandon Johnson hosted the Formula D show for G4 in 2006. Rossi MorrealeRossi Morreale
Rossi Morreale is a television personality and former college football player.Morreale was a wide receiver & punt returner for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks football team, lettering from 1997–1999. After graduation he sought television exposure...
was the show's host in 2005. Johnson was joined by Attack of the Show co-host Olivia Munn
Olivia Munn
Lisa Olivia Munn is an American comedic actress, model, television personality and author. She began her career being credited as Lisa Munn. Since 2006, she has been using the name Olivia Munn personally and professionally....
who covered the pits and drivers during the events and drifting expert Adam Matthews who provided commentary and insight on the tandem battles. G4 aired each round on a tape-delayed basis. Jarod DeAnda is the public address
Public address
A public address system is an electronic amplification system with a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to reinforce a sound source, e.g., a person giving a speech, a DJ playing prerecorded music, and distributing the sound throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in...
announcer at each event, earning him the moniker, "The Voice of Formula D." In 2005, G4 used DeAnda's event commentary track, but for 2006, used Johnson and Matthews calling each battle like a typical play-by-play/color commentator
Color commentator
A color commentator is a sports commentator who assists the play-by-play announcer, often by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The color analyst and main commentator will often exchange comments freely throughout the broadcast, when the play-by-play announcer is not describing the...
combination. Johnson and Matthews were on-site for each event, but it sounded as if they had taped their commentary after the event had already taken place. This practice is not uncommon in the motorsports business in post-production.
In the 2005 season, there were two people working the pits — driver interviewer Mayleen Ramey
Mayleen Ramey
Mayleen Ramey is a television presenter who is currently the host of the Tennis Channel travel show Destination Tennis.-References:...
, who was a roving reporter for the half-hour episodes, and a second anchor, who patrolled around the car show at each event. In 2005, G4 used three reporters for this job. From the round in Wall to the round in Houston, actor Emeka Nnadi held the job. At the Infineon round, Attack of the Show!
Attack of the Show!
Attack of the Show! is an American live television program shown weeknights on G4, G4 Canada and Fuel TV in Australia. The program is hosted by Kevin Pereira and Candace Bailey...
co-host Kevin Pereira
Kevin Pereira
Kevin Pereira is co-host of G4's Attack of the Show! .-Biography:While in high school, Pereira hosted Pointless Audio under the pseudonym Captain Immy...
took the duties, while Street Fury host Big C finished things out in Chicago and Irwindale. Also, G4 showed half-hour episodes in-between rounds, most of which focused on the network having its own drift car built from scratch, with other segments focusing on the aspects of drifting. One of the first half-hour episodes in 2005 had one Formula D competitor, Chris Forsberg
Chris Forsberg
Chris Forsberg , is an American self-taught drifting driver from Doylestown, Pennsylvania who currently competes in the Formula Drift series in his Nissan 370Z for NOS Energy Drink and Hankook Tires.- History :...
go to Japan, and meet up with another competitor, Daijiro Yoshihara
Daijiro Yoshihara
Daijiro Yoshihara is one of the world's best drifters in the motor sports of Drifting. With 10 years of competition under his belt, Dai has always been a thrill seeker and it was only natural for him to get into drifting...
, to explore the country and get more perspective on the birth of drifting. Episodes that featured event coverage lasted an hour-and-a-half, and featured the top 16 tandem rounds, including those that needed to be run again, because the judges deemed them too close to call. These episodes aired the night after the next round in the series had already taken place.
In 2006, however, coverage was dramatically different. The half-hour episodes were gone, and event coverage was reduced to an hour, and their scheduling was quite random. The Long Beach and Atlanta rounds premiered on June 18, with the Chicago round airing on July 2, and the Sonoma round airing a week after it took place. During the Sonoma round, G4 noted that the Seattle round would premiere on September 10, but that date was changed to October 8, with the last two rounds (Wall and Irwindale) airing every other week afterward. These episodes featured more interviews and driver profiles, many of which would've been placed in a half-hour show last year, and many of the tandem battles have been cut out, and any battle that needed to be run again did not have its second run shown. This led to some criticism from those in the drifting community, including fans and some Formula D drivers.
At the 2006 SEMA Show
SEMA
Specialty Equipment Market Association of the automobile aftermarket was formed in 1963 by Roy Richter, Ed Iskenderian, Willie Garner, Bob Hedman, John Bartlett, Phil Weiand, Jr., Al Segal, Dean Moon, and Vic Edelbrock, Jr...
in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
, Formula D co-founders Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage announced that the series would have a new television partner in 2007. That partner was ESPN2
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American sports cable television network owned by ESPN. The channel debuted on October 1, 1993.Originally nicknamed "the deuce," ESPN2 was initially branded as a network for a younger generation of sports fans featuring edgier graphics as well as extreme sports like motocross,...
. Each round began airing in a one-hour block on November 15 with the Long Beach round. All subsequent airings were supposed to be every Thursday afterward, but beginning with the Evergreen Speedway round on December 5, the air dates for new rounds switched to Wednesday.
The ESPN deal lasted just one season. SPEED Channel will air all rounds of the 2008 Formula D season, as well as the World Championship, scheduled for after the Irwindale round. Airings will take place on Sundays, beginning with the Long Beach round on October 26. All airings will begin at 4 PM Eastern.
For 2010 Formula Drift announces a comprehensive race programming schedule with VERSUS in which Drifting, the fastest-growing motorsport, will slide into more than 75 million U.S. homes. The seven-stop Formula DRIFT Championship Series programs will air over fourteen Sundays during the 2 PM (EST) / 11 AM (PST) time slot beginning Sunday, August 30. Each episode will showcase all the on- and off-track action as the world’s top drift drivers battle for the coveted title of Formula DRIFT Champion. The first episode, airing on August 30, will feature a comprehensive overview of the sport and drivers. Each episode will re-air the week following the initial airing. Coverage is slated to remain the same for the 2011 season.
Internet Coverage
In 2010 Formula D joined forces with Justin.tv to bring a live stream of all 7 events. All rounds were broadcast via Justin.tv complete with practices and all rounds of competition were included.Print Coverage
At the 2010 SEMASEMA
Specialty Equipment Market Association of the automobile aftermarket was formed in 1963 by Roy Richter, Ed Iskenderian, Willie Garner, Bob Hedman, John Bartlett, Phil Weiand, Jr., Al Segal, Dean Moon, and Vic Edelbrock, Jr...
show, FD co-founder Jim Liaw announced the Formula Drift would begin the quarterly publication of a Formula Drift's magazine in 2011. The publication will be handled by Haymarket Media Group.